"Making people like you is illegal on Lukedonia, so Number Three – Regis – and Miss Seira don't know much more about it than Rael does, maybe even less," said Tao through their car's speakers. He'd given them a device to hook the phone he'd given them up to their car, but Yonsu wasn't sure he couldn't do it without calling them first. "Boss is being punished with a vacation and he didn't experiment with this kind of thing since he didn't care about making enemies like him, so that leaves him."
"Him." Sangeen looked at Yonsu.
"Him," Tao corrected, or agreed, cheerfully. "You're in luck: he's not at school today so he can look at Boss whenever he starts thinking about getting work done, it's great! Just come by the house whenever; maybe dinner? Miss Seira's a great cook. Oh, your favorite food isn't ramyeon, is it?"
Thinking about work?
Yonsu was the one to wonder, "No, why?" The KSA paid better than that.
"We're not having any tonight! Boss isn't allowed to cook any, and he told Seira and the rest of us not to do anything for him."
Why was it strange to not have ramyeon? "We wouldn't want to intrude?" Sangeen tried, exchanging another 'wow these people' look with his wife. "We're free right now: where should we head?"
"The Chairman's home address?" They could practically see Tao's wide-eyes head tilt on the line, like when the Chairman asked him if he'd told the KSA they couldn't leave. He must be thinking that an intelligence agency had to know their address, right?
"You're not staying at a safehouse?" Yonsu wondered.
"Nah, that'd be a big hassle when everyone has to go to the school every day, right? And the kids come over all the time – Ikhan, Shinwoo and a couple of their classmates. Everyone wants to try to live this way as long as we can: it's worth the risk," Tao said, voice turning serious for a moment. "Right, the three of us are at school doing our jobs, but if you go by the house Rael can let you in when you get there, he knows what you look like. See you later, if you decide to stay for dinner!"
The grumpy teenage noble opened the door before they could hit the intercom button. "Don't just stand around," he told them, motioning for them to come inside.
Once they reached a living room that looked designer, the kind of thing that suited the rich chairman of Ye Ran (if not so much the scary person beneath that façade), Rael bowed to the black-haired man sitting on the backless sofa by the coffee table, a blond head in his lap. "Sir, the enhanced humans who protect this country are here to see you."
Wow, that was much more polite than 'human toys.' So Rael was capable of being respectful: it was just that enhanced humans didn't deserve that respect? Or was it humans who didn't?
"Mr. Sangeen Ahn and Ms. Yonsu Na," Cadis Etrama di Raizel corrected him. "They were teachers, and honorifics should be used with the names of teachers even if they are younger than us." He carefully lifted the Chairman's head as he stood, with one hand under the back of his head and another under his shoulders, and set him back down on the couch. "Guard him," he said, all without looking at Rael or the new arrivals.
"Yes, sir!" Rael bowed again.
The noble looked down at the chairman and frowned. "Sleep. The nightmares are because I sealed your power for so long: they are my responsibility, not yours." Now he turned to the KSA agents.
Sangeen glanced down at the chairman, who seemed to be asleep, as far as he could tell, before examining the noble.
Seira Loyard and Regis Landegre had white hair, white hair with black patches in Regis' case. After seeing Seira fight the elders, now that they knew those two were nobles, it was possible to notice the red eyes when they came to deliver Lukedonia's initial nonspecific pledge of assistance against the Union to the KSA.
Cadis Etrama di Raizel's black hair made the red eyes stand out more, not less. Silver hair was strange, not normal, ethereal. Probably fake, so it made sense if it was a little too perfect, even if Regis' hairstyle was weird enough to make him look a little less perfect, less like a porcelain doll.
If Rael was any kind of doll, it was a puppet with overly-long limbs about to fly apart into a tangle of strings.
Cadis Etrama di Raizel was… turning his back on them to go to the kitchen. "There is coffee," he said, and when they followed they found him touching a button to fill the cup beneath it. "And tea, if you wish it." In a glass teapot like the one in the chairman's office.
'We're fine, thank you,' was the response prompted by his nervousness about being around someone so powerful, but, "I wouldn't mind a cup of coffee," he said, for the sake of being polite. "Yonsu?"
"…Tea sounds good." A better idea than coffee, when it probably wasn't decaf and they were both nervous.
The noble nodded, and reached up to take two cups and saucers out of the cabinets, placing one under the coffee machine after the first cup was full. As it filled, he poured tea into the other and handed it to Yonsu. There was a deliberate, unhurried grace to every movement that seemed almost regal. The fact he was wearing a high school uniform didn't detract from it: Ye Ran's uniform had a very classic-seeming style, even if students like Shinwoo Han could come close to making it messy enough to hide that.
Once Sangeen had his coffee, the noble picked up his own coffee cup and started to head further into the house. Looking at each other, they followed him up to a second-floor landing and through a nearby door.
The entire house looked like something out of a magazine spread, but for some reason they had the sense that unlike the downstairs living area, the nook up here with a couch and two chairs near a smaller, round coffee table was unused. With at least four nobles and four modified humans in the house right now, didn't any of them have private gatherings, or was it rude to have a private gathering where other people might come by, want to join in and have to stand there without more seats?
Cadis Etrama di Raizel took the chair with its back to the door – a courteous gesture, even if Sangeen and Yonsu could normally sense people coming up behind them – and sat down in it like a king on a throne. Or maybe that was just how he conceived of it, knowing the noble had the power to finish off Union elders, and the Chairman obeyed him.
They sat, and watched him as he sipped his coffee. When he finally put the cup down, he said, "The power that Takeo used was not meant for mind control. Humans used it to speak to noble souls, before either humans or nobles had words. Frankenstein was very upset when he sent Takeo and Rael because he did not know this."
The air of quiet around him made it a little hard to talk after they'd watched him get the drinks, otherwise they might have asked where he was leading them. Although the bigger question was whether or not Sangeen had just heard that.
"Frankenstein?" Yonsu asked. "You mean the Chairman?"
The noble nodded serenely. "The Union told lies about him, both to the humans he protected and the clan leaders, who should have known better." That small, disapproving sigh, or perhaps more disappointed than disapproving, wasn't directed at them, thank goodness.
"So nothing like the book?" Sangeen dared to ask, maybe to make it sure that he knew they were clear that Frankenstein – the Chairman? – wasn't assembling enhanced humans out of body parts or anything.
Trying to think of the Chairman, who was almost as 'too gorgeous to be real' as the nobles and a green-skinned shambling monster with bolts in his neck at the same time was just… but enhanced humans could have transformations.
The noble blinked at them. "You have one of his journals?"
They froze.
"The Union was always trying to steal them and use them to experiment on humans." Another sigh, this time sympathetic. Poor Frankenstein, the noble was clearly thinking.
"I… don't think that's the book we're talking about? It was written by an Englishwoman, maybe a couple hundred years ago? I thought it was fiction," Yonsu said. "It's viewed as the first piece of fiction about a scientist creating modified humans, a new species stronger and smarter than us."
"No," Raizel said firmly. "Frankenstein protected humans. He would not abandon humanity for power, or create children who would think of themselves as something better than humans."
They looked at each other. If that was true, then why was the Chairman serving a noble? The three enhanced humans were talking about an oath of obedience, and then the Chairman kept calling this noble 'Master.' Why was someone with the Chairman's skills running a high school? But then, why were three centuries-old nobles attending one?
The noble elegantly drank his coffee, ignoring them.
"So, getting back on topic," Sangeen said, deciding it was too risky to ask, "what does it mean that it's a communication ability instead of mind control?"
"Humans use words to put a thought into someone else's mind, and if the thought is understood, then it can remain in the other person's mind even when the first person is no longer speaking. They use their psychic abilities like words. Takeo said that he cared for you, and it was the truth, so this knowledge remains."
Sangeen grimaced. Damn.
"If you fear it will interfere with your duty, the memory can be sealed." The noble tilted his head.
"That's not necessary," Sangeen said quickly. "I'm just frustrated that someone can affect my mind and I can't fight it off or get rid of it on my own."
"It is not a consequence of weakness," the noble told him. "You are protectors of the humans of this country. There will always be criminals who try to take the wills of others for themselves. No matter how strong you become, you must still guard yourselves for the sake of those you protect."
"You're saying this is something like theft, or murder," Yonsu said after a minute. "For the nobles, anyway. A type of crime that the police need to be aware of and watch out for, something normal instead of science fiction." When he did not respond, she clarified. "The KSA tries to protect Korean citizens from having Union abilities used on them… or that's what we'd like to do." Her fists clenched in her lap. "In Lukedonia, it's the citizens who are psychic, instead of invaders? That would make it a matter of criminal law."
The black-haired noble nodded. "Those with power have an obligation to protect the weak. The clan leaders are responsible for the conduct of their clans, because of their greater power."
"'With great power comes great responsibility?'" Sangeen nodded slowly. Right, that would explain the attitude of Lukedonia's representatives. "That's not the Union's worldview, but is that how nobles see it?"
He nodded. "Not all wish to acknowledge that responsibility," he warned them.
"So nobles aren't perfect," Yonsu said, although they'd met Rael.
"Two of the Union Elders who came to your country were once clan leaders." Raizel looked down at the coffee cup in his hand, and his eyes were full of sorrow for a long moment, before he got the noble non-expression he shared with Lukedonia's ambassador and her honor guard back.
Huh. So maybe it was a trained poker-face instead of just… something that wasn't human and didn't have much reason to be affected the way humans were looking at them through a mask.
Sangeen reminded himself of Rael again. He'd known there were emotions under there, at least in the younger nobles, like Regis. Some of Tao's comments implied that Regis was still a child by noble standards. Seira Loyard acted much older, but was she? And even Cadis Etrama di Raizel was attending high school.
What Rael said about Lukedonia's resources… how big a chunk of their military-age (whatever that meant to nobles) population had they lost? "I don't want to imply anything," or pry, when the Chairman pointed out they had a good reason to not get intelligence on Lukedonia, "but Regis is underage, isn't he? So why is he fighting?" When M-21 got so angry at the thought of students being dragged into this?
"He would not leave," Raizel said, and although Sangeen couldn't read his expression, from the change around his eyes there was something there to be read. Concern, approval, something? "Two hundred is the age of majority, but the Previous Lord decided that well after humans invented the idea of counting years, and the traitors do not respect the authority of the Lords. Being a child in their eyes will not protect Regis any more than it protected his father. The Noblesse and a human are now older than most of the clan leaders loyal to the Lord. The traitors are convinced that they will be easy to crush, but they forget the soul weapons and dismiss humanity."
Dismissing humanity? What were they dismissing? "Are there other humans capable of helping Lukedonia against the Union?" Because the KSA wasn't. More people capable of defying the Union out there, who might be able to give them information on the nobles that might be unbiased? They were lucky to have Rael, to get to see a noble who definitely wasn't on his best behavior.
The noble paused. "It is possible – it is a mistake to underestimate humans – but I spoke of their youth. Humans have invented ways to learn things very quickly. The clan leaders are not as ignorant or unpracticed as one would think from their ages."
"Human ways of learning? Is that why you're all at a high school?" Yonsu asked him.
"I am at Ye Ran because it is the place Frankenstein made for me." Raizel smiled to himself. "It is a good place. Seira and Regis wished to interact with humans and learn about their lives now while in the human world. It was their own wish."
One of the top schools in the country was made for a noble? Well, that might explain why no expense was spared and it wasn't run for-profit. Sangeen took a drink, and it made him conscious of the warmth of the cup in his hands. A hot drink on a cool day, or night, was always a good feeling even after he was modified.
They were going to be making a report on all the intel they'd gathered after this, and their assessments.
Cadis Etrama di Raizel, and Lukedonia's ambassador Seira J. Loyard: they weren't human. The Union's enhanced humans definitely thought that they were something else, something superior, but even the elite Cerberus' members were petty bullies. The worst of humanity instead of the best of it, but still human, even if Sangeen almost didn't want to admit it.
When the girl who'd been a student of his while he was undercover observing Shinwoo and Ikhan as candidates for training came to the KSA's office, it was hard to believe he'd missed the calm nobody the age she looked should possess. The fact there was something else looking out of red eyes… but how much of it was that he knew she was a noble now? It wasn't as though there weren't plenty of strange humans in the world.
Alien meant 'from somewhere else,' and while they weren't human, they didn't seem alien either. The Chairman was a lot stranger. Or maybe it was that he was a strange human, while Cadis Etrama di Raizel and Seira J. Loyard were perfectly normal nobles?
Seira's statement that of course nobles would protect humans, the Chairman saying that was the ancient relationship between their species?
"Modern humans still subconsciously recognize nobles because our ancestors spent a few hundred thousand years benefitting from the fact that nobles would protect us. It's instinct to rely on them. On some level, Agent Sangeen, you knew they were nobles,' the Chairman had said.
Frankenstein had said.
Even if the noble said the Chairman was the scientist instead of the monster, just the name made anything that came from him more sinister – and that was what propaganda was for. Just how bad a reputation that name had might be proof that they could trust him. Anyone the Union hated that much almost had to be a good guy.
Was that true for nobles, too?
Cadis Etrama di Raizel looked down at his coffee, meditative and… concerned. "You are the protectors of this country, so I hope Takeo's helpfulness will not cause you difficulties."
Sangeen sighed. "That's the question, isn't it?"
The noble closed his eyes, serenely taking another sip of his coffee. "Frankenstein worried about what might happen if you did not learn how to ignore talkative people. You have already heard what Takeo has to say."
That took a second to translate. Mind control was the same as not shutting up to nobles? "The damage has already been done, so if I want to learn how to keep it from happening to me again, it would be a good idea to practice with him?"
Raizel nodded.
"Do you… Were you using mind control on me, to keep me from noticing you in class?"
"Regis was trying to drown out your ability to hear us, since we knew the KSA dealt with the Union," the noble told him. "He did not know that you could not hear us, nor the noise he made." He took a sip of the coffee. "Regis is very concerned with elegance, so he often makes too little noise to be effective. I have not corrected him because it is not necessary to be effective. According to Gejutel, Lukedonia began to cover up the presence of nobles among humans in recent centuries because the Union would take anyone who had contact with them. If a human realized they were speaking with a noble, sealing your memory was part of that noble's duty to protect humans."
Right. It wasn't just a matter of concealing their presence in the country from the Korean government, but the Union was effectively at war with Lukedonia. Sangeen and Yonsu did not need to attract Union attention. They'd gotten it anyway, but if Yuri had suspected they had any information on nobles? If the Union had any respect for the KSA at all, they would have assumed the KSA had information on the threats living in their country and interrogated them to get it. Instead, they'd known that when the Union told them not to investigate, the KSA would have to obey them.
"That's why we have to cover up what the Union does," Yonsu said, glaring down at her teacup. "If word gets out, they'll deal with it, and we have to do what we can to protect Korean citizens from them."
"It will be impossible to protect humans that way for much longer," Raizel said, reaching into a pocket and putting a very sleek-looking cellphone down on the coffee table.
"Yeah." Yonsu said, shuddering. "We weren't looking forward to that." South Korea's, every country's days were numbered the instant the US government let civilians at their military internet technology, but it was too late to stick the genie back in the bottle. "Not that it matters with the Union heading towards coming out into the open anyway." By finally getting around to taking over the world. Her eyes narrowed, looking at him speculatively. "If there's no reason for nobles to tamper with human perceptions and memories once the Union's gone, can we get that in writing?"
"I have no authority to speak for the nobles," he said. "You might speak with Seira J. Loyard, and with Frankenstein once his permission to work is restored."
Yonsu frowned. "He has authority to speak for the nobles?" How did that fit with what Lukedonia's ambassador said, something about the Chairman and Lukedonia answering to two different authorities? "I thought he wasn't…"
"As a human, he is not subject to the laws of nobles, but Frankenstein has always demanded that nobles respect the wills of humans." Raizel didn't smile, but there was a note of fondness in his eyes. "He has considered the question of how nobles should act, to treat humans with the proper courtesies."
It made him look human… no, actually, Sangeen realized. It was reassuring, or good to see that a noble liked a human and didn't mind humans wanting equal treatment. It wasn't human of Raizel. Or maybe it was noble of him.
The enemy of my enemy, and the security guards had saved their lives, with the noble kid joining in.
Beings with mind control who were once worshipped by humans as gods... "What will happen when you guys aren't covering yourselves up anymore?" Sangeen wondered, frowning to himself.
Cadis Etrama di Raizel sipped his coffee thoughtfully, considering his response. "Nobles were separated from humans until you became strong enough that you would first rely on yourselves. Once you are secure in your pride and strength as humans, there is no reason for us to be separate from you."
"What does that mean?" Yonsu was the one to press. "The Union said that nobles used to rule the world."
He stared at them, eyes slightly wide and puzzled. This was the clearest expression they'd seen on him.
They stared back.
"That is not possible. Nobles may only rule over nobles."
Yonsu's eyebrows rose. "The Chairman calls you Master." So obviously?
"And I cannot rule him." Cadis Etrama di Raizel nodded. QED. "As the Noblesse I possess no authority to rule anyone, but nobles may only possess the authority to rule nobles."
Yonsu and Sangeen looked at each other. Was he being disingenuous? Couldn't be, right? Nobles had a lot more power than humans, of course it was possible for them to force humans to do things.
"But the Chairman calls you Master," Yonsu repeated herself.
The noble looked reluctant for a second before saying, "I have told him that I wish to be addressed as Rai."
So the Chairman was ignoring his 'master's' order? There was something about his expression that reminded Sangeen of all those times he'd had to try to remind Yonsu that she wasn't supposed to do whatever it was, their superiors had ordered them not to and it wasn't a good idea, and then honestly Yonsu was just going to go and do it anyway so all he could do was go along with it to try to keep things under some kind of control.
Of course, if he really minded it, then he wouldn't have married her, when that made it his job to be her backup 24/7.
Still felt like he'd gotten the better part of the deal. It wasn't like he hadn't wanted to investigate whatever blew a hole in his country's soil like that.
The noble seemed distracted for a moment, tilting his head to look at the floor. Then he sighed and put down his coffee cup, standing up. "I do not understand why so many people wish to tell humans what to do. I cannot imagine any existence more frustrating."
Sangeen and Yonsu looked at each other when the noble headed down the stairs, shaking his head, but in a house monitored by Tao taking a minute to look around while they were supposedly unsupervised was a dumb idea, one that would forfeit them any trust or goodwill they'd managed to acquire after sending the trainees to test Shinwoo Han.
Under the circumstances, Yonsu was right to stand up to go follow the noble back down to the living room. They might find out something that way, and it would establish that they knew they weren't supposed to be wandering around here without a keeper.
Rael had come to something resembling attention when they re-entered the living room, only with his arm in front of his stomach instead of a hand in front of his forehead to salute. Raizel bent down to touch the Chairman, only for his hand to pass through the man's shoulder.
The image blurred and vanished, disrupted. Was that an aura technique, like Sangeen's knives?
Rael gasped. "That's our clan's technique! I should have realized he wasn't just using an afterimage the first time I fought him`!"
Raizel nodded, unsurprised. "The previous clan leader of the Kertia often came over to play with Frankenstein. He has always learned quickly."
The young noble was blushing, deeply embarrassed. "Forgive me, sir."
They watched Frankenstein's master pat Rael on the shoulder in sympathy. "It is very difficult to stop Frankenstein when he wishes to do something."
Rael blinked at him.
Raizel sighed and confessed, "He said there is such a thing as a type that does not listen. He is definitely one of that type."
"But…" Rael stopped when Raizel turned, heading deeper into the house. Puzzled, Rael followed and the KSA agents did the same.
A wall opened at a touch, revealing a concealed elevator. Since no one told them not to, and Rael looked about as lost as they were, they got in and watched Raizel carefully select a button. It descended smoothly, and opened on an underground lab. Sangeen and Yonsu looked around with wide eyes.
When, and how, had something like this been constructed? They'd known where the Union's South Korea lab was by the construction traces, even if they hadn't been able to do anything about the people kidnapped and taken there! It was a relief when the place was mysteriously shut down.
Did these people have anything to do with that, or were they right originally that it was Union internal politics, like someone getting made an example of?
They saw the Chairman – Frankenstein? – with a lab coat pulled on over the striped turtleneck and dress slacks he'd been wearing, standing in front of a tube. Floating inside it was a man with a hairy chest? No, that definitely wasn't what a hairy chest looked like. Sangeen remembered M-21's transformation. Was the man in the tube a werewolf?
The Chairman must have turned to see them when the elevator opened – it took the two agents a moment to follow the nobles in, giving them enough space and trying to not draw attention to their own presence. They saw him wincing, before he bowed. "Forgive me, Master. I will accept whatever additional punishment I have earned, but I can't allow a patient's recovery to be at risk, again, because of my own transgressions."
"Shinwoo Han believes that 'it is better to ask forgiveness than permission.'" Looked as though the noble knew that was bullshit, though. "Did you think I would not grant my permission for you to fulfill your duty to the sick if it was necessary? I have told you that you must not do anything that risks waking Muzaka when I am not there to protect you."
That blond head bowed before him.
The noble regarded him. "Two additional days," he said, finally. "And I will inform Tao that despite his electronics, he may not dust anywhere but his own room. He may move his babies to the school if he is worried for them."
Babies? Right, that probably meant computers, even if Sangeen hadn't known Tao that long.
"They must be worried that I have missed a day of class," Raizel went on, and hesitated, "I cannot go to school if I cannot trust you to honor the terms of your punishment. In addition, I intended to text Yuna and ask her to restrain the others from bringing junk food this afternoon."
Yuna was one of Raizel's classmates. They'd run background checks on the two members of that group who weren't either confirmed nobles or already-checked-out KSA candidates.
Blue eyes widened.
"Even if you have been naughty, your loyal service and honor earned you that much lenience," Raizel said, looking really regretful, almost as though it pained him to say this. "Yet you have now endangered yourself and the humans of this city because you did not trust that I would restore your permission for anything truly necessary. I may no longer shield you from crumbs and other consequences of your actions."
Wait, what? Damn, he didn't want to get in the middle of this, and this was their chance to observe this lab as much as they could and report to their own doctor, but, "The city?"
The Chairman looked at them, but it looked as though what they were saying was more important than telling them to get the hell out of his lab. "The city, Master?" he asked, regretfully echoing Sangeen's question.
Raizel's red eyes closed. "Muzaka… had a daughter, Ashleen, with a human. Like her mother, she was killed by humans. If he wakes still enraged, he is my friend. It is my responsibility to stop him. If I do not, he will become an offender I must eliminate." He walked forward, past Frankenstein, to put a hand on the tube. "I am glad that you found him, because he does not deserve the Union's cruelty." He turned to Frankenstein to say, "I know I am always causing you trouble. It makes the children uncomfortable to have someone helpless in this lab, and yet I am asking you to keep him here." He looked really bothered by this.
"He was your only friend," the Chairman said simply, compassionately.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Yonsu said quickly, raising a hand before the conversation could get any more sidetracked by feelings, "but are you telling me there's a potentially-berserk werewolf sitting here in the middle of a city like a bomb about to go off? The Union has to be desperate to take you out, and you're not even staying at a safehouse? What happens if they target this place and release him?"
The Chairman raised an eyebrow at them, and it brought back memories of being scolded by teachers. "And what happens if he's at another lab, unprotected? Muzaka was the most powerful Werewolf Lord in their species' memory. Do you want to risk the Union recovering him and arranging for that bomb to go off targeted at the country that's been so much trouble?" Dismissing them, the enhanced human turned back to the noble. "Do you think it would be possible to use the sanctuaries, Master?" the Chairman asked, looking speculative. "Not the one I built you, since you needed to be able to wake up if you wished to, but the ones that take themselves out of time when the way is not open?"
"I know that you will find a way, Frankenstein… but not until your sentence is served."
The chairman bowed. Not quite like a servant to a master. Like a courtier to a king, in some historical drama?
With that settled, the noble said, "If I cannot trust that you will comply with the terms of your punishment outside my supervision, then you will have to remain in my sight while the children are here. I truly wish I could spare you from the crumbs, but it is my duty to prove that you may rely on me to punish you should it be deserved." He looked resigned to his duty, but still regretful. Responsible, but apologetic about it?
Just…
Sangeen rubbed at an eye for a moment.
From the Chairman's doting smile the man thought this was cute?
Cadis Etrama di Raizel gathered his resolve. "If you violate the terms of your punishment a fourth time, Frankenstein, I will take Regis' duties upon myself and clean up after my friends when they visit from now on."
The Chairman let out a strangled noise, face pale.
Cadis Etrama di Raizel sighed, disappointed. "I see you finally remembered that I retracted your permission to speak."
Sangeen saw the Chairman's eyes widen: it looked like no, he hadn't remembered, and if he'd been less shocked and tried arguing first he would have played right into the noble's hands.
"According to Ikhan, many traditional human punishments involve chores," Raizel said, holding up his cellphone. "I have refrained from helping out around the house because you wish me to rest, but I too wish to help everyone take care of the home we have here. Perhaps having Tao instruct me in how to wash the windows after my friends leave will help remind you that I will hold you accountable for your actions."
The Chairman staggered, actually staggered, and from the expression on Rael's face the humans in the room weren't the only ones to think this was insane. Frankenstein reached behind him to take hold of an instrument panel to steady himself.
Raizel put his cellphone back in his pocket and stepped forward to pat him on the shoulder apologetically.
"But… but… For the Noblesse to do chores because of the failings of a human?" Rael protested. "Please, sir, you must reconsider!"
"I took responsibility for Frankenstein's actions in exchange for the honor of entering into a contract with him. I do not regret my decision," Cadis Etrama di Raizel said firmly, patting the Chairman again as behind him, the floor slid aside to reveal a machine rising out of the floor. A chime came from the noble's cellphone as the machine depressurized, releasing scented steam into the air. The top of it lifted up to reveal…
Tea cookies?
He saw Yonsu wrinkle her nose, sniffing the air. Sangeen did the same.
The cookies smelled really good, but no, he wasn't detecting any drugs in the air either.
Raizel turned away from Frankenstein to take out his cellphone again and turn off the alarm, before walking over to the machine and picking up two of the cookies, taking a delicate bite out of one of them.
"But you gave me the responsibility of guarding him!" Rael cried. "For you to disgrace yourself picking up after those noisy humans because I failed in my duties…" Words failed him.
Raizel finished the cookie, walked over to Rael and patted him on the shoulder. "It is very difficult to stop Frankenstein when he wishes to do something. When he was younger, he made all sorts of trouble for the clan leaders. They would come to complain, to me and to the Lord. You are much better behaved than Frankenstein was at that age." Raizel held the second cookie out to him.
Rael took it helplessly.
Frankenstein was like half your age when he came to Lukedonia, Rael. So that's not quite a compliment.
There seems to be, or have been, a pretty black and white distinction between legal/rightful authority (where people do things of their own wills, and are choosing to obey) and forcing people to obey you (rule by strength/'or else') among nobles. The first being the authority of the lord, and the second the sphere of the Noblesse.
'Rule,' since it also means 'law,' would have translated as the first kind (they were asking if nobles thought they were entitled to be top dogs over the weak humans, so that would have implied 'rightful authority' too), so Raizel didn't get that they were lumping them into one category. No, nobles and the Lord have no rightful authority over humans.
If they'd asked if nobles were controlling the world, or forcing other races to obey noble regulations, Raizel's answer would have addressed his duty as Noblesse and given a very different picture…
Rai turned down ruling the nobles, and the Previous Lord went, 'Yeah, it's a really frustrating job.' He has no idea why any sane person would want to rule the humans. Imagine trying to tell seven billion Frankensteins what to do! That would be a special hell.