By the time they returned home, night had fallen deep.
The Hanazono estate was quiet and luminous.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKwKhFyBLU
Warm lights spilled softly across the corridor and floor-to-ceiling windows,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqC6gtRCuja
drawing a cruel contrast to the damp, decaying gloom of Shadowtrace Alley.
The boy stood in the foyer, still dressed in that thin, dust-covered coat that smelled of mold.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCBVllycWXj
Head bowed, he seemed unsure—27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu0JKPdHWOC
Unsure if he was allowed to step onto such a clean carpet.
Masaharu cast a sidelong glance at the butler standing beside him, his voice calm but unquestionable.
"Please take him to bath and change into clean clothes."
"Yes, sir."
Joseph, the head butler, gave a slight bow.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzdPHEgiOoJ
He stepped forward and spoke with a kind voice that held quiet authority.
"This way, young master."
The boy remained silent, his eyes wary,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGDvXgIN2xf
but he nodded slightly and slowly followed.
Suzuran stayed where she was, watching the frail figure disappear around the stairwell.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB6GzME3Uje
Her brows furrowed slightly.
"Papa..." she couldn’t help but speak,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqvWeQQT1bH
"Has he really always been alone?"
Masaharu paused at the entrance of his study,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27Z0AEDmOD
then finally replied in a low voice:
"I had someone look into his background."
He paused again, as if searching for the right words to share a heavy truth.
"His mother worked at a bar on the peninsula—a hostess."
"She’d been ill for months, too poor to see a doctor.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK4qvBrP5TO
Her debts piled up. The debt collectors cornered her.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLcfLi45Z2r
In the end, she died alone in a rented room."
Suzuran stared at her father, eyes wide with shock and disbelief.
"No one wanted to adopt her child.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡioLjn0YB3S
He was passed around…27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ57ijTZYNB
and eventually, he ended up on the black market.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV9bh5fi0mh
Labeled as a ‘product.’27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlGlKniLUh
Put on an auction block. Waiting for someone to bid."
Her lips parted, but no words came out.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60ARVhwHGz
Her mind flashed back to that moment in the car—27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwlhIvBEJA
that boy, sharing a sandwich, eating with such desperate urgency.
Was it because… he truly hadn’t eaten for so long?
"So… he’ll live here now?" she asked softly.
Masaharu looked at her, voice not raised, but firm as steel.
"Since you asked for him yourself, I’ll make proper arrangements."
"He will never return to that kind of place again.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpsMZEruvpm
And he will never be treated like merchandise."
His words were few, but each one sounded like a promise—27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6mWcOGJweW
the kind that carried the quiet weight of the Hanazono name.
"From today onward, he is Kimijima Kouichi."
Suzuran lifted her gaze, asking gently:
"Papa, why give him the name ‘Kimijima’?"
Masaharu stared off into the distance, his voice low:
"He has no surname, no legal identity.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5gzXSTJEHf
Legally, he doesn’t exist."
"‘Shima (嶋),’ for the island he came from—Shadowtrace Alley on the Rother Peninsula.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfoPYMeFktk
‘Kimi (君),’ a word of respect."
"I want him to live like a real person, with dignity."
He paused, the weight of his words subtle but firm:
"This name is his beginning. Not charity—but recognition."
Suzuran nodded quietly. Her voice was soft as a breeze, yet clear as a bell:
"…I’ll remember it well. Kimijima Kouichi."
Kimijima Kouichi would live with the Hanazono family’s head butler—Mr. Joseph—in the detached residence, far from the main house.
It was a quiet estate nestled deep within the garden,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyxT1fN29Gx
lined with rows of white orchid trees.
Each morning, mist draped over the veranda like silk,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNkVnXdzoIY
and the air always carried the scent of rain-washed wood.
This place raised him, silently and gently.
Mr. Joseph was about forty, born into an old noble house,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdOUFmAw2yp
and trained under the most rigorous standards of butlery.
He never married. Had no children.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡENbcem8txw
Steady and self-disciplined, he was one of the Hanazono family’s most silent, dependable pillars.
He never openly spoke of the boy,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCVsqPinlO
but those who knew him understood—27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5chdR2dugx
he treated Kimijima Kouichi as his own.
Under Joseph’s personal instruction, Kouichi mastered every aspect of formal butler training:
From ironing garments to polishing silver,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5tA1ypeDv
from mastering walking rhythm to controlling facial expressions—27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWaqMKtf8RR
even the precise sequence of pouring morning tea was performed like ritual.
But it was more than just occupational training.
It was a rebuilding of identity.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdmYSg6ybhi
A reshaping of spirit.
Kouichi let down his guard around Suzuran much faster than anyone expected.
They grew up together.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡChF720Nzqt
Different as night and day, yet inseparable.
She was lively, warm, a little clumsy.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxEaBfL196t
He was calm, quiet, always one step ahead to contain the chaos.
They would chase butterflies in the garden until their collars soaked with sweat,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXSYVt1iyCE
or sneak roses from the bushes before they bloomed, giggling behind the gardener’s back.
One was innocence.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiK3qlVLwmp
The other, silent protection of that innocence.
He would gently remind her before her emotions exploded.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHQ9jXofAI
He would hand her a spare hairclip before she realized the first one was missing.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY67MhxcCCR
And when she cried in silence—27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcoDqPJupKc
he would offer her a cup of hazelnut cocoa, warm and ready.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQZVJ1MaU1
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These things were never asked of him.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVtm61fN1OI
Never instructed.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWOlqEDvQLp
And never done for thanks.
Until one day, at the age of twelve,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyxFKpLHgPt
Kimijima Kouichi stood in a crisp uniform he had pressed himself,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVhfYy7w0tW
knelt on one knee, and made his request directly to Hanazono Masaharu.
"I wish to stay in the main house to serve the young lady—until the day she no longer needs me."
It was not a command.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1rcG94GxzH
Nor a plea.
It was a vow.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡubJLxngoSX
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2U9YEX4UpI
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And behind the door, Suzuran had been eavesdropping.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBz6rnMn0Ip
Her eyes were already red with tears.
She burst into the parlor, flung her arms around her father’s arm,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXkEwHZZ50C
and cried out:
"Papa, please! Let Kouichi stay!27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWlVAmjEoDS
He’s really good to me—I don’t want anyone else!"
Masaharu silently looked at the two before him:
One kneeling, iron-willed.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpnLBL8BHJ
One begging, fiery and unyielding.
He let out a long sigh—27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqOc5i6X2x
and nodded.
From that moment on, Kimijima Kouichi was no longer “a rescued child.”
He became—Hanazono Suzuran’s personal butler.
He came from nowhere, but chose to live for the smile that once chose him.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WumnOwIPD
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and then Add to home screen.