The Lady's Butler: I Reincarnated To Serve The Villainess

Chapter 235: The Cave....Again.

A Week.

That’s how long it took for Renelle to be properly convinced that her mother truly was alive and well.

She had been stuck by the grand Duchess’s side since they arrived at the North, due to which she had ended up ignoring her butler.

Adrian didn’t mind, after all; he knew how much Renelle blamed herself after the Grand Duchess’s death, so it made sense for her to pay more attention to her mother right now.

Well, perhaps he minded a bit.

Just a little bit.

But at least during that time he got to hang out with the Grand Duke...which counted for something, right?

Since his family was now back together and complete, he had defaulted back to the man who saw even his servants as family.

Hence, the reason he, Adrian, and Cedric were currently in the frozen forest, and headed towards the cave Adrian had previously fought that Yeti in.

"It has been quite a while since I visited this place," Boreas muttered as he looked around.

For people walking in the most dangerous forest in the North, the three were awfully calm.

Well, that much was to be expected, since they each could hold their own against anything in here.

A fact which was proven soon enough when an ice beast suddenly jumped in their path.

Without stopping or even acknowledging the creature’s presence, the three walked past it, and just before it could move to attack, it suddenly froze.

It’s very own shadow wrapped around it, completely cocooning it before spikes went cleanly through it.

Adrian released the shadow, letting its corpse fall to the snowy ground, and although he thought it was a waste to just leave the meat like that, he wasn’t here to eat.

"I’ll handle the next one," Cedric said as he turned towards the butler, and Adrian just nodded in response.

A couple more beasts got in their way, but they all pretty much ended up the same way as the first, with barely any effort from the three.

The stronger ones also possessed an ounce of intelligence, and they clearly sensed the Grand Duke, so they didn’t dare approach.

A couple of minutes later, they reached the cave where Adrian had previously fought the yeti, and a frown immediately appeared on his face.

"Hmm," Boreas placed a hand on his chin as he looked at the entrance before asking, "Is this the place?"

"Hmm," Adrian nodded.

"It seems something made it here before us," Cedric spoke up.

And that was exactly why there was a frown on Adrian’s face.

He recalled that he had defeated the Yeti and taken the Lotus, so why the hell was such a cold aura coming from the cave?

As much as he expected the frozen lake to still have traces of the dragon’s mana, this much seemed strange.

Except.

"..." Adrian looked into the cave and back to the Grand Duke before he realized what was happening.

But he didn’t say anything, not until he was certain that he was right.

«The scent is the same,» Noctis, who was comfortable on his head, said.

"Hmm," Adrian nodded in agreement.

The three walked into the cave despite the aura coming from within. They walked for a while until they came upon a wide chamber-like opening.

Adrian’s thoughts were immediately confirmed as he looked towards the center of the cave.

Just as when he first arrived, the frozen lake was still there and floating just above it,

Was the Frost Sovereign Lotus.

Adrian finally realized where the Grand Duke had gotten the Lotus he fed to his wife, in the manhwa.

After the prince and his saintess took the lotus, just as Adrian had done, the remaining mana within the lake had formed a second lotus.

Hence, the reason this one felt a lot weaker than the first.

Still, it had enough mana to cause the evolution of any creature, hence the reason for a new guardian.

Growl.

The group’s attention was pulled towards a certain corner of the cave, from which the guardian revealed itself.

Unlike the Yeti, this was a more familiar creature.

An Ice wolf.

Its fur was completely white with large shards of ice coming from its hocks, and its canines, which were dagger-sized and hanging out of its mouth, also seemed to be made of ice.

The wolf seemed a lot larger than the Crystal frost wolves, easily dwarfing the three, and from the pressure it released, it was easy to tell that it was stronger, too.

"So this is where you got that Lotus from," the Grand Duke muttered, clearly surprised, "how had I not noticed this place before?"

After all, he had also been searching for the Frost Sovereign Lotus earlier, yet he hadn’t known about the one in this forest until Adrian retrieved it.

Thinking about it now, perhaps that was a good thing after all, especially given that he had believed it would heal his wife, only for her to have gotten worse.

Growl...

The wolf let out another growl, drawing their attention back to it as it placed itself between the intruders and the lotus.

It had no intention of giving up the lotus’s mana. After all, it was the very thing that had allowed it to evolve from a mere Crystal Frost Wolf.

If these three thought they could simply take it from him, they were gravely mistaken.

Besides, the lotus had clearly chosen it. It was protecting the wolf from danger, just as the first lotus had protected the yeti.

Adrian looked at it for a while before sighing and turning towards Cedric and saying, "It’s all yours then."

With that, the butler disappeared, reappearing a distance away from the frozen lake.

He could’ve told Cedric about the fact that the Lotus also protected its guardian, but then it wouldn’t be a fair fight for the wolf.

Besides, Adrian had to figure it all out on his own, so the same applied to Cedric, even if he was Renelle’s brother.

The Grand Duke also looked at Cedric for a while before stepping back and restraining the mana he released.

After all, the creature seemed hesitant to approach because of him.

***

Cedric watched as the two stepped back, leaving him to deal with the wolf.

The wolf also cautiously watched as the two stepped back, realizing that they had no intention of taking its lotus.

Which meant that the only one who did was the human before it.

Cedric let out a sigh, focused on his opponent and muttered, "Come at me then."

The wolf obliged, quickly closing the distance, despite its size, before raising its paw and slamming it where Cedric stood.

Fortunately, he was quick enough to react and dodge to safety before he could get crushed.

Unfortunately, the attack didn’t stop where the beast’s paw landed.

Instead, ice spread beneath it, approaching him, and the moment it was close enough, an ice spike suddenly sprang out from the ground, forcing Cedric to jump back.

Exactly as the beast had intended.

Before he could land and regain his balance, a large paw appeared and slammed into him, launching him towards the cave wall.

Boom!

Cracks appeared on the wall as Cedric slammed into it, but the wolf’s attacks were far from over.

It suddenly lunged again, this time with its mouth wide open and intending to end the fight.

But Cedric quickly recovered from the previous attack.

He launched himself away just before the wolf’s fangs clamped shut, crushing the rock where his head had been moments earlier.

He then formed an ice spear and hurled it at the wolf just before he landed.

The beast didn’t get enough time to dodge as the spear reached it.

The spear immediately exploded upon impact, erupting into countless shards of ice that engulfed the wolf.

Cedric landed lightly on the frozen ground, not relaxing for even a second, as he had a gut feeling that the wolf was completely fine, if only a little harmed.

Sure enough,

Growl!

The wolf burst through the cloud of ice, its white fur carrying only a few shallow scratches.

This caused him to frown.

Although he was certain that the spear wouldn’t kill the wolf, he was certain that it would provide him with a big enough advantage.

Yet, although the attack had cleanly landed, it barely seemed to have done anything.

Adrian, a distance away from the fight, looked at them before saying, "This should take a while."