Villain Family’s Strongest Butler - Chapter 5

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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 8

“Monstrous stamina. Quite unlike her appearance.”
Norbert clicked his tongue as he broached the subject of Freya.
The physician had said she wouldn’t regain consciousness until tomorrow morning at the earliest.
‘The Grand Duke’s own physician wouldn’t lie.’
Yet beneath that frail exterior lay an iron constitution.
None of it made rational sense.
Neither that impossible vitality nor the Aura already manifested within her body.
‘She’s certainly a suspicious character, no question about that…….’
But when he turned the facts over in his mind, there was nothing suspicious enough to warrant taking her life.
‘I can’t treat her as a Demon simply because she’s lost her memory.’
Nor can I kill her merely for being discovered at Teridana Beach.
Norbert exhaled slowly and spoke.
“I intend to observe her while teaching her duties from tomorrow onward.”
“Leave the instruction to the Count. Do as you see fit.”
“She’s already frightened enough, so if she has any sense at all, she’ll simply rest and recover her strength.”
Then, suddenly, Norbert recalled a conversation he’d had with Freya moments before.
“Ah. She said her name was Freya…….”
Then he paused.
Cardrian, who had been signing documents, stilled his hand.
It was a far cry from his indifferent reception of the report until now.
Cardrian lifted his gaze to Norbert.
“Just now—what did you say?”
“The woman’s name, sir. She said she hasn’t lost all her memories—she remembers her name, at least.”
……
Cardrian’s expression hardened for an instant, then smoothed over. Norbert caught that fleeting moment of change.
‘He knows that name.’
Norbert pressed further.
“Your Highness, could it be a name you know…….”
In that instant, Cardrian rose abruptly from his seat.
“Your Highness?”
Cardrian’s gaze turned toward the door of the Office.
“……The Western Annex.”
“Sir?”
Norbert tilted his head in confusion.
The Western Annex? Was he referring to the west wing?
Following Cardrian’s gaze, Norbert’s own head turned toward the Western Annex.
“The servants’ quarters, sir? Why there…….”
Instead of answering, Cardrian swept past the desk and strode straight out of the Office.
“Your Highness?!”
Norbert hurried after him.

***

The Western Annex of the Grand Duke’s Residence.
Knights were already beginning to gather in small numbers before the Western Annex.
“Your Highness.”
“Your Highness!”
Jayden, captain of the Mars Knight Order, his vice-captain Allen, and several other knights recognized Cardrian and rushed toward him.
“Your Highness, we just now in the Western Annex—.”
Cardrian raised his hand, cutting off Jayden’s report.
“I know. All of you, wait here.”
Then Allen stepped forward.
“Allow me to check first, Your Highness.”
But Cardrian shook his head.
“I go in alone.”
“But, Your Highness!”
“Norbert.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Cardrian summoned Norbert and gave his command.
“Keep everyone away from the second floor, and evacuate all the staff outside.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Then he entered the Western Annex alone.

***

“Whew. That was close—too close.”
I barely managed to push the door open and stumbled into the hallway, collapsing onto the floor.
Gasp, gasp—.
My lungs, which had been so tightly constricted, finally began to open up a little.
‘That was genuinely dangerous.’
Even after coughing up blood, the Aura’s rampage continued for a while longer.
Every drop of blood and every organ in my body cycled between freezing cold and searing heat.
I thought I was really going to die.
Then, at last, pale smoke began to rise from my body.
I lay there in the hallway, watching the haze that still filled the room.
‘All of that came from inside me.’
It looked like a bathroom filled with steam.
‘Quite the spectacle, really.’
I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand and steadied my breathing once more.
In any case, I’d succeeded.
I stretched my arm toward the ceiling and opened my palm.
Hum—. A gentle, rippling blue Aura flowed across my open hand.
I could feel the Aura circulating through my entire body with perfect clarity.
And it was already purifying itself, seeking out impurities on its own.
‘I thought it would be enough if I could just open the pathways and get the Aura circulating.’
I hadn’t expected to reach the stage of purifying my body so directly.
‘I thought it would take more time…….’
This person—the original owner of this body—was no ordinary human.
‘I’ve suspected as much all along.’
But now it was certain.
From the Aura awakening in an untrained body, to it circulating and purifying that body—
An ordinary body could never have withstood any of it.
No matter how formidable my mental fortitude was, there were always limits to what the flesh could bear.
‘There’s something hidden in this body…….’
That was when it happened.
In the silence after all the staff had evacuated, I sensed a presence from the staircase connected to the hallway.
Thanks to awakening my Aura, I could sense someone’s presence keenly, even from a considerable distance.
I turned only my head to look toward that presence at the end of the corridor.
And on the far side of the hallway, where pale smoke still lingered faintly—
I spotted a silhouette filling the corridor.
‘What?’
I jerked upright, bracing myself against the floor with trembling hands. My limbs were shaking so badly I could barely get to my feet, but I had to.
Because the source of that rough, approaching presence was the Grand Duke.
My heart dropped like a stone into a well.
My instincts sensed danger in the Grand Duke’s aura—an aura that carried the very scent of blood.
Just as they had on that battlefield.
‘Why is the Grand Duke here……?’
Ah.
I’d been too loud.
I glanced at the smoke lingering in my room and the hallway.
‘I thought it wouldn’t escape outside…….’
No—I never imagined the Grand Duke himself would come rushing over, even if it had.
Thump, thump.
Meanwhile, the Grand Duke began to move forward.
By the direction of his gaze and the shortening distance between us, it was clear he was walking straight toward me.
‘At this point……. My awakening the Aura has been discovered, hasn’t it?’
There was no real thought of hiding it. Because hiding it wouldn’t accomplish anything anyway.
‘Concealing an Aura’s presence is fairly difficult technique to begin with.’
Especially not something I, who had only just awakened my Aura, could manage.
The Grand Duke’s footsteps carried an oppressive weight with them.
Slow but forceful, unhurried yet suffocating.
I couldn’t tear my gaze from him until he reached me.
Held captive by those violet eyes—calm yet arrogant—I felt even my breath slip beyond my control.
“So you begged for your life.”
…….
His low, cool voice carried a pressure that seemed to press down on my shoulders.
Only then did I realize I’d forgotten to breathe.
A sharp exhale.
“You’ve come, sir.”
The Grand Duke looked down at me, his gaze drifting slowly through my room before he spoke.
“Did you change your mind about dying by your own hand?”
It was more of a murmur to himself, but I felt compelled to answer.
“No.”
“After pulling such a reckless stunt.”
“I did it to live.”
…….
“I did it because I wanted to live. To survive.”
At that, his attention returned to me.
I couldn’t tell if my answer pleased him or not.
But it was certain that the pressure radiating from him, which had been bearing down on my body moments before, had softened considerably.
The Grand Duke folded his arms and looked down at me with a more relaxed gaze, as if to say, go on.
I took a deep breath and continued.
“With no memory and nothing to my name, this is the only thing I can do right now, isn’t it?”
…….
“I thought I needed to grow strong enough to protect myself as soon as possible. Everyone around me seems eager to see me dead anyway, so even if I had to strain myself, once I awakened my Aura—”
Then the Grand Duke interrupted my words.
“Who.”
“Pardon?”
“Who’s trying to kill you?”
…….
You, for a start.
The words nearly burst from my lips before I caught them.
“Your old steward, …sir?”
…….
I shifted the blame onto Norbert.
Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie.
At my answer, the Grand Duke’s eyes rolled as he sank into thought, until suddenly—as though a name had come to him—he spoke again.
“If you mean Count Norbert, you needn’t worry. He’ll become your teacher going forward.”
“My teacher…?”
Ah, his words brought that forgotten contract rushing back to mind, and my brow furrowed unbidden.
Then the Grand Duke tilted his head to one side and spoke.
“However.”
“Yes?”
“You remember your name.”
Ah, so the old man had gone running to make his report.
I answered quickly.
“Yes, I do.”
“Freya.”
“…Yes. That’s correct.”
“Freya….”
“…Yes?”
His voice—impossibly low and heavy—spoke my name again.
Somehow my chest tightened. My temples seemed to throb with it.
‘Why does he say it so naturally?’
Hearing my own name—strange as it still felt to me—roll from someone else’s lips made the back of my neck prickle.
‘Anyone watching would think we’re the closest of friends.’
The Grand Duke regarded me in silence, then spoke.
“Aside from your name. What else do you remember?”
“Nothing more—”
“Why? Are you about to lie again? A man who’s lost his memory awakens his Aura. Do you truly expect me to believe that’s mere coincidence?”
I swallowed hard, the sound sharp in my throat.
“Now that you’ve awakened your Aura, you’re thinking you can purify even the Sacred Tree Sap with ease—that you have nothing left to fear. That’s what you’re telling yourself, isn’t it?”
……
This uncanny man.

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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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