~3~ What the Lady Looked Like From Afar

"Oh! My goodness! I thought we were already late from our visit to your household, Duke Fred!"

"You are never late, Countess Ophel and greetings to you and to Lady Shiela"

"It's our pleasure, Duke Fred"

'He's always accommodating to us and willing to talk about the size of the Empire. I'm just lucky to have his attention today!'

Thought Ophel while laughing inwardly. Then, as if the Duke escorted her inside the household, Ophel smiled sweetly at the Duke while Shiela did the same, causing a certain person to cling tightly to a curtain that was next to her.

This person was none other than the lady of the household that is Charlotte. She looked at the three people at the entrance of the household with the other servants present. But her growing anger never abated, even though said visitors had already entered the household.

Her grip on the curtain only tightened, which she never thought would break easily. However, she doesn't give a damn because the two people who entered the household she lives in were already dead in her mind

'These hypocritical people and their fake real smiles! POOH! I hate beings like that! You make me sick to the core! They are mere cowards disguised as confident mere ladies!'

With these in mind, without hesitation, she immediately stepped onto the curtain that fell before her eyes as she looked outside.

She has never bothered with such things, which only ruin her view of what was beautiful in her mind, so people who are not beautiful in her eyes are easily crushed by her

'Just wait, you two hypocrites. I will have the greatest gift that you will never forget this time! Hahahaha'

In just a split second, Charlotte's facial expression changes from those menacing, dangerous looks at the fallen curtain to a more evil grin that she could eventually portray

"People always have ulterior motives as to why they keep coming and going in our household just because Dad was the one running the empire while he searches for the long-lost heir to the throne!"

These thoughts suddenly caused her a pain in her head that she never thought she would have for a moment. As it was true, that's why the Duke wouldn't even bother to look at her, no matter what she's been doing around the house, no matter what she does. Instead, it's always Oliver who led her to her anger at the people she thought were weak enough to ruin her spirits.

From what she used to think, the realm of Elfinia had in fact had no Emperor, as the Emperor's sole heir apparent had run away with someone he loved.

The same age as the duke – it doesn't matter the duke and the – supposed emperor of the realm, had been best friends for as long as they could imagine. Despite this, the Carlile household, tasked with being the planning department of the Empire, was the one that ruled the Empire for many decades, ever since the Emperor fled the Empire - and disguised the act of the supposed Emperor as someone who did it had been held hostage by another unknown empire.

Therefore Carlile had taken the main responsibility for everything while Fred was still searching for Xynus Elfinia

'That's not a good thought earlier. I should probably go to that place now or all my plans will be ruined!'

Charlotte did not waste a moment now, determined to do whatever it took to ruin this countess, who had visited the duke almost every day since they first met in some sort of gathering and Charlotte from the countess's gestures got sick enough to mentally kill her and she never got it out of her head even though she's just a kid

***

"So these are the hallways, Louis."

Oliver was already viewing Louis in the household when they were in the hallways connecting the other places, and next to the place - was the household's huge garden, which made Louis' eyes widen in surprise

The moment he looks at the garden, he can already feel such nostalgia for its vibrant landscape. The green of the surroundings, the golden flashes of the warm, blinding rays of the sun, the gentle swaying of the leaves, and the cool breeze already caressing his face and silver hair.

For a moment he felt relaxed, as if all his worries had ended. Like he's found his new home where he can make a fresh start and that's what's most important to him at the moment

'I guess I don't care if I'm meant to be the butler to the lady who was in a bad mood. I think I just have to change ladies and when I grow up and have a lot of money saved I could live the life I've always wanted - away from home and away from this household. For now – I think my mission now will be to help the lady change her attitude for the better – until then I'll leave it all behind'

Those soft, gentle breezes calm his nerves for a moment as he closed his eyes and felt what it was giving him until he heard someone giggling behind him, which immediately made him open his eyes and look at the giggling man

"I guess you're relieved now, Louis. Those gestures you used to make were the same gestures the Duke used to make when he had free time to roam around the household to refresh his mind."

After hearing those words, Louis' eyes widen

'That's why the duke was where I crawled from earlier! However, I just crawled in without knowing the location. I thought it was already abandoned with the tiny hole it had. Not knowing it was a duke's household!'

In that moment, Louis had already known that his life would never be easy again. Now that he had only entered the household of a duke, he was accepted without his permission and immediately installed as the lady's butler

"From now on, Louis, we will risk your great patience and I hope that you can change the lady for the better. But maybe the Duke won't be able to introduce you until later that night as they're currently having guests. So shall we proceed to the other places?"

Louis could only nod while looking seriously at Oliver, who was now just smiling at him as they walked towards the place - Louis' eyes caught on something and when he looked back into the garden - all he could see was yellow paint flashing moving as it was a celestial being, but when he focused his eyes - he saw a lady who had that pale skin and bright cream hair holding something while looking somewhere

Back then – he had already known who the lady he was serving was because the lady's kind of look wasn't nice at all. He just saw someone smirk and for the first time he saw a little young lady like him make that kind of facial expression that made him stop suddenly. It wasn't until Oliver asked him that he realized where he was

"Are you alright Louis? It seemed you saw ------."

However, before Oliver could finish what he was saying to Louis, Louis spoke immediately while smiling and trying to distract Oliver's growing doubts about Louis' movements

"Oh! It's nothing sir, I think I just saw a yellow butterfly flying towards the garden."

What he meant by the yellow butterfly made Oliver chuckle again as his head was now forward and walking as if it hadn't been interrupted by Louis

"You know what Louis? I guess I should tell you something and I hope you keep it a secret, okay?"

"..."

Louis just gulped, followed by his head nod, which made Oliver laugh

"The duke has always liked yellow color and the lady never knew about it. It's because of the yellow rose."

"Yellow Rose?"

Louis blurted out, widening his eyes as he tried to cover his mouth after blurting out words he wasn't even aware of

"It seems like you're already curious if you used to nod and agree with the duke."

Then Oliver chuckled again at the way Louis was acting now. It even made his cheeks red from the sudden words he'd heard in Oliver's mouth

"Well, to be precise - the color yellow is a very special color for the Duke. The Yellow Rose was the rose he gave his wife first before becoming his wife. So he longed to see such yellow butterflies in the garden, if one day they all go"

Those words made Louis' face flush, but his brow furrowed as he suddenly understood what the head butler had said, which made him look back into the garden and now - the lady had already disappeared somewhere, what he was about wondered if what he saw before was just an illusion

"Well, let's get started now. Besides, you still have a lot to learn here, Louis Crest."