The Perverted Caretaker

For the nth time that day, silence prevails as the two sole occupants of that room engage in this indecipherable telepathic battle, exchanging meaningful stares.

"Such a smooth talker... I bet ladies were throwing themselves all over you when the world's still a better place," Anastasia quipped with a mockingly amused simper, scrutinizing his ambiguous reaction.

"Well, I don't really treat everyone the same way... Just what are you thinking about now, Sia? You seriously don't believe that you're pretty?" Zen coolly reiterated, expression aloof, while he proceeded to tie her hair.

She only remains quiet, not bothering to answer such a ridiculous question. That's until he leans towards her ears out of nowhere, initiating an intimate contact.

With his half-lidded crimson orbs brimming with unclouded admiration, he then lets his breath brush her skin as he musters an enticing smirk.

"What do you want me to do to make you believe, then?" he whispered ever so alluringly, making her flinch and back away in surprise.

"Gah...!!! What are you doing?! That tickles!" she bolted out, face flushed in embarrassment.

"I knew it! Sia still has that weakness. How cute~"

"Ugh..."

Anastasia probably has to keep her guard up after all - for another reason, that is. Zen is just too unpredictable, and it seems like her message didn't cross at all.

He even took advantage of it, though it may be true that he's indeed the one who has the upper hand between the two of them. It appears like he does know her well since he just took note of her sensitive spot.

"Don't do that again, and you don't have to make me believe..." she continued, gathering her composure once more.

"I already think otherwise."

"Hmm... What made you... Oh, wait, right! You just took a bath," Zen absentmindedly pointed out all of the sudden, making her lift an eyebrow.

"Huh? So what?"

"Which means you saw them already."

"Where are you getting at now? Of course, I saw-"

Then, she paused.

Anastasia has to double take for a moment. She then gives him an incredulous look as the pieces puzzle together in her head while he only tilt his head at this in reply.

"Why... does it sound like you also...?" she trailed off, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

"Sia, dear~ True beauty's in the inside. It doesn't matter to me how you look. I still see you as the prettiest one who ever walked the Earth," Zen cooed affectionately while caressing a strand of her hair.

That's until she abruptly stands right up in nonplus, making him step backward and mirror her expression.

"So, you did?! Y-You... You saw me naked before?!"

"Huh? Eh?"

"How'd you know that then?!"

"O-Oh, that."

Zen is stupefied.

He just unknowingly spilled the beans, and not even a day after his beloved rose up from the dead. If only he knew that she'd react so flustered, he'd just choose to zip his mouth on this one.

Anastasia is presently fuming in embarrassment, flamboyant redness gracing her once pale complexion. Now, not only did he have to deal with the mortified dignity of a maiden, but he also had to keep himself from blushing too fiercely as a surge of memories ransacked his mind at that moment.

"W-Well, umm... For one, you weren't wearing a gown when you died, so it was kinda me who dressed you up and inevitably saw... a-almost everything," Zen reasoned, scratching the back of his head and averting his gaze.

"You shouldn't have changed my clothes, then! And why a gown of all things?!" she exclaimed exasperatedly, already imagining multiple scenarios on how he possibly reacted.

"I want to take care of you, of course! I also made sure not to stare too much! I promise I didn't try anything inappropriate! I even covered your-"

"Kyaaa...!!! Nooo! Don't say it! Get out!"

"Eh? But, but... Sia?!"

"I said go! Leave already!"

Unable to grasp this whole revelation, Anastasia is now at her limits. Her chest is thumping so loudly that she might be as good as alive.

Still blushing, she then forcibly pushes Zen out of the room against his will.

He just keeps resisting but to no avail. He has clearly earned her ire again.

"Ugh... Way to go, Zen..." he grumbled in frustration right after she slammed the door on his face.

"That's a pretty cute reaction, though," he then mused out loud, perking up as he recalled her beet red frame.

Not knowing what else to do, Zen decided to just simply wait and lean on her door for the meantime. He was supposed to invite her for dinner downstairs, but it seemed like she needed some time to recover.

With his eyes glued on the ceiling, he then silently plays certain scenes in his head - remembering the first time he attempted to undress her.

"Sia's condition that time was downright harrowing. I couldn't stomach imagining her at that state even just for a second."

Bloody and ripped garments, her figure's grotesque distortion, and a spine-chilling sight overall - that Anastasia in his memories has haunted his dream for years.

That time, he knew that he couldn't just stand by and let her look like that. Hence, despite being a principled gentleman, he took it upon himself to undress an unconscious girl in a dim, soulless room.

He recalls how he felt like being in flames as soon as he took a glimpse of her everything.

"Well, almost everything. I was saying the truth. I wasn't looking when I covered her intimate parts."

But even then, Zen can't help but blush furiously whenever he re-lives that exact moment.

Out of all that happened, changing Anastasia's clothes is undoubtedly one of the hardest things he did in his life. His rapidly accelerating heart was urging him to do the unthinkable, but his brain was saying the opposite.

He couldn't look at her properly, and his conscience kept kicking in whenever his curious mind and playful eyes would dart to a restricted area.

"Haaah... This can't be happening again..." Zen thought out loud in frustration, heaving a sigh before sliding down the door and sitting on the ground.

He just keeps covering his flushed face as images of that day continue to sprout out in his head. That's until he gets to the bottom of his recollection.

"But you know what, Sia? I wasn't a bit least happy at what I saw..." he then hissed out of nowhere, a formidable glint glazing his crimsons.

"All those scars that had been inflicted on you - I couldn't stand them the most."

Zen recalls feeling extremely revolted, enraged and infuriated after taking a good look at those physical reminders of her hellish reality. At that moment, his eyes immediately screamed bloody murder, his hands itched for vengeance, and all his senses just seemed to numb.

But more than anything, he felt powerless and useless for letting her go through it all. He also resented himself, and up until now, he could never forgive himself for everything he had done.

"I'm so sorry..."