Chapter 7 He Still Has a Bit of Conscience

Avira's POV

“That works out perfectly. I wasn’t planning to do it for free either. I don’t like the food in the castle, so I’m going to make myself some soup. When the time comes, there’ll be one extra bowl in the pot. If you want it, you can pay for it. If you don’t, you don’t have to.”

After I said that, that same look as if he had seen a ghost appeared on the butler’s face this time.

He tugged hard at me, signaling for me not to court death.

But Kylan did not lose his temper. He looked at me, then let his gaze fall to my wrist.

“You can still lift a pot?”

“I can ask someone in the kitchen to help.”

So he was worried about the injury on my wrist. He did have a bit of a conscience after all. This time, my suspended heart finally settled completely. Good. A person with a conscience couldn’t be that bad, no matter how irritable he was.

Kylan let out a hum. He neither agreed nor stopped me again, only tipped his chin toward the door.

I went out at once, before he changed his mind.

The butler still looked shaken. He carefully led me downstairs along the corridor and into the main castle’s kitchen.

The stove was still lit, and a cook was putting away the leftover ingredients from dinner. After hearing the butler out, she warmly placed the ingredients in front of me.

“You go ahead with your work. I’ll just borrow the small stove beside it.”

I smiled at her. Familiar heat rushed over me, and my shoulders, tense all evening, finally relaxed a little.

The soup I wanted to make was very simple. No cream, and no spices with too strong a smell. Just boil the potatoes and carrots until soft, then tear in a little cooked chicken.

When I worked at the tavern, I made plenty of this kind of soup for customers who had drunk too much and lost their appetite. Still, drunk omega uncles were easier to serve than the Alpha King. At worst, when they got picky, they only complained there was too little meat. They did not put lives at risk.

After the soup was ready, I filled a bowl for myself first and quickly drank the last mouthful from the bottom clean. I wiped my mouth, then filled Kylan’s portion and followed the butler back upstairs.

Kylan was still leaning against the headboard, his posture almost unchanged. There was one more opened document by the bed. His hand rested on the paper, and he was thinking about something.

I glanced at the document. After thinking it over, I decided not to point out at a time like this that his condition meant he should not be working. That was not something I should be meddling in.

The butler set the tray on the small table by the bed, removed the plate of roast meat that had already gone cold, then withdrew outside the door.

I pulled the small table a little closer and turned the spoon handle toward Kylan’s uninjured side.

He lowered his head and looked at the bowl. “What’s in it?”

“Chicken, potatoes, carrots, and salt. Which one don’t you like?”

“Just those?”

I nodded.

Did he expect gold coins floating in the soup? That would not do. The ingredients in this whole pot together were not worth decorating with my gold coins.

The corner of his mouth seemed to move. At last, he picked up the spoon and pushed aside a few pieces of potato on the surface.

A moment later, I heard the spoon lightly tap the rim of the bowl. Kylan scooped up a spoonful of food, but just as he brought it to his mouth, he paused and looked up to ask me, “You already ate?”

“I did. It came from the same pot as yours.”

To prove I had not put anything in the soup that should not be there, I told Kylan on my own that we were eating food from the same pot. That way he would not call for me to eat another serving to test for poison. I was very full right now.

Kylan looked at me for a while, then smiled and drank the first spoonful of soup.

He ate very slowly. From time to time, I looked over. Only when I saw that he was not frowning did I relax and lower my head to rub my wrist.

Quite a while had already passed. My skin had not swollen, so it really should be fine. I tugged my sleeve lower and heard him ask, “Does it still hurt?”

“A little.”

His spoon stopped in the bowl.

I added, “But it’s fine. If it still hurts tomorrow morning, I’ll ask Mr. Alex to take another look. If it’s serious, then the work in your room will probably have to be given to someone else.”

“Fine.”

He answered that fast? A little surprised, I lifted my head.

Kylan had already scooped up more soup. He did not look at my hand again.

I blinked. Since we could talk now, I might as well use the chance while he had not yet eaten his fill and changed his face, and make the other matter clear too.

“Alpha King, can the nursing hours be fixed?”

“Are six silver coins still not enough?”

“I’m talking about the hours, Alpha King. Six silver coins are not enough to buy my entire day. I think we should set a fixed time—for example, from nine at night to one in the morning as private nursing hours.”

For silver coins, I could sacrifice a little sleep.

As soon as I finished speaking, I looked straight at his face.

Kylan slowly lifted his eyes.

I edged half a step back, and my voice softened a little. “I need to know when I’m allowed to sleep. If I’m busy from morning to night every day, and then have to change your medicine at any moment during the night too, what if I’m muddleheaded and can’t do things properly?”

Seeing that he said nothing, I fixed my timid gaze on his lower lip, ready to hear him reject it.

“Half an hour from now, you can go back to your room. From now on, come every night at nine and finish at midnight.”

I lifted my head. He was putting the last piece of potato into his mouth.

“The six silver coins of nursing allowance will still be paid to you,” Kylan added.

I looked at that empty bowl, and my mood became so good it was almost excessive.

Just one bowl of soup, and he was willing to let me get off work on time. If I had known it was this effective, I should have looked for a pot the moment I entered the castle.

“The soup is delicious, but remember what your proper job is,” he said suddenly.

I quickly wiped the smile from my face. “Of course. I’ll take good care of you.”

Kylan nodded. I moved the small table aside and waited for him to slowly lie down by himself before reaching out to hand him the blanket that had slipped to the edge of the bed.

When he took the blanket, his fingertips came very close to my hand.

The butler left with the empty dishes. I went back to the chair by the door and found that from here, I could see the little clock on the bedside table just fine, enough to let me wait calmly for the end of my shift.

Unfortunately, the hands moved more slowly than I had imagined.

I began calculating in my head how many ingredients my wages would buy after six months of saving, and whether it would be enough for me to open a restaurant of my own in the south. Once I had my own restaurant, I would make this soup the signature dish. The soup could be cooked in advance, and when customers came, it could be served at once.

But under no circumstances could I let people buy on credit. Even someone as good-looking as Kylan would not be allowed.

A slight movement came from the bed.

I looked up. Kylan had turned his face to the side toward me, and the tight crease between his brows had already smoothed out.

“Do you want water?” I asked.

He did not answer.

I waited a moment, then realized his eyes were already closed.

He fell asleep that fast?

I stood up carefully. He did not move. The fingers resting outside the blanket had loosened too, and his breathing slowly became steady.

So when he was asleep, he did not keep frowning all the time.

I watched for a moment, then sat back down softly and did not move the chair again.

When the time to get off work came, a very light knock sounded outside the door. It was the butler coming to take over the shift.

I went to open the door and put one finger to my lips. The butler looked past me toward the bed, his gaze stopping there. Then he slowly nodded.

He signaled that I could return to my room, while he stayed in the outer chamber.

I gently pulled the bedroom door shut behind me. The corridor was a little cool, so I tightened my coat around me, rubbed my sore neck, and walked back the way I had come toward the maids’ quarters on the outer side.

Tonight was finally over.

I had just passed the turn at the end of the corridor when suddenly I heard the sound of something being shoved open behind me.

Right after that, the door to Kylan’s bedchamber opened behind me.

“Alpha King, please don’t get up—”

I heard the butler’s attempt to dissuade him cut off.

“Where is Avira?”

I stopped at the corner and looked back uneasily.

Kylan, who had been sleeping deeply just now, had a frighteningly loud voice at this moment.

“Call her back.”