Another peaceful day at the mansion.

I was about to goof off after leaving the sick villainess, but some unwelcome guests showed up.

‘Thought I wouldn’t see them for a while.’

While brewing cheap  green tea tea, I saw the two students sitting at the table.

A crisp white background with striking gold embroidery.

The same uniform I wore a year ago.

A girl with an unconcealed unpleasant expression, and a familiar face of a boy sneering as he looked around.

They were waiting for me to sit at the table.

“You are Miss Hanna, right?”

I placed the  green tea tea bought for 1 shilling at the market in front of the guests, and spoke.

Sniff. She must’ve recognized the cheap tea by smell alone. Hanna’s expression twisted the moment she saw the tea.

It made me feel bad too, seeing her react before even tasting it. I tried my best for visiting guests after so long too.

The light green haired rascal snickering away also irritated me quite a bit.

They were the ones who suddenly showed up.

Not only interrupting my sweet break time but even taking my  tea. The audacity of these freeloaders annoyed me, but I decided to endure it for the young lady’s reputation.

After a brief teatime, Hanna nodded.

“I am Hanna Histania, the 1st year secretary of the Royal Academy Student Council, from the Swordsmanship Department.”

Speaking coldly. Her desire to get to the point was obvious, so I felt we could communicate well.

I didn’t want to entertain the guests either.

‘Let’s get this done quickly.’

Wanting to resolve this fast.

If they came for money, I’d make them kneel.

If they came for revenge on the young lady, I’d draw my sword.

Whichever way the conversation went, it would end quickly if our opinions aligned.

Just as I opened my mouth to confirm her objective…

“Yo, Ricardo.”

The green haired rascal called me.

“You called?”

“You called? Puhahah…I’m gonna go crazy. For real.”

The pretty boy spun his  teacup, fidgeting as he sneered.

Seeing him address me casually when he looked like washed out  tea irritated me.

I put on the smile honed by capitalism from my past life.

Of course, I didn’t forget to prod him.

“You seem out of your mind. Showing up unannounced like this.”

“Haha, still the same as ever.”

The light green head seems to know me.

Of course I know him too.

Ruin and I were academy mates.

I’m 22 years old.

I entered the academy late to match Olivia’s enrollment, and had to survive the harsh academy full of kids talking down to me.

Ruin was the perpetual #2 behind Olivia, just sucking his finger.

In the original work, he clung onto the heroine wishy-washily as the obsessive second male lead.

I remember him being a problem child character who only knew basic fireballs but acted all cocky in the novel.

So I didn’t treat Ruin nicely.

He bullied Olivia in the original work, and his sneering didn’t match my needs.

The female readers may have called it Ruin’s charm, a decadent pretty boy, but to me he seemed like someone with no manners. After possessing this body, I felt even more so.

So I ignored him.

Whenever he talked to me at the academy.

Picked fights.

I ignored him with Silence.

That must be why he’s so salty now.

We gave off the vibe of ‘you obsess over the heroine, I’ll only care about our villainess, let’s stay out of each other’s way’ while ignoring him.

Ruin must’ve taken that as provocation.

“Hey. You listening to me?”

I was reminiscing about Ruin’s past as an eyesore, so I briefly zoned out.

I should ignore his washed out  tea comments, but he may have said something about money so I couldn’t let my guard down.

Thump.

Ruin provocatively put his leg up on the table. The already worn out table seemed to scream and want to sign a waiver.

Creeeak

“Sorry about that. I was lost in thought for a moment…”

“What…?”

“I got too nervous in the presence of such an esteemed guest.”

Smile like it’s a good thing.

“Anyway, it’s been a while. About a year?”

“Yes. I suppose so.”

“Haven’t seen you since you got kicked out back then.”

Us.

The Crown Prince and Michail. And so on.

He must mean the sub male leads of the heroine.

Ruin opened his eyes dreamily as if reminiscing about his brilliant past. I corrected his cheap provocation and edited memory.

“I didn’t get kicked out, I took a leave of absence.”

“Puhahahaha! Oh right, that’s why you came.”

Thud. Suddenly bursting into laughter then looking serious.

A chill went down my spine.

Not because I was scared. Just.

‘How old is this kid mentally? His chuunibyou still hasn’t gone away.’

It reminded me of my own chuunibyou days.

A typical chuunibyou action, laughing then abruptly looking serious to seem cool and scare the opponent.

Seeing a reflection of myself bothered me.

“Do as you always did. Ricardo. You were casual with me before.”

I placed my hand gently on the table and spoke.

“I’m the butler of the Desmond House now, so I cannot be casual towards guests visiting the mansion.”

“What butler, what butler. Acting all high and mighty when your household’s in ruins.”

“No. The Desmond House is still doing well, but more precisely, it is the young lady I serve who has fallen.”

I had no desire to take his cheap bait.

Even if we turned red yelling at each other, what would I gain? Unless he paid me. But he’s not, so I didn’t want to fight.

So I ignored Ruin.

Annoying racket isn’t good for mental health.

I looked towards the one I felt I could communicate with better.

[Hanna Histania Lv. 28]
[Occupation: Academy Student]
[Favorability: -20]
[Favorite conversation topic: Michail]
[Least favorite conversation topic: Swordsmanship]

What do you mean minus?

Seeing the ruthless minus favorability floating above shocked me considerably.

‘Am I that ugly?’

Or did she dislike my reception?

I served our mansion’s finest  tea despite it being cheap… To try to impress the guests after so long, but this assassination attempt on my favorability was unacceptable.

‘Still so inadequate.’

I was feeling quite lacking as both a butler and as a human.

“Miss Hanna?”

“…”

She ignores me.

Instead of answering, she slammed a letter down on the table.

“What is this?”

Hanna crossed her arms.

Crossing arms in front of a senior was very arrogant.

She looks like she’d collapse if I bopped her upside the head.

I quietly waited for her to speak, counting rin [patience] in my head as I have a gentle personality.

“The student council president told me to give it to you. To tell you to re-enroll.”

“The student council president?”

Student council president. Who could it be?

Too early for the heroine to be president yet.

I asked curiously.

“Who is the current student council president?”

“Princess Chartia.”

Chartia. 3rd Imperial Princess.

If I remember correctly, a minor character in the original work who liked Michail among countless others.

Not an obsessive villainess like Olivia, I recall her simply confessing then graciously accepting rejection.

I nodded.

Princess Chartia.

Didn’t intersect much, but I remember her as not a bad person.

I quickly read the letter placed on the table and grimaced, pushing the letter forward.

“My apologies. But it doesn’t seem to be the right time yet.”

“Bullshit.”

A prim curse could be heard. Hanna’s brows furrowed.

She glanced at Ruin sitting next to her.

Ruin still had his hands in his pockets, blabbering arrogantly.

He gulped down the  tea I carefully brewed then garbled noisily, spitting as well.

“Ptooey.”

His actions, even spitting, surprised me. His companion Hanna seemed just as taken aback.

Ruin spoke.

“What time, you just can’t do it.”

I listened to Ruin’s words. I quietly gave him the space to chatter, wanting to see him make a fool of himself.

“Right?”

Ruin glanced at me, nodding. He seems to want to see my helpless reaction, but I just shrugged in response.

Ruin must’ve found my reaction easy to handle. He kept spouting nonsense.

“With Olivia in ruins, who’d wanna come back? You’ve got no money left, right?”

-Nod nod.

I nodded.

“You make a good point.”

-Tsk.

Clicking his tongue at my nonchalant response.

“Acting all casual. But I’m right, aren’t I? Your master messed up black magic and became a retard.”

“That is correct.”

“What’s the point of a retard serving a retard?”

Puhaha. Ruin laughed out loud.

I watched him quietly.

“Senior…!”

Hanna, who maintained a blank expression, finally grimaced at Ruin’s verbal abuse. She didn’t expect him to speak so harshly.

While Hanna herself wanted to scold the villainess, seeing her senior cross the line stunned her.

With the butler quietly taking his master’s insults, and the  tea leaves leaving a bad taste…

At a loss with the state her accompanying senior was in, the only one in Hanna’s mind was Michail.

I observed the two silently.

It was quite an amusing sight.

The girl trying to stop him after letting him run wild, and the cocky magician finding himself funny.

They were ridiculous.

Objectively speaking, he wasn’t wrong.

I did take what seemed like a forced leave of absence.

And the young lady did unfortunately become disabled.

But it did piss me off.

‘Should I fight back?’

As anonymous spaces with guaranteed privacy developed in the modern era, what grew most for modern people wasn’t power or knowledge.

It was extremely advanced trash talking.

The moment they grabbed a keyboard, modern people honed the way to destroy their opponent’s mental until their dying breath.

I grew that way in the brutal world of gaming. To become strong and protect my mother who must be out there somewhere.

So I knew Ruin’s weakness better than anyone. Maybe better than himself even.

Because I read the original work and could tell from the favorability system.

But I didn’t prod him further for one simple reason.

The young lady might hear us.

I had to be careful.

If the kind-hearted villainess heard us fighting, the mansion might become a sea of tears for a while.

She already had a high fever. Getting mad on top of that, she really might blow up.

But I can’t just take it lying down.

I quietly mulled over the sentence most likely to set him off. I calmly thought of a phrase to get under his skin while keeping my calm.

“Yes. So isn’t it that I’m putting off re-enrolling because I’m down on my luck?”
“Yeah?”

Ruin snickered.
He smiled, seeming satisfied thinking ‘he’s finally got it right’ but…

My next words soured his expression.

“For the Magic Tower Master’s disciple to have the 2nd year top spot taken by a regular young noble lady, tsk tsk…”

I smiled wickedly.

“Truly the standard has fallen…”

In a flash.

“This fu*king b*stard.”

A red sphere formed in Ruin’s hand.

Hanna next to him couldn’t comprehend it. Too fast, her eyes couldn’t follow.

This must be the difference between 1st and 2nd years.
The wall that still seemed far away.
Hanna moved belatedly.

“Senior…!”

-Thud────!

Just then.

Ruin’s head about to activate magic.

Was smashed into the floor.

The worn out table shattered into pieces.
And Ruin’s head that was screaming slammed down onto the floor.

Hanna blinked.

She couldn’t see it.
No, it couldn’t be seen.

By the time she closed and opened her eyes, it was already over.

The one who accomplished all this in the blink of an eye held Ruin’s struggling head and whispered softly.

“Zip your trap. The young lady’s sleeping.”

The butler’s red eyes were blazing.