Can You Save Me Duke? - 2

“Lena, you said you were the Duke’s maid of honor?”

It had been three years since she had worked as a maid in the Permanense workshop. By the time Lina returned to the palace from her summer vacation, she had already been appointed as the Duke’s maid after returning from the war.

“Is there a rumor already?”

“Of course! Everyone was watching with their eyes lit up when it came to anything related to the Duke! Susan boasted that she would be the Duke’s maid, and that was good!”

Mei, with her short, cropped brown hair, was chattering excitedly. Then she crept up to Lina.

“By the way, Lina, have you heard about that?”

“What rumors?”

“The curse of the Duke of Permanense’s house.”

“…… cursed?”

Mei looked around, whispering cautiously in Lina’s ear.

“Aunt Lilda heard in the kitchen…… The reason why the Duke of Pirmanens, the founding god of the empire, doesn’t even have this common system at all is because they are cursed by the gods……!

“…… God’s curse?”

“Yes, the Pirmanens only had one son to succeed them, and none of them lived to be over thirty years old. Rumor has it that the Duchess died because of the curse.”

The previous Duke and his wife were told that the current Duke died in a carriage accident when he was 8 years old. At that time, the Duke was only 28 years old.

“He died too young.”

“So when our Duke was taken to the battlefield at such a young age with no heirs, everyone must have been whispering that the Pirmanens family would be cut off this time……

Mei covered her cheeks with her hands, as if she was talking about a fictional heroine.

“Isn’t it like a male protagonist with an unfortunate past in a novel?”

Lina smiled softly at Mei and said,

“Okay, let’s stop talking about that and finish cleaning. You clean the stairs. I’ll help you clean the halls quickly.”

“Oh no! Look at my mind! I see!”

Lina, who had been watching Mei’s back as she walked away, picked up a mop to wipe the floor.

“Curse of the gods.”

The current duke was twenty-five years old, so if the curse was true, as Mei said, it meant he only had five years left to live.

“That’s unfortunate….”

It was a ridiculous situation because some people wanted to die but couldn’t, and others wanted to live but couldn’t. Long ago, Lina was cursed by someone and deprived of her beauty. Because of this, he could only return to his original appearance once a month, on the day of the full moon. In order to regain his original form, he needed a true love who loved him even in such a humble way.

“It’s not some kind of children’s story.”

The strange thing was that he had no memory of the time before he was cursed. The only things I could think of were the fact that I was cursed and the two letters of my name, Lina. He couldn’t even remember who cast the curse or when. I didn’t know how old he was or if he had any siblings. Eventually, unable to bear the fear of being left alone in the world, Lina jumped off a stormy cliff to end her life. But. It wasn’t the peace of death that returned. The sound of bones crunching in your ears and the excruciating pain of dying. That’s when I realized. It wasn’t just beauty that had been taken away. I wondered if she remembered the past with a blank expression on her face for a long time.

“Kya

A piercing scream and the sound of something hitting the ground brought Lina to her senses.

“That sound… Mei?”

She threw down the broom she was carrying and ran to where she heard the sound.

“Mei!”

Sure enough, Mei fell to the ground as if she had fallen down the stairs.

“Lina… Ugh!”

Looking at Lina, Mei tried to pull herself up, but she groaned and fell helplessly, as if her leg had been injured.

“Mei! Everything is right?! Come on, lean on my shoulder! Let’s go straight to the infirmary!”

Lina accompanied Mei to the infirmary. Click-. When Lina opened the door to the infirmary, she found Hans, the assistant doctor of the Vermanens family. Lina Mei sat on the infirmary bed and asked Hans for treatment. But the answer that came back was a cold refusal.

“What? Can’t you treat me?”

“I told you, I’m busy. “I don’t have time for a maid to spend time on a crooked leg.”

Looking at Hans’ desk, where he sat and spoke with an arrogant expression and tone, he hinted that he was guessing a crossword puzzle. Seeing this, Lina managed to swallow the curse that was about to run down her throat and continued.

“Okay, let me use some medicine. I’ll take care of it.”

“We can’t let a maid who doesn’t know the art of medicine use the precious medicine of the Permanense family. If you want to heal yourself, you can dig herbs from Alina’s forest.”

“Hans!!”

In response to Hans’s continuous excuses, Lina shouted his name, but he walked out of the room as if he had nothing to do with Lina. Bang-!

“Huh-.”

More than once, Hans refused to treat him and Mai in this way. For a long time, he ignored himself and Mai, who were flirting among the young maids in the palace, and refused to treat them.

“What can I do? Should I talk to the maid?

But even if he told the maid, he would only apply a rough ointment and finish the treatment. Lina examined Mei’s ankle.

“The wound doesn’t look too big, and it should heal quickly with the Polinen herb.”

Thinking that talking to the maid would only delay her treatment, Lina decided to look for herbs in the Alina Forest behind the mansion.

“Mei. Wait a minute here, I’ll go to Alina Forest for a while.”

“What? Oh no, Lina! Alina Forest! It’s a forest haunted by the ghosts of the deceased Duke and his wife! I’m fine, I’ll tell the maid……!

“Tell the maid, when are you going to heal me? And even if the maid or butler comes, do you think Hans will treat you properly? I’m sure they’ll pretend to treat him again and describe the wrong thing and pass it by. Don’t worry, I’ll go to the forest and collect all the herbs you need.”

“But, Lina…..”

Lina smiled as she petted Mei’s head.

“And ghosts, there’s no such thing in the first place.”

Lina, who was shouting excitedly, regretted it as soon as she arrived at Alina’s forest.

The sound of crows ringing in the forest where no one came or went added to the gloom.

“It’s darker than I thought, isn’t it? I guess it’s a bit cold….”

Lina quickened her steps, rubbing her arms with both hands as the cold air swept over her skin. However, while he was busy walking, he didn’t see the tree roots extending to the ground and falling.

“Ugh-.”

He fell into the dirt and ruined the white apron he was wearing.

“Huh. I can’t. It’s too dark to tell if it’s grass or weed, and I won’t be able to leave my body before I find it. Normally, I wouldn’t use magic in the palace… This is a place where people don’t come often, so it’s okay, right?

Lina looked around, picking up a slender branch rolling on the ground.

[Fortismus.]

Lina grabbed a branch and chanted a low spell. Then, light began to emanate from the tips of the branches, and the vision around it began to brighten.

“Phew-. I think I finally see something.”

She looked around again, satisfied. It wasn’t long after that that Lina realized that she had become immortal and had some magical powers. Magic had helped me live for 400 years. But in this day and age, it’s impossible to determine what using magic means, so I didn’t use magic at all. Lina shivered at a purple glow among the weeds.

“Huh? Create. You might need it again later, so I’ll take it with a little leeway. “I don’t want to come here again.”

She was concentrating on picking the burin petals for a long time when she heard a rustling sound behind her.

“Not really.”

Lina was surprised by the sudden sound, and quickly cast her magic. Then, his bright vision darkened again, as if he had never done it before. Lina swallowed, staring in the direction of the sound.

“Who’s there……”

He felt something unknown creeping in. In an instant, her mind was dizzy with confusion and bewilderment.

“It’s a forest that is said to be haunted by the ghosts of the deceased duke and his wife…!”

Suddenly, Mei’s words began to echo in her ears.

“Oh, impossible……”

But after thinking about Mei’s words, a cold sweat began to form and a line of sweat began to flow down her back. The cold made Lina’s shoulders shiver.

“I won’t. Let’s get out of here!

She knew she had to get out of the forest as soon as possible, so she hurried to collect the petals. Then, as she stood up and took the first steps towards the palace, an unfamiliar sensation swept over Lina’s hand. A tight, rough feeling wrapped around her entire hand, and her body was thrown backwards by the force of the hook and pull. Then the Burenin’s arm that was holding her fell to her feet.

“Oh.”

Unable to close his mouth in surprise, he let out a small gasp and stopped breathing for a moment, as if he had forgotten to breathe. Only a heavy silence began to creep into the air, causing the petals to fall to the ground.

It didn’t seem strange to see the man staring at him with a smug look through the purple Burenin’s petals fluttering in the wind. If you didn’t know, you might think this scene was very romantic. Or, if she was an ordinary woman, she might have been overjoyed to see a handsome man standing in front of her.

“No, not even if she was an ordinary woman…. At least if this It’s the first time I’ve seen him, I would have blushed shyly.

Okay. If this was our first meeting.