Can You Save Me Duke? - 24

I was angry.

[I’ll stay by your side.]

Those words that were said as if they pitied me, as if they were a charity.

And.

I was shaken by the cheap sympathy that the maid offered.

“What a sight.”

Bellige glanced up and down her as if mocking her.

“You must have listened to the Empress’s orders just to be treated like this, right? Yes. What order did the Empress give? To find out the curse of our family? Or. To seduce me?”

Lina, whose mind had gone blank, came to her senses at the words of the man who treated her like a spy.

“No! I absolutely did not enter the mansion under someone’s orders!”

The misunderstanding that she was the Empress’s spy. The situation was getting more and more serious.

Everyone in the world knew that the Empress hated the Permanence Dukes and the First Prince. She must have been terribly bullied by the Empress all this time.

“And my real name is Lina. My past… … . I can’t tell you everything. Anyway, I didn’t enter the mansion to act as a spy under someone’s orders. I didn’t steal anything from the mansion and run away.”

It was better not to tell lies that would get caught again someday. But that doesn’t mean I can’t say that I’m not dead and have been living for 400 years.

“Also, I was only going to stay for a day and then go back to the mansion… … .”

“Then why?”

He cut Lina off and asked.

“Why didn’t you come back?”

“That’s… … .”

Lina was troubled by that question. Was she really avoiding me because she was afraid of the wanted notice? Or.

“Answer me.”

Was she afraid?

‘What?’

The questions that she couldn’t answer followed one after another. Bellige laughed in vain as he watched Lina bit her lips without saying anything.

“Yeah. You don’t have to answer. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Only then did Lina come to her senses and stupidly asked back.

“… … yes?”

“It doesn’t matter who you were in the past or what your purpose was.”

“What is that… … .”

Lina looked at the duke with an expression that seemed incomprehensible. Then the man lifted Lina’s chin and stroked her cheek with his thumb.

A hot sensation, in contrast to her cold body, brushed her face.

“I’ll turn a blind eye to everything.”

And as if burned by that heat, Lina let out a groan without realizing it.

But the duke continued talking as if it didn’t matter at all.

“I won’t punish you.”

She didn’t know what he was saying. All Lina could do was look at Belige with confused eyes.

“But. You can’t leave me from now on.”

Lina blurted out her words without even thinking about smoothing out her hoarse voice.

“Why… … . Are you doing this?”

[Why are you doing this?]

Belige let out a low laugh at the memories that came to mind.

“You’re asking the same question.”

It was funny to see the maid ask the same question as Alex.

Just a tool to survive.

Yes. This woman was nothing more or less to him.

Belige smiled quietly at her.

“Lina.”

And then he mumbled the answer he hadn’t been able to answer at that moment.

“I don’t think I can live without you.”

* * *

Lina, who had returned to the mansion with Belige, looked at Cullen, who had come out to greet them. When Lina’s eyes met Cullen’s, he flinched in surprise.

That was understandable, because with her clothes ripped here and there and covered in dust, anyone could tell she had been caught running away.

Lina lowered her head, avoiding Cullen’s gaze, who seemed to have a lot to say.

“Follow me.”

Was he perhaps trying to drag her to the mansion’s dungeon? Lina felt that the future ahead of her was bleak.

And all she could do now was quietly do what the duke told her to do.

‘It would be nice if I could at least wash up.’

Lina followed the man up the stairs, swallowing the words she couldn’t bring herself to say out loud.

And where she arrived was the third floor of the main building. It was a space that only the immediate family of the Permanence family could use.

“Duke. Why are you here… … .”

However, Belige didn’t answer her and led her to the room next to the duke’s bedroom.

“You’ll stay in this room from now on.”

“… … Yes?”

Stay here. Lina’s mouth fell open as she looked around the room at the duke’s unexpected words.

No wonder, because the room he led her to was the room where the duchesses had stayed for generations.

Even the room that had been empty for a long time was cleaned up as if it knew a new owner would come in.

Should I be thankful that I was not dragged to the mansion’s dungeon but came to this room instead?

Lina swallowed her sighs at the aftermath of her stay in this room.

She wanted to ask the duke why he was making her stay here right away, but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything in front of him who was emitting a chilling aura.

‘Yeah. You should have taken the ring anyway. For now, just do as you’re told, and when your guard is down, you can go to the room and find the ring. And then if you leave the mansion right away… … .’

Bellige, who was leaning against the wall and watching Lina with her head down, said.

“Oh. And you shouldn’t even think about leaving the mansion on your own.”

“… … Yes?”

Lina looked at the duke in surprise. Her heart raced at the sight of the man speaking as if he knew her true feelings.

“If you want to run away, try it.”

Bellige spat out eerie words with a blank expression.

“You’ll be caught soon… … .”

Bellige, who had been looking down at Lina with an arrogant expression as if telling her to try if she wanted to, froze when she saw something.

Before Lina could notice the strange feeling of the man suddenly becoming quiet, he quickly walked up to her with his long legs.

“What’s wrong with your arm?”

“Ugh.”

Then he raised her right arm, which was covered in dried blood, and growled.

As if she had never thought she was hurt.

Lina carefully shook off Bellige’s hand that was holding her arm and said.

“It’s nothing.”

But her answer seemed to have further irritated the man.

“It’s nothing.”

The duke, who had been quietly thinking about Lina’s words, grabbed her right arm.

“Duke!”

Lina, startled, called out to the man as if shouting, but it was too late. Her loose clothes already clearly showed the scar.

“Ha. It really is nothing.”

The man, who had let out a short breath as if he was shocked, spoke as if he was pressuring her. The maid, who had not said anything until this point, felt foolish.

“This will get better quickly with medicine. So… … .”

“Don’t worry about it?”

The man interrupted as if he knew what the woman was trying to say.

“Yes. If you’re a spy, this kind of wound is nothing, right?”

It seemed like the man still thought of her as a spy. Lina’s head began to throbbed at the misunderstanding that seemed like it would never be resolved.

“I’m not really what you think, Duke. It’s just… … . There’s no place that would accept me. That’s why I only forged the letter of recommendation!”

“You’ll know when you see.”

‘You have no intention of listening to me at all!’

It seemed that the excuse she had come up with with great effort was not working on him at all. Lina bit her lips in frustration.

The Duke moved his lips as if he had something to say, but he ended up saying nothing.

The man, who had been looking at her wounds for a long time and thinking about something, soon let her go.

Then he whispered softly.

“Wash up and come to my room.”

Then he left the room as if he had nothing more to do.

Boom-.

Lina, who had been staring at the roughly closed door, sat down on the floor as if her tension had been relieved.

* * *

Meanwhile, as soon as Bellige entered the bedroom, he pulled the rope. And soon after, Emma knocked on the door.

“Duke. “Have you found it?”

“Go and find Joaquin-.”

Belige, who was about to call Joaquin while thinking about Lina’s injured arm, hesitated. Suddenly, he remembered her refusing to treat Joaquin.

After thinking for a moment, the Duke gave up on calling the doctor and opened his mouth.

“No, go and get some medicine for the wound… … .”

Instead, he was telling her to bring some medicine to treat Lina’s wound when a sudden thought occurred to him and he was speechless again.

‘Why me?’

If he had decided to use her thoroughly, why was he so concerned about the maid’s injury?

As the maid said, it was something he didn’t have to worry about. But why.

‘Why am I so angry?’

Belige clenched his fists quietly. He couldn’t understand why he was feeling so unpleasant. When the Duke called him and didn’t give any orders for a long time, Emma asked cautiously.

“Your Majesty. If you are uncomfortable anywhere… … .”

“No.”

Only then, as if she had come to her senses, Bellige continued.

“… … It’s nothing. Let’s go back now.”

“… … Yes. Your Majesty.”

Emma couldn’t ask him anything, even though the Duke had called her at such a late hour and didn’t ask her anything.

She had no choice but to follow his orders. The polite Emma quickly left the room.

When the door closed, Bellige ran his hands nervously through his hair. Then, letting out a short breath, he slumped down on the sofa in the bedroom.

That maid was just a tool, so why was he so angry that she got hurt?

Bellige frowned, feeling as if something was weighing on him, and leaned back against the sofa as if he didn’t want to think about it anymore.

“It’s much better.”

Then, she suddenly realized that the headache that had been bothering him for several days had subsided. He seemed to feel much better about that happy fact. He would definitely have a comfortable night tonight.

It was peaceful.

A quietness without the pain that had been pounding his head or the tinnitus that had been ringing in his ears.

It was what he had been longing for. And from now on

The routine would continue as long as the maid was there.

Did he just blankly stare like that for a long time? Suddenly, the man lifted his hand and looked up.

“I just touched it a little.”

This much change from just a brief touch. If that’s the case, what if he were to share more with that woman?

“What would happen then?”

A small question sprouted in Bellige’s mind. However, he soon shook his head as if it was a useless thought and closed his heavy eyes.