Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Side Story - A Certain Princess's Memories (1)
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To me, the world was.
All gray.
This is no metaphor.
Everything except me
simply appeared
in black and white.
Black and white.
And where they mixed,
a gray world.
Then one day.
On a day when I took such things for granted.
Into my gray world,
a being appeared with a color
that was not gray.
#1 Their Circumstances: A Certain Villain's Circumstances
“This is the 17th Garden, close to where the Ninth Prince resides, so you can often see His Ninth Highness. His Ninth Highness's mother is…”
The single thought running through my head as I listened to the explanation was this: ‘Just how damn big is this imperial family anyway?’
According to the guide, this was the seventeenth garden.
For reference, there are apparently fifty-one gardens in total in the imperial grounds.
I hadn't even seen half yet, and already half the day was gone!
Why was I touring the imperial gardens? Obviously because of an organization mission.
Normally, I'd be busy as an instructor, wringing every drop out of the trainees and sucking up the sweet rewards by now. But my first batch of students were all monsters. Damn it.
Thanks to that, I became the first in organization history to graduate from advanced training in just one year.
Compared to the usual instructors who train a cohort for about four years, I suddenly had three years left over.
And the ever manpower-short Evil Organization wasn't about to let those three years go to waste!
But throwing me straight into a mission like this—into the imperial palace, infamous as a demon's den, no less!
When people talk about the imperial palace, the legend is that more people get purged for backing the wrong faction than get executed for being caught as organization spies!
It's also the organization's most notorious mission spot, where even perfect execution can end you in one stroke of bad luck!
No, but seriously, why send a high-value asset like me to a place like that?!
“Thanks to this, nobles close to the Ninth Prince often visit here. Among them…”
The silver lining—if you can call it that—is that I lucked out with a decent senior.
I'd heard most guides just give a rough rundown and say something like, “If you can't hack it, get out.” But this senior servant was detailing every spot we passed: frequent noble visitors, their major factions and power bases, and even which nobles to watch out for.
Of course, that meant—as I mentioned—we hadn't even covered half the gardens yet…
Naturally, I wasn't touring the imperial gardens as a mere servant.
To be precise, it was an imperial palace tour.
But if we hadn't even finished half the gardens, how much more of the rest had we skipped?
I still needed to see the knight orders, the mages' barracks, and the locations of the top-secret research labs for wizards and sorcerers… This damn empire was so vast, it'd probably take a week.
The one saving grace was that there were lots of no-go zones for secrecy reasons.
Not everything was classified, of course—some were decoys—but the fewer places I had to visit, the better for me.
On the battlefield, I could march three days and nights without a blister, but here in these shoes—or maybe because of the endless dull chatter—my feet hurt worse than in combat.
They hurt way too much!
“And… Oh, greetings to Your Highness the Princess.”
“Greetings to Your Highness the Princess.”
We'd just finished touring the 17th Garden and were heading to the Seventh Knight Order's barracks when I spotted a cute little kid with silver hair and red eyes.
For reference, the imperial family's signature trait was silver hair and red eyes.
They claimed it came from silver dragon blood, but who knew if that was true.
Too many royal houses claimed dragon ancestry anyway.
But kid or not, she was imperial royalty! Someone who could order my head on a platter without batting an eye!
So I bowed my head sharply—and kept it there. Time ticked by, but no permission came to look up, even after the usual moment had passed. The princess said nothing.
“U-Um, Your Highness?”
The woman guarding her called out in a fluster, but still no word to raise my head!
Damn it! Was this senior actually on the princess's blacklist?!
“Hiret… was it?”
“An honor that you remember, Your Highness.”
“It’s just that I don’t forget what I hear. Anyway, who’s behind you?”
“This is the new recruit who just arrived.”
“The new… I see. Assignment?”
“Not confirmed yet.”
“I see?”
The exchange felt loaded with meaning.
If she’d said I was under this senior, I’d probably be facing all sorts of trials and tribulations by now!
The imperial palace really was a scary place. Almost blew my cover from the start by picking the wrong side!
The princess passed by, and the day ended without us even covering a fifth of the palace.
The next day.
“Congratulations. I’ve never seen such preferential treatment in my ten years here at the palace.”
“Huh?”
I tilted my head. Weird. Something was off.
Hadn’t I gotten this servant gig through organization connections, via some no-name baron's recommendation? Was I dreaming right now?
“Haha, you seem shocked to be assigned as Her Highness’s exclusive butler. Still, give it your best.”
But the pat on my shoulder from the senior who’d been guiding me tirelessly until yesterday felt all too real.
…It was me, not the senior? I hadn’t been found out, had I?!
***
“Your Highness? An exclusive butler out of nowhere? Do you know him?”
“No? I’ve never even left the palace—how would I know some commoner who arrived yesterday?”
“Then why…”
“Secret.”
Lea had been my guard since childhood, but she always got flustered easily.
Not that I had complaints about her protection. Her skills were top-tier—not just for her age, but across the entire knight order.
Her flaw was that she seemed a bit lacking in everyday matters.
“Lea, at this rate, you’ll never get married.”
“W-What are you saying? Do you know how many proposals come my way? They’re all because of you, Your Highness…”
“Don’t lie. Proposals come to the family, sure, but they all bail once they meet you. Don’t act like it’s my fault you can’t get hitched.”
“Ugh…”
Lea sniffled, but she needed a reality check.
It was all for her own good. Lea always got dumped on blind dates for two main reasons.
First, she wasn’t very ladylike.
Some guys didn’t mind that, but the next issue was probably the real killer.
“You’re too much, Your Highness! I do it all for you!”
“Ahh… That’s the problem.”
She started pouring out her woes, tears streaming down her face.
Lea’s mental fortitude was too weak. She couldn’t control her emotions, always putting feelings over the situation.
If she were any other maid or guard, I’d have tossed her out for that lack of control.
She’d rage when angry, cry when sad, laugh when happy—completely at odds with palace life, where you had to hide your emotions at all times.
As a knight, her family saw her as a rising star, but didn’t knights need to be calm?
They said a knight who lost composure couldn’t wield their full strength, yet Lea was strong even like this.
Maybe the top trait for a knight was just raw power after all?
Knock knock.
“Your Highness, Mr. Ast from the transfer has arrived.”
“Send him in.”
The gray door opened, and a man with colors entered.
He looked late twenties to early thirties. But commoners often aged prematurely from hard lives, so maybe twenties.
“You, what are you?”
“Pardon?”
“What are you, I said.”
Why do you have colors when no one else does? Are you like me? But if so, you shouldn’t be alive.
What the hell are you?
“Your Highness! I was thrilled thinking fewer people meant less work, but if you start like this, I’m quitting again!”
“No, you can’t quit. By imperial decree.”
“Pardon?”
“As long as I want it, you can’t quit.”
From the day my fate was sealed, he was the first person I’d seen with colors.
I hadn’t figured out why yet, so I couldn’t let him go.
Until I knew the reason, I’d keep him by my side and observe.
“Got it? Now answer. What are you?”
“I am… Ast.”
“I know your name.”
“Then could you tell me what exactly you’re asking?”
“Idiot? I asked what you are.”
“That’s why I gave you my name, Ast.”
“But I’m not asking for your name.”
“Then how should I represent myself? If neither my body nor my name defines me, how do I introduce myself to Your Highness?”
He tilted his head like he didn’t get it, but his expression held a subtle smile.
He knew what I wanted but wasn’t about to spill easily.
Fine, playing it that way? Then I’d counter accordingly.
My siblings might threaten with their status. But that wasn’t my style.
“Why the fancy talk? I just asked what you are. Yet here you are, throwing tough questions back at me. Don’t you even know your own role?”
Look, innocent child eyes.
Sure, I was a child, but my mind was as sharp as an adult’s.
Ordinary folks might call my type a prodigy. But I was nine. This was fine.
“You’re also in charge of my education. That’s why I’m asking—I don’t know you well. Let me ask again. What are you? Answer simply, so I can understand.”
“Your Highness, not this again. That’s why all the servants quit.”
Lea grumbled like it was a headache, but I ignored her as usual.
Alright, Ast. What’s your answer?
#2 Their Circumstances: A Certain Villain's Circumstances
“You, what are you?”
“What are you, I said.”
So, out of nowhere, this princess I’d barely met summons me and hits me with that. Yeah. What the. What do I even say?
“Your Highness! I was thrilled thinking fewer people meant less work, but if you start like this, I’m quitting again!”
“No, you can’t quit. By imperial decree.”
“…Pardon?”
“As long as I want it, you can’t quit.”
And she’s locked it down with an imperial decree. Ha, nuts. Still, I could infer something: the princess clearly wanted something from me. If I could figure out what, things might tilt in my favor…
“Got it? Now answer. What are you?”
The kid spoke bluntly, but she was the princess—I’d play along.
“I am… Ast.”
Gave her my name first. Names matter. That’s why people ask, “What’s your name?” Not that it was real. But I was trying.
“I know your name.”
“Idiot? I asked what you are.”
“I’m not asking for your name.”
Every response was picking a fight. What did she expect? Why was this kid—not even ten—barely met yesterday, grilling a stranger with philosophy? What was I supposed to say?
“Then how should I represent myself? If neither my body nor my name defines me, how do I introduce myself to Your Highness?”
No clue. I wasn’t buddies with philosophy. Couldn’t just yell Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am!” So I threw a straight ball: honest ignorance. But…
“Why the fancy talk? I just asked what you are. Yet here you are, throwing tough questions back at me. Don’t you even know your own role?”
She tilted her head all innocent-like. Yeah, no idea?! Woke up to a surprise exclusive butler assignment—no handover, nothing!
They just rushed me here with “Go!” and bam, “Who are you?” I say I don’t know, and she calls it fancy talk. Ha, even the Evil Organization didn’t run ops this sloppy. Empire life, palace edition!
“You’re also in charge of my education. That’s why I’m asking—I don’t know you well. Let me ask again. What are you? Answer simply, so I can understand.”
Ah, got it. I had to handle her education too. If that was included, probably tons of other stuff, but first things first. Hmm, say something cool? No, simple so she gets it. Simple…
Yeah, keep it simple.
“No idea.”
Screw it! Go all in!