Erhan’s chilling expression would be a lie if I said it wasn’t terrifying. However, I pretended not to notice and shook out the cloth I had snatched.

The reason I stopped Erhan? To survive, I had to prevent Erhan from provoking the impending disaster, but that wasn’t the only reason.

“I know my servant’s behavior is strange. But whoever he was before, he’s my servant now, and he’s someone I’m grateful for attending to me. I even told you that I only called for him because I was sick this time…”

I needed to make things clear for once.

No matter how much Erhan disliked Zachary, Zachary was my person. Although he had the status of a servant who couldn’t act freely in public, he was undoubtedly still my person. That’s why I no longer wanted to leave Erhan’s behavior of messing with Zachary, who was my person, alone.

“I’d appreciate it if you respected me.”

My head hurts.

Perhaps because of the constant tense situations, my head suddenly throbbed. I tried my best not to show it, but inside me, who was under a lot of stress, a burning anger was rising. Erhan, who kept provoking Zachary, not knowing how he might explode. Zachary, who kept causing these major incidents time and time again.

“Here, take it.”

When I shook out the cloth and held it out to Zachary, he just stared at me blankly, showing no sign of taking it.

I grabbed his hand, shoved the cloth into it, and raised my head.

All the while, Erhan had been quietly watching me.

“……”

Although I spoke firmly, I couldn’t even look at Erhan properly, afraid he would look at me with a face of disgust.

Erhan gave off a strong feeling that once he turned his back, it would be the end forever.

In fact, there was nothing for me to gain from getting involved with Erhan, who would become the head of the Serpentine family.

‘I worked hard to close the distance.’

What kind of expression would he be looking at me with now? He would clearly think of me as pathetic. Erhan had never treated servants as human beings, and I had just told him that I treat servants as human beings in front of him.

Of course, I could understand Erhan’s feelings. Most of the servant offenders had committed sins that deserved death.

But Zachary wasn’t like that, was he? Even Erhan, the successor, knew how Zachary had ended up like this. Constantly provoking and tormenting Zachary as if it were natural… It wasn’t a good phenomenon. If Zachary were to go berserk and act like in the original story because of this, it would be very troublesome. I had to get Zachary out of the mansion without any incident…

“Why aren’t you coming to the dining room?”

Just then, a welcome voice was heard. A graceful voice cut through the silence from afar. Erhan and my gaze, excluding Zachary, quickly turned in that direction.

“The hallway was a bit noisy, so I came by on my way… Is something going on?”

It was Mother. For some reason, she was carrying a bunch of envelopes that looked like letters or invitations. Upon discovering us, she immediately handed them over to her servant beside her.

“Hello.”

“Good morning, Mother.”

Erhan and I bowed our heads in greeting. Zachary also promptly lowered his head.

“Yes, you two are getting along well even in the morning.”

She approached us, making the sound of her shoes, and smiled brightly. Then, as if trying to grasp the situation, she slowly looked around at us and stared intently at Zachary.

I realized my mistake, but it was too late. Zachary’s face was fully exposed without any cover. Just as I was about to turn my head to try to rectify the situation…

‘…What?’

I saw it. The moment she saw Zachary’s face, Mother was shaken.

Of course, this was only for a brief moment that I alone could notice. She had an expression as if she had confirmed some shocking reality and was quite shocked.

I was also surprised to see such an expression on Mother’s face for the first time. It felt like I had secretly peeked through a crack in a perfectly crafted mask.

“Where did you bring out that unsightly face from? Cover it up.”

However, as if everything had been an illusion, Mother’s expression returned to normal in an instant.

Tsk. She clicked her tongue once, pouring out a cold rebuke, and never set her gaze on Zachary again.

“I apologize for causing a disturbance.”

Erhan bowed his head and apologized to Mother. It wasn’t exactly a disturbance, but we did have a fight that wasn’t quite a fight in the hallway.

“I’m sorry.”

Mother, who had a keen ear, couldn’t have missed that situation. I also apologized. Seeing Erhan and me seeking forgiveness, Mother said it was understandable and smiled benevolently.

“Shall we go now? The Duke must be waiting.”

“Yes.”

In the meantime, Zachary had put the cloth back on. Erhan, who had looked like he was about to crack at any moment, had also composed his expression. Everyone in this place seemed no different from usual.

‘Thank goodness.’

I secretly let out a sigh. Honestly, it would be a lie if I said I wasn’t in a difficult position. I had no idea how to get out of this situation, but Mother appeared at the right moment and broke the flow for us. Her appearance was very welcome.

However, the pain was too strong for me to walk on my own, and I couldn’t even muster the courage to put my foot down. As if noticing my condition, Zachary extended his hand.

“…Thank you.”

As I held Zachary’s hand and leaned on him, Mother’s gaze, who had been briefly talking with Erhan, fell on me.

As soon as she saw Zachary supporting me, she seemed to have noticed something and immediately looked at my ankle.

“Oh my, Oscar!”

She exclaimed in surprise and knelt down without caring if the long hem of her dress touched the floor. As I reached out to hold her in surprise, she looked at my swollen ankle and spoke as if screaming.

“What happened to my child’s ankle?!”

***

Clatter……

Only the sound of the servants putting down the tableware to replace it could be heard. The atmosphere in the dining room was chilly. Normally, Mother would have lightened up this gloomy mood, but she was very angry.

“You were going to come to eat in this state? Who told you to do that? How can you not take care of your body like this!”

She must have been very upset, as she kept nagging me, sticking close to my side all the way here.

After that, she immediately wanted to call a doctor, but I managed to dissuade her, saying that the Duke would be waiting.

“Foolish thing!”

She spat out a word with an angry face and didn’t say anything else all the way to the dining room. After all, Mother had always been sensitive about my health. These days, I had become healthier, so it was less than before, but her original worries didn’t go away.

And the price for upsetting Mother came back like karma, hitting hard.

“……”

I’m suffocating.

Since Mother wasn’t saying anything, who in the Serpentine family would dare to open their mouth? Mother had always been the one to initiate all conversations and lead them. Now that she was angry and tightly pursing her lips, focusing only on the meal…

‘Sigh……’

I swallowed endless sighs inwardly that I couldn’t let out externally. While I hoped someone would break this silence, the meal was almost over.

This won’t do. If I could just say something……

“Come to think of it.”

Just as I was about to break the silence, unable to endure it any longer, the person who shattered the stillness was someone very unexpected.

“It seems you’ve started studying.”

The Duke?

It wasn’t the first time I had seen him open his mouth, but while I expected him to contribute to this silence, he wasn’t the type to take the initiative and speak.

However, I couldn’t just keep being amazed. The Duke’s gaze was directed at me. I quickly swallowed the food in my mouth, cleared my throat, and replied.

“Yes. I started yesterday.”

As expected, there was no story that didn’t reach the Duke’s ears in this mansion.

He must have heard that Erhan had started teaching me. Even though I had been putting it off and only started yesterday.

Moreover, it was late at night when Erhan came to my room to teach me and left. Seeing that he had already heard about it, he was indeed the true master of the Serpentine family.

“I don’t know if that incompetent fellow will teach you well.”

“…Pardon?”

I was about to give a habitual answer of agreement, but I was momentarily startled and looked at the Duke. However, he was calmly cutting the meat with his knife as if he hadn’t uttered a word.

Erhan was no different from the Duke. He, too, was only looking at his barely touched plate with a nonchalant face.

“……”

Mother paused the tip of her knife for a moment but that was it. She also pushed a small cut of meat into her mouth as if she hadn’t heard anything.

While everyone was overflowing with dignity, I was the only one frozen.

“It’s fortunate that he at least has such talent.”

However, the Duke didn’t stop there and continued to speak.

There was no affection felt in his blunt evaluation uttered in a dry voice. At the Duke’s attitude, as if it were natural to disparage his son, I unintentionally glanced at Erhan again. The moment I saw Erhan’s expression, my heart strangely thudded.

“……”

The hand that had been busily moving stopped at some point. The eyes that had always been cold flickered briefly. It was an emotional agitation that he couldn’t hide in time.

As if he had been hurt.