"Just do as I say, okay!?" Tessa growled.
Silence…
After momentary hesitation, Nylon wasted no time slipping off his shirt, revealing the chiseled figure that lay underneath.
Tessa's eyes followed every contour of his immaculate body with expertly concealed lust. If not for his presence, drool certainly would've fallen by now.
From Nylon's perspective, however, Tessa was judging him with her sinuous gaze. His every movement was put under the scrutiny of a snake-like woman who reveled in his suffering.
When he got around to taking off his pants, Tessa felt her lower extremities warm up at the sight of a bulge that emulated how well-endowed he was. She felt the instinctive urge to reach out and touch it but held herself back before Nylon noticed anything strange.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
For him, though, it looked like she saw what he was packing and exhaled in mockery at how pitiful it was. He could already hear her scornful voice repeat, "How cute." in his mind.
The only thing preventing Nylon from crashing out right now were the visions of a wonderful future where he was no longer subjected to the whims of powerful families like the North Sea Family. He wanted to get out of this place and see everything that this floating blue marble in the depths of space had to offer.
But to one day live in that future, he had to be patient—and above all else, compliant.
Before Tessa could fully engrave the alluring image of Nylon's body in her mind, he had already donned himself in the fieldwork attire. She clicked her tongue but still found the time to secretly admire him in his thin white crop top and tight black shorts. All the right muscles were perfectly revealed in all the right places.
If alone, Tessa would've given a thumbs-up along with a nosebleed.
"Is there anything else, my Lady?"
"Huh? No, nothing from you, Dog!"
Tessa caught herself just in the nick of time, making it impossible for Nylon to realize what she was actually thinking about in that dirty mind of hers. She called him a "Perverted Dog" one more time before pushing him out of her room. Secretly, she was reluctant to do this, but there was no way she'd ever allow him to know what she was really like!
Once alone in her room, though, Tessa started to tear up. Slumping against a wall onto the floor, she huddled up into a ball.
"W-Why can't I just say what I really want to say…?" she sniffled, banging her head against her knees. "I'm… I'm so useless…"
Although no one except for her and her Head Maid was aware of this fact, the truth was that the very moment she saw Nylon that day, it was love at first sight.
For little Miss Tessa, men had always been a rarity. And of those few who crossed her path, most were either lecherous old men or arrogant young masters who only saw her as a stepping stone to power. None of them were worth more than a passing glance.
It was no wonder, then, that she found it difficult—almost impossible—to speak her true feelings aloud.
And then came along a young man who Tessa instantly linked with "Adonis," the most handsome man in history. It wasn't surprising that her maiden's heart faltered, giving way to the flood of love that now had her heart beating a million times a second.
During their first encounter, Tessa so badly wanted to say what was welling forth a whole new wave of emotions: I like you, please go out with me!
But unfortunately, the things that wound up coming out were, "Dog!" and "Pervert."
After that incident, she cried herself to sleep that same night. And as much as she tried to fight it, every following moment she had with Nylon went worse than horrible!
At this point, she just wanted to jump inside a hole and die—
*Piak!*
At the distinct sound of a hoe tilling through the dirt, Tessa's ears perked. Her depression seemed to vanish as if it were never there, and with a pep in her step, she hopped over to her room's window.
Outside, Nylon was swinging down a hoe. Sweat glistened off his lightly tanned skin as he expanded the area of the garden that was already there. He swung and swung, doing a perfect job that would have any professional gardener overflowing with pride.
However, Tessa didn't care about any of that!
She didn't even care about the garden. She just wanted to see Nylon moving around in the explicit shirt sticking to his defined muscles with sweat.
She could watch him all day long!
"...My Lady…" The Head Maid, a 9th Plane Unmaker, suddenly walked in on Tessa. A helpless sigh escaped her lips when she realized that the young miss was in so much of a daze that she hadn't even noticed her arrival.
The Head Maid, Amary, had been severely conflicted about something as of late. Specifically, it was her Master's messed-up relationship with the new Male Steward.
'I want to help her out, but she makes it very difficult to do that when she's always treating young Nylon with such disdain…'
Amary wouldn't be the least bit surprised to hear of Nylon putting in his resignation letter and returning to the Mines. She treated him far too harshly.
"My Lady," said Amary, tapping Tessa on the shoulder. "Young Lord Kevin is here, requesting your presence."
Tessa was already annoyed by being suddenly pulled away from her eye candy, but when she heard that name, her vexation multiplied. She genuinely scowled.