The Villain Family’s Strongest Butler
Chapter 9
The Grand Duke had read the exact plan I had once considered.
As I looked up at him in silence, the Grand Duke looked down at me with a faint smile.
As if my little scheming was utterly ridiculous.
“Freya. Do you know what it means that you know that name?”
“…….”
Meaning? I know my own name, so what meaning could there possibly be?
‘No, more than that. Why is he speaking as if he already knows my name?’
I had vaguely gathered that the Grand Duke knew this body’s original owner.
‘So why is he reacting like that to my name, Freya?’
There was no connection whatsoever between the name Freya and the owner of this body.
‘There couldn’t be. The owner of this body is someone from an enemy nation.’
Yet the Grand Duke had reacted so sharply to the name Freya.
I looked at the Grand Duke with a puzzled gaze.
‘Could it be that the owner of this body was named Freya too?’
Could such an absurd coincidence really exist?
At this ridiculous hypothesis, my heart pounded heavily.
Perhaps now was the right moment to ask him—whether he knew who the owner of this body was, whether he recognized the name Freya.
I looked at him and asked,
“There’s something I’d like to ask.”
“…….”
“Do you happen to know me?”
At that, a fracture appeared in the cynical expression he wore until just moments ago.
“……The questions you asked me when I drank the sap, and the nuance in the way you speak about my name.”
“…….”
“Why does Your Highness seem to know a ‘me’ that even I cannot remember?”
With that, the Grand Duke’s expression turned cold once more.
“Ah. Right. You did say you lost your memories. ……Though not all of them.”
“…….”
Look at him.
The Grand Duke had just seamlessly changed the subject.
It clearly carried his refusal to answer whether he remembered the owner of this body.
‘Grand Duke, did you think I’d just let things go your way?’
I quickly spoke up.
“So if Your Highness the Grand Duke could tell me what you know, it would help me recover my memories—.”
Just then, the Grand Duke cut me off mid-sentence and called my name once again.
“Miss Freya, who hasn’t lost all her memories.”
“…….”
He spoke in a deeply lowered voice, as if issuing a warning.
“It isn’t difficult to coax the truth out of you again. The sap isn’t the only thing that produces such an effect.”
Within the Grand Duke’s slender eyes, his pupils gleamed with arrogance.
“And I know ways to hear the truth without resorting to such things. In fact, those methods are merely a nuisance.”
Besides, there is a limit on the number of uses.
“Even so, the reason I am not continuing the interrogation further is not because I have decided to trust you.”
The Grand Duke stepped in close. It was a distance where his scent was so distinct it proved unsettling.
I flinched and drew back, but my back hit a wall.
Unbothered, the Grand Duke continued.
“Until my doubts are cleared and my suspicions confirmed……. Miss Freya, you’re curious as well.”
As close as he was, his voice grazed right against my ear.
His exceptionally low, heavy tone certainly had the power to make anyone who heard it shrink back.
“If you won’t reveal your secrets, I have no intention of satisfying your curiosity either.”
The Grand Duke drew his upper body back and straightened his posture.
“So learn well from Norbert. Who knows? If you grow into someone so capable that you become indispensable to me, perhaps I might confide the secrets you wish to know of my own accord.”
“…….”
This bastard…….
I glared sharply at the Grand Duke.
-“……Just watch me for two years, Grand Duke. Then who knows? Maybe I’ll grow into someone splendid enough to pose a real threat to you.”
Having thrown my own words right back at me, the Grand Duke turned away on his heel.
I watched the Grand Duke’s retreating back.
‘But why.’
Why does he seem so angry?
Because I still have things I’m hiding from him?
Because my name happens to be Freya?
Or else.
‘Because the owner of this body doesn’t remember him?’
Probably all of the above.
Once the Grand Duke vanished from sight, I turned my head toward the hallway window.
My reflection in the glass was still unfamiliar, yet still beautiful.
‘Perhaps the owner of this body…….’
might have been someone far more important to the Grand Duke than I thought.
***
The next morning.
Before the sun even rose, old man Norbert came to my room.
“……Why are you awake?”
The old man asked, staring at me with a surprised look.
“Didn’t you say you would begin teaching me the work starting today?”
“……So. You were getting ready in advance?”
“Indeed, I was.”
I tilted my head, not understanding why the old man was so surprised.
Even in the Tenasis Empire, my mornings had always begun before dawn. I would wake before anyone else to run the training grounds and swing my sword.
Because I had taken up the sword later than the other knights, I had to overcome their hazing; to crush them with pure skill, I had to put in several times more effort than they did.
‘It’s no different now.’
Compared to the maids in the Grand Duke’s Residence, I surely lacked skills and physical stamina. On top of that, word had undoubtedly spread that I was a suspicious servant of unknown origin.
‘The goal of my effort has merely shifted from knight to maid.’
All I had to do was repeat the same effort I had always put in.
The first step of that effort was waking up before everyone else.
“Now then, what should I start with?”
“…….”
For some reason, the old man looked at me with a sour expression. His gaze lingered briefly on my face before drifting down to my necklace.
“Don’t shatter it this time.”
“……I told you, I wasn’t the one who broke it.”
The necklace that had shattered yesterday while awakening my aura had been replaced with a new one by the old man. Ever since, he had been nagging me whenever he caught sight of my face.
“Do you know how much that costs? It’s worth more than your entire annual salary!”
“Like I said, I didn’t break—.”
Wearing an unimpressed expression, the old man turned and stepped out the door.
“Follow me.”
Gritting my teeth, I clenched my fists without realizing it.
‘Endure it. Just endure it.’
Right, at least he isn’t demanding I pay for the necklace.
I quietly followed behind the old man.
The old man immediately dragged me all around every corner of the Grand Duke’s Residence.
“Today is just to familiarize yourself with the layout. Starting tomorrow, you will learn the duties for each location, so keep that in mind.”
“Yes.”
From the five-story Main Building of the Grand Duke’s Residence, to the four annexes extending from the Main Building’s rear courtyard, and over a hundred storehouses.
After dragging me thoroughly through every spot, the old man returned to the Main Building.
“Wait here a moment.”
“Yes…….”
Putting strength into my trembling legs, I gripped the stair handrail and barely managed to hold myself upright.
‘My stamina can’t keep up, so I can’t even use my aura freely…….’
Thank goodness I had channeled aura into my legs whenever I could; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the old man this long.
‘I can’t go on like this. I need to train my stamina too.’
At this rate, I might lose consciousness and collapse right in front of the old man. I must avoid such an unsightly spectacle at all costs.
‘I’ll have to cut down on my sleep even more.’
While I was reorganizing tomorrow’s schedule in my mind, a middle-aged woman approached the old man and me.
Standing before the central staircase of the Main Building, the old man introduced me to the approaching servant.
“Barisol, this is Freya, who will be working as a probationary servant at the Grand Duke’s Residence starting today.”
At the old man’s words, the middle-aged woman looked at me with a welcoming expression.
“Oh my. Nice to meet you. I’m Barisol. I have the honor of serving as the head maid of this Grand Duke’s Residence.”
Ah, the head maid. I knew well enough what a heavy responsibility that position carried.
Maintaining a calm expression as best as I could, I greeted Barisol.
“It is an honor to meet you, Head Maid. I am Freya.”
“Could you just call me Barisol comfortably?”
“That, ……I will do once a little more time has passed.”
“Very well, if that feels more comfortable for you.”
Even with me drawing a line, Barisol’s expression remained gentle.
A benevolence that seemed capable of embracing everything radiated from her face.
Barisol clasped my hand tightly.
“Let’s get along well, Freya.”
“Yes, I look forward to working with you.”
The old man said to Barisol,
“I have decided to oversee Freya’s training myself.”
“Oh my.” Barisol’s eyes widened in surprise. The atmosphere turned strangely subtle.
Here we go again. Again.
Every single servant was astonished whenever they heard the old man was teaching me.
Along with their wonder, it felt less like admiration or envy and far closer to pity.
Though I didn’t know what that emotion truly meant, following the old man around had yielded several pieces of information.
First, there was currently no butler in the Grand Duke’s Residence.
Given how recklessly the Grand Duke had lived his life, he had countless enemies both within and outside the Empire, and butlers had consistently fallen victim to the assassins those enemies sent on a regular basis.
That was why it was even called a butler’s graveyard.
‘Innocent butlers were the only ones getting killed.’
Then again, assassins skilled enough to kill the Grand Duke weren’t exactly common. They must have targeted the most vulnerable person holding a high enough post to serve as a warning.
‘Besides, if the Grand Duke—whom even I couldn’t kill—died at the hands of mere assassins, that wouldn’t make sense either.’
And another fact I learned was that old man Norbert possessed an extraordinary reputation within the Cadea Empire.
Count Norbert Millard.
A loyal vassal of the Valot Grand Duchy, and a respected legend in the world of butlers.
From what I’d overheard, he was the founder of the Cadea Empire’s sole Butler Academy, ‘Leonhardt.’
‘For someone like that to undertake my training…….’
Judging by the reactions of the servants in the Grand Duke’s Residence, he was clearly famous for having a notoriously eccentric personality as well.
I stared intently at the back of the old man’s head for a long time, then widened my eyes as a sudden thought struck me.
‘Wait.’
Conveniently, there was no butler in the Grand Duke’s Residence, and for a while, no servant would be coming here to serve as butler either.
That meant the butler position would remain vacant for the time being…….
‘To find out about the owner of this body from the Grand Duke, I need to get closer to him.’
When I said getting closer, I didn’t mean physical distance.
Trust earned from the heart. A relationship built on trust by demonstrating loyalty and gaining recognition for competence.
‘To achieve that, no position is better than a butler.’
Because the position of a butler is trust itself.
‘The fact that the butler post is dangerous is actually good news for me.’
Rescuing the Grand Duke from the perils of assassins would be the fastest way to win his trust.
As time passed, my aura and stamina would only grow stronger. Once I regained the skills from my prime, assassins wouldn’t be a problem at all.
‘The problem is getting recognized for my abilities as a butler.’
The answer to that problem was right before my eyes.
Like a thirsty deer discovering an oasis, I gazed ardently at the back of the old man’s head. As if sensing my intense stare, the old man turned around to face me.
The old man twitched an eyebrow.
“……What is it?”
“…….”
“Just what on earth are you thinking to look at me with such eyes…….”
As if I had been waiting for this moment, I gave him a solemn gaze.
Just as when I awakened my aura—delicately and carefully as though soothing a child, with utmost respect and reverence as though greeting a noble being.
Laden with as much heartfelt sincerity as I could muster so my earnestness would reach him, I spoke.
“Master…….”
“……What? M-Master……?”
At that, the wrinkles around the old man’s eyes trembled faintly.
‘What kind of lunatic is this…….’
The look the old man gave me seemed to say just that.
