Can You Save Me Duke? - 14

“Your Majesty?”

However, the duke ignored Lina’s question and just stared down.

When Belige stood there for a while without saying anything, Lina, who thought that he was angry because he was late, lowered his head.

“I’m sorry I’m late, Your Majesty. Suddenly, something happened… … .”

“What’s that?”

The duke cut her off and asked. For some reason, his voice seemed more subdued than usual.

“Huh? Oh, this is… … .”

Belige frowned as he trailed off, as if he had difficulty answering.

“Do you think you went swimming somewhere?”

Lina was startled by those words and waved her hand.

“No! This is ro… … . . I made a mistake and got wet.”

Lina, who was about to say Roen’s name, didn’t want things to get worse, so she tried to explain it away by saying it was her own mistake.

“What about those clothes?”

His gaze settled on Lina’s shoulder.

“Oh, this is something Henry took off for me to wear.”

The duke asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Henry?”

“Yes. The boy you saw in the stable yesterday.”

Was it an illusion that the duke’s face suddenly turned cold?

[I think the duke hates me being with you… … .]

Suddenly, Henry’s words yesterday, when he said the duke seemed to hate him, came to mind.

‘Oh… … No way.’

A small doubt rose inside him, but he soon shook his head.

“So, is it okay if I change my clothes and come back? I think it would be difficult to serve the duke in this state.”

However, no words came out of Belige’s mouth. She simply looked down at Lina with calm eyes like the sea.

No. To be exact, her gaze was fixed on the brown jacket draped over her body.

How long did the awkward silence last?

Lina stood at the threshold, not knowing what was going on, and had an incomprehensible standoff with the Duke.

‘Why aren’t you answering?’

Lina, who had been waiting for the Duke who had not answered, cautiously called him as if she could no longer delay.

“Uh… … Duke?”

The Duke took his gaze away from her shoulder.

“Yes. Go ahead.”

“Thank you. Then, I’ll change my clothes quickly and come back… … .”

However, the joy of being granted permission was short-lived. Belige grabbed the jacket that was draped over Lina’s shoulder.

“Take this off.”

Then, the jacket that was draped over Lina’s shoulder fell to the floor. Lina couldn’t hide her bewilderment at what had happened in an instant.

‘What is it?’

The shaking brown eyes shook back and forth as if they had lost their place. However, the man just looked at her with a calm demeanor as if nothing had happened.

Lina swallowed her saliva as the situation flowed strangely.

Then, quietly observing the man’s expression, she bent down to pick up the jacket that was spread out on the floor.

But this time, the duke stepped on the jacket that was spread out on the floor. A pair of luxurious leather shoes on top of an old brown jacket.

The owner of the shoes standing on the jacket looked arrogant. Lina unconsciously swallowed her saliva at the sight of the man.

She awkwardly tried to pull the jacket out from under his feet with strength in her hands, but it wasn’t enough.

She looked up at Belige with an embarrassed expression.

“Duke… …?”

“What are you doing instead of going?”

“… … The duke is stepping on the jacket.”

Belige looked down at her words.

“Ah.”

However, as if trying to tease her, this time he moved his feet left and right, crushing the jacket. The dirt on his shoes got on his jacket and it instantly became a mess.

“… … .”

Lina looked up at the duke as if asking what was going on.

“Leave this behind.”

“Why are you doing this… … ?”

The duke muttered, “Why are you doing this?” and met his gaze.

“It’s annoying.”

The man’s eyes seemed to be filled with quiet anger and were cold.

* * *

“The dam construction is going smoothly now. It has also blocked the rain that fell a while ago. Now that we have gone through some trial and error, it seems like it would be good to distribute this dam throughout the territory.”

Count Harlen said, pointing to the dam built next to the river.

The Permanence territory was an area that received particularly heavy rain. In particular, the nearby farmland suffered great damage due to the water that overflowed the river every rainy season.

In order to prevent damage in advance, a dam filled with sandbags was built to prevent the flooding. The duke, who had been patting the dam with his palm several times, answered.

“Okay. I will leave this entirely to you, Count. I will report the situation to the castle later.”

“Yes, Duke.”

Then, as Belige was walking back to the castle, he saw a young boy walking with a girl from afar.

“What are you looking at?”

Philip turned his eyes to where the duke was looking.

The girl was walking hand in hand, wearing what appeared to be the boy’s coat.

“Wow. This is a good time. We love each other so much, we love each other!”

“That figure? Where are you looking?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know? Isn’t that girl wearing a man’s clothes?”

A man with dark gray hair pointed with his finger and said.

“You’re making a big leap when you’ve only given her one piece of clothing. Philip.”

“You don’t know, Duke, since you’ve been in a battlefield full of men since you were young. Men don’t show kindness to women they don’t like. Of course, women don’t accept kindness from men they don’t like.”

Philip was a former mercenary who fought in the war with Belige.

Maybe because he grew up in a rough environment, he was rude and rude, but Belige trusted him and trusted him with his skills.

The duke’s eyebrows twitched at Philip’s words.

“Keu-. I had a time like that too. You, Duke, don’t know, since you’ve never had a proper relationship… … .”

Behind Philip’s blunt snort, Belige got on his horse and called Count Harren.

“Count.”

“Yes. Duke.”

“I’ll give you that horse as a token of appreciation for your hard work.”

The duke pointed to Philip’s horse and said.

“… … Yes?”

“Yes? Duke! Then what should I ride?!”

Philip, who had been proudly bragging about his prime, approached the Duke, startled by his words that were like a bolt from the blue. However, the Duke glared at Philip in annoyance and muttered.

“Walk.”

It took 30 minutes to ride a horse from the river to the mansion, but it took over 2 hours on foot. Philip, who had suddenly found himself on an unplanned walk, smiled and asked stupidly.

However, regardless, the Duke kicked the horse’s belly and started off vigorously.

“Huh?! Duke!”

Leaving Philip’s urgent shout behind him, the Duke quickly rode his horse back to the mansion.

Then he headed back to his office to take care of the piling up work. When he opened the door and came in, there was a brown jacket lying on the floor in the same spot.

Either he had stepped on it hard, or it was so worn that it had torn right away. The jacket, with its threads ripped off, was lying around unsightly.

“What are you trying to do?”

Why was he being so sensitive about something like this? It was something he couldn’t understand.

Bellige moved his left leg and pushed the jacket to the corner of the room. As if he didn’t want to see it anymore.

Feeling suffocated by the air surrounding him, the duke unbuttoned his collar.

“Hoo-.”

Bellige took a deep breath and recalled Lina’s appearance a moment ago. The maid, who looked like a drowned rat, made him frown.

The clothes that clung tightly to her small body. Her hair dripping with moisture. Everything about the maid irritated his nerves.

But what bothered him the most was.

[This is something Henry took off for me to wear.]

After hearing Philip’s words a moment ago, he felt annoyed.

Knock-k … But it didn’t make sense to not punish the maid who broke it.

‘The rumors going around the mansion are like that.’

Furthermore, rumors about Lina and the Duke were spreading like wildfire.

In this situation, if it was known that something like this was just passed over without any punishment, the rumors would definitely grow uncontrollably.

‘We can’t just let it go. We have to make sure that she receives a light punishment.’

However, the Duke didn’t seem to care if Lina broke not only the teapot but also the entire tea set.

Cullen, who had decided to be brave for the Duke and Lina, continued speaking.

“The teapot Lina broke yesterday was a tea set that had been used by the heads of the Permanence family for generations. If a maid accidentally broke such a precious item and no punishment is given, bad rumors could spread. Even now, rumors are going around that you favor Lina, so if you just let this go, it won’t be good for Lina either.”

The duke, who had been listening to Cullen, remained silent for a while.

“Yes. That’s right.”

The kettle Lina broke yesterday was one of the things that held memories of her father, the former duke, and her mother when she was young.

“Why did you tell me that now?”

“I told you yesterday.

“I gave it to you, don’t you remember?”

The duke tried to recall his memory, but he couldn’t recall Cullen saying that. But that wasn’t the important matter. Anyway, now that he knew.

That precious item was broken, and he just let it slide. It seemed like he had found the cause of his unpleasant feelings that he couldn’t figure out.

“Now that he knows, that’s okay.”

A smile formed on Belige’s lips as she flicked her fingers on the desk.

“Yes?”

“Cullen. You’re right.”

The duke, who seemed somewhat relieved, ordered Cullen.

“You give Lina an appropriate punishment.”

The tension on Cullen’s face eased at the duke’s words.

“Yes. I understand.”

Then, when Cullen told the duke that he would have him clean the gallery hall, he motioned for him to leave as if he wanted him to do it himself.

“Your Majesty. But what should I do about these clothes that are lying on the floor?”

The Duke, looking at the old jacket Cullen was holding, muttered.

“Throw it away.”

But the old jacket still bothered him.