[Lost – Part 1]

A few hours ago...

A polite knock on the door forced Louise to look up from the annual report she had on her hands. Her face was expressionless, but it took someone who knew her well to see the small signs on her face –her irritation at being interrupted when she had very explicitly told her butler that she wished to be left alone for the hour.

"Come in." Her invitation was neither warm nor cold, but Keyron knew that his mistress was not particularly pleased when he opened the door with a humble, almost-apologetic bow.

"Miss Louise, I apologize sincerely for disrupting your time despite your explicit orders." Keyron offered, hoping that his soft words offered some sincerity to soften her irritation. "But the nature of business that has come knocking is urgent. Mr. Branwell has come to see you."

"Branwell?" Louise repeated, the irritation cleared quickly from her face as she closed the book of annual report immediately, sitting upright. "Let him in."

The reaction from his mistress surprised Keyron, but he did not let it show as he politely left to invite the man in question into the office.

This Branwell person was a very non-imposing man –and Keyron supposed that that characteristic was very good for the man's occupation. The man was a private investigator after all. Having dealt with many private investigators both working for his master's family and working against the family, Keyron knew if there was a private investigator in his master or mistress's office, then it would probably be something that they could not afford to use him (as their butler) for.

Still, Branwell's presence confounded Keyron, even as he opened the door for the man, then closed it politely behind him, returning to his duties. Branwell had been assigned a job by Louise that neither Keyron nor Brandon were privy to, and not knowing something going on within the Household was something that Keyron as a Head Butler was not comfortable with. Still, he had been given strict orders by his mistress to never ask and never tell anyone about Mr. Branwell's incoming and outgoing from the mansion, and there was little that he could do against his mistress's order.

Sighing, but with nothing else he could do to change the situation, Keyron sighed at how things had changed since the departure of the young master from the mansion and walked away.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Thank you for sparing your time, Mr. Branwell." Louise greeted formally as she gestured for the man to take a seat across her at the table.

"Please, call me Jason." The man answered, but like the many times that he had been here, Louise had no intention to speak on casual terms with him or address him casually with first names. While nearly everyone knew her as either the Mistress of the Greaves-Crawford Household or Miss Louise, this did not mean that she was obliged to call others by their first names in reply.

"What do you have for me today, Mr. Branwell?" Louise answered pleasantly, hiding the weapons behind her smile that any rightful private investigator would be able to detect without an issue. Branwell was an efficient private investigator –he was thorough and he often did not try to overstep his boundaries. Unfortunately, he was a little ambitious at times and tended to try to make links between things even if the events that had transpired may have occurred in isolation.

"Not encouraging news, I'm afraid." Branwell answered, looking a little nervous now. When he had been contacted for this particular task, Branwell had been taken aback. It had been the first time that Branwell's services had been requested for personally by Louise Greaves-Crawford (she had called him personally) instead of through the contact of the household's butler. When he had appeared in the mansion to receive the task, the Head Butler –the famed Butler in White –had been invited out of the office for the two of them to discuss in private. It had stunned Branwell; his experience in dealing with high society had taught him that whenever masters/mistresses kept their personal butlers out of the loop, then it had to be something very serious.

The task that Branwell received was... somewhat serious. Still, he had taken it with strong responsibility, but the situation was not turning out very good.

"I am not looking for encouragement, I am looking for news. What is the latest update?"

"I'm afraid, I have lost trail of the young master." Branwell knew that there was no way to soften the blow, but he really did not wish to be the one breaking such news to any mother, much less one who held such power and weapons in her own rights.

"You have lost trail of Kyren?" Louise repeated quietly, not depicting the usual look of shock that mothers would get. The woman still looked calm on the outside, but Branwell's blood froze at the narrowing of blue eyes. "Explain how that may have happened, Mr. Branwell."

"As per your instructions, I carefully watched out for anyone who might be targeting the young master. But the man who has adopted him –the man named Kay and who runs Lyra Trading –is a force on his own. I don't know how he does it, but he has managed to keep the young master hidden in his house and limited his technology trail. I tried to see if I could pry my way in to put bugs, but he always found them no matter where I tried to put them. When I disguised as a delivery man, he sent me away at the door, but I managed to ascertain that the young master is still safe in one piece. I don't know if Kay is aware that the young master is who he is, but at least from what I can observe, Kyren was doing well."

"Yes, that is as per your explanations the past few times you were here. What has changed?" Louise said, and there was an unspoken warning in her voice seriously informing him that he should wise up and get straight to the point.

"What changed is that he removed all traces of Kyren. He must have known that I was making friends with the people in the shops nearby for them to keep me updated whenever they see Kyren, because when I visited them for updates today, they pretended that they had never seen me or Kyren before. He must have done something to them –bribed them more than I did, perhaps –because their lips were all shut. He was very thorough –he even covered up the pinhole camera I installed in the lamppost across the street. I used to always have visuals of their surroundings to make sure that I could get a sign that the young master is alive and well, but he cut them all off in one day. I tried to tap into surveillance cameras, but they were all down. They said it was a power outage down at the station..." Branwell faded away when Louise laid down the pen that she had held lightly between her fingers. Slowly, but almost in a threatening manner, the Mistress of the Greaves-Crawford Household flattened her palms on the mahogany table and leaned back in her seat.

"When was this? How long ago?" Louise's voice was no longer even the tiniest bit warm. Ice had come descending in her tone, and it took all of Branwell's wits to resist shivering –either in cold or fear, he knew not which.

"I-I realized he had blocked up my cameras yesterday night, but I didn't want to alert anyone by rushing down. I went to the shops nearby at opening hours today and found out about his trick. I went back home immediately to look for surveillance camera footage, and when I could find none, I rushed here as fast as I could... It has been almost 6 hours since the cameras were blocked..."

"This man named Kay." Louise seemed to have extremely little tolerance for the uncertainty that Branwell was showing on his face, and he desperately scraped for some confidence despite the fact that they had been blow away like a house of cards just a few seconds ago by Louise's subtle changes in expression. "Do you have more on him?"

"N-Not much. Other than the fact that Kay is definitely a fake name, and that we don't know what his previous aliases or real name was..."

"His business. Lyca Trading."

"I-It started only half a year ago, but it exploded and expanded at an amazing speed. For the first few months, it appeared that Kay was attaching training wheels to the business and making lots of wild decisions that turned out to be streaks of luck and brilliance. For some reason, he never allowed the business to make it big, or to attract attention. It only started to get attention and follow a more proper growth trajectory when the young master was adopted by him. A-According to the employees, there are only a very select few who are privileged to see Kay, and I haven't been able to contact any of them. But the word in the industry is that the company can run on its own, but if Kay is ever called in for a business meeting or negotiation, he will definitely close the deal with absolutely no questions asked. I tried looking through financial, labor and other legal records. Nothing. Lyca Trading is all clean."

"Impossible." Louise's declaration was made with such certainty that Branwell felt as if his whole world had been removed from underneath his feet. "There is nobody in the world who is capable of that without twisting the law."

"B-But Miss Louise... you..."

"There are only two people who can achieve what this man named Kay has done legally, and one of them is dead. The other person is me." Louise announced confidently and without a single moment of hesitation spared for humility. "This man is clever and resourceful. He is well-spoken enough to convince Kyren and bring him into the business and keep Kyren there. But all of the things he has done... not all of them will be legal; I am very sure of it."

"Then what will you have me do?" By now, Branwell's voice had been reduced to a small scared squeak.

"You have done enough." Louise answered. "Thank you for your help, Mr. Branwell."

"A-Am I fired?"

"No, your work has been completed satisfactorily. As always, continue to keep our discussions and all findings completely offline and confidential. Because Keyron cannot personally see that you burn every single piece of paper in this current case file, I expect you to return here another day with all of them and deliver it personally to my office. I will burn them myself, and if I find another stray piece of paper that should have belonged in this case file floating around out there in the market..." Louise paused. "I will get you a new house and cover all expenses for your move."

There was no explanation for the linkages that the mistress of the most powerful household in the country was implying. The Greaves-Crawford Household had never been known to abuse their power or use them for violent means or any coercion whatsoever, but Branwell would be a fool to assume that it had not been a threat used once or twice in negotiations. Most importantly, Branwell knew how capable the Greaves-Crawford Household was to make his imaginations come to life, and distance themselves from all responsibilities of the consequences whatsoever.

"I understand." Branwell's lips were completely dry by now, his knees positively shaking as he somehow stumbled his way out of the office, completely blindsided.

He had gone in worrying about being fired for the bad news he had been bearing.

He had come out thanking the stars that he had not been killed there and then for his incompetency.

________________________________________________________________________________

The knocks that came on the door of Louise's office this time was expected and she called a quick invitation to her guests. True to their training and teachings, the young promising butlers had rushed to answer to her summons, but a part of her worried about a possible future where they might simply be promising butlers without an equally promising master to serve.

"Miss Louise, we have come to your call-" Kylar began to greet, but she had no patience for something of that sort. Her gut feeling had been telling her that something was about to go wrong –the same way her gut had felt weird the day she received news a month ago that some homeless boy had declared himself Kyren in the middle of the town square and spewed hateful words against his mother, and gotten himself stoned and chased away by an angry crowd.

"I have an errand for the two of you." Louise interrupted with an announcement, ignoring the subtle look of surprise passed between the twins. Having watched the both of them grow up, and having had the experience of being served by them a few times after they returned from the Imperial Academy, Louise had long learnt how to read the subtle expressions, signals and gestures shared between the twins. The one that had just been passed was one of startled surprise –most presumably at Louise's haste. "I need the two of you to go to town to pick up some groceries."

"Miss Louise, with all due respects, picking up groceries-" Kyvan's imminent polite protest about how the groceries had already been collected by the chef's servants early in the day was cut off once again. It was not even a butler's job in the first place to go around picking up groceries, though butlers were supposed to do anything that was asked of them by their master and mistress.

"I know. Go do it again anyway."

"Then, I shall go, and Kyvan shall stay to watch after-"

"No, the both of you go. The two of you left Kaylen with Kiera, didn't you? I will drop her a call informing her where the two of you have gone, so go without worries. Go to town and the area of Bluedon." Louise interrupted yet again, and the look shared between the twins this time was a confirmation look to each other that any of their protests and concerns were about to be thrown out of the window.

The sensitive and reliable fifteen year old boys knew that their mistress was, for some reason, rushing to send them out to town despite the fact that they –and Kaylen –had explicitly been banned from going there ever since their young master had been exiled there.

"Very well, we have received your instructions, Miss Louise. We will make haste." Kylar nodded seriously, promising something in his gaze despite the fact that he had no idea what that 'something' was as well.

It was very clear to the twins that their mistress's behavior meant that she was sending them out on a secret mission since something as simple as picking up groceries was simply too menial as a task to think about sending the both of them for. And like the loyal and well-trained butlers that they were, it was up to Kylar and Kyvan to put together the clues and figure out the things that their mistress was not saying directly to them –either out of the lack of need or the inability to.

"Kylar, Kyvan." The call of their names right before they stepped out of the door to embark on their journey to town stalled the both of them. "Don't tell Brandon. Or your father. If you cannot find the groceries, come back before Kaylen's bedtime."

"As you wish, Miss Louise." Kyvan nodded politely, and both butlers excused themselves fully from the office. Neither of them discussed their mission until they stood outside on the front steps awaiting the mansion's driver to bring the family car around to bring them to town as per order.

"What do you think?" Kylar offered his brother the chance to air his views, and Kyvan was all but glad to do so.

"It's quite obvious isn't it? We are going to find 'groceries'."

"Yes, but what happens afterwards? What are we to do after we find said 'groceries'? Miss Louise had no further instructions in that regards, only that we find him."

"We are to track 'groceries' down and not make contact?" Kyvan mused with confusion written across his face, moving down the steps to meet the car that had quickly and efficiently driven up to the steps.

"Miss Louise's conditions for his exile was that he will not be allowed to come back if we go out to find and bring him back. Perhaps we are only running an errand to find and ascertain the 'groceries' safety and status."

"Whatever it is, as long as we get to meet him and talk to him again." Kylar answered his brother, opening the door and watching Kyvan round the back of the car to reach the other side. "Master Brandon and Dad have been tearing their hairs out worrying about him and not being able to do anything about the situation. Anything we do will put them at ease."

"Listen to yourself." Kyvan's laugh accompanied him as they entered the car in unison, closing the door behind them and strapping on the seat belt with ease. "You speak as if you have not been doing the same thing. Any more of that hair-tearing, and your bald spot may begin to show."

"And the pot calls the kettle black." Kylar grinned back at his twin.

"Butlers Kylar and Kyvan, are we set to go?" The driver who had been awaiting for confirmation that everything was settled and ready for the journey asked.

"Yes. To town." Kylar announced, excited to be reuniting with his young master and childhood friend once again.