Villain Family’s Strongest Butler - Chapter 15

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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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Chapter 18

“The Imperial Palace?”
“Yes.”
The moment I entered the room, the Grand Duke ordered me to prepare for Palace Entry.
A Palace Entry, out of nowhere?
“At this hour, sir?”
The Grand Duke answered calmly, as if this were routine.
“Our visitor keeps many secrets.”
Our visitor? The Grand Duke’s use of the honorific could only mean one thing.
‘Royalty.’
That would explain it. Who else could summon a Grand Duke of the realm at dawn and have him obey without question?
‘And Serhin used to torment the high nobility for sport, calling them at his whim.’
I nodded and began gathering the Grand Duke’s garments one by one.
Once I’d assembled everything from head to toe—clothes and accessories alike—the Grand Duke spoke again.
“My Butler must prepare as well. You’re coming with me.”
At that, I stopped arranging the accessories on the nightstand and spun around to face him, my pulse quickening.
“Me, sir? You mean I’m going too?”
“Yes.”
The Grand Duke fastened his cufflinks as he continued.
“My Aide mentioned he has urgent business to attend to, so I gave him leave. With him absent, only you remain to assist me.”
……
A chill ran through me. That urgent business was almost certainly the corpse I’d disposed of at dawn.
But it didn’t matter. Wherever the Aide was struggling now held nothing for me. What mattered was the Grand Duke’s invitation to accompany him outside.
My heart, which had been cowering like a frightened thing in the Grand Duke’s presence, suddenly began racing without reason. Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump.
‘Leave? This residence? Me?’
I looked up at the Grand Duke. Perhaps my confusion reached him, for he spoke again.
“I heard you’ve behaved yourself for two years. I’d have thought you’d attempt to escape at least once.”
His gaze, trailing off mid-sentence, drifted toward my neck. From the angle of it, he was clearly looking at the Dog Collar he’d given me.
I fingered the collar where his attention had fallen.
In truth, it could hardly be called a collar anymore.
When I’d complained that the jingling was cumbersome and asked for something else, he’d extracted the Blue Gem from the collar and fastened it to a white ribbon tie instead.
Yet it ended up clinging so close to my throat that it looked even more like a collar than before.
I touched the gem lightly, feeling the smooth, precisely faceted surface beneath my fingertips.
‘The very person who fastened this collar to keep me from escaping hardly has the right to suggest I never tried. Grand Duke.’
I masked my true feelings and responded with measured courtesy and a gentle smile, determined not to give him reason to change his mind about taking me with him.
“As I’ve said, I have only endeavored to keep all my promises to Your Highness.”
……
“Had I truly intended to damage it and flee, I would never have accepted this position as your Butler.”
I placed a hand over my heart and met his gaze with a look that begged him to see my sincerity.
Hmm. The Grand Duke lifted one eyebrow. His violet eyes, inscrutable and searching, studied my face with an intensity that made me feel exposed.
In truth, why would I not have wanted to escape?
Not that I wanted to flee the Grand Duke’s Residence itself.
I simply wanted to slip out and gather information—news of the Tenasis Empire, sailing schedules, anything that might aid my preparations.
‘No harm in being ready ahead of time.’
So I had schemed about escaping the residence in secret.
But then.
—”I’ll tell you now, lest you entertain foolish notions.”
My Master had warned me in advance.
—”That gem around your neck has Magic woven through it. Try to leave the residence without my permission, and it will be quite… sharp.”
I wasn’t certain what “sharp” meant precisely, but it clearly involved offensive Magic.
‘And it triggers the moment I cross the threshold.’
I despised pain. So I abandoned the idea.
Fortune favors the patient, or so they say.
I endured, hoping that one day, when I’d earned his trust, I might finally leave freely.
‘And now, at last, ……that day has come.’
I tightened my fist, pressing my lowered hand closed with quiet purpose.
‘Well done, me.’
How admirable, myself! I felt my nose sting and my eyes grow damp. But I was still standing before the Grand Duke. This wasn’t the moment to celebrate.
I hurriedly composed myself. Then the Grand Duke stepped closer to me.
I caught my breath.
‘Why? Why is he doing this?’
As I blinked and looked up at him, he finally reached out his hand toward me.
I could barely restrain the urge to push him away, waiting as his fingertip touched the gem on my Dog Collar with a soft tap.
‘What?’
I felt a faint warmth.
As I blinked rapidly, the Grand Duke gazed down at me without expression and spoke.
“Now you’ll be able to leave the Grand Duke’s Residence.”
“!”
My eyes widened.
‘What is this….’
It could be resolved this easily?
‘He only touched it with one finger?’
My directionless gaze darted here and there.
‘How did he do that?’
Wasn’t there some tremendous Magic cast on me? Could it really be undone by just his finger touching it? What principle governed this thing?
Wait. If the Magic was that simple to undo, I’ve been confined here for two years?
‘I should have at least tried something!’
I could have overpowered him while he was careless or sleeping, and tried touching it with my own hand. Even if I couldn’t kill him, wouldn’t it have been possible to restrain him for just a moment?
‘Perhaps that would have been difficult too.’
It seems possible now. But there’s no need for that now anyway. The Magic is already undone.
My head filled with scattered questions and thoughts.
Yet more than the desire to unravel those mysteries, my chest swelled with the reality that I could step beyond the front gate of the Grand Duke’s Residence at any moment.
I turned my gaze toward the window.
‘Now I can go beyond that gate…….’
Through the window, the Black Iron Gate of the Grand Duke’s Residence stood imposingly.
Oh, what joy. There was no happiness quite like this.
That iron gate I’d wanted to cross for two long years—now I could walk through it boldly.
‘Good. I didn’t think I’d be able to leave this quickly. Now I can gather information about the Tenasis Empire. First, I’ll find the Information Guild—.’
Then the Grand Duke’s indifferent voice cut through my reverie.
“Only once, though.”
What?
I’d been gazing at the front gate, but I whirled around to face him.
Once?
The shock snapped my mind back as if I’d been doused with cold water.
Perhaps pleased by my expression, the corners of the Grand Duke’s impassive mouth curved slightly upward.
“Why do you look at me that way, Butler? Did you perhaps expect me to release everything?”
“…….”
I couldn’t say no.
Two years. All that time I’d struggled in this Residence to keep my promise with that man.
And through it all, I’d finally become a butler.
Having upheld my promise to the Grand Duke, I’d harbored a quiet expectation that he’d remove this Dog Collar, at least.
I clenched my jaw and barely held onto my composure.
The Grand Duke looked down at me steadily and spoke.
“Butler.”
“……Yes, Your Grace.”
I answered with barely suppressed emotion. The Grand Duke continued.
“I don’t need a competent butler who speaks only what pleases my ears. I need a butler who can speak his mind before me, even if it costs him his neck.”
“…….”
“In that sense, you haven’t yet kept your promise properly.”
“…….”
I hadn’t kept my promise?
—”Learn well from Norbert. Who knows? If you grow splendid enough to become indispensable to me, perhaps I’ll tell you the secrets you wish to know of my own accord.”
Growing more splendid than this. How was I supposed to do that?
‘How much more am I supposed to accomplish here to become splendid?’
Two years of patience and six months as a butler.
It all felt denied in a single moment.
I let my head drop. Then I drew a slow, deep breath from the pit of my stomach.
A long breath escaped me.
‘This is… incredibly irritating.’
I squeezed my eyes shut and open again, forcing down the surge of emotion that threatened to overflow.
‘I’ve held on this long. I can’t give up now.’
I slowly lifted my head and met those violet eyes staring directly at me.
A smile spread across my lips—carefully drawn, controlled.
“I’m afraid I don’t follow your meaning, Your Highness. I have never spoken false words. I do hope you’ll understand that everything I’ve said has come from my heart.”
The Grand Duke let out a laugh, as if he’d expected exactly this.
“Right. I don’t know how long you can keep it up, but try as hard as you can. I’ll wait.”
The Grand Duke patted my shoulder twice and left the bedchamber.
……
I watched his back disappear through the doorway.
His arrogant voice—that tone suggesting he knew everything—lingered in my ears like an echo.
‘Fine. Good. Let’s see who wins.’
I hurried after the Grand Duke.

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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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