The Villain Family’s Strongest Butler
Chapter 3
“What is… ah!”
Suddenly, it felt as though all the strength was draining completely from my body.
Because the weight was quite substantial as well, this body—which possessed not even a shred of muscle—collapsed straight to the floor.
I jerked my head up and glared at the Grand Duke.
“What is the meaning of this? Is this how the Grand Duke treats a helpless guest?”
When I snapped and spat those words through gritted teeth, the old man standing beside him scolded me sharply.
“Insolent! He is not someone you dare address!”
Not someone I dare address? That guy was the one who spoke to me first every single time!
Bristling with indignation, I shouted back.
“Stay out of this, old man!”
What?!
“O-Old man?!”
Old maaaan?!
As if being called an old man was a massive shock, the graying elder stumbled backward, clutching the back of his neck.
The knights moved with impeccable timing to support him.
Whatever.
Having already half lost my temper, I glared back at the Grand Duke.
“The maids who washed me verified that I carry no weapons. Furthermore, if I had the ability to flee from your knights, I would have escaped long before arriving here.”
To anyone looking, this was a frail, delicate body that couldn’t harm a fly, looking as though it would topple over at a mere nudge.
I wasn’t saying this just because it was my body. I was saying it precisely because it wasn’t mine.
If I were the ‘Sia’ of the past, I would have had no right to complain about such treatment. Nor would I have worried, since breaking a pair of shackles would take nothing more than a little flex of strength.
But this body was different.
Its physical strength was barely enough to manage walking and breathing, and it showed no trace of ever having held a sword.
If I could feel it, there was no way the Grand Duke couldn’t.
‘As expected from the rumors.’
A ruthless butcher devoid of blood or tears, a bloodthirsty homicidal maniac!
Fuming with the urge to tear him to pieces, I glared at the devilish Grand Duke.
“Putting shackles on someone like me out of nowhere. Let me at least hear a reason.”
The Grand Duke, who had remained silent, slowly parted his lips.
“Those shackles are no ordinary restraints.”
“Then what. Are they some divine relic of God?”
Despite my sarcastic retort, the Grand Duke’s expression remained unchanged. He replied in a low, heavy voice.
“Correct. Those shackles are a divine relic that forcibly suppresses supernatural abilities.”
“…….”
Ah, so I guessed right.
After a brief pause, I spoke up.
“……So, what does that have to do with me? Why put that on me—”
“The fact that you collapsed so helplessly under those shackles.”
The Grand Duke’s low voice resonated quietly.
“Means the supernatural power within your body reacted.”
Supernatural abilities referred to special powers such as magic, aura, holy power, or black magic.
The Grand Duke’s narrowed gaze bore into me, as sharp as a blade.
“For instance, ……black magic.”
Huh? What magic?
With wide eyes, I looked up at the Grand Duke, who was spouting utter nonsense.
In the end, I was locked in the underground prison of the Grand Duke’s residence.
Until it was proven that the supernatural ability in my body was not black magic, I had to live in the prison with the shackles on.
One week of prison life.
During that time, old man Norbert often visited the prison for interrogations.
-“How many times must I say it? I don’t remember.”
-“So……. You do not know what your name is, nor why you woke up on Teridana Beach?”
-“That is correct.”
-“You don’t recall how you ended up on that beach either?”
-“No.”
-“Then your birthplace?”
-“Don’t know that either.”
-“You truly cannot recall a single thing?”
-“Not one thing.”
-“Haa…….”
He clearly didn’t believe me, but I had no other choice.
‘It’s not like I can tell him I was a knight of an enemy empire.’
One would think he’d grow sick of my shameless lies, yet the old man visited me every single day.
The fortunate thing was that, aside from asking questions, he conducted no other forms of interrogation.
‘You can hardly even call it an interrogation. It’s just tossing a few questions and leaving.’
Soft. Truly soft.
‘Is it that the people of the Cadea Empire are soft, or is the Grand Duke soft, making his subordinates soft as well?’
Hmm. No.
There was no way the Grand Duke, widely rumored to be cold-blooded and vicious, was soft.
‘Let’s just assume that old man is the soft one.’
Tsk tsk, how does he expect to extract a shred of truth like that?
I shook my head.
Clatter. I picked up the soup bowl sitting on the floor.
While I had been lying down lost in thought, the soup had already grown cold.
‘Thin, watery soup every single day…….’
The chef at the Grand Duke’s residence clearly lacked imagination when designing a menu.
Yet, to my wounded pride, despite being thin soup, it actually tasted good.
As I licked the bowl clean without leaving a single drop, a passing guard even shared an extra slice of bread with me.
Even the guard is soft.
Having filled my stomach, I dragged the heavy shackles along and lay down on the bed.
‘This is no time to be lazing around…….’
I need to build up physical strength quickly, practice swordsmanship, and manifest my aura.
Only then can I return to the Tenasis Empire.
‘Ah, right. Aura.’
-“The fact that you collapsed so helplessly under those shackles means the supernatural power within your body reacted.”
The Grand Duke’s words came to mind.
‘So that means there is something inside my body.’
I stared blankly at the shackles.
Clank—.
When I struggled to lift both wrists, the rigid shackles clanged against each other.
‘Because of these shackles…….’
He said they were shackles that forcibly suppressed supernatural abilities.
Perhaps that was why, even when I tried to feel what kind of power was inside me, I couldn’t sense anything.
‘It has to be aura.’
If aura had truly manifested in this body, strengthening it wouldn’t be difficult.
Since I had already done it once before, my mind remembered the way.
The problem was…….
‘If it’s black magic, I’m finished.’
I couldn’t entirely rule out the possibility that this body’s former owner had practiced black magic.
Surviving and returning to the Tenasis Empire, meeting Serhin and reclaiming my place—all of it was only possible if the power in my body wasn’t black magic.
‘So it absolutely has to be aura.’
If not aura, it at least had to be magic.
‘No, considering this body’s appearance, holy power would suit it well too.’
In short, anything but black magic would do.
Just then, the door to the underground prison opened and footsteps approached. The sound stopped right in front of my cell.
“My Lady.”
“……?”
I looked at the man standing beyond the bars.
A familiar face.
He was one of the knights who had transported me from the beach to the Grand Duke’s residence.
‘Let’s see, we rode in the carriage together. Right, was his name Allen?’
In that very brief passing moment, he was the knight who had meticulously introduced himself.
Allen was polite today as well.
Polite Allen. Allen with the nice voice.
‘I should remember him.’
After all, I’m someone who repays a favor.
While I was mulling over his name, the iron gate opened.
“Priests from the Temple have arrived.”
“Ah.”
They had said a priest was required to determine the nature of the power inside my body.
They said it would take anywhere from a week to a month for a priest to be dispatched from the Temple…….
‘They must have been in a hurry. Seeing as they came in just a week.’
All the better. I was sick of prison life anyway. One way or another, this would settle things.
Gathering the shackles and chains in my arms, I struggled to my feet with a grunt.
“Let’s go.”
Allen nodded and took the lead.
Determining the supernatural ability was simpler than expected.
A round crystal orb was floated on holy water, and the person being assessed placed their hand on top of it.
Then, after a certain amount of time passed, a unique phenomenon would occur in the holy water.
“If what lies latent in the body is magic, flowers will bloom; if it is holy power, a golden beam of light will burst forth; and if it is black magic…….”
At that moment.
Before the priest could even finish speaking, the holy water rippled and thick plumes of red smoke billowed upward.
Seeing the smoke, the Grand Duke’s brow furrowed.
“Is it black magic after all?”
With my hand still pressed against the crystal orb, I glared at the Grand Duke.
‘What do you mean, “after all”?’
Were you hoping it was black magic or something?
Fortunately, however, the priest shook his head.
The priest moved my hand away from the crystal orb and spoke.
“It is not black magic. ……It is aura.”
Wheeeew……. I let out a massive sigh of relief inside.
‘With this, a huge weight is lifted.’
Since it wasn’t black magic, that meant I survived for now, right?
I felt a glimmer of hope for survival, hope of returning to the Tenasis Empire.
‘On top of that, it’s confirmed that there is aura inside my body.’
Still, ……how could aura manifest in a body like this?
‘Is that even possible in an untrained physique……?’
No. It’s possible because it’s me.
‘My unyielding mental fortitude must have caused aura to manifest even in this body that’s nothing more than a pretty shell.’
Contrary to my thoughts, the Grand Duke addressed the priest in a tone steeped in disbelief.
“Does the priest know the conditions required for aura to manifest?”
“Yes, I know them well from what I have learned. Aura is a power that manifests only when both body and mind have been trained to their absolute limits, and even then, only in an extremely rare few. Is that correct?”
“Correct.”
I nodded along.
‘That’s right, my mental fortitude polished to the absolute limit.’
What a smart priest.
Despite the priest’s crisp explanation, the Grand Duke could not banish his suspicious gaze.
Crossing his arms over his chest, the Grand Duke pointed at me with the tip of his chin.
“Do you consider this a physical and mental state capable of manifesting aura?”
At that, the priest looked at me intently.
Hmm. Tilting his head, he scrutinized every inch of my face before opening his mouth.
“I was finding it fascinating myself. Looking at her, there are no traces of having ever held a sword, nor any signs of physical training.”
Though I’m not so sure about the mental side.
His eyes glinting, the priest asked Kadrian.
“If Your Highness finds it troublesome to dispose of this person, perhaps I could take her to the Temple for research…….”
What? Research?
Startled, I whipped my head toward the Grand Duke.
‘No, surely not…….’
The Grand Duke was observing me with an indifferent expression.
‘Wait, no……. Is there any reason he wouldn’t hand me over?’
Either way, from the Grand Duke’s perspective, getting rid of me was far more convenient.
‘However…….’
I am a knight. A knight who lives by honor and dies by honor.
Dying in a fair and honorable duel of swordsmanship didn’t matter.
In fact, that was an honorable death. I could draw my last breath with a smile.
But living and dying as a lab subject was utterly humiliating.
‘Bound hand and foot, injected with strange drugs, dissected—isn’t that what they do?’
No way……. I’d hate that more than anything!
‘I don’t want to be dragged off to the Temple and end my life as an experiment!’
I said no!
My clenched jaw ached, and my fisted hands trembled.
Staring straight at the Grand Duke, I spoke with utmost sincerity.
“Please, ……spare me?”
“…….”
“…….”
Every single gaze turned toward me.
