The Villain Family’s Strongest Butler
Chapter 26
-“Be my eyes.”
-[Eyes?]
I pointed back and forth between my own eyes and Furball’s with the tip of my finger.
That was right. I intended to bring Furball in as my subordinate and use him as an informant at the same time.
Tied down inside the Grand Duke’s Residence as I was, I needed someone who could roam inside and out to serve as my eyes. And that was Furball.
‘First, I need to restore his health and fatten him up a bit.’
Right now, he was so starved and emaciated that he looked pitiful. To be honest, having him run errands in this state pricked my conscience.
Perhaps this was a good opportunity.
Who would ever make the absurd assumption that a cat could understand human speech and convey those words verbatim to another person?
‘If this were war, he would have been even more useful.’
If I had slipped him into an enemy camp’s tent, Furball could have even extracted tactical plans.
Still, it was too early to be disappointed.
In truth, this Grand Duke’s Residence was no different from a battlefield to me.
The enemy was right before my eyes, and their stronghold was right here. If this wasn’t a battlefield, what was?
I looked down at Furball with an expectant gaze.
‘If I use this Furball, I’ll be able to listen in on conversations between the Grand Duke and his aide, or hear the rumors whispered in the back alleys.’
I put on a genial smile.
“All right. Is there anything special you want to eat?”
Hmm. Furball, after some contemplation, spoke.
[Meat! Today it’s lamb, butler!]
“…….”
That fellow really might not be an ordinary cat.
***
Tenasys Empire, Main Hall of the Temple.
Crown Prince Serhin stood blankly, staring at the statue before him.
It was a statue of the goddess said to protect the empire, yet there was no reverence in the gaze Serhin directed at it.
Just then, Leonel, his aide, approached and stood beside him.
“You will collapse at this rate. You must eat something, at least.”
Yet Serhin’s answer did not come immediately. After a moment passed, Serhin spoke, his gaze still fixed upon the goddess statue.
“Would it not be better if I simply died?”
“Your Highness. How can you utter such disgraceful words?”
“What is the point of living alone? Without that child.”
“Your Highness…….”
Leonel let out a heavy sigh with a frustrated expression.
“Now, it is time… you must forget.”
At that, Serhin’s head slowly turned toward Leonel from the statue.
His emotionless, hollow eyes gave off an eerie, chilling impression.
“Do you think so as well? That I must forget that child.”
“It has been over two years. Sir Sia would not want Your Highness to carry on like this, either—”
It was at that moment.
Clang—! Before Leonel could finish speaking, Serhin drew Leonel’s sword.
It was a swift, agile movement that made it impossible to believe he had been standing limply just a moment before.
And the scream erupted from an unexpected place.
Guh—!
Having drawn Leonel’s sword, Serhin had decapitated the knight escorting Leonel without a second thought.
“Your Highness!”
Leonel shouted in utter horror. Yet Serhin spoke with the same indifferent expression he had worn before severing the knight’s neck.
“He died in your place.”
“…….”
“Because having lost that child, I cannot afford to lose you as well.”
“Y-Your Highness…….”
“Even if it is not to that child’s extent, you are still someone I cherish.”
“…….”
“However.”
Serhin brought the bloodstained blade to the tip of Leonel’s chin and spoke softly.
“If you ever put that child’s death on your tongue again, your head will fly next. So always be careful.”
“…….”
Clatter—! Serhin threw Leonel’s sword to the floor. Then, he walked back to the front of the statue.
With the same expression and gaze as before, Serhin looked up at the sculpture.
“It wasn’t as if I asked for something so grand.”
All I wanted was simply to keep you by my side.
It had been that way from the very start.
‘From the moment I first saw you, I knew I had to keep you by my side.’
And so you became my sword and my shadow, guarding my side.
‘Yes. Up to that point, it was perfect.’
Then why did it turn out like this?
‘Where, and what, went wrong?’
I didn’t know.
‘Even if I look back hundreds, thousands of times, I cannot understand. I don’t know why it became like this.’
Something like this was never in my plans.
“Sia.”
Serhin softly called that beloved name.
“Sia…….”
Pulling his gaze away from the statue, he turned to look out the glass window.
A clear, cloudless blue sky stretched out like a painting.
A blue sky that resembled that child.
Looking at that sky, Serhin spoke to the aide behind him.
“The only place left is that one, correct?”
“……Yes, Your Highness.”
“Then there is no helping it. I must go. I have to go and confirm it myself.”
“…….”
Serhin withdrew his gaze from the sky and turned around.
“Let us go, Leonel. We must bring her back at once.”
***
A sudden chill.
‘Huh?’
I quickly looked behind me.
‘What was that?’
I tilted my head, massaging the back of my neck. A cold draft had brushed against the nape of my neck out of nowhere.
‘Strange.’
As I held the back of my neck and scanned my surroundings, Sir Allen, who was walking alongside me, asked.
“What is the matter?”
“It’s nothing. I just felt a sudden chill for no reason.”
“Could you have caught a cold?”
Sir Allen wore a surprised expression. I shook my head.
“No. You know how healthy I am.”
Haha, I let out a light laugh.
Having returned from the battlefield, Sir Allen had once again become my escort.
Did that mean Ed, who had been keeping watch over me in Sir Allen’s place, went back to his original post? Not at all.
Master, Sir Allen, and even Aide Ed.
‘Just how many people are watching me?’
Even though I had become a butler, the number of eyes monitoring me hadn’t decreased.
‘Does this mean you still don’t trust me that much, Grand Duke?’
What position was there that could earn more trust than a butler……?
While lost in such deep contemplation, Sir Allen and I arrived at the laundry room.
“Start with the bedsheets. Make sure to separate them properly so the colors don’t bleed.”
“Yes, I’ll pay close attention.”
Then, I thoroughly made the rounds to the garden, the smithy, the infirmary, and the stables.
Since this was his first time accompanying me after I became butler, Sir Allen stayed by my side with a look of considerable surprise.
Coming out of the stables after even assisting with a mare giving birth, Sir Allen spoke up.
“Does a butler usually handle this sort of work too?”
“Well, I don’t know what butlers in other households do. But… I do it.”
“…….”
“Because this, too, is the work of the Valot Grand Duchy.”
It was quite a plausible answer. Especially in front of Sir Allen, who had been assigned as my monitor.
‘Now, hurry and go report to the Grand Duke.’
Tell him you’ve never seen or heard of such a butler, and that he can trust me now.
‘Shower the Grand Duke with all my good points, Sir Allen.’
I smiled warmly to myself and turned around.
Just then, the front gates of the Grand Duke’s Residence opened, and an ornate carriage rolled in.
Recognizing the crest on the carriage, Sir Allen murmured.
“It is an imperial carriage.”
“Imperial?”
Sir Allen said.
“There is a red flag attached to the carriage.”
I nodded.
“Yes, that signifies urgent news.”
The flags attached to imperial carriages were largely divided into three colors.
Red was for urgent dispatches, blue for diplomatic matters or imperial events, and black for obituaries.
Seeing the carriage come to a halt in front of the main building of the Grand Duke’s Residence, I walked toward it. Receiving messengers from the imperial family and delivering letters to the Grand Duke were also part of a butler’s duties.
Behind my back as I walked toward the carriage, I heard Sir Allen’s voice.
“Take care.”
I glanced back at him briefly and nodded.
“Yes.”
For some reason, an ominous feeling washed over me.
***
“What? An alliance?!”
Aide Ed roared.
The news delivered by the imperial envoy concerned a request for an alliance from the Tenasys Empire.
After the imperial envoy departed, the three of us immediately gathered in the office.
The Grand Duke said.
“There is no need to cause a fuss. Nothing has been decided yet.”
At that, Ed nodded.
“Indeed. It certainly is not a matter to be decided lightly. In any case, those bastards are utterly shameless. Did they think we would welcome them with open arms if they requested an alliance now?!”
Ed let out a scornful scoff. Just then, the Grand Duke looked at me silently and spoke.
“Leave.”
“……Yes, Your Grace.”
The Grand Duke issued an order to leave only to me.
‘Tch. I could listen in too.’
So my job as butler was done, huh?
I was curious, though……
Hiding my inner thoughts, I stepped out of the office.
For a moment, I considered pressing against the door to eavesdrop, but soon gave up on the idea.
There was no way the Grand Duke wouldn’t notice.
Regardless……
‘An alliance…….’
My thoughts swirled chaotically as I walked down the hallway.
The person who hated and loathed the Kadea Empire more than anyone else was Crown Prince Serhin of the Tenasys Empire.
Yet an alliance, and requested by the Tenasys Empire first?
Ah.
A sudden thought flashed through my mind.
‘Could it be… did Serhin die?!’
