NOVPUB"I’m back."
Christina waved to her family in the living room with a smile.
The family members were seated around the dining table; her father at the head, her mother and elder brother on one side, and her younger sister, uncle, and cousins on the other.
"..."
Two seconds later, the dining room remained as quiet as before; those seated around the long table just glanced at her, gave her a slight smile, and then continued with their meal.
There wasn’t the warm welcome she had expected from everyone.
"?"
Christina wondered if there was something wrong with the way she entered.
"Christina, take a seat," commanded her father Count Bathist, his directive succinct.
"Oh, okay."
Christina, momentarily taken aback, quickly composed herself and pulled out the chair beside her younger sister to sit down.
No sooner had she sat down than a maid instructed by a signal brought her cutlery.
Everything seemed normal.
The family members all maintained a dignified etiquette at the dining table, no one stood up, they just calmly welcomed her back as if imitating a sort of elegance.
This unexpected calmness bred a sliver of doubt in Christina’s heart, and she couldn’t help but ponder if she had missed out on a new house rule.
"By the way, who is this?"
Christina’s gaze inadvertently swept over to one side of the dining room and she inquired of her father who sat at the head of the table.
She noticed a man she had never seen before, dressed as a butler, standing at the edge of the room, as if waiting on their beck and call, ready to serve at a moment’s notice.
He was a handsome brown-haired young man with emerald eyes that exuded an approachable aura.
"Mr. Rocky McCarthy, our new butler," answered Count Bathist briefly.
"..."
Christina sensed not just her father, but other family members also instinctively glanced at Rocky the butler before speaking or making decisions, as if worried about offending him.
This butler’s position within the family seemed to transcend that of a normal servant, even affecting the behavior of the family members.
Despite the questions filling her mind, Christina maintained politeness at the table, carefully observing her relatives and the situation, attempting to find answers in these details.
And the butler, it seemed, had noticed her curiosity about him, occasionally glancing her way with a friendly look.
Lunch progressed amidst this subtle atmosphere.
Christina couldn’t put her finger on what exactly was wrong.
But she felt unsettled.
As she tried to adapt to the overly quiet atmosphere of the dining table...
A minor incident suddenly shattered the fragile calm.
Thunk.
Christina’s uncle, who she viewed as a composed and elegant gentleman, accidentally knocked over the water glass in front of him.
It seemed that the eye contact between her and the butler, with the latter’s gaze occasionally passing by her uncle, made the uncle increasingly nervous.
The clear water quickly spread across the table.
All the family members turned to look at him.
Including Christina.
This was not a big deal, but she did not expect her uncle to make such a mistake.
What she didn’t expect was...
Her uncle’s face turned pale in an instant.
In a flurry, he stood up from his chair, almost in an instinctive response, and bowed deeply to the brown-haired, green-eyed butler, his voice trembling as he apologized repeatedly:
"I’m terribly sorry, please forgive my carelessness," he said.
His attitude was not like that of apologizing to a servant, but more like the trepidation one would show before a superior with great authority.
Christina’s eyes widened, and the air in the dining room seemed to freeze. 𝘯𝘰𝑣𝘱𝑢𝘣.𝑐𝑜𝑚
She looked at her other family members in astonishment.
But...
No one spoke out, their expressions complex.
"Mr. Rocky, I truly deeply apologize!"
The uncle hastily knelt on the floor, shaking as he confessed to Rocky, the butler.
"It’s alright,"
The butler calmly smiled, helped the uncle up, quickly tidied up the table, placed a napkin for him, and asked him to continue with the meal.
"Enjoy your meal,"
His voice was soft but carried an irresistible authority that made the uncle seem to comply with his orders involuntarily.
Then, the uncle’s face broke into a blissful smile as he resumed eating with gusto, much like a child encouraged by a teacher.
And the brown-haired, green-eyed butler simply retreated back to the edge of the room.
"...?!!"
At that moment, Christina felt an unprecedented fear and bewilderment.
Despite it being a summer noon, she felt a chill all over her body, and her spine involuntarily tensed.
What on earth was going on?
A strange atmosphere pervaded the entire dining room, as if it were not the home she knew, but rather as if some evil presence had descended, tainting this warm household and turning the Count Bathist’s home into an Evil God’s feast.
Everything clearly felt amiss, yet the other family members seemed not to notice anything wrong with the uncle or the butler, and they cheerfully continued with their lunch.
The quiet of the dining room made Christina restless.
To put it positively, her family members seemed as if they had been purified at a deep level, found true peace, and were filled with a newfound faith; to put it negatively, they were completely like those whose spirits had altered!
She even began to suspect her entire family had become Cultists!
When Christina looked back at the wall,
the brown-haired, green-eyed butler had returned to his original spot, waiting on everyone’s beck and call, much like a puppeteer behind the curtains, silently smiling as he watched his puppets play out a scene of a family luncheon.
