Rovenin : < Young Master, Forgive me. I did not realise you were this lonely.
Don't worry it's never too late. >
Nox : < That's right, Young Master! You can make friends your age in no time.>
Carseain turned back to look at their faces.
His lips were curled up and his eyes were shooting arrows.
Carseain : < Shut the fuck up, Assholes! >
Nox : < Huh? He's acting normal.>
Rovenin : < Nox, don't tell me you were being serious?>
Nox : < You weren't, Sir Rovenin? >
Carseain : ' Wow, the fact that he was serious hurts more. '
Carseain sighed.
" Things are bad as they are in the Capital.
Our faction seems to be barely holding on.
Having you work for us would only intensify the political strife. "
Rovenin : < If you know that much, how abou->
Carseain : " So, what I'm suggesting is to be 'friends'. "
Rovenin: ' He cut me off. '
Doctor Whildem crossed his arms and tilted his neck.
Doctor Whildem: " Well, since informal relationships don't have much influence."
Carseain : " You just have to prioritize my 'requests' as ' good friends' out of 'good will'. "
Whildem laughed heartily.
" It's this old man's pleasure to have Young ones befriending me.
Looks like I'll have to settle down somewhere nearby for a while as my friend's condition needs to be monitored closely. "
Rovenin : < His skills are worth it. Not bad, I must say. >
Carseain : < Should I be honoured?>
" I have a "commoner friend" who is well versed with real estate.
He could help you get a mansion with a lab and a clinic. "
Whildem : " Then I'll be accepting his offer.
I do not wish to stay under the Royals once my seminar here is done. "
Nox : ' Looks like I have work now. A mansion with a clinic shouldn't be hard to find and as for the lab.
Should we have one of the rooms renovated?
I will ask Sir Rovenin later. '
Carseain and the Doctor shook hands.
Carseain : " Please call me Carseain from now on. "
Whildem : " Understood. You may also call me Whildem. "
They both smiled at each other.
"Here's a small gift."
Carseain said.
He placed his hand on the Monster's corpse.
Taking a deep breath, he mumbled.
" Accelerate. "
The flowers started glowing golden and green.
The small buds started growing in size.
Whildem eyes were latched on to it.
He saw it like a kid's first time at an amusement park.
He was observing every nook and cranny of the growth.
Within a few minutes, the flowers were in full bloom.
Whildem : ' I can't believe I'm looking at freshly bloomed Paroah's Flowers, not the preserved ones.
How skilled he must be to accelerate the growth much less without a chant...
Wait...'
He turned towards Carseain and yelled.
" Young Mast-No, Carseain! I told you to use the chant!
Come on at least the last part. "
Carseain flinched.
Carseain : " Haha... It must have slipped my mind. "
Nox : 'Oh yeah?'
He ran towards the door.
Whildem looked at him while gritting his teeth.
Carseain : " Since I've given the gift. I'll be leaving now.
See ya, Whildem."
He went outside with a bright smile and shut the door.
Nox : ' He ran away.'
Rovenin sighed.
Whildem turned to Rovenin.
Whildem : " He sure is a handful!"
Rovenin : " Do you regret being 'friends' now?"
Whildem : " It's too early to say anything about that.
Nevertheless, I am sure it is going to be exhausting. "
Rovenin chuckled as Whildem sighed.
Rovenin stepped forward and bowed a little.
Rovenin : " Please take care of him."
Whildem smiled and offered his hand.
Whildem : " Please help me with that. "
Rovenin shook the hand he offered.
Nox : ' Looks like we have another chaperone for Young Master. '
________
At the Mansion.
In the late evening.
Rovenin and Carseain were in his office.
Carseain finished looking through the paperwork for the day.
Now, he was studying for the exams.
Rovenin was helping him cram it all.
A maid came in with a trolley of refreshments.
She poured some fresh Jasmine tea and served it with Cashew nut cookies.
Putting aside the stack of papers they both enjoyed it.
Rovenin likes the flowery scent of the tea and that puts him in a good mood.
Carseain : " Kiha used to make such terrible Jasmine Tea when we were kids."
Rovenin : " Ah, The Chefs used to make the cookies extra sweet whenever she was the one serving."
Carseain: " Remember when we got caught stealing Jasmine flowers from the garden for her to practice."
Rovenin clenched his fist.
Rovenin: " Yes! The plan was perfect but Kina had to get lost in the garden and get caught by the gardener."
Rovenin is angry because he was the one who planned it and it failed.
Carseain : " Watching Kina cry, Kiha took all the blame to bail us out ."
Rovenin : " The situation escalated because you tried to knock out the gardener. "
Carseain : " Dude, did you not see her crying? I thought the gardener did something to her! "
Rovenin : " You went too far that time.
If he was not a former mercenary, then he could have been badly injured."
Carseain was irked.
Carseain : " Geez... it's Kina's fault. Why does she have to be such a crybaby?
Look at her twin, Kiha!
She was ready to kick the balls of noble sons like nothing."
Rovenin : " Now, you are just being unreasonable."
Carseain: " It's even hard saying her around these days. "
Rovenin : " Hmm... I think it is because she is mostly on duties outside the mansion."
Carseain and Rovenin glanced at each other and their eyes widened.
Carseain : " Oh....Is that so?
That said, I haven't had her Jasmine Tea she worked so hard to master in a while. "
Rovenin: " I shall ask her to prepare some tomorrow."
Carseain asked the maid to pour another cup.
He took out a blank paper and started scribbling on it while drinking tea.
The maid could not see what he was writing as she stood a few feet away from him.
Carseain : " Help me solve this."
Rovenin munched onto a cookie and read what he wrote.
On the paper,
Carseain : [ With her skills and seniority, shouldn't she be one of my personal attendants?]
Rovenin : [ Yes, even if the maids work in rotation. She has been working outside the mansion for too long.]
Carseain : [ You had the same thought? ]
Rovenin : [ I guess. Someone is rigging the system.]
Carseain : [You know, that maid is especially suspicious.]
Rovenin :[ How so?]
Carseain :[ She's always around me during the day and night.]
The maids work in rotation while attending to their Master.
Two shifts in the day and two in the night.
Working outside the mansion for a period of time and inside.
The system was designed by Esselgardes exclusively in order to distribute the workload efficiently and so that the servants get exposure to all sorts of businesses.
Outside work deals with running errands, buying groceries, delivering letters and releasing orders etc.
While personal attendants are always around their Masters.
If a person is stuck too long in the same position there has to be a reason.
All of this is monitored by the highest-ranked servant in the mansion, which would be Rovenin.
However, the system is flexible and hence maids and butlers discuss and settle the workload among themselves.
If anyone is not satisfied with their positions they may submit a complaint and then the authority looks into it.
Rovenin assumed that everything was working smoothly as there were no formal or informal complaints brought up.
Rovenin : [When did you realize?]
Carseain : [Just now.]
Rovenin glared at him.
Rovenin :[ Seriously…]
Carseain :[ On the night we dealt with Cahill, I needed a change of clothes and she was the one who brought it in.]
Rovenin : [ Just that?]
Carseain :[ I think Nox also knows something…]
Rovenin :[ What made you think that?]
Carseain : [You remember when he used telepathy yesterday. He was the first to doubt the servants.]
Rovenin nodded.
Carseain rang the bell and a Butler who was standing outside came in.
" Send Nox."
" Understood, Sir. "
He bowed.
Rovenin had the maid leave as well after she cleared the teacups.
Nox knocked.
Nox : " Did you call for me, Young Master?"
Carseain : " Yeah, come on in."
Nox came and stood in front of him.
Carseain told him to sit down.
Carseain : " Nox, do you know anyone who's suspicious? "
Nox : " Umm...for being a spy?"
Carseain nodded.
Nox : " Yes, Quite a few actually."
Carseain tilted his head.
Carseain : " Why didn't you tell us until now then?"
Nox scratched his head.
Nox : " Ah, I don't have any solid evidence.
Besides, it's nothing more than a hunch."
Rovenin : " What do you think about the maid who left just now?"
Nox : " She is one of the prime suspects actually. She keeps haggling for the shifts around the Young Master and sometimes even bribes others for it. "
Carseain: "Ain't she being way too obvious about it? Why is no one saying anything ? Not everyone could be on her side, right? "
Nox let out an awkward laugh.
Nox : " Actually, the reason that she gave was very convincing and she also acted accordingly desperate for that. "
Carseain : " Ho? Very interesting. What is the reason which made it sound so convincing?"
Nox averted his gaze.
Rovenin : " What happened? Do you perhaps not know it? "
Nox fumbled while getting red.
He avoided Rovenin's eyes.
Nox : " Ah no! That's not it. It's just very...like very..."
Carseain grumbled.
"Just say it, Nox.
No one's gonna eat you."
Upon hearing the command, he said it out loud very quickly.
" She said that she was head over heels in love with Sir Rovenin and that she had to breathe in the same air as him else she cannot go on living."
Carseain : " Pfft!"
Carseain cracked up.
Carseain : "What the fuck?! Hahaha"
Rovenin : " What the fuck?"
Rovenin went blue and his jaw dropped.