Chapter 42: Just Being Reassured is Enough
“Ah… it hurts…! Can you be a bit gentler…?”
“Don’t… don’t use too much strength…! It can’t go deeper…!”
“That’s not okay…! Please have mercy…!!! If this continues, my brain is going to malfunction—!”
What do you think this is?
In fact, all those cries are coming from Alman.
If the sound insulation of his room were any worse, and if there were more passing servants, his wails might be mistaken for playing some strange “mini games” with someone.
But the two of them were simply cleaning ears.
“Don’t move around, Mr. Alman, it will hurt a lot.”
“It hurts even when I don’t move…!”
“Mr. Alman, please be honest.”
That familiar frowning expression, the look of disdain from not being able to smile properly, made Alman swallow his saliva and avert his gaze.
It was just ear cleaning… but with Evelia’s clumsy technique, it felt like torture.
Alman didn’t know where Evelia found that ear-cleaning tool, with one cloth bag containing soft tools and another with hard ones—at first glance, they seemed very professional. But when he saw Evelia frowning and picking up that shiny, needle-like object, he even felt like she was going to torture him.
“Is Mr. Alman feeling very uncomfortable?”
Seeing Alman’s expression, which was completely different from the cartoonish models in the guidebook, Evelia stopped poking at his ear.
“Ah…” Alman showed a somewhat awkward expression, “Not… really uncomfortable?”
Even though it hurt terribly, Alman himself didn’t know why he answered like that.
“…Hmm…”
Evelia thought for a moment, then put the tool back into the small cloth bag.
“Mr. Alman, please wait a moment while I check…”
Evelia rustled around and pulled out a small booklet. Using the light from the fire, she flipped through it page by page.
On Alman’s side, after Evelia pulled him to the bed, she forcibly pressed him down on her thigh. Now, he was enjoying Evelia’s lap pillow.
It couldn’t exactly be said that he was enjoying it; after all, from the start, Evelia had been poking at his ears with the precision of a major punishment. However, she had at least held back now. If she used the strength capable of princess carrying him to “clean ears,” he might even have his brain poked out.
Now, while Evelia was busy checking that thin booklet labeled “Sleep Assistance Manual,” Alman finally had a moment to relax.
To make it more comfortable for Alman, Evelia deliberately lowered her stockings and pulled up her skirt, leaving the most plush part of her thigh for his head. Of course, she had also tucked away the blades in her skirt layers to avoid accidentally cutting him and causing him to think of something else.
Without applying punishment to his ears, Alman quieted down. He thought he should refuse to have such intimate contact, yet he didn’t resist this feeling inside.
Evelia’s warmth distinctly reached Alman, and he took a deep breath, inhaling that familiar fragrance of hers.
As he lay on Evelia’s thigh, the one who was the source of his annoyance, he found that listening to her steady breathing made him gradually feel at ease.
With the rising and falling of Evelia’s abdomen, he unconsciously shifted forward while lying sideways, resting the back of his head against her body.
As if noticing Alman’s movement, Evelia reached out, gently patting his tense shoulder. She had never learned how to console others, but at that moment, she instinctively knew to pat his shoulder gently like a child, softly stroking his back, as if her body remembered the gesture of “comfort” from some past instinct.
“… I’m not a child, Evelia.”
She said that, but as he was gently patted, Alman instinctively curled up.
“I know, Mr. Alman, you’re eight years older than me.”
“… You don’t need to make me sound so old…”
“But isn’t it enough to make you feel at ease?”
“What kind of talk is that…”
Yet with such actions, anyone would relax and recollect the happiness of their childhood.
“Mr. Alman, what have you been troubled about all this time?”
While saying that, Evelia put down the little booklet she had finished reading and then picked up her toolbag, retrieving a peacock feather from it.
“Troubled? I… don’t have anything to be troubled about.”
The soft feather brushed past his ear, the gentle touch made Alman shiver. Although he had heard of such a method of ear cleaning, it was still too fresh for him. He had always dealt with weapons and never had the chance to enjoy something like this.
“If you aren’t troubled, then why can’t you sleep?”
“Hmm… there are many kinds of insomnia; I might just simply be unable to sleep.”
Alman didn’t want to say that his insomnia was because of her, so he casually made up a meaningless lie.
“I see, so are you feeling any better now?”
Evelia didn’t mind Alman’s lie; she simply wanted him to feel comfortable. Although this ambiguous atmosphere would usually be suitable for probing, Evelia felt that her relationship with Alman was still not very deep, so she decided to refrain from asking him too much today to avoid alarming him.
“… Not bad.”
Alman replied softly.
“Is that so? That’s good. Please relax; don’t be so tense.”
Evelia’s whispers sounded in his ear, and her sweet, airy voice should have made Alman feel more relaxed, but instead, lying there, he felt increasingly alert, even as his nerves tightened.
The feather in Evelia’s hand brushed past Alman’s earlobe and gently delved into his ear canal. Although the feather was soft, the noise of the friction was still very clear to Alman’s ears, filling his mind with the rustling sound of the peacock feather teasing his auricle.
“Mr. Alman, are you allergic to peacock feathers?”
“… Hmm? I shouldn’t be allergic to peacock feathers…” Alman tilted his head, puzzled, to look at Evelia. Instinctively, he wanted to see why Evelia asked this, but when he turned his head, what he saw was not Evelia’s face but rather her curvy figure.
Because of her ample figure, Alman couldn’t see Evelia’s face from this angle of her lap pillow.
“Aren’t you allergic?”
Evelia didn’t notice Alman’s trembling gaze; she simply patted his shoulder gently and reached out to stroke his ear.
“Your ears are really red.”
