Living as a Butler to the Northern Duke chapter 42

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“Do you already have an idea for how you want to decorate the garden?”

Ronen’s face lit up at Ed’s positive response.

“Oh, yes! I’ve been thinking about it. I want to plant flowers—ones that bloom this year, next year, and every year after that!”

…Hmm, that sounded like something he just came up with on the spot.

Ed tilted his head slightly and smiled at Ronen, who had answered so quickly, perhaps out of fear that Ed might refuse.

‘Well, I can’t darken that bright face with clouds.’

“Understood, young master. How about we start with the west garden?”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

“Alright. I think it would be good to get some advice from Gio on how to tend the garden.”

“Okay, sounds good!”

Decorating the garden turned out to be quite exhausting.

The sun beat down relentlessly, and without a detailed plan, progress on the garden was slower than a turtle’s pace.

Gio, determined to take this opportunity to overhaul the Herins gardens, showed no signs of compromise, while Ronen found joy and wonder in every little ladybug perched on a celandine.

“Will this ever end?”

As Ed sighed and stuck his shovel into the ground, Gio, who had returned with a cartload of flowers and northern knights in tow, patted him on the shoulder and grinned.

“If we don’t finish today, we’ll finish tomorrow. No need to worry, right?”

It was indeed the mindset of someone who lived and breathed the garden.

Ed sighed again, hefting his shovel.

It seemed like the garden’s size couldn’t be reduced, so it was best to finish as quickly as possible and rest.

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Asnel stood at the window, arms crossed, looking out at the bustling activity in the west garden.

Ronen had mentioned after breakfast that he and Ed would be decorating the Herins estate gardens today.

It seemed the plan had been set, and Asnel had agreed, allowing Ronen’s outing with Irtel’s blessing.

When the carriage returned, it had transformed into a flower cart.

Ed had disembarked with a look of resignation, while Gio eagerly set about transferring the potted flowers.

Asnel watched as Ed, dragging his shovel, began to dig into the earth, and Ronen followed behind, carefully planting each flower with dedication.

As the task seemed to wear on Ed, his large shovel turned into a small trowel, and soon after that, he was cradling flower pots.

Watching this, Asnel chuckled and rolled up his sleeves, revealing his well-toned arms beneath the warm sunlight.

It seemed he would need to lend a hand.

‘Looks like they’re planning to create a rainbow-colored flower garden… Then this area will probably have yellow flowers.’

As Asnel estimated to himself, he picked up the shovel leaning against the tree.

Gardening wasn’t easy.

Even when tending to a well-maintained garden every day, there was always more work to be done.

But rebuilding a place that had been neglected for so long?

That wasn’t just a matter of time and effort.

‘I thought they’d give up after a little while because it’d be too hard.’

Looking down at Ronen, who was smiling as if he wasn’t even tired at the thought of decorating the rainbow-colored garden, Asnel glanced back at the area divided by a pile of stones.

He had told the knights from the Northern Knights to humor Ronen to some extent, but at this rate, they’d end up punishing poor Ed.

The duke, holding the shovel, spoke up.

“First Order, over here. Second Order, over there.”

Once he gave them suitable directions, the knights of the Northern Knights moved efficiently.

Led by the duke, the knights of the First Order began digging the ground while the others transplanted the seedlings.

With the people allocated to their tasks appropriately, the pace of the gardening sped up.

Thanks to that, Ed had nothing to do after sipping his lemon honey tea.

However, if his gaze happened to meet the duke’s while he led by example with the shovel, Ed would stiffen and hurriedly avert his eyes.

When the duke finally completed the last section, the purple flower bed, Irtel approached and reported.

“Baron Shelton has arrived at Count Herins’ estate, Your Grace.”

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Baron Shelton took a step forward.

His steps were heavy.

When he got out of the carriage at the Herins estate, it wasn’t the usual butler who greeted him, but a stranger.

“I’ll escort you to His Grace, Baron Shelton.”

The man had short, neatly cut red hair.

As he followed the man, Shelton sighed softly.

He knew it wasn’t hard to guess that Elisa had caused some trouble, just as he suspected.

It was two weeks ago.

Elisa had surprisingly said she’d visit the Herins estate first.

Shelton had been pleased.

She even made cookies herself to enjoy with Ronen, her fiancé.

‘I smiled at her every innocent word and said I’d give her whatever she wanted, not realizing it was all part of her plan.’

When Mac, who had escorted Elisa, came running to inform him of the commotion at the Herins estate, Shelton immediately knew it was Elisa’s doing.

Apparently, while cleaning up the cookies Elisa had prepared, a servant at the Herins estate collapsed.

Mac, suspecting something, had brought one of the cookies back on a silver tray, showing signs of black scorch marks where it had been soaked.

Shelton narrowed his eyes, realizing the method Elisa had used was poison.

But then the question arose—why?

Why had she targeted Ronen with poison, and how had a servant ended up being the one to collapse?

Shelton frowned, picturing Ronen dipping a cookie into his drink.

And yet, he was relieved that it was the servant who collapsed, not Ronen.

With a case like this, money could settle things.

As soon as Elisa returned to the baron’s residence, Shelton questioned her.

[Why did you do it?]

Elisa, getting out of the carriage, took a deep breath before answering.

[It wasn’t me.]

Shelton glared at her and pressed further.

[No, that answer is wrong. If it truly wasn’t you, you should’ve said, ‘I don’t know what happened,’ or ‘Someone must have set a trap.’]

[…….]

[And if it wasn’t you, we wouldn’t have found this bottle of poison in your room.]

Shelton shook the vial, marked with a warning label, in his gloved hand.

Elisa flinched and took a step back.

Shelton’s lips twisted.

[…….]

[So why did you do it? Why did you bring poisoned cookies to the Herins estate?]

Elisa remained silent, and Shelton had her confined to her room.

The baron then summoned the servants who had accompanied her and interrogated them about what had happened.

“You realize what you’ve done, don’t you? You’ve ruined everything, shamed me, and dragged my name through the mud.”

“N-No, we didn’t! Absolutely not, Master.”

“We were just following Lady Elisa’s orders.”

At first, they denied everything, but eventually, through tears, they confessed what Elisa had ordered them to do.

After discovering how they obtained the poison and who the target was, Shelton’s eyes narrowed.

The poison had been procured from a hunter deep in the woods, and the intended target was indeed Ronen.

Shelton was displeased with Elisa for interfering with his plans for the future and resented the debt they now owed to the Herins estate.

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