Butler Albert had been serving the Gates family for decades now, he was there even before Victoria was even born.
He had a job way back as a member of the standby unit back when Charlotte Gates, Victoria's grandmother and the strongest Enhancer-type System Holder in the world was still active as an Explorer.
Since Charlotte was… an anomaly even among the System Holders, she was given her own personal standby unit that always waited for her outside a Portal. They were always following her wherever she went, and since Charlotte could move faster than their mounts, she made their lives a living hell.
But still, Albert followed her. He was just a normal human, not a System Holder, and yet he followed her everywhere. He admired her, but not in the way that he expected her to look at him as a man, no. Charlotte became like an older sister to him. An older sister that he needed to take care of, that is.
He watched as she got married, he watched her son grow up… and now he was also seeing her grandchildren grow up.
Albert was also heartbroken when Edward became like this, and among the people in the estate, he was the only one that was able to see Charlotte crying alone in her room. She was absolutely devastated that she couldn't help her first grandchild.
That was the first time in their years together that he saw her like that. One of the only Platinum-rank Explorers in the world, and quite possibly the strongest Enhancer… was for the first time, vulnerable.
And the worst part of it all was that she blamed herself. She was so sure that it was her fault.
As for Edward, 18 years. They have been taking care of him for 18 years not even knowing if he will return back to normal.
And now that Victoria seemed to have brought someone who could understand Edward, Albert could not help but feel delighted inside.
Will the family finally be able to talk to him?
Will Lady Paris finally be able to hug her son again?
Will Miss Victoria be able to hear her name being called by her older brother?
Countless thoughts were racing in Albert's mind. But alas, the reality was far from his fantasy. Because now that they had someone who could understand Edward, he was finally able to delve into his mind.
18 years old. Of course, it made sense. He was 18 years old, he was already past his puberty stages. He had no contact with the outside world. But most importantly, he had no contact with the opposite sex of his own kind.
But now that Albert knew of Edward's woes, how were they going to even be able to start to solve it?
...Get a female centaur? But he wasn't exactly a centaur. The lower part, maybe. But half of his body was that of a minotaur.
Wait, but if the lower part is that of a centaur's, then why would the upper part matter? Albert's thoughts continued to go deeper as he scoured the deepest part of his brains.
Maybe just in case… they should get both of the species?
No, that wasn't even the first problem. Edward stood 7 meters tall. As far as his knowledge goes, no centaurs or even minotaurs were that big. Anything they would find would surely die in the process.
No! Albert quickly shook his head. First of all, his thoughts were unethical, to begin with. Centaurs are known to be highly intelligent, even if they are considered monsters.
No! Albert once again shook his head. This wasn't a problem that they had the leisure to be thinking of anyway, what they needed to do was get away now. It's even a miracle that he was able to contemplate his thoughts while Edward was currently seething in anger.
"Young master Edward is… angry!", Albert hollered, "We should escape one by one so--"
"He's not angry"
Before Albert could even finish his words, Van interrupted him. Van then suddenly ran towards Harvey and hid behind his back, holding him by the collar of his uniform.
"W… what are you doing, man!?", Harvey could not help but stutter as Van suddenly appeared behind him.
"...Shield", Van whispered quietly, "Don't move and don't make any sudden noises"
"W… what?", Harvey could not help but gulp, "Are you telling me to die? You're telling me to die, aren't you? Is this about my brother? Because I think he totally deserved--"
"Shut up", Van once again muttered as he slightly pushed Harvey closer to Edward, "You seem to be able to take his hit anyway"
"That is totally not fair, man!"
As soon as Harvey screamed, Edward let out a roar of his own, accompanied by the drum-like thumping of his chest. He then started to move his hind leg, stomping his hoof on the ground and caving it in.
And after a few seconds, he started galloping towards them.
"If you're going to do something do it now!", Harvey quickly blocked his body with his arms and screamed as Edward was already threatening to crush them.
"Stop, Edward!"
"W… what the", Harvey could not help but be slightly taken aback as he heard Van grunting in a weird way. It almost made him want to laugh, but the serious situation they were in was not allowing him to do so.
However, as soon as Van's words reached Edward's, Edward's ears started to twitch as he instantly stopped his advance. His hooves sliding on the ground and stopping only a few inches away from slamming into Harvey.
"B… bro, you speak beef?", Harvey could not help but let out a huge breath, "Is… is it safe to get out of the way now?"
Van quickly shook his head in reply.
"I--", Victoria, who wanted to say something as it was all but confirmed that Van was able to speak with her brother, chose to stay quiet for now. She thought that Edward might get agitated if he hears someone else's voice.
Van was unsure if Edward was really able to truly understand him, but seeing as he stopped, then he should be able to have a conversation with him.
"Hello, Edward", Van said while completely examining even Edward's slightest movements,
"Can you understand me?"
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