Translator and Editor: Lea and Aki

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Chapter 47

The very next morning, all the servants were told to gather in the spacious courtyard of the front porch of the mansion. Everyone was surprised by the Duke’s call before the sunrise.

They had never faced this situation in their entire career. The Duke was always known to be indifferent to the employees in the mansion and had no intention of overseeing them. That man had no heart for the capital itself.

However, such an indifferent Duke to order all the servants to convene was very surprising.

Everyone could doubtlessly say that it was because of the incident at the dining room last night.

An argument that occurred between the butler who reigned like the king of the mansion and a mistress of the Duke who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Who would win? There were even some people who put stakes behind them.

It was not until the sun had risen completely that the door opened while they stood in the dew of the cool morning breeze.

As expected, Kalcion appeared with the woman named Selena accompanying him.

“It’s great to see you, Your Excellency.”

The servants greeted him in unison like army soldiers. It was impeccably perfect as they spent time practicing greetings separately in the morning and evening.

However, Kalcion’s expression did not soften after such an exemplary greet.

“Butler.””Yes, Your Grace.””I heard something unfortunate happened last night.””I dutifully hold myself guilty for what I couldn’t handle properly before and let it reach you.”

The butler made a series of perfunctory apologies without crushing a single pronunciation, with a straight face. He responded as if this situation was fully anticipated.

Selena clung to Kalcion’s back as if to hide behind him, then peered over his shoulder and murmured softly.

“You didn’t handle anything…….”

She muttered to herself, but in the tense silence, it sounded as clear as a loud complaint. As the butler quickly turned to face Selena, she ducked her head behind Kalcion’s shoulder.

“May I know how you’ve handled it?””Yesterday, I made sure to scold the two maids in question and train them again. Also, for a month, a servant has been placed in charge of cleaning the living room so as to avoid any issues from the warehouse and kitchen.”

His words were firm and loud as if it wasn’t that much of a big mistake.

‘Cleaning the living room. That’s surprising.’

The parlor in this mansion was never crowded, let alone receive a single visitor. That job must be one of the most leisurely things to do.

Just as Selena thought. The butler was clearly guarding the maids and was constantly covering the truth.

It’s a tragedy for the butler that Selena even expected this.

Last night, both Selena and Kalcion had an in-depth discussion on the butler’s possible behavior and came up with certain countermeasures.

“So, you’ve just scolded and freed the maids as the price of trying to feed the guest I’ve brought with trash?””That’s not it, Your Excellency. It wasn’t such a light punishment……””Isn’t it light, considering your poor assessment?”

The butler’s mouth shut at the question. The butler was as good at reading the room as he was at speaking.

Until the call of the Duke, he was confident that he could avoid it with words. However, judging from the current situation, he would be in danger if he uttered a single word wrong.

The butler quickly looked down at the ground in a deep bow. At times like this, it was best to lie face down.

“It’s not, Your Grace. It isn’t the case at all.””Then how do you suggest we deal with it?””I will fire them right now.”

Kalcion’s expression still did not relax.

Was this not enough?

Because of that, the butler was beginning to sweat out of nervousness. If he had known Selena was such a woman to storm up Kalcion, he could have been more careful and caring no matter how low her status was. He didn’t expect that woman to be so good at coaxing the Duke.

“I will deduct the amount of compensation from the severance pay and salary for the mistakes I’ve made.””Would that be good enough?”

Instead of affirming himself, Kalcion glanced back at Selena and asked her.

The butler’s heart dropped to his stomach.

He started praying for the woman to not be too hard on him as payback and happily accept the price.

“Yes, but.”

Selena, however, was not as satisfied. She wasn’t as naive as the butler wished her to be.

“The butler hurt me, too. Like I said before, he was accusing me of being mistaken yesterday…..””What shall we do?””Please fire the butler as well.”

The butler’s face hardened. Things had gotten bigger than he thought they would. He thought he could fire the two maids, but he didn’t expect to get his own neck caught in this.

“N-No, please don’t! I apologize for my lack of eloquence and for hurting you! But, I never said you were mistaken!”

The butler yelled loudly as he lay flat on the floor. It would be good if he could save his position this way.

Being the butler of the Renbird mansion was the best job anyone knew he had. Those who were not familiar with it said that it was an outlying family with little influence on the craftsmanship and society, but it was just words coming from inexperienced people.

The owner himself resided in this mansion for a short period of time. Henceforth, the butler’s authority was considered to be the strongest most of the time. The Duke, usually confined to the estate, had trusted the management of the mansion entirely to the butler. The Duke didn’t care about the expenses of the mansion, too. That was possible since it was equal to a small sum of money for him.

Maintenance costs had been incurred all the time. Compared to so many families seen engaging in a war of nerves on every payday to avoid paying servants, this was heaven. In addition, the role of distributing and managing the money was entrusted to the butler. It was a perfect lifetime job.

The butler, with the money to manage the entire house and power to manage the servants, was seemingly the king, although it belonged to the Duke.

Not being able to refuse his invitation, the maids raised their skirts. Half of the maids working in this mansion were laid down in the butler’s bed. There was no such heaven anywhere else in the world.

However, it was all going to be blown away by this one woman.

It was no big of a deal to have his pride crushed for only a moment. Since the Duke would only stay here for a while and return to the North, his collapsed pride could be refilled not long after.

“Because I spent such a long time in this house, I think of all of them as my brothers and sisters! So I thoughtlessly tried to protect them! Please understand this poor heart of mine!””A house to live together with your siblings? What kind of family did you grow up in?””……Yes….? P-Pardon?!”

He was surprised when his phrase was correctly pointed out.

Selena was still hidden behind Kalcion, but she didn’t say anything. Pretending to be innocent. Picking only the best words to throw at him.

“I saw it last night. The two maids were following the butler into his room.””No way! That’s ridiculous!”

He had slept all alone yesterday. His face turned pale as he was being blamed for something that didn’t happen.

This slander was, of course, devised by Selena herself. Making up things that didn’t even occur meant that she wouldn’t even know the context. The butler jumped up.

“Ask the servants! Ask the two maids! There must be people who saw them go in and sleep in my room last night!””It was the middle of the night. Maybe they didn’t see it because they were sleeping…….”

Selena muttered to herself again. But of course, her voice was heard by everyone.

“No, y-you! You didn’t even see me! Don’t frame me!”

Kalcion opened his mouth as the butler interjected.

“The first thing I remember telling you is to avoid making a fuss in my mansion.”

Even if he didn’t shout, his voice sank down as if a blade was being held at his throat. Instead of expressing his heated resentment, he hurriedly lowered his head and mumbled under his breath.

“O-Of course……. I’m trying my best to stay as quiet as possible……””After all of this, it came to this? I even found out about the lowly private life of the butler I didn’t want to know at all.””I-I apologize, but this is all a set-up she’s just made…..””And yet another excuse? Selena wouldn’t have brought it to me if you’d done the right from the start, and I wouldn’t have wasted my time knowing about the butler’s private life this morning.”

No words could turn Kalcion’s opinion now. Helpless, the butler’s lips no longer moved diligently.

“You’re fired.”

It was an ending fixed right from the beginning. No matter what anyone said, it wasn’t going to change.

The butler’s hand trembled and his nails began scraping against the smooth stone floor. He didn’t resign on his own, but was fired in disgrace. On this level of issue, there would be no family where he’d be able to find a job.

“And a separate investigation inside the mansion will be held to look into the matter. If you get caught uttering a single lie, your punishment will be doubled. I suggest you better associate with complete honesty.”

As he finished his warning, Kalcion flipped on his heel so hard that his fluttering cape blew a cold rush of wind. He put his arm around Selena as he walked away.

The butler was left devastated at his threats wherein trying to bring Selena down could double or even triple his sentence.

Just before the front door closed, Selena turned her head and looked directly at the butler. Her lips were drawn into a cold smirk.

‘How does it feel to be driven out for something you haven’t done?’

She mouthed out to him. Then, she turned her head and disappeared to the other side of the door.

“!”

The butler flinched.

Only then did he realize why she lied. It was a retaliation for defending the maids who prepared trashy food and saying that it was only Selena’s illusion.

She clearly proved that it wasn’t just him who could lie.

Would things have changed if he had apologized and complied with her opinion? He was clueless. However, what was clear was that Selena was convinced from the start that she was capable of doing this.

It was the butler who missed the opportunity. There was no turning back now. The butler stayed immovable in his collapsed form like trash on the pavement.

“Return to your respective duties.”

Mrs. Janet from the estate of Renbird commanded on behalf of the Duke. The maids obediently followed the order that was originally supposed to be given by the butler in charge.

The maids silently walked past the butler. They didn’t even sneak a glance at him. That man was now completely tattered to pieces.

The butler shivered at the approaching end of his life. The cruelty towards him was as great as how his tyranny used to be.

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