Villain Family’s Strongest Butler - Chapter 28

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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 31

The moment I identified the dangerous presences, I slipped from my room and made my way swiftly to the Duke’s quarters, keeping my energy carefully concealed.
I closed the door soundlessly and turned. That’s when my gaze met a pair of violet eyes.
The Duke.
Oh.
With one hand I quietly locked the door while my eyes took in the Duke’s bare torso.
It was good that the Duke had sensed the assassin’s presence and emerged from the bath ahead of time, but the problem was that he had only managed to pull on linen trousers.
‘Lucky I found him comfortable pants to wear.’
Though it bothered me that he hadn’t put on a shirt, I consoled myself that at least he’d come out before undressing completely.
“Your Highness, I count roughly three of them.”
“I see.”
The Duke answered calmly, without haste or anxiety, and reached for the sword propped at the head of his bed.
Droplets of water still clung to the tips of his dark hair, not yet properly dried.
The water traced downward across his chest, his defined abdomen, and the prominent veins that stood out on the back of his hand.
All of it danced before my eyes.
Shameless creature.
I clenched my teeth.
But then.
‘I’m not who I was that day.’
The steward who had stumbled at the mere sight of the Duke’s nakedness no longer existed. Once you’ve been taught a lesson, you keep your wits about you the second time. Don’t you?
I steadied myself and moved forward with deliberate calm.
The Duke glanced at me briefly, then reached for the lamp on the bedside table and blew out the flame.
Whoosh—and the room plunged into darkness.
A thin whistle of wind occasionally drifted through the cracks of the old window frame.
“Over here.”
The Duke pulled me close by the shoulder, positioning us in a corner of the room where we could defend well. We waited for the assassins in tightly pressed silence.
I felt the Duke’s warmth at my back—a heat that far exceeded normal, likely still lingering from the bath.
I heard something like a heartbeat thudding, though I couldn’t tell whether it was mine or his.
‘Focus.’
What did his body heat matter? What did the heartbeat matter?
‘This is the first time I’ve faced a real fight in front of the Duke as his steward.’
I couldn’t afford to slip up.
‘Don’t use the Swordsmanship or Martial Arts from Tenasis.’
Then the Duke’s hot breath descended toward my ear.
“A sword?”
I kept my eyes fixed on the door and answered quietly without turning around.
“……Isn’t it strange for a steward to carry a sword?”
“Everything about you is strange already. One more sword won’t make you any less so.”
“……If you’re not going to provide a sword, then spare me the commentary.”
“Perhaps I will. Here, take this one.”
“Pardon?”
Really?!
The Duke’s words were so unexpected that I spun around sharply.
Ah!
And I drew a sharp breath. The Duke’s jaw and lips were right before my face.
‘Too close…….’
The Duke seemed to feel it too. He drew his body back slightly away from me.
Then the scent I’d been ignoring until now pierced through my lungs in a wave.
That scent again.
After spending time among sweat-soaked soldiers, a man with a scent like this was entirely new to me.
‘It wasn’t soap, and it wasn’t perfume.’
Reluctant as I was to admit it, it seemed to be nothing but the Duke’s own natural scent.
I turned my head back toward the door and spoke.
“……Don’t forget that promise.”
“…….”
The Duke didn’t answer right away. Then, a moment later, he placed something in my hand.
Hm? I looked down at what had come into my grip. It was the hilt of the Greatsword the Duke used.
The duke placed a greatsword in my hand—the grip so thick and rough that my fingers couldn’t quite close around it—and spoke.
“Bare-handed is dangerous. Use mine.”
“I beg your pardon?”
I looked down at my hand again.
Because of the thick, lengthy grip, my hand appeared oddly small and fragile by comparison.
‘Is he serious? He wants me to wield this thing?’
A greatsword was never my primary weapon to begin with. And this one was so enormous and heavy that an ordinary person would need both hands just to lift it.
It would scarcely be an exaggeration to say that only the duke could swing something this massive single-handedly like a twig.
With a weary expression, I returned his blade to the duke’s hand.
“How am I supposed to manage something this large? It doesn’t even fit in my palm.”
“I hadn’t realized it was that big.”
“Well, now you do. Allow me to inform you: it’s large. Very large. The largest I’ve ever seen.”
I’m telling you it’s large. Do you understand?
…….
I clicked my tongue and glanced back and forth between the door and the windows.
“Besides, I can simply eliminate one of the assassins and take his blade.”
A dead man’s sword would serve well enough. There were assassins scattered about us anyway.
So there was no need to worry about weapons.
‘If it comes to that, I could snap off a chair leg and fight with that alone.’
At that, the duke murmured softly.
“That’s a tactic knights use on the battlefield. Our steward seems to know all manner of things.”
A slight pang of discomfort.
I cleared my throat quietly and lowered my voice in response.
“……Well, when circumstances are urgent, one does what one must.”
He was quick to notice things—just in all the wrong places.
Just then, a soft whisper of movement reached us—fabric brushing against air.
‘The window side.’
As I glanced toward the window and looked back at the duke, he gave a quiet nod.
A sharp squeak issued from the window, and immediately the assassins came pouring into the room.
They had already realized we were lying in wait.
Cardrian moved first, hurling himself forward.
The massive man moved with the speed and grace of lightning splitting a rain-soaked night sky.
Two assassins’ heads flew clean off in quick succession.
Their bodies and heads struck the floor in staggered rhythm, the sound deafening.
Of course, I did not remain idle while Cardrian worked.
There was no need to steal a weapon. The assassins were competent enough, but the duke and I far outmatched them in skill.
“Ugh!”
I pinned the last assassin to the ground with his head and demanded an answer.
“Who sent you?”
…….
After a brief silence, blood and foam began bubbling from the assassin’s mouth.
‘Blast. He’s bitten down on poison.’
I watched the final assassin’s breath fade and cursed under my breath.
“I apologize, Your Highness. I intended to keep him alive and extract information about who hired them, but I didn’t anticipate the poison.”
As I bowed my head, Cardrian, who had set down the greatsword, approached me.
“Are you hurt?”
“……No. And yourself, Your Highness?”
“No.”
The duke answered tersely and moved past me to open the window.
Then he began picking up the headless bodies one by one and hurling them out into the night.
“There’s no way to interrogate them here anyway. So I decided to finish them quickly.”
…….
The sound of corpses hitting the ground outside was grim and hollow.
“What on earth is this?!”
“What does it look like, you fool? It’s a corpse. Never seen a dead body in this part of town? Either help or get out of the way!”
The voices of the innkeeper and passersby arguing could be heard from outside the window.
There was nothing to worry about—this place was run by a retainer of House Balot. They would handle the cleanup without a word.
He stood facing the window, regarding me.
“There’s no need to save men who come determined to die, removing even the poison from their mouths. They’ll only send more assassins from wherever they came.”
In his words I could feel the weight of how many assassins had come before, how many bodies had needed disposing.
“I’d like to wash up.”
“I’ll prepare everything for you.”
I’d suggested we move to another room because of the blood smell, but Cardrian refused.
Then again, a stench like that would hardly bother him—not when it didn’t bother me.
I wiped away what blood I could from the floorboards, gathered the assassins’ weapons scattered about, and left the room.
I was about to prepare his bath when Cardrian said he’d do it himself.
Since I was happy enough to rest early, I didn’t press the matter further.
“Then please take your time, Your Highness.”
“You’ve done well.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
I bowed lightly and left his room, then disposed of the bloodstained clothes and the remaining weapons.
‘I’m starving.’
Even after witnessing something as gruesome as death, the body responds with its own honest hunger.
I’d expended Aura and exerted myself physically—it was only natural.
I pushed through the hunger and exchanged a few brief words with the innkeeper before heading upstairs to the third floor.
‘He’s probably still bathing by now.’
I retrieved fresh clothes for Cardrian from the travel bag in my room.
‘One set was ruined in that commotion earlier, after all……’
I made a mental note to purchase more clothes for him before we departed for the Imperial Palace.
‘I did pack generously, but you never know. These attacks might not end with just one.’
Before entering his room, I pressed my ear against the door.
Splash, swiraaash—!
The sound of water overflowing from the bath reached my keen ears.
‘Good. He’s still bathing.’
I’d slip in quickly, leave the clothes, and slip back out.
With that thought, I turned the handle to his 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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