The Lady's Butler: I Reincarnated To Serve The Villainess

Chapter 204: A One-Sided Match

[Good luck, my lady,] Adrian mentally said as he looked at Renelle with a smile, [kick his ass.]

Renelle returned the smile before responding, [I will.]

The next match that had been announced was between the North and the East.

Since Cedric had already fought, Renelle was up next, and she was up against Cassian’s brother, Gerald Everhart.

Gerald had a blank expression on his face as he walked out of the preparation area ahead of Renelle.

He was tall, with the Everhart family’s characteristic wind element.

From the way he walked, one would think it was as a result of efficiency born from training, but both Adrian and Renelle knew the truth.

Right now, Gerald, as most of the east, was simply a puppet on Marion’s strings, and his movements were as a result of the puppeteer’s control.

In other words, Marion was the one fighting this match from the East’s representative box without being on the field.

Adrian turned towards Marion, wondering how to deal with him.

The fastest way would have been exposing his true identity, but with the entire East under his control, that would become hard.

The king would’ve been able to figure that out if he weren’t also already a puppet of another.

Usually, Adrian wouldn’t care about anything that wasn’t his lady, but unfortunately, the East was an important piece of his plan in making Renelle Avera the ruler.

Perhaps a deal with Marion?

After all, Marion might be interested in his body still, but Adrian had come to understand something.

The man wasn’t evil.

Well.... perhaps he was evil, but his goal had always remained the same throughout,

Get a new body, one that could handle his corruption, so what if Adrian offered just that?

The problem was the Cult master whom he was currently working for.

But then again, Marion had clearly shown that his allegiance was only with the solution that the cult master provided for his quickly corrupting body, not the man himself.

Or, Adrian could just find a way to release the Grand Duke from Marion’s puppeteering, which would force the man to owe the butler.

But that would take time. Marion was still occupying Cassian’s body, and attempting to kill him with so many political figures present would be interpreted as a move by one of the Grand Dukes, causing a massive uproar.

An uproar that either the Church or the Cult Master would undoubtedly exploit.

Besides, properly killing this bastard was too much work, as he’d just find a way to come back to life.

So a deal was the easiest route.

Marion turned towards him, smiled before turning back towards the screen, certain that Adrian had already figured out that he was the one controlling Gerald.

***

In the Arena, Renelle looked at the puppet opponent standing across her and felt nothing particularly threatening about him.

She calmly waited for the herald to signal the start of the match, and he soon did,

"BEGIN."

The moment the signal was given, Gerald immediately made his move.

He quickly launched himself forward with a blast of wind, closing the distance between them in under a second.

It was fast, and for most opponents, it would’ve been the end of the match before it started.

Unfortunately for him, Renelle was not one of his opponents.

She easily stepped to the side, causing Gerald to slam into an ice sculpture instead.

Before he had the chance to recover, the ice started wrapping itself around him, completely restraining him.

Grald struggled for a while, as he used his wind to try and create enough force to shatter the ice, and under normal circumstances, against a normal ice user, it might have worked.

Again, unfortunately for him, he was facing Renelle.

The crowd was very quiet as they watched the fight that hadn’t even lasted two minutes yet.

Unlike the previous fights where one had the upper hand for a while only to have their opponent turn the tables, this one felt completely different.

Gerald stood no chance against the Ice Empress, and that much was very obvious.

[Should I?] Renelle mentally asked as he looked at his restrained opponent without a change in her expression.

[Not yet,] Adrian responded, [releasing it right now would only cause a commotion. Besides, I’m certain that he already planned for that.]

[I see,] she muttered.

Her intention was to freeze Marion’s strings since she could now sense it due to the fact that her ice was touching them.

But since her butler decided otherwise, she’d trust him.

Besides, she didn’t actually care if the entire East was under Marion’s control, as long as he kept himself away from her butler.

Which, given Marion’s plan to take over Adrian’s body, was going to be hard.

Gerald struggled for a while longer before finally giving up and saying, "I surrender. "

Before the herald could even announce her win, the crowd, mostly the survivors, erupted in cheers.

They knew how strong the Ice Empress was, and she seemed to have gotten even stronger.

"RENELLE ARDENT WINS THE FOURTH MATCH!"

The herald’s announcement was buried under the wave of cheers that was still ongoing.

Renelle let the ice encasing her opponent dissolve as she walked off the field without looking back.

She met a smiling butler the moment she walked into the preparation area, and she couldn’t help but smile in return.

The match had barely required any effort from her, but if she was always going to return to a proud butler every time she won, then she might as well give it her all.

"My little sister is quite strong," Cedric pulled her attention towards him, "it seems I have to work harder."

Speaking of which, Renelle was quite surprised at his own match.

She had been certain that he’d lose, yet he had surprised her.

Before anything else could be said, the herald’s voice came again.

"THE FIFTH MATCH OF THE TOURNAMENT STAGE—"

The preparation area went quiet before the name was even announced.

"REPRESENTING THE ACADEMY, ADRIAN—"

"AND HIS OPPONENT, REPRESENTING THE EAST, LORD CASSIAN EVERHART. "