Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 218
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 218
So it was that, at the Magic Tower, items began to be crafted.
Clop. Clop.
The carriage carrying the Marquis of Bydantis was racing diligently toward House Asteri.
“My lord. W-We will soon arrive at Asteri Mansion.”
“So we will.”
Unlike the impassive Clarentia, the head butler was terribly nervous.
‘To think I would set foot in that Asteri household…!’
Gulp.
The head butler swallowed hard.
Among the serving staff, rumors about Asteri Mansion were rampant.
Its astonishing benefits and enormous salaries went without saying,
and it was known to be so well-run and well-regarded that, short of something truly exceptional, a great many servants said they would gladly be buried in that estate forever.
‘Which is why they say only the absolute best in the profession gather there.’
This, too, was exactly why the head butler was trembling.
‘What if I come off as woefully inadequate?’
Years had passed since House Bydantis had known real turmoil.
Fortunately, the young lady… no, Her Lordship seemed to have properly regained her spirits since young master Lion’s visit.
Thus, the Bydantis territory had stopped standing still and was trying to take a step forward.
The head butler shared the same resolve and was doing his best in his own way, but still—
‘Hoo…’
The head butler let out a deep inward sigh.
Let him admit it honestly.
He was lacking in ability.
Truth be told, reaching the position of head butler at his age was entirely because Her Lordship looked favorably upon him.
In devotion to Her Lordship he would yield to no one, but the limits of his practical competence were clear.
‘Nothing but mistakes every time…’
Unless Her Lordship personally attended to the final details, nothing ever ran properly—wasn’t that just hopeless?
…was what he had been thinking.
And in the midst of it, an opportunity to visit Asteri Mansion had presented itself.
To the head butler, this was it!
A chance to see how badly he had been doing things wrong, and in what direction he ought to move forward!
‘A-And who knows? Maybe I’ve actually been doing well?’
True, the odds were not high, but on the one-in-a-million chance, perhaps the head butler’s eye had simply sharpened, making his own skills seem unsatisfactory to himself.
While the head butler entertained that thought internally, the sound of hooves gradually quieted and the carriage wheels came to a stop.
A glance out the window revealed the imposing main gate of Asteri Mansion.
‘Good heavens…!’
Even seen through a window, the mansion’s main gate was nothing like what one ordinarily imagined.
He could not tell what treatment it had undergone, but it gleamed as if freshly wrought, and delicate carvings adorned its surroundings.
And finally, the statues standing sentinel on either side!
Truly magnificent…
Click.
While the head butler was lost in admiration, the carriage door opened.
‘Oh—.’
Snapped alert by the cool breeze, the head butler swiftly alighted and carefully escorted Clarentia down.
“…”
She could have easily descended on her own, but Clarentia, understanding the head butler’s heart, wordlessly took his hand and stepped lightly from the carriage.
“Head butler.”
“…Yes, my lord.”
“Don’t be so tense.”
Tossing out that single brief remark, she stood before the welcoming party with her usual dignified bearing.
Her frame was small, but her spirit alone was so formidable that it could shield the head butler from what lay ahead.
“…!”
The head butler clenched his fist and steeled his resolve.
When the young lady had even spoken to him like that, how could he show a cowed and feeble front?
Yes. He would walk forward with confidence…!
The moment he thought so and faced forward—
“Hic.”
A hiccup escaped him before he knew it.
Because the view over Her Lordship’s shoulder was nothing short of overwhelming…!
“Welcome to Asteri Mansion.”
It was flawless.
Knights and staff drawn up in perfect alignment.
In the immaculately maintained garden, blooms of every color flowered vividly, lending even more vitality, and the mansion’s exterior walls were imposing beyond all description.
That was not all.
Even the very ground beneath their feet was faintly luminous, wrought with intricate carving.
Moreover, the outdoor stone, not even the interior, shone glossy as if it had never once been used.
One could tell at a glance how meticulously the staff maintained it.
‘P-Perfect…’
Bydantis Castle had surely been kept up to the best of their ability, yet compared to Asteri Mansion it felt woefully lacking.
Faced with this staggering majesty, what little spirit the head butler had left wilted entirely.
‘I have so very far to go…’
Watching him sidelong, the Marquis of Bydantis let out a quiet, inward chuckle.
‘I thought as much.’
The head butler was a fundamentally tender-hearted and sensitive person.
It was inevitable, therefore, that he would be disappointed in his own skills and shrink to nothing.
That was why she had told him moments ago not to be tense.
‘Well. He’ll overcome it on his own before long.’
She was not especially worried.
Because she knew just how much the head butler wore out his feet and racked his brain to keep things moving.
“Thank you for making the long journey.”
“There was much to look at, so it was not particularly taxing. Your mansion is impressive.”
Rickshel and the Marquis of Bydantis exchanged a few formal pleasantries.
Judging by the blank expressions on both faces, it was plain that they wanted to dispense with the formalities quickly and get down to business-related talk.
‘These workaholics…’
Lion shook his head inwardly at the sight of the two.
They did suit each other, but if that chemistry misfired, it would obviously turn into the “Eternal Overtime Society.”
“Then allow me to escort you inside.”
Led by Rickshel and Lion, the party entered the mansion.
“Whoa…”
Still subdued as he followed behind, the head butler let out an inadvertent murmur of admiration.
He had expected the interior to be just as astonishing, and indeed it was.
What was more, the inside had unmistakably been decorated beyond its usual state—undoubtedly extra care had been taken to receive his own Marquis.
‘Should I have done the same?’
He had, in his own way, hosted young master Lion with the utmost sincerity…
‘No. I simply need to do even better the next time he comes.’
Just as the Marquis of Bydantis had predicted, the head butler was gradually mending his shattered morale.
Though, of course, the flawless state of Asteri Mansion still kept landing blows—that remained unchanged.
Seeing the head butler, who had recovered somewhat, begin withering all over again, the Marquis of Bydantis spoke up.
“You have prepared quite grandly.”
“How could we treat a guest who has come on an important mission with anything less than the utmost care? As Marquis Asteri is currently away, we devoted even greater attention to it.”
Rickshel, having read the mood, agreed with the Marquis of Bydantis without changing his expression.
Then…
Glance.
he looked at Lion once, cleared his throat with uncharacteristic awkwardness, and added:
“I have heard that you likewise welcomed my elder brother most generously in the Bydantis territory.”
“Of course. How comfortable was I?”
“…!”
At last, the head butler’s expression brightened a fraction.
“Let us begin the important discussions after you have rested from your journey, first.”
“Let us do that.”
“Then.”
The two exchanged brief courtesies and withdrew.
“Head Butler, please come this way as well.”
A remaining staff member smiled and guided the head butler.
“You are…”
“Old acquaintances, are we not. Now, this way.”
Elvia smiled leisurely and led the head butler to a separate room.
Click.
Arriving at the room, the head butler wilted yet again at the spotless interior, free of a single speck of dust.
“This is absurd…”
To think that even a room for a servant such as himself—not a noble—would be kept this impeccably clean.
What was more, perhaps because it was aired frequently, there was not even a stale smell.
And that was not all.
A pristine bed and floor.
Even the space beneath the bed yielded no trace of dust.
“Hooooo…”
Troubled, the butler exhaled a deep sigh.
Of course, the areas that the Marquis of Bydantis herself frequented were maintained just as spotlessly as this.
But he could not claim that the entire castle was managed to this standard.
‘I said I was doing my best…’
Though he floundered, he had tried to serve well in his own way.
But seeing the state of this place, the thought came unbidden: one’s best was not necessarily the best.
‘I should have come, even belatedly.’
Most astonishingly, on the occasion of Lion Asteri’s coming-of-age ceremony, Her Lordship had come here alone.
Without a single ordinary attendant.
No—at that time, he had not even…
‘…known she had gone.’
She had always moved so mysteriously that he had assumed this time, too, she had gone to survey the mountain range.
Had he not noticed that one dress was missing from her wardrobe and that an invitation envelope from House Asteri had been left behind, he might well have remained forever unaware.
“In truth, I am already unfit to be head butler.”
The head butler could not bring himself to muss his neatly set hair, so he merely clutched it briefly and let go.
“Sssss—ha. Hoooo!”
Then he struck both of his own cheeks hard with both hands.
Smack! The sound was quite loud, and both of the head butler’s cheeks flushed red in the shape of his palms.
“Enough of this faint-hearted talk.”
Young Lady Clarentia had overcome that brutal past through her own strength.
If he wished to follow in even her footsteps, he must not despair but seek a way to overcome, must he not!
Bang!
Without even properly unpacking, the head butler flung the door open again.
Then, striding forth, he stopped any staff member at random and asked:
“May I ask you something?”
“Pardon? Ah, yes. Is there something you require?”
“Or perhaps something about the room is not to your satisfaction?”
The staff who had been wiping the mansion’s window frames started in surprise and hastily hid their rags behind their backs as they asked.
“Do you know who the most capable staff member here is?”
“…The most capable staff member?”
“Yes.”
Ordinarily, he would have asked who the head butler was, but House Asteri did not have a separate position by that title.
Instead, he understood that the position of head maid existed, though it had remained vacant since the retirement of the former head maid, one ‘Sylvia’.
Having that much information, he had deliberately phrased his question in such a way.
“Hmm… Most likely that person, wouldn’t you say?”
Fortunately, the staff member had witnessed Lion’s eccentricities countless times before, so even at the head butler’s abrupt question, they could answer calmly.
“Right. Most likely that person…”
The two staff members looked at each other and nodded.
“That person being?”
“Yes. Lady Elvia.”
“That’s right. They are the most capable…”
Yet why did their tone sound somewhat subtler than before?
‘Strange…’
He knew Elvia well enough.
She had guided him to his room, and was she not the maid who had accompanied young master Lion to the Bydantis territory?
‘Her character seemed perfectly pleasant, too.’
In the head butler’s eyes, there was not a single questionable thing about her—was there something?
“Mm, is there some issue?”
“Ah, no, it’s just, well…”
“She’s frightening.”
“…”
The head butler tilted his head to the side.
She did seem to have a meticulous personality, but frightening?
He could not see that.