The Butler's Secret Crush
I stepped toward the waiting carriage the next day, ready to put my plan into motion. Why wait a full day before starting? Simple—because I needed to convince Selena first!
‘I have no idea how much of my emergency fund I burned through yesterday…’
Recalling the brutal negotiations from the day before, I accepted Selena’s escort and climbed into the carriage. But why was she here in the first place…? I was briefly stunned by how naturally she performed her escort duties, but once I remembered my current position, it made perfect sense that she would come all this way.
After all, I—Serenia Lohengrin—had become one of the Empire’s Counts!
With a deeply moved expression, I patted the shoulder of the head maid who had devoted her body and soul to this noble Count and spoke.
“Hehe, so even you, Selena, have finally realized I’m worthy of the Count title and decided to escort me like this… But don’t expect a raise, okay?”
I offered her a benevolent smile, expecting Selena to make a face like she’d just bitten into something rotten, but… Huh?
“Shut your mouth, lolicon. I’m only here to supervise you so you don’t do anything disgusting to those little girls.”
With those blunt words, Selena climbed into the carriage right beside me.
“Look, I’ve got a lot to say, but let’s start with this. I swear on the heavens—I am not a lolicon!”
After all, I’m a proud member of the Big-Boob Appreciation Society.
“Hmm, that’s what most lolicons say, though.”
Oh no. She’s already labeled me as one.
“No, more importantly—what happened with yesterday’s negotiation?! We clearly settled on a 2.5 times salary increase and fifty boxes of macarons!”
That deal had wiped out half my emergency savings.
“That was simply an appropriate measure to prevent me from resigning. You didn’t seriously think I’d approve of your plan to build a harem of little girls, did you, miss?”
“Ugh… Yesterday’s negotiation is null and void! Null and void!”
Before I could even finish, Selena was already rummaging through her bag.
“Let’s see… Where did I put my letter of resignation?”
That shameless head maid. She must have lost her mind after eating too many pine-mint-chocolate macarons.
“Miss, I have a feeling you just had a very rude thought about my taste in flavors…”
Her intuition is terrifyingly sharp. I signaled the coachman to depart and cleared my throat.
“Well, don’t worry too much. Out of consideration for the macarons you gave me yesterday, I’ll just watch quietly as long as you don’t cross the line with the children.”
“So you’re still going to supervise me after all…”
I was feeling rather dejected when a brilliant idea suddenly struck me.
“Hey, Selena.”
“What?” she replied in an irritated tone.
“So if I raise my daughters properly without crossing any lines until they become adults, you won’t interfere no matter what they do to me once they’re grown up, right?”
For a split second, a flash of panic crossed Selena’s eyes.
“Th-that’s right. I have no right to say anything to noble ladies once they’ve come of age. But what exactly are you planning to teach those children…?”
Perfect. Even though Selena looks sloppy, she’s the type who always keeps her word. I had successfully extracted a promise that she would give up any right to interfere once my future noble daughters reached adulthood.
‘Well, technically she doesn’t have that right even now, but there’s always the chance she might actually quit…’
The moment she resigns, the entire Count household would collapse in an instant. You might say a Count’s family shouldn’t be so fragile, and I couldn’t exactly deny that. But the real reason was the sheer volume of work Selena handled.
Household management, escort duties, kitchen work, and even partial accounting. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say nearly all operations of the Count’s house revolved around her.
‘We’re around the same age, so how can she be that competent…?’
If she weren’t so busy and we hadn’t been friends since childhood, I probably would have fallen for her. Though knowing how rigid Selena is, she never would have accepted me anyway.
As the carriage rolled along, I mulled over various thoughts. Eventually, growing bored, I asked her,
“Selena, how on earth did you get so capable? Back when you were fourteen, you were just an ordinary maid.”
When I first met her, she had only been in charge of my personal maid duties. But as time passed, I saw less and less of her. Since I considered her my only friend and cherished her, not being able to see her gradually filled me with more and more regret.
“What’s with the sudden compliment?”
Selena looked puzzled by my unexpected question. After thinking for a long moment, she answered,
“The biggest reason… is because of you, miss.”
Huh? Because of me? Could it be that Selena had been harboring feelings for me all this time?
When I made a strange face, Selena seemed to realize her words could be misinterpreted. Her face flushed bright red as she quickly continued.
“D-don’t get any weird ideas. It’s just that you spent money so recklessly we couldn’t afford to hire other maids.”
She began fanning her face with her hand to cool it down. For some reason, seeing Selena flustered made me want to tease her even more. Was this some kind of sadistic urge?
“Hmm, and here I thought you were using your secret love for me as motivation. I’m just so beautiful that I accidentally charmed you without even trying… Ow ow ow!”
“Tease me in moderation. Next time it’ll be two knuckle flicks.”
“Please respect the authority of a Count…”
“I would if there was any authority to respect.”
Hmm. She had a point, so I had nothing to say. Still, it had been so long since we’d talked like this. Whenever I chatted with Selena, it was always fun. We kept exchanging words, completely losing track of time. I didn’t even notice that her face was still burning red.
‘W-what should I do? Have I… fallen for the miss…?’
Selena had started thinking this way about a week after she began serving as the personal maid to Serenia, who was still the Count’s daughter at the time. At first, it was true that she had been drawn in—quite strongly, actually—by her stunning appearance. But she had assumed that would be the end of it.
Yet Serenia’s bold and confident attitude, combined with her gentle personality that always looked after others, completely captured Selena. Having grown up learning only harsh training and education that excluded affection and love, she had already fallen for Serenia completely.
‘Hehe, I like the miss so much…’
Whenever they shared the macarons the miss received as gifts, Selena would think how glad she was to have become a maid.
‘Hehe, if I stay by her side as her personal maid, maybe one day I can hope to become something more with the miss…?’
With those buoyant hopes, Selena continued her duties. But there was a problem.
“That young lady must never be allowed near the racetrack… Her face is so perfect it leaves me speechless…?”
The issue was that Serenia didn’t treat only Selena with kindness. Flirting with every beautiful young lady she met was standard practice. She even tried to make frequent “accidental” physical contact with other girls at parties. Watching it all happen in real time, Selena’s heart burned with jealousy.
‘How did I end up falling for such a womanizer…!’
The miss should be her miss. She was supposed to protect her for life… The miss couldn’t even do basic things without her…!
Even as frustration boiled inside her, Selena couldn’t give up her feelings for Serenia. If only the miss would look at her alone, she would give everything and run to her side. She even considered confessing, becoming lovers, and then stopping the miss from meeting other young ladies—but every time, Selena forced herself to abandon the idea.
It was a principle drilled into her since childhood until her ears nearly bled: ‘A subordinate must never harbor romantic feelings for their superior.’
That rule, now deeply embedded in Selena’s mind, prevented her from interfering with Serenia’s flirtatious behavior. Faced with the enormous gap between dream and reality, unable to move forward or back, Selena came up with one solution.
‘The more I see the miss these days, the stronger my obsession and affection grow. If she disappears from my sight, maybe I’ll naturally forget her?’
And from that day on, Selena threw herself into every single task in the Count’s household to wash away her distracting thoughts. Her feelings toward Serenia gradually faded, allowing her to converse with her like a friend again, happily and without burden.
Her heart for Serenia remained steadfast, but she believed that as Serenia grew older, she would eventually be the only bride candidate left. All she had to do was endure. Her plan seemed to be working perfectly… until—
“First, I’ll adopt about three beautiful girls as my daughters. Then I’ll raise them to perfectly match my ideal type and make all three of them my Countesses!!”
Serenia was a being far beyond anything Selena had anticipated. But what shocked her even more than the fact that Serenia was a perverted lesbian psycho lolicon criminal was—
“Don’t worry, you’re my emergency rations!”
The realization that she was nothing more than emergency rations. She had always believed her looks and abilities could rival anyone, yet hearing that she was Serenia’s very last priority made her feel like the world was crumbling.
Overwhelmed by self-loathing, shock, and shame, she had fled from Serenia’s room. But she refused to give up.
‘I have to ruin the miss’s harem plan no matter what…!’
Until the day she was finally recognized as the miss’s true bride.