The Lady's Butler: I Reincarnated To Serve The Villainess

Professor Aldric.

In the manhwa, he was an unimportant S-ranked spirit mage that much...or rather, nothing was known about.

He was even less than an extra, a character that was only there because the author wanted to make the world feel alive.

In the manhwa itself, he had only appeared a few times and in none of those times had he been important to the plot.

Even Adrian had only seen the professor once before, and that was only during the First year’s entrance exams.

So it was quite surprising that the butler had managed to figure out that the lab professor and the cult master were the same.

Even the cult master was quite surprised before he let out an amused chuckle, and whatever blanket of reality was restricting his face from being seen suddenly faded.

"How did you know?" The cult master, or rather, Aldric, asked as his face was revealed.

He had long black hair and a pair of weird eyes, much like Isla’s, but at the same time, not.

Unlike Isla’s colorful eyes, the cult master’s iris seemed like a fractured silver glass, which were definitely not the same eyes he wore as Aldric, else, too much attention would be drawn to him.

"I didn’t," the butler said with a serious expression, "headmistress Evelina did."

Aldric was surprised again, learning that the headmistress knew about him; after all, he was certain that her pesky strings were not attached to him.

Unfortunately, the cult master was unaware of one thing.

He, like three others, was a child of Avera, which meant he would always be connected to her as long as he possessed the space shard, which meant that Evelina could always eventually read his fate.

"She said you were quite the headache to figure out," Adrian continued, looking at the man before him, "after all, your presence was hidden from even her eyes. "

"Unfortunately for you, she finally managed to get a read on you after you trapped her in a separate dimension during the attack on the capital. "

"Is that so?" Aldric asked, "That’s quite annoying, but I suppose the academy has already served its purpose. "

Adrian studied him for a while before saying, "You don’t seem especially troubled by the fact that you’ve been discovered."

"I am," the cult master responded, "but, as I said, the academy already served its purpose."

He then looked directly into Adrian’s eyes before smiling, "and I now know exactly who would make fitting puppets for my plan."

In other words, he was at the academy just to observe what the future generation had to offer and if any would stand in his way.

"Besides," he opened both arms wide as he looked up at the skies, "why should I worry about creatures beneath me?"

At this point, he saw it unnecessary to hide his true thoughts; after all, the kid before him already knew them.

"At this point," he said, lowering his arms slowly, " since you already know what I am, there’s no point performing modesty I don’t feel."

Adrian said nothing in response.

"You think me arrogant," Aldric continued, watching his expression, "I’m not."

"Arrogance implies an inflated sense of one’s own worth," he added, "I have measured mine precisely, and I know exactly how far above the rest of Avera I stand."

"Compared to me, the rest are just pebbles," the cult master paused and properly looked at Adrian, "but you’re different."

The butler knew this was coming; after all, it was the very same line every single generic villain used.

Though he was hoping that the cult master would at least be a bit interesting.

Aldric extended his hand toward him before adding, "Join me, and together, we can rule Avera like gods."

Adrian looked at the offered hand for a short while, then back at Aldric’s face before letting out a sigh,

"That’s it?" he asked.

"An entire philosophy about pressure and growth," He paused, "and in the end, your true goal is to ’rule Avera like gods.’"

"You sound disappointed," Aldric said.

"I am," Adrian said honestly, "I was hoping for something more original."

"I see," the cult master muttered, though not fully understanding the butler’s thought process.

Aldric was certain that everyone, in one way or another, craved absolute control, and the butler before him was no different.

In hindsight, they weren’t so different, after all, their goals were the same...bringing Avera under their control.

The difference, in his mind, was simply the method used to achieve that goal.

"You’re protecting one person," Aldric continued, lowering his hand at last. "I’m protecting an entire world. The logic doesn’t change just because the radius does."

"No," Adrian shook his head, "I’m protecting my lady, you’re trying to make everyone in Avera submit to you."

"You want them to worship you," the butler continued, "there’s a difference."

Aldric was silent for a while before letting out a chuckle, "I suppose you are right."

He looked up again before finally asking, "Then would you rather they worship me now and end up being safe...or would you want them to be destroyed by what’s coming once again?"

"Let me guess," Adrian said, "your idea of safety is turning them all into corrupted humans?"

"Which is not quite different from your choice of turning a child into a magic tool," the cult master said, referring to Conan.

"I believe it’s quite different," the butler responded, "after all, it was his choice in the end."

"Did he?" The cult master asked, looking directly at the butler who had gone silent, without an answer to that.

He let out another chuckle, certain that the butler had no answer.

"Besides, pebbles who cannot protect themselves do not get the privilege of a choice," Aldric continued, and for just a second, Adrian was certain that he saw something in his eyes.

Though he didn’t point it out, as the cult master continued.

"They protect nothing by choosing," Aldric said. "A pebble choosing to stand against a landslide is still a pebble; the landslide doesn’t pause to admire the conviction."

He took a short pause before adding, "I’m offering them something a choice cannot give them. Survival regardless of how insignificant they turn out to be."

"So you’d rather rule over puppets?" Adrian said with a chuckle, "That sounds quite lonely."

"If that’s what it takes," the cult master responded, and the two went completely silent.

Adrian let out a sigh, looked down at his bracelet, all this while he had been feeling something going on with it, and that feeling only grew by the second.

"It seems I’ve been separated from my lady for far too long," the butler suddenly spoke up, "if we’re done here, I’d like you to send me back before she worries too much."

The cult master looked at the kid and still couldn’t help but be amused by the kid’s lack of caution towards him, but before he could say anything,

CRACK!

A loud snap was heard all around them, causing the two to look around, only to notice what seemed to be cracks floating all around them.

The strange part was the fact that those cracks seemed frozen and that frost was quickly spreading.

Again, the cult master’s reaction was only fascination as the space around them continued cracking until it completely shattered.

The first thing Adrian noticed was Renelle, whose blue eyes were glowing with her hand extended in front of her.

Her skin also seemed to be freezing, and Crystal seemed to be trying to prevent that from happening, but Renelle paid no mind to the fox.

She had felt Adrian’s locating through the bracelet, and for some reason, she was certain that she would be able to break through to wherever he’d been taken.

She had been right.

The cult master was still surprised as he looked at her. One had to recall that his dimensions were a separate space from Avera, much like the dragon’s, so it was impossible to just freeze and break it.

Yet, he had witnessed the impossible happen.

Adrian, on the other hand, just calmly walked towards her, removed his gloves and placed his hand on her extended one.

"I’m sorry for worrying you, my lady," he said in a gentle voice as he slowly pulled the excess mana from her and to himself.

Although he had grown stronger since the last time he did this, so had Renelle, so the excess mana he pulled from her was considerably worse.

Not that he was going to pass out again.

Renelle just wrapped her fingers around his hand, looked into his eyes as she slowly calmed down, but before she could say anything,

She suddenly passed out.

Adrian managed to catch her before she could reach the ground as he asked, "Is she?"

"No, rather, it seems she pulled in too much of your mana in one go, "Noctis responded, "she’ll be fine."

"Kyu?" Crystal let out as she hopped on Adrian’s shoulders, worried.

"She’s fine," Adrian reassured, "she just needs a bit of rest."

The butler finally turned towards the cult master, who had been silent all this time.

Aldric then turned towards the direction of the arena before muttering, "It seems they’re almost done."

He then turned towards Adrian as he said before disappearing,

"Whether or not I treat you as a pebble, depends on whether you decide to join me or not."