Chapter -5 changing attire.

Chapter -5.

in the evening finding the atmosphere in the house heavy and noticing Miss Aleena's downcast mood, Lucien retreats to his room to sleep after eating, only to awaken the next day.

"Good morning, Miss Aleena." With the smell of fresh morning air, he makes his way downstairs, where Miss Aleena stands with a jar of spices in hand, seemingly lost in thought. He tries to capture her attention by asking, "Are you perhaps making something for the village's children?"

"Good morning," Aleena replies, her mind still preoccupied with thoughts about her life and intimacy. However, upon hearing that Lucien remembers her plan to make something for the village children, the color returns to her face as she finally raises her head to look at him. He is still dressed in the clothes from yesterday.

"My, how clumsy of me! I forgot that you don't have anything else to wear," she suddenly exclaims, stepping forward and placing her flour-dusted hands on his chest. "Maybe Gilbert's clothes will fit you," she suggests, turning toward her room. But suddenly, Lucien grabs her hand and says, "Miss Aleena, that can wait until I get a bath. But first, how about I help you with whatever you're planning to make? I was trying to say that yesterday before Mr. Gilbert walked in. Anyway, I don't see him here."

"Gilbert? Where could he be besides out working? Don't worry about him; he won't come home for another hour," Aleena replies, casting a disdainful glance at the front door before turning her attention back to Lucien. She adds with a smile, "And more importantly, thank you for offering to help around the house. It can be quite a handful without a man's assistance." Her voice takes on a slightly tempting tone, unknowingly.

Hearing the tone of her voice, Lucien can't help but laugh internally while swallowing hard. This woman probably knows what she's doing, so he continues, "What are you talking about, Miss Aleena? This is something I should do without you even asking, especially since you're letting me stay in your house."

"You're too modest," Aleena replies. Then, making her expression a little sad, she leans closer and whispers in Lucien's ear, "Anyway, can you stop calling me 'Miss'? It sounds so distant."

"Then, Aleena, just tell me what I need to do, and I'll do it for you without even breaking a sweat," Lucien said, showing a seductive smile, captivating enough that Aleena couldn't help but blush slightly. She replied, "Hmm... I understand, but before that, can you let go of my hand?"

Hearing that, Lucien realized that he was still holding onto Aleena's hand. "Oh, sorry about that. I didn't even realize I was holding your hand; it's just so soft."

"My, enough with the flattery! I won't give you an extra bread for that," Aleena said, smiling as she playfully smacked her hand against Lucien's chest. "Anyway, you should take off this shirt first if you want to help me, since it'll get dirty with the flour, and it'll be hard to make it go away afterward."

Lucien cast a curious glance at Aleena, trying to understand her intention. However, as she did not break her facial expression at all, he took off his shirt without saying much and then asked, "What about you?" He thought that if she was worried about his clothes, then she should be worried about her own as well.

"Me? Do you want me to take this off?" Aleena asked, pointing at her corset and looking slightly angry.

'Shit!' Lucien couldn't help but curse inwardly, as he really didn't mean that. Before she could misunderstand him even more, he tried to explain himself, "No! I didn't mean to..."

"Haha, you should look at your face right now," Aleena suddenly began to laugh, interjecting as Lucien was trying to explain himself. Seeing her, Lucien finally took a breath of relief and wanted to say something, but Aleena, now staring at his bare chest, mumbled, "My, I didn't know you were hiding these muscles behind that loose clothing. Are these the reason you were able to slay those goblins with ease?" She said, taking a step toward Lucien as if she wanted to explore those muscles inch by inch. But then she suddenly stopped, realizing that she was being too forward.

"About changing into other clothes, I have an apron ready in my room, so I'll go and get changed." With that, she abruptly stormed out of the kitchen-mixed hall.

"What was that?" Lucien couldn't help but mumble, not understanding what was going through that woman's head. Either way, since he had been working out quite rigorously and training, his body was definitely worth more attention. 'Anyway, making bread—what's the first task?' he couldn't help but ask himself, as he had boasted about helping but didn't know a single step of it.

Just as Lucien was thinking about how good it would have been if he had his smartphone, Aleena walked out of her room, now adorned in an apron. But seeing that Lucien wasn't even gazing in her direction, she couldn't help but clear her throat. "Ahem."

Hearing Aleena's voice, Lucien pushed away thoughts of his smartphone and turned toward her, only to be met with a sight he never thought he would see in his entire life.

Right in front of him stood Aleena, dressed in the apron as she had mentioned earlier. However, most of the other parts of her clothing had been removed; she had taken off her corset, while the lower part of her body was still covered by her dress. But since she had adorned only her upper body with the apron, it was hard for Lucien to take his eyes off her.

"Though I usually wear this over a corset, today I'm feeling some tightness around my body, so just the apron should be fine, I guess," she muttered, stretching her body and nearly giving Lucien a nosebleed.

"You're looking ready to cook, Aleena," Lucien said, who didn't know what she was planning to cook in that attire of hers, managing only to voice those words.