I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

Chapter 229

Blackwood Estate, Ethan's Private Room

Ethan had rushed Lillis to his room after she suddenly collapsed in the dining room. Now, with her head resting on his lap, he gently stroked her hair as she slept peacefully.

'She hasn’t slept properly for almost three days... No wonder she's so exhausted.'

Ethan had been the first to notice Lillis’s deteriorating condition, as he spent most of his day with her, given she was his personal maid. He had suggested she rest from the very first day she seemed tired, but Lillis had refused, or more accurately, she couldn’t afford to rest, which Ethan hadn’t understood at the time. Now, with her collapsing from overwork, guilt gnawed at him.

The only reason he had been able to catch her just before she hit the floor was that he had a bad feeling that day and decided to follow her closely.

He hadn’t intended to let her rest on his lap like this—it had just happened. Originally, he was going to let her sleep on his bed, but when she moaned and seemed distressed whenever he tried to move away, he had eventually settled on this position.

'Is she having nightmares lately?'@@@@

If nightmares were the reason she hadn’t slept well for the past few days, there was nothing Ethan could do. No matter how much he loved Lillis, he couldn’t protect her in her dreams. Unbeknownst to him, Lillis was actually sleeping soundly, soothed by his warmth, free from the nightmares that had plagued her. But Ethan couldn’t know this.

All he could do was continue stroking her hair, knowing it seemed to calm her. To Ethan, the sight of Lillis, resting peacefully with her head on his lap, was utterly endearing. It even stirred a desire within him to kiss her as she slept, a desire he barely managed to suppress.

'...Come to think of it, what exactly was that?'

Ethan shifted his thoughts, trying to focus on what had happened earlier in the dining room. He remembered holding Lillis in his arms after she collapsed, telling the other maids to let her rest. Then, out of the blue, Lillis had opened her eyes and, seemingly half-awake, had kissed him.

His heart started racing again as he recalled the moment.

'It wasn’t a dream, right?'

Lillis might have kissed him in a daze, not fully aware of what she was doing, but to Ethan, it was undoubtedly a kiss initiated by her. It wasn’t like the times he had approached her or asked for something—this was a kiss she had given him freely.

The feel of her lips on his, though brief, lingered in his mind.

'What could it have meant...?'

He thought he might have heard her faintly whisper his name just before the kiss. She had looked troubled, as if she were having a bad dream, but then, after whispering his name, her expression had softened, and she had kissed him.

And to make matters worse, her colleagues had witnessed the whole scene, which meant that by tomorrow, the servants would be buzzing with gossip.

'I did warn them to keep quiet, but...'

He trusted Isabel, who had accompanied Lillis to the academy and helped her with her duties. But the other maid, with her presence so faint, didn’t inspire much confidence.

Of course, Ethan wasn’t brave enough to ask Lillis for anything like that. He didn’t want her to despise him or look at him as if he were some sort of pervert.

'...Maybe I should leave her to rest alone.'

It wasn’t that Lillis’s head was too heavy or that he disliked the current situation of her resting on his lap. But he feared that if he stayed too long, he might start harboring inappropriate thoughts. The memory of what had happened a few days ago was enough to make his head feel hot.

-Slide, slide...

Carefully, he lifted Lillis, making sure not to touch her inappropriately, and laid her on the bed. He was just about to leave the room quietly when...

"Ethan...?"

Lillis’s faint voice reached his ears, and the next moment, he was yanked back onto the bed.

"Uwah?!"

-Thud.

Lillis had pulled him down with surprising strength, leaving him sprawled on the bed in a rather embarrassing position, especially since it looked like the two of them were in the middle of an intimate act.

Of course, they were both fully clothed in their formal attire, but the position itself was unmistakably suggestive.

"W-Wait, Lillis... Are you awake...?"

-Squeeze.

"Lillis...?!"

Before he could gather himself, Lillis wrapped her legs around his lower body, trapping him in a position that resembled a romantic encounter, leaving Ethan caught in a mix of emotions.

'No, this isn’t right... I need to break free...'

If he didn’t pull away, he might lose both his self-control and his sanity. So, despite knowing she was asleep, Ethan tried to extricate himself from her hold.

"Ethan, don’t go..."

"......"

But the pleading tone in her voice was something he couldn’t ignore. In the end, Ethan abandoned the idea of escaping and instead lay still, holding back his desires as he stayed by her side.