A Familiar Look in Her Eyes
At that, a sharp intake of breath rippled through the hired staff, who still stood with their heads bowed.
So that was their reaction. As expected — she'd sensed it the moment it caught.
I straightened my back at Lady Annette's words and looked up at her.
Wow.
Seeing her up close, admiration escaped me before I could stop it.
The Grand Duke's mother had to be well past her forties by now, yet not a trace of it showed. Early thirties, at most, I'd have guessed.
And she wasn't even an Aura Awakener, apparently — how did she keep herself this young?
Her beauty aside, I couldn't help but be stunned all over again by Lady Annette's physique.
So that was why my heart had raced watching her gallop toward the estate on horseback.
This was the build I had always considered the ideal for a female knight — tall, broad-shouldered, with solid forearms and thighs.
And yet somehow, with all of that, she looked not an ounce heavy — just lean, agile, forged for speed.
Was this what a hero's statue in a temple looked like?
It was a physique that drew mad, involuntary awe.
How is this even possible? What does your daily training regimen look like?! How do you plan your meals?! What about—
There were so many things I wanted to ask. But every eye in the room was fixed on me.
Forcing down the burning admiration in my chest, I spoke in a calm, level voice.
"It is an honor to meet you, Lady Annette. Welcome to the Grand Duke's residence. I am Freya, the butler."
"You...!"
Despite my flawless greeting, an inexplicable fury seeped into Lady Annette's voice.
No, actually, I can guess the reason just fine.
An unmarried employee. Worse, an unmarried female butler.
That alone must have rubbed Lady Annette the wrong way.
I put on the most harmless smile I could manage.
I have zero interest in your Grand Duke. Truly, Lady Annette.
I gazed at her with all the sincerity I could muster, but the look she returned remained brimming with hostility.
Her firm jaw twitched.
Ah... I really don't want to be disliked...
So much for the first impression. Just as I was swallowing my disappointment, the Grand Duke stepped in.
"Mother."
"..."
At that, Lady Annette turned on the Grand Duke with a gaze as cold and cutting as a blade.
"Kadrian. Do you truly—"
"...We have an audience. Let's go inside and talk."
"..."
Swallowing her anger, Lady Annette gave a stiff nod.
Then she glanced back at me for a moment.
Hm?
I blinked, puzzled. Because the look she was giving me now held not fury, but guilt.
What's that about...?
After a brief meeting of our eyes, Lady Annette and the Grand Duke headed toward the main building.
I watched their retreating figures.
That look...
Her fury upon first spotting me, I could understand. But the way she'd looked at me the second time was harder to make sense of.
I've seen that expression somewhere before.
Ah... and then it came to me.
The way the Grand Duke had looked at me when we first met. The way his aide had looked at me that first day. It was exactly the same gaze.
Lady Annette, too, had just looked at me that way.
She knows.
She knew who this body's true owner was.
And so, the circle of people who knew my identity grew by one more.
"Kadrian!"
Annette stormed into his office and shouted at him.
"How could you make that child a butler?! How!"
"..."
Even in the face of her fury, Kadrian said nothing.
He had already received the letters — that she had awakened, that she'd lost her memories, and that he had put her to work as a maid.
Even then, the shock had nearly sent him charging home from the battlefield.
And now she was a butler?
"The pay is better."
"What did you say?! That's what you have to say for yourself?!"
Aigoo, my neck! My poor neck!
Lady Annette clutched the back of her neck and swayed on her feet. Ed hurried to steady her, guiding her onto the sofa.
"His Grace didn't have much choice in the matter, my lady... so if you could just calm yourself—"
"Ed! Not you too! When your master goes mad and does something reckless, you're supposed to put your life on the line to stop him!"
"I— sorry, but why would my life need to be on the line for..."
"What was that?!"
"N-nothing, my lady. My deepest apologies."
Having waded in for nothing and caught the stray sparks, Ed offered a hasty bow and beat a retreat from the office.
That left only the two of them — Annette and Kadrian — alone in the room.
"Fine, then. Let's hear this grand plan of yours. You mean to keep that child on as butler for good?"
"Because that's what she wants."
"What? She wants it? With that collar fastened around her neck? You dare claim nothing was forced?"
Annette had known the instant she saw the gem set into the ribbon Freya wore.
She was carrying a magic stone inscribed with the Grand Ducal house's binding spell.
BOOM—! Unable to contain herself any longer, Annette brought her fist down on the desk before her.
CRACK—! The desk split clean in two.
Haah... Kadrian pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed.
"Mother..."
"Kadrian. How many times have I told you in my letters? Whether or not any trace of black magic remains, that child is to be treated as your fiancée."
Even with her memories lost, her very existence was enough to earn the reverence of everyone in the Empire.
"And above all — have you forgotten the ten years we spent praying she would simply stay alive?"
"..."
When Kadrian fell silent, Annette buried her face in both hands and muttered.
"Good heavens. Putting the last heir of House Flanker to work as a butler... What am I supposed to say to the Flanker people when I die...?"
"..."
Only when her rage had simmered down somewhat did Kadrian finally speak.
"It wasn't only because of the black magic."
Annette lifted her head, her golden eyes once again brimming with fierce anger.
"Oh? Then go on. Think carefully before you open your mouth. If the excuse can't convince me, you'd best not utter it at all."
Despite her blazing words, Kadrian spoke anyway.
And as Annette listened, her expression shifted with every passing moment.
Disbelief — then tears welling in her eyes — then her brow furrowing as deeply as it would go in fury.
And in the end, when Kadrian's story was finished, Annette buried her face in her palms once more.
Can't sleep, I see.
Annette paced restlessly, sleep refusing to come.
Her conversation with Kadrian had stretched well into the late hours of the night after her arrival at the Grand Duke's residence, and only then had she returned to her old bedchamber, quieted her hunger, and finished a bath.
And Freya — Fredika — was the one who prepared the bathwater...
Watching her from behind, Annette had very nearly grabbed the back of her neck again.
It was Annette who had called her Fredika — her true name.
She used to hate it. Said it sounded like a boy's name.
Which was why, Annette knew, the two of them had come up with a pet name that only Fredika and Kadrian used.
And yet, of all things, the girl who'd supposedly lost her memories remembered only that pet name...?
Could that, too, be an effect of the black magic?
You mean it — that a different soul might actually be living inside that child's body?
Black magic could do something like that?
"Which is why I have been waiting for you, Mother. I intend to hear your counsel before I make my decision."
A decision.
The word, spoken in her son's voice, had hung unbearably heavy in the air.
He's been agonizing over this all on his own for so long.
Ten years her son had waited, lonely and faithful, beside a fiancée who never woke.
All the more reason that Fredika's awakening should never have been met with such treatment.
And yet she could not bend Kadrian's resolve.
Because no one in this world knew Fredika better than he did.
What am I to do...
Annette found herself recalling her brief encounter with Fredika.
Five years ago, was it? The last time I saw her.
The path to the fifth floor had been open to Annette as well, as the former Grand Duchess.
Before passing the title of Duke to Kadrian, she too had frequented the fifth floor often.
How desperately I prayed for her to open her eyes, even once.
And now, whether heaven had finally answered that prayer or not — she'd come back alive. So what was this?
And she might not even be her?
Haah... God, what on earth are You playing at?
Annette sank down onto the edge of the bed as though her bones had given out.
If my heart is tearing itself apart like this, Kadrian must be in far worse shape.
After turning it over for a while, Annette ultimately decided to place her trust in her son.
I'll stay at the Grand Duke's residence and watch her myself.
Until I have undeniable proof that the soul in that child's body is truly Fredika's!
Just then, a faint stir of movement pricked at Annette's senses.
Tch. Here we go again.
These cursed, death-wishing vermin.
I suppose word never reached them that I'd arrived at the Grand Duke's residence?
The moment she sensed an assassin's presence, Annette seized her greatsword — nearly as tall as she was — and strode out of her room.
Well, perfect timing. My mood was foul anywa—
She'd been looking forward to a little stress relief. But suddenly, the assassin's presence vanished.
Right in front of her, no less.
What?
Annette hurried out into the corridor, but no matter how she searched her surroundings, she could feel no trace of the assassin's energy.
She walked the corridor, hunting for the vanished presence — and then, at some point, she felt the very air around her change.
...A barrier.
As far as Annette knew, only three people in the Grand Duke's residence could weave a barrier this airtight.
Kadrian; Jayden, the Knight Commander; and the vice-commander, Sir Allen.
So Kadrian came out himself, did he?
She'd assumed he was up on the fifth floor, but apparently he'd somehow caught wind of it and come down.
Annette simply waited for the cleanup to finish and the barrier to dissolve.
A short while passed.
The air around her shifted once more. The barrier had come down.
And the instant it did, a faint, iron tang of blood spilled out into the corridor.
"Kadr—"
Wait.
Annette had been about to call for Kadrian, but the name died on her lips.
Deep in the shadows, standing where a sliver of moonlight caught him — that was not Kadrian.
A slight frame not even half the size of Kadrian's, and the sleek silver blade held in one hand — both suited her perfectly.
Not Kadrian?
And of course, neither Jayden nor Allen either.
Then... surely not.
"Fre...? Butler...?"
At that, the woman standing with her boot grinding down on an assassin's throat turned her head.
"Is that you, Lady Annette?"
A voice far too beautiful and gentle to belong to such a merciless killer drifted through the dark.