The Villain Family’s Strongest Butler
Chapter 6
Kadrian brushed back his hair and leaned back in his chair.
He spoke to Norbert, who was muttering anxiously beside him.
“I’ve confirmed that she isn’t dangerous.”
“Still, Your Highness…”
“I intend to keep her by my side and watch her. It would only make me more uneasy if she disappeared from my sight.”
Norbert’s brows furrowed.
“If she makes you uneasy, perhaps it would be best to just kill her now…”
But Kadrian called out in a stern voice.
“Count.”
“Yes.”
“As soon as she wakes, have her sign an employment contract.”
“…”
“And.”
Kadrian opened a drawer and took something out.
Then—clack—he set it on the desk.
“Once the employment contract is drawn up, put this around her neck immediately.”
It was a necklace.
A blue gem hung from a gold chain.
“Ah.”
Norbert recognized the necklace at once.
“It’s a necklace bound with restraint magic.”
“We don’t know when her memories might return and she might draw a sword, so we must have at least minimal safeguards.”
“Yes, Your Highness. A wise decision.”
“And assign Allen to stay by her side and keep watch on her.”
“Sir Allen?”
“Yes.”
Sir Allen was the vice commander of the Grand Duchy’s knight order, the ‘Mars Knights.’
Norbert tilted his head.
‘Why go that far?’
That necklace alone would prevent her from leaving the Grand Duke’s Residence or speaking a word about the Grand Ducal family.
It was a remarkably handy necklace that would also stop her should she harbor treacherous thoughts and attempt to attack the Grand Duke.
‘And on top of that, Sir Allen…?’
It felt excessive.
How to put it? Rather than surveillance…
‘For some reason, it feels more like he’s trying to protect her…’
Norbert shook his head.
‘No, what am I thinking? Considering what kind of man His Highness is.’
He was a man terribly cold-headed and rational under any circumstance.
Norbert placed a hand over his chest and bowed deeply to Kadrian.
“I shall obey your command, Your Highness.”
It was the return of the legend among butlers, Count Norbert Millard.
When I opened my eyes, I was in an unfamiliar room.
The room was filled with the scent of boiled herbs.
‘Ah, right. I lost consciousness.’
The tip of my tongue was still bitter.
My head still felt hazy, and my lips were swollen and stinging from how hard I’d bitten and chewed on them.
But there was something else bothering me far more than that right now.
“Are you awake?”
“…”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…Why are you here, old man?”
At that, the old man gave a slight shrug and smiled rather forlornly.
“What is so strange about a vassal of the Grand Ducal family being in the Grand Duke’s Residence? If we are talking about strange things, it is stranger that you are lying in a room rather than a dungeon.”
“…”
Since it wasn’t exactly wrong, I didn’t reply.
When I tried to sit up, the old man stopped me.
“They said you shouldn’t get up yet. They said you wouldn’t come to your senses until tomorrow morning…”
Yet to wake before even an hour had passed.
Monster.
The old man muttered in a displeased tone.
Despite the old man’s dissuasion, I pushed myself up to sit anyway.
“Don’t pretend to worry. Aren’t you the one who wanted me dead more than anyone?”
“…”
The old man couldn’t offer any retort to my words either.
“…”
“…”
An utterly awkward silence lingered for a while.
Then, the old man let out a long sigh.
“You must understand that I had no choice. Above all else, I am someone who prioritizes the safety of His Highness the Grand Duke and this Grand Ducal family.”
The old man spoke in a considerably softer voice.
What is this?
‘Why did his tone change all of a sudden?’
This was the old man who had treated me with such an overbearing attitude.
Yet now, it almost seemed as if he were reflecting on his actions.
The old man hesitated for a moment before continuing.
“Besides…”
“Besides what?”
“You even lied.”
“…”
My heart gave a jolt. I had lied about so many things that I couldn’t even pinpoint which one he meant.
Whether he knew my complicated situation or not, the old man continued.
“You claimed you lost all your memories, but your answer after drinking the sap was different.”
“…”
Well, true.
‘I did blabber that it was both true and not true that I lost my memories.’
I told the old man.
“It is just as I said. It is true that I lost my memories.”
“Then what is the memory you haven’t lost?”
The old man’s sharp gaze peered at me from beneath his wrinkled lids.
When I didn’t answer right away, the old man pressed on.
“Do not think of lying. It wouldn’t be difficult to fetch more sap from the Temple and feed it to you again.”
“…”
I looked straight at the old man.
They were the eyes of a deeply loyal vassal.
A glimpse of his resolve not to leave an untrustworthy person beside the Grand Duke he served was visible.
In times like this, it’s best to throw out at least one piece of truth.
If that reduced even a single suspicion, it wouldn’t be a loss for me.
After deliberating for a moment, I spoke.
“My name.”
“Your name?”
“Yes. In truth, I remember my name.”
“…What is your name?”
“…”
I looked at the old man for a moment before speaking slowly.
“Freya.”
“…”
“It’s Freya.”
My real name is ‘Freya.’
When I first met Serhin, that single name was the only thing I remembered clearly.
Even Crown Prince Serhin did not know this name.
Though Serhin was the one who saved me, at the time, I couldn’t trust even him.
More than half my face was covered in burn scars, and they were not caused by a simple accident or mishap.
They were deliberate wounds.
‘They were the marks of torture.’
So I came to a conclusion.
That I might be connected to those who led the rebellion in the Tenasis Empire.
Therefore, I couldn’t reveal my real name.
I had lost my memories, but I still wanted to live.
I didn’t want to be trampled as the lingering spark of a rebel faction I couldn’t even remember, all over a mere name.
So I hid my real name from Serhin as well.
And I began a secret investigation to uncover my identity.
‘Though in the end, I found out nothing.’
In the Tenasis Empire, it was impossible to discover my identity with just the name ‘Freya.’
It was a common name, and moreover, I could not remember the most crucial piece—my family name.
‘Would it be any different in the Cadea Empire?’
In fact, being a distant, foreign empire, it would matter even less.
‘Besides, I wanted to try living under this name at least once.’
My real name, which no one had ever known… and which no one had ever called me by…
“Freya? Is that truly all of the memories you hid?”
Even after hearing my name, the old man continued to eye me with suspicion.
“Yes.”
“No surname? A family name, I mean. Ah, does that mean you are not a noble?”
“I don’t remember that much.”
When I shook my head, the old man scolded, “Now look here!”
“I can go get more sap from the Temple!”
“Ah, then go ahead and fetch it! I have nothing more to hide!”
“…”
Have you spent your whole life being deceived?! I held my head high in defiance and yelled.
The old man’s wrinkled eyes narrowed even more sharply.
He was probably trying to determine whether it was a bluff or not.
‘Even if you bring the Sap of the World Tree again, this time it won’t work on me, old man.’
Hmph. I scoffed internally.
I knew how to detoxify and purify any poison or foreign substance entering my body.
That was a stage that could only be attained by someone who had trained their aura.
‘Even though this body is only taking its first baby steps.’
They said aura had already manifested in this body.
‘Besides, there are no longer shackles suppressing supernatural abilities.’
So with just a little time, I could awaken my aura and purify something like sap—which wasn’t even poison—the instant it entered my body.
‘While the old man goes to fetch the sap, I just have to awaken the aura slumbering in this body.’
Having thought that far, I had even less reason to hesitate.
Gazing intently at my expression, the old man let out a slight sigh and spoke.
“…You may use this room from now on.”
My eyes went wide as I stared at the old man.
‘Wasn’t I supposed to go back to the dungeon?’
As I shot him a baffled look, the old man continued.
“It means His Highness the Grand Duke has specially taken you in. In other words…”
Hmm—the old man pondered briefly, seemingly choosing the right words, before speaking again.
“You have been employed at the Valot Grand Duke’s Residence, the workplace coveted by every servant in the Empire, that is to say.”
“…Excuse me?”
Straightening his posture, the old man looked down at me sitting on the bed and said,
“Ah, and of course, the one who will teach you your duties is me.”
he added with a mischievous grin.
What on earth is he talking about? I asked back with a blank face.
“So you’re telling me right now that I have to…”
The old man’s smile widened even further.
Before I could even finish my sentence, he beamed and said,
“Yes, quick on the uptake as always. Just as you guessed, starting tomorrow, you will learn how to be a maid.”
“Hahaha!” The old man burst into hearty laughter and calmly pulled out a sheet of paper, placing it on the nightstand.
It was an employment contract.
