A morning for Kai Greisler starts with him visiting his master, Adela’s room and forcing himself to give a big smile.
「Hey, Kai, what do you think about this hair ornament?」
「It suits you very well miss.」
If he had to be honest, the gaudy make up made her look like a cheap harlot. Rather than to please the eyes of guests, It seemed more like its purpose was to hide her face.
「What about this dress? Don’t you think it’s very mature? 」
「Yes. It would suit no one else other than Adela-sama.」
While folding up the scattered dresses all over the floor, Kai thought,
(If you thought it looked just like the tight wrapping of a shoulder roast anyway)
Receiving praise, the young mistress showed a cocky attitude unbeknownst to her servant’s hidden thoughts under his angelic smile.
「Hey, who’s your master, it’s me right? Me, who will be the future marchioness of the Harkenberg household, Adela.」
「Yes. It is a great honor to serve you.」
「That’s right! Isn’t it? But, isn’t it too great of an honor for just a servant’s son? 」
Kai simply kept smiling without saying anything.
「Fufu, but, don’t worry, I will earnestly take note of your diligence.」
Adela — married to the first-born son of the Harkenberg household nicknamed, 「Budget Claudia」– and over the past few years, have gotten very fat.
「With your honey golden hair and blue eyes that shined like the winter’s night sky, it matches very well with your smooth face and excellent posture. Even with a glance, one could tell that in the future, you would definitely be able to find a great man.」
「I thank you for your compliments.」
Kai cursed in his mind that he had to continuing indulging this useless couple who couldn’t even bear a single heir, all the while, all Adela does every day is make passes at any men she can find and caring only about her ‘appearances.’
It was pointless to let himself be irritated by her piggy features.
While he maintained his smiling face, Adela got impatient and closed the folding fan she held in her hand.
「And so, Kai? Is it true that you’re forgetting your obligations to your merciful master and going to the academy to be a servant for a mere slum girl of unknown origins? 」
「Please allow me to say, she isn’t a slum girl, but rather, she is Leonora-sama.」
「Something like that doesn’t matter at all, doesn’t it!?」
Adela sprayed her saliva as she yelled.
「You! I’m asking why you’re suddenly leaving and choosing that girl over me! 」
With the blood rushing through her white skin, she almost looked like a cooked pig with some tomatoes. Kai became a little hungry and then politely bowed.
「I deeply apologize. This was a personal order from the marquis-sama himself.」
「Huh!」
Even if she was the to-be marchioness, Klaus still held all of the power in this household. After bringing out his trump card, Adela let out a shrewd shriek.
「Dear father-in-law, how cruel! You should go complain as well! If you were taken away, how will the pitiful me handle my morning preparations!?」
「I apologize, that does sound rather troubling. However, please worry not, we’ve increased the maids that will take care of you. So you will find no deficiency in your morning preparations — 」
「Hmph that’s enough!」
Having enough, Adela threw her fan to the ground. And then, suddenly putting her hand to Kai’s chin, she changed to a soft whisper.
「Hey, Kai, that’s not what I wanted to hear you know – you understand right? Be kind and nice for me, like you always have」
「Adela-sama…」
While Kai floated a pure and innocent smile, he suddenly took both her the girl’s hands and started talking.
「Adela-sama is my master – no, my precious master. Adela-sama’s suffering is my suffering. Adela-sama’s smile is my happiness. No matter who I serve, my heart will always be by Adela-sama’s side. 」
The important point is to sound slightly immature and look them straight in the eyes while talking.
While smoothly stating his half-hearted flattery, Adela visibly became happier.
「Oh my, what a good child! Listen here, okay Kai? Something like a girl from the slums, they may be curious about her at first but, soon I’m sure that father and mother in-law will get tired of her and throw her out. I’m sure she’s ill-mannered and ugly like a duck smeared in mud too. Lowborn and filthy – that’s right, next to you who’s so cute, she’ll probably even be jealous! 」
Towards his cocky mistress, Kai could only nod while holding back his emotions.
「To be so worried for my sake, Adela-sama is so very kind. I humbly thank you.」
「Don’t worry about it.」
Satisfied after getting her ego stroked, Adela nodded proudly.
「If you experience even a little bit of something unpleasant, definitely come to me about it. I’ll immediately call for you to come back. Mhm, since you’re a reserved child, I’ll personally speak to father in-law for you! 」
「No, Adela-sama.」
Kai shook his head while putting on airs about being an ‘immature young boy who’s very serious about his work.’
「I want to answer the expectations of the job assigned to me. My father always told me that if I can’t handle a little hardship, I won’t very gain any respect. Moreover, if I try my best, someday — 」
While tightly clutching his fist, Kai goes in for the kill with his angelic embarrassed grinning expression.
「I think I’ll be able to become a man worthy for Adela-sama.」
「Oh my!」
Receiving his finishing moving, Adela seemed to fall into agony.
「I see…If Kai has that much conviction then, I’ll also do my best to aid you.」
Kai simply smiled and watched as the tomato-dyed pig raised an excited voice.
After finally receiving her permission saying 「You may go」, Kai excused himself from Adela’s room with an innocent smile.
「Well, wasn’t that splendid.」
Towards his brother who called out to him after listening to the entire exchange, Kai simply shrugged his shoulders. In reality, a simple flattery such as this is nothing to get worked up over.
Kai is the third son of the head butler who’ve been serving the Harkenberg household for a long time. His whole family lived to serve the marquis family.
Honey colored blond hair and large blue eyes. This was not something rare in the Weiz Empire but with his innocent and well-ordered looks, coupled with the fact that he has the ‘youngest child’ act, Kai was loved by his surroundings.
(Oh man I hate this, smelling like perfume in the morning. If you wanted to pat something you should’ve just raised a cat or something.)
However, since he had always constantly been showered with love, Kai had become a little rebellious. He especially hated it when people would swarm around him blurting out 「Kawaii, so cute! 」while petting him all over.
(Everyone’s so self-fulfilling. All they care about is my outward appearance and single handedly decided upon my personality. If I act even a little bit different than how they expect, they get angry.)
Kai’s appearance for his age, rather than ‘cool’ it was more charming. Because of that, even though he was loved, he was often taken lightly for it too. Even if he was young, he had pride as a man so there was bound to be dissatisfaction.
(And besides, even though I’m a man, why are they calling me cute? Instead of talking about that, I’d rather them recognize all the effort I put in my work.)
That’s right Kai had received tedious training from his head butler father as a member of the Greisler family. Everyone acknowledged that their family had a good lineage but, most people – namely women – only cherished him for everything but his efforts.
Not caring about anything but their beauty, which was just a single layer of skin, and wanting for only simple cheap flattery.
That was Kai’s opinion of what ‘women’ were.
Getting closer to the room of his suddenly newly assigned master, Kai let out a soft sigh.
(I wonder just what kind of person my new master will be. At the very least, just a little bit perceptive and well-behaved child would be nice.)
It had only been 8 hours since the marquis suddenly summoned him in the middle of night and announced the changing of his master.
It’s not like they didn’t explain anything – he had gathered the details from his head butler father – the young girl is the orphaned of the deceased ‘Flower of High Society,’ Claudia who was hidden in the lower city until now. Kai was picked for his 「Relieving appearance」which was highly valued. But when he indirectly asked how she have been living in the lower city till now, he was told to ask the marquis himself.
He been worn out for a while now, worrying about just what kind of person she is. For girls around his age, once they saw his appearance it’s obvious they’ll be overly excited and affectionate. Kai doesn’t want to admit Adela’s words but, even if she was raised in the unclean lower city, she still should be more or less the same he thought. Their bad upbringing will either make them disagreeable, or if not they’ll become haughty after suddenly coming into money.
(Oh well…Now that it’s already at this stage, let’s calm down and act natural – just like always)
Letting out one last melancholic sigh, he prepared himself and approached the room.
Once he arrived at the door, he saw a large amount of maids gathered outside. One of them had a severe expression, the head maid – Kai’s mother.
「Got that, everyone. Everything you just saw is strictly confidential. I will be the one to report to his Excellency the marquis.」
「Yes, of course, Delia-sama! Such a heartrending thing…」
「Stop, don’t talk like that. Even though the person themselves were so calm and brave, how can we have time to be so discomposed.」
「Exactly. – Ah, Kai」
While having an extremely serious conversation for some reason, Kai’s mother Delia noticed him and suddenly turned towards him.
And then she suddenly put her hands on his shoulders and started speaking with a serious tone.
「Alright, Kai. Leena-sama…No. You have to devote everything you have to serve Leonora-sama. At any rate, you have to be kind and not act too manly, do you understand? 」
「Not act too manly…?」
From the sudden declaration, Kai was very confused.
「If it’s you, you’ll immediately understand. Now, I have to go inform his Excellency the marquis about something. Everyone else as well, return to your stations.」
「Yes.」
Not making anything very clear, his mother and everyone else quickly left.
Reluctantly, Kai stood before the closed door, finally he will greet his new master.
(Since the maids have left, that means they’ve already finished all the morning preparations right?)
「Please excuse me.」
Kai calmly opened the door, and then –
「………… ! 」
He raised his eyebrows.
Standing beside the large window, was a spirit basked in the morning light.
Among the old legends of the Weiz Empire, described a spirit of light that had was revered with extremely high status. Dazzling white skin, clear golden eyes, and black hair that seemed to melt into the night, the spirit was an extremely beautiful girl. With her smile she illuminated the morning skies, and when she closed her eyelids, she invited in the dark night.
The girl before him was just like that spirit of light, other than her eye color, her well-featured white face was a match, and so were her glossy black hair, the girl held a beauty that seemed like it didn’t belong in this world.
Just how long did Kai stare blankly at the girl, he did not know.
「– Who?」
With a flutter of her black hair, the girl spoke with a lovely voice.
「…Ah! I apologize deeply! U-uh. I- I was newly appointed to you, Leonora-sama, my name is Kai! 」
「Leonora…?」
Once he heard the girl’s puzzled murmur, Kai bit down on his lips.
She had yet to hear about her new name. It was arranged that later on, the marquis would be the one to inform her during breakfast time.
「I am very sorry! That will be humbly explained later, so please kindly forget what you just heard…! 」
Kai has become extremely flustered.
The girl – Leonora’s beauty was too overwhelming, for a while now his pace has been completely disrupted. If his usual self who hated being bewildered had seen his current condition, he’d burn with embarrassment.
「Hmm…?」
Kai was relieved, even though Leonora let out a curious murmur, she didn’t seem to want to investigate any further. In order to calm down, Kai began to explain what he needed to,
「Uhm, because you are attending the academy starting tomorrow, I’ve received the honor of being your servant and attendant. Fundamentally speaking, those living at the dorm are supposed to live by themselves but for those with the family status of count or higher, the academy allows you to bring along up to two servants. And so, if you need to complete any trifling tasks or any help, or perhaps a little additional assistance to your studies, please feel free to call upon me about anything you have troubles with. Since I have a received general education in language studies, arithmetic, history and the like.」
Gradually returning to his pace as he talks, Kai ended with a sweet smile. However, rather than blushing, the girl before him returned him an outrageous response.
「I don’t need it」
「Eh…?」
「Servant, too wasteful. I don’t need it.」
For Leo, after searching for his Karlheinz Raimund gold coin, he had planned to escape the academy and return to the city – At any rate, he had to fulfil the contract, and his real job of collecting change in the town was waiting for him as well, there was no point to wasting time sticking around at the academy. And so, in order to go to the academy, he’d have to spend half a day in the carriage, if he brought a servant as well he’d have to pay for his servant’s portion of the fare as well, truly too wasteful.
And also, having a servant around will hinder his escape plans too.
However, Kai had taken Leo’s proclamation as 「It is too wasteful on someone like me.」
「What are you saying! For someone as noble as you, there is nothing wasteful at all! Please do not make such proclamations, feel free to allow me, Kai, to answer your orders! 」
His objection was, more than he intended, very passionate.
(After all, if I don’t say it like this, she’ll really reject me –)
Kai was in a hurry. And as much as he was surprised in himself, Leonora was also surprised.
Lower city girls being huge braggarts have been a huge lie. Even though she was just 12, she calmly understands her own position. Kai seriously reflected on himself for making light of the girl before meeting her.
「…That’s not…」
「What’s not true about it. Please, allow me, Kai, to serve by your side! 」
Kai was frantically trying to argue against the girl who was stubbornly self-depreciating herself with broken speech.
「Please, I want to be of use to you, I won’t fail. That’s why, please! 」
To deliver the final blow, Kai used his polished smiling face.
For most girls, they would be felled by this smile. However, Leonora instead had a bit of dissatisfaction and bit her lips, which Kai was deeply astonished about.
(What’s going on…?)
「That smile…」
「Huh…?」
「I don’t, want to see.」
Completely shot down, Kai lost his words.
「Th…that’s…」
「It’s better, to be serious.」
Her words seemed to have echoed continuously in his mind as he stared blankly. It was nothing more than the fact that she had seen through his deception.
(She doesn’t want to see a forced smile, if I want to serve her then I have to show my true serious sincerity, is that how it is…?)
Kai received a shock as if he was struck by thunder.
On the other side, Leo had been particularly hostile towards the neat and tidy Kai who suddenly appeared, thinking 「Somehow, I don’t think I’m gonna get along with this guy」. Rather than girls, Leo had always been more interested in money, but obviously seeing a pretty boy who’s more handsome than himself is a little irking.
Towards Kai who was floating a smile as if he was saying 「Hey, don’t I, look handsome? 」, Leo thought and proclaimed,
(Don’t fuck with me, with that frivolous smile, you better get serious and come over here, bastard!)
To the unknowing Kai, in order to cover up the huge shock he had received, he started his morning preparations.
Dressing the girl had been all finished by the maids so, Kai’s job was the finishing confirmations and then to clean up afterwards, arranging the items the maids weren’t allowed to mess with. Be that as it may, since his young master had came to the residence with nothing but her own body, there’s no need at all. His work was to sort through and orderly arrange all of the jewelry and dresses the marchioness had prepared.
Since they maids had helped him a bit and lined it all up for him, he quickly scanned over all the items and divided them by quality and usefulness. Even though he made the job look easy, the ability to see through the value of items required very good sense and knowledge. For Kai who tirelessly trained in many aspects, this was something simple for him.
And then, the girl started to intensely examine Kai’s skill.
「Is there something wrong… ? 」
Timidly inquired, the girl slowly walk up and grab Kai’s hand.
「Magnificent.」
Inside the amethyst colored eyes, just now twinkled with a sense of respect.
「Just now, polished a watch. It became very shiny. In an instant! Splendid.」
It seemed that she was praising my skill when I was cleaning off a dirty ornament while inspecting the items. Kai was surprised that she was able to notice something like that.
「No, your words are wasted on something as small as this…」
「Cheap, quick, and skillful. Very important.」
(The first half of her praise was a little strange but, it seemed that she recognized my agility and accuracy.)
(Speaking of which, it was just polishing silver but in the past it was a very tedious practice…)
Before long Kai who was trained as a butler began to have a hypothesis, his father had strictly trained him on how to handle silverware and silver jewelry. But polishing work is polishing work. If you mishandle silver even once and it gets corroded, it’s value drop immensely.
Silver shined with natural beauty. However, in order to maintain that, how much tedious effort was piled up Kai wondered. Kai had long accepted that this was the way of life for someone known as a butler.
(This child…No, Leonora-sama had noticed the tedious effort that people usually never recognize.)
Being recognized for his tedious efforts for the first time rather than his outward appearance, Kai’s chest became hot and reflexively stared at his young master.
And the subject of the stare, Leo,
「This, looks profitable…」
It was a small murmur that no one else had heard.
Inside his head was filled with greed and optimistic calculations.
For someone with Leo’s social status, they rarely get to work with silver, through his work he had only come in contact with it once or twitch. When it came time to replace their tableware, rather than doing in their home, the nobles outsourced their silver polishing duties.
That was something that was pocket money for Leo and his friends but since it was simple work, they troubled over the meager pay.
(But with this swiftness, moreover the shine that appears afterwards, with this our group will be set apart from others and can probably make a name for ourselves. We could probably even raise the wage… well, one step at a time. Anyway is it a polishing agent? No, perhaps the cloth? Or maybe there’s a trick to polishing it.)
A scrooge may be a scrooge, but Leo was a diligent scrooge, he burned with conviction to steal Kai’s trade secrets.
He doesn’t like pretty boys but, if it was someone who had a skill that reeks of money, it was a different story.
「I think, I want to learn how to do it.」
「Eh? No…Something like this should be left to us servants.」
However, the enemy firmly refused to divulge the information.
But, Leo wasn’t about to simply give up here.
「Don’t say, that. Please teach. Kai, wonderful, kind, cool! 」
Secret technique, lavish praising.
Even though it was just a few words, it took a lot of effort. However, Kai’s cheeks were dyed bright red so it must have some effect right?
「I want, to do it too!」
He made another push with an easily misunderstood expression while bringing up his hands.
「……… ! 」
But for some reason, Kai gasped in surprise and froze up.
「Hm?」
「That…those wounds… ! 」
Leo followed Kai’s line of sight. And then consented with a 「Ah! 」
From under the dress, he could see his bandaged arm.
「Kai, don’t worry.」
When they swapped, he prevented a direct hit as a result when Leo pushed Leena’s body. However a small part of the large rock still grazed Leena’s arm. Once Leo woke up, he judged that he bump on the girl’s body had been a birthmark or something.
By the way Leo’s body was not injured at all, Leena did not show any sign at all of being in any sort of pain. He wondered if he should feel relieved or angry at the fact.
「I just fell a little」
「Such a thing… ! 」
Kai shook his head with a frown. From the bandage, what was concealed wasn’t only a pitiful bruise, but in addition to that, were multiple cuts that didn’t seem like it happened recently.
Obviously, this was due to Leena who was doing research on how to weaken the dragon’s blood and had personally done incisions to experiment with the blood.
「It’s all Leena’s fault.」
Leo had declared the complete truth but Kai just squinted his eyes with a pained expression.
「What are you… ! 」
It was at that moment. The reason for the marquis’s assignment, his mother’s order, finally putting those two things together, Kai finally understood.
(Leonora-sama had to live in misfortunate circumstances in the lower city… Probably, Leonora-sama was injured by a ruthless gang of people that even spirits would be afraid of.)
From her tiny limbs, hid an injured and wounded arm. The influent Weiz language. She had breath taking beauty, but the more one looks, the more it becomes evident that the girl was dotted with painful experiences in the past.
(To not act too manly… I see, meaning it was adult men that had abused Leonora-sama. Moreover, they trained Leonora-sama to think it was all hurt fault.)
Kai quickly worked out in his head.
It was said that Leonora was Claudia’s orphan. Losing her mother early with no place to go, she was then taken in by somebody and abused under the pretext that they were protecting her. And maybe, they did because they had an eye on her beautiful looks even though she was young. From early on they planted fear in her mind, and placed her control in their –
(Such cowards!)
Kai was completed convinced by his delusions.
「From now on, I will definitely, protect you with all I have… ! 」
「What… ?」
Leo looked with a dubious expression at Kai who suddenly started crying and grabbed his hand while kneeling.
(What’s up with this guy…?)
(I had heard that in noble society, once in a while there was those who did opera stage performances for charity but, maybe this guy actually practices singing, dancing, and fake crying every single day or something.)
Man, this is a dangerous world I’m treading in, Leo thought.
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