(Part 3)

"Miss Louise," Kyrano finally spoke up, unable to take the irritancy that was boiling deep inside of him. His aim of remaining silent and relegating his negative emotions to the backseat seemed to be failing badly, and yet he could not help his own fall into that pit of ugly emotions. "Why do you constantly cater to Mr Brandon's incessant whims?"

There was a soft sound of surprise coming from the woman, but it was quickly covered up as she cleared her throat.

"What do you mean by that, Kyrano?" She clarified, a stack of books in her hand as they walked down the empty corridor towards the staff room.

"Why are you entertaining Mr Brandon in his unbecoming conduct as an heir?"

"What are you talking about? Are you listening to yourself?" Louise's surprise was easy to hear, but Kyrano was too disturbed to even make anything out of her tone. He had been putting up with the man for a few months now, but it was becoming apparent that the man had every intention to stay by his mistress's side and make her obey his every whim.

In fact, were they not walking towards the staff room to hand in Brandon's late homework because of his own laziness? Why were they handing up his homework for his sake when Keyron had been standing there, perfectly healthy and well?

"It irritates me to no end that he is asking for you to run errands for him, Miss Louise. It is as if you are his slave." Kyrano answered, not exactly understanding the sudden force that seemed to have suddenly come behind his tone. It was as if he was somehow reacting to his mistress's shock at him, but it was the first time it had happened.

"You say that I am a slave, Kyrano?" Louise had stopped walking in her horror, staring at her butler who stood one step before her, looking utterly irritated. "Have you taken the wrong medicine today morning?"

"I have been burning this question in my mind since long, Miss Louise!" Kyrano protested hotly, not sure why he was feeling such force of indignance himself. "Why is it that you pander to his whim like Keyron does?"

"I pander to Brandon?" The force of his mistress's shock gave a soft shriek. "What do you think of me as?"

"I no longer know what to think." Kyrano answered, looking at the woman who stood before him. Was this the same woman that he had been serving the past fourteen years? Was this the Louise that he knew –the powerful woman who catered to no one except herself? "I used to believe that the woman I served to be powerful and singular in her mind. Now, I don't know what to believe of this Louise that I see, carrying Mr Brandon's homework."

"Whoa, whoa! If helping me hand up my homework is so important that the two of you have to stop arguing, then it's totally fine! I'll do it by myself!" The interruption of the argument came in the form of the man in topic himself, along with his butler who seemed to observing the situation with intelligent blue eyes.

Turning his face away, shameful at having been caught in an argument with his mistress, Kyrano bit his bottom lip to refrain from saying something rude to the man who had now run to reach their side.

"I'm sorry that I asked something so stupid of you. You, after all, are the Rose. I can't expect you to be helping me in small chores like this. Kyrano is right; I'm sorry." Brandon apologised sheepishly, but Kyrano got the sense that the woman's eyes weren't on the newcomer, but on him and his averted gaze.

"No." The answer was cold, and Kyrano was rather sure that his mistress was speaking towards him instead. "I agreed to help you out, Brandon, and I will. Regardless of what he thinks about my pandering to you."

Then came the sharp clicks of a woman's angry steps down the hallway, stalking heavily away from them towards the staff room.

"You probably shouldn't have said those words, even in anger, my dear Kyrano." Brandon offered to the butler who did not give chase to his mistress, patting him on the shoulder. "Louise, no matter how she portrays herself, is still a nineteen year old woman. She will still be insulted if someone accuses her like that, particularly if it's you who has been her side for so long."

Something must be wrong with Kyrano, because instead of accepting the advice graciously like how a butler like him should, he swiped Brandon's hand from his shoulder roughly, stepping away to extend the distance between them. Keyron's instinctive protectiveness stepped in, but Kyrano stalled his own brother with the coldest look that Keyron had yet seen.

"I am not close to you, Mr Brandon. Do not call me your 'dear Kyrano' again. Please keep your hand out of our matters, Mr Brandon. And this I ask of you once and once only –as a man who is charged with protecting Miss Louise –Stay away from my mistress if you value all that is good to you." Kyrano's demon fought to show itself, but he did his best to tone himself down.

Still, the effect was there, the suddenly unexplained fear still lodging itself inside the hearts of both men who had been there to witness the scene.

One heartbeat later, Butler Kyrano was back as he bowed politely to the two men, walking slowly to follow after his mistress's footsteps.

Still half-frozen in the hallway, Brandon and Keyron watched the calmly walking back of the Butler in Black, exchanging looks as if trying to confirm with each other that they had not missed the same sight. The look of utter viciousness in Kyrano's flat black eyes, the icy coldness behind set features.

"I take back what I said before about you looking like him. You look nothing like him when he looks like that." Brandon said finally after breaking out of his shock, turning on his heels and walking back the way he came before. He had planned to ask Louise if she wanted to have lunch with him again, but it might be the wisest choice not to at the moment. After all, had he not been issued a warning to stay away from the woman?

"How does someone turn into something like that in one second and disappear in a moment?" Keyron asked, though the young butler knew that neither of them could answer the question.

"Quite possibly because of the way they grew up." Brandon answered, looking back over his shoulder to look briefly at Kyrano's receding back once more.

"I knew that split personality happens to some people who grow up in our world, but this is really the first time I've seen it so bad in someone. These are multiple personalities in one butler, Keyron. Does the thought not scare you?"

"It scares me that I see someone with my face with such an expression." Keyron answered honestly, and even though it was nothing to mock about, Brandon laughed faintly.

"I'm suddenly very glad that I have you beside me." Brandon answered, slinging his arm over his best friend, coincidentally his butler. "Because if I got the wrong brother, I might not be the way I am now."

"As I." Keyron agreed as they walked off together.

And so the two men returned to their lives quickly and easily.

The effect, however, remained with the lady and her butler.

______________________________________________________________________________

"Focus yourself, Butler Kyrano." A whisper came into his ear, and he blinked, turning slightly in surprise to find Jay giving him a brief look of concern before it was quickly wiped away.

"Thank you for your reminder, Butler Jay." Kyrano answered absently, sweeping his eyes once more over the field. Was it so obvious that Kyrano was lost in thoughts? This could not do; he was Louise's butler, a top-classed butler. He could not afford to be caught daydreaming while his mistress attended her gym class diligently.

"What is bugging you? You have been rather preoccupied recently." Scott was the one to lean in from his other side to whisper.

While the mistresses engaged in their gym lessons, the butlers were made to stand in a neat line, watching over their respective mistress and master (for Keyron's case). With their distance away from the field, it made conversations amongst the butlers easy to conduct. Still, small talk was rare on the field with the other butlers –though it would still be unfair to say that it never happened.

"Simple issues." Kyrano answered, not willing to let the butlers of other families into the weakness that he had caught himself in. He could not afford to have rumours flying around, ruining his mistress's reputation. "I thank you for your kind concern, but it is not much to worry about."

"It has not been too long, Butler Kyrano, but you have obviously outshone us all in your days here. You earned the golden coat of arms by your own abilities, and you have displayed stellar abilities to match up to your coat of arms. I doubt very much that simple issues can affect you so much." Scott pressed, but Kyrano remained adamant in his decisions.

"I am heartened to know that you are looking out for me, but there is little need. I can take care of this business myself."

Kyrano wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a look of disbelief flash across Scott's face. Still, the butler beside him must have realized that there was truly nothing that he could do, for he sighed in resignation, nodding to show that he acknowledged what Kyrano was trying to say.

"Do as you wish, Butler Kyrano. But remember that when you make mistakes, it is your mistress's reputation that suffers. Even Butler Keyron serves his master well in public when needed of him, despite his overly-friendly relationship." Scott offered as his final advice, and Kyrano took a quick look at his brother at the mention of the name. Keyron seemed to be enjoying the sight of Brandon joking around with the ladies of the class, showing off rather well toned arm muscles that were usually hidden behind a long-sleeved uniform.

Forcing himself to keep his thoughts and emotions aligned, Kyrano made sure that he remained focused all through the rest of the lesson and concentrated on his duties as a butler. It was strange; how he had never found focusing on his duties so hard before. Being singular in his goal as a butler had always come easy for him, his motivation in the form of protecting and serving Louise well as the best butler that he could ever be. But now, it seemed like focusing on that was getting hard as he blinked to find that the class had already been dismissed, at that the students were making back towards their respective butlers.

Picking up the towel from Louise's bag, Kyrano stood waiting for his lady's approach before he offered it to her respectfully, busying himself with gathering his mistress's things neatly into the bag.

"Kyrano, did you hear me at all?" Louise's question gave him a start as he turned to find his mistress pausing in the act of wiping off her sweat, looking at him with a slightly irritated expression. "Or are you just ignoring me?"

"My apologies, Miss Louise." Kyrano rushed to say, bowing to express his deepest apology. His mistress had even spoken at all? He hadn't heard anything at all. Then again, his thoughts were so far away that he might have completely missed it. "Is there something you need?"

"My camera." Louise frowned now. "I asked you for my camera."

"My apologies." The man repeated once more, unzipping the bag once more to withdraw the camera, handing it respectfully to his mistress.

"You are becoming increasingly absent-minded, Kyrano. You are making mistakes that are unbecoming of you. Watch yourself as my butler." The lady warned off-handedly, but the butler's shame was there carved into his heart. Hadn't he just tried to force himself to focus, and he was still making mistakes?

Kyrano had almost missed the actions of his mistress –too caught up in wallowing in his self-disgust. Looking towards the direction at which Louise had secretly aimed her camera, Kyrano was not sure if surprise was the word to describe his emotions when he found Brandon and Keyron standing a good distance away, chatting away happily with easy smiles on their faces. It was strange –to see someone with exactly his own face smiling away so easily in the academy.

Kyrano's smiles were reserved for his family and his mistress, but Keyron's smiles were not rare, particularly when he was around Brandon.

There was a quiet click of shutters as Louise took a few pictures of the men, not bothering to check their quality before she turned the camera off and returned it to the unzipped bag as nonchalantly as she had used it.

"I'm done. Let's go." She instructed, leaving no explanation for her actions. Kyrano knew better than to ask his mistress when she looked like she was not interested to reveal her own thoughts.

But recently, he found out that she looked like she was rather not interested to reveal anything at all to him. It was a strange feeling that Kyrano had never experienced before –the fading away of his mistress from his life. He felt strange –like he was slowly being choked off from an important part of his life.

Ever since that day that he spoke the wrong words, it appeared that Louise became more and more distant from him, closer and closer instead to Brandon and Keyron. It was a cause of frustration –that his intention to stop Brandon from getting close to Louise had completely backfired at him.

"Listen to me, Kyrano." His mistress's impatient comment sliced through his thoughts once more, and he came back to reality to realize, yet again, that he had missed the words that Louise had spoken. "I am fine if you are a little absent minded between the days, but this is going nowhere. If the Main House hears about this, actions might be taken."

"I'm sorry, Miss Louise." Kyrano found himself apologizing more and more these days, without truly understanding why. "I will reflect on my lack of concentration."

"I said it before; if you have any problems, you can tell me. We've been together since we were 5. I know it when there is something bothering you, but I can't help you if you don't tell me what is bothering you. I can't have my butler having his own issues in school."

For the shortest moment, Kyrano was very tempted to give the same reply as he had given to Scott –to lie and say that he wasn't facing any issue. But this was his mistress that he was talking to, and he disliked deceiving the one woman that he had pledged his entirely life to. Still, he could not tell her the truth either –for he realized that he could find no better way of explaining himself without sounding like a petty, childish man.

"Give me some time to sort things out, Miss Louise. I promise that I will get better." Kyrano averted, hoping that his lady trusted him enough to solve his own problems. For the slightest moment, Kyrano seemed to find something flashing across the cool blue eyes of his mistress. But the moment was gone in a blink, and Louise nodded, continuing her walk to the changing rooms.

"Do not take too long, Kyrano, because the Main House will start to hear rumours. You've been serving me for so long; I will feel weird if someone else replaces you as my butler."

"As you wish, Miss Louise." Kyrano answered, not very sure why those words didn't jolt any warmth in his heart like they usually did. In the past, whenever Louise revealed anything about his reliance on him, and her desire to keep him with her, he had been uncannily happy. But, for some reason, her words now no longer gave him the same warmth.

Instead, something sour seemed to twist in his heart.

"I am Miss Louise's one and only butler." He declared with his usual bravado, but inside, it just wasn't the same.

Something inside Kyrano was changing. He just didn't know what it was.