I Was Reborn as the Female Antagonist's Servant-Chapter 27 – Butler’s Tutelage

The afternoon breeze gently brushed against my face.

Before me stretched an open space—a garden filled with various flowers. Lush trees behind a black fence swayed softly, their bases shrouded in dark shadows. The breeze felt gentle, yet it pierced my skin all the same. I sneezed a few times, rubbing my shoulders faster.

Why is it so cold?

My gaze slowly shifted to the Head Butler. He seemed perfectly fine, his body not trembling at all. In fact, he casually adjusted his glasses by lifting the bridge, before looking at me sideways—with his usual flat expression.

"...Let’s go."

He started moving after uttering those words. I watched him, raising one of my eyebrows.

Isn’t he cold?

Moments after that thought crossed my mind, I began to walk. My steps sounded against the flat, round stones deliberately placed across the short green grass. I easily passed several of those stones, my gaze falling downwards—observing that the distance between my feet wasn’t too wide.

"..."

I kept looking at the stones that changed slightly faster, until without realizing it, my head bumped into the Head Butler in front.

"Ouch."

I rubbed the affected area of my head, before slowly lifting my gaze. For a moment, seeing the Head Butler stop made me wonder what he was doing. However, when he shifted his body, revealing what was in front—my eyes widened instantly.

"What the..."

Right in front of me, there was a white building that was neither too big nor too small. The building had a three-tiered staircase leading to a perfectly round section, with a roof of the same shape—tapering upwards. There were no walls at all in between. There were only several spaced pillars as a foundation and a short fence surrounding it—serving as both a barrier and a boundary between the greenery around the place.

For a few moments, I was silent. My gaze remained locked on that place, which also had some trailing vines hanging down. From the front, it felt familiar, as if I had seen it before. I put my hand under my chin, trying to recall an old memory. A garden all around, blooming flowers, and a white building.

My eyes widened. "This is..."

The place where I saw the My Lady playing with flowers?

The Head Butler glanced at me briefly from behind. He lifted the bridge of his glasses, before narrowing his eyes.

"Come, Touji."

After uttering that inviting sentence, he moved again. His steps passed over the stones arranged below, heading directly towards that place. Step by step he passed, now already in the mentioned place. I followed shortly after, right behind him. His foot slowly touched one of the stairs, a soft tap sounded before the next tap followed. He passed the three levels of stairs smoothly, and I followed close behind.

We were now at the top, a round table and two white iron chairs facing opposite directions were arranged there. The Head Butler approached one of the chairs and held its cold iron backrest, pulled it out, and sat down smoothly. I remained silent as I watched him. He rested both elbows on the round table, his body leaning slightly forward.

He extended his hand to the chair in front of him. "Sit down."

For a few moments I looked at him like that, before pulling out the chair he pointed to, and sat down on that chair. I saw him scrutinizing me without blinking, the Duke’s residence in the background becoming a sweetener of what I saw. Although it wasn’t special.

The orange light from behind me, fell obliquely in front of me. The orange light fell across the round table, and his glasses reflected it faintly as he adjusted them again. The atmosphere around seemed quiet, only the sound of a gentle breeze passing by, brushing past me—before the Head Butler’s heavy voice broke it.

"...We will enter the first lesson, Touji." He tilted his head slightly, playing with his glasses after that. "About, ’The Attitude of a Personal Servant when his existence is rejected by his master’."

Hearing the title he gave, made one of my eyebrows rise. The title felt so strange. It felt like directly insinuating me.

...But never mind. Let’s just listen to the lesson.

He cleared his throat a few times. "Alright, Touji. When this lesson begins, you will officially become one of my students."

His eyes narrowed, looking at me. "Before that, do you already know what to call me, Touji?"

I nodded. "Yes. Call you ’Master’."

From those flat eyes, I saw a faint smile from the corner of his lips, before fading quickly.

My eyes widened. It’s the first time I’ve seen him smile since I’ve been here.

The atmosphere was silent for a moment, before the Head Butler in front cleared his throat again, eliminating that silence again. He looked at me again, his eyes narrowed—a little more serious than before.

"Alright, Touji. We will begin the first journey."

I nodded, agreeing with what the Head Butler said.

The Head Butler’s fingers lifted, placed right under his chin. He was silent for a few moments, before his mouth opened again.

"In your opinion, when a superior is angry with us—what should we do?"

My head tilted slightly. My fingers touched my chin, followed by my eyes slowly narrowing. "Um... Maybe let them be?"

Because I usually did that in my old world.

The Head Butler looked at me for a moment. A short sigh escaped him before he leaned forward, placing his elbows back on the table. "...Perhaps what you said is true, Touji. That is indeed usually done by most Personal Servants." His eyes narrowed, looking at me in front. "But, from that ordinary opinion, there is a more correct and better way than that."

My eyebrows furrowed. "What way is better than that, Master?"

Hearing my question, he played with his glasses again. The orange light colored the entire square object for a moment, before returning to normal.

"Well, the way is quite easy. You just need to..." He looked into my eyes more deeply. "Attract their attention."

Hearing what he had just said, made my eyes widen instantly. For a few moments I was locked there, before finally one of my eyebrows rose. "...Huh? What do you mean?"

Attract attention? Does that mean licking up to the boss?

The Head Butler looked at me for a few moments, before straightening his body again. He looked at me in front, his flat eyes locked right on my two eyes. "What it means, is that you have to serve them even better, Touji. Not by praising them or something like that, but every time they don’t like you—the more you have to work well, serving them more wholeheartedly. So it’s more like, you don’t repay evil with evil. However, you have to repay it with goodness that increases in quantity."

My eyes widened after hearing what he said. The words he said might not make sense if we only hear them once, but if you hear them repeatedly—cognitively it makes sense. Like kinetic energy in a rocket—if the upward force becomes strong enough, it can overcome the earth’s gravity pulling it down.

"If a certain positive energy continues to grow, then it will be able to defeat the negative energy that was previously more dominant..." I muttered, looking at both of my hands below.

The Head Butler who heard my mutter, made his eyes widen. And without me realizing it, in the middle of me being trapped in my thoughts, he smiled faintly again—longer than before.

I looked at both of my hands, before my gaze returned to him. From my perspective now, he was still wearing that flat face of his. He looked at me for a moment, before facing upwards—looking at the sun that was beginning to set.

"...Our ethics lesson may end here. Because the sun has also begun to set, we will enter a break session—waiting for the sun to set completely."

He looked back at me, slightly lowering his gaze. "During this break session, how about I use it to tell you about what the Head Chef couldn’t explain earlier?"

I was silent for a moment. I didn’t expect to get the story that had been hanging earlier. I swallowed my saliva, my eyes that looked at him above—staring more sharply than before.

I nodded. "Please, Master."

He who heard my answer only stared for a moment, sighed shortly, lowering his gaze while tapping the table below—three times.

"...Alright." He looked back at me, his eyes slightly narrowed. "I will start telling it."

For some reason, after he said that, I could only nod. The afternoon breeze slowly grew stronger, blending naturally into the quiet atmosphere. The forest in the distance darkened little by little. The sound of birds cutting across the fading sunlight began to echo faintly. Based on what the Head Chef had said earlier, this would probably be boring.

I smiled faintly. Whether it’s truly boring or not... I’ll still listen.