"So? What did you find out?"
A low, coarse voice echoed in the hot water room.
It's a place that has been unused for a while, so you'd think it would be covered in dust, but it's a place where time seems to have stopped as it did on that day.
This is the hot water room that was once used by Julia, the late Duchess of Werstein's personal maid.
As he was boiling the water, the butler-san heard a familiar voice, and he looked at it, not hiding his annoyance.
"Ernest …… What’s this suddenly, I’m surprised you found this place."
“With the magic moving around this much, it’s a given where the Young Master is in.
And since it's you, there's no way you won't go to the Young Master's place.
So you talked to him while you're there, right?
Then you can at least report the results to me."
"............ Please leave me alone for now."
In the kitchen, which anything can be used as long as you have a magic stone, a metal pot filled with water is placed on the stove and makes a small sound as it heats up.
There, well-equipped enough to make a snack, he turned his attention back to the pot.
Ernest raised one eyebrow tactfully at the sight of his old friend, who looked different from usual.
"... What's going on?"
"Shut up, there's still so much I don't know!"
The butler's tightly clenched fist slammed into the wall with an expression of frustration or confusion, and a loud bang! echoed through the area.
The fist that was swung with emotion was so red around the palm that it was visible even though he was wearing gloves.
His palms were not as soft as a noble's, but they were softer than a warrior's. He specialized in speed, endurance, and dexterity rather than muscle strength.
Injuries from the recoil of being struck while clenching hard.
From the looks of it, the part that hit the wall must have been scratched.
Towards this sworn brother, Ernest called out in a calm voice.
"…… Calm down, your tone of speech changed."
"............ I'm sorry."
The butler, who turned his head down and spoke words of apology, was completely different from his usual self.
He looked so unsure of himself that he even looked like a different person. Ernest let out a gasp and leaned against a nearby wall with his arms crossed.
The water in the pot had turned to hot water, and the steam from the boiling water made a high-pitched sound that echoed around the area.
The butler, noticing this, took the tea leaves out of the cupboard and put them back in, stopping the magic stone with a practiced hand.
The tea leaves had not deteriorated at all since the time this place was frozen, and he had a vague feeling of discomfort, accompanied by a sense of unnaturalness that was hard to describe.
He took out a folded piece of paper from the inner pocket of his tailcoat.
He rolled it open to reveal a tea leaf in a cloth bag.
He put them into the pot with the cloth bag.
A small sound of splash, echoed in his ears.
"So? Did you find out anything?"
Ernest called out again to the butler, who took out his pocket watch from his pocket and checked the extraction time.
This time he opened his mouth quietly, without raising his voice or becoming agitated, as if his usual behavior had calmed him down a little.
"…… I understood that, I don’t understand"
"What the hell?"
The butler kept his eyes on his watch as Ernest cowered his shoulders and replied in a dubious tone of voice.
"It means exactly what I said.
That man is our master, ....... and at the same time he is not our master."
"What the hell is this?"
"The soul is a different person, they say."
As a butler, he was raised not to express his emotions, but his calm expression was laced with a hint of confusion.
"............ I see, that's the reason why it’s not the Young Master.
So, what makes him the Young Master?"
"He says he has a memory."
“Memories?"
"He has memories of living as Augusto Werstein, as the Master."
When the time was right, Alfred picked up the small tongs provided and removed the cloth bag containing the tea leaves from the pot.
He threw it in the trash and closed the lid of the pot.
Normally, there are many more things to do in order to brew a good cup of tea, but he didn't have time to do them right now.
"Haha, I see.
It's true that he's the Young Master, but he's not the Young Master."
He put his palm on his chin and rubbed it lightly.
This is Ernest's habit when he is pondering.
It's a bit out of the ordinary, but mentioning it here would not advance the conversation.
This is the reason for this response.
"It seemed to me that he felt guilty that his soul was not that of Master."
From the cupboard, I took out a ceramic teapot that was not covered with dust.
Alfred replied quietly as he removed the lid and poured the candy-colored tea from the metal pot.
The sound of birds chirping from somewhere and the bewildered words of the sworn brothers were a terrible gap from the long quietness outside.
Ernest let out a single breath and nodded in affirmation.
"Well, I suppose that's true, he can't help but feel as if he's playing us."
"Yes... So I foolishly told him that if he remembered, he was Master, hoping to put his mind at ease."
What Ernest felt when Alfred's words were solemnly announced was a headache.
"......... I have something to say, but for now it’s fine, ...... So?"
"...... Then the Master instantly turned pale and looked at me as if he had discovered something terrible."
When Alfred looked at him like a lost child in confusion, Ernest let out the biggest sigh of the day.
"…… I’m mean you, obviously that would happen"
“Why is that? What have I done?"
As a colleague, a sworn brother, a childhood friend, and proud to be everyone's big brother, Ernest is much more sensitive to human nature than his size would suggest.
For this reason, he cherishes the butler, Alfred, whom he grew up with like a brother, as if he were his cute little brother.
His most troublesome brother is Augusto, the head of the family, but let's leave that aside for now.
First of all, there’s a need to correct the younger brother in front.
Inhaling a breath of air, Ernest glared at Alfred.
"You know, I know you've always been a bit of a Young Master eccentric, but how many times do I have to tell you to be a little more flexible?"
"What's that, what was wrong from that, Ernest?"
Alfredo stares at Ernest with a sulky, child-like expression, which somewhat strangely makes him look a little younger than he really is.
Inhaling again the air that had left his lungs by speaking, Ernest continued his words.
"It's not bad, there's nothing wrong with it.
But, you know, the way you put it, you're basically denying all the parts that aren't the Young Master."
“What …… !?"
The sight of his baby sworn brother, wide-eyed and rigid with astonishment, gave Ernest the illusion of a worsening headache.
However, as a butler who immediately started to prepare the tea set there, he seemed to be escaping reality no matter how he looked at it.
"… I’m sure you meant all of Young Master, including everything he is right now.
Even if to the Young Master who is living now with the soul of another person, you justify and affirm the pretty Young Master, it's totally not going to make him happy at all, someone who totally denies his existence at the same level as breathing, what the hell that's scary. Are you stupid?"
"… No, oh no, so I, I, what a thing I’ve done..."
“Well, that was really unnecessary.
I've been telling you for a long time that you need to be more flexible and resourceful.
I think I've said it so many times it's a pain in the ass to count, you know? Are your ears for decoration?"
Perhaps upset by Ernest's comment, he clinked china cups and other things out of the cupboard, put back the wrong number of cups, and placed them on a cart in the corner of the hot water room.
After all that, he finally calmed down, let out a small breath, and opened his mouth.
"............ I'm not sure why you're not confused, Ernest, but there is a foreign entity mixed in with Master"
Confusion, suspicion, and then sadness.
As if it was being put into a pot and boiled, little by little, it became stagnant and accumulated in the depths of my heart, and a thin glimpse of an impatient expression that was not typical of a butler could be seen vaguely in sight.
Ernest let out another big sigh at him.
To Ernest, who had fallen into that state where he became strangely calm when someone was in a state of panic in front of him, Alfredo's condition was a perfect antidote.
"If that foreign entity is a bad influence on the Young Master, then we'd certainly have to do something about it."
"What do you mean?"
"What do you think will happen if the soul you've identified as a foreign entity disappears?"
It was a perfectly legitimate question.
“Well, certainly, the soul of the former Master"
“Alfred-san, did you forgot that a person is composed of body, memory and soul?"
"I remember, obviously"
Ernest let out his first sigh of the day at his brother, who was talking like it was nothing, but was completely oblivious to the gravity of the situation.
"Then how come you don't understand that if the soul is removed, Young Master will have to die again?"
"…… !!"
Are you an idiot? When he asks so with his glance, Alfred appears visibly depressed.
Unable to stand the gloomy, indescribable atmosphere, Ernest asked for confirmation.
"The soul became a different person at the time of the rebirth, right?"
"......... Yes, it should be."
I had heard from Augusto, my own brother and master, that he had become a wiseman during our last meeting.
With that information, I could arrive at the answer with only a prediction.
He hadn't been able to manage the territory he had been entrusted with for twelve years without any major problems.
He is the most quick-witted of the brothers, by his own admission.
Alfred replied weakly, which was unthinkable compared to his normal appearance.
In order for him to understand, Ernest asked a question that could be called a hint.
"... In order to be born again, you must be liked by god, right?"
His face, which had been downcast to the extent that you couldn't see it, raised vigorously.
At the same time, Alfred pressed his lips together.
"No way. ...... God deliberately gave the Master another person's soul ......!"
"I'm not sure, nine chances out of ten.
The Young Master is too weak to live as a wiseman."
It's hard to say that the answer they came up with was not wrong at all.
“This this kind of thing, can it be allowed"
“There’s no way it can.
But in other words, that other person is also a favored being of God, and by the way, a victim of his involvement.”
The butler's shoulders shook slightly, his face flushed with guilt and indignation.
Ernest, on the other hand, clenched his fists to the point of shaking as he spoke again.
"I'm sure he's much more confused than we are, huh? The foreign entity you're talking about."
This is the first time in his life that he has regretted his actions.
...... In fact, neither Augusto nor Youko, the soul that was thrown into his body, was chosen by God.
But for those who don't know that, it's not within the scope of their expectations.
Therefore, they will not be aware of it at all in the future.
It's not like God is going to bother to explain it to them, or Youko is going to explain it to them in detail.
I did it.
It wasn't until I was sorting through my memories while the butler was gone that I realized that my facial muscles had reacted to an unusual emotion.
I had turned my twitching, terrified face to the one person I should have trusted the most, my butler.
Augusto-san's memory was so vivid that it played back in my mind as if it was being recorded, and I noticed Augusto-san's face reflected in the butler-san's eyes.
I noticed Augusto-san's face reflected in the butler's eyes, with a terrible expression on his face, as if he had seen a ghost.
No, I don't think it's too bad that I can even see that, but there's no end to what I can do if I keep on complaining about it, so I'll stop worrying about it.
I want to blame myself for my inexperience in acting, but the problem is more that I did it.
I think I might have made him distrust me.
It may not look like it, but I was in a panic.
I was in a huge panic, the biggest of the century.
What should I do?
No, really, what should I do?
I have no idea what to do.
Do I excuse myself the next time I see him?
No, that would make him look even more suspicious, no matter what I think.
Even if I try my best to think in a good way, I feel like I'm just giving an unnatural excuse.
Otherwise, all I can do is maybe let it pass, and ignore it?
No, but I feel like that might be the only solution in the future.
Eh, I’m not stuck, right?
Areh, I’m totally stuck.
What should I do? I don't know what to do.
Think, use Augusto-san's uselessly powerful brain to figure out what to do in a situation like this.
Ah well, ah well well, ah well well well well...
Oh no, no matter how many simulations I do, I can't get a good result.
“Master, I brought you some tea."
"………… Alfred."
Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Seriouslyyyyyyyyyy!!
I don't know what to do! I haven't even decided what to do and now he's here!
I'm done. I'm done with this.
It's the end of my life.
I wonder if this tea is the last supper.
I heard that it's a very good tea, so for me, a poor person at heart, I'm sure it's worth as many cups of rice with eggs as I can eat.
It's a bit of a bummer that it's not rice at the end, but I guess it can't be helped.
I took the cup of tea that the butler-san had prepared for me and tilted it lightly in my hand as I normally do, and the taste of tea spread in my mouth.
"……… Mhm?"
It's kind of wetter than usual, isn't it?
“Master, I’m sorry"
Eh? What is it? I'm sorry, I was just distracted by my tea. What's wrong, butler-san?
"Would you please hit me?"
......... No, I'm sorry, wait, seriously what happened, butler-san?
※The feeling of discomfort¹~ part is intentional.
This is the part I researched and wrote, so it will probably stay like this until my obsession disappears. Please bear with me.
[2] : 違和(Iwa); from the more often used used 違和感(Iwakan) - meaning feeling uncomfortable
[3] : 体の不調(karada no fucho) - 調(fucho) is also used to say something is not working right
[4] : 違和感(Iwakan) - can also mean incompatibility or malaise
Thanks for the chapter!