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𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲

！！MANGA SPOILERS ！！

【 ʙᴜᴛʟᴇʀ!ᴍ!ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ 】
❝ 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢/𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦-𝘴𝘮𝘶𝘵 ❞
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                                      You were Vincent's most loyal butler long before he was betrothed to Rachel. You were known as the perfect sidekick, someone who never missed a beat when it came to completing orders perfectly, even with unassigned tasks. You were, essentially, one hell of a butler that Vincent planned on permanently keeping around, especially after his sons' birth requiring more attention and business. Unexpectedly, though, that very birth ― as well as his marriage ― was only the beginning of a serious scandal surrounding your boss.

Many reporters were in desperate need of a hot topic since the Phantomhive family seemed too "perfect" of a noble family ― there has to be something going on, is what they thought because they couldn't fathom that a family genuinely loves each other without something shady happening behind closed doors.

That's when they aligned their focus on your and Vincent's close relationship: they stalked every one of your movements to blatantly misguide you two's relationship to the public, to which Vincent seemed to be the main contributor if Rachel or other servants weren't in the picture. Most reporters and gossipers relied on the fact he, a master, would stand a bit too close to you, a mere servant, while others focused on how often he'd put his hands on you. But then there was the claim he'd be seen with you more than with his wife.

You always tried reminding yourself that of course your and Vincent's relationship ― the entire Phantomhive family, for that matter, is nothing more than professional: you two are close because of the many years you've been together; he's always been a bit of a physical guy, but it's just playfulness on his end since he's always teasing you for how serious you look; and he isn't seen out in public with his wife that much because she doesn't hold as much of an important title as Vincent, so she mostly stays home attending her wifely duties.

However, despite your self-reassurances, there is no denying that you find it...odd...Vincent frequently requests your presence when there is not much you need to do. Yes, you're his official right-hand man ― Head of the Phantomhive servants ― except that means you should be spending most of your time looking over the other maids and butlers to ensure everything is in order rather than stay by your master's side for...well, mere company. Surely such lax idling might have the other servants follow in the reporters' footsteps. But then there was the haunting guilt bout inadvertently causing your Master to be in this situation since you knew all too well what may happen to him, his family, and his company if Londoners continued believing in this "news".

Hell, it got so bad that people adopted the ridiculous notion Vincent married Rachel and shortly impregnated her as a cover for his homosexual relationship involving his personal servant. The fact that they had twins (having sets of identical kids was a spectacle for Victorian England, especially if of noble blood) that Vincent plastered all over photography and during events, alongside his wife, encouraged those same beliefs; that he was desperate to fight against these allegations. (To avoid polluting your own mind with this truly outrageous rumor, though, you remained silent and pushed any doubt to the farthest part of your brain.)