Villain Family’s Strongest Butler - Chapter 4

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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 4

“Rest well today. Starting tomorrow, you should prepare yourself.”
The Elder Steward finished drafting the contract with quick efficiency and left the room.
Tomorrow? Right away?
‘So he’s decided to work me hard from the start, then.’
In truth, the contract itself contained nothing unreasonable toward me.
And then there was the collar necklace.
*Click.* I fingered the necklace hanging around my neck.
‘It’s almost the same color as my eyes now, isn’t it?’
The jewel suspended from the golden chain gleamed in that deep blue.
A sapphire, perhaps? Or some other precious stone that held that cerulean light?
The Elder Steward had called it a safeguard.
“You will not disclose anything whatsoever regarding the Grand Duke’s Mansion, you will not enter any place without permission, and naturally, you cannot leave the mansion without authorization.”
So many restrictions.
Yet my identity couldn’t be revealed, and the circumstances I now faced had left me no other choice.
‘The chains on my hands and feet are gone, but something worse hangs around my neck now.’
Is this how a dog feels wearing a collar?
‘Though I suppose calling it a dog collar is a bit much—it’s quite beautiful, really.’
Still, the fact that he gave me this means he doesn’t intend to kill me outright.
Keep my tongue in check, and he’ll let me live. That seems to be the arrangement.
‘Well, it’s cumbersome, but better than shackles on my wrists and ankles, locked away in a cell again.’
At last I could breathe out, as if the tension had finally broken.
‘This is where I’ll be living from now on.’
I glanced around the room.
Sunlight streamed generously through a sizeable window. A bed that wasn’t shabby, a desk that looked sturdy enough.
The space wasn’t large, but it was more than I deserved.
The voices of people drifting through the window, mingled with the warmth of the room, wove together into something quiet and almost peaceful.
As I gazed up at the sky beyond the pane, stray thoughts began to seep into my mind.
‘So much has happened in such a short time.’
I thought I was dead, consumed by Black Magic, yet here I was, alive.
‘I thought I was lucky to survive, only to discover I’m in an enemy nation.’
And now I find myself inside the mansion of the most dangerous man in that enemy kingdom.
‘Me, a servant. A servant!’
And not just any servant—a servant to the Grand Duke Balot, whose name carries an infamous reputation.
I buried my face in my palms.
The collar necklace around my neck swayed and clinked in response.
Damn this collar necklace.
Its very presence made my situation crystalline and impossible to ignore.
‘A servant wearing the Grand Duke’s collar necklace, standing before the Grand Duke himself.’
It’s absurd. Truly absurd.
What would Serhin say if he learned of my predicament?
‘Sia, you were supposed to bring the Grand Duke’s head, and instead the Grand Duke’s put you in chains?’
Is that your taste, Sia?
I could almost hear Serhin’s mocking voice in my ears.
‘If I ever return, I’ll keep everything that happened here secret.’
Sigh.
Well, at least I’m still alive.
‘Yes. This isn’t such a terrible situation after all.’
I remember vividly what I said in the Grand Duke’s study.
Disrespectful speech came naturally, and I’d piled on the vague insinuations to fuel his suspicion.
And yet the Grand Duke let me live.
‘Of course.’
The Grand Duke must know who I truly belong to.
‘There’s no other reason he would have spared me for such blatant rudeness.’
That second question lingered with me.
“Do you… remember me?”
Among the three questions, that one had been deeply personal.
‘The Grand Duke didn’t ask if I remembered who I was.’
He asked if I remembered myself.
At first glance, it seemed like the same question, but the meaning hidden beneath was something entirely different.
‘Unless the Grand Duke was drowning in self-importance, he wouldn’t ask a question like “You don’t know who I am?!”‘
And if he’d sent away even the Elder Steward and the Priest to ask it—
‘Then that question was surely something deeply personal, secretive, and clandestine.’
It meant a relationship so private that even his closest confidant, the Elder Steward, couldn’t know.
‘Ah, I wish I could open up the Grand Duke’s mind and see inside.’
Or perhaps one day I’d slip him a truth serum and see what he’d reveal.
‘And then I’d ask him.’
Do you remember me? Do you know me? Who am I?
Not a bad plan, really.
But that scheme too depended on making this body function like a human being.
I climbed down from the bed and settled onto the hard floor in the middle of the room.
‘I’ve escaped immediate danger.’
Now I needed to make a decisive move toward the next stage.
Making this body into one that could survive.
For that, I’d have to carve out every spare moment from now on and train relentlessly.
‘He said work starts tomorrow.’
He told me to rest today.
Then this hour was an opportunity. A chance to awaken the Aura sleeping within my body.
I glanced out the window at the sky.
Though the day had felt endless to me, the heavens remained bright and serene.
Just past midday.
‘Time is precious.’
I’d awaken my Aura before nightfall. If that failed, I’d stay awake through the night until I did.
‘Since this body has already manifested an Aura, I only need to wake it. Just a little, just barely.’
For an ordinary person, an untrained and undisciplined body couldn’t awaken an Aura.
More often than not, reckless attempts meant death.
‘That’s true for ordinary people.’
I was different.
Even for me, awakening an Aura in an untrained body was a first.
But as long as my formidable will remained intact, I wouldn’t die easily.
‘Still, I won’t let my guard down.’
I slowly closed my eyes.
‘Exhale…’
My consciousness began moving instinctively to find the slumbering Aura within.
I drew in only the minimum breath and pulled all my senses inward, focusing them completely.
My vision was dark.
Of course it was. A body that had never received anything could only be darkness.
In a way, it was a blank slate.
Like untrodden snow or an empty cosmos where no star had ever been born.
Within the human body exist countless invisible pathways that the eye cannot directly perceive.
Circulating Aura throughout the entire body via these intricate, complex channels was the fundamental stage of Aura manipulation.
I decided to begin with that basic foundation.
I carefully felt my way through the darkness, concentrating on the energy I felt emanating from my heart.
Then I felt it—the faint pulse of the heart, and within it, another energy stirring awake.
A thread-thin, gossamer current rippled around my heart, tickling it gently.
It was a blue Aura.
Blue like a crystalline autumn sky unmarred by a single cloud, like the water of an emerald lake so clear you could see straight through to the bottom.
A coolness washed over me, as if drinking from it would open my chest wide.
‘That color is surely…’
Strangely, it was the same color as the Aura I’d wielded in my previous body.
‘No, surely just a similar shade.’
An Aura’s color was determined by a person’s temperament, but it wasn’t as unique as a fingerprint—not every shade was completely distinct.
Though rare, it was possible to encounter another person whose Aura matched yours.
‘Perhaps because my soul is the same, the Aura’s color has manifested similarly.’
Because it resembled the Aura from my previous body.
I felt a strange warmth. As if I’d somehow returned to those times.
I steadied my emotions and gazed quietly at the blue light.
‘So that settles it—that’s my Aura.’
Well, now that things have come this far.
‘Let’s get along from now on, shall we?’
Everyone has those first meetings with strangers.
‘Who knows? Maybe our meeting today will mark a turning point in history.’
I approached carefully, soothing the shimmer-like Aura as I went.
‘There now, be good. Behave yourself, won’t you?’
I paused to collect myself.
And then, very slowly, I embraced the Aura that had settled around my heart.
‘That’s right. Good, isn’t it?’
As tenderly and gently as I could manage.
With the delicate care one uses to soothe a child, the reverent solemnity one shows when welcoming something sacred—a perfect marriage of both.
Perhaps my sincerity reached it after all.
The Aura that had been drifting began to sink entirely into my heart.
What was this? The thing was far more docile than I’d feared.
‘Phew, thank goodness.’
Just as I was exhaling in relief—
Crack?!
‘…Huh?’
I heard something shatter in my chest.
What was that sound? Had a bone fractured?
‘No, that’s not it. This is…’
Like the sound of something small and thin—glass—cracking.
‘Could it be… my Collar Necklace?’
But there was no time to verify.
Before I could even open my eyes to check, agony crashed down upon my heart from that first moment of shattering, and I could do nothing at all.
The Aura had begun to rampage.
Even breathing became an ordeal.
‘Take that back! Take it back! Docile was wrong!’
I hurried to regain focus, concentrating once more on the Aura within me.
‘All right. Let’s see what you’ve got.’
I had survived in enemy territory, even before the Grand Duke himself—I would not die to some Aura!
‘I will survive.’
No matter what.
And then.
Blood erupted from my mouth—
‘What—’
I was thrown backward, vomiting blood.

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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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