Villain Family’s Strongest Butler - Chapter 42

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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 45

The fluffy creature’s smug voice followed right after.
[There was nothing there.]
“Huh?”
[Completely empty, steward. I have no idea why an Entry Prohibition Order was issued.]
“…….”
Listening to the fluffy creature’s account, my earlier reasoning appeared to have been correct.
The moment the Grand Duke stepped into the Fifth Floor, his presence vanished. From that, I’d suspected there might be another space connected beyond the door.
‘There’s no way he’d seal off an empty space like that.’
Most likely, the fluffy creature had failed to meet some condition necessary to access that space.
‘The Grand Duke is thorough, isn’t he.’
Even if someone managed to infiltrate the Fifth Floor, his will was plain: he wouldn’t easily grant them passage to whatever lay beyond.
‘Which means whatever exists in that space must be important enough to warrant such precaution.’
I nodded to myself, then caught sight of the fluffy creature busily licking its chocolate-colored paws.
‘And here it is, already earning its keep without being asked.’
I wouldn’t even need to train it with jerky.
I’d thought it had no sense for reading situations at all, but it seems it’s not entirely without instinct.
Good beginning. If I keep gathering information this way, one piece by one piece, I’m bound to find something worth using.
‘Alright. Possibilities confirmed.’
I addressed the fluffy creature with deliberate generosity.
“Fluffy. What would you like to eat?”
[Huh?]
The fluffy creature looked at me while holding up the hind leg it had been licking. Then it bounced and scampered straight into my lap.
[Prime beef!]
“…….”
I had a feeling I’d need to let it loose in the woods behind the Grand Duke’s Residence soon.
I rose from my desk and walked toward the window.
‘The Memory Box.’
I recalled the Memory Box I’d seen in my dream and the place where I’d buried it.
‘It was a place I knew.’
A place I would never have discovered if I hadn’t asked for a private training ground, and if I hadn’t obtained one.
‘It was beside Berdan Tower.’
Beside Berdan Tower, where my personal training ground lay, there was a path that no one traveled.
Since no hand had touched it for so long, weeds now grew wild, and it no longer resembled a path people had once used.
‘I’d always meant to clear it all out someday, but this works out perfectly.’
This evening, I planned to clear away the weeds and dig up the ground.
‘I’ll need to borrow a spade and pruning shears from Patrick.’
After sketching out my rough plan, I left the room with a letter in hand.
[Take care, steward.]
“I will.”
Not before receiving a farewell from the fluffy creature, who was stretching with a languid yawn.

***

The day passed quickly at the Grand Duke’s Residence.
A world apart from the tedium of my time in the Imperial Palace.
“Miss Freya! There’s a problem with the storage freezer!”
“I’ll send Ted to check it. Have him inspect the temperature control device first, and if there’s an issue with the mana stone, contact the Magic Tower.”
“Yes, understood!”
“Freya! A shipment of ore just arrived—can you take a look?”
“Right away.”
“……Hey, you there! Extinguish that furnace and you’re dismissed!”
The Grand Duke’s Residence thrummed with energy and warmth.
The dull hours I’d spent in the Imperial Palace seemed a distant memory now.
I had to move quickly, inspecting all the warehouses within the Grand Duke’s household and checking every single work station among the hired hands without skipping a single one.
This was it. That inexpressible feeling, the one that filled my chest to bursting.
‘This satisfaction. As if I’d proven my own worth.’
I’m realizing it anew.
‘Am I actually suited to be a butler?’
I wandered through the Grand Duke’s Residence with an absurd pride, my shoulders thrust back.
And then, at last, the dark night descended.
While most of the staff dragged their weary bodies toward the quarters, I lingered to help with the final preparations of the mansion.
‘This should be enough.’
As the night deepened, the Grand Duke, his aide Ed, and even Sir Allen vanished together to somewhere.
‘They’ve just arrived and already have somewhere urgent to be?’
Judging from the absence of several presences that should have been in the Knight Order quarters, it seemed he’d taken a select few knights with him.
‘So I’m supposedly the butler, and yet there are schedules hidden from me.’
My mood soured. I was being reminded once again that I hadn’t earned his trust.
‘I’ll channel this anger into honest work.’
I ground my teeth and made my way toward Berdan Tower.
“Around here, I think.”
Using tools I’d brought along, I quickly cleared away weeds and brush, pressing forward.
Then the scene unfolded before me, resembling what I’d seen in the dream.
Of course, the lush grass was gone, leaving only dark, damp earth.
‘These red bricks, and here—this square stone. I’m certain. This is it.’
I began to dig where the girl in the dream had dug.
Thunk! Crack! Thunk—!
‘This is absolutely the last time.’
Trusting this strange dream and acting on it.
Thrust, thrust, thrust!
‘Come on, come out. Just come out this time.’
I kept digging deeper and deeper.
But strangely, nothing appeared.
‘In the dream it looked like she dug by hand.’
How deep could a child dig with bare hands?
‘And I’m digging with a shovel, yet it still hasn’t appeared?’
With lingering doubt, I dug a little deeper, but unable to contain my frustration, I suddenly thrust the shovel into the ground and planted it firmly.
“Damn it. I must be losing my mind.”
To believe in that foolish dream and do this again.
I wiped the sweat from my brow with my sleeve and pushed the excavated earth back into the hole.
‘That’s enough checking.’
The dream was simply a fool’s dream. Just a fantasy born from my clumsy reasoning and desperate hope.
I restored the ground to its original state, slung the shovel over my shoulder, and gazed quietly down at the flattened earth.
‘All this digging over one dream.’
And because of that wretched dream, I’d already lost part of my wages.
‘Though if I think of the Watch Chain as a gift, it doesn’t feel quite so wasteful.’
But the fact that I’d dug in the dead of night, avoiding others’ eyes, stirred a faint sense of shame.
Perhaps I was still being swayed by the Grand Duke’s single remark—that remembering quickly would be better.
“Sigh.”
Let’s go back.
I’ve confirmed the place one last time; I’ve done my part.
My footsteps along the stone path of the courtyard were those of a defeated soldier.
Sigh… sigh… good heavens…
With my head bowed, I was heaving sighs that seemed to crack the earth itself as I walked back toward the shed to put away my tools.
Suddenly, a black shadow fell across my path.
‘Hm?’
I stopped and lifted my head. My eyes met with violet irises.
“Oh!”
“…….”
“Your Highness?”
My heart lurched, as if I’d committed some grave crime.
‘Not that I’d secretly buried a corpse or anything.’
I cleared my throat awkwardly and asked.
“Where are you returning from, sir?”
“…….”
Instead of answering, the Grand Duke looked toward the path from which I’d come.
‘Did he see?’
I forced a smile.
“Is there something you require, Your Grace?”
“……Did you bury someone out back?”
“Haha, just joking.”
I laughed with perfect composure.
‘Fortunately, he seems to think I was only out back.’
It appeared he hadn’t anticipated that I’d actually dug near Berdan Tower.
I smiled calmly and spoke.
“I once reported that a Poisonous Plant was discovered in the garden.”
“…….”
“The Magic Tower said they needed to examine the soil where that plant grows, so I’ve been collecting samples from the rear garden.”
The Grand Duke’s gaze flickered between my face and the shovel for a long moment.
“Go ahead and tell me you buried a corpse instead.”
“Ah, should I? Yes. I buried a corpse.”
“…….”
“…….”
The Grand Duke exhaled slowly.
I’d swallowed that bait a bit too readily, perhaps.
“Haha. I was joking, Your Grace.”
“…….”
The Grand Duke swept his bangs back once, then turned away.
“Leave corpse-burying to Ed next time. Don’t do it yourself.”
“…….”
Could he actually believe me?
I cast the shovel aside and hurried after him.
“You trust me, Your Grace?”
The Grand Duke walked toward the main house as he answered.
“Why? Should I not? Do you want me to interrogate you instead?”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“Then what? Are you pining for the taste of World Tree Sap again?”
“I don’t think I’ll be swallowing it so meekly next time.”
“I could make you.”
“My, Your Grace, you do like to have the last word.”
“Who else would?”
I let out a small laugh, following in his wake.
Despite the suspicious circumstances, the Grand Duke pressed no further.
It occurred to me that perhaps this was how he expressed trust in his own way.
And I recognized once more that those moments of being swayed by a single dream had been pointless.
‘That’s right—I lived well enough for the past two years without any memory.’
Not just these two years. Even when I was Cian, I lacked memories of childhood, yet I managed well enough.
I’d learned back then that forgotten memories won’t return no matter what you do, yet I repeated the same mistake.
‘Perhaps……if it were the Grand Duke now.’
It seemed he might wait a little longer.
‘No, even if I never recovered my memories……’
It didn’t feel like he would kill me. Strangely, that’s what I believed.
The dawn air that drifted in was cool and crisp.
When I paused for a moment and looked up at the night sky, the Grand Duke stopped as well, turning to face me.
His gaze asked why I wasn’t following.
I smiled softly and walked toward him.
The anxiety and emptiness from moments before scattered away on the wind as if they’d never been.

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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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