Chapter 10: The Duke who pretends nothing happened.

Knock knock.

The butler knocked on the door.

After waiting for a moment, the butler opened the door and entered the King’s Brother’s bedroom.

The bedroom with thick black curtains drawn was extremely dark.

My job was set.

After drawing back the heavy curtains, I took the grinder off the wagon and started grinding the coffee beans.

“Good morning.”

The King’s Brother pulled back the canopy, got out of bed, and plopped down in front of the tea table.

“Hurry.”

As soon as he sat down, he urged me with a voice devoid of any sleepiness.

“I also pray for the coffee to brew quickly.”

The coffee grounds, swollen with hot water, emitted a savory aroma.

The King’s Brother, who had been sending urging signals by tapping the table with his fingers until the coffee finished brewing, emptied the cup at a rapid speed as soon as I placed it in front of him.

Everything was the same as before.

“Is there any article I need to read in today’s newspaper?”

“There is no important news.”

“Then I’ll go straight to the study. A sandwich will do for the meal.”

Except that the King’s Brother was rushing a bit more.

Considering that the explosive increase in workload originated from the King’s Brother’s Rut, and recalling the butler’s appearance submerged in fear during that Rut period, the butler’s attitude of politely answering “Yes” did not look like a normal reaction.

Once the King’s Brother finished his minimal grooming and headed to the study, the butler followed him, and I headed to the main building’s kitchen to prepare the King’s Brother’s meal.

The main building was perfectly restored as if it had never been destroyed.

Just like the King’s Brother’s room.

The overly routine appearance of the servants, who grumbled that work increased during the restoration, gave me chills.

They looked as if they didn’t know why the restoration became necessary.

I even thought that perhaps they, like the incident at the pub, had lost their memories.

But that wasn’t it.

In places where the King’s Brother wasn’t seen, the servants spent extremely peaceful times, laughing or badmouthing someone.

But if even a shadow of the King’s Brother seemed to appear, they stiffened up rigidly like prisoners standing in a courtroom.

It wasn’t the reckless awe shown by the people at the pub, but an appearance clearly showing fear of a monster.

Suspecting that the King’s Brother’s Rut hadn’t completely ended yet, they couldn’t hide their fearful demeanor.

Even when gathered among themselves, no one mentioned the King’s Brother’s Rut.

They were afraid to even bring it up.

Just like in a novel that was a huge hit on Earth, where they couldn’t call someone’s name.

“Duke, Count Umbra has sent a letter.”

When I entered the King’s Brother’s study with a sandwich, the butler was already placing another letter on top of the various letters piled up like a mountain.

The King’s Brother took his eyes off the tower of letters, which seemed to pile up higher like magic instead of decreasing no matter how much he read, and picked up the sandwich.

Recalling yesterday when I had to bring back sandwiches three times because they had dried up while being neglected due to work, it was quite a leisurely appearance.

I interpreted it as meaning he disliked reading the letter from this Count Umbra that much.

When I brewed coffee and put it down next to the sandwich, the sight of him drinking it slowly sip by sip, unlike usual, increased the credibility of my interpretation.

“I apologize for saying this, but Count Umbra requests a quick reply. His servant is currently waiting in the reception room.”

The butler spoke with his head bowed deeply, as if truly apologetic.

It seems that servant acted quite willfully, considering the unusually loud noises heard while the chef was making the sandwich.

“How interesting.”

The King’s Brother drank the coffee he had been sipping in one gulp.

At his glance, I prepared to brew another cup of coffee and said.

“This is the last cup for today.”

“Already?”

“Yes.”

“…Cancel that then.”

Whether due to increased work or the aftereffects of the Rut, the frequency of the King’s Brother seeking coffee had increased significantly.

My employer was someone who would drink ten cups a day if I brewed coffee as he demanded.

Although I brew it myself, the coffee concentration is also on the very strong side, so just watching him made my own stomach feel acidic.

I told him that anything excessive is never good, and especially drinking too much coffee strains the heart and prevents sleep—facts I learned physically by drinking leftover coffee while practicing brewing to serve the Duke—but I couldn’t persuade the employer shouting “One more cup.”

Even when I told him, who sometimes touched his forehead looking for coffee, that headaches were also a side effect of coffee, that didn’t work either.

To the employer who couldn’t be persuaded no matter how many facts I stated, I ended up raising the white flag.

“Then would you leave me a warranty”

So I demanded an indulgence.

“What warranty”

“A warranty stating that even if the Duke suffers from excessive heart palpitations, stomach pain, insomnia, or headaches due to coffee since I brewed it according to the Duke’s order, I absolutely had no intention of harming the Duke. If the Duke suffers something serious due to coffee, wouldn’t I also suffer something serious?”

The employer has a constitution healthy enough to recover quickly even after consuming minimal food for a whopping two weeks, so the side effects of caffeine might be non-existent or very few.

However, I couldn’t just look at such an optimistic situation.

If even one abnormal symptom appears, wouldn’t my head, as the servant, be the first to fall?

So I had to receive at least an indulgence.

Though I don’t know if it would have any real effect.

“Are you serious?”

“I am serious.”

The butler looked at me with incredulous eyes, and the King’s Brother also frowned.

Just when I thought an indulgence was indeed impossible, the King’s Brother asked again.

“Then up to how many cups can I drink?”

It was a moment I doubted my ears, but with a bit of exaggeration, it was also a moment that could change my future of possibly becoming the King’s Brother’s assassin.

“If you reduce the amount of coffee suddenly, the headache might get worse. It is better to reduce it gradually and finally limit it to three cups a day.”

At my words, the King’s Brother’s brow furrowed even more.

“Then today…”

“Please stop drinking for today.”

“Tomorrow?”

“I think five cups would be sufficient for tomorrow.”

“Seven.”

“How about six cups?”

“Seven.”

“Six cups would be good.”

“Seven.”

“Will you write me the warranty? The frequency of your headaches seems to have increased recently.”

“…Fine, six.”

Headaches were the King’s Brother’s chronic illness, just like insomnia.

Frowning, he reluctantly nodded.

After the day’s work, the butler, perhaps feeling a headache worse than the King’s Brother’s, closed his eyes tight and lamented, “You really are something…”, but since the King’s Brother accepted my loyalty, the butler’s lament ended as just a lament.

My loyalty was strong enough that I would refuse if someone tried to put a large sum of money in my hand and asked me to reveal the King’s Brother’s secrets.

Because I believe that if I tell the King’s Brother about that, he will give me even more money.

There were no secrets I knew of in the first place anyway.

Anyway, the King’s Brother, who accepted my advice given with utmost loyalty, really reduced his coffee gradually from that day on.

Even while saying it myself, I didn’t think that terrible caffeine addict could endure with three cups of coffee a day, but the King’s Brother really reduced coffee to three cups a day.

In another sense, he was a terribly persistent person.

To be this persistent at eighteen, the age of storm and stress.

Maybe I grabbed the right rope.

“Jay.”

“Yes, Duke.”

Finally taking his eyes off the empty cup, the King’s Brother commanded me.

“Go to the reception room and bring Count Umbra’s servant. Tell him I will give a reply.”

“Yes.”

The King’s Brother’s mood seemed neither particularly good nor bad.

He seemed to have already decided the content of the reply, but he completely put down the pen he hadn’t let go of until just a moment ago.

I headed to the reception room at the speed the King’s Brother usually walks.

If the King’s Brother had started writing the reply immediately, I would have walked faster, and if he was in the stage of planning the content, I would have walked slower.

Arriving at the reception room on the first floor, I saw Count Umbra’s servant sitting arrogantly.

“Did you convey it properly to the Duke? Our Count said to receive the reply quickly and return.”

As soon as he saw me, he asked abruptly in informal language.

“Let’s go to the study. The Duke said he would give a reply.”

“Is that so?”

Unlike when he urged me before I even spoke, he raised his eyebrows with a look of surprise.

Hmm, he tilted his head and stood up sluggishly.

It was behavior hard to see as that of an errand runner.

“I will lead the way.”

“It’s because my legs hurt. Must have gotten a cramp from waiting so long sitting down.”

“Do you intend to make His Highness the King’s Brother wait?”

Only after hearing the words ‘King’s Brother’ did the man distort his nonchalant face.

“Follow me.”

Count Umbra was a figure the butler frequently emphasized in lessons, the Lord Chamberlain and also the current King’s father-in-law.

It was a name that appeared in the newspaper more frequently than even the King.

In short, a figure worthy of being called the power of this country along with the Prime Minister.

However, the reason Count Umbra, an appointed official, had a weaker position than the elected Prime Minister was that his son, the Queen Consort of this country, had not yet produced an heir.

Since dominant Omegas are extremely rare, unless they welcomed a foreign Queen Mother, there was no alternative besides the current Queen Consort.

Since the current King’s mother was from a foreign country, if the next King’s mother were also a foreigner, the legitimacy of the royal family would be shaken.

Especially since the mother of the King’s Brother, the King’s half-brother, was from this country, Henia.

Even though she couldn’t pass down the right of succession to the King’s Brother because she was a recessive Omega.

It was no secret at all that the King’s Brother had no right of succession.

I was just ignorant.

After hearing the King’s Brother’s story, I rummaged through old newspapers and found a few articles about it.

Although they couldn’t express it openly, they talked about the King’s Brother with metaphors that anyone who knew the situation could easily notice.

Still, it must have been a difficult story for the King’s Brother to tell with his own mouth. Even more so because everyone knew the story.

From the King’s Brother’s perspective, I might have been the only person who didn’t know his background.

Since not only the nobles but also the servants assisting them closely couldn’t be unaware of the matters regarding the King’s Brother’s birth.

The King’s Brother’s popularity among inn guests might also be because he has no right of succession. A boy born as a King’s son but who cannot become King.

Perhaps those living hand-to-mouth felt a sense of kinship and sympathy for him, whose limits were set from birth.

However, no matter that the King’s Brother had no right of succession, he was absolutely not in a position to be ignored by a Count’s servant. Probably that servant also has no intention of directly acting stiffly towards the King’s Brother.

If what sits atop his neck is a head, naturally he should.

His target was me.