14 Chapter 13

Hansel was shocked, of course. The dread he experienced when his legs refused to do so much as to support his own weight, was a first. He couldn't fathom how to respond to the situation he was in. On the other hand, Derek knew just how to.

He left a distressed Hansel sitting in the bath tub and got up, walked to a corner shelf, grabbed a clean robe and threw it over his body. He brought another one for Hansel and dropped it on his head. "Take it." he ordered.

Hansel drew the cloth from the top of his head and held it in his hands. Derek bent down near him, their faces close to each other, and smirked. He pushed one of his hand under his knees, supported his back with the other, and flawlessly, picked him up in his arms.

"Wha-?" Hansel exclaimed. One moment of carelessness and Derek had already caught him off guard. He looked at Derek, suspicious of what he was going to do now. He absolutely lacked strength to go along with another one of the previous episodes.

Watching Hansel glaring at him skeptically, Derek clicked his tongue and explained, "Tch. Don't look at me like that." he said, "I'm just carrying you to the bed. You'll be fine once you rest a bit."

Saying this, he walked out of the bathroom with Hansel in his arms. Usually, Hansel would have protested against being treated in such a lady-like manner, but right now, he lacked energy to do so. His gaze on Derek didn't soften until he had carefully tucked him in the bed and was a safe distance away from him.

Derek dried his hair with a towel, standing at the window, as his half-naked body bathed in sunlight. 'He is ripped.', Hansel thought, watching muscles on his back contract as he rubbed his hair dry. His face was flawless, almost as if he was chiseled out of a marble. The only thing which proved that he was a human and not a statue of some Greek god, were his puckered, cherry-lips. His disheveled black hair which fell on his forehead, aroused an unfamiliar feeling inside of Hansel.

When Derek looked back, he saw Hansel eyeing him. His black eyes that were so focused on him, diverted their gaze and his cheeks became flushed. Derek grinned smugly, as if he knew exactly what Hansel was thinking. He walked up to him, with a fresh towel in his hand, and stood at the bedside. Hansel had no courage to look up at his grinning face. He looked straight ahead instead, boring a hole in the white wall with his glare, which had suddenly become the subject of his unwavering attention. This silence between them was agitating but felt relaxing at the same time.

Derek ruffled Hansel's wet hair with the towel in his hand, trying to annoy him but failed to rouse a reaction from him. He gave up and patted his hair dry instead. Hansel couldn't believe what Derek was doing for him but he also couldn't utter a word out his mouth to refute it because of the previous embarrassment. Somehow, his hands felt good.

"Do you want me to oil your hair?" Derek asked, smiling at him. Since he had nothing to do today, he could spend the whole afternoon with Hansel.

The apprentice knight, however, was shocked. He couldn't fathom what Derek was asking. He was his superior and also the second master of the estate. If anything, he should serve Derek and not vice versa. The way he asked him to oil his hair was as if it was something ordinary and also the kindness in his gaze was how one would look at their lovers.

"…!?" Hansel gasped, astonished at his own thought. Did he want to become lovers with Derek!? That was absolutely out of question. There were way too many obstacles to overcome for them to become lovers and different social status was not even near their concern. He dared to imagine something like this only because Derek had that look in his eyes. Does it mean that Derek wanted to be lovers with him!?

Hansel was red from head to toe. He had suddenly imagined something outrageous and now felt even more exhausted than before.

"Hansel?" Derek called him back from his train of thought. Although he didn't realize, but this was his first-time calling Hansel by name. But Hansel's ears picked up the sound as clear as a day. He blushed red for the second time in span of a minute. "Wha- what?" he stuttered, unable to utter another word out of his mouth.

"Are you feeling unwell?" Derek asked, concerned watching his distraught behavior. He brought a palm to his forehead to check his temperature. It was mildly warm, but nothing serious. "Tel-"

He was cut-off by a knock on the door. It sounded three times and stopped, a typical habit of the butler.

"What is it?" he was loud, annoyed that he was interrupted. He didn't want to deal with anything today.

"The Duke requests your presence, sir." the Old Butler spoke outside the door. Even though he had noted the annoyance in Derek's reply, his voice never wavered. Derek's father, the late Duke, expressed himself in the same way when he was irked at something too, the Old Butler recalled.

"Tell him I'm busy." His voice turned chilly at the mention of the Duke. Hansel shivered. This was his first-time seeing Derek behave so rudely. Even though Derek looked cold, he was never rude to anyone, even to the servants of the mansion.

"The Duke asked me to tell you that it's alright if you can't come, he will visit you instead." the Old Butler replied in a professional tone, not adding a word of his own accord but relaying only what his master had asked him to.

"Tch." Derek clicked his tongue. He could guess what the Duke wanted to talk to him about and if he didn't go, his brother would really barge into his sleeping chambers. And the last thing that he wanted was to confront him in front of Hansel. finally, he chose the option which was less troublesome.

"Fine," he growled, "tell him I'm coming."

The butler bowed in response. Even though he was standing outside a closed door and no one was watching, he didn't try to escape from showing respect to his master.

"I want to see you here when I come back." Derek told to Hansel. Although he doubted Hansel could take a step out of the door in his present conditions, all thanks to the monstrosity he displayed earlier, but he forbade him nevertheless.

Derek put on a white shirt and a pair of grey pants for the meeting. He was dressed rather plainly, considering he was going to meet the Duke, but he didn't have patience to dress up for something he was forced to do. He just wanted to get over with it and quickly return to Hansel's side.

He looked ravishing, nevertheless, with his slightly wet hair carelessly brushed back and blue eyes that were fierce, worthy of all the gasps and attention he received from the maids as he walked down the hallway.