Can You Save Me Duke? - 13

The next day, the Duke’s office.

Lina looked at the Duke’s expression as the cold atmosphere filled the room.

‘I don’t know why, but it’s clear that he’s in worse condition than yesterday.’

The Duke seemed even more uncomfortable after coming back from the infirmary yesterday.

‘Is it because of the teapot I broke?’

This morning, Lina was called by the butler and had to listen to him for quite a while. Cullen’s words that he wouldn’t let this go and that she should be prepared to be disciplined lingered in her ears.

‘If that’s why, you should just scold him.’

She felt like she was sitting on a thornbush. She was worried about yesterday’s incident, thinking that the thief’s feet were numb.

‘It seems like there’s nothing to do.’

For some reason, he didn’t ask her to do anything, but he always called her when she was about to leave the room.

After repeating this several times, she gave up everything and just quietly made things in the office.

Lina had already cleaned the same decoration five times. If she cleaned it more, the shine of the decoration might disappear.

‘I’ll just get scolded by the butler again.’

Recalling Cullen’s angry voice, Lina hurriedly put the decoration down.

And as Lina looked around to see if there was anything else to do, she noticed the books piled up in the corner of the room.

“Your Majesty. Can I bring these books to the library?”

As she pointed to the books and asked, Bellige seemed to want to say something, but soon looked away.

“By the way. You haven’t forgotten the afternoon schedule, have you?”

Lina had to help the duke get ready to leave the mansion in the afternoon. She turned her head and looked at the clock. There was still a little less than an hour left.

‘I’ll just hurry up a little.’

It was better to be a little busy than to sit around for an hour without doing anything.

“Yes. “I’ll be back soon.”

Lina piled up the books and headed to the library.

“It’s a little uncomfortable.”

Her injured hand from yesterday hadn’t fully healed yet. Because of that, she had to avoid the wound while holding the books, which made her posture a little uncomfortable.

“Huh?”

Then, the books that had been piled up precariously eventually collapsed and fell to the floor.

“Hoo-.”

Lina sighed as she looked at the scattered books and started picking them up. Suddenly, a hand that seemed to belong to a man picked up the book she was trying to pick up.

When she raised her head to check the owner of the hand, a familiar face caught her eye.

“Henry?”

Henry, with his warm brown hair, shook the book she was holding.

“What’s a kid with an injured hand supposed to do if she’s lifting something this heavy?”

“If someone heard that, they’d think I broke a bone.”

She let out a groan at Henry’s attitude of treating her like a patient.

“Where are you going with this? I’ll help you.”

Before she could answer, Henry, who had gathered all the books, asked.

“I’m going to the library, but don’t you have anything to do?”

“Nothing to do. Do you know how busy this guy is?”

Then he listed how busy his day was.

“Really? But it seems like we run into each other too often for coincidence.”

“What?”

Henry stuttered, seemingly taken aback by her words.

“Or not.”

It seemed like he was mumbling something behind her, but Lina didn’t care. She arrived at the library and asked Henry, who was putting the books on the table.

“More importantly, Henry.”

“Huh?”

“When on earth are you going to confess to May?”

Lina’s question, which hit him in the stomach like a punch, made him cough in vain, as if he was caught off guard.

“Wh, what are you talking about?!”

“Isn’t that why you kept chasing me? Help me out.”

Henry had an expression on his face as if he had been hit in the back of the head by someone he had never met before.

“How could you… …!”

“You’re an idiot for not knowing when you’re showing it off like that.”

Before he left the mansion, Henry, Lina, and May hung out together.

However, while Henry was kind and gentle to Lina and the other employees, he was particularly harsh to May.

At first, I thought he hated May.

However, I realized after seeing Henry go into town through the rain to buy peaches that May, who was sick, wanted to eat. Henry didn’t hate May, he liked her.

It seemed like he was being blunt to the woman he liked.

‘Ugh, idiots.’

However, May had liked Henry for a long time. Unlike Henry, May showed signs of liking him, but that idiot didn’t notice it.

‘They think they have a crush on each other.’

It was frustrating to see the two of them like that, so I tried to make a few times for her to confess, but I failed every time.

‘I can’t eat it even if you give it to me, I can’t eat it even if you give it to me.’

I was watching to see when she would confess this time, and as expected, she looked like she would never be able to confess if she didn’t step forward.

“Should I help you?”

“Really?”

Henry answered as if he had been waiting for Lina to say that.

‘May, if Henry is by your side, it’ll be okay even if I leave later.’

Lina couldn’t stay by May’s side forever.

‘I’ll probably leave the mansion in 5 years.’

Before that, she wanted to give May someone to rely on and leave. She opened her mouth to Henry, who was wide-eyed with a very excited expression.

“Then listen to me carefully. May… … .”

Lina gave her various pieces of advice to improve their still awkward relationship. Henry nodded repeatedly to Lina’s words.

“Guys, look over there.”

Roen and the other who were walking down the hallway pointed to the library. Inside, Lina and Henry were sitting affectionately, whispering as if they were sharing a secret.

“You two are hanging out together again?”

“What, then you two are really… …?”

The end of the sentence trailed off as if the relationship between the two was not normal.

“Roen, don’t worry about it. Those two have been close since long ago.”

Latte whispered as she saw Lina’s face suddenly darken. The others, perhaps feeling sorry for her words, started to add their words one by one.

“Right, right. Lina isn’t even that pretty, but why does Henry care so much about her?”

“That’s right. Even the Duke keeps Lina close to him.”

The Duke rarely got close to any of the servants other than Lina, Head Maid Emma, ​​and Head Butler Cullen.

It was natural for Emma and Cullen to be close to the Duke since they were young. But Lina was different.

“Even after being kicked out as a maid in the annex, she was reinstated as a dedicated maid.”

The servants had already talked about Lina’s punishment, which ended too quickly.

“That’s right. Susan was whipped and kicked out.”

It seemed that they didn’t even consider the fact that Susan’s crime was more serious.

At that moment, one of the maids who had been quietly listening to the conversation next to her lowered her voice and said.

“Actually, I heard from Jenny… … . Well, she saw Lina come out of the Duke’s bedroom in the morning, looking like she had just woken up!”

“What?”

The maids all gasped in surprise upon hearing that.

“Then what? You mean… … . that they spent the night together?”

“Oh my! Oh my!”

“Oh my, does that mean Lina is the Duke’s mistress?”

Everyone was shocked and couldn’t close their mouths.

“No, what do you like about Lina? She’s so skinny that she looks like a child?!”

“Then what about Henry? I actually thought Henry liked Lina?!”

“By any chance, two men at the same time… …?”

They started to curse Lina as if they had found a new prey.

“Henry is pitiful!”

“That’s right. That vixen woman!”

“Surely Lina won’t become a duchess… …?”

Upon hearing that, the other maid waved her hand.

“That’s ridiculous! How can a commoner become a duchess?”

“No, but Lina is also funny. She’s the duke’s mistress and keeps flirting with Henry.”

Latte carefully watched Roen’s expression. Everyone knew that she had liked Henry for a long time. There was no doubt that the one who was the most angry here was Roen.

“Roen, are you okay… … Roen!?”

Before Latte could offer comforting words to Roen, she approached Lina with the bucket she was holding. And before the others could stop her, she poured the bucket on Lina.

“Whoa!”

Lina’s whole body was soaked by the sudden shower. She looked up, barely able to keep her frozen body from getting startled.

Then, she saw Roen’s face looking down with a pleased expression.

“… … Roen?”

Roen met Lina’s eyes and muttered, putting his index finger to his nose.

“Sorry, I thought there was a bad smell coming from somewhere. Lina, was it you?”

“… … What?”

“Roen! What are you doing?!”

Henry, unable to stand it any longer, blocked Lina’s path. Then he snatched the bucket Roen was holding.

Roen opened his mouth as if he was about to say something to Henry’s urging, but he didn’t say anything in the end.

Roen roughly snatched the bucket from his hand, glared at Lina, and left the place.

“That’s… … ! Roen!”

Lina grabbed Henry, who was trying to chase after Roen.

“Okay. Henry. Stop it.”

“But… … !”

“I don’t want to make a fuss.”

Henry let out a sigh at Lina’s calm voice.

“Haa-. If you just let it go, those guys will harass you more.”

Henry said as he took off the brown jacket he was wearing for Lina. The warm brown jacket wrapped around Lina’s shoulders.

“You might catch a cold, so cover yourself with this.”

“Thank you.”

“I think it would be better to tell the maid about this. I’ll tell Roen something. First, go to your room and change your clothes.”

At Henry’s words, Lina raised her head and looked at the clock.

“The Duke will be going out soon. I think it would be better to tell him first and then change.”

“You’re going to see the Duke in this wet condition?”

Then Lina lifted the jacket Henry had given her.

“Here’s this. Just lend it to me for today, and I’ll have it tomorrow.

“I’ll wash it and bring it to you.”

Henry, who looked at Lina with an expression that said he couldn’t stop her, pushed her back.

“Go quickly. You’ll catch a cold.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you later.”

She wrapped herself in Henry’s clothes and hurried to her room.

Not only did her conversation with Henry last longer than she had thought, but the sudden splash of water delayed things for a bit.

“The Duke will wait.”

In fact, she was worried about going to see the Duke in this state. However, it seemed better to visit him and explain the situation than to be late without any explanation.

Lina’s steps toward the office quickened. And the moment she reached the door and tried to grab the doorknob,

The closed door suddenly opened. Before she could even calm down from the surprise of the suddenly open door, she raised her head at the sound of someone above.

“You’re late.”

The Duke was standing there, as if he had been waiting for her.