Can You Save Me Duke? - 4

“What? What did you just say…”

Lina stood up without answering, as if she hadn’t heard the Duke clearly, and the Duke asked again:

“I asked you if we had met before.”

“Do you mean the meeting in the forest…?”

Lina carefully examined his face, and suddenly realized.

This man wasn’t asking about the meeting in the forest.

Just then, Lina’s face turned pale as she realized what had happened.

“Not quite… Do you remember that day… No, that can’t be it.”

Lina’s hands were shaking as she folded her stomach, trying to keep calm.

“Stay calm. Even if the magic fails, the Duke can’t think I’m the same person I was back then.”

Lina said to herself in a steady voice, trying to calm herself down.

“Are you referring to the meeting in the forest a few days ago?”

The Duke let out a light sigh, looking at Lina indifferently as she tried to talk about their meeting in the forest.

“No sir. I was just saying nonsense. Let’s go.”

“Yes, Duke.”

Lina felt relieved… as if everything had passed peacefully. She closed her eyes involuntarily next to Colin, who was standing nearby.

Colin looked at her reproachfully, but sighed again.

“I don’t think I’ll get over this easily.”

As soon as Lina left the office, she received a warning from Colin and was forced to relearn some servant manners.

Eventually, just after sunset, Lina was able to free herself from Colin and return to her quarters.

Physically and mentally exhausted, she threw herself helplessly onto her bed, recalling her encounter with the Duke.

“Wasn’t the magic erased…?”

When the Duke asked her if she had seen him before, Lina felt as if her heart had dropped to the ground.

“No, the magic can’t have failed. This has never happened before, right?”

Lina shook her head slowly, unable to comprehend what had happened during the day.

“It must have been just a coincidence.”

Mei, who was lying on the next bed, asked her if she had heard her muttering.

“What?”

“Huh? Nothing. How are your legs now?”

“I can’t work yet, but I’ve gotten a lot better! It’s good to take a break from work, right? By the way, Lina, have you seen the Duke? What do you think of him?”

Lina looked at Mei with a bright smile, and replied in a dry voice:

“It was the worst.”

“I really don’t want to go in…”

In the early morning hours, at the bottom of the stairs leading to the third floor, Lina was sighing as she felt the weight of the ground beneath her.

She was on her way to the Duke’s bedroom to perform her duties as a maid, wishing she didn’t have to.

But, with unhesitating steps, she was banging her head on the wall in front of his bedroom.

She had bumped into her forehead, which had already started to turn red.

“Now that I’m close to his bedroom…”

But Lina didn’t move, but was fiddling with the duke’s clothes in her hand.

As she thought, she let out a short breath, raised her face, and clenched her fists with determination.

“Okay. Just one week. I’ll do it once a week!”

“What are you trying to do?”

Lina was shocked by a low voice behind her, and she turned around in astonishment.

The duke’s white shirt was slightly open, and his clothes were disheveled, as if he had been exercising.

“Duke…!”

“Then what were you trying to do?”

The duke must have heard Lina’s words, and he approached her with long steps.

Her body stiffened from his sudden closeness.

The duke suddenly extended his hand.

“What? Why… are you extending your hand?”

Lina stared at his outstretched hand with a confused expression, and the duke pointed to the dress she was holding.

“You’re holding something that belongs to me, aren’t you?”

“Oh, yes… I was going to put it in the room.”

“No need for that.”

The Duke’s firm words were enough to make Lina roll her eyes in confusion.

“So… do you want me to bring you food right away?”

“If you’re in a hurry, can I bring you a meal right away?”

The Duke nodded without replying, and Lina quickly ran to the kitchen to bring food.

“Oh my… His presence scared me, why does he always show up suddenly?”

Lina felt a little uncomfortable because the Duke had rejected her moments ago, but she was also relieved that he at least preferred to eat alone.

“I have to bring him food.”

After Lina quickly prepared the meal on the first floor, she knocked on the door of the room.

“Duke, the food is ready.”

“Come in.”

Lina heard his voice from inside, so she led the food cart into the room.

“Duke, the food is ready on the table… Ah!”

Before she could finish her sentence, she froze in place.

The Duke had just come out of the bathroom, his body still wet, with water droplets falling on the floor, as he wiped his head with a towel.

“What…! Why don’t you ask me to wait outside until you’re done?!”

“Eat here.”

Whether the Duke was aware of her thoughts or not, he didn’t care, and waved his hand towards the table.

“Yes, sir.”

Lina drove the cart towards the table the Duke had pointed to. As she was arranging the dishes on the table, she felt a cold breeze pass by her, making her hand tremble slightly.

“Are… are you going to wear something decent soon?”

Lina tried to keep her gaze focused on the table, but her peripheral vision wasn’t helping her. Even though she was staring at the table, she could feel every part of his wet body reflected in front of her in his disheveled clothes.

She swallowed hard, and stood behind the chair to serve the food.

“That’s it, you can leave now.”

“What? Aren’t I supposed to serve the food…?”

“I don’t need to.”

“Yes, sir… I’ll go.”

As soon as she answered, Lina quickly closed the door behind her and leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath that she had been holding the whole time.

“Oh my god…”

The image of the Duke’s naked body floated through her mind like an everlasting shadow.

She put her hand on her cheeks that were flushed with embarrassment and whispered to herself:

“Is it possible for him to change his clothes and eat by himself, right?”

She remembered Emma’s words that she had told her about how the Duke had lived in war zones for a long time, making him rely on himself for daily matters.

“This is better than I imagined… Maybe it will be okay.”

“Lina, we have to change the curtains in the Duke’s office today. It will be a bit difficult, so it is better for you to do it with another maid.”

“No, no need. I can do it myself.”

“Are you sure? The curtains will be heavy.”

“Yes, it is okay. Even if they are a bit heavy, I will do it alone.”

Lina didn’t want to work with other maids, as rubbing against them would only increase her stress and delay her time.

“Well, pass by the storeroom on your way and take the ladder. You’ll need it to change the old curtains.”

“Yes, Emma.”

Lina headed to the Duke’s office carrying the ladder and new curtains from the storeroom. She felt that the work today was much lighter than it had been the previous days.

“A few days ago, I felt very nervous every time I passed this way.”

It had been a week since Lina had started working as the Duke’s maid, but nothing she had feared had happened.

Although the Duke had a sensitive and nervous personality, he was a good host.

“It’s very comfortable, isn’t it?”

The Duke showed no interest in Lina, as if she was completely invisible to him. Moreover, being used to the front life, he didn’t need many servants to help him.

“When I worked in the annex, I had a hard time sweeping and cleaning large areas every day.”

Unlike the annex, Lina’s tasks here were simple: delivering food, making the bed, and doing light work that any child could do.

Although the Duke suffered from insomnia, and his eyes were always tired, it wasn’t a big deal.

“If I had known that work would be this easy, I would have started long ago.”

Lina’s new life was filled with strange peace, despite its absurdity.

“If I could stay here for a few more years, then when people start to notice that I’m not getting older, I’ll disappear under the pretext of getting married… and move to a faraway country.”

As Lina pondered her future plans, a small smile appeared on her lips.

“The Duke isn’t in the office now, is he? I’ll change the curtains before he returns.”

Lina climbed the ladder and began to remove the old curtains one by one. With each piece of fabric she dropped, she hurried along in fear that the Duke would suddenly return.

“I’m finally done. I’ll leave the ladder here because the rest of the maids will hang the new curtains… I’ll take the old ones and wash them.”

But when she gathered the curtains in her arms, her body swayed under their weight.

“Heavier than I expected…”

Although the curtains weren’t very thick, their length made them heavy.

The curtains were hanging on the ground behind Lina as she walked, blocking her view in front of her.

“I have to be careful going down…”

Lina started to carefully go down the stairs, step by step, so as not to stumble. But…

“Ah?!”

Suddenly, Lina lost her balance when her feet got tangled in the curtain.

“Oh my God!”

She tried to grab the handrail, but she couldn’t. She felt like she was going to fall down the stairs. As she closed her eyes, preparing for the pain…

“What…? Why don’t I feel any pain?”

A warmth surrounded her in an unexpected way. She slowly opened her eyes to see what had happened.

“How long are you going to stay like this?”

It was the duke.