[Punishment – Part 3]
Louise supposed she could not be surprised when she stepped out of her office for a lunch break, only to find her path blocked by the kneeling form of her son's butlers. Kylar and Kyvan had their backs straight, their heads bowed low and kneeling on one knee in reverence like old-school knights; the very same way they had been taught in the Imperial Academy.
"Miss Louise, we beg you to consider otherwise." The boys had their gloved hands pressed over their lapel right below their shining coat of arms declaring them proud butlers of the Greaves-Crawford Household. Each of them also wore their golden coat of arms that declared them the best graduates of the Imperial Academy –the item distributed so rarely to the butler society that it was almost public knowledge that only butlers of the Reyes family would stand the chance of earning them.
"The failure of the Princeton Tender was the fault on our parts, Miss Louise. It was our fault that we did not react fast enough to the withdrawal of Mr. Summers from the tender. We failed to secure the project despite our best efforts to contact a replacement. If you have to execute punishment, please punish us instead and spare Kyren. He was a victim of his circumstances." Kylar, ever the steady individual, spoke up clearly and humbly.
Between the young twins, it had always been Kylar who reminded Louise just a little bit of her ex-butler. It might have something to do with the maturity of an older twin –the inherent desire to be just a little bit better and portray himself just a little bit more reliable than his little brother in everything he did.
"Yes, Miss Louise. It was my fault that Kyren did not manage to meet Mr. Kingly, and I neglected to get him to attend lessons yesterday. I should have arranged for the tutor to come in at another timing so that he would be awake and attentive. A master makes mistakes when his butler makes mistakes, so please punish us in his stead." Kyvan backed up, not very far from the standard that his brother had set.
The two young men had clearly done very well taking after their father. In fact, Louise would even go as far as to say that they had overtaken their father –at least in comparison to the stories that Brandon had recited about Keyron back when they were still young and playful teenagers. Unfortunately, Louise had experienced being served by a much better butler back when she was their current age, and thus had a much stricter basis of comparison for the Reyes twins.
"I suppose that the both of you are right." Louise declared, aware that the boys' father was currently standing behind her, watching his sons kneel in apology to her for their mistakes made. Keyron had gotten very good at perfecting his butler-mode and ignoring the fact that Kylar and Kyvan were his sons most times, but when they were acting as such stellar butlers; Louise always knew that Keyron fought back proud smiles and brags.
"If your master has faulted, then the two of you are partially to blame as well. Your punishments will be to separate yourselves from Kyren's side. I don't want to see or hear you two sneaking out of the mansion to help Kyren come back home. You two will only serve Kaylen and attend to your lessons as usual, but I forbid all three of you from trying to use the excuse of bringing Kaylen out of the Mansion to play to search for Kyren." Louise nodded to herself at the suitable punishment given.
Both butlers could not help but look up at their mistress standing in front of them in shock.
"Miss Louise-" Kyvan's rising protest was silenced quickly when he spotted his father subtly shaking his head in warning standing behind the mistress.
"Know well that I am punishing the two of you not for your actions this time around, but for you two having pampered your young master so much to the extent that he has become a useless individual. And like how the Imperial Academy must have taught you, the strength of your master is the strength of you butlers. You have allowed Kyren to become useless, and now the two of you are useless. This punishment serves to make Kyren become just a little bit more useful to his household and the society as a whole, and to raise your values equally." Louise declared strongly, as if completely ignorant of the fact that the young master in topic was her son.
"I shall warn you again just for good measure just in case you have been brewing plans in your head, Keyron." Louise turned to her butler standing behind her. "Should you extend any help, or allow anyone from the Greaves-Crawford Household to extend any help to Kyren, I will instantly cut you or them out from the Household."
"I understand, Miss Louise." Keyron was wise enough to prevent more words from spilling as he followed after his mistress while she turned away from the still-kneeling form of his sons. "Please go on ahead to the dining room, I will catch up with you with lunch shortly after."
"Make haste. Brandon and I have a meeting later."
"I understand." Keyron nodded, and watched as his mistress continued down the corridor without a single hesitation or look back. He waited until Louise was safely out of earshot before he turned back quickly to his sons.
"Stand up, the two of you. Quickly." He urged, watching as his obedient sons do so without hesitation. "I know you are worried about Kyren, but Miss Louise is serious this time, and nobody is going to stop her. Be wise and listen to her. Don't worry about Kyren. I will make sure that he is watched after."
"But-" Kylar's worry over his young master was clearly beyond a simple butler-master relationship, there was strong friendship between the three boys as well.
"I know you two have been taught to always secure your master's safety, but Miss Louise is adamant on teaching Kyren a lesson this time, and we as butlers have no position to interfere in how she and Brandon wants to punish Kyren. Listen to her this time, boys. Kyren needs a little bit of a lesson in the outside world." Keyron put assuring hands on his sons' shoulders.
The two of them had grown up from the days where they would welcome him home tackling him with hugs and demands of stories of all the things he had done as a butler. No longer were they the young Kylar and Kyvan who excitedly declared that they were going to be the world's best butler-duo for their young master. No, they had already achieved their goals at the young age of 15.
Unfortunately for them, the one who had failed thus far to fulfil his potential for much greater things was their master.
"The two of you focus on taking care of Miss Kaylen," Keyron instructed, wanting to ruffle their hairs in an affectionate movement, but resisting because they were still in the capacity as butlers at the moment. "Kyren might suffer and struggle, but I will make sure that he does not come into life-threatening danger."
"But how?" Kyvan's confused innocence reminded Keyron that no matter how much his sons may seem to have matured beyond their years –with knowledge of how to deal with businessmen already at their young ages –they had still much to learn. So far, they had learnt about almost everything that made them very good butlers on paper.
Anytime soon, Keyron would let them in on the secret that made him such an effective butler serving two very shrewd individuals. Keyron would teach them the things that his brother had forced him to learn after his death.
"Miss Louise made me promise that I would not use help from anyone within the Greaves-Crawford Household." Keyron answered, patting the shoulders of his young butlers once before moving off to chase after his mistress. "All I have to do is to find someone outside the Household."
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Louise Greaves-Crawford stood in the sitting room overlooking the large expanse of her estate. Positioned by the glass window, she watched with an eagle's gaze as activities bustled in the small group downstairs at the main entrance of the Mansion, where a car awaited to bring a certain young master to his exile.
She had her arms crossed, and though her expression was stony, there was a softness in her eyes that could not be missed.
"Are you really sure about this?" Her husband approached her quietly from behind, wrapping strong arms around her. The two might have differences in business and the way they wanted to bring up their children, but Louise and Brandon had been through too much together to even think about being separated from each other.
"If you will have me to be extremely honest, no." Louise confessed, her voice soft and gentle. She was back in the persona of a mother who was watching her son bidding sad farewells to his wailing little sister and forlorn butlers before leaving for exile. The strict and hard businesswoman had completely faded away now that she had calmed down from the argument in the morning, but Louise had yet to rescind her order for her son's exile.
"Sending him out alone may be sending him to his death, Louise. I know I have been a bad father by being too doting on him and raising him in a sheltered environment, but we cannot deny that even if we abandon him, our enemies are still going to treat him as the heir of the Greaves-Crawford family." Brandon spoke quietly to his wife, feeling her lean into his embrace.
Over the years of their marriage, he had seen and experienced first-hand how the woman once named Louise Crawford had changed. Back when they first met, Louise had been like a goddess –a woman who had ascended to somewhere impossible for him to reach despite the fact that they were both of the same age, and both belonged to powerful families. But through the years spent with her, Brandon had watched her come down to his level, had watched her become less of a goddess and more like an angel as she softened her heart and slowly learnt how to open it up to her family. Yes, she still appeared like an immovable goddess in business, but the Louise that was his wife and the mother of his children was simply an angel.
"I worry too about his safety, but if we do not steel our hearts to any pain and suffering he might go through, Kyren will never grow up." Louise answered, covering her husband's arms around her waist with hers.
"I don't want to be rude or bring up bad memories." Brandon paused, watching as Kylar and Kyvan struggled to detach the crying Kaylen from his brother's poor, prone form. "But are you sure you didn't make a hasty decision because he brought up Kyrano like that?"
It might seem very strange and almost unthinkable to some, but Brandon had long accepted the fact that there was a part in his wife's heart that was dedicated very solely on a man who had long passed away. While it was natural for men to be jealous when their lovers thought about and loved other people, Brandon completely understood Louise's heart. Kyrano had been a man who had given up so much for Louise, and there was absolutely no way that Brandon could ever rival the things Kyrano had given up for his mistress. Brandon knew that he was no replacement for his wife's ex-butler, and that while a dead person took up half of her heart's desire, the other half was filled with him and the family that they had made together.
"At first I thought it might have been it." Louise admitted, which was rare because the Mistress of the Greaves-Crawford Household truly did not make mistakes very often at all. "But I realized that Kyren did make a point. I was lucky to have Kyrano back then. We all were. If there had been no Kyrano, none of us would be standing here right where we are now."
"I'm pretty sure I would still be that childish idiot who thought that everything in the business world was bright and flowers if Kyrano wasn't there to wake me up to reality." Brandon chuckled, thinking back on his younger self when he had first met his wife and the ex-butler.
"You and Keyron both." Louise reminded, a semblance of a gentle smile breaking the stony expression and drawing a perfect picture of grace. "The two of you were still running around chasing each other for stupid things back then."
"We still do." Brandon informed. "Keyron refused to hand me the takeover documents yesterday and I had to chase him down for it."
"The point is," Louise took in a deep breath, "You and Keyron were lucky to have Kyrano to wake you up to the harsh reality of the outside world. I grew up in that harsh reality, and Kyrano taught me how to soften my view of it. He did the opposite for the two of you. But for Kyren... Our son was right; he doesn't have a Kyrano to make him the person we wish he would be."
"Is Kylar and Kyvan not enough for him?" Brandon asked in reply to his wife's sigh, still watching the scene below. The twins had been successful removing Kaylen from her brother's side now and were taking turns holding her back while the butlers exchanged words with their young master.
By now, Kyren had seemed resigned to his fate and no longer trying to fight back or beg to stay. The young son of the Greaves-Crawford Household clearly knew his mother very well –once Louise made a decision, there was very little anyone could do to change her mind.
"They are too good for him." Louise's second sigh was equally heavy. "I know it has been a tradition for the Reyes family to always serve Crawford, and Keyron has been wishing to uphold his family's pride, but some days I truly feel sorry for the two of them. They have done so much and so well at their young ages that they sometimes remind me of the things that Kyrano managed to do at their age. I wish they were able to get the chance to serve a master or mistress that deserved them and their capabilities instead of Kyren."
"While it is reassuring to know that you think so highly of them, please try not to say such things to them in person. Kylar and Kyvan had grown up with the sole wish and desire to serve the Greaves-Crawford Household, and it will absolutely kill them to send them out to serve someone else." The intrusion in the conversation mildly surprised the couple as they spun to the door to find their butler standing there with the door closing behind him.
"Don't you know what privacy is, Keyron?" Brandon scowled at his butler over his wife's shoulder, still attached to her. "Some kind of butler you are to come in the room without knocking."
"I knocked." The butler answered evenly, his smile never losing radiance despite being lectured by his master. "But the two of you were too engaged in your loving conversation to hear me."
"You are supposed to wait for the customary invite before you come into the room." Brandon reminded, but the soft tap of his wife's hand on his arms stopped any further protests and rising arguments.
"How are preparations?" Louise was quick to jump to business as the butler stepped up to the couple, standing himself beside them in front of the ceiling-to-floor glass window and looking down at the scene still ongoing below.
"The application for a permit for construction has been approved, and you will be getting an approval email soon asking for the project to continue on to the next stage." The studious butler answered.
"Kyren's exile, Keyron. I'm not asking about the tender."
"Oh. Oops." It was still small mistakes like these that made Louise truly wonder how Keyron had managed to survive with her so far. While she had never seen how he was like working with others, Keyron still made small mistakes like these that Louise knew would definitely trip off some types of businessmen out in the world. It was a wonder how this butler of hers had yet to get himself into some sort of trouble with someone yet.
"I made sure to prepare the essentials for him to survive outside. We will drop him off at the city centre square, and hopefully he remains in the city where we can still try to keep track of him on surveillance cameras. His cards were taken away since you don't want him to have any connections with Greaves-Crawford, and I made him change all his clothes to Kylar's so that he wouldn't be singled out as a rich young master immediately."
"Money? Did you give him money to rent a room somewhere at least?" Brandon put in, concerned.
"I gave him enough to rent a cheap room –if he knows how to find them –for half a month and enough for basic meals for the entire month. It all depends on how he's going to spend it. I really hope he doesn't go splurging."
"It will be his business if he does." Louise answered firmly. "If he can find his way back and show me that he has learnt how to cherish everything that we have given to him, then he can return to us. Until then, Keyron..."
"No one from the Greaves-Crawford Household can help him." The loyal butler completed the sentence, nodding in understanding.
"Good, I'm glad you understand, because you share the same responsibility as Brandon for spoiling him."
"He is my young master!" Keyron's protest was surprised. "Of course I had to treat him well."
"A butler's strength is his master's strength." Louise answered. "And you made him weak."
"But the first rule is that a butler's happiness is his master's happiness. As long as Kyren was happy, I was happy!"
"I'm sure he is very happy right now." Louise gestured to where her son was finally entering the car that would send him to his exile. "Are you happy at the current state, Keyron?"
The sulk on the butler's face was utterly unbecoming of a Head Butler, but the Mistress and Master of the household both knew that it was a face that was only showed to them. Behind closed doors and away from other's views, the three of them were friends once more; all sides shown to each other without fear of judgement or retaliation. After all, they had all seen each other in their worst moments and had stood by each other through all those times.
"Are you really sure Kylar or Kyvan can't go along with him?" Keyron asked as the three of them watched the car start up, the door finally closing behind the young master who was going for his exile.
"No. Like how Kyren needs to learn how to live without his butlers, they need to learn how to live without him as well." Louise might not have shown any regret or pain during the whole process of cutting her son out of the family, but the protectiveness and worry of a mother could not be denied in the way her eyes pegged adamantly on the car as it rolled away from the Mansion, down the long stretch of road until it reached the outer gates and disappeared.
"It will be difficult for all three of them." Louise announced finally when the car was finally gone, and she could no longer send her silent support to her son with wishes that he would survive well outside alone. "But for the sake of their futures, let us hope that Kyren comes back a changed young man."