[Housekeeper]

"He is our new housekeeper." The declaration was made in a tone of finality. There was no space for protests allowed in the pregnant silence that followed the strong declaration, and Kane's new master spun around, clearly intent of making his way out of the room now that he had made his point.

"Bring him around if you and Dante want to." His master's father –probably also considered his master too? -answered, his expression not having changed despite the sudden bomb that had been dropped upon him. "But until he turns 16, he will only learn all that he has to learn beside you. We have a housekeeper. At least let the man keep his job instead of trying to replace him with a baby, Vergil."

"Stanchion is already fifty-eight. If the wind blows any stronger, he'll break apart." The young master of the household answered, having been stalled in his venture out of his father's office. "But whatever. He's going to serve me and Dante in the future, so do whatever you want to train him."

With his piece of speech spoken, the young master of the Sparda family completed his dignified walk out the door and closed it politely behind him, leaving Kane stunned and utterly confused as to whether he should be chasing behind his new young master, or stay in the office with Grand Duke Sparda, the Head of the Sparda family.

"He didn't even tell me your name." Sparda spoke up again, clearly addressing the only person left in the room.

"Kane, sir." Young Kane dared himself to speak up. "I-I am honored to-"

"Save yourself the saliva trying to butter me up or gain my trust. Vergil might still be young and appear rude, but I know he has a very good eye out for talents. If he wants you close to him and attending to his and his brother's everyday needs, then you're good enough for him." Sparda interrupted with a knowing tone of voice, having finally taken a pause from his work to look up and study the young man –still a boy in all sense of the word –carefully.

"I don't know if I'm really cut out for the job..." Kane felt as if he did not confess his true feelings at this moment, then he would get no further chance to express his true concerns that had plagued him ever since he found the Young Master of the Sparda family knocking on his door.

"If you don't believe in yourself, then believe in your new Young Master who chose you out of all the people he has met so far." Grand Duke Sparda offered the slightest hint of a smile, but Kane could see the silent gentle encouragement in his eyes. "But be warned. Vergil and Dante grew up without their mother and even though they are twins, they have grown up to be very different from each other. I expect that you will get along well with Dante, but Vergil... he is a very different boy from what he pretends to be."

"I understand, sir. I will serve him to the best of my abilities." Kane swore, but was only met with a chuckle in response as if the Grand Duke had given up on pretending to be stern and strict.

"Stanchion mentioned about you to me back when you first saved Dante from falling to his death and helped Vergil carry him back home. I hope you don't mind that he told me about your family circumstances... and well, since your parents have abandoned you, please feel free to call me Dad while we're in the family grounds." Grand Duke Sparda answered.

"It would be rude of a mere servant like me to address you so casually, sir." Kane rushed to say, and was surprised to find a slight frown tugging at the corner of the Grand Duke's lips in response.

"Are you uncomfortable with a new parental figure? Was it insensitive of me to have requested that you call me that?"

"No!" The exclamation was made almost instantaneously, the panic making Kane unconsciously raise his voice by accident. The young man caught himself quickly, flushing red in a few short seconds as his startled eye contact fell to the floor in a fluster. "I'm terribly sorry for raising my voice, sir. I-I mean it wasn't insensitive of you, and I am not uncomfortable with a new parental figure. I just didn't want to be rude to you, who has saved me and my little sister from being sold to slavery. You even sent my sister to the church to be watched after and cured. I cannot thank you enough."

"Then you can thank me by calling me Dad while we're amongst ourselves." The Grand Duke looked back down at his documents in a signal that the end of the conversation had come. "And count yourself lucky that Dante told me about how cute your little sister was. I have a soft spot for little girls since my wife only gave me boys."

"I will take my leave, Sir... I mean... Dad." Kane said, correcting himself quickly when he spied the quill in the Grand Duke's hand pause in his addressing.

Left with nothing else to discuss, Kane excused himself quickly from the room and set off in search of his new young masters.

________________________________________________________________________________

Kane held the candlelight carefully in front of him such that he would not blow the flame out by walking too fast, but enough to illuminate the corridor in front of him while he did his best to rush his journey. It was dead in the middle of the night and though it was not against the rules for him to be walking down the corridor from the library back to his room, it was still easy for him to be mistaken as a theft, assassin or spy by any patrol guards. The fact that the Sparda Mansion had recently seen an attempted assassin attack on the Grand Duke was also a factor that made patrol guards more alert at night, and Kane wanted to avoid being given the doubtful eyes and questions as much as possible.

It was his fault for having been so engrossed with studying in the library. Although he had already been praised by Stanchion, the Ducal Mansion's current housekeeper, for having picked up the skills of the trade much quicker than expected, Kane had been ready to learn more. He could not say that he did not admire Stanchion's role within the Ducal Mansion, but Kane wanted to do more. He wanted to be a butler, a trusty steward to his Master in the future. He wanted to dedicate himself to the Sparda family for having placed trust in him, for having saved his sister by sponsoring her treatment at the church.

Thoughts of the duties that had only started to be shared with him by Stanchion filled Kane's head as he shuffled quickly through the corridor, making sure that he did not make too much noise in his walk.

It was a moonless night, and the air was cold.

There was a dark, unfamiliar silhouette blending in the shadows casted by the overhanging lamps outside the Mansion.

Kane slowed down his pace immediately, his instincts heightened as he carefully tucked the candlelight closer to him.

Was it an object left and forgotten on the floor by one of the maidservants? Was it the prone form of a servant who had collapsed for whatever reason on the floor? Was it the hunched outline of an assassin who had returned to finish the assassination attempt a few weeks ago?

Kane made sure his walk was careful, reaching quietly for the handy knife that Stanchion had passed to him as part of his housekeeper tools. The handy knife was sore as a defensive weapon and was only good for prying apart ropes or thread that had tangled. Still, it was something sharp that Kane felt a little safer holding as he stepped closer to the shadow on the floor.

Soft light bathed upon the dark silhouette on the floor, but there was no stir. As he stepped closer cautiously, the recognition of a human figure sank in, and finally, the soft yellow-orange glow of his candle flame landed upon a head of white hair.

"Young Master?" Kane's instincts controlled his lips faster than he could, as he pocketed the knife quickly, crouching down to the young man who had squished himself against the wall, hugging his knees and hiding his head into the protective cocoon of his body. Against the soft light, Kane could see that the Young Master was gripping onto his own arms with a white-knuckle grip, and his toes were curled tightly in an overall very uncomfortable position.

"Young Master, are you awake?" Kane whispered, firstly not sure which of the two young masters was sitting in front of him. He was also secondly afraid that his young master –whichever it was –had fallen asleep in this strange position in the middle of the cold corridor.

Despite his soft calling and soft light cast, the young man did not stir nor show any recognition.

A little more worried now, Kane inched closer and reached out his free hand.

"Don't." The one-word reply would have been unheard if the corridor was not completely silent from the dead night air.

Kane froze at the order, holding his breath in wait for further stern words from his young master.

For a long moment, nothing happened as the two of them remained in their positions, silent. Kane eventually succumbed to his humane instincts to breathe, but he made sure to do so very slowly, carefully and most importantly, silently. Knowing that his young master did not want to be touched by the one-word order, Kane withdrew his approaching hand and stepped back to provide his young master more personal space.

"Young Master, you don't have to explain anything." Kane whispered, feeling as if he were trying to approach a startled and cornered cat. "But at least tell me if you are fine or otherwise."

"I'm fine." The answer came in the same quiet voice, but now that more words were being spoken Kane could hear a tremble in the tone. "I am used to this."

"Ok." Kane answered. Regardless of which young master it was crouched on the floor in front of him, Kane knew that neither of them would on any normal night, in any normal mood, find enjoyment in sitting hunched up in an uncomfortable position on the middle of the corridor, sounding scared and in pain. The image of the young man overlapped with Kane's memory of his little sister when she used to curl up in a similar way on the bed from the pain of her body's struggle against her illness.

And so, in the same way Kane always stayed by his sister's bed whenever she curled up and did her best to struggle and survive the pain silently, Kane did the same with his young master as he lowered himself quietly to sit on the floor in front of the crouched figure. He left the candle carefully on the floor between them and remained silently watching his young master.

Minutes passed in frozen silence in which neither of them moved even a single muscle. The many things that Kane had been turning over in his head from his readings in the library took his attention as he turned into himself for introspection.

A housekeeper's duty includes the daily stock-taking of ingredients of the kitchen. This includes the obtaining of schedules of the household's masters and mistresses to account for plans of any feasts, dinners or visitors. The store shall always be kept dry and warm, and special care must be paid to the storage conditions of wine (refer to the section of wine cellar care). For daily produce-

"Kane?"

"Yes?" Kane responded quickly, glad that he had not been too far detached from reality to miss out his young master's venturing calling of his name.

"Why... are you still here?"

"You are in so much pain that you came out to get help, but you decided against actually getting help, choosing to bear with the pain here in the corridor. I don't know how I can help you feel better. But when my sister was suffering from her illness, I simply stayed by her side to let her know that I will always be there waiting patiently for her to feel better." Kane explained, waiting for his young master to protest at his assumption of what had happened.

The protest did not happen, but rather a long period of silence continued.

Then came, "I don't want to appear weak to my people."

From that one declaration, Kane knew immediately that it was the elder Young Master of the Sparda Household that he was currently addressing.

"No man is invincible and everyone is allowed to have weaknesses. I understand that you do not wish to display your weakness to those serving you, Young Master, but you may find that image hard to maintain all that time."

"But Father... how does Father do it...?"

"I hear the Grand Duke takes one day off every month to visit the Grand Duchess's grave alone." Kane answered, not needing more words to explain his answer further.

"One day every month..." Vergil repeated, still not moving his position as Kane sat in front of him. The candle between them was slowly burning to its wick –because Kane had not been expecting to need its light for such a long period of time between his journey from the library back to his room. "Every month on moonless nights, my power runs rampant in my body and it hurts. Father says I have it worse than Dante because I was the one who took most of Mother's mana."

Kane remained silent, not exactly sure how to respond. It was not a secret that the main reason why the Sparda Household was so powerful was also the fact that all men of the Household were gifted with very strong mana pool at birth, paired with natural affinity at mana control. Grand Duke Sparda was the strongest mana-wielder on the continent, which also made him a very powerful leader of the Kingdom's knights. When the young masters of the Sparda Household had been born, the mandatory mana test all babies were made to go through had shown legendary results: Vergil Sparda's innate mana pool was practically depthless, and Dante Sparda's affinity to mana was almost at 100% synchronicity.

It had been a bright future for the Sparda Household... except for the fact that the birth of the boys had come at the expense of their mother. It was widely known that all fetuses absorbed their mother's mana while in the womb, and the higher the innate mana pool of the fetus, the more stress was placed on the mother's body. The Grand Duchess had suffered in her pregnancy because of her stellar boys, and never managed to fully recover after birth. Despite all that the Grand Duke tried to do to restore her health, the Grand Duchess eventually passed away from diminished mana which could not be recovered.

"If I wasn't born, Mother would still be here."

The sentence that Kane knew his young master to believe in sounded. Nobody in the Sparda Household truly blamed Vergil for his birth, not even the Grand Duke himself. But nothing could stop the overly-mature young man from coming to his own conclusions, reinforcing his own self-blame and falling into a pit that he could not get out of.

"If you were not born, then Young Master Dante would not be here with us as well. Above all, if you and Young Master Dante were not born, then Grand Duke and Grand Duchess would have had another child together, and she would have suffered all the same. I would not be here with you because you would not have run into me while trying to find someone to help Young Master Dante back then. My sister would not have been sent to the church for treatment, and I would not be here serving the Sparda Household."

"Father would have saved you and your sister."

"But I would have no Young Master to serve." Kane answered objectively. "I am hired in the Sparda Household to be your Housekeeper, but if there is no Young Master, then there is no Housekeeper in the future."

There was yet another long pause in their conversation in which Kane briefly wondered if the pain that his young master was going through had taken away any further responses, or if his young master was simply struggling to come up with an appropriate response to him. Still, as he had always done to his sister, Kane simply waited in peaceful silence for the next words, the next sentence, the next conversation.

"Will you be our Housekeeper in the future?" Once again, the question popped up in the middle of the meditative silence.

"That is what I was hired to do, Young Master." Kane's answer was once again evened. "Unless you, or Young Master Dante, or Grand Duke decide that you no longer wish for me to be the future Housekeeper."

"Dante told me you mentioned that you aim to be the head butler instead of the housekeep."

"I'm surprised Young Master Dante told you that. I believe I may have only mentioned it in passing to him once." Kane expressed honestly.

"Dante likes you." The factual tone of the answer was relieving to Kane, because he had always had the impression that the young master was friendly to everyone, but he had never been able to gauge whether there was sincerity in that friendliness to him, or if it was just the young master being friendly to all the servants of the Ducal Household.

"That is good to know. Then, it will depend on you or the Grand Duke to decide if you still wish to keep me as Stanchion's replacement in the future."

"Of course, you shall stay." There was finally movement from the crouched figure on the ground as the head of white hair finally lifted up slowly, eyes that almost glowed blue against the soft candle light piercing through the darkness of their surroundings. "We like you too."

_______________________________________________________________________________

"Hey there." The greeting came together with a friendly arm slung around his shoulder as Kane felt a new physical presence invading his private space without care or concern. "Where're you headed?"

"The library to pick up some books." Kane answered duteously, giving his new companion a side eye just to verify his identity. "And remember, Grand Duke has mentioned that I must give you constant reminders to mind your manners while about within the Academy, Dante. Please greet our fellow schoolmates as well. Politely."

Although his speech was sore for a young man who had entered the Kingdom Academy purely by recommendations from the Grand Duke, and who was set to be only a mere butler to the Ducal Household of Sparda, this type of semi-subversion of authority –at least in speech –was something that the Academy members had gotten used to watching over time.

Over the years, Kane had so grown close with the two young masters of the Sparda Household that he had become associated and known as one of the 'Sparda Boys' in society despite his low birthright. It had not taken much effort on his end; the twin sons of the Grand Duke may each have their own unique personalities but both of them took their shine to Kane in their own way. The boys dragged Kane everywhere they went –even making fusses when Kane was barred from entering anywhere due to his societal status. It had helped that the Grand Duke also very much liked Kane, and usually trusted Kane to be the one who could keep his sons in check, which resulted in Kane's privileged position to attend the Academy, a prestigious institution for the kingdom's highest nobles, alongside his young masters despite being a mere commoner.

"Yes, mum." Dante responded sarcastically with a roll of eyes, but removed his arm from around Kane's shoulder quickly, stepping back to afford himself some space before performing a polite greeting bow to the other ladies who had been accompanying Kane to his destination. "My greetings to the fair ladies of the kingdom."

"Greetings to you as well." The flustered ladies –the group of which Kane knew to secretly have been hanging around Kane often in hopes of catching glimpses of the famed Sparda Twins –answered with healthy blushes on their cheeks. The color of their glow could hardly be attributed to the bright sunlight shining upon them through the window by their side in the corridor.

"Greetings are done." Dante announced happily, dropping his polite mannerisms as quickly as he had equipped them, jumping back to invade Kane's private space and sling his arm again. Kane forced his feet to start moving again towards the direction of the library, dragging his young master along together with the group of ladies following him. "What's there to do in the library?"

"To pick up some books for Vergil. It is almost time for us to submit the budget for the upcoming Founders' Festival." Kane answered. "If you are here, then where is Vergil?"

The question was a fair one, since Dante Sparda was one of the clingiest young men that Kane knew. Dante had always enjoyed the attention of others on him since youth, but clearly Dante enjoyed his brother's and Kane's companionship the most. Even after turning 17 and enrolling into the Academy where he –and Vergil –were often admired (secretly and otherwise) by fellow schoolmates, Dante was often found hanging around either only Kane or Vergil.

After both Kane and Vergil joined the Student Council body, Dante had visited them so often that the younger twin had been dubbed the unofficial member of the Student Council; often ordered or instructed by his elder twin brother to run errands in order to earn his right to stay in the Student Council room.

"I thought of asking you too, but I guess you don't know as well." Dante shrugged, waving to a group of first-years in the corridor who seemed startled to have their presence casually acknowledged by the Academy's number 1 Mana Manipulator.

"We saw Young Lord Vergil on our way out of the cafeteria before we met you." One of the ladies – Lady Lisbon –spoke up gently.

"Oh? Was he trying to run away from Student Council meetings like Kane here?" Dante cocked his head to the side, his hair brushing against Kane's neck irritably. Kane struggled against his instincts to push his young master's heavy body away for fear of the action causing Dante to stumble into the nearest Lady Rina.

"We are not sure, but he seemed to be rushing somewhere. We did not stop to greet him because he seemed busy." Came the response.

"Rushing?" Kane repeated in surprise. His young master rarely rushed anywhere since Vergil was known to be one who tended to calculate his moves at least 10 steps ahead in order not to be taken by surprise by anything. To have his young master be caught rushing somewhere could only mean that something truly urgent had happened that required his immediate attention, and...

"Wait." Kane stopped suddenly. "What day is it today?"

"The second day of Naght. Why; have you gone senile?" Dante answered curiously, but Kane's suspicion only grew together with his concern.

"No, but I suddenly have something I need to do." He responded quickly, removing his young master's arm from around his shoulders. "Dante, keep the ladies accompanied on their way to the library."

"What- Wait!" Much as it was sore for someone of Kane's position to be instructing his young master so hastily, Kane could not stop to wait as he turned the way he came, taking off into a quick run. There was good reason for his haste too, because even if he slowed down, he was not sure what he could tell Dante in front of their audience as well.

There were a few gently surprised looks sent his way when Kane dashed through the corridors, looking left and right in hopes of catching sight of a head of white hair amongst the sea of students who were fresh from lunch and ready to return to their dormitories or wherever they needed to be for their after-school activities.

It took a short while, but Kane spotted the white hair out the corner of his vision when he neared the piano room.

His young master was engaged in a conversation with their fellow student council members, his posture straight and a polite smile drawn across his face. There was no indication of anything wrong with Vergil or the conversation in which he seemed rather invested in; at least not to an innocent audience.

Kane was the furthest away from an innocence audience.

"Vergil." He made sure that his entrance to the conversation was not overly rude, passing apologetic expressions to the group as he positioned himself close to his young master. "I apologize for having to intrude, but there is a matter that requires your attention urgently. Please excuse us."

With the quick excuse to the group that had been engaging Vergil in conversation, Kane all but dragged his young master from the scene, his suspicions confirmed when he found Vergil following behind him without much protest. If it were the usual version of his young master, there would have at least been some form of protest, attempt to issue some last instructions to the group before leaving the conversation. But this time, there was no resistance as Kane kept his firm grip on his young master's forearm and dragged him to the piano room –the nearest room that he found empty.

"Sit down." He instructed to his young master at the piano stool, rushing back to close and lock the door behind them. Kane was not the least bit surprised to find his young master seated not on the stool, but on the floor and leaning against the stool heavily. The neutral, gentle and polite expression that had been hanging on Vergil's face had fallen away quickly to one of discomfort and pain.

"You should have returned back to the room immediately if it was this bad. Knowing you, you would have held on until that conversation ended satisfactorily, and you would barely be able to keep your appearances by then." Kane made sure he did not sound too disciplinary as he stepped back to where his young master was all but slumped against the stool. Taking a seat on the floor in front of his young master, he watched Vergil breathe in and out deeply and carefully.

"I believed I could hold on." The short admission came from the guilty young master.

"I know you believed so, but please believe that your burdens will fall twice as heavily on my shoulders if you pretend to shoulder them now and come crashing when you pass your limits." In the past, Kane would have taken a softer approach in hopes to coax his young master into being softer to himself, but he had long learnt from the years that the soft approach did not work with Vergil Sparda.

And so, even if it was technically considered terribly rude for a young butler-to-be in his position, Kane had learnt to adopt the hard approach against his young master to make Vergil learn how to value himself more.

"I'm sorry." The comfortable silence between them was pierced with the admission of guilt from the young master who had gradually curled up with his back against the piano stool.

"For pretending to be strong, or for being weak?"

"Both."

"Then I don't accept your apology." Kane answered. "If the famed Vergil Sparda has to apologize to a mere butler-in-training like me for being weak, then should I be prostrated on the floor deeply for my pathetic lack of abilities?"

"You are hardly pathetic. You call yourself a butler-in-training, but you don't need any more training. You learnt how to be a butler even though we didn't even have butlers in the first place. You learnt how to be a swordsman even though you never held a sword until you were 15."

"I couldn't learn how to serve you well. I forgot that today is the moonless night."

"That is my fault; my fault for being like this."

"Your fault for being the Number 1 Mana Swordsman in the Academy, and possibly the Kingdom?"

"No. It's my fault for having a constitution like this. My mana swordsmanship is only good because of Sparda's blood. Without it, I am nothing. I am only made up of my father's blood."

"Ridiculous." Kane's answer was so evened that Vergil's surprise could be easily seen through wide eyes. "Even without your father's blood, you are still Vergil and my young master."

"I would never have become your master if I did not have my father's blood."

"And I would never had the chance of stepping foot into the Ducal Mansion of Sparda." Kane answered quickly, because the two of them had honestly gone through this argumentation too many times. While Kane had had years to get used to the fact that his young master was one with a crippling disability to see himself honestly, it did not mean that Kane liked arguing and insisting that Vergil value himself the same way everyone else valued him.

As how their repeated argument always went, Kane's young master simple chuckled softly to his quick response, shaking his head despite the effort that Kane knew it would take. After so many years witnessing his young master's monthly pain thanks to his bloodline, Kane was now more or less aware of Vergil's limits on such days.

"Now that you have stepped foot into our Ducal Mansion, you are not going anywhere else." Vergil spoke after a long moment of silence in which blue eyes were closed to the world, dealing with the pain that ran beneath the surface.

"I'm not going anywhere." Kane promised with the strength of his heart.

Before him sat the frail, weak figure of his young master but to Kane, there was no one he knew that was stronger than Vergil Sparda at this moment.

________________________________________________________________________________

"If you try to change your outfit one more time, you're going to have officially gone through all of your outfits in a single day." Kane spoke up when he saw Vergil's mouth open in preparation for an order.

"Have I?" Vergil spun around, finally turning away from the full-length mirror in which he had been installed in front since at least hours ago. "I must have too little sets of clothes. Kane, remind me to go shopping for more in the near future."

While Kane did agree that his master truly did have less sets of outfits than one would expect from an individual in the position of a Grand Duke, Kane was more amused at the fact that his master's comment was made now after cycling through every possible outfit in his wardrobe, and still not finding one that satisfied him.

But regardless all possible outfits in the world, there was no satisfying a nervous man who was about to meet the woman who had stolen his heart –and the woman herself probably knew nothing about her crime yet.

"Rest assured you look every bit the handsome, suave and capable Grand Duke you are trying to portray." Kane comforted, stepping forward in his capacity as the Head Butler and his master's attendant. Kane stood in front of Vergil, then smoothed the creases that had formed around Vergil's shoulders and straightened his cravat. There was a little tugging to smooth the lapel over a very solid and impressive chest, and finally, Kane helped to attach the cape to complete the look.

"Do I?" Vergil asked again, turning back to face the mirror as if trying to confirm the fact but failing to do so. "Are you sure I don't look weird?"

"Yes. You look like the most handsome and eligible bachelor that high society has rumored you to be." Kane reassured, but funnily instead of being comforted by his words, his master looked even more uncertain as a frown began to crease brows.

"I didn't bother myself with the nicknames the women of high society gave me, but perhaps I should have taken action to clarify facts. The most handsome and eligible bachelor is a high standard to meet, and I fear I cannot match up to those expectations. What will Lady Antiqua think if I am not who she thinks I am?"

"She will think that you portray a different self as compared to the Grand Duke you always are in public, and she will be pleasantly curious to learn more about you." Kane did his best to keep his amusement internal as he gave his sage advices. They had been in each other's lives for so long now that Kane was all but glad to see that his master finally showing (very obvious) signs of falling in love. While Kane had been convinced that his other master – the twin brother of this one standing in front of him –was doomed for a life of singlehood, he hadn't been sure if Grand Duke Vergil Sparda was set on the same road.

Now he could safely say that Vergil's road was safely in a different direction from his brother's.

"I trust you have everything prepared perfectly?" Vergil seemed to only remember the activities that he was expected to engage in together with the woman he had invited.

"Of course. Do you not trust in my capability?" Kane asked, faking an affronted expression at Vergil's questioning.

"I trust in everything you do." Vergil answered factually, fidgeting with the cravat that Kane had helped to fix. "The one I do not trust is Dante."

"Then your trust is well placed." Kane gave an insincere half-bow that hid his grin. "This person that you trust has taken the liberty to throw Dante a wad of cash and bid him to go to town to entertain himself for the rest of the day. You will not see a shadow of him until Lady Antiqua is safely evacuated."

"Good job." Vergil complimented, seemingly to gain more confidence with the mere knowledge that his twin brother was not in the geographical proximity to cause chaos –as Dante was prone to doing. "I already have my troubles keeping Lady Antiqua interested in me; I do not need to add Dante into the mix."

"There is no need to think too much; you simply need to behave as you usually do in front of me and I guarantee that Lady Antiqua will remain interested in you –even perhaps enough to agree to be your Grand Duchess. A man of your looks, status and capability is itself a catch, and Lady Antiqua is known to be soft to men of a gentler nature such as you."

"Gentle nature?" Vergil repeated, pausing in the middle of his venture towards his desk where Kane had left the gift procured specifically for the purposes of thanking Lady Antiqua for being willing to come visit the Grand Duke at his request. "How in the world can anybody assume that I have a gentle nature? I am the Grand Duke, the Kingdom's strongest mana swordsman, and lead the kingdom's strongest team of knights!"

"It isn't very difficult." Kane followed his master to the table, picking up the gift box and transferring it to his master's hands without prompt. "When you are placed in comparison to Dante, you can be seen as an angel of all sorts."

"That I understand." Vergil opened the box just to check the contents, then closed in satisfaction when he found that the jewel shone as brightly as he had ordered for it to. "But the problem is that you have sent Dante packing to town. He is not around for comparison to be made."

"The man does not need to be around for comparisons to be made." Kane answered knowingly. "Lady Antiqua as the Princess's playmate must have grown up listening to the endless stories of how Dante has created chaos wherever he went. Accompanying those stories are also, without a doubt, your presence in all of them while you cleaned up after him."

"I don't want to be known as my brother's keeper to Lady Antiqua." Vergil groaned, grimacing at Kane's suggestion. "I want to be known as myself, as Vergil Sparda, and not Dante's brother."

"Then Vergil Sparda, the only Grand Duke and the Kingdom's strongest mana swordsman, you shall be. You don't have to portray yourself as anyone else; just yourself." Kane declared, confiscating the box from his master's fingers now that Vergil had the content checked, then helpfully depositing it into the breast pocket of a fit-form vest underneath the cape.

Kane could see that despite his attempts at calming and comforting his master down, Vergil was still nervous and uncertain while they walked towards the dining room, where the servants had already been instructed to be on their best behavior, to prepare everything for dinner to a perfection. The awkward stiffness in the way Vergil walked was a rare, strange, yet amusing sight for Kane to witness.

Such was the awkwardness and nervousness of a man who had finally fallen in love for the very first time in his life.

Kane endured a thousand questions from his master in the dining room, repeatedly reassuring his master that everything had been prepared to perfection and that nothing would go wrong in this innocent dinner invite. By the time Vergil had asked about how well the utensils have been polished the second time, Kane was thoroughly tortured with the questioning.

It was also the reason why Kane had to resist the urge to jump in joy when the sound of doorbells ringing from the complicated network of bells within the Mansion came.

"She's here." Vergil commented, his face pale as sheet as if he were suddenly meeting the Grim Reaper. "What do I do?"

"Compose yourself." Kane answered immediately, sending gestures to the servants to take their places before turning to the door quickly. "Take a minute to compose yourself and get some color back into your face, Vergil. I will escort her to the reception."

"Wait, I-"

"No Grand Duke should greet his guest himself unless said guest is a royal. Besides, you look like Death right now." Kane blocked his master's path towards the door, a firm hand on Vergil's shoulder to hold the man back. The two of them knew absolutely clearly the winning party if they were ever caught in a serious fight, but this did not stop Kane from possessing the courage and guts to step in front of Vergil this time.

Once he was sure that his master had finally let the order sink in, Kane gave Vergil a final look-over to ascertain that nothing in his master's physical appearance had come out of place.

Then, Kane left to attend to the Lady Antiqua who funnily seemed as nervous being here in the mansion of the Grand Duke, as his master was of her being here.

Still, Kane was glad that his master had fallen for a lady who had all the makings of a Grand Duchess, for she composed herself easily and quickly, and spoke to him with the appropriate amount of respect to the Head Butler of the Mansion. Kane gave instructions to the servants to see to Lady Antiqua's comfort while she awaited his master's attendance, before leaving the woman to herself.

He wasn't even surprised when he found his master already waiting eagerly at the end of the long corridor leading to the reception, eyes of ice blue piercing at Kane with question bright in his eyes.

"Go ahead." Kane sighed, not sure why he was the one giving permission to his master instead of the other way around. "I have arranged everything. It all depends on you now."

As if the magic words were his blessings, Vergil Sparda nodded seriously and brisk-walked towards his new Destiny.

However, the end of his duties for the date-night did not mean that Kane had stopped working. No servant gave him a second look as Kane went to the kitchen to collect a basket of packed dinner, then brought the basket out of the mansion, rounding around the back of the building... and found his accomplice waiting for him in the semi-darkness of the evening sun crouched underneath a window.

A Window; which happened to be attached to the guest dining hall.

The Guest Dining Hall; which happened to host the first ever dinner date of the Grand Duke Vergil Sparda and the woman who had stolen his heart.

Kane's accomplice turned just in time to spot him walking over, eyes of bright aquamarine blue wide in welcome of his presence as quick hand gestures urged him closer. Crouching to ensure that his frame was also hidden underneath the windowsill, Kane brought his basket around for show.

"I expect the affair to take time, so I brought us dinner." Kane whispered to his accomplice, who gave a quick thumbs up of approval at the sight of his basket.

"Good thinking. They just made it into the hall a few seconds ago, and Vergil's already tripped over his own foot twice." Dante Sparda grinned voraciously as he dared to pop his head up just a little to catch a sneak peek –not that his twin brother was attentive of the surrounding enough to catch the obvious sight of the head of white hair at the windowsill. Kane did not have to guess to know that Vergil was too busy trying to keep thoughts in his head at the sight of Lady Antiqua in front of him to even try sensing the two of them eavesdropping in on the date.

"I know Vergil is busy taming his butterfly heart, but stop being so obvious." Kane admonished quickly, tugging on Dante's shirt to force him back into a crouch. "Lady Antiqua has eyes."

"Yes she does." Dante answered with a soft conspiratory laugh. "She only has eyes for him. The two are practically lovebirds at this point. Even if I danced naked beside them, they wouldn't even blink."

"That is not an image I appreciate in my head." Kane twisted his face, but decided to take Dante's words for it as he popped his head up just enough to see into the room.

True to his accomplice's words, both parties involved in dinner had eyes for nothing else in the room except each other. Kane accidentally met eyes with one of the maids installed at the door, ready to attend to the needs of either of the diners. The maid in question gave a secret grin in acknowledgement of his presence but was otherwise quick to school her expression back to neutrality as Kane quickly took stock of the situation with a short glance before ducking his head back down.

"It's going to be a looooong night." Kane drawled, accepting the wrapped sandwich offered to him by his second master –Dante having already delved to check the goodies that Kane had brought along with him.

"You don't say." Dante unwrapped his dinner eagerly, and soon the both of them were enjoying their pseudo-picnic, leaning against the wall as they eavesdropped on the lousy conversation going on in the room.

Kane was almost embarrassed to call the man in the room his master, much less the Grand Duke of Sparda.

Having grown up and spent practically three quarters of their lives together, Kane had never struck his master as a man incapable of continuing a proper conversation. In fact, Vergil had been remarked by the King himself for being one of the most eloquent young man that the Kingdom had the blessing of having. Minstrels and bards within the Duchy often told stories and sang songs about how the current Grand Duke Vergil Sparda was skilled in the sword, the pen and the speech. Foreign nobles often remarked at how deft at communication the owner of the Sparda Grand Duchy was.

None of them would have imagined that the man stuttering in his speech, making responses and replies that hardly flowed with the stream of the conversation, was the very same man that Kane served.

At some point of time in the night, Dante had to take a temporary pause in the eavesdropping to take a break, stating that the amount of laughter he was suppressing was too unhealthy for his body. Kane waited patiently, watching their peaceful surroundings while tapping into his master's poor attempts at complimenting the Lady.

Until Dante came shuffling back, but dangling something moving pinched between his fingers.

"Where did you get that?" Kane asked in a hushed whisper.

"I know you take the cleanliness of every bit of the Mansion personally. Relax, I didn't catch this anywhere on our grounds. I knew Vergil was going to make tonight boring for the Lady, so I bought this off a boy in town beforehand. I kept it in a jar in the stables." Dante answered, watching the rat squirm in desperate attempt to escape from the man who was holding it by its tail.

There was no asking what Dante intended to do with a rat at this point.

"If you release that, Vergil will kill me. I assured him that everything would be perfect for dinner." Kane scowled, but when had this particular master of his heeded his advice?

The current situation was the exact same as it was a few years ago when it had been the day that Vergil Sparda was officially appointed by the King as the new Grand Duke, and Dante and Kane had stood over Vergil's nicely-prepared uniform, Dante grinning from ear to ear without a single of Kane's words registering before Dante starting cutting up the hem of Vergil's coat tails in an attempt to 'make it less boring'. While Vergil instantly knew that Kane was not the main culprit of the incident resulting in Vergil turning up to his succession ceremony with homeless-looking rags for a coat, Kane had been lectured sternly by the new Grand Duke about giving way to Dante Sparda afterwards.

Unfortunately, Kane didn't seem to have learnt –or took too long to recall his lesson –because by the time he had made his decision to stop Dante from creating a situation that would land him into big trouble, the man had already set the panicked animal on the windowsill and let go.

"Dante!" Kane hissed, but was not fast enough to catch the scampering vermin as it dashed across the windowsill and disappeared over the edge.

"Oopsies." The exclamation was anything but innocent.

Praying that the love-struck couple was too out-of-reality to pay attention to their surroundings, Kane shot to his feet now and made instant eye contact with the maid at the door –who startled at his sudden reappearance.

Air-writing the word 'rat' to the maid before pointing to the man who had his face exposed at the windowsill to watch the drama, Kane was glad that he had trained the maid very well as she comprehended him in an instant. It may also have something to do with the fact that she might have spotted Dante letting the vermin loose at the windowsill, but the regardless of the cause, the effect was made as the maid began moving quickly around along the wall with her eyes kept carefully on the floor now.

Kane was glad that at least most of the dinner course was done as he shamelessly vaulted himself over the windowsill –still to the obliviousness of the main characters of today's dinner.

"My greatest apologies for interrupting." Kane cleared his throat standing by the table, speaking politely as the eye contact between the love-struck fools finally broke to turn to him –one pair in polite confusion and another pair in accusatory confusion.

"We have a minor issue and would greatly appreciate if the two of you would move back to the reception room post-haste." Kane collected his manners befitting of a butler in the Sparda Ducal Mansion quickly, showing his insistence in the way that he did not leave much chance for either participant of the dinner to give their protest when he gently pulled back the lady's chair and offering his hand to help her come to her feet.

"What is the issue?" Vergil asked, ironically showing off his good side now that he was regaining his senses and taking charge of the situation.

"It is not so urgent an issue that needs your immediate attention, Your Grace. However, it is urgent enough that I humbly request your immediate evacuation from this room." Kane answered in his most humble tone, giving his master a look that hopefully conveyed the request to just suit his demands for both their sakes.

Thankfully, his master caught the wordless look as Vergil stepped up quickly to the confused lady who was all but dragged to her feet by an insistent Kane. Vergil –true to the gentlemanly manners that appeared to have been completely neglected by his twin –offered his hand to the lady politely.

"Let us go and have Kane handle the issue. If there is anyone in the entire Mansion I trust more than myself, then it will be Kane. I assume you have heard of the many stories involving my stellar butler during your time at the Academy?" Vergil smoothly took over the situation, and Kane was all but glad to step back and hand over the lady's soft hand to his master.

"Yes, I have heard many stories about you and Butler Kane during your Academy days, Your Grace." Lady Antiqua spoke gently, a healthy and positive flush on her face when she took Vergil's hand. "I do recall the presence of your brother, the Count Dante Sparda as well."

"Oh so you have heard of me too?" The interruption to the otherwise smooth distraction was all that it took for the bubble of obliviousness that had been set up around the fledgling couple to pop.

The main character of Kane's and Vergil's nightmares stood at the windowsill still, but a wide grin was smeared like smooth butter all over his face as he held up a box between his arms.

"Greeting, Lady Antiqua." Dante offered even before anyone asked, and Kane knew that his Death Day was near. "Perchance, do you like rats?"

"G-Greeting, Lord Sparda. I do not sit well with rats...?" The lady seemed understandably uncertain and confused at the entire situation.

"Dante, I don't know what you're doing here but-" Vergil knew as well as Kane that his brother's sudden presence and intrusion would spell nothing but trouble.

But the Grand Duke could not complete his sentence before his twin brother eagerly tipped the box over the edge.

Kane watched in absolute horror as an entire pack of rats tumbled from the box and immediately began to explore their freedom.

In that moment, Kane solidified a secret conviction that he had formulated over his many years at the Sparda Mansion –first as a Housekeeper and thereafter as Vergil's trusty butler.

He really should have kicked Dante out the moment he took an official role in the Mansion.