The Villain Family’s Strongest Butler
Chapter 30
“Who was the original owner of this land?”
Before an answer could come to that question, the carriage came to a halt.
The Grand Duke got out of the carriage in silence.
He reached out his hand toward me once again, but this time, too, I stepped down on my own.
It was definitely not out of spite just because he wouldn’t answer me.
Definitely not.
Regardless, the two of us stood before a mansion.
Though it was currently terribly old and rundown, it was unmistakably a well-built structure that still offered a glimpse of its grand stature in the past.
I stared at the building for a while.
A land, a family, a mansion erased from history.
Was it because I was a butler?
Seeing a mansion abandoned and left unmanaged somehow made an ache well up on one side of my chest.
‘This mansion must have bustled with people once, too.’
Servants moving busily about, the butler leading those servants, and even the family members themselves.
Strangely, the image of its splendid days seemed to overlap atop the weathered mansion.
Right then, the Grand Duke entered the mansion first.
Just as I moved to follow behind him—
—“Maylin! Hurry up! The carriage is here!”
—“Milady! You’ll fall if you run like that!”
—“I’m late, I tell you! Do you know how long it’s been since we last met?!”
Huh? What was that?
I glanced around at the sudden voices.
Naturally, there was no way anyone else was there.
‘Those were the voices of an adult woman and a young girl.’
I thought I also faintly saw the phantom of a child passing through me.
Among them, the young girl’s voice sounded similar to the voice of that child I had heard in my dream.
‘Did I hear things?’
Tilting my head, I followed behind the Grand Duke into the mansion.
Unlike the exterior that had barely endured the wind and rain, the mansion’s interior was in surprisingly decent shape.
As if someone’s touch had lingered until the very end, it was organized extremely neatly, aside from a light layer of dust.
“Phoo—!”
I blew away the dust on my fingertips.
“It seems to have been empty for quite a long time.”
At my words, the Grand Duke nodded.
“People from the Grand Duchy come by occasionally to clean. Even so, it has already been twelve years since anyone lived here.”
Twelve years….
In terms of a building’s age, it wasn’t very long, but in terms of human years, it was long enough for a young child to become a young lady.
I nodded and slowly looked around the inside of the mansion.
‘Wait a second….’
The furniture and ornaments were all intact.
‘There isn’t a single portrait?’
Intent on finding out whose house this was, I persistently searched for photographs or paintings. Yet in the end, I couldn’t find a thing.
‘Opening the drawers would be rude, right?’
While I was hesitating, toying with the handle of the side table drawer, the Grand Duke’s voice reached me.
“Does anything come to mind?”
That question again.
I quietly looked back at the Grand Duke.
‘I knew it, he had a separate reason for bringing me all the way here.’
The Grand Duke was not someone who moved without reason.
The restaurant we stopped by on our way to meet the High Priest was also a place holding memories with this body’s original owner.
And now this mansion.
The lingering image and the young girl’s voice that had briefly overlapped at the entrance.
All of it might be connected puzzle pieces.
“Isn’t it about time you tell me?”
“…….”
The Grand Duke looked back at me. Our gazes tangled for a moment.
“Butler.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“All I can tell you right now…”
“…….”
“…is that you had better recover your memories as quickly as possible.”
“…….”
“There is no point in me coming clean first. You could simply fit trivial remarks into my story to fuel my confusion. …Is that not so, Butler?”
“…….”
The Grand Duke’s gaze was cold. It was colder and heavier than the air inside this warmthless mansion.
It was a warning.
‘That he’ll kill me.’
Yet conversely, I could also glimpse a desire not to kill me.
‘That’s why he took me out of the Grand Duke’s Residence and is traveling all over the place.’
To make me remember. Because if I recalled the memories and proved I was the rightful soul, he wouldn’t have to kill me.
Seeing the Grand Duke’s reaction, I grew certain that once this body’s memories returned, it would become much easier to deceive him.
Then I could live comfortably without having to do butler work.
‘And I’ll be able to quickly finish my preparations to return to Tenasis, too.’
Even so.
I didn’t know why I felt this way.
Was it uncomfortable to deceive that man? Because of the fact that this body was precious to someone? Because that someone happened to be that Grand Duke?
“…….”
“…….”
Damn it.
I bit my lower lip, avoiding the Grand Duke’s gaze.
I had no words in particular to counter him.
What remained certain was that thanks to the Grand Duke’s efforts, memories of this body’s owner were gradually surfacing.
I simply nodded.
“I will do my utm—”
“I do not need your utmost.”
The Grand Duke said as he brushed past me.
“Prove it. That you are the master of that body.”
“…….”
Brushing my shoulder, the Grand Duke stepped out of the mansion. Watching his retreating figure, I spoke inwardly.
‘Grand Duke… I’m sorry, but that’s impossible even if all the memories return….’
***
By the time I stepped out of the mansion again, the sky was already dark.
Under the Grand Duke’s threat to hurry and remember, I seemed to have grown impatient myself.
I had wandered through every corner of the mansion to recall even the slightest bit more.
Thanks to my experience running all over the Grand Duke’s Residence to become a butler, memorizing the layout and paths of this rundown mansion was exceedingly easy.
—“The structure is basically similar to the Grand Duke’s Residence.”
—“Oh, so this was a young girl’s room.”
The doll in the girl’s room, the books in the library, and even the kitchen utensils were all sitting right in their places.
‘It feels as if the people just vanished into thin air.’
It was slightly eerie.
Though I had looked around everywhere there was to look, no immediate memories surfaced.
The afterimage and auditory hallucination I saw at the entrance before stepping inside ended up being the first and last.
I left the mansion without any notable gains.
When I boarded the carriage, I saw the Grand Duke sitting with his eyes closed.
I silently sat across from him. The carriage began to move once more.
***
Having changed course toward the Imperial Palace, the carriage stopped by a village midway through. It was past midnight.
The carriage halted at an inn located in the center of the village.
“We will stay the night here.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
I hurried into the inn to secure our rooms.
Even though it was late at night, quite a few people still lingered on the inn’s first floor.
For a quiet village, it was an inn doing brisk business.
I secured two adjacent rooms on the third floor and carried up the luggage.
“You may use this room, Your Highness.”
“…….”
I had specially arranged a room with a bathtub for the Grand Duke.
This inn was also run by a vassal of the Valot Grand Duchy, and thanks to that, I was able to get the best room.
When I flashed a bright smile and opened the door, the Grand Duke gave a nod and walked into his room.
While he briefly looked out the window, I prepared his bathwater.
Although the building looked quite aged, the interior seemed to have been renovated, as the furnishings like the bathtub and bed were maintained like new.
After finishing the bathwater and emerging from the bathroom, I prepared comfortable clothes for the Grand Duke to change into and laid them out neatly on the bed.
Looking at the Grand Duke’s back as he stood by the window, I said,
“Your Highness, while you wash, I will go prepare something to eat.”
At that, the Grand Duke turned around and spoke.
“After I wash, we will eat on the first floor.”
“Pardon? But…”
“Rest until then.”
“…….”
Watching the Grand Duke until he entered the bathroom, I scratched the back of my head and headed to my room.
“Phew—!”
I spread out eagle-eagled on the bed and let out a long sigh.
‘Ah, nice!’
It wasn’t a bed as plush as the one in the Grand Duke’s Residence, but it was far better than the carriage seat.
‘I take back saying it would be fine to use the carriage as a bedroom.’
I was reminded once again that no matter how expensive and high-quality a carriage seat was, it couldn’t compare to even a relatively cheap inn bed.
‘Haa….’
Lying down like this, sleep was creeping up on me.
It would be far more comfortable to just eat the food I brought him, so why did he want to go all the way down to the first floor?
I couldn’t understand why someone of his stature as a Grand Duke would go through the extra trouble.
‘Well, it’s better for me anyway. I can look at the menu and order everything I want to eat.’
My eyelids grew heavy.
‘When will the Grand Duke come out…?’
How much time had passed? Blinking groggily, staring blankly at the ceiling while fighting off the intermittent waves of drowsiness—
Tik—.
“Huh?”
It was an extremely faint noise, yet that tiny sound struck me as quite jarring.
Pushing myself up from the bed, I looked toward the Grand Duke’s room.
‘There’s no way the Grand Duke is out already.’
I climbed down from the bed and quietly lowered my body. Then, placing one hand on the floor, I carefully extended my aura.
A blue aura began to spread wide, centering on the wooden floor touching my palm.
It was a barrier I had used frequently in the Grand Duke’s Residence as well.
It took merely three seconds for the aura, branching out like a spiderweb, to completely envelop the building.
Closing my eyes, I concentrated on sensing the presence of the people touching my aura.
‘…The first floor has people dining, while the second and third floors are guests staying the night.’
The people cooking in the kitchen, the ones carrying dishes, and even those going up and down the stairs.
I could sense them all moving with their own distinct purposes.
And then.
Movements distinct from theirs—one, two… three?
Footsteps far stealthier and lighter than ordinary people, and a bloodlust they hadn’t managed to conceal.
‘…Assassins.’
