SIWALL 9

“Excellency… surely you should at least get some sleeping pills prescribed….”

“Medication is out of the question. I don’t know what kind of scheme the Emperor might pull.”

Arzen cut him off sharply. Luor bowed his head as if he understood. Amidst the heavy atmosphere, Arzen put down the blood-stained handkerchief.

“I’ll return the handkerchief with a new one.”

“You do not need to return it.”

“The documents have been soiled.”

Arzen frowned. True to his words, quite a large amount of blood had soaked into the paper.

Insomnia was virtually Arzen’s closest comrade-in-arms, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t inconvenient.

I think I slept quite deeply back then.

At the sudden thought, Arzen’s hand, flipping through the blood-soaked documents, came to a halt.

Back then. When he closed his eyes inside a small shadow, enveloped in the scent of lilies said to be good for deep sleep. This has been Elliot Brown until now. The friendly voice of the servant who delivered such a ridiculous greeting echoed in his ears. Impulsively, Arzen opened his mouth.

“…Elliot Brown.”

“Yes?”

“I will take that man as my sleeping quarters attendant.”

“…Y-yes?!”

Luor’s voice cracked, filling the study.

∞ ∞ ∞

Mr. Henderson said to come to the study. At the brief remark Dave left behind, Elliot calmed his pounding chest and stood in front of the study door.

Should I really quit after all? Not content with the letter written to Benny’s daughter causing a minor commotion, Generwin comes to threaten him, and now even a summons from a difficult boss. Yeah, let’s quit. I’ll look for another job.

“Mr. Henderson, good day. I am Elliot Brown, the gardener’s assistant. I was told you called for me to come to the study.”

However, contrary to his inner resolve to resign, his greeting stating his affiliation and name was nothing short of sweet and gentle.

“Come in.”

Come in? Come? He said just one word and I’m already annoyed.

Elliot gritted his teeth, equipped his service-industry smile, and opened the door.

“You called for m….”

Whoa… Elliot’s throat choked up mid-greeting. The radiance and majesty emanating from the man standing by the study window naturally blocked his words.

“Crazy….”

Mr. Henderson, you’re freaking handsome….

If light were to be sculpted into a human, would it look something like this?

Loran Pedet and Generwin Tulion were also owners of astonishingly striking beauty that would make anyone’s eyes pop, but Henderson possessed truly transcendent beauty.

If he were given the stage to praise his beauty, Elliot would not even dare attempt it and would simply drool continuously.

“Unpleasant. Shut your mouth.”

The God of Beauty spoke.

Elliot complied with those words and shut his mouth. However, his pupils, dilated to their maximum limit, showed no signs of shrinking. That is a face that could ruin a country. A face that will corrupt people and tear them to shreds. It’s genuinely, insanely….

Thinking up to that point, Elliot recalled a single question.

Is this person really a butler?

Just like with Loran Pedet, reason reared its head only afterward. No matter how you look at it, that face cannot be explained unless he is the protagonist. But to be certain that he is Arzen Teron….

The title of the original work was {I’ll Tame the Masked Grand Duke}. Why would the Masked Grand Duke be in the title? Because he walks around wearing a mask!

Throughout the novel, the Grand Duke wore a mask or a helmet. People whispered about this, saying the Grand Duke was cursed, that he had a complex about his ugly face, or that it was to hide a face that looked too much like the previous emperor’s.

However, the truth was surprisingly simple. The Grand Duke found people annoying. The empire’s famous ‘Sculpture of the Gods’ Loran Pedet had his face known to the public since he was young, and even now that he was grown up, he drew people’s attention wherever he went.

If Arzen Teron, the hero of the empire, also revealed his face, it was obvious he would be exploited for all kinds of religion and art. Even without that, the people of Lantar were always putting in passionate efforts just to catch a glimpse of the Grand Duke’s shadow.

He had to wear a helmet on the battlefield anyway, and the days he had to stand before the empire’s nobility were few enough to count on one’s fingers.

In that case, let’s just wear a mask usually. Then this fuss will die down a bit too. That’s what the Grand Duke thought.

Loran in the novel had burst into a hearty laugh of disbelief when he heard the reason why the Grand Duke wore a mask. It was a scene where the Grand Duke fell for Loran one more time upon seeing his angel-like, bright smile for the first time. He said that if Loran wanted it, he would take off his mask at least in front of Loran. And Loran had been extremely pleased with those words of the Grand Duke.

With such settings and episodes existing, there was no way the beauty right in front of him could be that fiercely concept-driven Grand Duke Arzen Teron. The setting was that the Grand Duke never, under any circumstances, took off his mask even when sleeping, which was why web novels and webtoons alike featured nothing but masked bulky men the whole time.

Moreover, crucially, the Grand Duke of the original work had black hair. Elliot clearly remembered comments being posted multiple times on webtoons and web novels stating [The male lead having black hair is an unwritten rule].

This overwhelming avatar of beauty did not have black hair. The way his platinum blonde hair, radiating a chilly aura, was cut short and swept back was so sophisticated that just looking at his hair made him look like a model on an expensive salon signboard.

Still… to say he’s not the protagonist, he’s just ridiculously, unreasonably handsome.

And not just his face. How tall he was, and how incredible his physique was. Even though they were standing far apart, a pleasant scent seemed to waft over as well. An air of high nobility oozed from him overall.

Elliot didn’t know how a gay man comes to realize his sexual orientation, but if a man like this came up to him and said, “You, become gay,” he was confident he would nod his head in a trance.

“Gardener’s assistant Elliot Brown.”

The demonic gay… no, Henderson spoke. Elliot swallowed his saliva without realizing it. Henderson’s two eyes turned toward Elliot. They were eyes like the most precious gems in the world.

“Y-yep….”

A voice like the world’s biggest fool popped out, but before Elliot could correct it, the opponent tossed a question.

“What time does your shift end?”

“Um… from seven in the morning to three in the afternoon, M-Mr. Henderson.”

“Starting today, move your post inside the mansion and work until midnight.”

“Yeah, yeah… pardon?”

Elliot’s eyes grew round. He snapped to his senses as if someone had suddenly dashed cold water on him.

“Midnight… is it correct that you mean 12:00 AM?”

“That is correct.”

“Pardon me, but let me ask you once more. Do you mean 12:00 at night, not 12:00 in the afternoon?”

“Yes.”

“So you mean 00:00—”

“I said yes.”

Elliot froze like a stone statue. He couldn’t believe what was happening right now.

What did that gorgeous being, who looked like the Creator had sculpted him with all His might, just say?

12:00 AM…? You’re telling me to work night shifts every day now… to work 17 hours every day… 6 days a week… 17 hours… multiplied by… math isn’t working….

Forgetting even to breathe, Elliot just stared at Henderson. Unable to endure that bizarre silence, Henderson frowned.

“If you understand, be on your way.”

He rubbed his temples irritably and sat down in front of his desk. Though what kind of butler in the world would sit at his master’s desk, Elliot, whose wits had been battered out of him by 102 hours of labor a week, didn’t even have the spare energy to care about such things.

Of course, if told to do it, he could. After all, when he was Lim Seongsik, he had worked the entire week without a single day off. Even back then, though, he hadn’t worked over 100 hours a week.

The only answer Elliot could give was just one.

“…Um, I’ll quit my job.”

And sudden notices of resignation are bound to be unwelcome anywhere.

Facial features possessing perfect balance distorted as if displeased.

That alone made Elliot feel as though he had committed a grave sin. Exerting strength into his waist and knees—which were on the verge of bowing and buckling at any moment—he brought his two hands together over his belly as proudly as possible.

“I am so, so sorry to bring this up so suddenly, Mr. Henderson. But due to personal circumstances, it seems difficult to continue working—”

“What circumstances.”

Don’t interrupt me and read the room.

Elliot clenched his clasped hands even tighter. Mr. Henderson was truly very handsome, but he was a real… son of a bitch.

Elliot pulled up the corners of his mouth like a spinal reflex and smiled.

“That’s a personal matter, so it’s a bit difficult to tell you—”

“I’ll double your salary. If your working hours are long, you can quit the garden work and report to work at seven in the evening. If commuting to and from your home is troublesome, reside within the mansion. I’ll specially assign you a guest room.”

“….”

“Do you still have personal circumstances remaining?”

Elliot had never seen a guy like this in all his life. Cutting people off mid-sentence and making a proposal with such zero manners….

“…Is it multiple choice? Or… are all the conditions you mentioned possible?”

“All of them.”

“I’ll work hard.”

The answer came immediately.

“Thank you!”

Having uttered a single word about quitting, Elliot—who had suddenly managed to secure rent-free luxurious living quarters, double the salary, and a drastic reduction in working hours—bowed at a 90-degree angle with a light heart. He came out of the study with a beaming smile.

Camembert, old pal, we’re moving!

Thrilled by the dramatic settlement of the negotiation, he had completely forgotten the fact that he hadn’t asked the most fundamental thing.

Namely, what work he was supposed to do from evening until night after quitting the garden job.