Chapter 26
He glanced sidelong at Sia, who was now walking beside him. In the sunlight, her hair took on a reddish tint.
“Well then, let’s go in.”
At Nox’s words as they arrived at the dining room, the servant standing at the door opened it. As Nox and Sia passed through, the servants stepped back, keeping their distance. Sia, taking note of this, clicked her tongue softly.
So much for a class system.
It seemed like they believed in superstition even more than status.
Learning more about the situation, Sia naturally took the seat Nox had pulled out for her, just as he had the day before, without realizing what such gestures truly meant.
Cedric entered the kitchen with an even lighter step than yesterday. When he returned with the food, he explained with delight,
“This salad is made with tomatoes and lettuce, specialties of our territory. Master, you should try some today as well. The dressing is smooth and savory, so I believe you’ll enjoy it.”
At Cedric’s explanation, Nox quietly stared at the plate of salad. No matter how good the dressing was, he simply hated vegetables, so he disliked salad itself.
But, since Cedric had cared for him for so many years, he said nothing and silently slid his plate over to Sia.
Sia wordlessly accepted his plate and placed it in front of herself.
“Wow, the dressing is so savory, and the tomatoes are so fresh and tangy—they go perfectly together.”
Now she could see why tomatoes were a local specialty. Compared to the tomatoes she’d eaten in Korea, these were incomparably smooth, tangy, and even sweet. She even thought about wanting to make juice out of them.
Glancing over at Nox, Sia came up with a good idea to get him to eat vegetables. Now that she was his personal butler, instead of eating his salad for him, she should work with Cedric to help him improve his picky eating habits.
It wasn’t the cat butler job she had wanted, but she had become the butler to a cat-type werebeast.
Since she’d landed in a similar position, she was determined to fulfill her duties properly—so that, if she ever returned to Korea, she wouldn’t have any regrets.
For the main course, they served a white fish steak. Sia realized that these people didn’t eat only beef, after all. Bit by bit, she was learning more about cat-type werebeasts.
“Head Butler.”
Having finished her meal first, Sia quietly got up and approached Cedric. The staff nearby tried to conceal their shock, but silently stepped away from her.
“You may call me if you wish.”
“Actually…”
Sia gently refused Cedric’s excessive kindness and approached to speak softly, sharing the idea she’d just thought of. Cedric, listening quietly, looked at her in surprise.
“…Then, is that possible?”
“I’ll give it a try.”
“Why not serve it as dessert first, and if he likes it, you could offer it before salad next time instead?”
“Oh, what a clever idea.”
Admiring her suggestion, Cedric headed into the kitchen. Returning to her seat, Sia met the gaze of Nox, who had finished his meal and was watching her.
“…You’ve already grown close with Cedric in such a short time.”
“He’s the one guiding me, so it can’t be helped.”
“I see.”
Nox gave a brief reply, not understanding why his chest felt so tight. Perhaps it was because the person sitting across from him had left the table, even for a moment, leaving him feeling strangely empty.
But now that she was sitting in front of him again, it was enough.
“You can’t become a butler overnight, so just learn at your own pace.”
“…But Lord Nox, how did you know I wanted to become a butler?”
Sia, who found it burdensome to address him as ‘Master’ like Cedric did, recalled the name she’d heard from Cedric that morning and added an honorific, taking the chance to ask what she’d been curious about.
“…What?”
Nox was quite startled to suddenly hear his name. Even his own parents had avoided him, so he had rarely heard it called. In high society, people only ever addressed him as ‘Duke’ or ‘Blois’.
Seeing Nox stiffen, Sia wondered if she’d said something wrong, but it wasn’t a strange question—so she tried again, more slowly.
“I actually wanted to be a cat butler… Well, that’s not important, but I don’t think I ever told you I wanted to be a butler, Lord Nox.”
“……”
With his name spoken again, Nox blinked slowly. He hadn’t misheard.
The woman before him had called him by name.
For the first time in his life, someone else had called his name.
The sensation of ‘for the first time in my life’ was more moving than he could have imagined.
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