His face tensed as if the icy air had frozen him in time. Although it was subtle, Ravia knew that he was surprised.
In the stillness, he slowly spoke.
“….You're wet.”
“I spilled it.”
Ravia looked at the hem of her skirt and then her sharp gaze slowly shifted to Tidwell.
As if to show her frustration, Ravia murmured in a low voice.
“I think I need to change.”
“Are you asking me to leave?”
“No, help me.”
What was Tidwell's expression when he heard that? There was no way to know clearly, but he seemed to smile.
But it was a smile that was far from the bright smile he showed on the stairs. It was closer to a self-deprecating smile.
“….Is it alright if I touch you?”
“I can't wake the sleeping maid to take off my clothes at dawn, can I? I shouldn't stay in this wet dress for too long either. But I can't reach the button behind my back…”
Listening to her grumble, Tidwell rose from his seat and approached Ravia. Obviously, he intended to help Ravia to change her clothes.
So Ravia turned her back to Tidwell, gathered her flowing hair to one side and pulled forward to her chest.
She lowered her head slightly, revealing the nape of her white neck.
An unfamiliar finger touched the thin neck with a golden thread fastened around it.
No, it just slipped past.
It was an unintentional touch while he was trying to unbutton the dress.
She was convinced that it was a mistake.
Tuk-
One button released.
The hands liberating the buttons one by one were slow but greedy, as if tracing the spine under her bare skin.
His breath touched her exposed shoulders.
Since Tidwell was behind her, Ravia couldn't know what expression he was making, but the glass before Ravia reflected their figures.
The darkness outside the window had yet to completely dissipate and made their figures look like silhouettes,
Half-naked woman and a man who seemed shy looking at the back of her neck.
Even the figure of a woman in the window, seemingly enjoying his unusual obedience, looked sensual….
“Urgh.”
Ravia shrugged her shoulders with a groan. Because his hand touched her shoulder blade, causing her to draw back her shoulders reflexively.
As Ravia instinctively curled her shoulders due to the unexpected warm touch, she heard a woeful voice.
“You're more sensitive than I thought. I assumed you would be used to this since you gave me your back so casually.”
“No, I was surprised….”
“I remember it was you who turned your body around. It's not the first time someone has served you, right? If not…”
Tuk-
The last button emancipated.
“Are you this cautious each time someone serves you?”
The fine hair behind her ear raised in response to the gradual deepening of his murderous tone.
An odd question that sounded more like a reprimand.
“…Are you scolding me?”
“I'm worried.”
“Why are you worried?”
“Because caution is the habit of prey.”
It seemed time stopped after he spoke. So Ravia looked back at Tidwell again.
He was not smiling, so Ravia immediately understood the message in his words.
The predator had given a warning.
If you continue misbehaving, you will be eaten.
A blatant and greedy warning.
Amid the tense confrontation, Tidwell turned away first.
As if the tension had never existed, he brought a partition from a corner of the room and placed it between the bed and the table.
“If you keep standing in that state, you may hear a word from your doctor. I'll be over here, so please change your clothes.”
“….Okay. Wait a minute.”
Ravia finally saw an opportunity. She removed a small sack from the belt on her thigh. Because portraits were not the only things that she received from Crow.
-This is the sleeping pill you asked for, Miss. There are many other types, but why are you asking for this one? There's a lot of 'scentless' or 'tasteless' types, too.
-Because those won't work on people who are resistant.
-That's true. But I think there isn't anyone near you who has such resistance.
-No, there is.
Tidwell.
When he started his underworld drug business his first act was to develop resistance to various poisons and drugs.
In [His and Her Spring], Leticia managed to find a sleeping pill that was effective on Tidwell after several trials.
However, unlike other drugs, the sleeping pill had a strong taste, therefore was not suitable for secret feeding.
'In the novel, Leticia was unaware of such a precaution and fed the pill to Tidwell, which exposed her right away.'
But Ravia knew.
Of course, she didn't know that she would use that information and drug so soon.
She couldn't help it.
Rather, she had to praise herself for preparing in advance, so she could start her plan right away and purposely spill the tea.
To take out the sleeping pills and stall for time to justify the bitterness caused by the sleeping pills.
If it was a hot tea, the bitter taste would be unnatural. But that won't be the case if it was cold.
He may want to change his cooled teacup with another cup, but there was only one extra teacup present on the table.
Tidwell wouldn't allow Ravia to use the teacup that had rolled on the carpet just because he didn't want cold tea.
So after Ravia changed her clothes, she invited Tidwell to sit back and emptied the teapot for herself.
It was not until early morning that the sleeping pill reacted.
Taking him to bed and putting him to sleep was nothing tedious like the previous process.
Just like that, morning came.
Ravia recalled the events before she fell asleep for a moment, and stood up from bed.
The morning sun shining through the window stung her eyes.
'I feel like I am being rebuked for doing an immoral deed.'
It felt like a warning to not proceed with whatever she was trying to do, so Ravia stopped moving for a while.
For a very short while.
She recalled their dawn conversation about trivial things, when Tidwell reached out his hand as his consciousness started to fade.
-I'm not going to sleep. I'll close my eyes…just for a bit.
The man mumbled in a sleepy voice as if he didn't want to let her go and caught her feet. But Ravia soon shook his hand off.
'It's just that…I shouldn't be swayed by unidentified emotions.'
Regardless of what caused the guilty feeling upon seeing him cling to her skirt, it was obvious that this opportunity would never come again.
It was possible to trick Tidwell now, but she would not expect him to fall for this shallow trick twice.
So she threw away her uneasiness and left the room.
As she took a few steps into the hall, a maid greeted Ravia in surprise.
“Good morning, my Lady.”
“Yes. Is my father already returned?”
“He sent a message saying that he'd be home near evening. Do you have anything to do with my Master?”
“That's not it, but why do you have a razor blade?”
Ravia surveyed the tray in the maid's hands. A tray containing simple household items such as towels, washing water, soap and razor blades.
Those items were needed for the morning routine of an adult male.
So if it wasn't for Duke Leontine, the answer was obvious.
“Is that for Tidwell?”
“Oh, yes. Young Master asked me to wake him ….”
As the maid replied with a nervous gesture, Ravia narrowed her eyes.
Ravia knew Tidwell was extremely wary of people who snuck up on him while he was sleeping. He developed that habit as many people tried to assassinate him.
But the maid is waking Tidwell in the early morning?
'Tidwell didn't say he had any schedule early in the morning.'
And that maid's attitude was pretty odd.
'It looks like you're new since you're not familiar with his habit.'
It was common for the maid who had not fully adapted to the family's customs to have a different mind toward their master.
Putting two and two together, the answer was obvious.
The maid wanted to approach Tidwell with an impure intention.
That's even better. For the time being, she had to make sure no one approached Tidwell's and her rooms.
Haha. Ravia laughed dryly. Her frightening scrutiny turned on the maid.
“Since when did we have a liar in our mansion?”