The Lady's Butler

Separation Arc {Part 2}

(Part 2)

He walked with steady steps towards the Master's Office, certainty only in his steps. He had been here for the most of his life, and there was nothing to be afraid about. He had worked and now deserved where he stood. The short trip away from the Main House had been a welcome distraction, and he had enjoyed himself very much with his lady and the growing man-to-be. Hiding a smile within himself at the recent memory, careful to keep his emotions hidden and separated from his duty, he continued his relatively undisturbed journey to his master's office.

He knocked on the door politely, and waited patiently for the calling reply. He was not sure if his master was expecting him, for he had not informed his master of the exact time of his return. Perhaps the Head of the house was busy in matters?

"Come in." The light-hearted call interrupted his pondering, and he opened the door, stepping in and bowing quickly at the sight of his master standing behind the desk.

"Ah, you're back just in time." The smile that greeted him was warm and welcoming, and he struggled not to smile at the same face that he had watched grow up, even while he grew up as well.

"I hope you did not miss me too much." He replied seriously, but both of them understood the tease behind his stern words. His master, after all, had grown up to be rather reliant on him, and he had heard of how his master was usually rather grumpy whenever he had to take a break to go back to his own home. If he was honest with himself, he would admit that his master's reliance on him made him proud of his achievements –that he had served his master well enough that he was becoming irreplaceable.

But it was not supposed to be in a butler's role to be irreplaceable, and thus he refused to let himself get complacent.

"Oh, to bits. You filled my every thought every waking moment." The reply made was sarcastic, and he looked up just in time to see a playfully sarcastic roll of eyes. "My thinking of you aside, you're just in time to attend to my dinner. I'm having it with Oscar today."

"Master Oscar has come for a visit?" He answered with surprise. "Did he send a letter?"

"Right after you left." His master answered, as he stepped forwards to the desk to clean it up now that it was obvious that he had caught his master in the act of preparing to leave the office. "It is rather rare that he decides to visit, so I cleared some time to tend to him personally. We've both been rather busy recently."

"Yes." He agreed with his master. "It was rather worrying when we heard rumours about his involvement with Italian mafia, was it not? It is much a relief that he was cleared of any connections to them."

"Yes, and it is also a good time to see how much he has changed since the last I saw him. Come on, Kyrone. Let us make haste."

"Certainly." He answered as he stacked the last of the files on the corner of the table neatly, ready to be tended once more when his master returned to the office again.

"How is Karima? Is she doing well?" Luca asked conversationally as they took their walk casually along the corridor towards the dining hall. Had Kyrone known that his master's little brother was coming over for a visit, Kyrone would have personally attended to Master Oscar's comfort before coming to fetch the Head of the household. Still, Kyrone hoped that the stand-in butler for him while he was absent was trained enough to have been attending Master Oscar when he found his own master.

"She is doing very well. She is still the same." Kyrone answered, a little grateful that his master cared enough about his wife to ask. Kyrone had met many other masters of different households, and had seen the way the Head Butlers were treated. Kyrone dared to say that Luca's treatment of him was perfect and flawless. It could be attributed to the fact that they had quite literally stayed by each other's side as they grew up, learning every bit about each other as they did. In fact, Kyrone didn't doubt that his master knew more about his body than his own wife did.