Living as a Butler to the Northern Duke chapter 3

I heard that the Count and Countess Herins left the mansion last night to attend a picnic.

This means that the one who locked Ronen up this morning was Young Master Neisen.

Neisen, Ronen’s stepbrother, was ten years older than him but had the mental maturity of a preschooler, making him emotional and violent.

Fortunately, he wasn’t in the mansion at the moment. While the Count and Countess were away, he had left early in the morning to lose money gambling.

‘Even if it’s not Ronen, the Herins family will eventually fall apart because of that gambling.’

Ed quickly surveyed the room through the slightly open door and let out a small sigh.

On the bed, the blanket was bulging like a small hill.

Ronen, wrapped tightly in the blanket like a little caterpillar, was trying to shut himself off from the outside world.

“Young Master Ronen.”

At Ed’s voice, the blanket inside squirmed and then wriggled a bit. Ronen tried to cling to the inner side of the bed.

Ed quietly approached the deeply wounded child, closing the distance.

“D-don’t come any closer, Ed.”

“Young Master Ronen.”

“Brother told me to reflect on my actions and locked the door. If you come in, Ed, you’ll get scolded. S-so please leave.”

“Young Master Ronen, why did Young Master Neisen tell you to reflect?”

“…Well, that’s…”

“Yes, what was it?”

“It-it was nothing.”

Ronen emphasized again,

“R-really, it was nothing.”

He tried to hide it by clenching his teeth, but he couldn’t conceal the trembling in his voice.

It pained Ed to think of Ronen battling his loneliness in such a small space.

With a small sigh, Ed dragged a chair to the bedside and sat down, resting his chin on his hand as he pondered.

‘I did prepare something to soothe Ronen’s wounded heart, thinking he might have been traumatized by believing he wet the bed.’

…This should work, right?

Ed glanced at the rounded mound under the blanket and stood up.

“Master, I’ll be back in a moment. I have something to show you.”

There was no point in delaying any longer, as it would only deepen the wound in Ronen’s heart.

With that thought, Ed decided to proceed.

After leaving the room, Ed moved swiftly. He quickly descended the stairs and ran through the garden, heading for his room in the annex.

Once there, he gathered a kettle, transparent teacups, and a jar of tea leaves. These were precious tools he had bought with the little money he had saved.

He had prepared these in advance, knowing that Ronen might be humiliated in this way several times, just as it had happened in the original story.

It was a method he had thought of using the experience he gained while working in a café before reincarnating.

Ed also quietly snuck into the kitchen and grabbed a lemon.

With the Count and Countess gone, and even Young Master Neisen out, the servants often left their posts, making it easier to move unnoticed.

Ed returned to the annex without being caught by anyone, went to the first-floor storeroom, and took out a new bedspread. He then poured some water from a bottle onto the clean bedspread.

‘Can’t pour too much, or it’ll be obvious.’

He made the bedspread damp just enough and then gathered his things and headed towards the annex.

The annex was an isolated building where Ronen lived alone.

Although he was adopted, the Count deemed him unworthy of being part of the family, which worked to Ed’s advantage as it allowed him to move unnoticed.

With his hands full, Ed opened Ronen’s door.

“…”

The blanket on the bed wriggled again and shifted towards the wall.

‘…Hiding like that won’t heal the wounds in your heart.’

Ed spread the bedspread on the floor.

“Young Master Ronen, I have something to show you.”

Sitting on the floor, Ed squeezed the lemon juice into a transparent glass.

“Look, Young Master. This is a magical tea called Blue Mallow.”

After squeezing enough lemon juice, Ed took out the tea leaves from the jar.

The young master under the blanket remained unresponsive.

But Ed knew. He could sense the little cocoon inside the blanket peeking out at him.

Ed placed the kettle on the stove and poured water into the transparent glass filled with Blue Mallow tea leaves.

‘These tea leaves cost me a fortune, but what does that matter when it comes to saving my life?’

Luckily, this place also had Blue Mallow tea. Although it was an expensive delicacy, it was worth every tear-shed coin.

Squeeee.

The kettle, heated on the stove, whistled, and Ed poured the hot water into the glass full of Blue Mallow tea leaves. The tea quickly turned a beautiful blue.

“Look, Young Master. When Blue Mallow tea is brewed, it turns blue.”

Ed, holding the lemon juice, sat down on the chair in front of the bed. He gently dropped a few drops of lemon juice into the warm, steaming blue tea.

“What?”

The blanket mound jerked in surprise.

The tea that had just been a bright blue in the glass instantly turned red when it met the lemon juice.

Startled by the magic, Ronen popped out of the blanket but quickly glanced at Ed before retreating back into the cocoon.

He was like a little baby hermit crab.

Ed smiled triumphantly.

“Did you see that, Young Master? Blue Mallow tea turns blue when it meets clear water, but when it meets yellow liquid like lemon juice, it…”

“…”

Ed slowly swirled the glass in front of the baby hermit crab.

“…turns red.”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t the color that changed but a reaction to the acidity.

However, there was no need for scientific explanations right now.

If it could soothe Ronen’s wounded heart, it was enough to brush it off as a magical phenomenon.

Ed stood up from his chair and approached the blanket spread out on the floor.

“And this blanket here.”

“……”

“This is the blanket that was taken from Young Master Ronen’s bed this morning.”

It was a lie. It was a new blanket Ed had dampened with water.

‘…But why do I feel like such a villain?’

Ed noticed Ronen’s curious eyes peeking at him from behind the blanket.

“I’m thinking of sprinkling some blue mallow tea on this blanket.”

“No, don’t! Please, don’t do that!”

At that moment, Ronen jumped out from under the blanket. He looked like the world was about to end and desperately tried to stop Ed.

“Why are you so concerned, young master?”

“Well, Ed… The thing is, I got scolded this morning because…”

“Yes, you got scolded because…?”

“Well, it wasn’t a small matter… I, I wet the bed in my sleep… And if you pour the blue mallow tea on it, it will definitely turn red…”

Why do I feel like I’m being so mean to Ronen?

While Ronen was talking, Ed poured the brewed, bright blue mallow tea onto the blanket.

Ronen clutched his cheeks and screamed in despair, thinking the blanket would surely turn red since he wet the bed.

“……”

“……”

“Huh?”

Ronen’s eyes widened.

Even as Ed kept pouring the tea, the blanket only soaked in a light blue color, with no other color appearing. Ronen tilted his head in confusion.

“Huh, that’s strange. Why isn’t it changing color?”

As Ronen breathed a sigh of relief, Ed continued to pour more tea.

Since he had brought a fresh, water-dampened blanket, even a bucket of blue mallow tea wouldn’t cause it to turn red.

“Maybe it’s because it wasn’t enough?”

Ronen, muttering to himself and tilting his head, looked adorable.

Ed responded to the cute confusion.

“No, young master. You saw it yourself, right? Just a drop or two of yellow in the blue mallow tea makes it change color.”

“Yeah, I did see that.”

“So, young master, are you sure you wet the bed last night?”

“…What?”

“Think carefully. Did you feel any discomfort from needing to use the bathroom during the night?”

Ronen blinked, pondering.

“I’m not sure. But when I woke up in the morning, the blanket was wet, so Sir Senner scolded me a lot.”

“Is that so?”

Ed put down the kettle and moved closer to the bed. Ronen followed right behind him.

“If that’s the case, let’s consider these possibilities, young master. One, you might have woken up thirsty in the night and accidentally spilled water while drinking it.”

Ed, pretending to be a detective, examined the cup on the nightstand, and Ronen, on tiptoe, followed his gaze.

“Two, you might have accidentally knocked over the vase on the windowsill with your hand or foot while sleeping.”

Ed moved to inspect the vase by the window, and Ronen followed him again.

Of course, the likelihood of Senner having set him up and framed him was 99%, but Ed didn’t mention that.

He didn’t want Ronen to realize that others could hate him for no reason.

And even if Ronen had wet the bed, it didn’t matter.

Ronen was still young. If it had happened, it would have been just a natural part of his development, something he would outgrow over time.

It wasn’t something to be punished for with guilt and shame.

Ed turned around, meeting Ronen’s eyes as he stood close by.

“In any case, what’s certain is that you didn’t make a mistake last night, young master.”

“……”

“I’m absolutely certain of that.”