92: Be More Gentle

Be More Gentle

Housekeeping was an easy task, especially since Oriana's job only covered making sure a single bedchamber was clean enough for her master's satisfaction. Not to mention, her master would only come back to his chamber to sleep and bathe. There was little reason for the chamber to turn dirty in the first place.

Making the bed, sweeping the floor, cleaning the carpet, wiping the furniture, replacing the candles and changing the flowers on the vases, these kinds of simple tasks would take about an hour or two to do. 

At this moment, Oriana was finished with her chores, and there was nothing left for her to do after Arlan disappeared without leaving an errand or order for her. 

She was wondering how to spend the rest of her day. The plans she made yesterday…

'Luke! Right, I haven't seen Luke since I started working for the Ahrens. I wonder how he is. We can eat our midday meal together.'

Oriana went to the rear part of the main mansion and witnessed a bustling site of laborers at work. 

From what she overheard from Ken, the Count ordered for the annex to be expanded as soon as possible, adding a new building, two more floors and another twenty rooms, thus the current construction. With the current manpower, it would probably take at least three months to half a year to finish.

The renovation on the exterior part was yet to be even half-completed. Oriana could see people installing glass on the windows, some men precariously hanging on ropes on the facade to arrange the fixtures. 

When she reached the entrance of the building, she came across Ken outside. 

The man waved at her, a hammer in hand. "Orian, look at you! I almost did not recognize you in your uniform. How are you?"

"I am good, Ken."

Ken observed the youth clad in a black-and-white attendant uniform. "It's been just two days since I last saw you but it feels like more time has passed."

"I feel the same, Ken. Where is Luke?"

"He is inside. I think you can see him in the fourth room to your right as soon as you enter."

"Thanks! I will go meet him."

Ken nodded and Oriana went inside the building where she found Luke working on the interiors all by himself. His back facing her, he was fixing a piece of wood on what appeared to be a framework for a staircase. 

Oriana observed the guy engrossed with his task. A twinkle appeared in her eyes. 'Let's have some fun.'

She walked slowly and was about to scare him by making an animal-like roar, but just as she was about to pounce, Luke happened to turn around at the same time. Her mouth, which was in a large 'o' shape made no sound, her hands raised like cute claws over her head. 

The intensity in those dark eyes seemingly made her entire body freeze.

Equally stunned, Luke stared at that cute form, unable to move a single muscle. He could not move his gaze away from her. He even forgot to breathe.

Seeing the fiery way he looked at her, her body shuddered. She did not know why, but she felt an odd sense of guilt. She lowered her hands and closed her mouth, clearing her throat awkwardly, "I, uhm, I was just trying to—"

"What are you doing here?" she heard him ask in a hoarse voice. 

"I came to meet you, of course."

Something flashed in those dark eyes, but their owner turned around and resumed his work, intending to ignore his playful visitor. 

Oriana forced a smile on her face as she walked around Luke, admiring his work. "When is your break? Do you want to eat together?"

"Don't you have work to do?"

Oriana heard sarcasm in his tone, and only then did she remember that her friend was against her working for the Ahrens. "Luke, why are you mad again? I have a reason why I started working here."

"The pay must be really good."

"It is, but that is not the reason I'm here."

"Whatever it is, you got what you want."

"Luke, I know you didn't want me to work for a noble family but you need to listen to me first."

He pointedly ignored her and said nothing. 

Regardless of Oriana's goal or ambition, Luke had no right to dictate her actions. She was someone with her own mind, and Luke knew that—and that was also the reason why he was frustrated.

Noble families were arrogant people obsessed with reputation that commoners like Oriana and Luke were more likely to suffer under their whims. 

Luke didn't want Oriana to work here because he didn't trust the Ahrens. In the first place, why would a count household allow a fifteen-year-old youth to be hired as a servant? She was without prior work experience, and there were no recommendations and background checks done on her either. 

Was it for Oriana's pretty face?

That was Luke's suspicion. He knew how easily she attracted people with ill intentions towards her. The troubles her appearance caused was personally witnessed by Luke during their stay in the village, as well as their journey towards the capital. 

Against villagers and other ordinary people, he could still protect the pretty-looking boy but here in the capital, against these powerful nobles, Luke was a nobody. How could he protect her? 

The worry he felt for her was killing him, and worse, he could not even go to see her. Luke was simply employed as a skilled laborer and entry in the other mansions was not allowed unless permitted. Luke could only see her small form once or twice from a distance whenever she came out.

Oriana was completely unaware of Luke's worries. 

From her perspective, Luke was being unreasonable. She turned around to leave. "Alright. If you don't want to hear me then I am leaving!"

Just as she turned around—

Thud!

"Ahh!"

Luke hurried towards Oriana as she stumbled upon the wooden block stacked on the floor. She had fallen on the floor and not only did she hurt her foot, she scraped her knee as well. 

He kneeled next to her. "Where are you hurt?"

"My leg…my knee…" she replied, trying to bear the pain. There were bloodstains on her knee and hand due to the fall, her pants on her right knee torn with a small wooden fragment embedded on her skin. 

Luke was about to lift her up when she raised her hand to stop him.

"No, Luke, I can walk." 

She did not want Luke to carry her. She feared that once he felt her delicate body, her secret might be revealed. Though she tried to hide the shape of her body with loose clothes and the tight wrap around her chest, Oriana's body was undoubtedly a woman's. It was better to not let people touch her body, let alone carry her in their arms. 

"Can you walk?" He looked at her bleeding knee.

"It's just a scrape. Don't boys often scrap their knees when running? Besides, it won't look good on me if a man carries me. I don't want to look like a weakling."

Luke nodded and simply offered her his hand. "Can you stand up?

She accepted his hand and stood up with a grimace. "What bad luck. You shouldn't place these blocks on the way."

"Sit on that chair. I will get something to apply on your wound."

She obediently sat in the chair which Luke pointed out after wiping it clean from dust. After he walked out of the room, Ken entered inside, carrying a box of supplies. "Did you get hurt? I heard Luke asking for medicine from a servant."

"It's nothing, Ken."

"Let me see." He walked towards where she was seated. "Why don't you roll up your pants? That looks bad. I can help remove wood splinters." 

Oriana gulped as she didn't want to show her bare leg to Ken. "It's fine. It's nothing much—."

"Ken." Fortunately, Luke returned, interrupting them. "The master builder is looking for you."

"Alright." Ken looked at Orian. "Take care. Be more careful when you walk. Accidents are quite common in construction sites."2

Oriana nodded, letting out a sigh of relief after Ken disappeared. 

Luke kneeled in front of her with a bowl of clean water and a small container in hand. "The servant said this herbal paste stings when applied on a wound."

"I am a herbalist. I know that," she replied and then checked the herbal paste. She mumbled, "Tsk, this kind is one of the cheapest available in the market. If I have the ingredients, even an herbalist of my caliber can make a better one."

"Who asked you to be a servant instead of continuing your work?" Luke countered. He held her hurt leg and started rolling her pants up.

"What are you doing?" Her free hand held her pants and Luke moved his serious gaze to her. 

Though he simply glanced up at her, that pair of eyes was intimidating and Oriana let go of her hand. Luke rolled her pants up to her knee of her right leg and started cleaning the wound with water. 

When he began applying that paste— 

"Ugh! It really stings," she whined. "Hey, don't press when you rub!"

"Stop acting like a girl," came the cold reply from a guy, who didn't seem to have any sympathy towards her. 

"Be more gentle."

"Remember the pain so you will be more cautious in the future." Even though he said those harsh words, his actions did turn more gentle. 

Oriana shut her mouth. 'So annoying. Why am I always clumsy when I'm with this guy?'

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