Can You Save Me Duke? - 3

“Who are you?”

In this place where only the sound of trees slapping against the wind was repeated, the man’s cold voice made the surrounding temperature even colder.

Was her throat hurt by the frozen air?

No sound came out of her quivering lips as if something was blocking them.

“Can’t you speak?”

When Lina just smiled like a goldfish, the man furrowed his brow and tightened his grip.

“Or are you not going to?”

A low voice, as if warning, pierced her ear again.

“Ah… …!”

When Lina could not bear the pain of the increasingly tight pressure and let out a shallow groan, only then did he release his strength and let go of her wrist.

However, unlike her freed arm, she could not be free from his persistent gaze.

He looked at her carefully as if trying to confirm her identity.

“It wasn’t that I couldn’t speak.”

Lina, who regained her senses as if she had been hit with cold water by the cold voice she heard once again, quickly put her hands together on her belly button and bowed her waist.

“I’m sorry. I’m a maid working at the Duke of Permanence. When my colleague got hurt, I went out to pick herbs and heard a noise… … . I was so surprised to see someone… … . I’m so sorry.”

‘Did you see it?’

She lowered her gaze, barely calming her pounding heart.

She then gently kicked away the tree branches lying on the ground with the lights off.

Even though it was a place with few people, using magic in the dukedom. She felt so pathetic.

“And that man was a knight of the Permanence family… … !’

That night, if she had known that man was a knight of the Permanence family, she wouldn’t have even glanced at him.

If he hadn’t erased his memories, it was dizzying to think about what the outcome would have been.

“I didn’t know that Permanence was so poor that he couldn’t even treat one injured maid.”

Lina, desperately bending down as if she was going to collapse to the ground, looked quite desperate.

The man who had been staring blankly at her appearance soon sighed and spoke.

“I don’t know why you came here, but it would be better not to come here again. Go.”

“… … Yes. I will be careful from now on! Then-.”

As soon as the man finished speaking, Lina, who had been polite, ran away to the mansion.

For a moment, the man stared at the place where the maid had disappeared and stared blankly down at his hand.

“What was that just now?”

He tilted his head as if something was strange.

* * *

The next morning.

Lina was heading to the laundry area with a basket full of laundry.

“I was so surprised yesterday that I left Polinendo in the forest… … . Haa-.”

That day, the knight who spent the night at the party for the knights was a knight from the Duke of Permanence.

Lina felt dizzy.

“Should I quit after all… … ?”

But soon Lina shook her head and changed her mind.

‘No. No. I’m quitting just because of this. Even though I’ve become the Duke’s exclusive maid, how often will I encounter the knights of the mansion?’

The place where the knights work is quite far from the main building, so I won’t encounter them as often as I thought.

And above all, the man doesn’t remember anything that happened that night, so how fortunate.

It’s only been three years since she came here, and it was difficult to suddenly leave when she hadn’t even decided where to go next.

‘What could happen? Anyway, that man probably won’t remember.’

“Let’s do some laundry first and think about it!”

Lina quickly arrived at the small well behind the mansion with brisk steps.

There, other maids were already gathered in groups of three or four doing laundry.

“Did you see the crystal in your second-floor office? How could it shine so transparently? It was so pretty!”

“When I worked at Count Kuron’s residence before, I saw something similar in the countess’s room. I think all the famous ladies have one.”

“Ah… …!! I want to have something like that too.”

They were chatting away in a group.

When Lina put down the clothes basket, the noisy atmosphere froze in an instant.

“Oh my, who is this? Isn’t that Lina, the Duke’s exclusive maid?”

“I wonder how you managed to get that job by trolling the head maid and the butler?”

Roen’s voice, mocking Lina, broke the heavy silence.

Then, as if they had been waiting, the other maids began to intervene one by one in Roen’s words.

‘Here we go again.’

However, Lina did not pay any attention to what they said and just silently did her laundry.

Thinking that she was being ignored by Lina, Roen approached Lina with angry steps to confront her.

“This is it, ignoring her again!!”

“Everyone, stop it.”

“… … Susan?”

Susan, who had been quietly watching their actions from one side, raised her head.

Susan, who had light brown hair, spoke in a cat-like voice as if she was trying to appease Roen and the other maids.

“Don’t be so mean. Isn’t it because Lina is good at her job that Lady Emma personally recommended her?”

Lina looked at Susan with an expression that said something she shouldn’t have heard.

Suddenly, Susan showed a friendly attitude, and Lina felt a strange sense of discomfort.

‘I should just do my laundry in the evening and do other things first.’

She couldn’t continue doing laundry in this atmosphere.

So Lina hurriedly packed up the clothes she hadn’t washed and left. Watching Lina walk away, Roen asked.

“Susan, why are you acting like this all of a sudden? You couldn’t stand Lina, you know?”

“Just. Don’t you feel bad?”

“Lina is the one who is the Duke’s exclusive maid and is the one who is most excited, so what on earth is so pitiful about that?”

Roen muttered as she watched Susan, who was still speaking in a soft voice.

As if she heard Roen’s words, Susan twisted one corner of her mouth.

“Well, we’ll see.”

There was a strange sinister light in her eyes.

* * *

“Once you enter, bow to the Duke immediately. You must greet him first, but you must never straighten your back until he gives you permission to stand. Also, you must not look at the Duke’s face without permission, and you must not speak until he asks you to. And-.”

The butler kept repeating what he had learned from the maid all the way to greet the Duke, as if he was not satisfied with Lina.

Her ears were about to get irritated because of this.

Lina interrupted the butler’s teaching as he was about to start again and answered.

“Don’t worry, butler. You have been sufficiently educated by the maid, so you will not make a mistake.”

“Yes, Lina, I will trust you.”

Cullen, reassured by Lina’s confident attitude, knocked on the door.

Knock-knock.

“Duke, it’s Cullen.”

“Come in.”

Cullen opened the door when he heard a low-pitched voice from behind.

In the office, only the sound of the pen tip and paper turning repetitively resonated.

“Nice to meet you. I am Lina, who will be serving you from today.”

Lina reflexively bowed deeply and poured out words that seemed to have been memorized.

Then, the sound of the pen that had been squeaking for a long time suddenly stopped, and she felt a gaze that seemed to pierce her crown.

Lina tilted her head and straightened her waist at the stronger gaze than she had expected. Then, she naturally looked at the Duke’s face and began to speak.

“From now on, I will serve you with all my heart… ….”

The moment her eyes met with the Duke’s, she was speechless.

‘That’s ridiculous.’

Lina barely held back a scream that she didn’t realize was coming, and covered her mouth with both hands.

Without even thinking about avoiding the Duke’s gaze, Lina’s expression hardened as if she had seen something she shouldn’t have seen.

In contrast, the duke leaned back in his chair and raised one corner of his mouth.

“It really was a maid.”

‘Why, that man… … .’

[Be careful.]

A warm old day when the gentle spring breeze blew through his hair. Someone whispered to her.

[Witches are unlucky.]

Why did the memory of that distant day suddenly come to mind?

“Have you seen everything?”

He said indifferently, looking at the maid who had her mouth wide open as if her jaw would fall off, not even thinking about closing it.

Lina, who had been standing there dumbfounded by the duke’s question, finally lowered her head after seeing Cullen who hit her.

“I don’t know where you learned manners to stare at your master’s face like that.”

The man’s voice, which had become even lower, echoed throughout the room.

“I’m sorry, duke. I warned you so much… … . I think he made a mistake because he was nervous.”

Hearing Cullen’s trembling voice, she remembered once again that the man was a duke.

‘A real duke…?’

Lina bit her lips and thought about the past events one by one.

As she recalled the man’s past appearances that somehow felt intimidating, the questions she had inadvertently overlooked began to be resolved.

Soon, a low sigh escaped Lina’s mouth.

‘Why is the duke at such a party…?!’

She had thought that it was a party for low-ranking knights, so even if they were nobles, only baronets would participate.

But the duke was attending such a place. Her two hands, which were held together at her belly button, had turned pale.

“I asked that maid.”

Lina, who had been biting her lips, came to her senses when she heard the duke’s question again.

“I’m sorry, duke. “I was so nervous that I ended up being rude.”

Although she tried to act calm, Lina’s head was filled with confusion. It was as if her whole body was paralyzed.

Cullen must have sensed that she was different than usual, as he apologized to the Duke once again.

“This child is not like this… … . I’m sorry. I will bring another child back as soon as possible.”

However, the Duke ignored Cullen’s words and said,

She looked me over carefully and asked.

“How old are you? You look too young to be a maid?”

“Twenty-four… … . Your Majesty.”

Lina barely managed to hide her trembling voice as she answered.

“Twenty-four… … .”

The duke tapped the desk with his fingers and muttered softly.

“But.”

But the duke refused to listen to Lina’s wish.

“Have we met somewhere before?”