“Today’s schedule is tight. We need to wash up quickly and go for breakfast. Come on, young master, let’s go.”

“Let’s goo.”

Theo, who had just woken up, followed Roto to the bathroom with puffy eyes, swinging his arms briskly.

Roto was particularly meticulous about cleanliness. Washing was Roto’s area of expertise.

From the first day, Roto had taught Theo the secret of washing thoroughly by himself. It was a reward for the candy.

“You need to wash thoroughly. No pretending to splash water.”

Theo, who had been making loud splashing noises while pretending to wash, stopped abruptly, feeling caught. Roto was especially strict when it came to washing.

Roto held out the soap. Theo wanted to avoid it because the soap stung his eyes.

When Theo didn’t take the soap and just stood still, Roto lathered it up himself and rubbed it on Theo’s small hands. Theo made a sad face.

“That’s because you don’t close your eyes tightly. Close your eyes tight, soap up, and then quickly rinse with water without opening your eyes!”

“But if I don’t open my eyes, I don’t know where the water is?”

“How about this? I’ll count to three, and when I say three! you quickly soap up. Then I’ll quickly grab your hands and guide you to where the water is! Just trust me!”

Roto thumped his chest confidently.

Theo gave a thumbs up, thinking it was clever.

“Alright, let’s start. One, two, three!”

Today too, they were two solemn children.

* * *

For the past few days, Roto had been feeling greatly disappointed with his mentor, butler Dora.

As usual, after waking Theo, helping him wash and change clothes, having breakfast, and going for a walk to exercise together, Dora would whisk Theo away, only bringing him back to Roto after several hours.

Roto thought something was happening with Theo, though he couldn’t tell what. Only Roto, the responsible butler, was excluded.

That wasn’t all.

‘I played with strange old men! But it wasn’t as fun as playing with Roto. Really!’

Roto was deeply worried that they might be doing something strange. If it was something good, there was no reason to keep it a secret from Roto, the responsible butler.

Already, Roto couldn’t trust the other servants after overhearing some maids’ strange conversation the other day. That’s why he even volunteered for bath duty.

‘How could the butler I trusted the most!’

Roto liked little young master Theo.

At first, he tried not to like Theo, thinking he would be just another spoiled little noble from the capital.

But it was different. Roto found each day with Theo exciting and enjoyable.

It wasn’t a simple master-servant relationship. Roto felt a connection with this little young master from the capital.

‘I can’t just stand by and watch!’

So he had made a decision.

Although Roto was only ten years old, unable to use magic and smaller than his peers, he decided to protect the little young master. Even if the opponent was the butler, Roto gathered his courage, staking his honor as an apprentice butler.

Today was the day Roto had resolved to secretly follow Dora.

‘To avoid being caught, I must be as inconspicuous as possible!’

Roto, wearing a cloak he had sneakily borrowed from a laundry bundle belonging to some inner castle mage, and barefoot to avoid making footsteps, tiptoed after Dora.

Surprisingly, the place Dora took Theo was a tower outside the inner castle, meant for retired magic researchers. It was a place only for retired archmages.

Roto couldn’t understand why the little young master needed to go outside the inner castle to meet with archmages every day.

‘Could they be conducting strange experiments on the young master?’

That’s when he saw it. Someone was waiting for Dora and Theo near the tower.

Unfortunately, as he was wearing a cloak much larger than his body, the large hood obstructed his view.

Roto, taking a risk to confirm who it was, slightly lowered his hood and moved a bit closer. Finally, the figure’s outline became clear.

Familiar clothing. Familiar height.

‘Someone the little young master runs to and hugs so comfortably.’

Roto trembled.

‘I trusted the young madam at least! How, how could this be!’

How could all the adults conspire to deceive that innocent little young master, who had no idea what was happening to him?

Roto couldn’t believe the scene unfolding before his eyes and covered his mouth with both hands.

‘What to do. What on earth should I do? How can I save the little young master?’

Roto stomped his feet anxiously and crouched behind a tree.

Tears welled up in his eyes, upset at the adults and his own weakness, unable to save the young master.

But there was no time to cry like this. A butler should perfectly assist his master by any means necessary.

Roto, while sniffling, took out the hunting knife he had prepared just in case to save Theo, and got into a position ready to sprint.

‘On the count of three, I’ll run out and attack the young madam and the butler first!’

Just as he was about to spring up after stomping his feet, a man appeared out of nowhere and grabbed his wrist in one swift motion.

“Let go of me!”

Roto swung the hunting knife to attack the man, but the man effortlessly struck Roto’s wrist and snatched the knife away, as if it were child’s play.

No matter how much Roto struggled, the man wouldn’t easily let him go.

“Young madam. I’ve found an intruder here.”

“That child is…?”

“Roto?”

Hailey was startled to see the child Khalid was dragging along.

As far as Hailey knew, the only child in the castle besides Theo who could be called a child was the apprentice butler Roto, who was always with Theo.

Sure enough, as the child held by Khalid got closer, Dora called out Roto’s name with surprised eyes.

“It seems he was secretly following. I caught him as he was about to rush at the young madam while hiding behind a tree. Hmm. What should we do?”

“Give him to me.”

Axel, who had been walking leisurely behind, said.

Axel had ordered Khalid after seeing Roto trying to rush at Hailey from behind.

Khalid was Axel’s chief aide and also the vice-commander of the Eligos Knight Order. So approaching silently behind a ten-year-old child was no challenge at all.

Axel roughly snatched Roto.

While Khalid had at least held him by the wrist, Axel grabbed Roto by the scruff of his neck as if he was handling an animal and lifted him up.

Everyone looked on in shock at Axel’s brutish handling, especially Theo, who broke free from Hailey’s hand he had been holding while whimpering and ran towards Axel.

Theo jumped up and down trying to grab Roto, but Axel simply raised his arm higher.

Roto’s heart was pounding, dangling at such a terrifying height.

“L-Let go! You villain!”

The young master from the capital really was out of his mind as they said. Roto struggled more violently.

“Waaah. Put him down! Put Roto down! He’s my friend! Waaah.”

Theo also started crying and hitting Axel with his small fists.

Finally, Hailey strode over, put her hands on her hips, and gave Axel a stern look.

“Put him down this instant! What dangerous thing are you doing?!”

Axel had only wanted to teach that it wasn’t good for a servant to secretly follow their master.

He had intended to let him breathe the air up high for about 5 minutes before putting him down, but Hailey’s scolding was severe.

Axel put Roto down on the ground with a gloomy expression.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, Roto’s legs gave out and he plopped down. Theo squatted down next to Roto and sniffled.

“I apologize, young madam, young master. This is all due to my negligence.”

Dora was also surprised by Axel’s actions, but it was Roto’s fault for secretly following them.

After bowing her head, Dora looked at Roto with a fierce gaze.

“Stand up right now.”

At those words, Roto stood up immediately. Without even thinking to dust off his bottom, he helped Theo, who had been squatting with him, to stand up.

Looking at Theo with tears in his eyes, Roto clenched his fists.

‘I didn’t do anything wrong!’

Although he was afraid in front of the powerful adults, Roto stood in front of Theo to shield him and eyed the adults warily.

“I didn’t do anything wrong! I, I won’t stand by and watch you do strange things to the young master! I’ll protect the young master myself!”

Roto’s fists were bigger than Theo’s cotton-soft ones, but still insignificant as he clenched and held them out.

To Axel and Khalid, it was nothing more than the cute antics of a ten-year-old child, not threatening at all.

Dora swallowed a sigh and maintained a stern expression towards Roto.

“What on earth are you talking about? Doing strange things to the young master? Who exactly?”

“Who else! They’re right here!”

Roto pointed his finger at everyone, starting from Dora to Hailey, Axel, and even Khalid.

The boy, teary-eyed with frustration, was completely serious.