Villain Family’s Strongest Butler - Chapter 14

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 17

I crouched down and studied the assassin’s face carefully.
Beneath the dim moonlight, it was an unfamiliar visage.
‘I’ve never seen this face before.’
It seemed fortunate enough that this one didn’t appear to have joined during my tenure as leader.
‘Then he’s a stranger. Simple as that.’
I straightened up and slid the blade—the one I’d used to shred his clothing—back into its sheath.
There was no need to overthink it.
The Ariad Assassination Group had always been fiercely individualistic by nature.
Even though I’d served as its leader, the very nature of assassination work made it difficult to foster any deep sense of belonging.
So to me, he was just a stranger.
Of course, it would be a lie to say I felt no unease whatsoever.
‘But letting someone who’s broken into the Duke’s Mansion live doesn’t make sense either.’
Assassins came to the Duke’s Mansion whether the Duke was present or absent. Those who came when he was away were typically after classified documents stored in his study.
Whether they sought the Duke’s life or his secrets—
The moment they crossed the threshold of the Duke’s Mansion, their fate was essentially sealed.
But a new concern suddenly emerged.
‘What if next time, a familiar face appears?’
I rubbed my furrowed brow with the tips of my fingers.
‘I can’t tear open the left shoulder of every assassin that comes through, and I’d only be able to confirm their face after I’ve already killed them.’
I hadn’t been entirely without such worries before. I’d already considered the possibility that among the assassins sent by the Tenasis Empire might be members of the Ariad Assassination Group.
‘There might even have been some among those I’ve already dealt with.’
I hadn’t checked the shoulder tattoo every time an assassin arrived.
With this one, had it not been for the dagger at his waist, I wouldn’t have thought to check the shoulder tattoo at all.
‘Has Serhin decided to move?’
For the first time in a while, I thought of Serhin—my dear friend whose eyes and hair both gleamed gold.
‘Come to think of it, it’s been quite some time since I’ve thought of Serhin.’
I’ve been occupied since becoming a butler. I shook my head and dragged the corpse to a suitable location.
Then I laid the body at the edge of the carpet running down the corridor and began rolling it up.
‘It’s already soaked with blood anyway, so it’s ruined.’
Where in the world is there a butler like this?
Disposing of assassins and disposing of bodies.
Truth be told, I had a strong urge to just throw the corpse somewhere in the dark backyard and rest.
But thinking of the employees who’d wake up in the morning and immediately discover a body, I decided it was better if I suffered a bit more.
Especially knowing that Sophia, who handles the cleaning on the third floor of the main house, was pregnant.
‘It’s the time when she should only see beautiful things and eat good things.’
Heave-ho!
I hefted the thickly rolled carpet onto my shoulder and carefully slipped out through the back door of the main house.
It was to reach the incinerator through the backyard of the Duke’s Mansion main building.
The surroundings remained silent. A solitary intruder had infiltrated this place and met a sudden, violent end, yet no one knew.
A low, mournful cry—from some unidentifiable bird in the Backhill behind the Duke’s Mansion—deepened the desolate atmosphere.
Then.
“Stop right there.”
……
I halted. A man walking from behind stepped into my path.
‘Ah, I’ve been caught.’
It was Advisor Ed.
Ed had taken over my protection when Allen set out with the Duke, though in truth his role was more that of a watchdog.
In any case, this advisor seemed better suited to the role of observer than Allen was. Allen had always felt more like a protector than a watchdog.
Ed crossed his arms and jerked his chin toward my shoulder.
“Put that thing down on the ground, please.”
“Yes.”
I complied obediently and lowered the carpet concealing the corpse to the ground.
“You don’t have to do this every time.”
Then Ed let out a snort.
“Forget it. I’d rather handle it myself than watch you dig a careless pit and set it on fire like last time.”
……
“In any case, I’ll handle the cleanup. I’d appreciate it if you could ensure the body inside doesn’t belong to Freya.”
“Ha ha.”
I let out a small laugh.
My advisor had a talent for delivering brutal remarks in the gentlest tone.
Six months since my appointment as butler.
In that time, I’d created roughly eighteen corpses.
The phrasing makes it sound like I’m some sort of master craftsman, but really it just means I’d killed assassins who’d infiltrated the mansion.
The day I killed the first assassin.
I dragged the body to the Backhill and set it on fire.
Ed happened to see that scene, and it became the catalyst for everything that followed.
From then on, whenever I dealt with an assassin, Ed would appear and dispose of the body for me.
In a sense, you could call us accomplices.
I was grateful he took care of the tedious, unpleasant work in my stead.
I felt too embarrassed to say thank you, so I just rubbed my nose with my fingertips.
‘Tomorrow I should make plenty of that apple honey tea Ed likes….’
Just then, as Ed moved the carpet, he suddenly erupted—his voice low with indignation.
“F-Freya! What is this?! This carpet! Isn’t this the carpet from the third floor?”
“…….”
Ah, that got noticed too?
I avoided Ed’s gaze and scraped at the innocent ground with the toe of my shoe.
Ed’s voice came again, thick with frustration.
“No! I told you—I said if you’re going to kill anyone, please don’t do it on the third floor because that carpet is so hard to replace!”
Ed’s entire body trembled.
A carpet made by a renowned craftsman from the Eastern Continent, if I recall.
A carpet so rare now that you couldn’t acquire it even with a king’s ransom.
I snorted lightly.
“If it’s that hard to replace, why keep it on the third floor?”
“What? Because it’s the finest one, that’s why it goes on the third floor!”
It’s where the Duke spends most of his time!
I responded evenly to Ed, who was earnestly trying to make me understand.
“Exactly. So why would you put something so precious and valuable there?”
“Freya!”
“Ed. Why do you think assassins manage to slip into the Duke’s Mansion?”
“……Well, that’s…”
I pressed on with my question.
“And when an assassin enters the Duke’s Mansion, what’s the first place they go?”
“……The third floor.”
Where the Duke’s bedchamber is.
“Correct. The vast majority of assassins targeting the Duke and infiltrating this mansion attempt to breach the third floor.”
“…….”
“Now, think about it. Is the carpet being stained my fault, or yours?”
Ed’s expression grew conflicted at my question.
He’d never seriously considered it from that angle before.
After a moment of deliberation, Ed furrowed his brow and spoke.
“Because of… me?”
At his words, I opened my eyes wide and stated firmly.
“No. It’s the fault of the assassin who snuck in—why would that be our fault?”
Isn’t that right? I pressed.
“…….”
In that moment, Ed’s pupils wavered.
Though my reasoning was deeply questionable, he seemed greatly relieved at the part about it not being his fault.
Ed draped the carpet over his shoulder, glanced back at me several times, and then disappeared toward the Backhill.
And so that extraordinary carpet, of which only two existed in the world, found itself down to just one.

***

—”I hate it because it sounds like a man’s name!”
My eyes snapped open.
The sky beyond the window was still dark.
I checked the time—only about an hour had passed since I fell asleep.
‘Ah, I’ve been having strange dreams lately.’
I scratched my head and climbed out of bed, changing into the clothes I’d pressed the night before.
‘Who could that girl be?’
These days, I hear the voice of a young girl in my dreams.
It wasn’t something that tormented me exactly, so I couldn’t call it a nightmare, but repeating it so often made me read meaning into it anyway.
‘Am I witnessing someone’s childhood?’
Perhaps my own lost years, or memories belonging to this body’s original owner.
Or maybe just a fleeting, meaningless dream?
Yet there was something too strange about it to dismiss as mere fancy.
Remarkably, the dream grew clearer with each passing night.
What had begun as pure darkness slowly brightened, until now I could make out the hazy forms of children.
A girl’s voice crying out that she hated having a name that sounded like a boy’s, and beside her, another child who indulged her complaints.
The images still weren’t clear enough to make out their features.
Everything remained blurred—I couldn’t even tell if either wore a hat or if that was simply their hair.
‘At this rate, it’ll be a year before I can see their faces clearly.’
I pushed the unsettling dream aside for now and hurried to finish dressing.
The second day since the Duke’s return.
‘Today of all days, I need to show nothing but flawless composure.’
I made one final check of my appearance before slipping out of my chamber.
When I came down from the fourth floor—where my bedroom was—to the third, I found a fresh carpet had been laid in place of the one disposed of at dawn.
I gazed at the newly installed carpet for a long moment.
‘They disposed of the body and replaced the carpet all in that time?’
What sort of man was Counselor Ed, really?
I operated as efficiently as I could manage, sparing no sleep, and yet Ed seemed to surpass even that.
‘There’s something about him—some hidden capability.’
The moment I’d dragged the body out and slipped from the building, he’d materialized as if he’d sensed it all along.
‘They say Demi-human blood runs through his veins—is that why he picks up on the scent of blood so keenly?’
Silver-grey hair, eyes the color of spring grass. Especially in moonlight, those features gave me pause more than once.
‘He could be wolf-kin.’
Then again, judging by his methods and temperament, there was also the possibility he was serpent-kin.
In any case, I’d been keeping a close eye on Ed—I’d determined him to be the person in the Duke’s household I should be most wary of, save for the Duke himself.
I pressed my feet firmly against the third-floor carpet and turned to make my way down to the second floor.
Then—click.
The sound of a door opening echoed from somewhere along the third-floor corridor.
When I turned toward the sound, my gaze met the Duke’s as he stepped from his room.
‘Oh…’
The events of last night were still vivid enough that I felt a flicker of discomfort.
‘Just exchange a brief greeting and head downstairs.’
With that thought, I was about to offer him a polite nod when—
The Duke’s chin tilted toward his own chamber.
‘Hmm?’
Without another word, he turned and stepped back into his room.
‘Was he ordering me inside?’
Why on earth would he—
Could this be about what happened at dawn?
As his servant, I had no freedom to refuse his command, so despite my confusion, I found myself heading toward the Duke’s room.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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