With Elena gone, only Rei and a single maid remained in the room.
The maid had entered just as Elena left, so she hadn't witnessed the exchange between Rei and Elena. Even so, she could easily guess the nature of their relationship.
Naturally, being able to guess didn't mean the maid would presume to ask Rei about it.
As a maid serving the Duke Kerebel's House, she was among many daughters of noble birth. The maid assigned to Rei was the third daughter of a baron belonging to the Noble's Faction.
Fortunately, she didn't let her noble status make her arrogant. She simply carried out her duties as a maid. Had she been the sort to issue high-handed orders to Rei, who was not a noble, she would have undoubtedly incurred Elena's wrath.
Then again, the butler of the Duke Kerebel's House—who knew Rei's personality and his relationship with Elena—had been the one to assign her.
Rei was drinking black tea to pass the time until dinner when the maid approached.
"Here."
Without waiting for Rei to say anything, the maid poured him a fresh cup.
"Hm? Ah, sorry. Actually, can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
The maid who turned to face Rei had features that, while not quite on Elena's level, could certainly be called beautiful. Under normal circumstances, anyone might have found themselves captivated by such a maid. But for Rei—who traveled alongside Elena, Marina, and Vihera, three women who, though different in nature, each possessed beauty worthy of the history books—she was hardly someone to lose his head over.
The maid, who harbored a faint confidence in her own beauty, wasn't entirely pleased with Rei's indifferent attitude. She didn't let it show, however, and simply asked what he needed.
"Could you tell me what kind of person Elena's mother, the Duchess Kerebel, is?"
"Lady Arka? Let's see... She is someone who possesses both kindness and a certain fearsomeness."
"Kindness and fearsomeness... So in practical terms, would it be fair to assume she has a rather noble-like personality?"
Unable to conjure any specific examples from the words "kindness" and "fearsomeness," Rei settled on that interpretation for the time being. Considering she was Elena's mother, a typical noble personality wasn't exactly what came to mind, but...
"Yes, I'd say so. She is without question a proud woman. And befitting the mother who gave birth to Lady Elena, she is also very beautiful."
"I'd expect as much."
That Elena's mother was beautiful went without saying, as far as Rei was concerned.
(Well, nobles have basically been bringing in beautiful spouses generation after generation. It's only natural that good looks would concentrate over time.)
Of course, it wasn't unheard of for nobles to fall in love with commoners, but such cases were very much the minority. With ancestors who were uniformly attractive, it was an undeniable fact that their descendants would tend to be as well. In Rei's experience, most of the nobles he had met possessed features well above average in refinement.
...Though he couldn't deny that some had grown too fat or too thin from years of intemperance.
"It seemed Lady Arka was looking forward to meeting you as well, Lord Rei."
"To meeting me? Why?"
Rei had braced himself for the possibility of being disliked—after all, from a noble's perspective, he was the one leading Elena astray. But being told she was looking forward to meeting him was the last thing he expected.
For a fleeting moment, he wondered if she was looking forward to meeting him in a bad way. One glance at the maid's demeanor, however, was enough to confirm that wasn't the case.
"That would be—"
The moment the maid opened her mouth to respond, a knock came at the door.
The maid glanced at Rei, and he nodded to indicate she could answer it.
When she opened the door, she found an elderly man dressed in a butler's uniform standing there.
He was a man for whom the word "refined" seemed perfectly apt, yet the maid stiffened the instant she saw him. Small wonder—standing before her was the Head Butler, the man who oversaw every maid and butler in service to the Duke Kerebel's House.
She simply hadn't expected the Head Butler to appear in person, and the surprise momentarily rooted her in place. Even so, she quickly recovered and spoke.
"Um, Head Butler. What might I do for you?"
"Dinner preparations are complete. I have come to escort Lord Rei."
"...You yourself, Head Butler?"
She had suspected as much, but even so, she couldn't quite conceal her astonishment that the Head Butler would personally carry out such a task.
From the Head Butler's perspective, however, Rei was someone with a high likelihood of becoming deeply entwined with the Duke Kerebel's House going forward. Given that, appraising Rei with his own eyes was absolutely necessary.
To the Head Butler, Elena was someone he had watched over since childhood—no, since the day she was born. To speak without fear of exaggeration, he regarded her as half his own daughter, or perhaps granddaughter. Naturally, he could not neglect to assess the character of the man widely regarded as her sweetheart.
"Indeed. He is a guest who holds an alias, so we must receive him without the slightest discourtesy."
Reading nothing of the Head Butler's true thoughts on his impassive face, the maid accepted his reasoning.
"Understood. Please wait a moment."
With that, she turned toward the sofa where Rei sat.
Watching the maid's movements, the Head Butler studied Rei. Subtly, so as not to give offense—but firmly enough to take in every detail of his face.
(Hoh.)
Glimpsing Rei's face, the Head Butler raised a quiet note of admiration in his mind.
According to what he had been told, Rei wore a hooded robe and almost always kept the hood up. But now, having changed into proper attire with his face fully exposed, his features were plain to see.
His was not a masculine face—if anything, it could be described as feminine. And yet there was nothing fragile about his bearing, likely because of the intense—almost fierce—light of will that dwelled in those eyes.
What drew the Head Butler's admiration was not Rei's face itself, but the light in those eyes.
At the very least, he had passed the first test.
So concluding inwardly, the Head Butler offered an elegant bow to Rei, who had risen at the maid's words and was now approaching.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Lord Rei. I am Remnes, Head Butler of the Duke Kerebel's House."
"...You're not Sebastian?"
Remnes, his head still bowed, thought he caught Rei muttering something. But when he raised his gaze, Rei's expression gave nothing away.
Remnes was advanced in years, but his ears had not yet failed him. Rei had definitely muttered something. Yet since Rei was behaving as though nothing had happened, he couldn't very well press the matter.
What Rei had actually muttered, however, was disappointment that this butler—who looked every inch the part—was not named Sebastian. Thinking back to another butler he had once met, he had wondered if perhaps this time...
"Now then, dinner is ready. Please allow me to show you the way."
"Lead on."
The two of them exited the room and proceeded down the corridor.
The hallway, as befitted the Duke Kerebel Mansion, was lined with paintings and adorned with vases that were undoubtedly works of art.
Rei, having no particular eye for such things, could not tell whether the paintings, vases, and other decorative objects were genuine or counterfeit—nor, if genuine, what their value might be.
Remnes, for his part, read Rei's demeanor and concluded that the young man lacked any appreciation for the items on display. Inwardly, he deducted points from Rei's assessment.
Had the paintings or artworks been of the Magic Item variety, Rei might have shown at least some interest, but as it stood, they left him cold.
As they walked, Rei endured the uncomfortable tightness of his collar and studied Remnes's back. The man was past middle age—perhaps somewhat older—but there was no unsteadiness in his gait. That in itself was proof of considerable training.
(To serve Duke Kerebel, who commands the Noble's Faction, even the Head Butler would need to be reasonably capable. Actually—could it be that butlers are expected to possess high combat ability in this world?)
That thought was, of course, a product of the manga and other subculture Rei had consumed back in Japan. In those stories, it was not uncommon for butlers and maids to possess formidable fighting prowess.
Naturally, that was simply an entertaining fictional convention. In actuality, in Elgin, butlers and maids were not expected to have high combat ability.
...In truth, there did exist butlers and maids of that sort for one reason or another, but they were exceedingly rare exceptions.
No words passed between Remnes and Rei as they walked on in silence for more than ten minutes. The very fact that one could walk for over ten minutes without leaving a single building was testament to the sheer scale of the Duke Kerebel Mansion.
Rei had viewed the grounds from the sky atop Set, so he had a general sense of its size. Even so, walking the distance himself gave him an entirely new appreciation for just how vast it truly was.
"We have arrived."
Remnes's words told Rei he had finally reached his destination—the dining hall where the evening's gathering would take place.
Before him stood a door far larger than he had anticipated. That it exceeded a normal door in size was, Rei guessed, to accommodate the bringing in of grand platters of food.
As Rei stood surveying the door, Remnes pulled it open.
In that instant, the appetite-stimulating aroma wafting from within the dining hall made Rei catch his breath without thinking. The savory fragrance suggested not mere grilling or pan-frying, but some special cooking technique entirely.
"Excuse me. I have brought Lord Rei."
Following Remnes's announcement, Rei stepped into the dining hall.
The first thing that caught his eye was an enormous table. Seated at it was Elena, dressed in a blue party dress.
Even for Rei, who was well accustomed to Elena's beauty, the sight was striking enough to steal his breath.
Noticing Rei's gaze on her, Elena offered a faint smile.
"You've come, Lord Rei. Or should I perhaps call you Lord Crimson Rei on this occasion?"
Her voice drew Rei's attention to its source. The man sitting there was, in terms of build, clearly no match for Daskar.
But when it came to the sheer presence and aura he radiated, there was no question that he seemed to surpass Daskar entirely.
Who he was required no deliberation at all.
"...A pleasure to meet you, Duke Kerebel. Please, just call me Rei."
For a single heartbeat—just one—Rei was unmistakably overawed by the man before him.
Had this been a battlefield, Rei would never have let himself be intimidated like that. But this was not a battlefield. Here and now, he could not help but acknowledge that the man seated before him possessed a truly extraordinary presence.
Duke Kerebel had been deliberately applying his intimidation from the start. It was a test to measure Rei's caliber.
He had gathered information from countless sources, but information alone had its limits. To truly understand what kind of person Rei was, he needed to meet him face to face and speak with him directly.
As the man who led the Noble's Faction through the monster's den that was noble society, Duke Kerebel had every confidence in his ability to read people. And so he was impressed that Rei, though caught off guard for the briefest of moments by the pressure, had recovered and responded almost immediately.
How many people could react that swiftly under the force of his presence? Even within the Noble's Faction, there couldn't be many.
(A pass for now, then.)
So deciding, Duke Kerebel eased the pressure he had been exerting.
That he had done all of this while wearing a friendly smile was, in its own way, very much in character for a noble.
"Heheh, dear. That's quite enough, don't you think? You're making our guest uncomfortable."
The woman who called out to Duke Kerebel was the only female at the table other than Elena.
Who she was, Rei understood without a moment's thought. Elena and the others had told him all about her.
That person was Arka Kerebel—the Duchess Kerebel, and Elena's mother.