The Butler's Master

Punishment - Part 3

[Punishment – Part 3]

Louise supposed she could not be surprised when she stepped out of her office for a lunch break, only to find her path blocked by the kneeling form of her son's butlers. Kylar and Kyvan had their backs straight, their heads bowed low and kneeling on one knee in reverence like old-school knights; the very same way they had been taught in the Imperial Academy.

"Miss Louise, we beg you to consider otherwise." The boys had their gloved hands pressed over their lapel right below their shining coat of arms declaring them proud butlers of the Greaves-Crawford Household. Each of them also wore their golden coat of arms that declared them the best graduates of the Imperial Academy –the item distributed so rarely to the butler society that it was almost public knowledge that only butlers of the Reyes family would stand the chance of earning them.

"The failure of the Princeton Tender was the fault on our parts, Miss Louise. It was our fault that we did not react fast enough to the withdrawal of Mr. Summers from the tender. We failed to secure the project despite our best efforts to contact a replacement. If you have to execute punishment, please punish us instead and spare Kyren. He was a victim of his circumstances." Kylar, ever the steady individual, spoke up clearly and humbly.

Between the young twins, it had always been Kylar who reminded Louise just a little bit of her ex-butler. It might have something to do with the maturity of an older twin –the inherent desire to be just a little bit better and portray himself just a little bit more reliable than his little brother in everything he did.

"Yes, Miss Louise. It was my fault that Kyren did not manage to meet Mr. Kingly, and I neglected to get him to attend lessons yesterday. I should have arranged for the tutor to come in at another timing so that he would be awake and attentive. A master makes mistakes when his butler makes mistakes, so please punish us in his stead." Kyvan backed up, not very far from the standard that his brother had set.

The two young men had clearly done very well taking after their father. In fact, Louise would even go as far as to say that they had overtaken their father –at least in comparison to the stories that Brandon had recited about Keyron back when they were still young and playful teenagers. Unfortunately, Louise had experienced being served by a much better butler back when she was their current age, and thus had a much stricter basis of comparison for the Reyes twins.

"I suppose that the both of you are right." Louise declared, aware that the boys' father was currently standing behind her, watching his sons kneel in apology to her for their mistakes made. Keyron had gotten very good at perfecting his butler-mode and ignoring the fact that Kylar and Kyvan were his sons most times, but when they were acting as such stellar butlers; Louise always knew that Keyron fought back proud smiles and brags.

"If your master has faulted, then the two of you are partially to blame as well. Your punishments will be to separate yourselves from Kyren's side. I don't want to see or hear you two sneaking out of the mansion to help Kyren come back home. You two will only serve Kaylen and attend to your lessons as usual, but I forbid all three of you from trying to use the excuse of bringing Kaylen out of the Mansion to play to search for Kyren." Louise nodded to herself at the suitable punishment given.

Both butlers could not help but look up at their mistress standing in front of them in shock.

"Miss Louise-" Kyvan's rising protest was silenced quickly when he spotted his father subtly shaking his head in warning standing behind the mistress.

"Know well that I am punishing the two of you not for your actions this time around, but for you two having pampered your young master so much to the extent that he has become a useless individual. And like how the Imperial Academy must have taught you, the strength of your master is the strength of you butlers. You have allowed Kyren to become useless, and now the two of you are useless. This punishment serves to make Kyren become just a little bit more useful to his household and the society as a whole, and to raise your values equally." Louise declared strongly, as if completely ignorant of the fact that the young master in topic was her son.