By Zephyria 
“…What?”
The word ‘absurd’ wasn’t enough. No. How long has it been since they met, and they’ve already made a secret between themselves? And they’re telling me this so confidently?
“An exclusive servant is making a secret from his master? So confidently?”
At my dumbfounded voice, Allen looked back and forth between me and Frederick, looking embarrassed. Then Frederick, who had been stepping back for a moment…, blocked the space between Allen and me again.
“I’m sorry. Noah. Please understand.”
“Frederick Young Master Hamilton…”
“Allen didn’t do anything wrong.”
Allen’s tearful voice, as if he was deeply moved, and Frederick’s unusually serious expression… I really had nothing to say, even if I had ten mouths. Anyone would think I had scolded Allen severely.
“Oh, really?”
Call it spite, if you will.
“Okay. I won’t ask any more. So Frederick, please relax your expression. Why are you being so serious about something so trivial?”
It felt like an invisible blade was cutting sharply through the center of my chest. Forcing myself to turn away from that eerie feeling, I smiled leisurely.
Looking emotionally pathetic. Appearing as if you don’t have any pride or anything from the beginning. And thus, living with all the sympathy from those around you.
That was what Allen had been using well so far, and it was also a strategy that I had resolved to use first in this Iteration before I was victimized. But that was a method that should be used after Allen had proudly returned as the Count Hamilton’s own son, not just a simple new servant. The moment I seriously tried to deal with a new servant because of something like this, not only would my current reputation be shattered, but I would also have to be prepared for the backlash when Allen’s identity was revealed later.
“Anyway, are you two done talking? Since we’re all here, let’s have tea together. Especially Frederick, you haven’t been coming to see me much lately.”
“Our youngest brother must have missed his brother a lot.”
“Funny. What are you talking about.”
“Actually…”
It was when Frederick was about to continue speaking. Allen’s white hand, which had been hiding behind Frederick’s large frame, grabbed Frederick’s collar tightly. Then, as if by magic, Frederick’s mouth closed. Frederick smiled awkwardly and babbled something like, “Haha, shall we have tea?”
A fancy afternoon tea set was quickly set up in one corner of the Banquet Hall, which the orchestra had left. The attendees of the unplanned tea party were me, Frederick, Allen, and Nicole. Nicole seemed unable to adapt to sitting with the Young Masters Hamilton and not serving them, and looked uncomfortable throughout the tea party due to my insistence, but Allen mixed milk into his tea and spread cream and jam on his scones with a natural attitude, as if he had experienced it many times.
If it weren’t for the clothes he was wearing and the bangs that came down so thickly that they covered his eyes, he would have looked like Young Master Hamilton already. I had become numb enough that I didn’t have to be shocked by such stimuli anymore. I smiled kindly and offered Allen cookies and cake, and Allen responded to my invitation with a bright smile, raising the corners of his mouth without refusing.
Rather, it was Frederick who was acting awkwardly, as if he were wearing ill-fitting clothes.
“So, before, Frederick…”
“Ah, Noah. Come to think of it, I forgot I had a prior engagement.”
Frederick, who had been acting awkwardly, only watching my every move and minding me like someone who had nothing to do with how amiable the three of us sitting around the table were, got up from his seat with an absurd excuse before he had even been sitting at the table for 30 minutes. He seemed to have forgotten that I received a report every morning on the daily schedules of the direct family members since I started helping my mother with the management of the mansion.
“Really? Then there’s nothing I can do. Stay with me longer next time.”
It was easier to make up a suitable, moderately affectionate complaint. Frederick, of course, promised that he would, but even at the very end, he subtly signaled Allen with a meaningful wink. Allen also nodded subtly.
“Okay, Allen. Where were we?”
I just smiled brightly, pretending not to notice anything.
After all, Allen was Allen. He hadn’t even been in the mansion for half a year, but in the blink of an eye, he had become the center of the servants. The center here didn’t mean that he had a loud voice among them or that he was taking any kind of profit. Everyone knew Allen. Everyone showed Allen kindness. Allen had become more familiar with the mansion than those who had been serving Hamilton for two or three generations and had been born in this mansion.
It wasn’t that Allen was particularly talented in social skills, but the world was surprisingly kind to Allen. As always. Moreover, this time he was even wearing the armband of my exclusive servant, so the speed was even faster. Even the early villain characters, who initially showed subtle antagonism and guarded against Allen, opened the gates of their hearts at the single phrase, “Young Master Hamilton’s exclusive servant.”
Now, even if I didn’t stick with Allen, everyone in the mansion was his eyes and ears. In fact, when I stayed in the mansion, it was safe to say that I was within Allen’s sight 24 hours a day. Sometimes, when it was hard to see him, I would give him a task that would keep him away from me, but Allen, who had easily completed the task with the help of those around him, would rush back and chatter, “Young Master Hamilton, you did this, you did that.” Countless people, such as gardeners, shoe shiners, kitchen maids, and new footmen, who were not even noticeable to me, used me as an excuse to try to talk to Allen.
To be honest, it would be a lie if I said I wasn’t suffocating. Familiarity and comfort… are very similar, but completely different things.
“Noah.”
“…Ah, Brother.”
And here. There is another protagonist who makes me suffocate.
“Let’s talk for a moment.”
“No, I’m sorry. I’m a little busy.”
“How long are you going to keep avoiding me? Do you really believe that someone like you can escape from my grasp until the end?”
This is Andrew Hamilton, who dares to say he loves me while looking down at me with contemptuous, arrogant eyes and a murderous, fierce voice.
“…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Thankfully, or perhaps not, thanks to the passage of some time, it was at least a little less embarrassing to see his face… I still vividly remembered the memory of clinging to him and whining. Ah, I wanted to stick my nose in a dish of water and die.
Since then, I had been skillfully avoiding him. I had been taking full advantage of the fact that I received a report on the daily schedules of the direct family members every morning. As far as I knew, he was supposed to be having a meeting with the small lords near the Count Hamilton’s territory at this time today… What could it be? Did he break his schedule to catch me, who was avoiding him like a slippery eel?
Even if that were the case, it was his problem. Today was the day I had planned to meet Beatrice after a long time. The word ‘busy’ wasn’t just an excuse.
I said, “Let’s go, Nicole,” and tried to walk past him in a hurry. But before my feet could safely pass him, he grabbed my shoulder first.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about? Then shall I tell you in a way you can understand? In the place where that guy you cherish so much is?”
He whispered softly, only loud enough for me to hear, and pointed his chin at Nicole behind me. That cheap bastard… I clenched my teeth involuntarily.
“Oh, right. I forgot to discuss the upcoming New Year’s festival with you. Nicole, I have to talk to my brother for a moment, so could you go to the carriage first?”
Nicole left without suspecting anything. It seemed that he thought that Andrew and I were just having a normal, bad relationship, as always. I didn’t want to worry anyone, especially Nicole and Mrs. Seymour. If I were to act spoiled, I wanted it to be with something that wasn’t too serious, and only with worries that could be temporary.
As soon as Nicole disappeared from sight, I shook off the shoulder he was holding tightly.
“Okay. Go ahead and say it. You have so much to say, I can’t refuse to listen.”
His favorability rating remained steadfast even at my sharp voice.
Favorability: 93%
One peculiar thing was that ‘Purity’ or ‘Desire’, which were displayed when the favorability rating exceeded 60%, were not visible in Andrew Hamilton’s favorability rating at all.
“I’m thinking of holding the engagement ceremony sometime after your birthday. What do you think?”
“Excuse me?”
“The Crown Prince’s side will be taken care of somehow before then, so don’t worry. I’m thinking of telling our parents after I’ve taken care of the Crown Prince.”
“No, what engagement ceremony are you talking about? Speak in a way I can understand.”
“What engagement ceremony, of course…”
That was, unbelievably.
“The engagement ceremony between you and me.”
It meant that Andrew Hamilton was already sincerely ‘loving’ me.