Gregory the Butler

The smell of something sickening inside his room worsened his mood. It was vanilla or something cinnamon. It was sweet – too sweet for his taste. Despite everything, Li Qian was sitting as still as a statue. He looked at the huge painting of himself by the fireplace. Who would like to see a huge portrait of their face every morning?

Hey got it.

Li Qiang… was good-looking.

He was aware that he was good-looking.

But seeing his face the moment he got out of the bed is just over the top, no?

"Master, the dinner is ready." A balding man bowed before him. Apparently, his name was Gregory and he was the head butler of this mansion.

"Hmmm." He nodded in response and eyed the man's black tailored uniform. The world that he was in was like medieval Europe. From the clothing to the architecture and social structure. The only difference was this world has a magic system. The man eyed Li Qiang before avoiding his gaze again. Perhaps it was because of his weird changes after he woke up. For instance, Li Qiang's usually unkempt hair was brushed up, changing his previously carefree demeanor into a more stern, appropriate for a man in his late twenties.

"Do you have something to tell me?" he asked Gregory. Apparently, the previous Li Qiang trusted this man with his life. He trusted this man with everything he even gave him the power to decide in the mansion without informing him. An unfathomable gleam flashed in Li Qiang's eyes. It seems that he needed to make a lot of changes soon.

"About the mistresses," Gregory said as he straightened his posture. This made Li Qiang raise an eyebrow. Because Li Qiang was practically useless and only like to live his life to the fullest, his servants act as if he was not their owner. Li Qiang knew that these people only respected him on the outside. The disgust in their gaze was enough proof of that.

"What about them?"

"I would advise you to not transfer them out of the property. It would be…"

"I am tired of them. I no longer require their services." He scoffed inwardly. He was itching to kill the man in front of him. Yet, he knew it wasn't the exact time yet. No. He needed to control that urge to see blood.

The only reason this man was still alive was that Li Qiang could still take advantage of him.

"Some of the misses are daughters of the noble family. Leaving them like this is—"

"If you like them so much… then you can have them."

"I wouldn't dare." Gregory shook his head as if he just heard the scariest thing in his life. "I wouldn't dare do that. Master, please… Those people are nobles, we cannot insult them like this."

"Are you saying that those nobles are more important than someone from the Royal bloodline? Are they more important than the Royal Family?" The previous Li Qiang had been using this reasoning every time he would argue with someone. This arrogance offended a lot of people in the past but Li Qiang never cared. As the younger brother of the King, Li Qiang thought he was above them. Seeing Gregory swallow his non-existent saliva, Li Qiang added.

"I thought so… throw them away," he said. He didn't know how the previous Li Qiang could stand such a servant. Maybe it was because this man gave Li Qiang everything that he wanted, including women and alcohol. Being reminded of all those dirty things immediately made Li Qiang furious.

Those women — they won't survive for long. No. All of them needed to die. That is the only way to pacify his anger.

"As you wish," Gregory said. While a normal person would not sense this, Li Qiang was trained to spot the emotions of people just by the way they speak. And he knew that Gregory was irritated by his changes.

"Then go ahead and wait for me outside of my quarter." He ordered and did not miss the confusion in his Butler's eyes. However, the latter complied without saying another word. After making sure that the butler already left, Li Qiang narrowed his eyes at the portrait.

"I know you are here." He uttered, his voice dark and low. "I can feel you. There is no need to hide any longer."

A deafening silence followed his words. Li Qiang pursed his lips and waited. However, no one came. "If you refuse to show yourself… I will inform his highness, my brother, that someone is following me around. It will be enough to make him suspicious and assign shadow guards around me. This will make your —"

The sharp and cold metal in his throat interrupted him. A man wearing dark clothes stood next to him. "How did you know I was here?" he asked in a low whisper. It was threatening, something that would send shivers down a person's spine.

"Is that how you treat the man that you are guarding?" Li Qiang lifted an eyebrow and slowly moved the dagger away from his neck. He walked past his bed and into the circular wooden table near the window. "Care to introduce yourself?" he smirked and sat down on the chair near the table. "I should probably ask them to change the chairs. Too uncomfortable." He uttered.

The chairs and every piece of furniture in this room can only be described with one word: extravagant and uncomfortable. From the colorful stones embedded in the arms of each chair to the uncomfortable gems on the headboard of his bed. This room screamed stupidity at its finest.

"Who are you?" the guard's question surprised Li Qiang. He stared at the guard for a second and watched as he walked towards him. His footsteps were light, blue eyes unblinking. Judging from the man's face, he should be around his age, probably older than him by a few years. "What have you done to Li Qiang?" he asked

"You have been observing me for a long time." Li Qiang stated. The previous Li Qiang did not have any memories of this man. However, when he carefully thought about it. This man already saved the previous Li Qiang's life more than five times.

However, the dumb Li Qiang was too shallow to notice his presence. Once again, Li Qiang couldn't help but ask himself how that dumb ass continued to survive until this age. "I was too dumb to notice you. But after that accident… I knew you tried to save me from that arrow."

Li Qiang's words were partly true. He was talking about the accident that made him unconscious for days. It was the same accident that killed the previous Li Qiang and made him suddenly possess this body.

It happened three weeks ago. When Li Qiang was out with one of his mistresses- his favorite one. Li Qiang could not stop himself and actually started kissing the woman in the carriage, intending to make love with her. Then a group of assassins attacked them. It made him panic.

Li Qiang was practically useless. He did not know martial arts and only used his brother, the king's name, to scare people. Because of panic, he run off to the forest nearby and left his men to fight the assassins alone. He also left that woman with them. He lost track in the direction and got lost.

It took his men two days to find him and by then; he was already unconscious and bruised from avoiding one assassin. Aside from this, he also had countless wounds from animal attacks. The only thing that he could remember was being saved by someone… someone who fought some assassins who found him.

At first, it took Li Qiang a lot of time to remember this. He was hungry, and his gaze was already hazy. However, after having a lot of rest, he was able to consolidate his memories and immediately knew that the man saved him. From this, he also concluded that someone had been saving him without his knowledge.