The Berkley Family had many residences across the country. Only a few of them were grand mansions like the one in their city. They frequently used these whenever they are on vacation or in a specific region for business.

The villa in the capital city, Toril was as gigantic as the manor in the duchy that Norn was lucky to stay at for one night.

Naturally there were a lot of rooms so Norn could have her own room.

“Haah… Lord Gunther…” Norn’s face was red as a tomato as she read the novel in her hand.

Her breath was ragged; her hand was slowly moving down her body as she read one of the novel’s scenes.

· Page 456, Chapter 25

-His big, manly hands held me down with incredible strength. I was too weak and sensitive to his touch so I couldn’t push him away. I loved it even though I was screaming at him to stop. Did I deserve to have this much happiness? I’m a mere servant to one of the greatest knights in the world. His name spreads far and wide. Kings, grand wizards and minstrels praise his deeds and bravery.

-Naturally this brought a lot of women to his bed. I always wished I was one of these women.

-I am a mere slave.

-But I was lucky enough to be accepted into his bed despite my status.

-“Ah! Ah! Please don’t tease me so much!” I said as his warm breath blew against my back and sent shivers down my spine. His tongue gently slid across my neck.

-His gaze was like a monster looking at a small animal.

-Prey.

-“You are now my woman. I promise to cherish you and give you this pleasure every day of my life.” He said as he tore off his sweater, revealing his majestic muscles and sculpted arms.

-I shut my eyes as I felt the hole inside me be filled by this man I love.

-The end.

“Eh? Eh? That’s all!?” Norn was in such euphoria that it took a few seconds for her to see that she was already on the last page.

“…..” she closed the book as a heavy depression weighed in her heart, “Hahahaha….”

She realized that she finished all ten volumes of the series that she was reading the past week.

Why must all good things come to an end? All she wanted was to experience their steamy night session!

Norn suddenly heard birds outside.

“Ugh, have I been awake all night?” she blew out the candles since it was already light outside.

Norn stood up and went towards the windows. She pulled the curtains aside.

“Aiyaaa, it burns!!!” her eyes felt like they were being pulled out when she looked directly into the sun.

She wiped the tears on her face and managed to look outside after her eyes adjusted to the light.

“Wow…”

Norn had a second-floor bedroom so she could see most of the empire. The noble district the villa was located in was one of the most alleviated places in the capital since it was on a small hilly area. As such, Norn could see quite a lot of things.

There was another mansion across the street, a carriage pulling up to the sidewalk to pick up a lady and a squadron of knights patrolling the noble district.

The villa was almost as big as the manor in the duke’s city. It had a nice and big backyard, a small pond, flowers growing almost everywhere and a giant estate where not even ten of their previous home’s yard could fit in.

‘Ah… I want to stay here forever…’ she felt like a princess looking down on the lowly commoners.

“Ahem, ahem.” Norn cleared her throat, “Bathe in my cuteness, savage commoners. You may look at me but don’t you dare think you can touch my divine body. Only the greatest knight in all the Four Great States may do so. Mwahahaha!” Norn spoke and laughed like the scummy princess she read about in one of the novels.

“Hm?” Norn leaned out the window and noticed her mother—now wearing worker clothes— who was busy hanging up their washing.

“Why is she still doing the chores? We have servants that can do that for us.”

If anyone outside the manor saw Claudia then they would assume she was one of the regular servants.

The servants seemed to have heard about what happened already since they welcomed the family when they came to the villa.

Anna hadn’t let them know about what will happen to their house-related issues yet. Perhaps she was still too busy with her own work to worry about other things?

‘She can take as much time as she wants. I want to live here forever!’

◇◇◇

“Morning everyone!” Norn yelled after she came to the living room. “Eh? Where is everyone?”

None of her family members were there.

A single servant boy came into the room with a broom in hand. He didn’t seem to notice Norn since he was busy sweeping. He seemed no older than Norn; he was an apprentice butler who was working under Sebastian’s lead.

There was only one apprentice butler per mansion for the Berkley Family. Considering how there were three other mansion spread across the country, the boy had three rivals to compete with.

The one who does the best job will be given a chance to work in the main castle along with Sebastian.

“Rudy, where is everyone?” Norn addressed the boy.

His full name was Rudolph but he insisted that the family members call him “Rudy”.

“Ah, miss Norn!” the boy noticed Norn just now.

He was wearing a simple black and white suit. He also had white gloves on his hands. His long black hair was covering one of his eyes which made him appear gloomy at a glance.

“Lord Nait is picking a practice weapon in the armory. Lady Claudia is washing the clothes, even though we told her it was our job while all your contracts are being processed by Lord Sebas. And Young Lady Teresa went to the market. She said that she wanted to bake pies tonight.” replied Rudy.

Regarding their positions, Sebastian was in the middle of creating their contracts and finalizing everything in Lockinge city. He would also have to get the stamp of the first wife so it would take awhile before Norn, Teresa and Claudia became actual workers. Claudia didn’t have to do any of the chores since she wasn’t getting paid just yet.

“Hngh, so I have to have breakfast alone?”

“It’s, uhm, past noon right now.”

“I-I know that! It’s not my fault I sleep in!”

Of course, that was a lie. She just lost track of time while in escapism.

Rudy reflectively pinched his nose when Norn screamed in his face. Seemingly noticing this, he removed his hand quickly.

There was no way Norn wouldn’t notice that.

‘D-Does my breath smell that bad…?’ Norn turned around and blew into her hand, ‘Ugh, it really does smell!’

She had been locked up in her room reading her novels from start to finish. The servants would bring her food to her every day for the past week they had been here. Norn was too invested in her novels that she forgot to take care of herself.

Naturally, being a girl and all, she was ashamed of this.

“I-I need to go take a bath first!”

“Ah, yes…”

◇◇◇

“Ahhhhhn~~~” Norn sighed loudly when she lowered herself into the bath.

She couldn’t remember when was the last time she was able to sit in a big bath like this after scrubbing herself clean.

‘I used to go to those bathhouses in town. It was the worst experience of my life every time I went there. There would always be men gawking at me.’

Norn was pretty much unaffected by men looking at her body when she was in a mix bathhouse. Of course, she used towels to cover her most important areas. She knew she couldn’t leave herself exposed since she was a lady. Thankfully she didn’t have to go to a mixer every again since the empire had hundreds of bathhouses. Most of which were for females.

Norn absentmindedly moved her hand in the water. She suddenly remembered all those times she took baths and played in the river with Luke when they were younger.

Being kids and all meant they always got dirty so they washed themselves a lot.

They were so close back then. They could sleep in the same bed whenever one of them was too scared to sleep alone, they had fun in the water even while naked and they played together every day until night came.

Where did the Luke from back then go? He was replaced by a stuttering, timid boy who couldn’t even glance at Norn without going red in the face. Some girls in her village found this very annoying since Luke was so cute and handsome. His looks were his only trait that everyone even liked.

Norn wasn’t like all the girls. She saw him for who he was and knew for a fact that his timid personality was holding him back. He was driven by emotion, just like that time Arnold hit Norn.

But back at the inn… Norn could see how much Luke changed.

His stuttering was gone, he wasn’t shorter than her anymore and he could gaze into her eyes without blushing.

Did he finally grow up? That confidence made her see him more than just the boy she grew up with.

“Hmm… But I kinda miss the old him since I could tease him, hahaha…” Norn sank into the water with only her head sticking out.

“…..”

‘So bored… I have no one to talk to.’

“Ugh, I wish Lilia came along. But…I guess she has a life back at the village unlike me so I can’t blame her for staying.”

Lilia was her best friend so Norn wanted what was best for her. Still, it would be painful having to go so long without seeing her best friend.

Unlike Norn, Lilia had found someone to be her future husband. The two had already done the deed and it was possible that Lilia was pregnant with the guy’s child. They would have to get married if that was the case.

“And here I am, without a husband… Oh well, surely there’s a lot of boys in this neighborhood. Hmm, they might be intimidated if I mention I live at this mansion now.”

Norn stood up from the water. She went over to where she placed her clothes.

“…I didn’t bring a towel…? Guh, now I have to walk around the mansion naked!”

She didn’t want to wet her new clothes since she wanted to go out with the clothes once she was done eating. She wanted to go to a book store to see if she can find any interesting books.

Rudy had already taken her dirty clothes that she wore before she got into the bath so she couldn’t get them anymore.

Norn stealthily exited the bathroom with her clothes wrapped up in a bag. She looked down the hallway.

“Phew, clear.” Norn sprinted towards the stairs and hurriedly run up, while being weary of anyone passing by.

She bolted down the hallway towards her room.

‘Almost there!’

“Eh!?”

Her door suddenly opened!?

Norn came to a stop, realizing that she couldn’t go anywhere without being seen. Thus, she used the bag her clothes were in in an attempt to hide her body.

Rudy had blankets in his hand so he was probably going to take Norn’s blankets and wash them. He was a butler so he didn’t need to ask permission to go inside anyone’s room unless ordered otherwise.

“Lady Norn—?” Rudy’s eyes slowly widened before his entire face flushed red, “Uwaaah!? I’m sorry!” he hurriedly closed his face behind the mountain of blankets.

“….” Norn just went towards her room after passing by Rudy, “You would’ve seen me even if I came here earlier while you were busy… I… I just forgot a towel…”

“I-I see. W-Well, I will get out of your hair. Uhm, your lunch is waiting downstairs.”

“You can go now.”

“O-Okay…” Rudy timidly bowed his head with his eyes still closed. He hurriedly sprinted down the hallway.

“Haaah…”

◇◇◇

Later that day.

Norn managed to find another interesting novel from the same author. The author mostly writes romance, teen wolf, princess meets lowly knight and vampire nonsense which only girls would like. Owing to the author’s other works, this one was yet another romance.

Norn hummed as she walked to the back of the mansion. She wanted to go sit in the garden and read her books quietly.

She was just about to turn the corner of the west wing of the mansion when she heard the sound of wood hitting against each other. She also heard loud shouts and groaning.

She peeked around the corner.

‘It’s Nait again?'

Luke found Nait last week wandering the street near the gate that led to Nuaria city. Thankfully he wasn’t injured or anything. He was just very exhausted as if he had been running very far and never stopped. The issue was that the person himself didn’t know what he was doing there at all. The last thing he remembers was leaving the inn with Teresa and the hunters.

Well, the important thing was that Nait was safe.

He began training the moment they moved into the mansion. He mainly used swords with small blades since he wasn’t strong enough to handle a real sword.

Of course, the weapons were dull and couldn’t be used to cause harm besides using it as a blunt weapon. He had been training with that same sword nearly every day.

He would do swings with his sword, sparring and physical exercise. His entire day consisted of mainly these three things.

His sparring partner was…

“—Lord Nait, I advised you before that you should rest in-between your training sessions,” said Rudy as he deflected Nait’s sword with the dagger in his right hand, “You won’t improve like this at all.”

Rudy didn’t have a lot to do around the mansion after doing his duties so he had a lot of free time in the late afternoon. He somehow ended up being Nait’s sparring partner.

Apparently every butler part of the Berkley Family workforce trained under Sebastian could use martial arts and handle all kinds of weapons.

Norn asked him why that was and he said, “When the knights fall then we as the butlers will be the last line of defense for the family. The servants also undergo training but not to the same degree as the butlers”.

Rudy jumped back to avoid Nait’s sword.

“Your swings are also too wide. I could’ve knocked you down many times since you have a lot of openings in your form. I could’ve cut your wrist, broken your shoulder or dislocated your jaw with my foot when you missed.”

“Ugh! Ugh!”

“Your timing is also off. You never wait for me to fully dodge your swings. Instead, you go right for me after failing to hit me. This makes others know you’re an amateur. A good knight knows when to strike.”

“Aaaah!” Nait chased Rudy down relentlessly with bated breaths.

Claudia, who was also watching them, noticed Norn, “You finally came out of your room without being dragged out.”

“…I wanted to have breakfast in the dining room.” Norn approached Claudia and sat down on one of the chairs.

Claudia picked up a glass and poured juice inside of it. She moved the glass towards Norn.

“I still can’t believe that boy is still your age. He moves around like a seasoned warrior.” Claudia said when she looked back at the two who were still sparring, “Oh dear, Nait is on the verge of collapse. I should—”

Norn stopped Claudia when she was about to head over to Nait, “Women should never interrupt a fight between men, you know?”

A third party joining in or interrupting a battle between two people wasn’t a very bright idea.

She wished she took that advice in the past. She was hit for trying to stop that bastard Arnold. That was the first time any man—or person for that matter—had hit her.

Well, it was her fault for kicking him. But he was bullying Luke! Though the situations weren’t the same, Nait could accidentally hit Claudia with the sword. His adrenaline is the only thing keeping him going. Norn could tell that he was only seeing red.

Meanwhile, Rudy was toying with him by mocking his mediocre skills.

Claudia sat back down with a worried expression.

“Oh yeah, when is the youngest daughter of the family coming to the mansion?” asked Norn.

A letter came to the mansion a few days ago. It was sent by the First Lady.

It was actually meant for Rudolph and the other servants. She said in the letter that they would have to take care of Melina since she was too busy. Arnold was missing as well. With no one to turn to, Adrianna decided to send Melina here.

“Tomorrow morning. You should give your room to her.”

“Whaaaat? But there are other rooms in the mansion, right!?” Norn protested.

“Your room is the largest. Nobles, especially the young ones, prefer rooms like that. I’m sure she won’t just bring a single suitcase for clothes. She must be on a shopping spree with her mother which is why they’re taking so long.”

“…..” Norn pouted.

“You’re also the only girl closest to her age so you should play with her when she gets here, okay?”

“What!? I don’t wanna play with a grown child with the mind of a toddler! She’s so needy and dumb!”

“H-Hey, that’s rude,” Claudia glanced around to see if anyone heard Norn. Luckily all the servants were too far away.

“But it’s true! What kind of ten year old can’t even eat her own food? She has to be spoonfed! Isn’t Nait her age? He should play with her!”

Claudia put her hand on her cheek as she mumbled, “Oh dear…”

Nait suddenly came towards the table and gulped down the glass of juice that Claudia poured for Norn.

“Haaah! Haaah!” he collapsed on the ground and wheezed.

“Oh, my. Are you okay, Nait?”

“Y-Y-Yes, m-miss Claudia….” Nait gave a thumbs up through his labored breaths.

Rudy came towards them as well.

“Sorry for being so frank. Sir Sebastian taught me this way so I kind of got used to it. But don’t worry, you will improve in due time. Do remember what I tell you, though. It will ensure that you’ll improve.”

“….” Nait didn’t reply.

Rudy looked at Claudia, “It’s almost nighttime,” he said as he looked up, “Dinner will be served soon. In the meantime all of you should find a place at the eating table.”

“But I still have to finish a few things around the—” Claudia tried to speak.

“Please leave that to the servants. All of you are guests until sir Sebas finishes your work contracts. Till then I have no right to order you to do anything.”

“….” Claudia nodded in defeat, “Come, you two. We should head to the dining room. But Nait, you should wash up first.” She said when she stood up.

“….” Nait remained silent.

Claudia didn’t say anything else. She followed Rudy into the mansion.

Norn spoke to Nait when the other two left.

“Give up on trying to be like that guy.”

That “guy” was obviously the one Nait looked up to.

“….”

“Look, I’m not a warrior or anything but… I’ve grown up with a guy who’s exactly like Nova. Has a lot of charisma, makes others feel safe, someone who’s also strong… They are the kind of people born with talent and are destined to become great people. I can say for certain that Nova and Luke resemble each other in many ways. Right?”

“Mm…”

Of course, she was referring to the current Luke. Though he was weak-hearted back then, he managed to become mature enough to know what it took to become stronger without resorting to emotions like he did in the past.

The power he possessed was his alone to control, not his emotions.

“Instead of sulking when you can’t do something he can do, why not find something you can do that he can’t? He’s not some hero who will sacrifice his life for others. But are you the same? Though it’s dumb to give your life for others, it’s still the most admirable thing one can do. If your resolve is that powerful then nothing can break down your will. If someone has a strong will then they can persevere through everything, right?”

“…?” Nait raised his upper body and looked at Norn, “…A strong will... Resolve… So… I shouldn’t try to be like him?”

“That’s right. Nothing good comes out of copying anyone. It either brings trouble or causes nothing to go right for you. Just because you can run like him, talk like him, fight like him doesn’t mean you can be like him. You’re a boy from some village and he’s a guy who just become an adventurer but managed to achieve great things.”

“….” Nait looked down at the calluses on his hands. He caressed them.

“You always say you want to become a hero. Is that guy a hero to you? He’s definitely one if you consider how many lives he’s saved. But how would you have handled dangerous situations if you were him? Think about that.”

“I… I would’ve… Uhm…” Nait stuttered.

“It’s alright if you don’t know the answer,” Norn stood up, “Everyone has something they’re trying to fix or find out. It’s what will determine how we change or what choices we make. That’s because we’ll be confident knowing what needs to be done.”

Norn turned around after noticing that Nait had gone silent.

‘Did I sound weird…?’

She noticed that Nait was looking at her with sparkling eyes.

“Amazing, miss Norn! I never would’ve thought of something like that!” Nait seemed as if he had been enlightened, “Where did you hear all this? Are you a secret prophet who can read people and teach them how to improve themselves?”

Norn scratched her cheek as she replied, “Actually, I read all this in a book… Hahaha…”