The Villain Family’s Strongest Butler
Chapter 8
Chapter 8
“She has monstrous stamina. Quite contrary to her appearance, that is.”
Norbert clicked his tongue as he brought up Freya.
The physician had clearly said she would not regain consciousness until tomorrow morning.
‘The Grand Duke’s personal physician wouldn’t have lied.’
Despite her frail-looking exterior, she seemed remarkably sturdy on the inside.
It defied all common sense.
Both that absurd stamina and the aura already manifested within her body.
‘She is undeniably suspicious in every way…’
Yet, after turning everything inside out to investigate, there was nothing suspicious enough to justify taking her life either.
‘We can hardly treat her like a monster just because she lost her memories.’
Nor could they kill her solely because she had been discovered on Teridana Beach.
Norbert let out a sigh and spoke.
“I intend to teach her the work starting tomorrow and keep an eye on her.”
“I’ll leave her training to you, Count, so do as you see fit.”
“I gave her quite a fright before leaving, so if she has any sense at all, she’ll be lying quietly and recovering her strength.”
Then, suddenly, Norbert recalled the conversation he had shared with Freya moments earlier.
“Ah. She said her name was… Freya.”
At that, a sudden pause.
Kadrian, who had been signing documents, halted his hand.
It was a reaction strikingly different from the indifferent manner with which he had been listening to the report just a moment ago.
Kadrian raised his head and looked at Norbert.
“What… did you just say?”
“Ah, the woman’s name. She said she hadn’t lost all her memories, that she remembered one single name.”
“…”
Kadrian’s expression hardened for a fraction of a second before returning to normal. Norbert did not miss that fleeting flicker.
‘Is it a name he recognizes?’
Norbert asked again.
“Your Highness, is it perhaps a name you know—?”
Right then, Kadrian shot up from his seat.
“Your Highness?”
Kadrian’s gaze turned toward the space beyond the office doors.
“…The Western Annex.”
“Pardon?”
Norbert tilted his head in confusion.
The Western Annex? Did he mean the Western Annex?
Following Kadrian’s gaze, Norbert turned his head toward the direction of the Western Annex as well.
“Do you mean the servants’ quarters? Why there…?”
Instead of answering, Kadrian rounded his desk and strode straight out of the office.
“Y-Your Highness?!”
Norbert hurriedly chased after him.
The Western Annex of the Grand Duke’s Residence.
Other knights were already gathering one by one in front of the annex.
“Your Highness.”
“Your Highness!”
Jayden, Commander of the Mars Knights, along with Vice Commander Allen and several other knights, spotted Kadrian and rushed over.
“Your Highness, just now in the Western Annex—”
Kadrian raised a hand toward Jayden, who was about to give his report, cutting him off.
“I know. Everyone, standby here.”
At that, Allen stepped forward.
“I will go up first, Your Highness.”
However, Kadrian shook his head.
“I will enter alone.”
“But Your Highness!”
“Norbert.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Kadrian called Norbert and commanded:
“Ensure no one approaches the second floor, and evacuate all the servants outside.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
With that, he stepped into the Western Annex alone.
“Phew, I barely made it out alive.”
I barely managed to push the room door open before collapsing into the hallway.
Haaah, haaah—.
Only then did it feel as though my blocked airway had finally cleared a little.
‘That was truly dangerous this time.’
Even after vomiting a mouthful of blood, the rampage of aura had persisted for a good while.
Every drop of blood and every organ in my body repeatedly froze solid, then burned scorching hot.
Just as I thought I might truly die like this—
Thick, grayish-white smoke had finally begun billowing from my body.
Lying in the hallway, I stared at the smoke still filling my room.
‘To think all of that came out of my body.’
It looked almost like a bathroom choked with steam.
‘What a noisy commotion.’
Roughly wiping the blood trickling from the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand, I caught my breath once more.
In any case, I succeeded.
I reached my arm toward the ceiling and spread my palm open.
A low hum resonated as blue aura rippled softly within my open palm.
I could distinctly feel the aura circulating throughout my entire body.
On top of that, it was actively seeking out impure energies on its own and purifying them.
‘I thought I’d be lucky just to open the pathways and achieve circulation.’
I never expected to reach the stage of purifying the body right away.
‘I thought it would take a bit more time…’
As expected… the original owner of this body was clearly no ordinary person.
‘I kept thinking something was strange, but…’
This made it certain.
From the manifestation of aura in an untrained body, to the aura awakening, circulating, and purifying the vessel.
An ordinary body could never have endured it.
No matter how formidable my mental strength was, there existed a physical limit to what a body could withstand.
‘There’s definitely some hidden secret to this body…’
It was then.
Amid the silence after all the servants had fled the building, I sensed a presence near the stairs connecting to the hallway.
Perhaps because I had awakened my aura, I could sharply detect another person’s presence despite the considerable distance.
Moving only my head, I looked toward the presence at the end of the corridor.
And on the opposite side of the hallway, where the faint white smoke still drifted gently…
I caught sight of a solitary figure that seemed to dominate the entire hallway.
‘Huh?’
Startled, I pressed my hands against the floor to push myself up. My limbs trembled so violently that standing wasn’t easy, but I had to get up.
Because the master of that slowly approaching, fierce energy was none other than the Grand Duke.
My heart felt as though it plummeted straight down.
Instinct blared with danger at the Grand Duke’s aura, which even carried a palpable trace of bloodlust.
Just like the moment I had confronted him on the battlefield.
‘Why is the Grand Duke here…?’
Ah.
I made too much of a ruckus.
I cast a brief glance over the smoke lingering in my room and along the hallway.
‘I didn’t think it would leak outside…’
No, even if it had leaked out, I never imagined the Grand Duke would come running in person.
Footsteps echoed steadily.
In the meantime, the Grand Duke began striding forward.
Judging by his gaze and the rapidly shrinking distance between us, he was unquestionably walking straight toward me.
‘At this rate… did he realize I awakened my aura?’
I hadn’t particularly intended to hide it. It wasn’t something that could be hidden just because I wanted to.
‘Concealing the presence of aura is a fairly difficult technique in the first place.’
Especially since it wasn’t a level of technique that I, having only just awakened my aura, could wield.
A heavy intimidation resonated with every step the Grand Duke took.
Slow yet powerful, unhurried yet suffocating.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him until he arrived right in front of me.
Trapped beneath those calm yet arrogantly piercing purple eyes, I felt as if even the control over my own breath had been stolen away.
“You begged for your life.”
“…”
A heavy weight pressed firmly upon my shoulders from his low, chilling voice.
Only then did I realize I had forgotten to even breathe.
Hah.
“Have you… arrived, Your Highness?”
The Grand Duke looked down at me, then slowly swept his eyes across the interior of my room before speaking.
“Did you change your mind and decide to kill yourself instead?”
It was a whisper that sounded almost like a mutter to himself, but feeling compelled to answer, I opened my mouth.
“No.”
“After committing such a reckless act?”
“I did it to survive.”
“…”
“To live. I did it so that I could survive.”
At that, his gaze returned to me.
I didn’t know whether he liked my answer or not.
However, it was certain that his aura, which had been crushing down upon me just moments ago, had softened considerably.
Crossing his arms as if inviting me to go on, the Grand Duke looked down at me with a relaxed gaze.
Taking a deep breath, I continued.
“With no memories and nothing to my name, isn’t this the only thing I can do right now?”
“…”
“I thought I needed to build enough strength to protect myself as soon as possible. After all, everyone around me is itching to kill me. So I pushed myself a bit, thinking that once I awakened my aura—”
The Grand Duke cut me off and asked:
“Who.”
“Pardon?”
“Who is trying to kill you?”
“…”
You, for starters.
The words surged right up to the tip of my tongue, but I barely managed to hold them back.
“The old… gentleman, sir?”
“…”
I shifted the blame onto old man Norbert.
Well, it wasn’t untrue, anyway.
At my answer, the Grand Duke shifted his gaze, deep in thought. Then, seemingly recalling someone, he spoke again.
“If you mean Count Norbert, there is no need to worry. He will be the mentor instructing you from now on.”
“A mentor…?”
Ah. His words reminded me of the contract I had momentarily forgotten, and my brow furrowed of its own accord.
Then, the Grand Duke tilted his head slightly and spoke.
“By the way.”
“Yes?”
“You said you remember your name.”
Ah, the old man must have run off and reported it already.
I quickly replied.
“That is correct.”
“Freya.”
“…Yes. That’s right.”
“Freya…”
“…Yes?”
An exceedingly low, heavy voice called my name once more.
For some reason, my chest felt tight again. This time, even my head began to throb.
‘Why does he say it so naturally?’
Hearing my own name—which still felt unfamiliar even to me—flow from someone else’s lips gave me a ticklish sensation around my throat.
‘Anyone seeing this would think we’re remarkably close.’
The Grand Duke watched me quietly and said,
“Besides your name. What else do you remember?”
“Nothing mor—”
“Why? Are you going to lie this time as well? A person claiming to have lost her memory has awakened aura. Surely you don’t mean to claim this is mere coincidence?”
Gulp. I swallowed dryly without realizing it.
“Now that you have awakened your aura, you surely aren’t thinking that you can easily purify something like the sap of the Temple’s World Tree, and thus have nothing left to fear, are you?”
“…”
This uncanny bastard.
