No Hero Side Stories 2: Never Change, Part Two

No Hero Side Story: Never Change

Original novel in Chinese by: 御我(Yu Wo)

---

Never Change, Part Two—translated by lucathia

With no mental preparation whatsoever, Charles began his first official experience of being a butler. Furthermore, to his misfortune, X was a vampire. The lifestyles of humans and the methods of responding to them that he had learned in the past were largely useless. On top of that, X was definitely not an easy to serve employer. Thus, the days filled with fear and trepidation began unfolding…

“Come here!”

Charles was busy wiping stone sculptures covered with dust when X walked over and spat out those words. Charles could only quickly lower his cleaning rag and say, “As you wish,” and hurriedly leave with X. Along the way, whenever he saw places that were unclean, he would feel very terrible.

The ancient castle was so large, yet it only had two caretakers, his father and him. Even though X had said that they did not need to take care of the garden—that the wilder it grew, the better, so that people would not approach carelessly—just cleaning the inside of the castle was overwhelming enough. Even after a full week of cleaning, they only managed to finish cleaning a few of the more commonly used areas.

This place had three floors, a total of twenty-five rooms, three corridors, three large and small living rooms, and two studies. The decorations were, of course, of an unspeakable number. How could two individuals tidy everything up?

Charles kept thinking about it and tried suggesting, “X, how about finding a few more servants? This castle is really too large…”

“I don’t like humans!” X turned him down immediately.

Charles predicted X’s reaction completely, so he was not surprised. He merely quietly said, “However, Father says that the lady he is attending to seems rather lonely. If a few maidservants could be hired to help out, they could preserve the castle’s cleanliness and keep her company as well.”

Upon hearing this, X did not say anything in response.

Even when the two of them reached the garden, Charles had not received an answer.

In most cases, if the employer did not answer, it meant that he was unwilling, but after a week’s association, Charles had gotten to know X’s personality a bit. Therefore, he took the initiative and said, “Then, I will hire three maidservants and a cook. If she can eat delicious food, I believe that the lady will be very happy!”

Although X did not reply, Charles smiled faintly. This was because as long as X did not roar that he would not allow it, it meant that he agreed to it!

Come to think of it, why did X ask me to come to the garden?

Charles looked toward X, whose back was to him. X raised his right hand, and a dark red vapor made of blood suddenly floated above his white palm.

“This is the blood ability. The blood ability is really just the blood within a vampire’s body. A vampire can freely control it. After your First Kiss, you should have felt that your blood was no longer the same as before…”

As he explained, X stopped because he had just remembered that this guy was a pureborn vampire. He had not received anything like a First Kiss before!

Charles looked curiously at the blood vapor above X’s right hand. All of a sudden, X turned around, and the blood on his hand swelled, instantaneously forming a huge claw of blood.

Charles never thought that the blood claw would be struck toward him. He shouted in alarm and fell down on his behind. Faced with such a huge blood claw, he could not even muster the idea of escaping. He watched, eyes wide, as the claw swatted down toward his head…

Bang, bang!

X dodged out of the way and raised his head to look toward the balcony. His other butler was currently standing there, and he was holding two revolvers in his hands.

Kaius had a smile on as he said, “Mr. E.X., the contract details that the employer must never physically come into contact with the butler in any way.”

Although his lips were lifted upward, there was no trace of happiness in his expression. Truly, the aura he was emitting would not lose to any vampire’s.

X glanced at Charles. The latter was currently climbing back to his feet and still had a spooked expression… With such a father, why is this fellow still like this?

“My sincere apologies.” At the same time as he pointed his guns at his employer, Kaius said in a frank tone, “Because you have violated the contract, our employment relationship must end here. My child and I will leave immediately.”

What a temper! X furrowed his brows and said indifferently, “You can’t protect him forever.”

When he heard these words, Kaius’s lips remained lifted at the corners, but the smile was truly a bit too forceful. Combined with eyes that lacked all traces of cheerfulness, anyone with a discerning eye could tell that he was angry enough to explode. However, Kaius still maintained a polite tone to respond, “At the very least, I can protect him from being killed by a vampire right now.”

Now, X had a vague idea as to why Charles, a fifth generation vampire, had ended up like this—it was because he had an overprotective father!

“If you want to leave, then leave!” X dropped his blood claw and stormed away.

“Thank you for your understanding.” Only then did Kaius put away his guns and lower his head to say to his son, “Charles, go pack your bags.”

“My honorable father, must we leave?”

“Of course.” Kaius furrowed his brows and said, “He attacked you. I cannot condone such instances.”

When he heard this, Charles did not know how to remediate the issue. Although it was true that X had attacked him, he had the feeling that X had no intention of harming him. However, even if I explain to Father, will he only think of me as being naïve?

Charles hesitated and said, “My honorable father, I—I do not wish to leave.”

Kaius was taken aback and said, “That won’t do! He attacked you. We agreed upon it earlier. The moment there is any danger, we will leave immediately!”

He explained, “X does not intend to harm me!”

“Why would you think that way?” Kaius was stunned. “He is a vampire!”

As expected… Charles was saddened from the bottom of his heart. What he blurted next was in retaliation. “Yes, X and I are the same—we’re both vampires!”

The moment the words left his mouth, Kaius knew that he had misspoken. Just as he wanted to apologize, with a saddened face, his son yelled agitatedly, “I will not leave. If you wish to leave, my honorable father, you may leave by yourself!”

My child is actually yelling at me… Kaius was very shocked.

Seeing his father’s shocked expression, Charles felt extremely terrible. But when he thought of how his father had criticized vampires just now, he could not stop himself from feeling indignant. He simply turned his head and left, like what X had done earlier.

“Charles!” He called out, but Kaius discovered with astonishment that his child did not turn back. Could it be…

“He’s finally at a rebellious age?”

As he watched his child run off, Kaius could not help but get the feeling, “My child has finally reached the rebellious stage.” However, when he thought it over, if mere yelling could be considered rebellion, then when he himself had left home without permission and charged into a vampire’s stronghold, would that have been called a heinous act, then?

“Sigh, even after losing his temper, he still calls me ‘my honorable father.’ I really don’t know if I should feel happy or worried that he’s truly too gentle. I’m obviously not very gentle, so how did I raise a child such as this?”

“X, wait…”

Charles had not finished speaking when he discovered that the figure in front of him had actually stopped, turned, and once more formed a blood claw to attack him.

Charles yelped and reflexively closed his eyes, shielding his head with his arms… but the pain did not come, and neither did eternal darkness.

When he tried opening his eyes, the blood claw was already gone. X merely stood before him, his head lowered to look at him. A faint redness was floating around X’s body. When he looked closer, he saw that it was not just X. Everything around them was enveloped by a faint redness.

Charles asked in confusion, “Did you use the blood ability to surround me? Why?”

“Not me. You did it yourself.” X simply explained, “The blood ability isn’t just used for offense. It can also be used to defend.”

“My blood ability?” Curious, Charles stood up and reached a hand out to touch that faint red mist. It was somewhat cool to the touch.

After touching it, Charles abruptly remembered what he had come here for. He quickly raised his head and said, “X, my honorable father has only mistakenly thought that you wanted to harm me. If he knew that you wanted to teach me the blood ability, he would definitely apologize to you.”

“Both of you should leave!” X coldly said, “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have had you become my butler!”

“Why?” Charles asked in daze, “Have I failed in my duties?”

Originally, X had wanted to bluntly answer, “Exactly,” but when he saw Charles’s expression, he could not say it—this fellow’s expression looked as though if X said he was no good, he would immediately jump off a building to apologize for his offense.

“…No.”

Charles breathed a huge sigh of relief. “That is great. Then, my honorable father and I can continue being your butlers, right?”

“No!”

“Why not?” Charles hurriedly said, “Without a butler, who would attend to your daily needs and those of that lady?”

When he heard “lady,” X hesitated for a moment and said, “Then, your father can stay. You will leave!”

When he heard this, Charles looked like he had been dealt a heavy blow. He lowered his head. “Why must you chase me away? As expected, is it because I have failed in my duties?”

At first, he had wanted to answer, “Yes,” but when he saw Charles’s completely disheartened expression, X could not bring himself to tell a lie. Agitated, he bellowed out the truth, “It’s because you can’t exist forever!”

“Why not?” Charles did not understand. “I am a vampire, just like you. I possess a very long lifespan.”

X growled, “Once the Church learns of anyone with connections to me, even if they’re vampires, they will also get dragged off and interrogated by torture until they die! They have chased after me for a thousand years already! No non-human can stop them! At that time, if you are captured by them, I definitely won’t care what happens to you. Do you hear me? I definitely won’t do anything about it!”

A thousand years? Charles’s eyes widened. Then, how old is X exactly?

X misunderstood his expression and thought he had gotten scared, so he growled, “You understand? Now leave immediately! Leave with your father!”

“No!” Charles instead said, “Even if the Church wishes to capture me, my honorable father will protect me. My honorable father is the next family head of the Elysees family. Even the Church cannot harm me.”

“You…” X suddenly turned his head. Even though he knew he should make the other leave, that he himself would only bring Charles endless trouble, he could not resist his desire for a friend. He muttered, “Don’t make me become aware of any change. I hate change. This world is always changing too quickly…”

Charles smiled gently as he said, “I will never change. I will only always be a butler.”

It did not sound quite right, so X hurriedly said, “Actually, you should change first! A fifth generation vampire shouldn’t be a butler!”

“No, I will always be a butler.”

“Go form a vampire clan. A fifth generation is already very rare!”

“No, I will always be a butler. Forever. I will never change,” said Charles, slowly but resolutely, as if he was making an unshakable vow.