"..." I quickly lead Evelyn-sama to the waterfall, spotting a crystal-clear lake. After scanning the area and confirming the lake's surroundings are safe, I bring her to the shore and set her down on the ground.

"..." She says nothing as I immediately dash back to retrieve the core and the meat, ensuring no other monster or animal steals them. I move as fast as I possibly can to avoid leaving her unprotected.

It takes only two minutes to go and return, and when I get back, she's standing exactly where I left her. She watches me with that cold, hurt gaze as I hang the meat from a tree with ropes to let the blood finish draining. I place the core in the bag and walk over to her.

"May... I touch you?" I bow, asking for permission.

"Do whatever you want. Just get me clean," she says with a voice that pains me, but I understand. I was wrong to force her to do something she didn't want to do, so I must accept these negative feelings.

I approach her and begin to remove her blood-soaked clothes, all the while staying vigilant and alert to our surroundings for any potential danger. I carefully remove each part of her dress to avoid damaging it.

Soon, she is completely naked. I gather her clothes into a pile to clean before returning them to her.

I guide her into the lake, then go to the bag to fetch a simple bar of soap and the spare change of clothes we packed for emergencies. It's simple and only for her to use while her previous outfit is being cleaned and dried.

I return to her, entering the water, and submerge her body, leaving only her head above the surface. The entire time, she remains silent as I start by pouring water over her head to wash away the excess blood.

'She normally bathes by herself...' Normally, helping her bathe would be an honor, but the fact that she doesn't even react and just stares at her own reflection in the water bothers me immensely.

I notice through the water's reflection that her gaze is cold. She breathes slowly with a slight tremble from the chill of the water. Her expression is as awful as expected.

But ignoring the tightness in my heart, I begin to scrub her hair and body to clean off the blood with the water. She waits calmly as the excess blood mixes with the water and slowly drifts away with the current.

'There must be a river connected to this lake...' That's good to know, as it could be a path we might need to take later.

"I'm going to start using the soap now..." I say, but she doesn't respond. She merely closes her eyes as I begin to carefully lather the soap over her body. I work the soap into every nook and cranny to free her from the remaining blood and at least the initial strong smell.

She doesn't react at all when I soap her breasts or lower. She just stays quiet until I finish. Next, I rub the bar of soap onto my hands and begin to carefully work it into her hair.

'It's so soft and smooth...' I move my hands upward, but this makes her glare at me angrily, as if telling me not to touch her too much, which immediately makes me let go of her hair.

After that, I gently push her under the water and bring her back up to rinse off the soap. I then start pouring water over her head to wash away any remaining suds.

She still has a faint smell of blood, but it's not enough for a predator to track us. You'd only notice it if you were extremely close. I lift her by the arms, helping her stand, and carefully lather the bar of soap over her soft thighs.

"Evelyn-sama, I—"

"Please be quiet. I just want to get this over with, so just... hurry up and finish cleaning me," she cuts me off sharply before I can say anything else. Sadly, I fall silent.

I start pouring water over her legs to rinse off the soap, finishing cleaning her as best I can. Since we only have cold water and soap, this is the best I can do. I lead her out of the water and begin dressing her in the spare clothes, which are very simple but still look beautiful on her.

"I'm going... to wash your clothes..." I say, hoping for a response, but she just turns around and walks over to the bag with our things. She sits down and buries her head between her knees, staying quiet.

'...Evelyn-sama...' I want to talk to her, but I can't muster the courage to try anything. She's already made it clear she wants silence.

"..." Her coldness hurts more than if she had hit me or insulted me. I go to the blood-stained clothes, pick them up, and bring them to the water. I need to get rid of the smell so it doesn't attract anything.

'I must keep her safe. I need to eliminate any traces that could lead predators to follow us.' I think this, filled with determination to protect her.

I start with the smaller items—the bra and panties, which caught the strong smell of blood and also got dirty from the blood that seeped through the dress. I begin cleaning them with soap and water, all the while taking note of everything in the environment to avoid any enemies.

After washing the smaller items, I take the dress, spreading it out in the water to wash away the initial excess blood and the bits of flesh that stuck to it. The dress is so dirty it's turned red, and the water quickly begins carrying the blood away.

'I hope no predator comes upstream to investigate the blood...' Fortunately, even though it's weak, the running water carries the blood downstream, which should draw any predators to the opposite side of where we are, so long as the water continues to carry everything down.

I vigorously rub the bar of soap into the dress to deeply clean the fabric, of course, always glancing over at Evelyn-sama and seeing that she's quiet. It's so strange to see her like this.

She's always talkative, cheerful, and kind. Seeing her like this makes a few tears stream down my face, but I wipe them away with the sleeve of my dress and continue cleaning.

'Will she ever forgive me?' I don't know if I'm happy about not being punished. I'd rather she punish me for real, because then I might be able to rid myself of the pain of my mistake.

Ignoring my own pain, I finish cleaning the dress and start carrying it to the shore. I rummage through the bag I brought, pulling out a pot. This is the bag I prepared myself, bringing things that Evelyn-sama forgot or didn't even think of.

She didn't bring a single pot, which makes certain tasks difficult, just like she forgot to bring anything for water. So, I packed these things in my bag, along with a spare set of clothes for myself, some climbing gear, and a small medical kit I stole from the castle infirmary.

"..." I take the pot and place Evelyn-sama's dress and underwear inside, then fetch water from the river and pour it in. Quickly, I start gathering twigs from the forest.

I'm going to boil her clothes to completely eliminate the blood odor. Unlike the faint smell of blood on the body, which mixes with one's natural scent, the clothes literally retain the smell and could attract predators.

So, by boiling the clothes for a while, I can get rid of most of the blood scent. It's just basic logic. After the cold water, boiling will remove most of any odor, though not 100%, but it's better than nothing.

After gathering twigs, I start a fire by rubbing two sticks together with extreme speed and place the pot atop a circle of small stones I made around the fire to let it boil.

"..." I glance over at Evelyn-sama and see that she's now scratching the ground with a stick. Her gaze is... cold. Not inorganic, but the coldness of someone who has been through something bad and doesn't really want to talk.

"Evelyn-sama... I'll make something for us to eat soon... Would you like fried meat... or perhaps meat boiled with salt?" I ask, trying to cheer her up with food.

"Anything is fine. I'm not going to eat today anyway. You have it. I don't have the stomach for meat after what I did," her voice is melancholic as she doesn't even look at me, scratching parallel lines on the ground along with drawings that look like a wolf and pieces of it.

"Understood..." I say, moving a little away from her to give her space.

"..." I start taking off my own clothes to take a bath and wash my dress, but Evelyn-sama doesn't even look. She doesn't seem to care what I'm doing, and being ignored hurts more than I'd like to admit.

'Is this how a servant feels when they realize they've failed their master?... It's... awful...' I never imagined I would fail Evelyn-sama, but here I am, having committed a sin against her, even if it was for a good reason.

But I don't regret what I did. It was necessary. If her hatred, anger, or coldness is the result of my actions, then I will simply accept it. As her loyal servant, it is my duty to accept her joy, her sorrow, and her anger.

If time were to reverse and I had to choose, I would still do everything the same, even if it hurts me. A servant's duty isn't always to follow orders blindly; sometimes it's to go against the master's will to help them.

Even if it hurts both of us, Evelyn-sama needed this, and I will accept this pain as the "price" for my duty. I never expected that serving her would only bring me joy.

This pain I feel is part of what it means to be a servant, so I accept it without refusing any part of it.

And so, I try to bathe as quickly as possible to start cleaning my own clothes and then boil them, all the while being careful not to leave Evelyn-sama's clothes in the heating water for too long.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.