The Lady's Butler: I Reincarnated To Serve The Villainess-Chapter 16: Boreas Ardent

The Patriarch of the Ardent family, Boreas Ardent, was a strange man....to say the least.

In the manhwa, he was described as a great father to both his children but also, as a man who treated even his servants as something akin to family, which was a strange behavior, especially for a Grand Duke.

The earliest and only memory Adrian had of him was when Renelle had first brought him to the estate.

Boreas had demanded to meet the child his daughter had picked up from the streets and Adrian was sure he’d be kicked out.

After all, this was how nobles were, greedy, selfish and born with absolute loathing for those beneath them....or at least that’s what he believed.

But unlike what he expected, the patriarch had just looked at him with a warm smile and said, "welcome to the Ardent family," before handing him over Sebastian for training.

That’s when he was taken to the Ardent’s private training base that was beyond the Frozen Forest where he was molded into the perfect personal butler for the lady.

According to the manhwa, his actions were as a result of his wife, who was also a commoner, to be more specific, she was a maid in the Ardent House.

One thing led to another and the two found themselves married with two kids, and her former position as a commoner was not exactly a secret.

This was the reason why most of the other nobles looked down on this family.

Well, not publicly of course, because they’d lose their heads the moment Boreas sensed disrespect towards his family.

And there was barely anyone in Avera that could stop him, after all, he was a SS rank spirit mage with a prime spirit.

Despite his kind demeanor, Boreas Ardent was not a man anyone in Avera dared to underestimate.

Kindness and weakness were two entirely different things, and the Patriarch of the Ardent family possessed very little of the latter.

Even seated behind his desk, the pressure he emitted was unmistakable.

Although it was subtle, controlled and almost invisible to the untrained eye, Adrian could still feel it pressing down on him.

This was the presence of someone who had stood at the very peak of power for decades.

"...You look like you’ve had an eventful trip," the patriarch said with a smile, "and you also seem to have grown a lot since the last time I saw you."

Of course he had, he was only five when he met the patriarch and right now, he was eighteen, so he was bound to look different in thirteen years.

Adrian looked at Boreas as he continued speaking.

"You faced a Frost Yeti and still managed to return in one piece," he added, "impressive."

Adrian just nodded in acknowledgement of the praise, but said nothing, after all, he didn’t need to.

Boreas simply rested his chin lightly against his hand, studying him with a thoughtful expression.

"I also heard," the patriarch continued, "that you managed to retrieve something rather interesting from the cave."

At those words, Adrian finally understood why he had been summoned.

Of course, nothing that happened in the northern territory could escape the eyes of the Ardent family.

Slowly, he reached towards the inner part of his uniform where shadows were gathered, put his hand inside and retrieved it.

The moment the object emerged, the temperature in the room seemed to drop slightly.

Resting within Adrian’s palm was a small crystalline lotus with each petal shimmering like frozen glass and with mist rising from it.

Even someone unfamiliar with spiritual treasures would immediately understand that it was something extraordinary.

For a moment, Boreas’ calm expression finally changed.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"The Frost Sovereign Lotus," he said as his gaze lingered on the lotus for several seconds before turning back to Adrian.

"...You truly are a lucky child."

But Adrian noticed something interesting, for the briefest moment, when Boreas had looked at the lotus, there had been something else in his eyes.

Hope.

And that’s when he finally recalled something from the manhwa, the reason why Boreas’ wife was only ever seen once.

She was ill.

Normally, no disease or ailment was too hard for the Ardents healers to heal, but this was different.

This time, even the church, specializing in light mana and healing, couldn’t deal with it.

It was an illness known as Frostheart Syndrome, something the patriarch’s wife had developed after her contract with an incompatible ice spirit had gone wrong.

According to the church, special mana filled treasures like the Frost Sovereign Lotus should be able to suppress it for a long period of time, the only problem was, its location had been completely unknown to the Ardent family.

Hence the reason for the hope in his eyes when Boreas saw the lotus in Adrian’s hands.

"I’d like to —" he started but was immediately interrupted.

"No," Adrian shook his head as he withdrew the lotus.

For a couple of minutes there was only silence between the two, but Adrian soon realized that the patriarch might not understand why he denied the request, so he explained.

"I acquired the Lotus as a gift for my Lady’s Spirit and I do not intend to give it away," he started, and the frown on Boreas face got darker.

That is, until Adrian suddenly added, "besides, the Frost Sovereign Lotus will only just work to accelerate your wife’s illness."

He remembered the explanation from the manhwa clearly, the illness fed on ice mana, which was precisely why the Frost Sovereign Lotus was both a treasure... and a poison.

If Boreas used it on her, the results would only accelerate the very thing killing her.

For a few more seconds, the room fell silent.

Boreas continued looking at the child before him, he wasn’t bothered by the way Adrian had spoken, what bothered him was the implication of his words.

If it was truly as he said, and the lotus would accelerate his wife’s illness, then why would the church suggest it in the first place?