Snow and Ice - Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Matthew felt himself being shaken away, though he didn't particularly like the idea. He had been sleeping for a while without realizing it at all. He groaned a bit, slightly opening his eyes to see a blurry face in front of him. Not having his glasses on, he couldn't really tell who it was.

"Master Matthew," the soft voice came, but he was still half asleep to really know who was talking to him.

"What…?" the blond softly asked, searching for his glasses before placing them on to his face. There, in front of him, was Katyusha who had a slightly worried expression on her face.

"A-Are you alright?" Katyusha asked.

"I guess. Just… tired…"

"W-Well, you should at least take some medicine," Katyusha commented as he stood up straight and reached for the medicine bottle on the table. Matthew seemed a bit confused by this, wondering why he would need medicine for just feeling a bit tired.

"Why do I need medicine?" he asked, now noticing how much softer his voice was than normal. As more of his body started to wake up, he realized that he felt a little dizzy and his throat was a bit dryer than normal as well. "N-Never mind…"

Katyusha said nothing as she handed out a small cup to him. She then helped him sit up enough for the man to take his medicine before tucking him in again. Matthew sighed, not understanding how he could have caught a cold. Sure, he knew that he didn't have the strongest immune system, but he also knew that he wouldn't have gotten sick so fast. It made him wonder if this was the reason his father told him to go sleep.

"What about the party?" Matthew asked as he looked over at Katyusha who was cleaning the sweat from his forehead.

"Master Bonnefoy said that you don't have to worry about that," Katyusha commented with a gentle smile. "He said he'd rather you get better than have to worry about it. So just get some rest and Sakura will bring some food up to you."

"A-Alright…"

"I have to go take care of some things now, but I'll have Sakura come bring you some food a little later."

"T-Thank you, Katyusha…" Matthew yawned a bit, setting his glasses back on his night stand as he heard the door close. He sighed and turned onto his side, looking at the drapery that hung close over his window. Matthew was used to being sick, having been a rather sickly child.

Despite the fact that he didn't get sick as often any more, he still got sick more than anyone else around the house. The servants even got sick less often than himself. However, Matthew thought it was inconvenient that he had to get sick before the dinner party. It was normally really important for him to be there so he didn't disgrace his family but, at the same time, he could barely move at the moment. Matthew let out a soft sigh once again before he drifted off to sleep again, hoping that he would feel better by that time.

0-0-0

"Katyusha," Sadiq called from down the hall. The Ukrainian woman turned to face him, carrying a few dirty dishes in her hands to take to Sakura in the kitchen.

"Yes?" she asked, wondering what was going on. Sadiq walked over to her and took a deep breath before he started to speak.

"Master Bonnefoy would like us to make sure the stalls and barn are clean before tonight."

"How come?" Katyusha never had to worry about preparing for dinner parties since she was normally told not to go from her previous masters. This was normally because of her clumsiness but she had never actually heard of needing to make sure that barns were cleaned. Of course, she normally didn't have a job like that in the first place.

"He said he would show a demonstration on how tame the horses are. I don't know why but that's just what he said. He also wants us to clean the horses and make sure they're prepared."

"I see. I'll come out right after I put these in the kitchen."

"Alright." Sadiq smiled and waved before heading out to the barn, dressed in his outside working attire. Katyusha let out a small sigh and quickly placed the dirty dishes into the kitchen for Sakura to clean before she quickly went to go change. She tried to bind her chest up a bit before she buttoned up her shirt.

The Ukrainian woman then made her way outside to help Sadiq. She hoped that everything would go well with the dinner party and that she wouldn't mess anything up when it came to it. She also hoped, for once, that her clumsiness wouldn't get in the way of anything.