A dozen or so minutes later.
In the open space before the main building of Blue Lake Manor.
Jia Lie swept his gaze over the servants standing in two rows. He counted them silently and found one person missing. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Who isn't here?"
"Blair didn't come," someone replied quietly.
"Blair..." Jia Lie repeated the name, unable to stop himself from frowning.
Naturally, he knew Blair well. There were neither too few nor too many people in the manor, and he could name every one of them. In fact, he knew Blair better than most.
That was because Blair was something of a troublemaker in the manor. He never put much effort into his work, always cutting corners and making excuses.
Moreover, Blair looked down on him, the butler. Perhaps because he was descended from a fallen noble family, he could read and write, and was better educated than Jia Lie. He always felt Jia Lie had no right to manage him, believing Jia Lie had only become Master Richard's butler through luck. The position of true butler should have gone to him instead.
Because of this, Jia Lie had wanted many times to suggest to Richard that Blair be dismissed. But Richard was busy every day, making it difficult to find a suitable chance. Besides, Jia Lie had felt that while Blair was unpleasant, he had not yet become intolerable. So the matter had dragged on until now.
But today was different.
From this day forward, everything would be different.
He, Jia Lie, would do everything in his power to become a qualified butler.
To maintain the manor better, he needed to save every bit of money possible. A second-rate gardener like Blair did not require much skill, after all. He could be dismissed, and the