The Villain Family’s Strongest Butler
Chapter 23
Upon arriving at the Grand Duke’s Residence, Kadrian sent Freya away and headed to his office.
Yet even after sitting down, he could not bring himself to focus on the paperwork.
It was because of the conversation he had shared with the High Priest.
-“I cannot say there is no trace of black magic at all.”
-“…”
-“Though faint, I sensed the presence of black magic lingering around a fierce aura.”
The High Priest had said he felt the energy of black magic from Freya. At those words, Kadrian’s aura had grown instantly turbulent. The High Priest had quickly continued.
-“Grand Duke. Hear me out. There is no doubt that the core itself is a powerful aura. The black magic I felt had merely brushed against its surface—barely a stain left behind from a passing touch.”
Whether brushed or stained, it still meant that traces of black magic lingered within that butler’s soul.
-“It sounds to me as though another soul might have been placed there by a dark mage.”
At Kadrian’s words, the High Priest had let out a sigh.
-“Of course, I cannot see through everything. However, I am certain that the soul residing in that butler’s body is not one corrupted by black magic. Have you not felt it as well, Grand Duke? That is why you are all the more confused.”
-“…”
With that, he had handed Kadrian a small leather pouch.
-“Was it two years ago? When that person awoke.”
Kadrian had checked the contents of the pouch.
-“…This is.”
-“Back then, I found that at the tips of the branches. Though they were few enough to count on one hand.”
-“…”
-“Does this serve as an answer of sorts?”
Recalling the conversation with the High Priest, Kadrian soon rose from his chair.
Since he couldn’t concentrate anyway, he decided it would be better to catch at least a little sleep.
Kadrian walked at an unhurried, measured pace. He moved down the hallway and climbed the central staircase when it came into view.
The stairs led from the third floor, where his office was located, up to the fourth floor.
Reaching the fourth floor, Kadrian paused in the corridor and looked toward the hallway where Freya’s room lay.
‘Oblivious to what I’m going through.’
He remembered how she had nodded off in the carriage, clutching the black cat in her arms.
Letting out a faint sigh, Kadrian headed straight for the fifth floor.
As he stepped onto the fifth floor, a black iron door barred his path with its imposing presence.
But Kadrian reached out with practiced ease. His palm covered the crest etched in the center of the pitch-black iron door.
The ornate, mystical engraving disappeared beneath his broad hand in an instant.
Soon after, with a deep rumble, the iron door parted open to either side.
The iron door, which looked as though it would never budge, opened with utter ease at Kadrian’s touch.
Once the fifth-floor iron door opened, the dark hallway glimpsed between the iron bars vanished, giving way to an entirely different world.
The magic linking this place to another dimension had activated.
Soft grass brushed beneath his feet as Kadrian took a step inside.
He followed the stone path dotted intermittently through the grass.
Before long, a massive tree came into view.
It was a virtual space crafted by magic, and within it, an illusion of the World Tree.
Perhaps because it was an illusory World Tree, unlike the real one that had shed every leaf and withered away, this one stood magnificent and full of majestic dignity.
It had been recreated exactly as it was during the days when the World Tree was at its healthiest and most beautiful.
The thick roots plunging deep into the earth and the colossal trunk felt wondrous, as if connected to every living thing in the world.
Upon branches stretching vigorously enough to blanket the entire sky, lush leaves full of vitality grew, shimmering with a golden radiance.
Each time the breeze brushed past, the rustle of leaves was as soft and gentle as a symphony played by nature.
And.
Beneath the shadow cast by those leaves lay a bed decorated with the foliage of the World Tree and petals of every hue.
Whenever the wind stirred, golden sunlight shattered through the foliage, showering down across the bed.
Kadrian stood gazing at the scene for a moment before stepping into the shade of the World Tree once more.
“…”
Walking right up to the bedside, Kadrian silently looked down upon the bed.
The bed was empty.
The pure white bedding was completely undisturbed, bearing not a single trace of anyone having stayed there.
Yet Kadrian’s gaze upon the empty bed was fixed on the memory of the one who had once lain there.
-“Fredica. Come down from the tree. What will you do if you get hurt?”
-“I hate that name! I hate it because it sounds like a boy’s name!”
The little girl had insisted she disliked her name because it was too long and sounded like a boy’s.
-“It is a precious name bestowed upon you by God.”
-“I know. That’s why I don’t say anything in front of other people.”
-“…”
-“But I don’t want Kadrian calling me by that name too!”
The girl, who looked as delicate as a cherished garden flower, had a fierce and wild side to her, like a mustang raised grazing on wild grass.
Or perhaps one could say she was unlike anyone else from the Flanker family.
For generations, the Flanker family had been chosen by God to resonate with the World Tree, protecting and guarding it.
Perhaps the notion that a child chosen by God would be purely docile had been his own prejudice, Kadrian thought.
-“First, please come down.”
-“Give me a nickname.”
-“…A nickname? Me?”
-“Yeah. Promise you’ll give me one, and I’ll come down.”
-“…”
-“I won’t ask you to call me that in front of others. Just a nickname only you and I know. Please? Kadrian.”
The child’s lovely, pleading eyes remained vivid in his memory.
The moment he promised to give her a nickname, the girl leapt down lightly from the tree.
-“How about this?”
-“You thought of one already? It isn’t anything weird, is it?”
-“I recall reading in an ancient text once. There was an ancient city that now sleeps deep beneath the sea, and God cherished that city so deeply that He sent His own child down. That child of God became the queen of the city, and—”
-“Your explanations are getting long again. Never mind that, just tell me the nickname. What is it? What did you choose?”
-“…”
Stroking the empty bed, Kadrian spoke softly in place of his past self from the memory.
“Freya.”
The nickname Kadrian had given her, and the one only Kadrian had ever called her.
He had once asked Freya, who claimed to remember that nickname as her name.
-“Do you know what it means for you to know that name?”
Naturally, she had not remembered.
It had felt as though the faint sliver of hope he harbored was crumbling away.
He had thought everything would return to its rightful place if only she awoke.
But with that single phrase—that she had lost her memories—everything had become uncertain.
It had even reached the point where he could not be certain if the soul dwelling inside was truly Freya’s.
Kadrian’s time, which had frozen twelve years ago, remained frozen still.
The Cadea Empire and the Tenasis Empire were originally one land.
The World Tree stood firm over that land, and everyone lived prosperous days under the World Tree’s Divine Protection.
Yet peace is never eternal.
The World Tree was located at the southwesternmost edge of the map, and as time passed, the economic disparity between the regions close to the World Tree and those far from it grew ever wider.
As a result, discontent flared between nobles and nobles, and between citizens and citizens, over the control of those boundless resources.
In the end, that accumulated resentment led to a great war, and the once-unified nation split into two independent countries.
The Cadea Empire and the Tenasis Empire.
It was divided into an empire that received the Divine Protection of the World Tree and one that did not.
And the family that had safeguarded the World Tree for generations to ensure its eternity was none other than the Marquis Flanker family.
The Marquis Flanker family was known both for guarding the World Tree and for receiving its Divine Protection.
The scions of that family were never bound by the mere rank of marquis. They were more noble than any other aristocratic house and commanded greater reverence than the Temple’s High Priest or even the Imperial Family’s royals.
Yet twelve years ago, after its sole heir fell into a deep slumber, the Flanker family was erased from history.
It was from that very moment that the World Tree began to wither.
Fredica Flanker.
The owner of this empty bed.
At the time, Kadrian was Freya’s fiancé.
Though it had been a one-sided promise made by the adults, Kadrian had never resented the engagement.
For he had already lost his heart to her from the very first day he laid eyes on Freya.
Leaning back against the bed, Kadrian retrieved the Pocket Watch from his inner pocket.
A soft click sounded.
On one side of the golden pocket watch’s lid, the initials of Freya and Kadrian were visible, engraved in minute lettering.
Right along with the heart shape carved between them.
Looking at that heart, Kadrian let out a soft chuckle despite himself.
