No Hero

Translated by Ever (proofread by Trespasserby; C/E edited by Taffygirl13 & lucathia)

I took a sip of black coffee. It was strong and bitter, which made me frown subconsciously, but cleared my head up quite a bit.

The secretary sat beside me, either typing or directly voice messaging. Although paper wasn’t used much these days, there were still mounds of documents piled up on his desk; how extremely busy he was.

“Kyle, report today’s schedule—”

“Ri Xiang Yan!” Someone hurtled in like the wind with a frantic expression on his face. Having not tidied himself in who-knows-how-long, his appearance would instantly fit in with the homeless if he were tossed out onto the streets.

How dare he call my full name again. I expressionlessly said, “Bill, drag him out and kill him.”

As always, Kyle did not lift his head from the computer monitor. As he dealt with the screen full of messages, he said, “Just based on how he made your bad habit of calling my name wrong reappear after it had finally been corrected, he deserves to die. However, he has not yet finished teaching the young master’s butler. So for the sake of the young master, please wait a bit more.”

Ah Ye… I frowned and asked crossly, “Not yet still? How long has it been already?”

“Less than half a year,” that damned Kyle reminded.

Half a year was indeed too short. No mistakes were allowed with Ah Ye, so even a decade of learning would not be enough.

“Ri Xiang—Ah, no, no, Sun Emperor, just listen to me!” An Te Qi waved his hands around, so excited that he could fly, as if he did not feel the murderous intent around him grow stronger and heavier.

Why is this guy getting crazier each day? Yet I can’t replace him… I growled angrily, “I don’t want to listen to you!”

“It’s about Ah Ye!”

“… Go ahead.”

“I’m guessing you won’t need a drink?”

Father Alex brought over a tray with a coffee pot and two cups, and then smiled at me as he said, “But if you have a needle for drawing blood, I can also provide you with such drinks.”

I smiled bitterly and tactfully responded, “I am not very used to conversing with someone while drinking their blood.”

Although I have done it before.

Alex laughed lightly. “That is true; if I had steak for lunch, I wouldn’t want to see the cow first.”

However, as soon as he finished talking, the “steak” calmly sat down beside the vampire and started brewing coffee. The room was immediately filled with the coffee’s strong aroma.

Father Alex was sitting beside me, and the smiling Father Yue was sitting across from me. Normally, it would have been enjoyable to chat over coffee with these two, even if they were priests.

But at the moment, I could only find it ridiculously bizarre. As a spy, how did I end up sitting down to have coffee with the target of my investigation?

“I thought Dark Sun had come,” Father Yue said as he looked at me with interest, “I hadn’t imagined it would actually be you.”

Hearing this, I suddenly remembered that Father Yue knew that the young master was Dark Sun. Then does Father Alex know?

“I know,” Alex stated without warning, yet he remained calm as he picked up the coffee pot and filtered the boiled coffee into the cups.

It took me a moment before I could respond. But, but how did he know? Was it my expression that revealed something… No, I was not particularly surprised just now. Although the young master always tells me that my eye brows or lips curved by a few millimeters, I do not believe there are many people with the ability to detect a few millimeters change on someone’s face.

Moreover, even if my expression did change, could one so easily guess that I was thinking about the young master?

“What do you know… Ah! Is it about Ah Ye?” Father Yue concluded before he finished his question. As Alex handed him the coffee, he grinned and said, “Alex does indeed know about Ah Ye, but it has nothing to do with me. If the high levels of the Church know, why would he not?”

I asked calmly, “So Father Alex is a high level of the Church?”

The other two momentarily froze, before Father Alex gave Father Yue a helpless look.

“Ah! Oh no!” Father Yue said apologetically, “I’m sorry, Alex, but Charles seems to have this special power that makes people want to tell him a lot of things.”

Father Alex had already regained his composure as he responded, “You’ve told me that before. It does seem that way at the moment. Such an unfathomable power, isn’t it?”

All Elysees butlers have this unfathomable power to some extent.

After finally receiving some useful information, I asked persistently, “Father Alex, who are you?”

Alex sipped his coffee helplessly and under Father Yue’s amused expression, he sighed. “Actually, I’m a spare.”

Spare? I asked in confusion, “A spare for what?”

Alex smiled slightly and said, “A spare for Sin.”

Sin’s… I slightly opened my mouth but did not know what to further ask, especially since Father Yue was currently looking at Alex with an expression of pity…

Alex glanced at Father Yue and the latter gave him a smile. He then went on, saying, “Around a hundred years ago, there was an unimaginably strong ‘Sin.’ It was said that he had really caught E.X. then, but E.X. later escaped.”

A hundred years ago? Was it the time that X went without a word for many years and left the mansion to me? His wordless farewell was because he had been captured? Or perhaps I am mistaken, since “around a hundred years” is too vague.

Alex indifferently described, “Although incredibly strong, the Sin at that time was still human after all, and would die of old age. As a result, the Church had always wanted to train successors that could match up to him. However, they were unsuccessful from beginning to end. At last, they decided that only that Sin could reach that level, so they—”

“Cloned?” I immediately blurted out. With the young master as an example, this was the first thing that instantly came to mind.

Alex looked at me curiously and said, “No, even now, clones have not been able to overcome the flaw of being unintelligent, much less a hundred years ago.”

Ah… That is indeed true. The young master had mentioned this before as well. DSII was also controlled using a microchip, so DSII was technically a robot that was modified from the young master’s clone—Although I have always thought that DSII is more human than many actual humans.

“I was mistaken.” I nodded to gesture for him to proceed.

“They simply thought that a son would do as well as the father, so perhaps this kind of power could be inherited.” Alex laughed. “So they used artificial insemination. But not all children are like their father, so there would be many candidates. They would pick the strongest one among the children to become Sin, and the rest—like me—would become spares.”

I understood now, and surmised, “So you are Sin’s brother, and he sent you here to get close to the young master…”

“No, no!” Father Alex stopped me and chuckled. “In order to prevent rebellions and the like, spares are excluded from the Sin Elimination Committee. It seems that there were some precedents in the past. And saying that I am his brother not quite accurate either. In reality, I’ve only seen him once from afar; all candidates received separate training.”

I remained silent for a while, as I could not find any gaps in his story. Furthermore, Father Yue was also present and had not refuted at all. Perhaps his statement of being a “spare” is true?

However, even if there was an explanation behind Alex not being Sin, this just made me even more confused. I asked, “Why are you telling me so much?”

“Why not?”

I did not expect Father Alex to respond in such a way. He then praised, “Charles, your hiding abilities are truly very strong. When you came in, none of our brothers sensed your presence. If it were not for this, I wouldn’t have dared to meet you in private, let alone explain all this. I do not have any ill intentions. I simply wish that you and Ah Ye would stop misunderstanding me.”

Being monitored? I frowned, “The Church treats you so…”

Alex laughed and said easily, “You’ve misunderstood me slightly. My brothers treat me very well. Although they don’t need me now, they ‘might’ need me in the future. Yet they did not lock me away from sunlight in some secret underground institute. Even when I asked to become a normal priest, they granted my request. What’s so bad about all this?”

“Yet they sent you after the young master.” I still could not believe that the Church would let a spare for Sin become a normal priest. The training alone likely costed them a fortune, and yet the result was becoming a normal priest? This was truly hard to believe.

“Please believe me, this was only a big coincidence.” Alex smiled bitterly, “My becoming the spokesperson of Daystar City was really a great mistake. Some brothers signed me up for fun, and after realizing that this was a great way to spread the gospel, they secretly helped me, which eventually led to such a situation.”

He said helplessly, “In fact, I thought I would definitely lose to Sunset City’s spokesperson. I’ve seen An Xiang Ye’s commercials before; he really is an adorable boy, befitting of the title Angel. So I let the brothers do what they wanted, thinking that as long as I didn’t get first place, this fame wouldn’t last long. In that case, why not use this time to minister to the people and let more of them accept the gospel? But I had not imagined that…”

Had not imagined that the young master’s identity would be revealed, and that the Sun Emperor’s reputation would instead help him up to the first place seat.

“Please believe me, the Church is also troubled by what the brothers did.” Alex said softly, “Sin isn’t really happy about this. He does not enjoy watching this ‘brother’ of his become too famous.”

I looked at Alex. His expression was very sincere. Up until now, there was also nothing suspicious about him. Should I believe him and stop investigating him, and spend my time on someone else?

It would be great if I could tell the young master all this. The young master would be able to deduce more conclusions. As for myself, all I felt was confusion, uncertain of what could be trusted and what was suspicious.

Taking a deep breath, I thought: Whether or not to believe Father Alex is not important, since I did not reveal myself because of him, but for someone else.

I turned toward this someone and said, “Father Yue, can I trust that you will not harm the young master?”

“Of course,” Father Yue said immediately. “How could I ever hurt that child? If I dared, even my wife would divorce me.”

I thought you two never married?

“But, what about X?” I stared at him, refusing to miss a single change in his expression. “The person the Church wanted was never the young master. It was X. Do you want to help them catch X, Father Yue?”

Father Yue’s smile faded, and his expression turned serious. He stared back at me, and without any intention of avoiding my question, sincerely answered, “Believe me, I have absolutely no plans to hurt E.X.”

I thought: Aside from believing, I do not have much of a choice.

I carefully walked into the hotel, as this hotel was more heavily guarded compared to the others. Since the young master and the rest of the cast lived here, the Church had sent people to guard its surroundings. Despite this, no one detected my presence. However, I still concealed myself to the best of my power, since the young master’s abilities were very astounding, and he was quite familiar with the way I moved.

The young master had once said that as long as I was within five paces from him, he would always sense my presence. However, he was not as confident if I was ten paces away, and was definitely powerless if I hid further than that. Thus, I decided to stay twenty paces away.

Before I left, Ezart had been staying in the room beside the young master. Since he also shared the room with Nitewalker, there was a possibility that I could be noticed by Nitewalker if I barged in rashly. It was also possible that Ezart was currently with the young master or Luo Ye right now, so going into his room was simply too risky.

I opened my phone and checked that no one had called before dialing, saying quickly and quietly, “Ezart, it is me.”

An “oh” came from the other end, and then he started talking to himself, saying, “I’m at my high school classmate’s place. Yeah, you know, that Angel, Sunset City’s spokesperson… Where are you?”

Ezart said a long string of words, roughly hinting that he was with the young master. I lowered my voice even further. “I am in the hotel, but I am afraid to go to the floor where you and the young master are staying.”

“Oh? I transferred some stuff to our base. Go ahead and take a look first. I’m not in my room right now so I don’t have a computer. I’ll meet you online later when I’m back. ‘Kay, I’m a bit busy, talk to you later!”

Having said so, he hung up the phone. I carefully thought about what he had said. First, it was “our base” and then he mentioned “room,” so did he mean he wanted me to go over to his room first and wait for him? What did he mean by “transferred some stuff?”

After pondering over this, I decided that Ezart was unmistakably hinting for me to go over to his room first. In that case, I shall head over.

I climbed the fire escape up to the floor where the young master was staying and slowly pushed open the door. Looking into the empty hallway, I began to worry if the young master would just happen to push open the door at the exact same moment. However, I then realized that it was a baseless fear, since such a coincidence could never happen. Moreover…

Using x-speed, I arrived in front of Ezart’s room in an instant, and at the same time, swiped the door key that I had already taken out. After the door unlocked, I immediately flashed in and closed it.

Even after accounting for the time that the sensor took to read the door key, the entire process only took three seconds. If even this would “just happen” to be seen by the young master, then being discovered would likely be unavoidable.

“Charles Endelis?”

I started, and raised my head immediately to see a light blue figure.

“Poseidynne! Why are you here…”

I had not yet finished my sentence before another person peeked out from behind Poseidynne’s back with an extremely timid expression on her face. This time, I was so shocked that I could not find any words.

Poseidynne being here was simply somewhat surprising, yet it was obvious that she was here for the young master.

For non-humans, Daystar City was very dangerous, and what the young master was currently doing was also dangerous. But Poseidynne was a powerful non-human, so even if Daystar City prohibited non-humans, there was a possibility that it was not as dangerous to her—as long as she did not try to confront the Church directly.

However, that person behind Poseidynne should not be here no matter what!

“I’m sorry, Charles-gēge.” The person lowered her head like a child apologizing and said, “I know I shouldn’t be here.”

If you know, then why did you come? I said helplessly, “Lady Briar, if you know, then why did you come here? Does the young master know that you are here?”

“Ah Ye-gē doesn’t know… Charles-gē, don’t call me ‘Lady’!” Briar said uncomfortably, “It sounds so weird. I’m not anything like a lady.”

I smiled slightly and responded, “Since you are the young master’s fiancée, I should address you as ‘Lady.’”

“And don’t use honorifics!” Briar looked at me aggrievedly and sighed, “Charles-gē, I don’t have a big brother, so I’ve always saw you as one. But now Gēge is calling me ‘Lady’…”

Gēge? I lowered my head to look at Briar. Although she was quite mature for her age, she was still a thirteen-year-old little girl. And right now, she was staring at me with wide eyes, appearing indeed similar to a younger sister—a younger sister who was being mistreated by her older brother.

“As you wish. Before Lady… Before Briar turns sixteen, I will not use honorifics, but after that I must, since this is my obligation as a butler. Is that acceptable?”

“No, at least until I’m eighteen!” Briar immediately refuted.

I felt as if I was bargaining at the market, with one of those extremely sharp vendors raising the price instead. Encountering this type of vendor typically only resulted in the basic twenty percent off.

I chuckled. “But are you certain that you will not become the young master’s bride before you turn eighteen?”

Briar finally cheered up and laughed. “Daddy said that I am not to even mention the word ‘marriage’ before I’m eighteen, or else he’ll shoot himself.”

Eighteen? I though Mr. Bramble would say at least twenty. I guess that over these past years, Mr. Bramble has also started to accept this better.

“I see. Eighteen it shall be then.” I asked sincerely, “If Briar is going to see me as an elder brother, then listen to your elder brother and return to Sunset City, okay?”

Briar widened her eyes at me and firmly declared, “No!”

Saying that, she hid behind Poseidynne. Poseidynne also stepped forward, as if saying: Try forcing the girl if you dare.

It would be fine if it were only Poseidynne, since she was a formidable non-human. If she wanted to stay in Daystar City or even go sight-seeing at the Church, I would not have any intention of stopping her. Yet Briar was different. She was merely a defenseless thirteen-year-old girl with no means to protect herself.

I took a deep breath and lowered my tone to warn, “Poseidynne, if the young master knew that you brought Briar here, he would be extremely upset!”

Poseidynne hesitated for the first time upon hearing these words. This made me sigh in relief. Thank goodness she still cares about upsetting the young master; otherwise, I truly would not know how to convince her to take Briar home.

Briar’s eyes reddened with tears as she shouted, “No! I’m not going back! I’m the only one who never gets to go. I can only watch Daddy leave for work, and sometimes he even comes back hurt. And now Ah Ye-gē too. He’s always hurt so very badly…. Ah Ye-gē said that he was very strong, but why does he still get hurt so much!”

I was shaken by the words that sounded so familiar.

“Bri, don’t cry.”

Poseidynne turned back toward Briar and knelt down. Seeing that tears had started dripping from Briar’s eyes, she immediately took out some tissues and gently wiped away Briar’s tears as she promised, “I won’t let anyone send you away. You don’t have to worry. No one will touch even a hair on your head!” As she spoke, she turned around and glared at me sharply.

“Mhmm!” Briar resolutely nodded her head.

It seemed that Poseidynne had grown even more attached to Lady Briar than the young master. Recently, she had also been spending more time with Briar than the young master did. When I recalled how “she” actually had androgynous characteristics and could switch sexes as she wished, I suddenly had a somewhat foreboding feeling.

But no matter what, the thought of such a ridiculous love triangle that flashed across my mind just now could never truly happen… Could it?

Although Poseidynne’s glare was very deadly, Briar was too important to leave alone, even if it meant that I might be drowned in a gulf. Since using “Young Master” as the reason had failed, I tried something else.

“Bri, Mr. Bramble would be very worried about you as well. If you were hurt, he…”

The situation grew stranger as I went on. Briar remained unconvinced, which was not too odd, but why was her response to laugh at me?

I stopped speaking and just as I was about to question her, the door behind me suddenly rattled. Did the young master return?

Alarmed, I then discovered that both Poseidynne and Briar appeared to be hiding their laughter. Since they were currently hiding from the young master, they would not have such an expression if the young master were the one to open the door. Could it then be Ezart? But why would they look at Ezart this way? I turned around to see the person entering—

“Mr. Bramble!” Dell and May as well…

The three of them were carrying plastic bags emitting a faint fragrance, which indicated it was likely food. When they saw me, they immediately froze in place—the same reaction as mine.

We stiffly exchanged a few glances until Poseidynne urged, “What are you all spacing out for? Come in quick and close the door. What if Ah Ye finds out?”

May immediately turned around to close the door. As the three walked in, I took the plastic bags from them and started organizing the contents. As expected, a few contained food, but there was also something that concerned me even more: toothbrushes.

With so many people hiding here, the hotel room’s complimentary toothbrushes would undoubtedly be insufficient—which also meant that “everyone” was planning on staying here for a while.

As soon as I set out the food and utensils, Poseidynne immediately sat down and waved at Briar to eat together. Dell and May also sat around the table, eating intently with their heads lowered and refusing to look up.

I looked at Mr. Bramble. Although he originally also planned to sit down and eat, he did not do so under my gaze. As if nothing had happened, he feigned ignorance and asked, “What? Is something wrong?”

“Why are you here, Mr. Bramble?”

Mr. Bramble coughed a few times and said, “We are the young master’s bodyguards. No matter if it’s climbing a mountain of knives or diving into a sea of blood, where the young master is, we are too!”

If these words came from a normal bodyguard, I would have greatly admired their professionalism. However, given the young master’s identity and current status, I only felt helpless.

“In that case, why is Briar here?”

Upon hearing the word “Briar,” Mr. Bramble’s expression immediately crumbled and he said painfully, “The child insisted on coming so strongly that I had no other choice!”

I furrowed my brows and replied, “Mr. Bramble, it is too dangerous here. Please take Briar home immediately. I am sure you absolutely do not wish for any harm to come to her?”

Briar immediately lifted her head, but did not say anything, only holding on to Poseidynne’s hand tightly.

“Of course!” Mr. Bramble confessed, “Poseidynne promised me that she would protect Bri with her life. Why else would I have let this brat come along?”

I shook my head. “Daystar City is where the Church is most powerful. It is said that no non-humans exist here. It is already extremely difficult for non-humans to protect themselves here.”

Mr. Bramble appeared to hesitate. It seemed that he was not difficult to convince. Come to think about it, he probably does not want Briar to be in such a dangerous place either.

Just then, Poseidynne stepped up and coldly declared, “No one can even dream of touching a hair on the person I protect with my life, not even the Church! If you have doubts about my abilities, you can go ask Nitewalker. He’s also here, isn’t he?”

I nodded.

Poseidynne snorted. “You guys have quite an eye for people. Nitewalker’s also one of his clan’s top fighters! If it weren’t because of the disastrous situation the nightwalkers are in right now, he wouldn’t even have responded to your invitation a few years back!”

To be honest, the young master and I were drawn by his driving skills, not fighting ability. Before we asked him to join us, we did not even know that he could fight— A sudden “bang, bang” made everyone jump in fright. As we turned our heads to look toward the direction of the sound, we heard Ezart’s voice. “Tsk, this door’s a bit stuck!”

“Stuck? Do you want me to try?” That is the young master’s voice!

“You? Hmph, you think your raw strength is greater than mine?”

“Probably not. Why don’t we get the hotel staff to help us then….”

Everyone frantically spurred into action. Poseidynne pulled Briar into the washroom without hesitation. Mr. Bramble and the other two started swiping the plates and utensils off the table. Seeing this, I immediately helped to clean up.

“Ah, it seems to be working again!” It was apparent from the high decibel of Ezart’s voice that he was giving us a warning.

Mr. Bramble and the other two immediately turned and ran off. Mr. Bramble pulled open the wardrobe and ducked inside. May actually crammed himself into the cabinet under the TV, while Dell rolled under the desk.

After watching this unfold, I could only pick up all the utensils on the table, back flip onto the ceiling, and lay against the beam. Thankfully, the luxurious room had a high ceiling with decorative beams for me to barely hide on. Otherwise, I would not have known where to hide, as all the other spaces had filled with people.

The next second, the door opened.

Ezart walked in first, and it was indeed the young master who followed behind. However, I did not dare to survey the scene and only heard his voice. “Huh? Why do I smell food?”

“It’s probably the chicken cutlet I had this afternoon!” Ezart’s lying abilities might actually be much stronger than I imagined.

“You weren’t full after lunch? Why did you buy food in the afternoon?”

“I saw people lining up when I was walking by, so I bought some!”

“Oh, was it good?”

“Awful. The store looked really fancy, but their chicken cutlet was a hundred times worse than a street vendor’s!”

As the voices gradually moved from the entrance to the small living room, I did not dare to move in the slightest. The young master’s abilities were not to be underestimated. The distance was so close that it would not be difficult at all to get discovered.

“Ezart, you’re really not going to stay in the same room as me?” The young master asked in confusion, “The room’s really spacious! Come help me take care of Shūshu!”

“Isn’t Nitewalker already there? Why would I squeeze in, too? By the way, you should also be more careful now.”

“Of what?”

“Don’t you know that you’re really famous now? When my expedition team found out that I knew you, everyone questioned me non-stop. Some even asked me if we did this and that… What’s that supposed to mean! If I even stayed together in a room with you and the media found out, then it would really be this and that!”

“What this and that!” The young master laughed out loud. “Okay, it’s up to you. I’m here at night anyways, so I can take care of him myself.”

“I think you should take care of your older brother first. Or else, how long are you planning on looking after him?”

The young master sighed. “Gēge is still avoiding me.”

“You can’t find out where he is?”

There was a moment of silence before a sentence floated up, “Maybe.”

Then, another long period of silence passed. Although I really wanted to know why the young master would not look for the Sun Emperor when he had the ability to, Ezart did not question any further. It was only after a long time when another sentence was voiced.

“Ezart, why is Gēge so insistent on killing his own father?”

…. His own father?

“How would I know! You all have such a messed-up blood relationship. But considering how immoral your previous dad was, it’s not weird that he wouldn’t want another dad to pop up.”

“But Shūshu doesn’t seem as bad as Bàba!” The young master muttered. Suddenly, he said, “I wonder if Charles is home yet. I’ll call him and ask.”

… Oh no! I had already turned on my cell phone earlier and trying to turn it off or switch to vibration now could possibly alert the young master. At such close proximity, it was impossible to move at all without the young master’s notice… Ezart, please stop the young master quickly!

“Are you the butler’s nanny? Take your time, I’m going to shower first!”

Ezart!

“Oh? Then I’ll go back to my room first. Having only Nitewalker look after Shūshu isn’t the best.”

I had not imagined for the young master to respond in such a way. Could Ezart have guessed the young master’s reaction? If that is the case, then my inability to do so as his butler is truly a great failure…

“Ezart, what are you going to do after showering?”

“Surf the net. There’s someone waiting.”

“Oh, yeah, that phone call… Remember to not take on any missions! Help me take care of Shūshu first.”

“‘Kay!”

Next came the sound of the door opening and closing, then the sound of the television turning on. Lastly, Ezart’s voice lazily announced, “You can come out now!”

I flipped down from the beam, quietly standing behind Ezart. When he turned around and suddenly noticed me, his entire body started and he nearly swung out his fists out of reflex. I hurriedly took a step back.

“Where’d you come from?” Ezart stared at me blankly as he relaxed his fists.

I pointed at the beam and explained, “I was hiding up above and flipped down.”

Ezart widened his eyes and whooped in disbelief, “You were hiding up there? How’s that possible? And here I thought you were in the washroom…”

At this point, the washroom door abruptly opened as Poseidynne and Briar walked out.

“Or in the closet.” Mr. Bramble pushed opened the closet door and stepped out.

“Hiding under the desk wouldn’t be bad either.” Dell stood up.

Ezart said in disbelief, “And yet you decided to hide on that impossible beam? Looks like that brat, Ah Ye, was right, you really are made of natural assassin material!”

Just then, May stepped out of the television shelf in an exceptionally bizarre position and began to untangle his body, stretching out his limbs as he loosened his muscles and bones.

Ezart paused in a moment of confusion before laughing out loud, gasping for breath as he wheezed, “Are you all from the freakin’ circus? The people around Ah Ye are all so interesting!”

But for some reason, no one was paying attention to him and instead, they were all staring at me. Just when I was about to raise a question, my cell phone rang. I lowered my head and saw that it was the young master, so I immediately answered the phone.

“Charles, have you arrived at Curtis’s place?”

I instantly responded, “Yes, I arrived last night.”

“…Are you angry?”

“No, Young Master, how could I be angry?”

I only felt ashamed. As a butler, not only was I unable to help, I had also brought my master trouble. Although this was due to the effect of the painkillers, this still indicated that my level of self-control was truly too poor.

“Oh, that’s good then.” The young master sighed in relief and asked worriedly, “Has the effect of the painkillers passed?”

“Yes, it has,” I replied as I glanced at everyone else. They were all staring at me intently, not even daring to breathe, afraid that the young master would catch them with his sharp ears.

“Where’s Curtis? Is he beside you?”

“He is not here, perhaps in a meeting. He has always been quite busy.”

I had not actually lied; Curtis was indeed not here and with how busy his work was, he could very likely be in a meeting. This was the “concealing way of talking” that Ezart had taught me. I hoped that it would not raise the young master’s suspicions… But why do I feel so awful? Although I did not lie, does this really not count as deceiving the young master?

“Then, get some good rest and use this chance to learn some medical skills from Ah Shuu!” It seemed that the young master was not suspicious of me.

“Understood.” It looked like I would have to spend some time to “study” with Ah Shuu now.

After hanging up, I lifted my head to find everyone studying me with suspicious and confused expressions.

Poseidynne asked with a strange look in her eyes, “We’re hiding because we came here secretly and can’t get discovered by Ah Ye, but what are you hiding for? Weren’t you beside Ah Ye to begin with?”

Before I was able to reply, Ezart loudly laughed. “This guy stirred up trouble and Ah Ye sent him home!”

This trouble seems to have been stirred up by you, Ezart.

Everyone stared at me with widened eyes as if in disbelief.

“What trouble could the butler have possibly caused?” Dell asked in an unconvinced tone, “Isn’t he just in charge of washing dishes, cooking meals, mopping floors, and cleaning toilets?”

“You guys all underestimated him like Ah Ye! This guy fought me and even broke the French window in the hotel room!”

As I abruptly remembered this matter, I ignored the others’ stares and hurriedly asked, “With the French window broken, why is the young master still staying in his original room?”

Ezart shrugged. “Ah Ye didn’t want to change rooms ‘cuz he was afraid that his brother might set up some kind of trick in the new one, so he asked the hotel to fix it during the day when he was out filming.”

So that is the reason.

“Charles Endelis!” Poseidynne loudly exclaimed, “So you’re also a stowaway! How dare you use ‘Ah Ye might get angry’ as an excuse to send Bri back? Hmph! If Ah Ye really did get mad, I don’t think any of us could think about staying by his side; we all might as well just get ready to be sent back! But if we really do get sent away, heh…”

Stowaway… Was the explosion from the washroom just now from the tap or the bathtub?

“I know that vampires can also drown! You haven’t forgotten what I am, have you?”

Yes, a merperson… I suddenly missed the days when non-humans did not appear so brazenly, and fish stayed in the water as they should.