Villain Family’s Strongest Butler - Chapter 27

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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 30

“Who was the original owner of this land?”
Before I could hear the answer to that question, the carriage came to a halt.
The Grand Duke descended without a word.
He extended his hand to me once more, but again I climbed down from the carriage alone.
It wasn’t revenge for him refusing to answer my question.
Absolutely not.
In any case, the two of us found ourselves standing before a manor.
Though it was now badly weathered and dilapidated, the building was clearly constructed with such care that glimpses of its former grandeur remained visible even now.
I gazed at the structure for some time.
A land erased from history, a family, a manor.
Perhaps it was because I was a butler.
Seeing this manor—abandoned, left without proper care—my chest constricted inexplicably.
‘This manor must have once bustled with people.’
Servants moving about busily, and overseeing them the butler and members of the household.
Strangely, an image of its glorious past seemed to overlap with the decaying structure before me.
Just then, the Grand Duke entered the manor first.
I was about to follow in his wake.
“Butler! Hurry! The carriage is here!”
“Young miss! You’ll fall if you run like that!”
“We’re late! How long has it been since we’ve seen each other!”
What? What was that?
I spun around at the voices that had suddenly reached my ears.
Of course, there shouldn’t have been anyone else here.
‘The voice of an adult woman and a young girl.’
I thought I glimpsed a phantom—a small child—pass through me.
Among them, the girl’s voice resembled that of the child I’d heard in my dream.
‘Did I mishear?’
Tilting my head in confusion, I followed the Grand Duke into the manor.
Unlike the exterior, which had barely withstood wind and rain, the interior of the manor was in better condition than I’d expected.
As if someone’s care had extended to the very end, everything was kept remarkably tidy—save for a thin layer of dust.
“Phew—!”
I blew the dust from my fingertips.
“It’s been empty for quite some time, hasn’t it?”
The Grand Duke nodded at my observation.
“Members of the Grand Duke’s Household visit occasionally to clean. Still, it’s been twelve years since anyone lived here.”
Twelve years.
In terms of the building’s age, it wasn’t such a vast span—but measured in human years, it was long enough for a child to become a young woman.
I nodded and slowly surveyed the manor’s interior.
‘And yet……’
The furniture and decorations remained as they were.
‘There’s not a single portrait anywhere?’
I searched deliberately for photographs or paintings that might hint at whose home this was. But in the end, I found nothing.
‘Opening the drawers would be impolite, wouldn’t it?’
I was fidgeting with the handle of a side table’s drawer when the Grand Duke’s voice came again.
“Does nothing come to mind?”
That question again.
I turned to regard the Grand Duke steadily.
‘So there was a reason he brought me all the way here.’
The Grand Duke was not a man who acted without purpose.
Even the restaurant we’d visited on the way to meet the High Priest held memories of this body’s previous owner.
And this manor.
The phantom image that had flickered at the entrance, and the young girl’s voice.
Perhaps all of it was another puzzle piece connecting to something larger.
“Isn’t it time you told me now?”
“…….”
The Grand Duke turned to face me. For a moment, our gazes locked.
“Butler.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“What I can tell you right now is this.”
……
“The sooner you recover your memories, the better.”
……
“If I spoke first, it would be meaningless. You could weave trivial details into my story and feed my confusion. Isn’t that so, Butler?”
……
The Grand Duke’s eyes turned glacial. Colder and heavier than the lifeless air inside the Manor itself.
A warning.
‘That he would kill me.’
Yet beneath it lay another current—the reluctance to do so.
‘That’s why he’s taking me out of the Grand Duke’s Residence, touring these places.’
To make the memories surface. Once they returned and I proved myself to be his soul, he wouldn’t have to kill me.
Watching his reaction, I grew certain that once this body’s memories fully returned, deceiving the Grand Duke would become far simpler.
Then I could live comfortably without even needing to work as a butler.
‘I could finish preparations to return to Tenasis quickly enough.’
And yet.
I couldn’t explain this feeling.
Was it distaste at deceiving that man? The fact that this body is precious to someone? And that someone happens to be the Grand Duke?
……
……
Tch.
I averted the Grand Duke’s gaze and bit my lower lip hard.
I had nothing to say in response.
What was certain was that thanks to the Grand Duke’s efforts, memories of this body’s owner were surfacing bit by bit.
I simply nodded.
“I’ll do my best—”
“I don’t need your best.”
The Grand Duke passed by me as he spoke.
“Prove to me that you are that body’s rightful owner.”
……
The Grand Duke brushed past my shoulder and left the Manor. I watched his retreating form and spoke silently to myself.
‘Your Highness… I’m sorry, but that’s impossible even if all the memories return…….’

***

When I left the Manor again, the sky had already grown dark.
It seemed the Grand Duke’s threat to recall my memories quickly had made me impatient as well.
I wandered through every corner of the Manor in hopes of stirring up more memories.
Thanks to my experience running through the Grand Duke’s Residence as a butler-in-training, learning the structure and layout of this shabby Manor came surprisingly easily.
—”The basic structure is similar to the Grand Duke’s Residence.”
—”Oh, this was a girl’s room.”
The dolls in the girl’s room remained, the books in the library were untouched, and the kitchen implements sat in their proper places.
‘As if only the person had vanished.’
It was somewhat eerie.
Though I searched every corner, no fresh memories surfaced.
The afterimage and phantom sound I’d glimpsed at the entrance before entering the Manor had been the first and last.
I left the Manor with nothing to show for my efforts.
As I boarded the carriage, I saw the Grand Duke sitting with his eyes closed.
In silence, I took the seat across from him. The carriage began to move again.

***

The carriage, which had turned toward the Imperial Palace, stopped at a village along the way. It was past midnight.
The carriage halted before an Inn situated in the village center.
“We’ll stay the night here.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
I hurried into the Inn to secure a room.
Though it was late, the first floor of the Inn still held a fair number of patrons.
For a quiet village, the inn did remarkably brisk trade.
I secured three adjoining rooms on the upper floor and hauled the luggage up.
“You’ll find this room comfortable, Your Highness.”
…….
I’d made a point of preparing the Grand Duke’s quarters in the room with the bathing tub.
This inn, too, was operated by a retainer of the Balot Grand Duke Household—which meant we could secure the finest rooms available.
When I opened the door with a thin smile, the Grand Duke nodded and withdrew into his chamber.
While he took a moment to admire the view from the window, I prepared his bath.
The building showed its age, yet the furnishings—the tub, the bed, everything—had been maintained as if newly acquired, suggesting a recent interior renovation.
Once I’d finished with the bathwater, I laid out a comfortable change of clothes for the Grand Duke on the bed before leaving the bathing chamber.
I looked at the Grand Duke’s back as he stood by the window and spoke.
“Your Highness, I’ll have something prepared for you to eat while you bathe.”
The Grand Duke turned and replied.
“We’ll eat downstairs after I’m finished.”
“I beg your pardon? But…….”
“Rest until then.”
…….
Once I’d watched the Grand Duke enter the bathing chamber, I scratched the back of my head and made my way to my own room.
Phew—!
I stretched out on the bed and exhaled a long, satisfied sigh.
‘Ah, this is nice!’
It wasn’t quite as plush as a bed at the Grand Duke’s Residence, but it was infinitely better than the carriage seat.
‘I take back what I said about using the carriage as a bedroom.’
No matter how expensive or well-made a carriage seat might be, it couldn’t compare to even a modest inn’s bed.
‘Mmm…….’
Lying like this, drowsiness crept over me.
It would’ve been more comfortable if he’d just let me bring the food to his room—why insist on going downstairs?
I couldn’t fathom why a Grand Duke would go to such extra trouble.
‘Well, it’s better for me anyway. I can browse the menu and order whatever I want.’
My eyelids grew heavy.
‘When will the Grand Duke come down, I wonder…….’
How much time had passed? As I lay blinking, staring vaguely at the ceiling and fighting off the mounting waves of sleep, it happened.
Tick—.
“Hmm?”
It was the faintest of sounds, yet it grated against my awareness in a way that seemed significant.
I sat up in bed and looked toward the direction of the Grand Duke’s room.
‘The Grand Duke couldn’t have finished already.’
I slipped from the bed and crouched low. Placing one palm flat against the wooden floor, I carefully released my Aura.
A blue Aura spread outward from where my hand touched the wooden boards, expanding in a widening pool.
It was a Barrier technique I’d used countless times at the Grand Duke’s Residence.
The spider-web of Aura took only three seconds to envelop the entire building.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on sensing the presence of everyone the Aura touched.
‘……The first floor—guests taking their meals. The second and third floors—lodgers resting.’
Those cooking in the kitchen, those carrying dishes, those ascending and descending the stairs.
Each one moved with their own distinct purpose.
And then.
One, two……three distinct movements—different from the rest.
Footsteps deliberately muffled and light, coupled with Killing Intent they hadn’t quite managed to suppress.
‘……Assassins.’

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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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