Vol. 1 Chapter 4: To Become Your Valet

Translated and Edited by: ynlucca.

Common Honorifics:
-san: A polite suffix, but not excessively formal.
-kun: A common suffix among friends and younger people.
-chan: A common suffix among people you’re close with, mostly used for feminine nicknames and girls, since it’s cutesy and childlike.

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“I look forward to working with you, Usami.”

“Yeah! Me too!”

Usami jumped up and down with a happy look on her face, but when she noticed me looking at her, she stopped, embarrassed. A strange atmosphere enveloped the room.

“A–Anyway… What am I supposed to do now?” I ask a question, quickly trying to get past the awkwardness.

“W–Well… You’ll become my valet in, let’s say, a week from now. In the meantime, my butler will educate you. Sakaki!”

“Ha!” At the sound of her voice, an elderly butler kneeled in front of us.

“I order you to teach Haru how to be a valet. You have one week.”

“The deadline is a bit tight, which will require me to be a bit stricter… Do you mind it, ma’am?”

“Not at all! Well, it’s because I trust you,” she turned to me mid-sentence, smiling warmly.

For her sake, I have to do it. I’m determined to live up to Usami’s expectations and prepare myself for the education that was to come.

“… Very well.”

“Hm?”

Was Sakaki-san glaring at me just now? Did I do something?

“Shuu-san, please come this way…”

I followed after the butler, still a bit uneasy from what just happened.

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Walking after him for a while, we eventually reached a door with “Servant’s Room” written on it. However, even after stepping inside, Sakaki-san did not utter a single word. I could only notice him trembling from behind.

“Um… Sakaki-san? Hello, Sakaki-san?”

“… You… are…”

“Hm?”

“Don’t get carried away, you little sh*t!”

“Eh?”

His sudden change in attitude made me utter a dumb ‘Eh.’

“Don’t get conceited just because our young lady likes you a little! A piece of sh*t like you is a hundred years too young to serve her at her side! I’ve been taking care of her ever since she was little, and then a random b*****d like you just pops up out of nowhere!”

What. Eh? Eeeeeeh?

Is this the right person? I thought he was a taciturn, austere butler… Can’t judge a book by its cover, I guess…

For the next hour, he kept talking about how against me he was, and about how wonderful Usami is, before finally going quiet.

“Haah… haah. But if it’s her command, I, Sakaki Seijuro, cannot refuse to obey,” out of breath, he finally agrees to teach me. “But, boy! If you squirm out the slightest hint of weakness, I’ll immediately report you to the young lady and have you leave this house! Do you understand?”

“Y–Yes, sir!” I replied without thinking, losing to his momentum.

I thought I was prepared for this, at least to some extent, but… I didn’t expect this turn of events at all. But I’ll do my best for Usami, who’s counting on me!

For the next week, except for meals, baths, and bedtime, I was forced to learn the ropes of being a valet from Mr. Sakaki to the point of almost throwing up. But, for some odd reason, I felt something akin to fulfillment as I progressed.

Thinking about it, I’ve always been like this. It never felt painful to make efforts for someone. When I first started dating Mei, I wanted to please the one I loved, even though I felt her selfishness troublesome.

How long… How long have I forgotten this feeling?

I was suddenly nostalgic for an emotion I haven’t felt in God-knows how long, and I thanked Usami for bringing it back to me.

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Sakaki’s POV

“You’re quite half-baked, huh? Why don’t you accept Shuu-san?”

The one giving me a hard time is my colleague, Matoi Nijo. She’s super-elite in the maid world, having graduated from a prestigious maid school in England in one year, as opposed to the normal three.

She is now employed by the Usami family, one of the most prestigious families in Japan, and has risen to the position of head maid at the age of 24, an unprecedented feat for a maid. Because of her perfect work ethic, even I, her boss in terms of position, cannot force her to do her job.

“Hmph! He’s still not a suitable valet for the young lady!”

I was entrusted by the young lady to educate a little brat named Haruki Shuu for a week, and during this week, I gave the little brat so many tasks he’d surely give up.

However, contrary to my expectations, the little brat finished the assignments I gave him without a single complaint. Up until now, if I had given him this many assignments, every single one of them, without exception, would have been sounded out. I grit my teeth at the fact that things are not going my way.

“…Grrrr!”

“Haah… You’re being too unreasonable. I’ll report you to the missus.”

“Hey! T–That’s…”

“If you don’t want me to do so, please give him a proper and fair assessment.”

The head maid said whatever she pleased and left me.

“A proper assessment… A proper assessment, A proper assessment!”

I think of the little sh*t, trying my best to evaluate him fairly, as the head maid advised. But as soon as I remember the smile the young lady gives only to that guy, my guts start to boil.

“Gahhhh! I’ll never admit it! That little piece of garbage!”

Sakaki’s voice, which sounded like he’d gone completely insane, echoed throughout the castle, despite the sheer vastness of the place.

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Nijo’s POV

“… Good grief, the head butler is a handful.”

Sakaki was strongly against the boy who came to the castle a week ago, Haruki Shuu. Thinking about this situation, I sigh in my heart.

“However, it is true there are other servants besides him who are dissatisfied with the young lady’s favoritism towards Shuu.”

The servants highly appreciate the young lady. She treats her servants kindly and without distinction. Those who’ve known masters with arrogant attitudes, which is typical of some famous families, even call her an angel.

Some have even come to worship her.

“But that doesn’t mean we should leave him alone with those who bear him ill will. Perhaps, if we find out that there is someone who has malicious intent toward him, the young lady will definitely—”

Fire that servant… Nijo swallowed her words. In order to change the current situation, she’d have to make her move.

“Besides… He might become our master in the future.”

She muttered alone with a voice so small no one could hear.

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