“What? But isn’t it a cigar with pain-relieving effects?”

“Just take a painkiller.”

Felix said this while making an expression as if he couldn’t believe his own words. But I was so happy that I smiled without even realizing it.

“I’m really glad. To be honest, I thought it wasn’t good for you to keep smoking cigars.”

“Why?”

“Well, it’s bad for your health. I often thought it would be good if you quit for your health’s sake.”

That was true. Cigars are so bad for the lungs.

But the real reason was that the strong cigar smell in his bedroom was difficult to bear.

It was like a very powerful and bad thing condensed into smoke.

And every time he smoked a cigar, it was very hard to breathe in and out skillfully beside him and act as if it didn’t bother me.

Perhaps that’s why I couldn’t help but smile when he said he would quit cigars.

“Is that such a happy thing? You’re smiling like a child.”

“Of course. I’m so happy.”

When I smiled brightly and met his eyes, he averted his gaze. Ianathas, who had been nearby all this time, came over and said,

“Reniel, quickly tell us how you put the master to sleep.”

Ianathas seemed strangely on edge for some reason.

Come to think of it, Felix was still in his black robe, but Ianathas was in his formal uniform.

Since he got off work at dawn, he still seemed to have that subtle diffuser scent from the casino.

“The master took sleeping pills again today and wandered around the third floor.”

“I’m sure he did.”

“Since it was dangerous, I took away the sword he was carrying, and then I stayed with him in this room. And I kept him company a little until he fell asleep.”

“Is that all?”

Remembering how he kept preventing me from running away, I added,

“I held his hand.”

“…Is that the end?”

“Yes. When I held his hand, he soon fell asleep.”

As I nodded and said that, Felix’s expression changed strangely.

He seemed not to believe those words, yet he rolled his eyes as if pondering the fact that he had fallen asleep.

Although it was morning, I couldn’t help but glance at his perfect face without a single flaw.

“That statement, there’s not a shred of lie in it, right?”

Ianathas warned as if he wouldn’t let it slide if there was even a hint of a lie.

“Of course. I’m a person who will bury my bones here. Why would I lie?”

I said that while meeting Ianathas’s eyes. He frowned in response.

“Reniel, who do you belong to?”

“I belong to the master.”

“Really?”

“Of course. My liver and gall are all the master’s.”

I said this while smiling brightly.

Perhaps because my salary had increased a lot since becoming the vice butler, the words came out smoothly without having to lie.

If I become the head butler… I might not even want to run away if I can just keep my life.

However, the biggest problem was that no matter how hard I worked in this mansion, if things went according to the original story, I would have to run away because I couldn’t prevent Thanasis from going berserk.

“Huh.”

Felix looked at me with a strange smile.

Perhaps because he had his arms crossed, his firm pectorals and thick neck were clearly visible through the open gap of his black robe.

“How about this then? The vice butler position is already vacant, as is the head butler position, so Reniel Vice Butler’s work is excessive.”

“I suppose so.”

I was surprised and looked at Ianathas, who unexpectedly seemed to be thinking of me.

When I showed a bit of being touched, he smirked and said,

“Let’s keep the position of vice butler but raise the salary even more. Instead, help the master fall asleep in the evenings.”

“What?”

“And I’ll help with Reniel Vice Butler’s work too.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just promote to head butler?”

“That would be too fast a promotion for Reniel Vice Butler, which wouldn’t look good. If you’re this loyal anyway, you’ll become head butler someday. But if someone too young gets promoted too quickly, it becomes difficult to manage subordinates, my lord.”

Ianathas’s words sounded as if he had realized it himself.

Ianathas was still quite young too. He was also Felix’s right-hand man at a young age, overseeing the casino business and other dark businesses of the Le Pelique ducal family.

“I see. Let’s do that then.”

As expected, I knew they wouldn’t ask for my opinion. But since it wasn’t a bad thing for me, I smiled and said,

“I’ll work hard!”

No matter what happens, the fact that I’ll be getting an enormous salary ten times my original pay won’t change.

“Try your best for just 3 years. Then the head butler position will be yours, Reniel.”

Ianathas said that with a smile, and I nodded repeatedly, saying how grateful I was.

And so, I became a person who, though a vice butler, received as much money as a head butler and was trapped in overtime work for a few years.

By the time I leave here, I’ll probably be an incredibly rich person!

****

Rumors within the mansion have no feet.

That’s why they spread so quickly.

Everyone envied Reniel’s promotion to vice butler, but they couldn’t show even a bit of dissatisfaction.

This was because Reniel had worked for over 10 years without a single incident.

However, becoming a vice butler, taking on the head butler’s duties, and receiving a salary equal to the head butler was a different story.

It meant that a 10-year-old piece of flesh had become a power player in the Le Pelique ducal family.

This fact was enough to be a threat to other servants.

The Le Pelique ducal family was famous for paying high salaries and strictly observing rest periods, even though the work intensity was higher compared to other noble families.

Which noble family would create holidays for servants, send them on vacations, and care about their welfare?

The Le Pelique ducal family was the only one.

Rumors had it that the current Duke Le Pelique treated servants as people because he had suffered many hardships when he was young.

Whatever the background, it was clear that for the servants, the Le Pelique ducal family was the optimal place and the best workplace where they couldn’t help but develop loyalty.

For those blinded by promotion, there was no one who would look favorably upon Reniel, who had been promoted at lightning speed and whose salary had increased tenfold, as if she had been virtually designated as the next head butler.

“Huh?”

Reniel came to the annex to eat lunch.

The busiest times for servants were dawn before the master woke up and evening.

That’s why lunch was always plentiful and delicious, to the extent that no one would skip it no matter how busy they were.

So even though Reniel was tired, she came to the annex to eat lunch.

But.

“I don’t see my meal.”

Reniel said this while looking at the large table where the servants sat, with only her seat empty.

She looked at the servants who continued their chitchat and ate their food without answering her words.

“Hahaha! Really? That happened in the stable?”

“You didn’t hear?”

“The new horse has such a bad temper.”

“The stable hands are in big trouble.”

“What about that black horse from before?”

“It died. That’s why they brought in a new horse.”

Reniel, who usually wasn’t very friendly, realized what kind of situation she was in as she watched people who used to share work hardships to some extent suddenly treat her like an invisible person.

In reality, the reason they were acting like this was too obvious.

“Mr. Dave, have you perhaps seen my lunch?”

Reniel asked Dave, the servant sitting closest to her.

“Ah, no. I haven’t seen it.”

“What about you, Ms. Patina?”

“No, I haven’t seen it either.”

The servants were pretending to be polite while ostracizing Reniel.

“Why don’t you ask the maids?”

By the way, the servants’ dining area was divided by gender, so to go to where the maids were, one had to go to the next room.

Reniel nodded at those words and headed to the dining room where the maids were, as if she had no choice.

Then the head maid, who had been waiting for her, smirked and said,

“Ah, Vice Butler Reniel. Welcome.”

“Head Maid, good afternoon.”

Reniel said that and looked where the head maid was gesturing. There was an empty seat among the young maids.

“From now on, Vice Butler, you’ll have to dine with the women.”

Reniel, realizing that this situation was a power struggle, couldn’t help but sneer.

From the head maid’s perspective, she must be annoyed with Reniel.

To her, Reniel was a subordinate far below her, someone who had been under the longtime rival head butler.

“But why is there only soup at my seat?”

Reniel asked, looking at the chunks of meat and other foods piled generously on other people’s plates.

The head maid replied,

“Well, since the vice butler is so busy, I thought even that would be too much time to spare.”

“Who said that?”

“I made that judgment myself.”

The head maid intended to control Reniel, who would soon become the head butler.

Unlike the previous head butler who had bothered her, Reniel, who looked docile and had delicate features for a man, seemed like an easier target.

However, Reniel was a person with more backbone than expected.

“I see. From now on, could you serve my meals along with the master’s?”

“…Pardon?”

“I’m supposed to eat beside the master while serving his meals.”

Of course, it was a lie.

However, Reniel had no intention of playing along with the head maid’s childish games.