Can You Save Me Duke? - 15

“Haa-.”

Lina, who was diligently cleaning her armor while exhaling hot steam from her mouth, looked around.

“I’m probably the first person to clean this place alone.”

Lina was punished to clean the gallery hall alone for breaking the duke’s teacup.

“I thought it would end with the butler’s scolding.”

The gallery hall, which contained artwork, antiques, and portraits passed down from generation to generation from each family, was so large that it was hard to call it a room.

There was even a saying that if you wanted to catch a glimpse of a family’s wealth and honor, you should look at the gallery hall.

As the Permanence family was a founding family, the family’s gallery hall boasted a size and splendor that could dare to rival the imperial family.

When cleaning this place, which could be called the heart of the family, it was common for several servants to clean it together on a single day.

However, since Lina was asked to clean it alone, it was natural that it wouldn’t be finished in one day.

She looked down at the armor she had been fiddling with.

“It takes days just to clean the floor, and now you want me to clean the armor… … .”

Lina looked at the armors lined up on the wall with despairing eyes. Then she turned her gaze to the paintings hanging haphazardly on the wall.

“Come to think of it, there aren’t as many paintings as I thought?”

Usually, the gallery halls had portraits of past dukes and members of the family.

However, she realized that there were not many paintings displayed compared to the history of the Permanence family.

Lina tilted her head in confusion. But soon she shook her head, thinking of the armors that had yet to be cleaned.

“Now is not the time for me to be wondering about such things! I still have a long way to go before I can clean this place!”

Lina was walking toward another armor with a bucket in her hand.

“Huh?”

A door she had never seen before caught her eye.

“There was another room here?”

She hadn’t noticed it because so many people had moved around the previous time she came here.

“Does that need to be cleaned too… … ?”

As Lina hesitated whether to enter the room or not, Cullen’s words flashed through her mind.

[You have to clean every nook and cranny.]

“Whew-. If you don’t clean this room, you might hear something later.”

Not wanting to hear Cullen’s scolding again, Lina went into the room with a broom.

Even though it was broad daylight, all the windows were covered with thick curtains, preventing any light from entering.

Lina approached the window, relying on the light coming in through the door.

Whisper-.

As she opened the heavy curtains, warm sunlight began to shine through the windows.

“Now, I can see something.”

However, the room was covered in a thick layer of dust, as if no one had been in or out.

“Is this the right place to clean… … ?”

Lina began to look around carefully, brushing off the dust tickling her face.

Here and there, paintings and antiques were covered with cloth and piled in the corner.

“Why, with so many paintings, why aren’t they displayed in the hall?”

Lina curiously removed the dusty cloth. Then, an old-looking painting caught her eye.

“Isn’t it a portrait?”

It was a man with silver hair as cold as white snow.

“Huh? This guy… … .”

Despite the faded color, the man in the painting reminded her of someone.

“The Duke? No, the hair color is different.”

Lina, who was looking at the painting curiously, noticed a name written underneath the painting.

[Vellige Merceden de Permanence]

“Your name is the same as the Duke? Was it the old Duke of Permanence?”

Since there were often cases where people inherited their ancestors’ names, having the same name wasn’t a big deal. But.

“Why is it silver?”

Lina thought of the Duke’s black hair. The current color, like the black night, and the silver hair in the painting were so dark that it was hard to believe they were from the same family.

Usually, hair color or eye color represented a symbol of the family.

Therefore, it was not common for the ancestors of the Permanence family and the current duke to have different hair colors.

“It seems to have amber eyes… … .”

The brilliantly shining golden eyes and the face that looked like a stamp seemed to show that they were from the same bloodline.

Lina looked at the other paintings around her. However, except for those who seemed to be duchesses, they all had silver hair and golden eyes.

Suddenly, the curse of the ducal family that the maids had talked about in the past flashed through her mind.

[The reason why the Permanence family, the founding fathers of the empire, did not even have a common collateral line was because they were cursed by God… … !]

[The Permanence family had only one son born to succeed them, and even that son never lived past the age of thirty. There is a rumor that the previous duke and duchess also died because of that curse!]

“Ah.”

Lina sighed without realizing it.

“Is it a curse… …?”

The symbol of the Permanence family was a silver wolf. I thought that symbol didn’t suit the current duke at all.

“Black hair… … Is it some kind of sign of a curse?”

I could tell just by looking at the portraits hanging outside earlier. They all had black hair and golden eyes.

Only then did I realize why these paintings weren’t hanging in the hall.

‘It’s not that they weren’t hung, it’s that they couldn’t be hung.’

Lina’s heart suddenly sank as if she had been splashed with cold water.

“But.”

Lina looked more closely at the face of the man in the painting.

“Is it because he resembles the duke? Why is it like this… …?”

Her heart had been pounding for a while. She was putting her hand on her throbbing heart to calm it down.

“Lina-.”

Someone called for her from outside the door. Lina hurriedly covered the painting with a cloth, wondering who would come in, and left the room.

“Henry?”

Henry had entered the gallery hall, not knowing when he had come in. He smiled when he found Lina.

“What are you doing here?”

When Lina came out with the cleaning tools that were in the room, Henry snatched them from her hands.

“I came here to help you because you said you were cleaning this place alone.”

“Lies. You came because you were worried? Because of what happened yesterday.”

“I got caught.”

Henry smiled mischievously.

“But did you ask the butler for permission to come in? He probably wouldn’t have allowed it.”

She was being punished to clean by herself, so Cullen couldn’t have allowed it.

“No. You sneaked in!”

“What?”

Lina, startled, slapped Henry on the back.

“What are you going to do if someone sees you! Get out!”

“Don’t worry. The other servants are out cleaning the annex right now, so they’re not around here.”

“But that’s not okay!”

Henry confidently said to Lina, who was worried.

“It’s okay. Who said they’d come here?”

The gallery hall was a place to show off the family’s grandeur when important guests came.

That’s why no one usually came here.

“But what did I do wrong that you had to clean this big place all by yourself?”

“When I hurt my hand last time, I broke the duke’s teacup. I guess it was a precious item from the family.”

“Then it’s fortunate that it ended like this.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Lina smiled bitterly at Henry’s question. Then she suddenly remembered the brown jacket that had been trampled by the duke’s foot.

She went back to look for it later, but the jacket had already been thrown away.

she hurriedly searched the trashcan to find it after hearing that it was abandoned, but it was already covered in indelible dirt and torn here and there, making it unwearable.

“Henry, the jacket you lent me yesterday. It was actually the one I accidentally ruined while doing laundry. Sorry.”

The truth was that the duke had thrown it in the trash, but he couldn’t tell the truth.

Henry was already worried that the duke might hate him, and he could see clearly.

“What-?”

“Sorry. I’ll buy you a better one later… … Oops!”

But Lina squinted and lowered her head before answering.

“What’s wrong?”

“I think something got in my eye.”

Maybe because she had been in a dusty place, she felt a stinging foreign substance in her eye.

“Tsk-. Oh, it won’t come out?”

Lina tried to rub the thing in her eye with her hand, but all she could do was cry.

“Come here. I’ll take a look.”

Henry, who couldn’t stand it any longer, grabbed Lina and pulled her to look into her eyes.

“What? I think there’s dust in there? It’s bigger than I thought, just a moment.”

Henry looked around while holding her eyelids and brought his mouth close to hers.

“Whew-.”

The wind coming out of Henry’s mouth tickled Lina’s eyes.

“Huh? That’s enough!”

Lina blinked and rolled her eyes.

“Thank you, Henry. I think I got it thanks to you… … .”

However, Lina, who was thanking Henry, couldn’t finish her words.

A voice that shouldn’t have been heard from the entrance where no one should be.

* * *

“You’re acting strange today.”

Was it because the maid wasn’t next to her? His headache, which had been quiet, seemed to be coming back.

In fact, Lina didn’t need to be by his side all day.

Even if their bodies brushed against each other for a moment, his head felt refreshed all day. But today, he felt a particularly unquenchable thirst.

Unable to bear the unpleasant sensation that was creeping up on him, Belige pulled the rope. Soon after, Cullen came in.

“Are you looking for the Duke?”

“Why are you here? Lina?”

“Lina is currently cleaning the gallery hall alone as punishment.”

“Punishment?”

Only then did Cullen recall the time when he had mentioned Lina’s punishment.

‘She hurt her hand back then.’

Lina, who was cleaning the gallery hall alone, came to mind.

Cleaning that large space alone would have been tiring even for strong male servants. But he had made her clean such a place with her injured hand for days on end.

The maid who had worked hard all this time began to feel a little concerned. Cullen, who was quick-witted, noticed the Duke’s discomfort and asked.

“Should I bring Lina?”

Belige, who had hesitated for a moment at the butler’s words, got up from her seat.

“No, I’ll go myself.”

That would have been enough punishment. If I meet Lina, she can rest for a day

Wouldn’t it be okay if I did that?

Belige thought so and hurried his steps. But when he was almost at the hall, he heard faint voices.

A familiar voice that he had heard somewhere.

‘Who is it?’

I definitely heard that she was cleaning the gallery hall alone.

The unpleasant feelings that she thought had disappeared began to bloom again.

What had bothered his that day should have already ended with Lina being disciplined.

‘Why.’

As he reached the entrance of the gallery hall, two familiar figures caught his eye through the crack in the door.

When the scene he had seen in the infirmary a few days ago appeared before his eyes again, he felt the feelings he had tried to ignore suddenly popping out.

And.

The moment he saw Henry kiss Lina,

he felt the vague forms of his emotions becoming clearer.