The Glowing Blue Lake, Part 1
The three of them settled down near the Glowing Blue Lake. First, they decided to build a proper, stable shelter, unlike the crude, makeshift ones they had thrown together just to get through the night. They would have to stay here until Chester's wounds were fully healed.
Most of the shelters Chester, Monia, and Ant had used so far were simple structures utilizing the surrounding terrain. A cave they happened to stumble upon. A hollow beneath the roots of a massive tree. A crevice under a jutting rock. Or, since the weather was neither too cold nor too hot, they would simply take basic precautions against insects and sleep directly on the ground.
"Look! There are even fish in the lake."
"Oh? Should we make a trap, then?"
"I'll make it!"
"Sure, go ahead."
Monia set off to make the trap, while Chester began gathering materials for their shelter. Fortunately, wood was abundant in the area. Branches of all thicknesses and lengths were everywhere; a quick look around revealed plenty of suitable materials, and a few swings of his machete were enough to harvest what he needed.
The wood here is tough and resilient. If I only had a stone axe instead of this machete, cutting it would have been a nightmare.
Branches of various lengths and thicknesses, along with a decent amount of vines and rope. With just these, he had all the materials he needed to build a temporary home.
While Chester roughly cut and trimmed the branches, Monia finished the trap and tied a rope around its middle. Securing the other end of the rope to a nearby tree, she weighted the trap with a few small stones and tossed it into the water. Dragged down by the stones, the trap sank straight to the bottom of the lake.
After tossing in a few more traps, Monia walked over to Chester, who was still prepping the wood, and began helping him trim the branches.
"I'll help with the shelter now."
"Sure."
"What kind of design are we going for?"
"Just something simple. It's going to be..."
Monia nodded in understanding as she listened to his explanation of the design.
"What I want to build right now is a shelter that keeps us hidden from the eyes of beasts."
"Right. So it needs to be low-profile and blend in, then?"
"Yeah. Naturally, that means it has to be small. But building multiple shelters would look suspicious, so we can only make one. Sorry. It's going to be a tight squeeze."
"Oh, that's fine by me."
"What?"
"Ehehe."
Chester had heard her slip-of-the-tongue loud and clear, but he pretended not to. Feeling his cheeks burn, he rested his chin on his hand, shielding the side of his face facing Monia, and continued explaining how to build the shelter while his mind drifted.
A woman...
Women had never really been a part of his life. Entering the Butler Academy at a young age and undergoing rigorous training before immediately joining the Duke's household, he naturally had zero opportunities to meet women. Any contact with the opposite sex was strictly restricted to preserve a butler's dignity and proper conduct. It was no different after he arrived at the Duke's estate.
The only women he ever encountered were the maids working in the Duke's mansion, maids from other noble households, Monia, other noble ladies, or the Duchess herself. Having access only to noblewomen might sound like a luxurious life to some, but most of them didn't even view Chester, a commoner, as a human being. Naturally, Chester had no desire to get close to people who looked down on him like that, so he kept his interactions strictly professional and built a solid wall between them.
On the rare occasions he traveled alone to execute Monia's orders and met ordinary women, they would mistake him for a young nobleman due to his refined butler's bearing and keep their distance. Since he hated the idea of making others uncomfortable or putting them in a difficult spot by approaching them, he never tried to get close to them either.
Wow, now that I think about it, this is pretty bad.
Chester was twenty-three. In an ordinary commoner family, he would have been married by now, likely with at least two children running around if everything went well.
Did I inherit this from my father?
His father's case had been the opposite. While Chester had no luck with women due to his highly restricted environment, his father had been too busy wandering the world to settle down with anyone. It wasn't until the relatively late age of thirty that he met his wife and finally put down roots.
A woman.
Chester was a healthy, hot-blooded young man. It wasn't as if he had no thoughts on living a lonely life devoid of romance.
"And we finish it here..."
"Right, yes."
Chester looked at Monia as she nodded along to his explanation. She was beautiful—more beautiful than anyone he had ever seen in his life. Honestly, he had been captivated from the very first moment he saw her. If it hadn't been for her atrocious personality back when she was a sheltered noble lady, not only Chester—who was physically and mentally healthy—but all the other butlers would have fallen head over heels for her.
Though, of course, not a single butler or knight actually fell for her back then.
Her personality was the problem. Always the personality. Especially after becoming her personal butler and being run ragged by her endless, demanding whims, Chester had developed a deep-seated aversion to Monia—and noblewomen in general.
But now...
How were things now?
She's changed a lot.
The woman who once resembled a meticulously crafted, sterile work of art had transformed into a vibrant, healthy young woman. The lady who used to be like a cold, hard, sharp jewel—dangerous to even approach—had blossomed into a breathtaking vista, like a meadow overflowing with wildflowers. Unlike before, she possessed a lively, radiant charm, and he found himself drawn to her whenever that side of her showed.
Her smile was beautiful. It was endearing to see her try so hard to learn even the smallest things. He loved watching her absorb his lessons and grow more capable by the day. And really, when she made her affection so glaringly obvious, how could he possibly not notice? Before, she had felt like a child he needed to look after, but as she matured, he could no longer view her in that light. He found himself thinking of her more and more. He realized that whenever he planned anything, he automatically assumed she would be right there beside him.
"Great, let's build it quickly then! The method is pretty simple!"
Lately, Monia had started dropping her formal speech here and there. It was only occasional, but the shift had begun after that incident—when Chester had gone off to hunt the bear alone. Though neither of them said it aloud, they both felt it. Ever since that day, they had drawn closer.
Together, Chester and Monia set to work on the shelter. First, they wedged a long, three-meter branch into a crevice in the rocks near the lake. Since the forest was dense with massive trees, finding a branch of this length was easy. After propping one end of the branch up, they drove the other end into the ground and piled heavy stones around it to keep it securely in place.
Next, they gathered smaller branches and leaned them diagonally against both sides of the main branch, which was already sloped against the rock. Once they had formed a long, triangular frame, they lashed the structural branches together with vines to make it sturdy.
After that, they piled leaves and grass over the sloped branches. Once the foliage was thick enough to completely cover the frame, they laid heavier branches over the top to weigh down the leaves and prevent the wind from blowing them away.
"Honestly, if we were just using this for a night, we wouldn't need to tie it down. But since we don't know how long we'll be here..."
As he spoke, Chester brought over some ropes, tied stones to both ends, and draped them over the roof. By hanging several of these weighted ropes over the shelter, he ensured the leaves and grass were held down even more securely.
Next, they layered the inside of the shelter with a thick bed of leaves and grass.
"This is to keep us off the bare ground, right?"
"Yeah. Look at you, knowing the drill without me even having to explain."
"Well, you kept nagging me about how sleeping on the bare ground saps your body heat."
Monia giggled, and Chester smiled along with her. They had once been worlds apart, but now, they felt incredibly close.
Actually... yes. To be completely, brutally honest, there was a slightly devious motive behind choosing this specific design. He wanted to sleep close to Monia.
And Monia said she liked the idea too!
He tried to justify it to himself with shameless excuses, but his conscience still pricked him.
"Chester, Chester! Now that the house is finished, we have to test it out!"
"Huh?"
Before he knew it, Monia had already crawled inside. Lying down in the cramped space, she grinned and patted the spot next to her.
"..."
"Come on."
"Well, alright."
Trying his absolute best to maintain a calm facade, Chester swallowed hard and crawled into the shelter, hoping she wouldn't notice his nervousness.
The moment he entered the confined space, Monia's scent rushed into his nose. It was a sweet, soft fragrance, entirely different from a man's. As he lay down beside her, her presence became overwhelmingly distinct, and her warmth seeped into his skin.
"Hmm. It really is narrow."
"Yeah."
"But we'll just have to deal with it."
Monia turned onto her side and smiled softly at him. Chester, also lying on his side, stared back at her. At such close proximity, he could see her face flushed bright red, likely out of embarrassment. Gazing at her, Chester let out a quiet, shaky breath.
"Um, well..."
Monia looked around for a moment, then, as if hit by a brilliant idea, she scooted a little closer to him. She didn't quite have the courage to wrap her arms around him, so she tightly pressed her arms against her chest instead.
"If... if Ant wants to fit in here too, we'll have to squeeze together like this, right?"
"...! Y-yeah, I suppose."
Chester felt his mind go completely blank. With her arms pressed together in front of her, the deep cleavage of her chest was emphasized with agonizing clarity.
Damn it...!!
He felt a sudden, hot surge of blood rush through him.