The elder was well aware of the situation. That butler belonged to Yu and should've had a bond with her. It was not easy to break that bond. Definitely impossible as an unawakened child. In that case, how did he do this?
There were many questions in the elder's mind, but one thing was clear — Leo was innocent. Not because he did not do anything, but due to the lack of evidence against him.
The elder turned to Yu and showed her the token. "See for yourself," said the elder and tossed it to her.
Yu caught the token and had a look.
"Huh? What? How? How is this possible?!"
Before things got messy, the elder took the token from her and gave it back to Leo.
"You can leave."
Leo nodded curtly and left with the new butler of his, ignoring the rain of curses Yu was starting to spew.
"You cheap fuc— just wait! Just wait and see what I'll do to you! If I don't make you growl beneath my feet and kiss it, I wouldn't be called Yu Ignis anymore!"
Yu controlled herself from cursing out loud in the last second as she saw the bulky elder's scary eyes.
It stopped her from saying vulgar words but it did not stop the constant yelling and complaints.
Leo ignored her and with the new butler, went back and sat on his table.
Ellyse was sitting there with an uneasy look on her face and was somewhat fidgeting, afraid of the new environment she was suddenly thrown in. Leo's unrestrained behavior only added to her unease.
Leo gestured to the new butler to sit beside Ellyse and sat opposite to the two.
He calmly poured himself a cup of tea and said, "Both of you might not be aware of what's going to happen next. Even if you are, listen carefully to what I am going to explain now."
The world was a dangerous place. The awakening ceremony? Even more dangerous.
For the next ten minutes, Leo briefed the two on a few important matters in regards to those. The butler may be aware of things but Ellyse for sure wasn't.
"…and lastly, no matter what happens, focus on your own selves."
Whatever Leo had said was generic advice, at least it would sound like that to the one's eavesdropping. Ellyse and the butler would understand the hidden meaning in it later when they are in the midst of the awakening ceremony.
Ellyse and the butler nodded their heads in understanding.
With that being done, Leo laid back on his chair and said, "You two, introduce yourselves and get familiar with each other. We have five minutes before the ceremony starts."
The butler smiled awkwardly and gave a slight bow to Ellyse, then to Leo. "This one's name is Everett, young master Leo."
Leo nodded his head and then looked at Ellyse.
Ellyse felt somewhat uneasy knowing she had to introduce herself as the person whose body she was occupying.
Calling it as occupying was definitely wrong since the person was dead and it now belonged to Ellyse, but having just reincarnated, the body felt foreign to her. It would take time for her to assimilate and accept it as her own.
In any case, Ellyse cleared her throat and said in a low voice, "My name is Raquellina."
The butler nodded and bowed with his palm on his chest. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Raquellina."
"Raquellina… hm…" Leo rubbed his non-existent stubble and said while staring at Ellyse.
"That name's difficult to pronounce. We are going to avoid that. From today onwards, you'll be called El. No, El sounds like L, too weird for a lady. Let's go with Alice."
Ellyse blinked and stared at Leo with befuddlement while Everett had no opinion on this. It was common for the masters to change their servant's name in case they didn't like it.
Leo shook his head at his own comment. "No, Alice is too generic. I'm pretty sure there's going to be some cousin or something of mine with that name. It'll be troublesome to call her that. Hm… then… let's go with El-Alice… El-lice… El-lyce… Ellyce… oh yeah, this is cool. Ellyce, but the c won't look when written down. Let's substitute it with the letter 'S'."
Leo nodded to himself. "Yes, that does sound good. Ellyse, Ellyse, yeah, yes. That's a good one."
A tinge of red spread over Ellyse's face as she felt second hand embarrassment from the show Leo was putting up. Nobody had ever thought about her name in such a weird manner before.
As for Everett, the butler once again felt nothing about it as whatever Leo was doing wasn't out of the norms.
With the name issue sorted out, Leo spent some time chatting about useless things with Ellyse and Everett until he heard the loud chimes of a bell.
DING! DING! DING!
"Attention, younglings of the Ignis. The order to enter the ceremonial grounds will be decided now. Make your way towards Elder Kim and collect your participation slip. The rest will be explained once everyone has a slip with them."
DING!
Once the announcement was over, Leo got up from his seat and said to the servants, "Stick close to me and remember the things I've said to you. Understood?"
Ellyse and Everett got up and bowed with their palms on their chests. "Yes, young master."
Leo nodded. "Good. Let's go get the slip then."
The three walked up to Elder Kim, the bulky elder from before, and got themselves each a slip.
For the youngsters of the family, their slip was pearl white while their servants had a gray colored one.
Leo stood in a corner with his white slip and servants, waiting for everyone to collect their slips.
His demeanor was calm and his gaze was neutral as he stared at the youngsters in the hall.
'I won't forgive the ones who had wronged me this time around. I have to take the butterfly effect into consideration, but I can't control every single thing. Let's see who keeps their life and who doesn't with the small move I'm about to make.'