Protogene Assimilation

The Prodigy... Eunice Valerian 2

Following his intentions, Trapp went all the way to the kitchen in order to find some grub to fill his hollow stomach. Helpless, his butler Della could only follow along.

Making sure to keep a 3ft distance between herself and Trapp at all times, Della tag behind Trapp as they both made their way through the hallways of the castle to the kitchen.

While walking, Trapp and Della would come across other inhabitants of the castle.

In a large estate like this one, it was natural for there to be a lot of servants employed to keep the estate in order. Just in the castle grounds, on its own, there were more than a hundred servants, both male and female, tasked with the responsibility of keeping the castle in order. This did not count the servants that work outside the castle on the estate grounds.

In total, the number of servants working in the Silent Echoes Castle Estate number up to five hundred. All of them had their own duties, and they were strictly managed by the head of staff, Eudora... Trapp's adoptive mother.

Trapp, as the publicly recognized son of the head of staff in the estate, was naturally familiar with all the staff and all of them recognized him. While walking through the castle, any servants that Trapp and Della came across made sure to immediately step aside as they gave way for Trapp to pass through.

As the son of the second in charge of the entire estate, Trapp's status was naturally above everybody else and below only one. Because of this, every staff was duty-bound to lower their heads when Trapp passed by them.

This was why the scene of countless men and women bowing their heads and genuflecting to Trapp whenever he passed by them could be seen as he walked.

Trapp was not affected by this, as he was already used to it.

He was also used to the fact that whenever he passed by the servants, apart from bowing and genuflecting to him, the female servants would also blush hard and the male servants would also have looks of envy and ridicule in their eyes.

Trapp knew that even though all the servants showed him a lot of respect to his face behind his backs, there were a lot of them gossiping about him and calling him names. This was especially so for the male servants who were envious of his good looks and high status but who also felt disdain towards his roguish and deplorable reputation.

Trapp could not be bothered to care about what others thought of him, nor did he really want to do so.

All Trapp cared about was causing trouble for his mother as much as possible. That was the one thing that Trapp enjoyed more than playing with women.

Still, even if this was the case, it did not mean that others did not care about this kind of thing.

Della, who was walking steadily behind Trapp, was aware of the shifting eyes of the servants that bowed towards them as they passed. She knew what it was that went on in the minds of the male and female servants.

As Trapp's personal butler, who had been trained to serve from a very young age, Della was also Trapp's bodyguard. Having received the best training that was available in the Ndlovu empire, Della was able to guess the thoughts of the servants as she looked at them.

Della knew that the female servants were enthralled by Trapp's good looks and his powerful status. She knew that these female servants dreamed that Trapp would one day take a fancy to them and he would take them in as one of his women. Should this happen, then their lowly status as servants would immediately be elevated to a higher position.

Even if it was quite clear that Trapp was a hopeless womanizer, this did not matter to them. Even if they could only be one of Trapp's mistresses, so far as they could enjoy the benefits that come along with this status, they would be satisfied.

As for the male servants, Della was aware that they were filled with envy and disdain for Trapp.

According to what they thought, they felt great envy at all the good things that Trapp had at his disposal and they could not help but wish that they were in his shoes. At the same time, they hated Trapp for wasting all his fortune away as he did. From how they saw it, if they were the ones who had been born in Trapp's place, they would have done a lot better than Trapp was currently doing.

Still, despite the disdain, Della knew that these male servants would gladly jump at the first opportunity to please Trapp and fulfill his every wish.

In Della's eyes, all these servants, both male and female, were nothing but vultures and opportunists. They were all good-for-nothing people who didn't want to work hard but wanted to enjoy the fortune of others.

She could not be bothered to Della with them...

Ignoring the opportunistic servants like how Trapp did, Della simply followed him to the kitchen to get something to eat.

When the two of them reached the kitchen and entered, what greeted them was the sight of countless cooks and their assistants shuffling around with the kitchen.

The castle's kitchen was rife with the constant hustle and bustle of the staff, and there were the sounds of plates, knives, spoons, and other kitchen utensils playing in the background.

The kitchen itself was very large. As it was responsible for feeding every single inhabitant of the castle estate, the kitchen could be said to be the only place with the most number of employees. Right now, every employee of the kitchen was busy attending to their own duties.

Some of them were responsible for cooking while others were responsible for washing up the used dishes and cleaning up the whole place.

In the entire kitchen, there was only a single person that was standing there idly as she surveyed and supervised the running of the kitchen. Occasionally, she would go over to a side of the kitchen when she noticed a problem. With this woman around, nobody dared to slack off at all.

It was already late in the morning and breakfast had long been served, so right now, the activities in the kitchen were quite relaxed. Still, this did not mean that there was nothing to do. Not only did preparations have to be made for the afternoon meal, but there were a lot of other things that needed to be taken care of in the kitchen.

After pausing at the entrance of the kitchen for a short moment, Trapp leisurely made his way inside. As if he was very familiar with the place, Trapp navigated his way through all the chaos and busyness of the kitchen.

Completely ignoring everything that was happening around him, Trapp made his way towards the only person standing in the center of the kitchen.

This person was Clara, and she was the Head Cook who was responsible for supervising the entire kitchen. She was the one who was responsible for preparing Trapp's meals, as well as those of his mother. No one else was allowed to do this.

As if she had sensed Trapp's presence, Head Cook Clara immediately turned around to see him making his way over to her. Without a trace of surprise on her face, Head Cook Clara started making her way towards Trapp.

Her manner was very ferocious and imposing and, seeing her like this, Trapp was overcome with a rare trace of cowardice.

Somewhat regretting his decision to come over by this time, Trapp attempted to retreat immediately from the kitchen, but Clara was not having it.

Moving in at a speed that was unexpected from her slightly pudgy appearance, Head Cook Clara immediately caught up to Trapp, and using her thick beefy fingers, she grabbed him by the ear and pulled hard.

"Ow, ow, ow... easy Nana, you're going to rip them off!"

Trapp was in pain from having his ears pulled and he pleaded with the rotund woman that was responsible for it. Unfortunately, Head Cook Clara, who Trapp fondly referred to as Nana, was not hearing any of it.

She immediately started reprimanding Trapp, "How many times have I told you that I do not want to catch you inside my kitchen before you, rascal. Breakfast was four hours ago, but you're only waking up now. If you're not going to wake up in time to have your meal, then there's no point waking up at all. You don't have to be coming in here every time to steal from my pantry."

"Ow, ow, easy Nana..." Trapp said once again.

"You know, I'm not a morning person. This is actually considered to e quite early for me too."

"Hayayai!"

"You little rascal, you are going to be the death of us all. If only you'd stop playing with all those unsavory women, then I wouldn't have to worry about you all the time. You're very lucky this time around. If it weren't for the fact that your mother is looking for you, I would have ripped you an earful right now," Head Cook Clara said as she pulled on Trapp's ears even harder.

After saying her piece, she finally released Trapp from her clutches before taking a plate of steaming buns that had just come out of the oven and shoving it in his hands.

"Take this and get out of here before I lose my temper. This is the only thing you'll be having for this morning. Now get out of my sight and don't keep the lady waiting."

With that, Head Cook Clara unceremoniously threw Trapp out of the kitchen.