Villain Family’s Strongest Butler - Chapter 30

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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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33

I bowed lightly in greeting, then drew upon the smile I had practiced countless times until it became second nature.
Every eye in the Banquet Hall froze.
“It is my honor to make your acquaintance, Marquis Greaven. I am Freya, butler of the Grand Duke Household. I look forward to serving you well.”
This was my official debut as a butler, a stage the Grand Duke had prepared for me.
I couldn’t afford to waste such an opportunity.
Marquis Greaven likely knew nothing about me.
A woman butler who hadn’t even finished the Butler Academy.
‘No matter how the Grand Duke vouches for me, there’s bound to be suspicion.’
I continued as though I’d been waiting for this moment.
“What did you make of the medicinal herb we sent from the Grand Duke Household previously? Has the Marchioness shown any improvement in her condition?”
“Hmm?”
Marquis Greaven’s eyes widened.
“Surely you’re not saying… you were the one who sent that herb?”
I nodded once, still smiling.
“I possessed some knowledge regarding the ailment afflicting the Marchioness. After consulting with the Grand Duke Household’s physician, I prescribed the medicinal herb and had it sent to you.”
At this, Marquis Greaven turned to the Grand Duke and asked,
“Is that true, Your Grace?”
The Grand Duke nodded.
“While I was away on campaign, she handled matters thus. I confess I didn’t expect her to concern herself with the affairs of my vassals.”
“Of course, all the funds spent acquiring that herb came from Your Grace’s coffers.”
When I smiled faintly, Marquis Greaven broke into hearty laughter.
“Here I stand before my benefactor and don’t even recognize her.”
Marquis Greaven turned to the Grand Duke and spoke.
“Your Grace, you should have seen the efficacy of that herb. My wife, who hadn’t left her bed in three years, drank a decoction of it and was walking in the Garden within two days!”
Marquis Greaven now looked toward me.
“The Marquis’s own physician said that herb must have been terribly difficult to procure.”
I answered evenly.
“In truth, that herb was…”
I wove a thread of falsehood into what I actually knew and continued my explanation.
I possessed genuine knowledge about that illness and the herb.
‘The Marchioness has been bedridden for three years now, wasn’t it?’
The timing aligned well enough.
The disease afflicting the Marchioness was one deliberately created by Serhin, the Crown Prince of the Tenasis Empire.
‘Strictly speaking, it was concocted by one of Serhin’s devoted followers—a mad physician.’
Serhin had come to realize that as the war dragged on, the gap between Tenasis and the Cadea Empire was widening steadily.
He understood that eventually, they would lose the Lemart Disputed Territory.
“Not content with the World Tree, now they covet Lemart as well. Are they not a people whose greed reaches to the heavens? The withering of the World Tree must surely be heaven’s punishment upon such covetous wretches!”
Serhin had raged. And he and that mad physician had devised a plan.
To collapse the Cadea Empire from within.
First, they would sow panic among the imperial populace. The most effective means: a plague with no cure.
“There’s no point scattering it in the slums. We target the renowned noble families of the Cadea Empire. They must learn that even families of wealth and power cannot cure this sickness.”
And it appeared that plan was proceeding exactly as Serhin intended.
The fact that the Marchioness had contracted the disease and gone three years without cure suggested as much.
‘It’s all part of the picture Serhin wanted.’
Once Serhin was certain the illness could not be cured, he planned to infuse it with contagious properties and unleash it across the entire Cadea Empire.
I had witnessed and heard of every aspect of that scheme from the sidelines. And I had simply let it unfold.
‘Though it seems I’ve now spoiled that plan.’
I harbored no regret for thwarting Serhin’s scheme. The indiscriminate slaughter it entailed had repulsed me from the start, that much was true.
‘Guilt?’
Perhaps. I couldn’t claim to feel nothing. But that wasn’t the reason I’d acted—nothing so grand as heroic conviction.
The truth was, I moved because it served me.
I leveraged knowledge of that disease to lay the foundation for gaining the Grand Duke’s trust, and by extension, the trust of his household’s retainers.
‘Two birds with one stone, if you will—easing the disease and gaining their favor.’
Thus I tried to lighten the weight pressing upon my chest.
‘Yet everything is far from over.’
There remained room still to maneuver.
I looked at Greaven with a heavier gaze than before.
“Your Grace. I regret to inform you that, as I noted in my previous letter, this medicinal herb does not provide a complete cure.”
The Marquis nodded slowly.
“……Yes. I understand. Still, the fact that she’s risen from her bed is what matters. Since it’s not worsening, I’m satisfied with that.”
“…….”
It was true. The remedy I could make from that herb was incomplete.
One final ingredient could no longer be obtained—it was impossible to procure.
-“Do you understand why I said there was no cure for this disease, Thea?”
-“Why? Is it some kind of deadly poison?”
-“To cure this disease completely, there’s one material that must be used. And I can’t obtain it anymore. It’s impossible to get.”
-“What is it?”
Serhin smiled—a rare sight. His eyes gleamed with joy as he looked at me, white teeth flashing as he grinned with unmistakable delight.
-“A leaf from the World Tree.”
-“……Ah.”
-“The World Tree will never grow new leaves again. Which means a complete cure is absolutely impossible.”
-“…….”
If the World Tree Leaf was indeed the final piece that would complete the remedy, as Serhin said, then yes—that remedy could never be finished.
Still, because the Marchioness’s condition had stabilized, Serhin would need to revise and refine his plans related to the plague for some time to come.
Even so, that much had bought the Cadea Empire time.
‘At least the Marquis is settled.’
Among the retainers of the Grand Duke Household, Greaven’s house was the most influential.
Having won the favor of such a marquis, it was safe to say I’d cleared one major hurdle.

***

Cadrian Balot, the patriarch of the Cadea Empire’s sole Grand Duke Household.
And Vincent Greaven, a marquis following that noble house.
The influence these two families wielded over the empire was beyond words.
And caught between these two titans stood a single woman.
Most young nobles would hardly dare speak a word before either of them, yet this young woman—a butler—carried herself with composure.
Not once did her posture waver, and every expression that crossed her face during their exchange conveyed grace and authority. An unmistakable dignity radiated from her entire being.
She stood alone between these two powerhouses without appearing awkward or out of place.
Egger Durfin, a count who found this female butler irksome, muttered under his breath.
“That woman is the butler of the Grand Duke Household?”
Victor Spode, a count and Egger’s close companion, cut off his words.
“Listen, Egger. Watch your tongue. No matter how you feel about it, she is still the butler of the Grand Duke Household.”
He rebuked Egger, reminding him of how the Marquis had just scolded her.
Yet Egger kept his mouth open.
“What? Did I say something wrong? A female butler, of all things.”
Even if no one else was willing to take the position of butler to the Grand Duke Household, surely this woman hadn’t even graduated from the Butler Academy?
Tsk, tsk. Egger clicked his tongue.
“The Grand Duke Household has truly hit rock bottom.”
“Egger!”
Victor gasped softly. Egger kept his eyes fixed on the female butler as he raised his wine glass and drained it in one gulp.
“Now I’m curious just how remarkable this butler really is. Aren’t you?”
“…….”
Victor felt uneasy about the smile playing at the corners of Egger’s mouth.
Egger spoke to the attendant standing behind him.
“Polken.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Find out everything about that woman. Where she was born, who her parents were, where she’s been all this time. Gather whatever information you can.”
Polken bowed his head.
“I shall obey your orders.”
Egger’s gaze toward the female butler darkened further.

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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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