Villain Family’s Strongest Butler - Chapter 3

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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 6

Kadrian swept back his bangs and leaned against the chair.
He spoke to Norbert, who was murmuring anxiously beside him.
“I’ve confirmed that woman poses no danger.”
“But, Your Highness—”
“I intend to keep her close and watch her. I suspect I’d only feel more uneasy if she disappeared from sight.”
Norbert’s eyes narrowed.
“If you’re uneasy, perhaps it would be simpler to just kill her now—”
But Kadrian cut him off with a firm voice.
“Count.”
“Yes.”
“The moment she wakes, have her sign an Employment Contract.”
……
“And.”
Kadrian opened a drawer and withdrew something.
With a soft clink, he placed it on the desk.
“Once the Employment Contract is drawn up, put this around her neck immediately.”
It was a necklace.
A blue-tinted jewel hung from a golden chain.
“Ah.”
Norbert recognized it at once.
“A necklace with Binding Magic, I see.”
“Since she may recover her memories at any moment and draw a sword on me, I need at least minimal safeguards.”
“Wise indeed, Your Highness.”
“And have Allen assigned to stay at her side and watch her.”
“Lord Allen?”
“That’s right.”
Lord Allen was the vice-commander of the Grand Ducal House’s knight order, the Mars Knight Order.
Norbert tilted his head.
‘Truly necessary?’
The necklace alone would prevent her from leaving the Grand Ducal House or speaking a word of its secrets to anyone.
It was a rather marvelous device that would even stop her from harboring hostile intent and attacking the Grand Duke.
‘And Lord Allen on top of that—?’
It seemed excessive.
It wasn’t so much surveillance as—
‘Strange. It feels more like… protection.’
Norbert shook his head.
‘No. Not from our master.’
He was a man of ruthless clarity, rational in every moment.
Norbert placed one hand over his heart and bowed deeply to Kadrian.
“I shall carry out your command, Your Highness.”
The legendary return of Count Norbert Millard, steward extraordinaire.

***

When she opened her eyes, the room was unfamiliar.
The air was thick with the scent of simmered herbs.
‘Right. I lost consciousness.’
Her tongue still tasted bitter.
Her head remained foggy, and her lips were so swollen and raw from biting that they throbbed.
But there was something else that troubled her far more.
“You’ve woken?”
……
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“……Why are you here, Old Servant?”
The Old Servant shrugged, and his smile held a peculiar sadness.
“What’s strange about a retainer of the Grand Ducal House being at the Grand Ducal residence? If anything’s strange, it’s you lying in a proper bed instead of a prison cell.”
“…….”
It wasn’t exactly wrong, so I said nothing.
When I tried to sit up, the Old Servant stopped me.
“I told you not to get up yet. The healer said you shouldn’t regain consciousness until tomorrow morning…….”
Yet here I was, awake before even an hour had passed.
Like some kind of monster.
The Old Servant muttered his disapproval.
But I pushed past his objections and forced myself into a sitting position.
“Don’t pretend to worry. Truthfully, isn’t it you who’d most prefer to see me dead?”
“…….”
The Old Servant had no answer for that either.
“…….”
“…….”
An awkward silence stretched between us.
Then the Old Servant exhaled a long breath.
“You must understand there’s no other choice. I am a man who places the wellbeing of the Grand Duke and this house above all else.”
His voice had grown noticeably softer.
What was this?
‘Why has his tone suddenly changed?’
This was the Old Servant who’d treated me with such oppressive authority.
Yet now he seemed almost as if he were reflecting on his own actions.
The Old Servant paused before continuing.
“Moreover…….”
“Moreover what?”
“You lied.”
“…….”
My chest tightened. I’d told so many lies that I couldn’t point to just one.
Whether the Old Servant knew this or not.
He pressed on.
“You said you’d lost all your memories, but your answers after drinking the sap told a different story.”
“…….”
Fair point.
‘I did ramble on about how I’d lost my memory and hadn’t.’
I answered him.
“That’s exactly what I meant. I have indeed lost my memories.”
“Then what memories remain?”
A sharp gaze cut through the Old Servant’s weathered eyes, fixed on me.
When I didn’t answer immediately, he pressed.
“Don’t think to lie again. Finding more sap at the Temple and giving it to you won’t be difficult.”
“…….”
I met the Old Servant’s gaze directly.
The eyes of a devoted servant.
There was even a hint of resolve — that he would not allow anyone impure to remain at his master’s side.
In a moment like this, it’s wise to throw him a bone.
If it could quiet even one suspicion, it was no loss for me.
I deliberated for a moment, then opened my mouth.
“My name.”
“Your name?”
“Yes. I do remember my name, actually.”
“……What is your name?”
“…….”
I looked at the Old Servant for a moment before speaking slowly.
“Freya.”
“…….”
“My name is Freya.”

***

My real name is Freya.
When I first met Serhyn, that one name had remained vividly with me.
This name was unknown even to Crown Prince Serhyn.
Serhyn had been the one to save me, but at the time, I couldn’t bring myself to trust even him.
More than half of my face was covered in burn scars, and they were not the result of some mere accident or carelessness.
They were deliberate wounds.
‘Marks of torture,’ I thought.
And so I had drawn a conclusion.
That I might be connected to those who had led the rebellion in the Tenasis Empire.
That was why I could not reveal my true name.
I had lost my memory, but I still wanted to live.
I didn’t want to become the last smoldering ember of some rebellion I couldn’t even remember, only to be trampled for it.
So I kept my real name hidden even from Serhyn.
And I began investigating secretly to uncover my own identity.
‘In the end, I discovered nothing at all.’
In the Tenasis Empire, the name “Freya” alone could not reveal who I was.
It was a common enough name, and besides—I couldn’t remember my family name.
‘Would it be any different in the Cadea Empire?’
If anything, being so far away in a distant realm would make it even less relevant.
‘And besides, I wanted to live once under this name.’
My true name, which no one had ever known. Which no one had ever called.
“Freya? That’s all you remember that’s hidden?”
The Old Servant regarded me with suspicious eyes even after hearing my name.
“Yes, that’s all.”
“No family name? You know—your house name. Or are you saying you’re not nobility?”
“I cannot recall that far back.”
When I shook my head, the Old Servant let out a sharp exhale and spoke as if scolding me.
“Well, I could fetch more World Tree Sap from the Temple!”
“Then by all means, go fetch it! I have nothing more to hide!”
……
He’s been deceived, that’s all. I thrust my chin up boldly and shouted it.
The Old Servant’s lined eyes grew sharper still.
He was likely trying to determine whether this was bluster or truth.
‘Even if you bring the World Tree Sap again, it won’t work this time, Old Servant.’
I smirked inwardly.
I know how to detoxify and purify any poison or foreign substance that enters my body.
It was a stage that only those who had cultivated their Aura could reach.
‘Though this body is only just taking its first steps.’
Yet this body already has Aura manifesting within it, or so I was told.
‘And now there are no chains restraining my abilities.’
So if given even a little time, I could awaken my Aura and purify the sap the moment it entered my body—poison or not.
‘While the Old Servant goes to fetch the sap, I need only awaken the Aura sleeping within this body.’
Once I had thought that through, there was nothing left to worry about.
Watching the expression on my face, the Old Servant let out a shallow sigh and spoke.
“……From now on, you’ll use this room.”
I opened my eyes wide and stared at him.
‘Wasn’t I supposed to go back to the prison?’
When I shot him a look of confusion, he continued.
“The Grand Duke has taken a special interest in you, is what I mean. So.”
Mm—the Old Servant seemed to be searching for the right words after a moment of thought, then opened his mouth again.
“You’ve been hired at the Ballote Grand Ducal House, the workplace every servant in the empire dreams of working at.”
“……Pardon?”
The Old Servant straightened his posture and looked down at me sitting on the bed.
“And of course, I’ll be the one teaching you your duties.”
He added this with a mischievous smile.
What in the world was he talking about? I looked at him blankly and repeated back to him.
“So you’re saying I should……”
The Old Servant’s smile deepened.
Before I could even finish, he broke into a wide grin and spoke.
“That’s right—quick to catch on, I see. Starting tomorrow, you’ll be learning to work as a maid, that’s what it means.”
With a hearty laugh, the Old Servant casually produced a piece of paper and laid it on the nightstand.
It was an Employment Contract.

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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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