Chapter 37
#37화 Servant Cedric (3) - Role Reversal
Claudia's mornings began late.
And the servants who assisted her rose early.
If she was dozing in a half-awake daze, the maids of the manor would come in at the appointed time to wash her and arrange her hair and clothes.
Claudia's half-lidded, dazed face was as beautiful as a masterpiece painted with a painter's entire soul, but the maids assisting her had stiff, unsmiling expressions.
That was because Claudia in this state was practically a bomb that might explode from the slightest stimulus.
If her hair got tangled during brushing, or her skin got rubbed raw while changing clothes, and she happened to open her eyes...
her once picture-perfect face would twist like a demon's and immediately 'punish' the maid who had made the mistake.
The most common punishment was a slap to the face, and if it was bad enough, she would even have their hair pulled out in handfuls or beat them until bruises bloomed.
That didn't mean they could leave Claudia alone or rush through her morning preparations, because if Claudia woke fully and found something about her appearance displeasing, that too would become a pretext for punishment.
In the end, all the maids could do was put every nerve into making sure they made not even the slightest mistake.
“Umm....”
Claudia's consciousness fully awoke near the end of those preparations.
Staring blankly at her reflection in the mirror, she suddenly frowned.
It was because she felt like she'd forgotten something important.
Following the flow of her thoughts, she started sifting through old memories.
‘When did I fall asleep? The last memory is kind of fuzzy….’
「A trick, haha. I'm flattered that you would praise me so highly, miss.」
「There's no need to be embarrassed! I, Cedric, am known for being tight-lipped! The fact that you were so absorbed in your meal will stay buried in my heart forever, miss!」
「Then I will be off now! Please call for me again if you need anything!」
Newly hired servant. Cooking. Clear eyes. Cheerful tone.
Remembering everything that had happened the previous night, and even that she had practically fallen asleep from being unable to withstand the shock, Claudia unknowingly opened her mouth and let out a sound.
“─Ah.”
“Miss?”
“A-ah, aaaaaah!?”
“Miss!? W-why, why are you like this? Lady Claudia!?”
***
A kitchen was a place with a stricter hierarchy than one might expect.
That might be because it handled dangerous things like fire and kitchen knives, or because if anything went wrong with the food, the entire kitchen staff had to share the responsibility.
Especially if a newcomer like Cedric, who had only just arrived, somehow took over the kitchen alone to prepare a dish for someone important, then skipped over the existing staff and received praise directly from the head chef, the people caught in the middle would naturally have complaints.
There weren't any, though.
“Hey, Cedric! Done peeling all the potatoes yet!”
“Yes, right here!”
“The onions—”
“I've chopped them all!”
“The vegetables for the salad—”
“I've washed and sorted them neatly!”
“Good, excellent!”
Normally, most complaints are bound to fade in the face of overwhelming results.
Much more so if those results are the kind that directly make your own body feel easier.
Of course, even if he handled it like this, there would still have been people who looked at Cedric with hidden resentment, unable to say anything openly.
“Wow, you're really a natural. How do you do that so fast?”
“Oh no, how could that be some skill that belongs to me alone? It's all thanks to you, senior, for kindly teaching me the tricks.”
“Ahem, y-yeah. I am pretty good at teaching, aren't I?”
“Oh, and I've already finished fetching the water, so you can take a little rest. Please think of it as my repayment.”
“Huh? No, you didn't have to go that far...”
“A little luck like this every now and then is what makes work worth doing, isn't it?”
“Hmm, is that so? Now that I think about it, maybe it is. Haha! I do like you after all!”
His flattery skill, honed to a degree even beyond that of a certain Canary man used as the benchmark, was enough to completely melt away even those complaints.
Just having Cedric there made their work easier, and their senior authority was also sufficiently respected, so there was no need to bare their teeth over it.
However, that warm, peaceful atmosphere in the kitchen did not last long.
“─New recruit!! Where are you!? Get out here this instant!?”
A sharp, shrill voice rang out from the center of the manor.
At the young lady's cry, which the servants knew as the very name of terror, the faces of the kitchen servants who had been cooking in relaxed comfort stiffened.
Just as they were exchanging uneasy looks with one another,
“…Cedric. Come with me at once.”
Head Butler Vestian.
The man who could be called this manor's number two summoned Cedric from the kitchen with a gloomy expression.
“Yes, Head Butler.”
Cedric immediately followed behind the head butler without even asking why.
There, more than a dozen servants were waiting in a state of high tension, their eyes full of pity for Cedric and fear that the backlash might come their way at any moment.
And at the center of it all,
Claudia was glaring at Cedric, her eyes sharp and vicious.
“─So, you've come.”
Her savage voice, like an ice pick stabbing into flesh, was closer to a beast's growl.
No, it wasn't something that could be dismissed as merely similar.
In fact, around Claudia, five inhuman wolves that looked as if they had been molded from blood, bone, and flesh were flashing their fangs as though waiting only for their master's command.
Vestian's face grew even darker.
Worried that he might really have to clean up a corpse at this rate, he glanced at Cedric's face and soon let out a sigh.
Because there was Cedric, just blinking blankly, and it was impossible to tell whether he should drop to his knees and beg right away.
As expected, Claudia's expression twisted even more.
“Hey.”
“Yes, miss.”
“Don't you have anything to say to me?”
Everyone waited tensely for Cedric's answer.
In the silence, where it felt like even the sound of someone swallowing could be heard, he opened his mouth.
“Good morning, miss! Since it's such a rare clear day, why don't you take a walk?”
‘That's not it!!’
The inner thoughts of everyone present aligned in an instant.
-Grrrrrr!
Four of the five blood beasts around her deepened their growls in displeasure.
But soon, sensing something strange, they turned their eyes to the remaining one.
If you put that look into human language, it would probably be interpreted as, 'Why are you just standing there?'
-Kiiing....
Yet the last one merely ignored its companions' stares and showed no sign of lunging at Cedric.
At that fearful-looking display, Claudia's eye twitched.
The blood beasts created through the ritual passed down in the Redbel family were special retainers unique to the Redbels, and even one of them was on par with a third-rank warrior.
What's more, as long as they didn't suffer a fatal wound, they could return to Claudia's body and recover at will, making them bold and fearless enough to charge even in situations where ordinary beasts would hold back.
If such a blood beast avoided fighting even while aware of its master's foul mood, it meant it had judged the human in front of it to be a formidable foe who could erase it in an instant if he felt like it.
If, hypothetically,
what if that servant really was a monster who could subdue all the blood beasts that charged at him?
What if the other servants all saw that in real time?
And what if that made them think, 'Eh, the young lady isn't actually all that special after all'?
Of course, the likelihood of that actually happening was almost nonexistent.
Physical intimidation through blood beasts was only one of the many means she used to bolster her authority; her fundamental power came from the Redbel bloodline.
But the mere possibility of losing face that way already annoyed her.
A sudden idea flashed through Claudia's mind.
She put on a wicked smile and said to Cedric,
“You really don't know what you did wrong, do you?”
“Wrong, you say? If I made some mistake, please tell me, young lady.”
“Ha! Forcing the master to say it out loud already makes you unfit to be a servant. Someone like you isn't even worth hiring here, so get lost!!”
Claudia's mind raced.
For some reason or another, that guy had come into this manor as a servant.
If someone skilled enough to scare blood beasts had deliberately entered as a servant, then he must have had a purpose worthy of that choice.
And if he got kicked out before achieving that purpose, that would be a problem, so surely he'd have no choice but to cling to her and beg—
“Understood.”
“Huh?”
A dumbfounded sound escaped Claudia's mouth.
Whether she liked it or not, Cedric continued, his shoulders slumping and his face openly showing disappointment and frustration.
“If that is your will, young lady, then I have no choice. It was an honor to be able to serve you for even a short time.”
After offering that farewell, Cedric immediately began bowing to the other servants as well and saying goodbye one by one.
Claudia's pupils shook violently.
“W-wait! What? That's it? You're really fine with getting fired!?”
“Well, there wasn't a clause in the employment contract I signed saying the master can't fire a servant whenever he wants. Whew, I'll have to be more careful next time. Ah, Head Butler, in that case, what happens to my pay?”
“Ah. Um, well, the thing is...”
Vestian was just as unable to make sense of what was going on, so he kept sneaking glances at Claudia's expression with a troubled look.
Normally, he would have rebuked Cedric's words as disrespectful and upheld Claudia's authority, but this time both Claudia's reaction and Cedric's reaction were far from normal, so he had no proper way to respond either.
Meanwhile, Claudia was lost in other thoughts.
‘If this guy just quits and leaves now... what about my revenge?’
Being toyed with so thoroughly by a mere servant, then letting that servant leave here completely unscathed—that was something she absolutely could not accept, whether as a noble young lady or because of Claudia's own personality.
But if she tried to harm him physically, Cedric's strength, capable of easily subduing even blood beasts, was a nuisance.
She could get support if she contacted the Redbel main house. But what was she supposed to request support for?
—My servant toyed with me, but I can't punish him with my own abilities, so please send the knights.
The Marquess of Redbel would worry about his daughter's mental health.
Her detestable siblings would clutch their stomachs and burst out laughing.
In any case, she couldn't let Cedric slip away like this.
‘Right. Anyway, as long as he's employed here, he's my servant, isn't he? Then there are plenty of ways to make him suffer.’
Having quickly sorted out her thoughts, Claudia cleared her throat and said,
“Well, if you're really disappointed, I can cancel the firing.”
Cedric's gloomily lowered eyes turned toward Claudia.
“No, it's fine.”
“Fine? What do you mean, fine?”
“If I think I might be suddenly fired like this at any time, I don't think I could possibly devote myself to my work as seriously as before. Coming to work with that kind of mindset would only be a great burden on my coworkers, so I think it would be best for me to step back here.”
“…….”
Claudia's cheek trembled.
Whoosh!
Covering her mouth with her wide-open fan, she said again,
“Relax. There won't be any sudden dismissal notice like this one.”
Only then did Cedric's eyes become clear again.
At Cedric's gaze, which looked somehow moved, Claudia also felt a strange sense of fulfillment.
Yes, this was how it should be.
A servant who couldn't help but be moved even by the slightest mercy from his master—that was exactly what the proper attitude of a servant should be!
“Young lady.”
“Hmph, forget about thanking me.”
“No, that's not it. I'd like you to write that into the contract as well.”
“…….”