Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Nighttime Shadows
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“But Butler, we're short-staffed too...”
“Quiet! The master will be back soon enough. Why is everyone making such a fuss?!”
The butler's sharp reprimand cut off the guards' complaints once more. As he did, his gaze met Mariella's, who was watching from the side with a frightened expression.
The fierce look on the butler's face as he berated the guards melted away in an instant.
“Ahem. Anyway, that's all. Dismissed.”
He waved them off dismissively, scattering the guards, then hurried over to Mariella.
The youngest miss, who had just turned three this year.
This little girl, even younger than the grandson he'd left back home, had grown up without parents since birth.
“Miss, what are you doing out here?”
“Rawph bwing me and went. But butwer yelling so scawed, hiding hewe.”
Still looking a bit scared, Mariella awkwardly averted her eyes. The butler spread his arms wide toward her.
After a moment's hesitation, Mariella carefully moved from Ralph's arms to the butler's embrace.
The reason the butler was so touchy about the mansion's security was his fear that thieves who'd gotten a taste for stealing valuables might target the family's children.
What if some villains kidnapped our miss and demanded ransom...
The butler shuddered at the horrifying thought.
Mariella, who had been playfully rubbing her nose against his shoulder, widened her eyes.
“Butwer cowd? If Mawiewwa hugs tight wike this, not cowd anymore?”
Until the master returned, the butler had to protect the young miss and young master while overseeing the entire mansion.
Holding Mariella as she clung tightly to his neck, the butler steeled his resolve even further.
Right by his ear, Mariella chattered on.
“But butwer won't carry Mawiewwa anymore now. Because...”
“Because you're as heavy as a barbell now?”
“Barbew?”
“You said it yourself before, miss.”
“I said that?”
Once again, Mariella blinked her big round eyes in surprise.
'Barbell?'
It felt strangely familiar, but when she tried to focus and think straight, nothing came to mind...
Watching Mariella's lips move silently in confusion, the butler finally burst into laughter.
“This old butler will carry you even if you grow as heavy as the whole mansion.”
“Weally? Butwer supew stwong!”
She occasionally said odd things, but she was their adorable young miss.
He had to raise her safely somehow.
With the master away and the madam gone, he'd redouble his efforts more than ever.
As he reaffirmed his vow, his eyes gleaming, the butler didn't notice Dietrich watching enviously from the stairwell before turning away sharply.
In truth, the guards had a point.
He'd lashed out in anger over the theft of the madam's keepsakes from the deepest storage, but they really were understaffed for security.
So, he'd have to pitch in himself despite his age and join the night patrols.
In the dead of night, the butler threw a light robe over his pajamas and shuffled slowly down the corridor.
'I've changed the storage location.'
Previously, it had been in the madam's toilette room, but the thieves had already sniffed that out.
With help from a few trusted servants, he'd secretly moved the valuables to the document archive.
'But I can't trust anyone fully...'
He'd needed assistance since he couldn't move it all alone, but there was no guarantee a thief wasn't hiding among the mansion staff.
So he'd have to check it himself in secret.
Padding almost silently down the hall, the butler cautiously turned the corner.
The document archive was across a staircase from the children's bedrooms—an unused space originally meant as their schoolroom.
No one would suspect it as a hiding spot for valuables.
'The door's properly shut.'
Had changing the location really kept the thieves away?
As the butler smiled in satisfaction and slowly opened the door to the archive,
a servant inside, just about to exit, turned pale at the sight of him and started stammering.
“B-Butler, well, um... I was finishing up some cleaning from earlier...”
The man's words trailed off vaguely.
He'd noticed the butler's gaze land on the bracelet half-sticking out of his pocket.
After a tense silence, the man shoved the butler aside and bolted from the room.
'Of all days, why today!'
He'd planned to quit the thieving after this last score and flee the mansion for good!
Once he sold this bracelet, he'd pay off his debts and vanish—but this damn old fool had to start patrolling tonight of all nights!
As the servant raced down the stairs, a firm grip seized his arm.
“Where do you think you're going?!”
The butler, whom he'd underestimated as frail, had caught up and clamped onto his arm.
“Everyone, come out! Hurry!”
His voice was surprisingly powerful.
Judging he couldn't hold the younger man long on his own, the butler immediately bellowed for the other servants.
The thief's sharpened senses picked up doors creaking open here and there.
“Let go!”
Even as the servant thrashed wildly, the butler refused to release his grip.
“Let go, I said!”
The man's yells grew louder with his struggles.
The children, sensitive to noise, heard it too—and it wasn't long before soundly sleeping Mariella's eyes snapped open.
Suspicious sounds!
Blinking sleepily several times, Mariella first checked the window.
It was still pitch black beyond the curtains.
'At night, good children sleep. Close your eyes tight and keep your mouth shut.'
That's what the nurse had said after tucking her in.
Who was ignoring the nurse and making noise?
Clutching her pink bunny doll matching her hair, Mariella gently laid it in bed in her place and quietly opened the door.
“Everyone, get out here now! Ralph! Ian!”
That was Grandpa Butler's voice?
Hanging onto the doorknob for dear life, Mariella peeked her face through the crack.
The commotion was coming from the stairs leading down.
'Butler must be mad again!'
He'd yelled at the guards plenty during the day too.
'Mariella has to save him!'
He might have that scary face with eyebrows raised way up, but he'd soften the moment he saw her!
The butler, the nurse—they were terrifying when angry, but they couldn't stay mad in front of a three-year-old and always ended up smiling.
Mariella puffed out her chest confidently.
'This makes Mariella super cute!'
She didn't know what the fuss was about, but it was bedtime—everyone should quit yelling and go to sleep.
Even so, the noise scared her, so she cupped her ears lightly with her palms as she cautiously approached the stairs.
The closer she got, the louder the uproar.
“Let go of my arm!”
“Never! Do you know what that heirloom means? How the madam died on the battlefield...”
“You stubborn old geezer! Get out of my way!”
That was the moment.
The two men, grappling fiercely with the stair railing between them, tumbled over it as one tangled mass.
Thud—!
A deafening crash that pounded in her ears.
“Ugh...”
Mariella stood frozen, staring blankly into space as she heard the old butler's groan.
Servants who had rushed out at the noise screamed in horror or raced toward the bloodied floor below.
'It went thud, for sure...'
Mesmerized, Mariella leaned over the railing.
Red pooled on the floor.
The thud echoed in her ears over and over.
A loud noise, and someone died.
Someone died...
No, no.
The screech of emergency brakes, the jolt of smashing the guardrail—it crashed over her body, her vision spinning.
'I died.'
Mariella's face drained of color.