Villain Family’s Strongest Butler - Chapter 17

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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 20

I was left blinking, unable to respond, when the Grand Duke spoke again.
“Why are you so startled? Did you really think I brought you here with no ulterior motive, just to serve you delicious food?”
……
“How pure-hearted our butler is, it seems.”
……
The Grand Duke’s mouth curled upward in a smile.
It was clearly a teasing tone, but because my stomach was full, it didn’t come across as particularly unpleasant.
Rather, with that handsome face and picture-perfect smile, I found myself suddenly aware of just how striking his features were.
As my silence stretched on, the Grand Duke asked again.
“So—do you remember anything?”
“……No, sir.”
“……I see.”
The Grand Duke didn’t press further. There was perhaps a slight hollowness in his voice as he said it, though that could have been my imagination.
I watched him quietly for a moment.
‘Remember anything, he says……’
I turned his question over in my mind once more.
This was my first time leaving the Grand Duke’s Residence since I arrived in the Cadea Empire.
He would know that better than anyone.
‘So when he asks if I remember anything, he’s asking the original owner of this body.’
Which means.
That would mean.
‘The Grand Duke came here with the original owner before, and they ate this insanely delicious roasted pork together.’
A flutter of unease crept over me.
‘Could they really be secret lovers? Something like that?’
Otherwise, there’s no reason they’d be going around eating delicious meals together……
At that moment.
—”My Freya. Even the way you eat so greedily is endearing.”
Eek—!
I’d imagined the Grand Duke calling my name so tenderly. Goosebumps erupted down my spine.
‘No! That can’t possibly be it!’
Right—what kind of madman locks his lover away as a butler in his own house after she’s lost her memory? For two years, no less.
No matter how ruthless the Grand Duke might be, he’s not that much of a trash heap.
‘So it can’t be. Not lovers or anything like that.’
Yes, yes. I nodded inwardly, forcibly erasing the tender image of the Grand Duke that had taken over my mind.
‘Phew.’
In any case, I’d thought carefully after his question, but nothing particularly striking came to mind.
Beyond the rich meat aroma that came through so strongly as I ate, there was the distinctive scent of unique spicing—a flavor I’d never encountered even in the Tenasis Empire.
The thing was, that aroma didn’t feel unfamiliar to me. And it tasted so remarkably good on my palate that my heart had begun to pound intensely.
Beyond these things, well……
‘Wait……’
I slowly looked around the restaurant.
This was certainly my first time in the Cadea Empire, and my first time leaving the Grand Duke’s Residence.
So there was all the more reason I shouldn’t know this place.
‘What is this déjà vu?’
Blurred figures seemed to flicker and overlap across the various sights within my vision.
Now that I thought about it, that had been happening since I first walked in.
I’d assumed it was just my vision blurring from fatigue, but now it seemed like something altogether different.
‘What is it. What could it be.’
Did the original owner really come here before? Is that why memories from this body are slowly surfacing?
‘Is that why this place feels so familiar?’
Yet I said nothing to the Grand Duke about what I was feeling.
‘Since I’m not certain, there’s no need to mention it.’
We boarded the carriage again to return to the Imperial Palace.
The atmosphere inside the carriage was like night and day—the difference between before and after eating.
I’d expected to feel unsettled because of that question from earlier, but I didn’t.
Now, the Grand Duke didn’t feel burdensome at all.
‘From now on, whenever I deal with the Grand Duke, I’ll make sure my stomach is full first.’
This way, I’d picked up yet another piece of practical knowledge.
As the carriage lurched forward, the Grand Duke closed his eyes again.
Thanks to that, I could sit across from him and observe him with far more leisure than before.
His nose held such a haughty tilt; that irritating smile of his, which I saw constantly, was nowhere in sight now—when his lips were simply closed, they had quite a different shape altogether; those long lashes that would shame many women, and the delicate shadow they cast beneath them—he really was blessed with fine features. And so on and so forth.
As I scrutinized him in such specific detail, my gaze snagged on one particular spot.
‘Those muscles.’
Beyond admiration, I felt something like envy and outright jealousy.
‘Muscles I don’t possess, muscles I’ll never have.’
The way his arms were crossed over his chest only made his pectoral and arm muscles all the more pronounced.
Even without armor, the Grand Duke’s body was as taut and sculpted as if he wore plate steel.
A vast estate, a grand mansion, tremendous authority and wealth, and to top it all off, such a striking physique—
It struck me anew, but truly…….
‘He has everything, doesn’t he.’
There was a time when I, too, yearned for muscles like those.
It was a small wish of mine.
Once I took up the blade, whenever I saw a tall, sturdy female warrior, I couldn’t help but think how magnificent they looked.
I envied them. With my slight frame and modest height, I found myself drawn to that commanding presence some possessed simply through their physical form.
‘But……this new body isn’t particularly large either.’
No matter how much I ate, muscle and flesh clung stubbornly to my frame. And I was eating far more now than I ever did as Sia.
If nothing else, my monthly meat expenditure alone surely exceeded my wages.
I felt a fresh wave of gratitude for the Grand Duke’s household, which never charged me for such things.
Then the carriage began to slow.
I parted the curtain slightly to check what lay outside. A building came into view—imposing enough that its grandeur was palpable even from a considerable distance.
‘The Imperial Palace!’
There it stood—the Imperial Palace of the Cadea Empire!
Not an ally’s seat of power, but the very heart of our enemy nation.
And I was entering it not as a prisoner in chains, but walking through its doors with dignity intact.
‘It’s strange, isn’t it. I feel oddly moved by this.’
After passing through the main gate of the palace, the carriage continued on for some time.
Just when I thought we’d moved away from the main palace buildings, the carriage slowed completely and came to a stop.
“We’ve arrived.”
The Grand Duke, opening his eyes only now, descended from the carriage first as its door swung open.
I rose to follow him out.
And then—his hand extended toward me in one fluid motion.
‘What?’
Caught between standing and sitting, I blinked rapidly, my eyes darting from the Grand Duke to his outstretched hand and back again.
‘What? What’s this supposed to mean?’
His palm turned upward like a noble offering his arm in escort—
‘Wait. Really?’
Was the Grand Duke truly offering me his hand as an escort?
I studied his face for a moment. There was nothing to read there—his expression was utterly impassive. His lips pressed in a thin line spoke of his gravity, and those cool eyes held my gaze steadily, taking in every inch of my face.
A peculiar tingling sensation crept along my fingertips.
‘Should I take it or not?’
But I’m his butler, am I not? A butler being escorted by his master? I’d never heard of such a thing before—
In that brief moment, a thousand questions and doubts flooded my mind.
Then, suddenly—
Ah!
‘I understand now!’
He’s found another way to make a fool of me, hasn’t he?
‘Do you think I’ll fall for your tricks so easily, Grand Duke?’
Humph. Having seen through his cunning plot, I refused to take his hand and instead jumped down from the carriage on my own.
‘Does he really think I don’t know the basics well enough to fumble into his trap?’
I straightened as soon as my feet touched the ground, fixing him with a look that said ‘how’s that?’
“…….”
“…….”
Without a word, the Grand Duke withdrew his hand, turned his back to the carriage, and began to walk. I followed silently, using his back as my guide. Heh, I felt rather victorious.
After walking for some time, he suddenly entered a garden. Then he spoke to me, who was following behind him.
“Make sure you follow closely so you don’t lose your way.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The Grand Duke glanced back at me briefly as I answered without hesitation.
“Though you seem to have already lost your way quite thoroughly.”
……
Again, again! More of that infuriating aristocratic nonsense!
Are all noble-born fools like this?
‘How irritating.’
I stared daggers at the back of his head for a moment before hurrying after him again.
The garden twisted and coiled like a maze, thick with densely planted trees that stood firm as walls.
‘Hmm… if I’m not careful, like he said, I really could get lost in here.’
I realized his remark wasn’t merely mockery—it was a genuine warning. I quickened my pace, careful not to fall behind, my eyes fixed on his silhouette.
After winding through the maze-like garden for what felt like an eternity, an exit finally came into view.
The moment we stepped through, a majestic structure rose before me, and I couldn’t help but gape.
‘Wow……’
It was utterly different from the Imperial Palace I’d glimpsed from the carriage.
A pristine white building gleamed mysteriously, as though someone had stolen the moon from the night sky and constructed it into walls and towers.
A sacred aura emanated from it—the kind that might purify even the darkest intentions of anyone who gazed upon it.
I stood transfixed by the sight.
Then.
“Welcome, Your Grace.”
A figure emerged from the shadows and offered a greeting.
Dressed entirely in white, the man greeted us with a gentle smile.
His silver eyes and long silver hair gave him an androgynous beauty that was arresting.
Yet despite his youthful, radiant appearance, the gaze and expression with which he regarded us held the hollow depth of one who had weathered countless storms across centuries—and at the same time, the pellucid clarity of an eternal spring.
The Grand Duke looked toward the man and spoke.
“High Priest. It is an honor.”
At his words, my eyes shot wide open.
High Priest?!
I’d expected to meet someone of royal blood, not suddenly face a High Priest.

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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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