That Butler, New Face

That Butler, Giving a Concert

"Mmm, delicious!♥ You never let me down, Bard!" Lizzie said, smiling as she ate the meat pie they served her for lunch. She, McMillan, Soma, Lau, and Ran-Mao had joined the servants for lunch and were sitting on the picnic blanket with a nice spread of meat pie, tea, sandwiches, and scones, which Lacey and Chêne had also made.

"Aww, I'm not that great!" Bard said humbly, pleased with the praise. "But I feel like that pie is different from the one I made?"

'That's because it is...' Chêne and Lacey thought. They had both seen Tanaka disappear with one basket and reappear with another that was almost identical. Chêne sweat-dropped while she sipped her tea and pretended to know nothing, while Lacey reached for another sandwich.

"Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!" Tanaka said.

"Aw well! Who cares!" Bard said, happy that he had been praised.

"I wonder where Mister Bard's pie went?" Finni whispered to Mei-Rin, worried someone was suffering somewhere.

"I'm not sure, but we were saved from imminent danger, we were!" Mei-Rin whispered, also worried about the whereabouts of the other pie. But at this point she was just glad that they had all been spared.

"So, tell me, Missus Maid... who is this person?" Lau asked Chêne, looking at Lacey.

"This is my friend, Lacey Lawless," Chêne replied. "The young master recently hired her."

"I'm currently working as a maid, but I'll be in charge of childcare once the babies are born," Lacey added.

"I seee~!" Lau said. "I thought there was a glow about you, Missus Maid. So you're with child. Congratulations~!"

"Congratulations," Ran-Mao said.

"Thank you," Chêne said, smiling.

"And who are you two?" Lacey asked Lau, looking at both him and Ran-Mao.

"My, how blunt you are," Lau said lightly. "I'm Lau, a humble branch manager of a trading company. And this is Ran-Mao, my sister, though we are not related by blood."

"I see. Nice to meet you both," Lacey said.

"By the way, how is your stomach faring, Prince Soma?" Lau asked.

"Nn?" Soma said.

"It seems the stomach aches of the Red House eleven were caused by their teatime repast!" McMillan said, concerned.

'I'm sure that wasn't an accident...' Chêne thought, pitying the poor boy who had been humiliated.

"I'm dandy. I have the divine protection of Shiva, god of good health!" Soma said proudly. "Eh-hehn!!"

"Ohhh? How convenient," Lau said. "Maybe I should convert to hinduism toooooo?"

Sebastian watched them from the balcony of the Blue House Cricket pavilion.

"I had heard people from India have strong stomachs... but I did not think they were this tough," Sebastian said, holding his chin. He heard cheering and looked in its direction to the other cricket field. "It appears that match over there is livening up as well."

—^—^—^—

The people watching the match between Purple House and Green House cheered. Cheslock prepared to bowl while a member of the Green House prepared to play the striker position.

"Go, Green House!!" their supporters shouted.

"Crush them, Purple House!!" their supporters yelled. Gregory ignored the cheers and began scraping the ground with his foot.