(Part 4)

"Miss Louise." Kyrano had had enough of remaining silent. "Please do not attend classes today. You look too pale."

"I will survive." His mistress answered softly, but he could see easily that her movements were sluggish. Kyrano wished very much that he could step forth to help his mistress with getting ready, to do his job of aiding her in getting her clothes right and neat, her appearance presentable. But he could not do it, for his mistress had given him a strict order two days ago for him to stay by her, but not carrying out his daily butler duties.

He had protested badly, but his lady had given the excuse that it was personal training for a day where Kyrano would not be around by any situation. It was to ensure that Louise would be able to survive alone without relying too much on her butler. But much as it troubled Louise to learn how to arrange her own belongings, press her clothes straight, arrange them so that they wouldn't be crumpled, arrange her own meals and clean after herself –it troubled Kyrano doubly that he could not help her, that he could not fulfil what he had been doing for the past fourteen years of his life.

"You haven't been eating or sleeping well the past days, Miss Louise. Aside from the pressures of the duel, studies and student council duties, you have also been trying to be independent. You are overworking." Kyrano resisted the urge to simply step forth to his mistress, to help her button up her blouse since her fingers were obviously trembling and slipping.

"I can still go on." Louise answered irritably. "Can't you just let me do what I want for once?"

Kyrano knew it was the lack of sleep talking, and was doubly concerned at how his mistress would present herself in classes. Being overly tired and malnourished from the meagre meals that his mistress had tried to whip up on her own, Louise was easily irritable and annoyed and though Kyrano understood the cause of it, it did not mean that the other ladies did. The perceived character shift of the Rose of the Academy would not be well-received.

"I speak for your well-being, Miss Louise. You truly look pale, and you have not been sleeping or eating well."

"I can't just suddenly drop my responsibilities, can I? I have a meeting today, and I still have to go down and make a show of failing terribly at archery for that darned Amelia." Louise, having finally buttoned herself down, now moved on to tying her ribbon, her fingers fumbling once more.

"If you may, I can attend in representation of you. You have the agenda of the meeting left on the student council table yesterday." Kyrano offered, but the woman paused in her tying of the ribbon.

"I did?" She asked, sounding surprised at his observance. "I thought I brought it back."

"You left it under the file containing receipts of the Council before you left yesterday night." Kyrano answered easily. While he had been denied of doing his student council duties, it didn't mean that Kyrano could not be still observant of the movements of his mistress.

"Right." She acknowledged with a tired nod, then checked her watch. "We're going to be late. Let's go."

Kyrano suppressed the instincts to inform his lady that he had been fidgeting ever since they had passed the optimum time for departure. It got on Kyrano's instincts as a butler, but it was by pure effort that he stopped himself from stepping forth, not wanting to irritate his already tired mistress anymore. His lady would fall to sickness very soon, and Kyrano was already prepared for such a situation. He had already planned everything that he would do should the situation arise.

With his mistress carrying her own books, Kyrano rushed beside her at comfortable pace through the hallways, watching carefully as his mistress lost her breath easily from the small workout. She was definitely getting sick. In fact, Kyrano had already seen beads of sweat dotting his mistress's forehead even before the run.

Louise paused in the middle of a fairly crowded hallway to collect her breath, earning some curious gazes from the other ladies. The Rose of the Academy had always appeared to be comfortable with her own pace, doing everything with superb excellence and poise. It was not common to find Louise Crawford rushing through hallways, looking as if she were putting in much effort in simply to get to classes on time.

"Miss Louise." Kyrano said more firmly this time, moving closer to his mistress. His instincts told him that something was about to happen, and his suspicions were flaring. "Please heed my advice."

"I can..." Louise panted, bent forwards, but lost further words.

"Louise, are you fine? You look terrible!" A nearby lady from the First Year asked in concern, her butler looking alarmed as well. Kyrano stepped forwards quickly with a bow of greeting and a quick excuse for his mistress, who was taking the time to regain her breath.

"Kyrano, I'm..." Louise began, but her step was dominated by a sudden loss of energy as the Rose of the Academy tripped. Pitching forwards, Louise was not surprised to find herself falling into the awaiting, ready arms of her butler who held her weight up easily. Such a comfortable strength to lean on; Louise felt her pressures lighten ever a little bit with the physical support that her butler offered.

"Miss Louise, please take a rest." Kyrano implored again, and she thought it funny that her butler never asked for anything for himself, but always sounded so begging whenever it came to her own welfare. "You are having a fever."

"Of course I knew that..." Louise finally gave in, for she could not bear to hear the utter worry in her butler's voice.

"I am bringing you to the infirmary, Miss Louise." Kyrano informed softly, gave a quick excuse once more to the concerned lady who had asked Louise about her well-being, then picked his mistress up. Her weight was easily dealt with as he balanced her carefully between both arms. Louise let her body sag limply against her butler's strong chest, no longer needing to keep upright.

"It will be a little uncomfortable, but please pardon me." Louise heard her butler say faintly, and realized that it was she who was beginning to lose her consciousness. Her weakness had hit so suddenly that Louise didn't even have enough time to react.

Before she fell totally into her unconsciousness, however, as she felt the jostling of Kyrano's chest against her side while he moved quickly, Louise decided that her butler really knew her better than she knew herself. He had been able to remain silent while he watched her struggle with the hardships of daily life without his help. Kyrano had only started protesting in the morning, and not ten minutes later, Louise had lost her strength.

It was official, Louise decided as she fell into unconsciousness: She could not survive without Kyrano.

______________________________________________________________________________

It was almost nightfall when Louise finally stirred from her deep sleep, having been given some strong medicine to tackle her high fever when Kyrano had brought her to the infirmary. Kyrano himself had had little rest, but he was prepared for sleeplessness as he sat silently beside her bed, flipping through the papers in his hands. He had had porridge cooked, ready for his mistress whenever she awoke, had attended the student council meeting in representative of his mistress and taken down notes for the meeting, had applied for school leave for a few days for his mistress, and overseen the last minute repairs to the bow that his mistress would be using for the upcoming duel.

He was caught in the middle of vetting through the class notes that the Lady Rowena had taken down for his mistress kindly when Louise stirred and slowly opened her eyes. The soft confusion and sluggishness appeared easily in her blue eyes, but Kyrano waited patiently for her to look around to recognise her surroundings.

"Kyrano?" He wasn't surprised when her first word was his name, asked in a venturing question. The utter trust from her that he would always be there beside her warmed his insides.

"Miss Louise, you're awake. How are you feeling?" Kyrano offered gently, not wanting to sound too harsh for fresh ears.

"Weak. Where is this?" His mistress replied, almost whispering as she turned to look at him. Kyrano was briefly reminded by the day he woke up after the previous duel, the role reversal when he had been the one weak and unable to speak louder than a proper whisper while his mistress had been waiting for him beside his bed.

"The school's infirmary. You have been sleeping since you fell unconscious in the morning. It is evening now." Kyrano reported dutifully.

"I have missed the whole day of school..."

"Do not worry, Miss Louise. I have applied leave for your absence for today and tomorrow for you to reap a good rest for recovery. Miss Rowena has been kind enough to take down notes for today's lessons for you, and had Scott pass it to me earlier in the evening."

"What about my student council duties?"

"Please pardon me for leaving your side while you were asleep, Miss Louise, for I attended the meeting in your stead. The council has addressed fully your agenda for the meeting today, and I have taken down notes. I have requested for Miss July to send you a copy of the minutes of the meeting."

"And my bow..." The replying whisper was now filled with an expectant pause, and Kyrano struggled not to smile at how quickly his mistress understood the situation –that he had helped her with everything that worried her before she fell unconscious.

"I met with the repairman that you called in after the student council meeting. You didn't state your intent on what modifications you wanted on the bow, but I assumed that you wanted higher strength of your string and tightening of the arms. I also had your arrows re-tipped, for they were becoming blunt." Kyrano continued.

His mistress, holding something that looked like total acceptance and understanding in her eyes, simply sighed softly and blinked quietly once before she spoke again: "I suppose you already have some food prepared for me?"

"Yes, I have made some porridge for you. It might taste a little bland, but please make do, for it will be good for your recovering body." Kyrano answered, coming quickly to his feet to retrieve the bowl that was waiting at the low table at the foot of the bed. Kyrano was glad that it was still steaming with warmth as he brought it back to his mistress's side. Helping Louise to sit upright quickly, Kyrano stood closer to his mistress's side and took a scoop.

"Kyrano, I can feed myself." The impatient voice rang clearer –his mistress was definitely more awake now that she was sitting upright.

"Miss Louise, it will be better for us both if you rest now. Besides, have we not been doing this since you were young?" Kyrano reminded, bending and slipping the spoonful of food into the obedient waiting mouth of his mistress.

"I'm old enough now, Kyrano. You shouldn't insist on treating me like a child."

"If you insist on acting like one, Miss Louise, then I will treat you as one." Kyrano answered, silencing the immediate protest he saw rising from his mistress by giving her another spoonful. It was entertaining for him to watch his mistress swallow her food quickly to clear her mouth for protest.

"How am I acting like a child?

"By refusing to hear to my advice, Miss Louise. That was why you collapsed in the hallway in the morning. You should have returned the bed when I protested." Kyrano replied, spooning one more bite into awaiting mouth.

Truly, it was only in the rare moments of sickness that struck his mistress that Kyrano would feel closer to the young her once more. In the past, whenever Louise fell sick, it would forever be his job to feed the young lady. When she was younger, she had cried and made a fuss, sometimes even refusing to eat. It was the naivety of a young child, but Kyrano still remembered those days fondly. As opposed to those mischievous moments of Louise's childhood, his mistress was acting very much well-behaved now.

"I assumed that I could hold on." The embarrassed excuse was coupled with the most interesting expression of shame and embarrassment, and Kyrano struggled not to smile too wide.

"I understand that you are very capable, Miss Louise, but I do implore you to allow me to resume my butler duties. You are a lady, and nobody will ever expect a lady to be able to carry both the duties of hers and her butler." Kyrano pursued, determined to see the end of his mistress's attempt of taking care of herself.

The blush rose quickly to his mistress's face, and he caught a sight of the embarrassed face once more before she turned away from him. Kyrano forced the chuckle down his throat. His mistress didn't often show her expressions while in school grounds, but whenever she did, Kyrano could not help but want to see more even though he was the only one she showed anything to at all.

"What's the point of begging anymore when you've already betrayed my order and taken over your duties again? I don't remember ordering you to take up your duties again just because I've fallen sick." The young lady did her best to scrape her composure again, but Kyrano had grown up with the woman; he knew when she was just trying to hide her embarrassment for the sake of her ego.

"Then I do sincerely apologise. Still, I ask for you to repeal your order for me to refrain from my duties, because I am, and always be your butler, Miss Louise. There will be no situations where you have to survive without me, because I will always be by your side." Kyrano offered in his most humble tone, still mechanically forcing the food to his obedient mistress.

"Alright. You are allowed to resume your butler duties as per normal, Kyrano." Louise sighed and caved in, doing her best to act as if she had given the order on her own will. Kyrano once more did his best to cover up his smile of amusement.

"Let me give you my utmost thanks, Miss Louise, for reinstating me to my duties." Kyrano offered as a tease, but his mistress only sighed heavily and shook her head, looking down at her hands.

She seemed to find something funny as she looked long at her hands, then looked up to Kyrano. Without much of a preamble, she took Kyrano's free hand and placed them side by side.

"Look." She said, as if discovering something new. "Look at how big your hand has grown. Remember when your fingers were just a tiny bit longer than mine?"

"But of course, Miss Louise. Puberty hits guys physically much more than girls." Kyrano answered in a matter-of-fact tone, but his mistress only laughed lightly, easily. It was a melodic sound that Kyrano was glad to hear once more –free from the pressures that the academy was putting on her shoulders. He had been worried that the laughter would never able to bubble out from her lips, but it seemed as if that worry was unfounded.

"This hand is amazing, Kyrano." Louise continued tracing the lines across his palm, as if pretending to be a palm-reader. "In the same years that we took to grow up, this hand achieved many things."

"Yours as well, Miss Louise. You've achieved many awards and recognition in the years."

Louise shook her head, signalling that Kyrano was approaching the wrong subject.

"No, your hand is much more amazing than mine. It is a hand that's made to serve and protect." Louise placed her own small palm against his lightly, the difference in the sizes of their palms obvious.

"I've realized something important, Kyrano. Your hands are the pair that I cannot live without. I've learnt to live with this pair of hands ever since we were 5. If you ever cut me off from this pair of hands, I will be left holding on to nothing, and I will fall. I won't be able to survive –you've already seen how spectacularly I've failed in taking care of myself in the past days. I really need a butler badly." Louise gave a self-depreciating laugh, then looked up straight into her butler's surprised eyes.

"Kyrano, I need you to understand that you are very important to me. I've been taught to rely on you since young, and you can't just take it away like that in a moment. I've been holding on to this hand since 5, and if you take this hand away, I'll lose myself. I can't survive without you, Kyrano. I will never allow anyone to take you away from me; I will fight to the death to keep you beside me. So promise me that you will never leave me as well, Kyrano. I want to know that you will fight also to stay with me."

Utterly surprised at the sudden confession made by his mistress, Kyrano was silent for a long time, wondering what had motivated the sudden speech. Kyrano had known that he was important in the caring of his mistress. Kyrano knew that his mistress relied on him very much –as were the other ladies of the academy to their butlers. But to have Louise put it into such strong words, it took Kyrano by surprise for a long moment.

But it was her true words, and Kyrano turned them quickly through his mind. His mistress had promised to fight for him, and all she wanted back was a promise. It was already a promise that he had made to her family, but Kyrano realized that he had never made it to his mistress herself. He had never personally promised to fight for his mistress, only for her family. Maybe that was what she was looking for.

"Of course, Miss Louise." Kyrano carefully balanced the porridge bowl on the bed beside his mistress, freeing up his other hand so that he could hold his mistress's ones in both of his.

"Of course I promise to fight to stay by your side. I will always stay by your side, Miss Louise. I won't go anywhere, and even if anyone tries to take me away, I will fight to the death to stay beside you. I only pray that you do not become sick of me, because I, Kyrano Reyes, will your butler, and only your butler. I will serve no one else, because I am Miss Louise's butler, and always will be Miss Louise's butler."