The trip from Valebrook Village to the Nocturne estate didn’t take long at all.
Honestly, that came as a relief to Elias since he’d never been a fan of sitting in a carriage for long stretches.
The moment he stepped down from the carriage he couldn’t even hide the shock on his face.
As far as his eyes could sweep, all he could see was a mansion fronted by a yard so massive it barely seemed real.
Way too much yard for a single mansion, if you asked him.
Once the gate swung open, Elias walked in staying close behind Alistair.
Seeing it in person hit completely differently than seeing it in VR.
Even with how good the graphics used to be there was just no comparing the real thing to a screen.
But seriously, Elias felt like he’d already been walking forever, so why hadn’t they reached the front door yet!
‘This is exactly the downside of having a yard this stupidly big!’
“Young Master Elias.”
“Ah, just call me Elias.”
“Very well, Elias. There are a few things I should tell you before you meet the head of the household.”
In an instant Elias’s expression shifted, the easygoing look on his face giving way to something far more tense and serious.
It hit him all over again that this was the estate of the twin Villainesses, so yeah, he needed to stay sharp and not screw anything up.
“Make sure you show him you’re worth having around. He can’t stand incompetence, though as long as you bring even a little something to the table he’ll accept you.”
“Got it!”
‘Yeah, I’d already thought about that part, and honestly that’s not even what worries me.
What worries me is how the hell I’m supposed to deal with those two girls.
Damn it, and here I was feeling so confident earlier.’
“If you understand, then let’s head inside.”
Before Elias even realized it the two of them had already reached the mansion’s front door, towering and enormous.
He found himself wondering for a second how anyone was even supposed to open a door that size.
That thought turned out to be pointless though, because the door simply swung open on its own.
As he stepped through and walked inside he took a closer look and noticed some kind of mechanism built into the floor, apparently all it took was channeling a bit of mana into it and the door would open on its own.
Kind of a hassle though, Elias figured, for anyone who wasn’t exactly skilled at handling mana.
Setting the whole door thing aside, Elias found himself amazed all over again once he saw the inside of the mansion.
If anything the inside was even bigger than the front yard.
‘Everything in here is way too shiny.
I might actually need sunglasses.’
“Hand your things over to the maid. We’re heading to see the Marquis.”
Before Elias even noticed a maid had already appeared at his side waiting for him to hand over the bag he was carrying.
Still a little dazed, Elias handed it over on reflex and kept walking, following Alistair toward the Marquis’s study.
By the time they reached the room the Marquis was already seated at his desk with a quill pen in hand.
“My lord, this is the young man from Valebrook Village I mentioned before.”
Elias stepped forward a few paces and bowed as respectfully as he knew how.
“Greetings, my lord. My name is Elias Veyron, from Valebrook Village.”
At Elias’s introduction the Marquis paused mid-stroke and looked him over head to toe.
“Is something wrong, my lord?” Elias asked, tilting his head slightly while a bead of sweat formed on his cheek.
As calm as he looked on the outside he genuinely felt like he was being examined under a microscope, and it had him quietly panicking.
‘This guy’s aura is seriously terrifying.’
After studying him a moment longer the Marquis finally set his quill down.
“Who gave you your name?”
“My parents, probably.”
“What do you mean, probably?”
“When I was still a baby the village chief found me and my sister floating in a basket in the river. There was a slip of paper inside with our names already written on it.”
‘Why is this guy so hung up on my last name?’
Hearing that the Marquis’s brow furrowed slightly before he went back to writing something on his paper.
“Are you confident in the job you’ve been given?”
‘Here we go.’
“My apologies, my lord, I’m not especially confident. But I’ll do everything I can to make sure I don’t disappoint you.”
“Alright, that’s enough. I’ll be expecting good results from you.”
Elias bowed once more and slowly backed his way out of the room.
Weirdly enough that had gone easier than he’d expected.
He’d actually spent time preparing a whole speech for a situation like this, but apparently none of it had even been necessary.
After the meeting with the Marquis, Alistair led Elias toward his room.
“This is your room. Get some rest, you can start work tomorrow.”
“Thank you for all your hard work.”
Alistair raised a hand in acknowledgment before turning and leaving Elias alone in his room.
The room itself was simple but still a step up from what he’d had back in the village.
At least the bed wasn’t just a pile of hay covered with a thin sheet.
Thinking about how comfortable the mattress was made him feel a little bad for Mira, still stuck sleeping on hay back home.
“I should probably send a mattress back to the village sometime.”
Just as he was about to start unpacking his things a knock at the door made him drop what he was doing.
He walked over to answer it, only to find someone standing there that he never in a million years expected to show up.
Honestly he’d assumed it would be the head servant, or maybe a maid bringing food.
Instead standing there was someone he’d genuinely been hoping to avoid, especially considering he hadn’t even finished his first day yet.
Sweat broke out across his face and his heart started racing while Elias could only freeze in place.
Standing in front of him was a girl with long white hair that fell soft as moonlight.
Her hime cut framed her face perfectly and made her beauty even more striking, while the white ribbon tied into her hair swayed gently.
There was an elegance to her presence, her figure soft and naturally curved, as if every step she took carried a kind of calm that was hard to put into words.
None of that held Elias’s attention for very long though.
Her pale eyes, beautiful and clear and framed by long curled lashes, were fixed right on him.
The faint smile on her face should have been reassuring.
But for Elias having someone like Evelyn Nocturne show up at his door was the last thing he’d wanted or expected.
Realizing he probably looked a little off, Elias quickly bowed and forced a smile in Evelyn’s direction.
“Greetings, Lady Evelyn. I’m Elias—”
Before he could even finish introducing himself Evelyn had already grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room.
Half-stumbling to keep up, Elias simply let himself be dragged along.
He wanted to ask what was going on but remembering exactly who she was kept the words stuck in his throat, so for now he figured going along with it was the safer bet.
After a while they arrived at a wide training field, and standing right in the middle of it was someone else Elias had absolutely no interest in running into.
He wanted to pull his hand free and bolt, but if he actually tried that who knew what kind of death he’d end up with.
There were so many horrible possibilities racing through his head that he couldn’t even settle on just one.
In the end all he could do was smile with his eyes shut, a single tear slipping out.
‘Is that saying actually true?
That men die faster than women?’
“I brought him.”
“Why’d you bring him, sis? He’s probably still tired.”
“What? But you’re curious about him too. Even more curious than I am, actually.”
“We could’ve just met him tomorrow. Besides he hasn’t even been here a full day, so he can’t start work yet anyway.”
Listening to the two of them go back and forth, Elias slowly cracked his eyes open.
The black-haired girl, her hime cut just as distinctive as her sister’s, was still standing in the middle of the field.
A black ribbon sat in her hair while her deep dark eyes stayed locked on Elias with an expression that gave nothing away.
If Evelyn gave off a soft gentle impression with that faint smile of hers, this girl was a whole lot harder to read.
‘…Why do I get the feeling this one’s the more dangerous of the two?’
Elias straightened up before bowing once more, this time to face them both.
“Hello, young ladies. My name is Elias Veyron. I just arrived, and I’ll be starting my duties tomorrow.”
Elias couldn’t tell if it was just his imagination or not, but the sight of Elysia standing there in silence staring at him like that was more than enough to send a chill down his spine.
People who rarely showed any expression at all tended to be the hardest to read.
“Okay, that’s enough small talk. I’m guessing you already know our names, so let’s just cut straight to the point. How would you like to die?”
At Elysia’s words Elias could only freeze completely, still stuck mid-bow.
He had no idea what was going on or what he’d possibly done wrong.
In an instant memories of his past life came flooding back into his mind.
‘I think I can see Grandma Soon-ja waving at me.’