After getting rid of all his clothes Zenyph jumped under his warm blankets and drifted off to slumber, not wanting anything other than the warmth of his fluffy bed.
For the next several hours, he slept peacefully without waking once.
In the morning, Zenyph was awakened by sunlight shining through the window blinds. The sun had risen high in the sky, and rays of light filtered through gaps in the curtains, illuminating Zenyph's room with golden brightness. It was still quite early, but Zenyph was wide awake anyway, and he enjoyed having time to lie there and bask in the glow of the new day.
"What an odd dream..." Zenyph murmured as he got out of bed and stretched lazily.
"What dream?" Lynette suddenly asked appearing before him, looking like a spirit or a ghost.
Zenyph froze in shock, "How long have you been standing there, Lynette? And what are you doing in my room?"
Lynette shrugged nonchalantly, "I've been here since you got back from seeing your mother but you fell asleep immediately so I didn't want to wake you up."
"Why are you even in here?
"it is a maids duty to be at her master's side at all times." Lynette replied sternly before grinning widely, "So, what happened last night?"
"Nothing." replied Zenyph calmly.
"Really, because you seem very relaxed now compared to yesterday." retorted Lynette with raised eyebrows.
Zenyph ignored Lynette and walked over to the table where his clothes lay neatly folded. He picked it up and headed towards the bathroom, intending to take a shower. On his way out, he passed by Lynette who blocked his path with both her arms crossed in front of her chest.
"What?" he growled defensively, "If you must know, I'm mad at you. And that's exactly why I'm ignoring you right now."
"Mad at me? Why?" questioned Lynette, surprised. She had no idea what she could've possibly done to get him angry at her.
"Because you left me at the library without a way to get back to my room." replied Zenyph exasperated. He wasn't really mad at her per se but rather frustrated at his own inability to figure out what she was planning.
"I'm sorry about that, Your highness... I mean Zenyph I forgot." admitted Lynette sheepishly, scratching the back of her neck nervously.
"Do you wish to know what I was up to? asked Lynette with a curious smile.
"No. I'm sorry, it's just the stress of everything that's happened has gotten to me. Thank you for keeping my secret and for sparing my life. I'm very lucky that you were the first one to find out." answered Zenyph sincerely as he leaned forward and gave Lynette a quick kiss on the cheeks making her face heat up.
"I trust you and I hope you learn to trust me too" said Zenyph as he winked and headed off to his bathroom.
Lynette watched Zenyph leave feeling conflicted about what had transpired between them. She couldn't stop thinking about him kissing her earlier and it made her feel tingly inside.
However, she knew that he was merely toying with her emotions to gain leverage against her, and that it probably meant nothing serious at all. Yet despite this knowledge, she found herself hoping he would do it again sometime soon. She hated herself for thinking such ridiculous things, especially when she couldn't even trust him fully yet, but she was powerless to stop it either way.
"Oh yeah Lynette can you help me with the bathtub? Seeing as my magic is still not enough." asked Zenyph with a slight teasing tone.
"Sure" responded Lynette flatly as she followed Zenyph into the bathroom.
As he started taking off his shorts, Lynette suddenly turned away and covered her eyes with her arm, blushing furiously.
"I-i'll wait for you in the main area." Lynette stuttered as she hurriedly tried to ran out of the bathroom.
Zenyph smirked as he caught hold of Lynette wrist before she could escape "Don't tell me you're embarrassed of seeing the male body, after all isn't it a maids duty to please her master?" Zenyph teased further.
Lynette gulped nervously as she struggled to maintain eye contact with Zenyph, "That's different! I've never been that kind of maid nor has the prince ever asked me to."
Zenyph chuckled before releasing his hold on her wrists, "Come now don't act shy." Zenyph told her with a playful grin as he resumed removing his undergarments.
He purposely took longer than necessary in order to further tease her, knowing that Lynette wouldn't be able to resist taking a peek at him anyway.
And indeed, after several seconds of enduring the awkward silence, Lynette finally cracked under the pressure and sneaked a quick glimpse of Zenyph's naked body before turning away in embarrassment again.
Seeing her reaction pleased Zenyph immensely and he decided to push his luck further by walking right past her towards the tub.
As he slowly stepped into the bathwater, Lynette's gaze was fixed firmly on his muscular butt cheeks, following every single movement closely as if entranced by it.
Once again, Zenyph grinned internally before saying something he hoped would break the ice between them, "You know it's rude to stare, right?"
Lynette blushed brightly before glancing up towards his face which was now staring straight back at her. She quickly looked away shyly avoiding eye contact entirely as she muttered "Sorry about that."
Zenyph chuckled softly, "No worries, although it would be nice if someone was willing to wash my back."
Lynette hesitated briefly but ultimately couldn't resist her growing curiosity.
Without answering Zenyph Lynette began washing Zenyph's muscular back with gentle strokes using soap and water to clean away grime from the day before.
Her petite hands trembled slightly due to nervousness and excitement at touching Zenyph's bare skin directly, but she managed to keep them steady as she rubbed small circles across his shoulders.
Eventually, after thoroughly cleaning everything she moved downwards and began working on scrubbing his sides. By then, she noticed Zenyph's breathing starting to quicken and deepen slightly and knew he was enjoying this too much for comfort, but she continued anyway, regardless of whether or not she wanted to stop doing it.
Suddenly, Lynette felt a hand grip her plump thigh and squeeze it gently, causing her heartbeat to accelerate dramatically as if she had taken some sort of drug.
"T-thanks for helping me take a bath, Lynette." Zenyph said in a low, husky voice that sent shivers down Lynette spine, "Now it's your turn."
He tried to reach for Lynette shoulder but she immediately dodged his hand and scurried back toward the door before stopping dead in her tracks, unsure whether or not she wanted to go any further.
"Are you coming in here or do I have to come drag you myself?" Zenyph said seductively while waving at Lynette to join him.
With shaky legs and trembling hands Lynette took a deep breathe in and out.
"That's enough fooling around Zenyph. It's weird seeing the prince act so indecent towards me. Besides Prince Nytio has invited you and her majesty Hina to have breakfast with him this morning. You need to hurry along, lest he becomes upset with you." informed Lynette as she averted her gaze.
"Is that so? Very well, thank you Lynette. I'll just have to continue flirting with you later." teased Zenyph as he began lathering his hair with soap suds.
"Whatever you say your highness." responded Lynette as she rolled her eyes dismissively and left the bathing area.
Once she was gone Zenyph sighed disappointingly but knew there wasn't anything he could do about it. As expected, seducing a lady such as Lynette was no easy feat and required some finesse on his part to make progress towards his goal of obtaining her loyalty.
However, given enough time, he was confident that he would eventually manage to crack through her defenses and make her fall madly in love with him, as many others before had before her.
"Slow and steady wins the race" He thought happily to himself while rinsing off his body thoroughly.
"Prince Nytio huh? Is he truly as scary as the rumors say? Regardless if he wanted to kill the previous prince he would have probably done so already." mused Zenyph after drying off and getting dressed, eager to see what type of character he was dealing with. After all, he had to determine if the third prince was friend or foe.
"I believe it was Machievelli that said 'A wise ruler will rely on what he can best control.' or something like that. Let's just focus on making sure my secret stays a secret."