Abyssal Chronicles

Chapter 596 - 597: Excuses? Bluffing Through?

"Ah~ Milady! It’s really wonderful that you’re unharmed! I was so worried!!"

Upon catching Yumo’s gaze,

Sebastian immediately showed an excited and joyful expression.

Then,

In the presence of the puzzled Yuan’er, the old butler knelt swiftly before Yumo. His movements were so smooth that one couldn’t help but wonder if Sebastian had practiced them often.

At this moment, Sebastian lacked his usual elegance and poise as an old butler, appearing disheveled and dirty, as if he had just crawled out of a muddy field, looking more like a beggar from a slum than the renowned head butler of the Black Rose family. If anyone saw Sebastian now, they wouldn’t associate him with the dignified and elegant figure he usually was.

The current Sebastian, with his teary and emotional expression, only looked like a pitiful old man, evoking sympathy from those around him.

Yuan’er, seeing Sebastian in such a state, couldn’t help but show worry on her adorable face.

’What happened to Grandpa Sebastian?’

’He was fine just a moment ago, wasn’t he?’

...

Seeing this, Yumo fell into an awkward silence.

However,

Sebastian seemed not to notice and continued speaking:

"After I was knocked unconscious by miss Youlan, I’ve been searching everywhere for you! I was so afraid that you might have fallen into her trap. Thankfully, thankfully... It seems Milady is fine. And Miss Yuan’er is safe too. I was worried that the little miss had been... taken by her..."

Sebastian patted his chest, clearly acting as if he had just had a close call.

After expressing his relief,

Sebastian’s expression suddenly turned serious and full of self-blame.

"I’m so sorry, Lady Yumo!!"

As soon as he finished speaking,

Sebastian began to kowtow in front of Yumo and her daughter, his head striking the ground with ’thud’ sounds echoing in the room. He was so forceful that he created a small dent in the floor, and blood began to flow from his forehead due to the impact.

Blood trickled down Sebastian’s forehead, dripping onto the floor one drop at a time.

Seeing Sebastian’s self-harming behavior, Yumo who was just about to sternly discuss the situation, was taken aback. Though Sebastian now looked entirely like an old man, in Yumo’s eyes, he was still akin to a slightly older child.

Unable to remain indifferent to her child’s self-harm, Yumo frowned and snapped her fingers.

"Enough, little Sai, stop it!"

With that, a surge of crimson energy rippled around Yumo, forcibly lifting Sebastian’s head, which was about to hit the ground again.

Then, holding Yuan’er, Yumo jumped down from the windowsill and walked over to Sebastian:

"What’s all this about?"

Hearing her, Sebastian looked up tremulously, his eyes filled with guilt as he met Yumo’s gaze:

"I... I... I’ve made a grave mistake!"

"Mistake?"

The black-haired girl’s brow furrowed slightly.

"What mistake?"

"This morning, the secret investigation department of Red Leaf Empire came downstairs, surrounded you, accusing you of transforming spiritual soul into Abyssal Demons, and they even brought a ’witness’! This... this is my fault! My carelessness almost exposed Milady’s identity…"

’Hmm?’

Hearing this, Yumo was slightly startled, a flicker of confusion crossing her ’blue’ eyes.

Indeed, this was an issue she was concerned about.

But she didn’t expect Sebastian to bring it up on his own, taking responsibility for the mistakes before she even asked.

And...

"Mistake, what do you mean? Is this incident related to your mistake?"

"Yes, Milady!"

Sebastian nodded fervently.

"It’s all my fault for being careless in choosing people!"

Saying this, Sebastian turned his head in anger towards a young black-haired officer trembling behind him. Feeling Sebastian’s furious gaze, the officer named Wandon shivered and then, in a familiar manner, knelt in front of Yumo.

Glancing at his disciple who maintained a prostrate posture, Sebastian spoke righteously:

"I’ve been training this disciple for many years, thinking he could competently handle the position of head butler for the Black Rose family and assist Milady. After we left the village, I left the aftermath to Wandon here. I didn’t expect him to be so careless, missing some details, which probably allowed the secret investigators to gather clues."

"I’m sorry, so sorry..."

"Leaving some physical evidence is one thing, but the witness should not have happened!!"

Sebastian glared at Wandon with disappointment:

"I told you to take the child to a nearby orphanage, such a simple task, and you couldn’t even handle that properly? You actually took the child back to the village?! What were you thinking?"

"I... I didn’t mean to..."

Wandon explained, looking pitiful:

"The child wanted to retrieve his mother’s keepsake, worried it would be destroyed by the fire. That’s why I took him back. I had no idea Milady was still there! I thought she had already dealt with those bandits... and transformed the spiritual soul into Abyssal Demons... Besides, I did perform a physical memory wipe on the child afterward..."

"Making excuses? Under no circumstances should you have brought him back! And about this memory wipe, I’m even more angry! After all the training in ’physical memory wiping’ you still haven’t mastered it?!"

"I thought I hit the right spot..."

"Then how did the child remember?!"

Pointing at Wandon’s nose, Sebastian was fuming with anger.

"Let’s not talk about whether you hit the right spot. With such a big mistake, why didn’t you tell me earlier?! We could have remedied it sooner, right?!"

"I’m sorry, so sorry..."

"You really are...!! ..."

...

Although Wandon was mostly silent, Sebastian continued his furious scolding for quite some time.

Faced with Sebastian’s rebuke, Wandon could only nod meekly with his head lowered.

Sebastian, regretful and frustrated, shook his head after striking his disciple on the head a couple more times, then turned to Yumo with a look full of self-blame:

"I’m truly sorry, Milady. I never expected this bray to make such a basic mistake. If I hadn’t been so eager to play with Miss Yuan’er and had taken care of things myself, this wouldn’t have put you at risk of exposure..."

Hearing this, Yumo frowned,

"Wait, what do you mean by ’almost exposed’? You mean, I wasn’t exposed?"

"Yes, exactly."

Sebastian nodded,

"After I regained consciousness, I informed Xizhi of the situation. With the chaos caused by Sir Pierre’s attack on Luminous and the unrest in Anvika, the ’Nightingale’ organization took advantage of the situation and dealt with the evidence and the officials who knew about the incident. Fortunately, General Boran seemed to want to take all the credit for himself and did not share these findings with many others. Thus, it was relatively easy for the ’Nightingales’ to handle."

"Oh? Is that so?"

"Yes."

"No wonder I’ve been back at Luminous for so long and no one bothered me."

"Yes, if Milady wish, you can continue staying here without any problems."

"Well, if I wasn’t exposed, then good. If I had been, and dragged all of you into it, I really wouldn’t know what to do..."

Relieved to get this answer, Yumo patted her chest.

Then,

She turned her attention to the trembling young officer and gave a sweet smile,

"Since it all ended well, I won’t dwell on it this time and won’t hold you accountable. Just learn well from your master in the future and avoid making similar mistakes, okay?"

"Huh?!"

Hearing this, Wandon was initially stunned, then nodded excitedly:

"Understood, understood! Milady! I will learn diligently from Master Sebastian and won’t make similar mistakes again!!"

"Good, that’s settled then. That’s all for now; you guys go clean up and rest early. You must be tired after a long day. As for me, I’m going to bathe Yuan’er and put her to bed. Children shouldn’t stay up late. Sebastian, please clean up here."

"Ah? Oh... As you wish, Milady..."

"Then, see you tomorrow morning."

Saying this, Yumo didn’t bother with the Black Rose family’s reactions anymore and left the hall, carrying her daughter as if nothing had happened.

Seeing this, Wandon, who felt like a ’major sinner’ couldn’t help but bow repeatedly in gratitude.

However,

Watching Yumo’s departing figure, Sebastian’s brow furrowed involuntarily.

’Strange…’

’It was…’

"A little too smooth...???"