Hearing the sound from the doorway, Wenxiu Lord, who was sitting in the living room, walked over.
The man at the door claiming to be a butler saw him and executed a standard aristocratic bow.
Seeing the man's demeanor, Severus turned to look at Wenxiu Lord beside him, using his eyes to ask if this was a servant from his family come to pick him up.
At this moment, Wenxiu Lord was also a bit dazed. He clicked open the system panel and saw that the character background and the estate progress bar had both fully loaded and were now glowing brightly.
Wenxiu Lord looked hesitatingly at the person at the door. Seeing Wenxiu Lord looking at him, the man's smile became even more standard.
"It must be someone from my family."
Seeing that Wenxiu Lord had confirmed the newcomer's identity, Severus stepped aside to let the man enter.
The food on the dining table had already been completely cleared away by Wenxiu Lord and sent to the kitchen before Severus opened the door.
At that moment, Severus walked out of the kitchen carrying a pot of black tea, placed it on the coffee table, poured a cup of black tea for the man standing opposite, and then sat down beside Wenxiu Lord to watch the two of them stare at each other with wide eyes.
Speaking of the black tea, Wenxiu Lord had remembered to buy it a couple of days ago when the two of them went to Diagon Alley.
After examining the estate settings on the system panel for a long time, Wenxiu Lord finally understood what was going on. This man must be the system's built-in servant, and moreover, one with one hundred percent loyalty.
Looking him up and down, his appearance was quite ordinary, but his bearing was exceptional. If they were at a family gathering or some kind of commercial banquet between families, anyone could tell at a glance that he was a servant cultivated by a great family.
Wenxiu Lord nodded with satisfaction and motioned for him to sit down.
Upon receiving the instruction, the man opposite him bowed slightly to refill a cup of black tea for him, and only then sat down opposite the two boys.
Wenxiu Lord calmly took a sip of the black tea. "You are the new butler? Has everything at the estate been sorted out?"
The butler slightly bowed his head. "Yes, Family Head. You may call me Sebastian. The manor has been completely renovated, and you can move in at any time."
Hearing the butler's name, Wenxiu Lord paused mid-sip, nearly spitting out the tea in his mouth. "Cough, cough, cough. That's a fine name. Sounds like he has great professional ethics."
*The name the system came up with is really quite quirky. Yet another butler named Sebastian is born.*
Sitting beside him, Severus patted his back to help him catch his breath, his lips pressed tightly together into a frown as he wondered what to think. "Wenxiu, when are you planning to go back?"
At that moment, Wenxiu Lord was extremely curious about his newfound family and couldn't wait to see what an estate produced by the system actually looked like; once he got back, he would also need to get acquainted with the family's servants and layout.
He thought about it with some distress for a moment. "Probably tomorrow morning. Half the day is already gone anyway, so there's no need to rush. I still need to pack my things."
Hearing that Wenxiu Lord would be leaving as early as tomorrow morning, Severus opened his mouth several times to say something, but in the end, he didn't utter a word.
Although he had grown quite attached to Wenxiu Lord during this time together, he couldn't possibly prevent someone from going home.
Afterward, Wenxiu Lord brought Sebastian to the study, where he inquired further about the family's situation and basic information, confirmed the departure time for the next morning, and then dismissed him.
Severus stood by the second-floor bedroom window watching Sebastian leave, feeling an inexplicable sense of restlessness in his heart.
In the afternoon, the two of them brewed potions according to their original plan, except this time Wenxiu Lord noticed that Severus seemed absent-minded. Several times his technique in handling potion ingredients was wrong, and the timing for adding materials and the stirring methods were incorrect as well.
When the final product was finished, Severus looked at the potion, which didn't even deserve to be called garbage, and the expression on his face grew even fouler.
Suppression a laugh, Wenxiu Lord collected the potion into his system inventory. This was the dark history of a future Potions master, so he had better keep it safe—it might come in handy someday.
Second-year potions obviously took much longer. By the time the two of them cleaned up the chaos in the bedroom, Eileen Snape had already returned home.
At dinner, Wenxiu Lord mentioned to Eileen Snape that he would be leaving tomorrow.
Eileen Snape merely glanced at her son's less-than-ideal complexion and said nothing more.
After dinner, Severus went straight upstairs without a word. Wenxiu Lord took out two Galleons from the system.
After his first trip to the vault, he had transferred all the retrieved Galleons from his suitcase into the system inventory, making them convenient and safe from loss. When he needed to use them, he would simply pull them out from his clothes pocket—convenient and without arousing suspicion.
He handed the two Galleons to Eileen Snape. "Mrs. Snape, thank you for letting me stay here during this time. This is the compensation for today."
Eileen Snape hurriedly took one of the Galleons, pushed it back into his hand, and refused. "You're leaving tomorrow, just one is enough for me."
Wenxiu Lord directly placed that Galleon into Eileen Snape's pocket. "Mrs. Snape, please keep it. Consider it for the sake of the friendship between me and Severus. I hope you can leave a way out for yourself."
Although Wenxiu Lord didn't particularly like this woman, recalling the shred of warmth she had given him when he first transmigrated, he wanted to give her a chance.
Eileen Snape watched the boy's silver-gray eyes staring at her, his gaze as clear as bottomless water. After a long silence, she finally accepted the Galleon with trembling hands.
As he was heading upstairs, Wenxiu Lord was called by Eileen Snape. His figure paused, and he heard Eileen Snape's voice, carrying a trace of trembling, enter his ears. "If possible, I hope you can continue to be friends with Severus in the future."
Wenxiu Lord turned around to look at her, the corners of his lips curving upward. "Of course, we will be friends forever."
In the bedroom, Severus sat on the floor with his back against the door, listening to the conversation between the two outside, wrapping his arms around his knees and burying his head in the crook of his arm.
When Wenxiu Lord returned to the bedroom, he didn't see Severus. Hearing the sound of water coming from the bathroom, a flash of understanding crossed his eyes. He opened his suitcase and began packing his things inside.
Although they had only lived there for a month, there really was quite a lot of stuff. The two of them hadn't skimped on trips to Diagon Alley and Muggle supermarkets during this time.
Yesterday, Wenxiu Lord had just bought a lot of ingredients from the Asian supermarket, and yet today Sebastian had arrived. Wenxiu Lord intended to take all these ingredients out and give them to Eileen Snape later, otherwise Severus would surely be gnawing on plain bread slices again after he left.
Wenxiu Lord took most of the potion ingredients they had bought out of the suitcase, filling an entire cabinet with them. As for the remaining strange things—like ginger, star anise, and various spices that Eileen Snape would never know how to process—he planned to clear them all out once they reached the manor and hand them over to Sebastian to handle.
Looking at the piling mounds of ingredients in the room, Wenxiu Lord decided it was better to bring them to Mrs. Snape first, or the room would soon turn into a vegetable market.
Knocking on Eileen Snape's door to explain his purpose, Wenxiu Lord brought all these ingredients—having been subjected to a Reduction Charm and floating in the air—down to the kitchen.
After lifting the spells, he explained the processing and usage methods for each ingredient one by one, before finally returning to the bedroom to continue "laying bricks and tiles" for Severus's cabinet.