Soap, Steam, and a Butler's Composure
I stepped out of the ranks and approached the Grand Duke, then delivered the greeting I had prepared in advance.
"It is my sincere honor to welcome Your Highness and the Mars Knights home safe and sound. Every servant of the Grand Duke's estate has waited with bated breath, as one heart and one mind, for Your Highness's return."
I added that all this honor and glory would surely shine a bright light on the future of House Ballot.
My voice held perfectly steady, its pitch unwavering. Neither too fast nor too slow. Every word crisp and precise.
Not a single flaw to be found.
Keeping my posture respectful, I showered myself with silent praise. The fruits of hard work truly are sweet!
I straightened my back and looked directly at the Grand Duke. Behind him stood the Mars Knights.
Perhaps because I had stepped forward to give the welcome address as the representative of the household staff, the knights' rigid formation began to stir. Some of them must have heard the news that I had become the Grand Duke's butler passed along from ear to ear, but others clearly hadn't known at all.
I could understand their agitation.
Meanwhile, the Grand Duke standing before me studied me in silence for a long moment. Only after the low murmur among the knights had died down did he slowly open his mouth.
"...So we finally meet, Butler."
"......"
That pleasing bass voice had just called me butler.
That alone felt like his acknowledgment, and an emotion I couldn't put into words pounded against my chest. How long had I waited for this moment?
But complacency is the enemy.
Now was where the real work began. Keep your wits about you.
I hastily gathered my thoughts and put on the smile I had practiced countless times in front of a mirror.
"I have done my utmost to keep the promise I made to Your Highness."
At that, the Grand Duke let out a small chuckle.
"Well, that's something we'll see once I've watched you."
A pointed remark. His intention — to shake me and see how I reacted — was plain as day.
But I was not someone to be rattled by a single sentence.
Holding my smile, I turned and cleared the way.
"Please, come in and rest. Your bath and your meal are ready, Your Highness."
The Grand Duke gave a nod, then turned back to the knights. His gaze swept slowly over the ranks, still standing tense and at attention — carefully, deliberately, as if meeting each knight's eyes one by one.
Then he threw out a single word.
"Dismissed."
"......"
The next instant, a cheer — WaaAaah! — erupted from the knights, shattering the solemn silence.
The Grand Duke turned his back on the roar and strode toward the estate.
There had been no flowery thanks, no words of "you've worked hard" or "you've endured so much."
And yet somehow, I felt I understood what that one word meant.
Words only those who came back alive can say, and only those who came back alive can hear.
I understood, too, that the way his gaze had swept over the knights before speaking carried a great deal of meaning.
I knew.
Behind me, the knights' cheers rolled in like a tide with no end in sight.
The knights' quarters buzzed with noise for a long while. The returning knights and the servants who had come out to greet them were exchanging enthusiastic welcomes.
On the ground floor of the quarters, lavishly laid-out food and ale barrels stacked like towers awaited them.
When one knight shouted, "Drink until you die!", another fired back, "We fought tooth and nail to survive — don't you dare talk about dying!"
At the silliest of jokes, everyone laughed with the same heart. The knights, finally letting their tension fall away, found this whole scene nothing short of delightful.
Once the mood had ripened, tales of battlefield exploits began pouring out from every corner — how many necks had been severed in a single day, what heroics had unfolded on the night of the ambush. Knights and servants, the ones telling and the ones listening, carried on well into the night.
Sloooosh— I dipped my hand into the bathwater I had prepared ahead of time and swirled it around.
Perfect.
Not hot enough to peel skin, but warm enough that the muscles beneath could melt into a pleasant, loosening ease. My favorite temperature.
After long stretches on the battlefield, even I found myself longing for a bathtub full of steaming water.
The Grand Duke can't be all that different.
There — with that, I'd say the preparations were complete.
Towel for drying, soap with a mild scent, sponge and bath brush.
I arranged the items the Grand Duke would use for his bath neatly on the small side table. Then my eyes lingered on the soap I'd set beside the brush.
I hesitated for the briefest moment before picking it up.
Sniff— hoo. Sniiff, hooo—.
I pressed the soap to my nose and inhaled its scent several times over.
Hmm. Not this one either.
Strange. I tilted my head. The fragrance rising from the soap was nothing like the scent that clung to the Grand Duke's body.
It's not as if he wears cologne or scented oil.
How could a man who lived soaked in blood and sweat on a battlefield carry a scent like that?
It's like... the cool air of a dawn deep in the forest.
Soil-rich woods, the vitality held within an ancient pine — the kind of air that cleared your head just to breathe it.
Definitely not the smell of this soap.
I set the soap down and turned around.
That was when my eyes met a pair of violet ones.
Heep!
I sucked in a startled breath.
It was the Grand Duke.
Wh-when did he come in?!
I hadn't sensed him at all. He must have deliberately concealed his presence.
You sneaky little...
Entering his own bathroom and hiding his presence? This had to be a scheme to mess with me.
For an instant my temper flared to the crown of my head, but I buried the emotion flawlessly behind a smiling mask.
"You've arrived, Your Highness."
"......"
But the Grand Duke didn't answer. He simply tilted his head to one side and let out a low, thoughtful hmmm.
My mouth went dry all on its own.
Why. Why are you looking at me like that?
Then the Grand Duke's gaze darted behind me.
I knew exactly where it had landed.
The soap...?
Yes, it was unmistakable. He was looking at the soap. The very soap I had held up to my nose and sniffed.
Oh no.
Don't tell me he saw that! You, Grand Duke!
A groan of despair welled up inside me. Of all the things to be caught doing!
How many times did I smell it? Three? Or four?
My panic scrambled my memory — I couldn't recall exactly how it had gone down.
The corners of my practiced smile began to tremble, ever so slightly.
"......"
"......"
A suffocating silence stretched between us.
The Grand Duke's gaze swung back to me. Those violet eyes within his narrow lids flew at me like a diving hawk.
One of his eyebrows slid up in a slow arc, and then the corner of his mouth followed, curving faintly upward.
And with that, one thing became abundantly clear: the Grand Duke had seen everything I'd done.
Damn it all!
Shame crashed over me. My ears burned as if someone had pressed a torch to them — my face must have been glowing red by now.
I decided I had to get out of this bathroom immediately. Otherwise, one of two things was going to burst: my head from the mortification, or my heart — and either way, it would be the end of me.
I clamped down hard on my upturned smile and spoke.
"I was not quick enough and failed to time my preparations properly. I assure you, this will not happen again."
"......"
Offering my courteous apology, I avoided the Grand Duke's gaze and began edging stealthily toward the door.
"Well then, I'll take my leave. If you need anything, just ring the bell on the side tab—"
That was when it happened. Before I could even finish my sentence, the Grand Duke began undressing.
Uhk! My breath caught with a jolt — and my feet, already aimed at the doorway, froze mid-step.
Wherever he'd flung his armor, he had come in wearing nothing but a thin linen tunic — beige, clinging to his frame, held at the waist by a single black leather cord.
Two flicks of the Grand Duke's fingers, and the black cord dropped to the floor with a soft tap. Naturally, the tunic that had been relying entirely on that cord collapsed right along with it.
Are you out of your mind—!
My heart felt like it had been flung to the floor right alongside it.
Through the billowing white steam, I saw the Grand Duke step into the bath, wearing not a single thread.
The mist hid his back from full view, but the glimpses I caught were tremendous. And the shock of it was so great that I couldn't even run — I just stood there frozen, mouth agape, for a long while.
So that's...
That's the Grand Duke's body.
All these years I've lived... and now I've seen even that.
Woooshhh—
The moment the Grand Duke lowered himself into the tub, clear water cascaded over the rim like a waterfall.
The sound snapped me back to my senses.
That's it. I'm out of here!
Whether it was the sweltering steam or my heart howling at the Grand Duke's ambush, everything before my eyes was beginning to spin.
At this rate, my heart is going to burst before my head does!
The Grand Duke had his back to me. Now was my chance. I flung myself toward the bathroom door — and just as I reached for the golden handle—
The last two years flashed through my mind like a lantern show.
...Hold on.
Flee? Over smelling a bar of soap and catching a glimpse of bare skin?
No. I could not throw away the butler's position over something that absurd.
Because I am now the one and only butler of this Grand Duke's house.
I lowered the hand reaching for the handle and turned quietly around. That put the Grand Duke's back — still in the tub — squarely in my field of view.
Right. I've seen plenty of bare men before.
Wearing a bored expression, I regarded the back of the Grand Duke's head for a moment, then bowed as if nothing had happened and began picking up the clothes he had tossed carelessly across the floor, one piece at a time.
I had lived half my life on battlefields; I'd seen knights in the altogether until I was sick of it.
So there was nothing to be flustered about, nothing new to gawk at—
—There shouldn't be, anyway.
Once I'd gathered every last garment from the floor, I straightened up and stole a glance at the Grand Duke in the tub.
The bath was, without question, the largest and most extravagant I had ever seen. And yet with the Grand Duke sitting in it, the whole tub seemed to have shrunk.
His arms were spread wide across the bath's rim, and that posture threw every plane and ridge of muscle in his body into sharp relief.
My eyes trailed along those curves before I could stop them.
Hah!
What exactly am I admiring right now?
I ripped myself free of the wicked enchantment, shook my head hard, and turned away from the Grand Duke.
Time to really leave.
Before any more surprises could spring. I'd wrap things up at this point — that was more than enough.
Clutching the Grand Duke's clothes to my chest, I tiptoed toward the entrance, killing my footsteps as best I could.
And then—
"Butler."
The Grand Duke's voice, heavy as a shackle, clamped down around my ankle.