“Then, the internal management of the mansion…”
“The butler will take care of it.”
Laura frowned surreptitiously at Kyle. Entrusting the housework to the butler. Isn’t it just announcing the fact to the employees that the new Madam was nothing but a Duchess in name. If she’s not entrusted with the family’s internal authority, her position will be unstable.
“But if you don’t give your wife the authority of the household–”
“Laura.”
Laura stopped talking when she heard the stern/cold voice. When she lifted her head slowly, which she had been bowing down, there was her master, with his eyes shining with a sullen glare.
“Don’t be presumptuous.”
Laura shrugged at Kyle’s overbearing energy. She expected that he would have changed as the years passed, but her master, whom she met for the first time in ten years, had become a more cold-hearted person than she had expected.
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
It must be because of the accident. Laura squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. Kyle’s eyes turned to his quill, and so Laura left the office.
There was silence in the office, and after a while, someone knocked on the door.
Knock, knock–
The sound of the hinge rang, and a neatly dressed butler came in.
“Your Excellency.”
He had sky blue hair and azure eyes, and looked to be about the same age as Kyle. He was the one Kyle selected and hired himself. His name was Darqan, and he was a mercenary.
(I’m quite confused about the name. It could also be Tarkhan, Tarqan, Tacan or Takan. But I’ll just go with Darqan.)
Kyle’s overbearing energy eased. Darqan approached Kyle and bowed his head.
“Yes, Your Excellency… Damn.”
Darqan, who was greeting, suddenly raised his upper body and grimaced.
“I’m having goosebumps.”
Darqan rubbed his forearm and took off his monocle.
“Why did you get married all of a sudden?”
Darqan leaned against the desk rubbing his face.
Darqan was born to parents who worked for/were subordinates of a noble family. However, he remembered that his parents were constantly bowing down and were often kicked by their eccentric masters.
To him, the nobility pretended to be upright/high-born, but it was the dirtiest tribe. Even the commoners living with the nobility did not understand. It was because they didn’t experience the life of begging the aristocrats for crumbs, all the while not being treated as human.
That’s why. Darqan couldn’t understand his parents.
After Darqan’s parents died, He and his sister settled on the outskirts. As a mercenary, he barely made ends meet as they lived paycheck to paycheck, but he and his sister were happy. Until the enemy attacked the village and he lost her sister.
It was from then that Darqan began to cut people, regardless of whether they were an ally or an enemy.
When Darqan lived a life like a beast, it was Kyle and Louis who stopped him.
Darqan forgot his status as he joined them. On the battlefield, their identity was nothing more than a façade, and they gave each other their shoulders, which no one had offered theirs before in their lives. He thought it would be okay if all nobles were like Kyle and Louis.
‘If there’s no place to live after the war, I’ll come to you.’
He used to say that as a joke. Yes, he thought so. Following his younger sister, Darqan had to witness the moment when a close friend’s head was decapitated.
He was desperate, but not as much as Kyle. So, maybe he’d gone crazy and turned Darqan, who didn’t even know the basics, into a butler.
‘What? You want me to be a butler?’
‘That’s right.’
‘Don’t you know I’m a mercenary because I don’t want to do that? No, not even a knight, why a butler? I can’t do that, I won’t!’
Eventually, Darqan couldn’t refuse and took over. How hard it was to learn the aristocracy, the upper-class culture, the manners, the rules, and so on. He struggled to correct his erratic steps.
Darqan sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He was exhausted mentally and physically from taking on work inside the mansion that was not even suitable for his aptitude.
‘This is why I don’t like nobles.’
Darqan glanced at Kyle. He didn’t understand Kyle. Marrying a woman you don’t even love to stop such rumors. Darqan crumpled his face, recalling the Aelle he saw at the wedding.
“Why should it be such a woman?”
“Darqan.“
“I’d rather you marry the Countess! It’s good for you and Louis!”
As Kyle raised his gaze, Darqan groaned and waved his hand.
“Ah, do what you want. What do I know about such a thing like a nobleman’s face or rumors?”
Darqan turned around and raised his monocle with his fingertips. In a little while, It would be time for the Duchess, whom he did not like, to arrive.
“I’m leaving, sir.”
Takan scratched the back of his head, a habit he couldn’t shake off, and waved his hands impatiently. He dusted off his clothes and neatly arranged his hair. He had no choice but to do it to look the part.
Well, he didn’t mind hearing the employees whisper about the good-looking young butler.
When Darqan left the office, Kyle was finally alone. He opened the first drawer on the right. In the corner of the drawer was a small glass bottle, a token of friendship he shared with Louis and Hari when they were children.
‘Kyle! Louis! Can’t I loseit? Do I have to carry it around like an alter ego?’
‘But there’s nothing in the glass bottle.’
‘Kyle, there you go again. Hari and I told you, that’s where we put our friendship!’
‘What if Louis loses it?’
‘Why would I lose it? Kyle, you’d probably lose it.’
‘Don’t lose them, Both of you.’
Friendship can grow when we’re together, and let’s put our friendship together in an empty glass bottle—something like that.
‘I’d rather you become the Count’s madam (Countess)! It’s good for you and Louis!’
Getting married to Hari wasn’t something he could even dare dream of.
Louie and Hari were special to Kyle. His father used extravagance to regain the lost political power. Luxury and excess were the symbols of power, as a result, leaving the family with only a name.
Eventually, saddled with huge debts, they became nervous as the repayment date approached, and chose to commit suicide because they could not stand their prestige being tarnished.
Around that time, Kyle witnessed the suicide of his father and mother in the basement of his study. Maybe that’s why Kyle despised dark and narrow spaces. Because it would remind him of the day he found the bodies of his parents.
From that day on, Kyle suffered from aphasia. He had to resent the death of his parents without even having time to mourn.
‘Why did you leave me? Why did you leave me alone in a world where you also chose to die?’
He wanted to ask, but couldn’t any more, so Kyle kept his mouth shut. He resented the one he loved and felt the pain of life falling apart.
‘Kyle!’
The people who saved Kyle were his childhood friends, Louis and Hari. The Empire believed in gods. However, it meant nothing to Kyle. For Kyle, these two were his gods, and their words were doctrines.
Marrying Hari. The opportunity has already been missed more than a decade ago. From the moment Louis and Hari came to him holding hands. From the moment the two smiled at each other, and acknowledged they were good together. Kyle had missed his chance.
And that wasn’t all. Louis lost his life to save Kyle. Kyle knew it was a debt he couldn’t repay for the rest of his life. The debt he owed to Louis and Hari weighed more heavily on his heart than the debt left by his father.
She vowed to spend the rest of her life with Louis, who had left, and he respected her decision.
All he can do is to protect Hari on behalf of Louis and let her live happily for the rest of her life. So, Hari, she must not know his heart for the rest of her life.
“Aelle Karena.”
Kyle narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on the glass bottle.
It’s a marriage for mutual benefit. Aelle was a haven, a life of abundance, a marriage in vain to hide his heart from Hari.
“Aelle.”
Kyle’s hazy grey eyes glistened in the dark.
* * *
“Wow.”
I covered my admiring mouth with my hand. I had never been to a proper aristocratic mansion because I grew up poor.
I had set foot in the Duke’s residence before, but at that time, I was so nervous that I only stared at the back of the head of the employee who guided me. and I had seen Lady Zeveron’s room, but it was my first time in such an antique and colorful place.
An oval diamond chandelier hanging from the main hall of the mansion. Wall embroidered with gold. Even the art decorations on the walls and furniture.
I stared blankly at the mansion with a surprised face.
Rumors circulated that the previous duke had spent beyond his means and even borrowed from his vassals. Was it true? At that moment, someone approached.
“Did you have any inconveniences on your way here?”
I was surprised in a different sense than I was before. I’ve never seen anyone on whom such a neat outfit doesn’t suit.
He had sky blue hair and azure eyes, and no matter how hard he tried to look neat, he had an appearance that looked sharp. The monocle placed on the bridge of the nose could be seen as decorations worn to look intelligent. The scar that crossed the left eyebrow diagonally was particularly conspicuous.
Hey guys! I know it’s been long…A lot has happened I got sick, gave 2 major exams, got sick in between them and a lot more. And after taking so long of a break, it is very clear to me that I don’t have the interest to continue this story. So, I’ll be dropping this series and picking up something else (You can give me ideas in the comments). I’ll be back really soon, hopefully. 🙂
