“Get naked,” the maid with chain glasses blurted out, abruptly making Lutiel’s eyes raise themselves at her. Looking at the blank stare he was receiving from the woman, he kept to himself for a couple of seconds.

“Why?”

“At lady’s request, a bath had been prepared, as you can see,” she said, turning her face away from him and gesturing at the foamy tub, at the same time revealing a black bun that veiled most of her head.

“I know, but I can wash myself alone.”

“Not with that injury, you can’t. How are you supposed to use your arms when it’s displaced this badly? Not to mention washing that crusted and gunky hairs of yours.”

“What?”

“Did you also lose your sense of humor along with the memories?” The maid asked with a raised eyebrow, standing in the slippery, steamy baths still in her uniform. Not caring for wetting the black fabric, she instead lowered her foggy glasses at the man in front of her.

“Maybe. I can still bathe myself,” he replied, looking at the porcelain bathtub with metallic, ornate legs holding it up.

“I’m here for different reasons, that nose of yours for example. I’m responsible for a lot of things, healing included. Also, that long hair of yours needs some cutting up.”

Her voice resounded in his ears. Turning his sight back and forth at the bath and the maid, he stood there, mute.

“What are you waiting for?” Asking the human seemingly frozen in place while staring at her, the maid didn’t seem to realize what he meant.

“Can’t you turn around for a moment?”

“Why should I do that? Are you saying you’re going to get aroused in front of a demon? How flattering of you, human,” she muttered while covering her mouth, but her eyes didn’t move a single bit.

Not uttering a single word more, he complied, grabbing the hems of the hemp dress at the bottom before raising it, revealing the body that had become bruised in multiple places.

Nonetheless, rather than looking at the purple spots or the platinum brand, the gaze of the maid seemed much lower than that, especially low for Lutiel to feel something creeping up his spine.

“Tis’e. That’s surprising,” she said while one of her eyebrows arose again, the voice of a cloth dropping to the floor distracting her back to normal. Quickly looking back, the woman looked at the man, who already started lowering his body inside the tub.

Displaced by his body, water flowed out from the bath vehemently, only to be caught by the drains fit discreetly in the tiled floor.

With his back facing her, Lutiel heard the loud footsteps coming from his right, the one that started all of this in front of him a second later.

The foam crawled up all the way to his battered collarbones, daintily grazing his skin while he released a deep breath.

“Is it too hot?” The maid asked, her arm ready to move towards the long, brass faucet rooted beside the tub.

“No. It’s good.” He said whilst moving around in the warm water, trying to feel for the liquid which reminded him of the dark space at the back of his mind.

Finding himself thinking about it more often than he would rather, the movement in the warm waters began to recede.

Coming to a complete halt, the man no longer looked through the dimly lit baths, instead shutting himself off momentarily while recalling the words his new master spoke to him.

‘Ten years, huh? Were those dark surroundings the time I spent in that membrane?’ He thought to himself with blank eyes that stared into nothing. Having the maid observing him, however, he couldn’t keep the look forever.

“It’s gonna hurt a bit, so try not to move around too much,” she said, distracting him from whatever he was thinking about back to the present.

Catching a movement with his eyes, Lutiel immediately broke away from his head before centering on the sneaky maid.

“What is?” He asked, instinctively grabbing hold of the hand coming towards his face.

“We have to adjust your nose if we want it to heal properly. Unless you want to keep having trouble breathing,” she said, keeping her eyes locked onto his. “So, how about you let me free?”

Sparking something inside, the grip around her wrist lessened. Being allowed to have her way, she immediately used the chance, grabbing onto the swollen skin while making his head cock back in response, a sharp sensation striking him.

“I told you something,” she said, having grasped the reddened nose with her fingers before stopping at his sudden agitation.

“I wasn’t prepared,” Lutiel said, tensing his body. “You can start now.”

Both to alleviate the incoming pain, as well as to restrain his blabbering mouth, he grabbed tightly onto the edge of the bath, the already naturally pronounced muscles of his upper body further outlining themselves.

“Ugh,” he groaned as the maid fully grasped the nose with her fingers. Clenching his jaw and closing the eyes, Lutiel’s upper body began visibly convulsing as he fought off the pain.

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Nonetheless, as time passed, with the girl’s hand working its magic, he could hear an immediate ‘crack’ once she moved it.

Tainting the waters through the dense foam, droplets of blood started flowing down his chin like a stream, but she wasn’t done.

Taking hold of his face with both hands, she began pushing the bone back into its place, a procedure no less than a few seconds long, yet enough for the man to wish he was back in the arena.

“Alright, it’s all done. You’re lucky the cartilage hasn’t been shattered,” she said while lightly slapping his face with the tips of her fingers. Washing off the blood gathered on them, the man finally opened his eyes and breathed deeply, grimacing to the pulsating pain radiating around his nose and a bit above his right brow.

“What is this?” He asked, oblivious to the faint smile he was receiving. Gently poking his nose with the tips of his fingers, he was quickly stopped, taken hold of by the maid.

“Don’t touch it. It will stop soon anyways. We can’t have a servant of Lady Zyponia embarrass her with being improper, so I sped up the healing process.”

“What?”

Ending his desperate search for breath, he asked vainly, no explanation coming out of her. Rather, he felt his shoulders being grabbed, the body moving with no volition of the mind.

Making even more water flow out of the tub than before, the maid turned him to the side of the bath before submerging him down to his shoulders. Then, under the speechless gaze and reactions of the man, she took all of the hairs grazing the floor before putting them inside the soapy water.

“You wouldn’t get it anyway. Let’s continue with something else, shall we?” Asking while rubbing his head, she watched as he stared at her, directly into her eyes.

“Didn’t I say I can do it myself?

“So you say, yet you haven’t nudged a finger,” she said while flashing him a cheeky grin alongside a wink.

Hearing a light chuckle permeate the space as he looked away, glancing at the light yellow crystal that illuminated the baths from the ceiling, Lutiel’s head dandled involuntarily. Replying to the girl massaging his hair with the soap from the corner of the tub, his body was soon raised as she needed access to the soaked hairs falling on his back.

With the time fleeting by in peace, the silence only interrupted by the foam forming and moving around the surface. Looking ahead of him, at the doors of the baths, Lutiel struck up a conversation, without the need for tensing his jaw in efforts to control himself.

“Are you also a slave?” he asked suddenly, prompting the maid to stop her movements briefly.

“No,” she replied briskly before going back to scrubbing his head. “Neither are any of the servants, including the old coachman.”

“I’m the only one? But master Zyponia said she bought one from the merchant previously.”

“About that,” her voice soured. “That’s why you’re here. As a replacement for the previous slave.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

“She ran away after breaking off her slave brand,” the maid spoke slowly, making sure to distribute the cleaning soap in every crevice of his hair.

“She was a demon, right?”

“Yes, but that doesn’t matter anymore. We have you now. And since Lady Zyponia bought you, it must mean something.”

“I see,” he said, his head pulled on silently by the woman behind him.

Dispersing in the warm liquid, the foam around his hairs dissipated and he was promptly put back in the original place. With a slick and glossy, lustrous mane even whiter than before, it caught the full attention of the maid.

“You aren’t an albino, yet your hair is as fair as the purest snow. It’s a shame we have to cut it,” she said while moving her fingers through the thick strands. ”Can you sit like you did the first time?”

“Sure,” replying tersely, the man moved through the murky waters, which lost a lot of their foamy top, gaining the dirt from his head and body instead. Leaning his back on the side wall of the bath, he soon heard the clicking of scissors after the maid rustled through some fabrics.

Taking hold of all the hairs, she lay them flat against the tub and the floor, quickly moving the metallic scissors.

Once again, finding himself staring against the walls and nothing else, Lutiel exchanged some words with her.

“Can you tell me your name?”

“Although a bit blunt, I figured you would never ask. It’s Raeyine.”

“I’m Lutiel, if master hasn’t already told you.”

“Since we’ve now exchanged names, I will tell you this. Just call her Lady Zyponia. She doesn’t like other names, even if she doesn’t show it.”

Not replying for a while, she continued to cut his hair, having already chopped off more than half of its original length.

“Alright. I will,” he said calmly, his head lowered itself towards sparse patches of water. “Thank you, Raeyine.”

“...You’re welcome.” The maid prolonged her reply, having momentarily cut in the wrong spot, though she didn’t need long to fix the mistake.

Waiting out the rest of the haircut in silence, he stayed in the same spot, trying to move through the warm waters as little as possible.

“And, it’s done. Quite good, if I say so myself. Here, take a look,” Raeyine said, grabbing the reflective, small ellipse mirror from the same spot where the soap had been, she quickly put it in front of Lutiel.

All of a sudden, his body froze, looking at the man right in front of him. Widening his eyes, he stared at the reflection in disbelief.

The same cold demeanor as him, the same composed look in his eyes, the same indifference. All identical as him.

Looking at ‘himself’ in the mirror, his brows furrowed as he saw a bloodied face. The lips parted as a crimson liquid began flowing, the platinum hairs disheveled and dirtied from sweat.

Looking at Raphael, Lutiel’s body shook as he clutched his head, quickly moving his gaze away, down to the waters, only to see the same image reflected in them.

“Lutiel? Is everything alright? Lutiel? Hello?” The noise spread through the space of the bath, but it didn’t seem to reach his ears.

The maid quickly took away the mirror as her brows furrowed in distress. Grabbing his chin, she quickly lifted it, her face less than a hand’s reach close to his.

“Lutiel!” She raised her voice, finally catching his attention.

The quivering soon receded as the man’s ability to control his muscles came back, taking the hands off his head.

Looking at the maid with muddled eyes, he quickly gazed down at the waters once again.

This time, instead of Raphael, a different person was reflected. Someone that could be mistaken for him yet completely different from the old hero he saw previously.

“I’m sorry. I’m just... My head hurts,” he said while looking back at the creasing eyebrows of the maid.

“It’s fine. You were meant to rest because of your injuries anyways,” Raeyine muttered, moving her hand towards his arms. “Can you move by yourself?”

“Yes, thank you,” he replied, gripping the hand tightly.