The Lady's Butler

The Proposal Arc {Part 2}

(Part 2)

"I am so terribly sorry if we gave you a bad shock, Louise. I just thought it would be rather funny to see everyone's reaction when Keyron appeared." Brandon spoke casually, slicing easily through the well-done steak.

"It is fine." Louise's answer was short, but Kyrano knew that, contrary to her words, his mistress was rather disturbed. He could not blame her, for he himself was rather disturbed by the fact that he was standing beside a clone of himself. No, not a clone, because Brandon's butler did not have an eye-patch. Keyron was the perfect image of what Kyrano would have looked like if he didn't lose one eye.

"I'm really sorry, Louise. I promise I'll make it up to you and Kyrano somehow." Brandon continued with the conversation as if it were nothing, both students sharing the table for lunch.

After shocking the entire class, Brandon Greaves and his butler had been rather obedient in class and –for the first time since his arrival –acted like an heir suitable for the Greaves family. Being home-schooled throughout his life had equipped the heir of the Greaves family with a sharp mind, and it was clear to everyone that Brandon found classes easy.

It had been a cause of surprise during lunchtime when Brandon managed to somehow disengage himself from the crowd of relentlessly curious girls in the class to join Louise at the dining hall, where Louise usually sat alone with her butler. The young man had invited himself to the seat, and Louise had found no way to reject the man without sounding rude.

"Tell me the things about this school that I should know, Louise." Brandon requested politely, and Louise, as the Rose of the academy, could simply sigh and obey.

"How have you been for the past nineteen years, Kyrano?" Kyrano heard a whisper from a so-familiar-yet-unfamiliar voice beside him and half-turned to find Keyron looking back at him subtly.

"Well. And you?"

"Perfect." There was a short pause, then, "Did you know about me?"

"No, I never knew." Kyrano answered honestly, only allowing a little of his raging curiosity show. Even if the butler of Brandon's appeared to be his twin, he would not relax too much around Keyron until he had the man well-assessed. Even if Keyron might be his brother, Kyrano was still Louise's butler, and that meant protecting his mistress to anyone suspicious.

"Neither did I. I thought I was abandoned until the Master of the Greaves family picked me up. I only found out about my real family when I heard about the Crawford family."

"Were you with the Greaves family your whole life?"

"Yes, they brought me up, fed me, clothed me, and gave me a job."

"I see. You must have had it well." Kyrano answered, not very sure what to think. Was it true, then? Other than the fact that they looked eerily alike, and that Keyron had introduced himself as a 'Reyes', what other evidences were there that Keyron and he were twins? If he had a brother, then why did his parents never tell him about it? Why was he led to believe that he was the only male child of the family for nineteen whole years, never to meet his brother again until this fateful moment?

"I do not regret my time spent with the Greaves family, Brother, but I cannot help but wonder why I was the one abandoned by the family. You and I are identical, but still they made a choice between us. Why is it that I was never received by my own parents, while you enjoyed the love of yours?"

"I do not understand this as much as you, Keyron." Kyrano answered, not sure if the slight anger in the man's tone meant anything bad. "I was completely kept unaware about this, even in my days in the Reyes household."