Villain Family’s Strongest Butler - Chapter 47

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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 50

‘Why is Anette here…?’
I froze for a moment, caught off guard.
The assassin’s breathing had stopped completely, so there was no immediate danger—but still, this wasn’t a scene I’d have chosen to display to anyone.
I slowly withdrew my foot from the assassin’s limp neck.
‘Well, there’s nothing for it.’
After a brief hesitation, I turned toward Anette.
Her golden eyes trembled slightly. Clear bewilderment flickered across her face.
“Did I make too much noise?”
“…No. That wasn’t it.”
Anette’s gaze darted between my face and the corpse on the floor, her eyes alive with visible turmoil.
I moved slowly toward her, positioning myself to block the body from her view.
“What brings you out at this hour? I thought you were asleep.”
“…”
“Or is there something you need?”
Anette shook her head, then fixed me with a searching stare.
“…Can you use an Aura?”
“Yes, I can.”
Anette’s expression twisted noticeably. It seemed the Grand Duke hadn’t told her that much.
Bewilderment etched itself across her features.
As though she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing—or didn’t want to believe this reality at all.
‘The mother’s more honest with her feelings than the son.’
I approached the frozen Anette and gently took hold of her arm.
“Are you unwell?”
She looked down at my hand supporting her arm.
Her gaze lingered there for quite some time before, a moment later, she answered in a voice that seemed to fade away entirely.
“I’m…fine.”
She seemed to have composed herself somewhat.
‘I’ve heard she lives as a knight on the battlefield—so why is she so flustered now?’
It wasn’t as though she were seeing a corpse or blood for the first time.
The way Anette’s gaze kept shifting between me and the assassin’s body was deeply peculiar.
“I’ll escort you back to your bedroom.”
But Anette shook her head.
“Don’t. I can manage alone.”
Her voice still lacked its usual strength. I didn’t press the matter further.
“Very well. I’ll take care of things here and return shortly.”
That was when Anette spun around and grabbed my wrist, pulling me back to face her.
“Why—why are you doing that?”
Her face had twisted into something fierce and fearsome.
“Take care of things? What do you mean, take care of things?!”
“Well, that is…”
I gestured toward the body sprawled across the floor.
“Disposing of the corpse.”
Anette’s voice suddenly erupted.
“Why you?!”
“…Pardon?”
The sharp rebuke startled me, my eyes widening.
“Why—why are you saying that?”
“Stop it!”
Anette seized my hand and began pulling me away, toward somewhere else.
“Wait, Anette?”
“It’s already outrageous that you’re the one dealing with the assassin! And now you’re disposing of the body too?!”
There seemed to be some misunderstanding. I hurried to clarify.
“I apologize for the confusion. To be precise, the Aide is handling the corpse disposal.”
“What does it matter?! The real problem is that you’re the one who killed the assassin!”
Maidservant duties and now the butler’s work too? I couldn’t endure this any longer. I simply couldn’t.
Anette muttered something inaudible under her breath. Even as she pulled me along, I continued trying to soothe her.
“Anette, that’s something any steward of the Grand Ducal Family should naturally do—.”
“Naturally? There’s nothing natural about it!”
Anette’s words pressed on.
“How many men are there in this vast Manor! With all those men at your disposal, why are you the one directly fighting assassins?!”
“…….”
“Assign Jayden to it, or Allen, or have Cadrian handle it himself! It’s not enough that you’re killing assassins with your own hands—you’re even disposing of the bodies!”
Anette hollered, demanding to know whose hands were being stained with blood.
‘Am I being scolded right now, …… ?’
It certainly seemed like it. I was definitely being scolded.
Yet somehow, it didn’t feel like a scolding at all.
‘It’s concern.’
I could see that Anette’s anger stemmed from worry.
‘And the object of that worry is this body’s master.’
I’d already suspected that Anette knew who this body’s master was.
But unlike the Grand Duke, who showed no sign of it, Anette laid her emotions bare.
Perhaps it was from taking the full force of the emotions she radiated…….
Something in my chest—from the collarbone region down to the heart—seemed to flutter and twitch, and an odd sensation spread through my torso, both ticklish and slightly nauseating.
‘What is this……?’
It was an emotion I’d never felt before.
‘Did I somehow become absorbed in the body’s master’s feelings.’
Watching Anette’s heaving shoulders, I found myself drawn to her helplessly.
For a moment, it felt as though tears might spill.

***

The Dowager Duchess’s Room was not ostentatious, but furnished with muted, wooden pieces that conveyed an air of refined elegance.
I was led by Anette’s hand and seated in the center of a long sofa.
Anette, sitting across from me, folded her arms and closed her eyes.
‘She’s just like the Grand Duke.’
The one difference was that Anette laid bare all her emotions in her expression.
Even now, her face flushed and darkened as though wrestling with something terribly complex.
I remained silent until Anette spoke first.
‘Perhaps someone so forthright with their feelings might carelessly let slip information about this body’s master.’
Then, after a moment, Anette finally opened her eyes.
“I think I lost my composure and made a mistake just now.”
“…….”
Ah, Anette had apparently decided to keep silent regarding my true identity.
Like the Grand Duke and the Aide.
I smiled faintly, as if I’d expected as much.
“I see…….”
I rose from the sofa as I spoke.
“Then I’ll take my leave. There’s still much to attend to.”
At that, Anette flinched slightly.
“Send for Ed.”
“That’s my responsibility.”
“No.”
Anette spoke with firmness, as though she’d gathered the resolve that had wavered moments before—like someone who’d just made a weighty decision.
“I won’t have you doing such things while I’m here.”
“Pardon?”
Wait—if a steward isn’t allowed to do a steward’s work…….
Surely not.
‘Is she trying to have me dismissed?!’
When I turned to Anette with a bewildered expression, she ignored my gaze and called for Ed.
“W-what is it, ma’am?!”
Ed came rushing at Anette’s summons, adjusting his spectacles belatedly as he asked. Anette spoke.
“Go and dispose of the body in the 3rd Floor Corridor.”
“Yes? Ah, ah……. Understood, ma’am.”
Ed glanced at me. I shrugged as if to say I had no idea either.
“And station more of the Guard Unit. Throughout the Main Building and at every path the steward uses.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m saying make sure the Assassin doesn’t go after the Butler!”
“Ah, yes, I shall see to it at once.”
Ed nodded vacantly, his face a mask of dim compliance. Anette pressed on.
“If Butlers keep dying like this, then strengthen the guard — don’t put the Butler face-to-face with an Assassin! Does the Grand Duke have any sense? Does the Aide? Do either of you think at all?!”
Ed then spoke up, his tone plaintive.
“No, Your Highness.”
“Who are you calling Your Highness?!”
“My apologies. It’s become a habit…….”
Ed scratched at his cheek and continued.
“Strictly speaking, the Assassin isn’t targeting the Butler — it’s simply that the Butler rises earliest and tends the Manor latest, so statistically the probability of an encounter is highest…….”
“All of it sounds like excuses to my ears.”
Anette cut him off cleanly. Ed’s head bowed at once.
“……My apologies. I shall correct it immediately.”
Ed’s shoulders sagged like a scolded puppy’s.
Wait.
Strengthen the guard? That means the odds of the Assassin meeting the Knights go up, doesn’t it?
‘No! That means my chances of encountering the Assassin go down!’
That’s my only joy!
I spoke up quickly.
“That won’t do, Anette!”
“……What?”
“I find that business most entertaining!”
Killing Assassins, that is!
“……What on earth?!”
Oh no……! Anette clutched the back of her neck and collapsed again.

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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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