The Lady's Butler: I Reincarnated To Serve The Villainess

It was a few days after the trio’s outing and fortunately for Adrian, the rumors about him beating their combat instructor quickly died down.

Almost everything returned to normal... almost.

"Fight me, just once," the red-haired idiot hadn’t given up on trying to get Adrian to fight him just yet.

"No," Adrian, just as he had the past few times, denied the request.

The red-haired student clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Come on, just once," he insisted, leaning forward slightly, "you fought an instructor already, right?"

Darius’ thoughts were simple if Adrian could fight an instructor, he definitely had enough time to fight a friend right?

But Adrian’s answer was still no.

Darius leaned back in his chair, dragging a hand down his face.

"Unbelievable," he muttered, "you’re seriously telling me you can fight an instructor but not spare five minutes for me?"

"How about this," Adrian suddenly thought of something as he turned to Darius with a calm expression, "I’ll fight you if you can awaken it."

As hot-headed as Darius was, even he could be a valuable pawn under the right conditions,

And Adrian knew exactly how to achieve said conditions.

"Awaken what?" Darius was a bit confused at the request.

"The dragon’s flames," Adrian replied almost as if he hadn’t just revealed that he knew a secret that was only supposed to remain within Darius’ family.

The atmosphere suddenly started heating up, and for the first time, Darius was completely serious.

"How do you know about that?" He calmly asked.

"Just a guess," Adrian said with a grin, "now then, will you accept that condition?"

Of course, his knowledge about the Dragon’s flames was anything but a guess.

According to the manhwa, [Dragon Flames] were flames capable of burning anything, almost like holy flames.

But unlike [Holy Flames], [Dragon Flames] didn’t just burn away corruption, it is rumored to keep burning until the target’s mana is completely consumed.

Unfortunately, that was just an unverifiable rumor and only one person in the history of Avera possessed a spirit strong enough to grant that skill,

Grand Duke Lionheart, the grand duke of the South.

Now Adrian understood Darius’ reaction to his words, after all, this was supposed to be a secret skill, unknown to all in Avera until the later Chapters of the manhwa.

There was also another reason for Darius’s reaction.

He, like the other descendants of the Grand Duke, was incapable of awakening it.

This was also why the idiot was obsessed with fighting anyone he deemed strong. He believed that if he became strong enough, if he pushed himself and evolved his contracted spirit far enough, then awakening his bloodline would be possible....right?

"I can’t," Darius admitted after a moment, his voice lower than it was before, stripped of its usual arrogance, "no one in my generation can."

A faint scoff escaped him.

"Some ’dragon’s bloodline,’ right?"

Renelle’s gaze moved slightly toward her butler and the red-haired idiot sitting just behind her.

She immediately noticed Darius’s change, noting that this wasn’t the loud, persistent idiot from earlier.

He sounded a lot calmer and composed, in other words, the appropriate behavior for the son of a Grand Duke, unlike his earlier self.

[What do you intend to gain from telling him about it?] Renelle, curious, mentally asked her butler, He was unable to awaken it in my previous life, what makes this one different?]

Adrian turned to her and then smiled, one that told her that he definitely knew something she didn’t.

And he did.

[A valuable pawn,] he answered with a chuckle, [besides, your dear butler has ways of getting him to awaken.]

He paused, looking directly into her eyes,

[Is my lady curious about my ways?]

It’d be a lie if she said she wasn’t, but she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of hearing that.

[No.]

She shook her head before turning back to the board before them where Professor Leon was explaining something about a point system.

She had been paying a bit too much attention to her butler than the professor and now, she was lost.

Adrian, on the other hand, chuckled again and turned back towards Darius who still seemed down, and asked, "What if I help you awaken it?"

"Huh?" Darius looked up at him, a bit confused.

"What would you offer me to help you awaken it?" Adrian clarified with a serious look on his face.

Now Darius might be a hot headed battle maniac, but even he knew a thing or two about equivalent exchange.

And for Adrian to offer him a chance to awaken a secret bloodline, he must want something of equal value in return. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Darius didn’t know how Adrian knew about the bloodline, and he definitely didn’t believe that it was just a guess,

But for some reason, he didn’t doubt that Adrian truly could help him awaken it.

"What do you want?" Darius asked in a serious tone.

Check.

"Your absolute loyalty," Adrian started with a smile, "if I tell you to jump, you will jump even if your instincts tell you otherwise."

Darius was silent for a while as he thought about Adrian’s words.

"You’re a terrible negotiator, you know that?" He finally said as he chuckled and leaned back on his chair, "You’re basically asking me to become your subordinate."

"It’s not a negotiation," Adrian simply replied, "besides, you’re free to reject."

Was what he said, but he very much knew that there was no way Darius would reject the chance to become stronger.

And he was soon proven right.

"I was hoping we’d stand as equals," Darius said with a sigh as he lay his head on the desk before him, thinking for a while.

He then suddenly sat up and added, "then I’ll just have to beat you after gaining the power and force you to see me as an equal."

Mate.

"You’re free to try," Adrian said as he turned back forward.

Darius grinned at that, satisfied with his own conclusion, as if he had just outplayed the entire situation.

Renelle, however, let out a quiet sigh.

"Idiot."

"Huh?" Darius turned toward her.

"You just agreed to become his subordinate," she said flatly, "and you’re already planning rebellion."

"It’s called being ambitious."

"It’s called stupidity."

"You’re both really harsh today," Darius muttered.

"Duck," Adrian suddenly said, confusing him again.

"Huh?"

The next second,

Bang!

Something crashed into his forehead, causing him to grip it and looking in the direction of his attacker.

Turns out, Professor Leon was looking directly at him with a slight frown on his face.

He had noticed that most of his students weren’t paying attention so he ’gently’ pulled their attention back by tossing the magic tool he uses to write at Darius’ head.

Without saying anything else, he turned back to the board, leaving Darius with a swollen forehead.

He then tapped the board, the earlier interruption completely ignored as if it had never happened.

"As I was saying," he continued, "the admission test this year will not simply evaluate combat ability."

Professor Leon drew several circles on the board, connecting them with lines.

"The Academy has decided to implement a point-based evaluation system," he tapped the first circle, "combat ability remains the core. Points will be awarded based on the rank of beasts they take down."

He then tapped another circle,

"Adaptability, situational awareness, decision-making under pressure, and the ability to respond to unexpected variables."

He then moved to the next circle.

"Resourcefulness. They will not be provided everything they need and you will evaluate them on how they utilize their surroundings.."

He then moved on to the fourth circle,

"Cooperation," professor Leon looked at them, "though this isn’t a major factor, you are to award points to anyone who can work with others."

He then took a small pause, ensuring that they all understood his words...well, at least most did, and that was fine with him.

"Each of you will be given a scoring device," Professor Leon lifted a small, circular tool from his desk, "with this, you will assign points based on observed performance."

With a flick of his wrist, and the device projected a faint screen.

"You are not to interfere with the test beyond your assigned parameters."

He paused before letting out a sigh.

"However, if a participant shows exceptional performance," he looked around the class before his eyes stopped on Darius who was still gripping his forehead, "you may challenge them."

Darius immediately grinned at his words, he was going to have fun with his juniors if they caught his interest.

....

"Of course," Professor Leon added, "any such interaction will be recorded and factored into their evaluation."

"Now then," he finished, "start preparing for it, dismissed."