Can You Save Me Duke? - 5

“… … Duke?”

“Can you please step aside now?”

Lina began to understand the situation at the man’s cold voice.

‘I’m… … .’

And soon she realized. She was looking up at his face with her back against his chest.

“I’m, I’m sorry!”

Lina almost bounced away from the Duke’s embrace. Then she bowed down in front of him.

‘Why the Duke again… … .’

She had avoided the danger of falling down the stairs, but an even worse danger had come.

Lina began to make excuses to the Duke in a flustered voice.

“I’m so sorry, Duke! I slipped on the stairs and-.”

‘Huh?’

However, the Duke seemed not to care about her excuses, and was already climbing the stairs before Lina could finish speaking.

‘ just going… … ?’

This time, Lina, who had thought she would definitely hear something, looked at the Duke walking away with a puzzled look.

It was a dangerous moment where the Duke could have been hurt because of her own carelessness. It was clear that she had nothing to say even if she was punished.

This time, the Duke didn’t seem to care much and seemed to be trying to let it go quietly.

“That’s fortunate, but… … .”

The Duke’s reaction, which she had thought would make her angry, ended so blandly, which was suspicious.

“Why am I feeling so uncomfortable… … ?”

Lina wiped her neck with her hand and tilted her head, feeling uneasy for some reason.

“What, what could have happened? More importantly, I almost got in big trouble. From now on, I should try not to catch the Duke’s eye as much as possible.”

Lina clenched her fists and made an invisible promise. However, Lina’s promise was not kept in the end.

* * *

Thump-.

Thump-.

Thump-.

In the heavy silence, only the sound of something hard hitting something was repeated regularly.

‘What happened?’

Lina, who had been preparing well in her room just a moment ago, was suddenly dragged into the duke’s office by people who had barged in.

The brown wooden floor, which had seemed cozy just a few hours ago, felt infinitely cold and hard like the stone floor of a prison.

Lina, who was thrown onto the floor in her pajamas, looked around with confused eyes and began to figure out the situation.

Cullen and Emma were looking at Lina with anxious eyes next to the duke.

And next to them was someone who was definitely not welcome.

‘… … Susan?’

Why was Susan here?

Before she could even think of a reason, the annoying noise that had been echoing in the room suddenly stopped, and a voice that had become familiar filled the empty space.

‘So.’

The Duke sat on his chair with his legs crossed and sang haughtily.

The fountain pen he was tapping on the desk was already damaged beyond use, but his gaze was only on Lina.

“That maid is the culprit?”

Why does the ink leaking from the broken fountain pen feel so creepy?

Susan, whose shoulders hunched involuntarily, straightened her posture and blurted out the words she had prepared.

“Yes. A few days ago, I saw Lina coming out of the Duke’s office carrying a box.”

‘What?’

Lina, who had been silently listening to Susan’s accusations, let out a hollow laugh.

Was it because of the cold air from the floor seeping up through her thin nightgown? Or was it because of her anger at Susan for accusing her?

Lina’s lips seemed to tremble slightly.

“I searched the room, but I found nothing. However, on the day the correction disappeared, someone saw Lina coming out of Alina Forest, so they searched and found her buried in the ground in the eastern part of the forest.”

The butler said as he placed a box covered in dirt in front of the duke.

Susan tried to control the corners of her lips as she watched the duke frowning at the box in front of him.

‘You’re the duke’s exclusive maid, you don’t even know what to do.’

How angry she had been when that girl took away what she had believed was hers.

‘I don’t know how she got in the eyes of the maid and the butler, but that position wasn’t yours.’

She couldn’t stand to see Lina strutting around, saying she was the duke’s exclusive maid. That’s why she needed to take a somewhat extreme measure.

It was a method that could have put her in danger, but she had to take this risk.

Lina, who had no better face or body than her, always looked down on her, and Susan was always annoyed.

When I saw Lina acting calmly without blinking an eye even when I was insulted or harassed, I felt like an idiot.

So I sneaked into the office when no one was there and stole the most expensive thing.

I was thinking of hiding it in Lina’s room, but then I remembered what Latte had said about seeing Lina come out of the Alina Forest, so I secretly buried it in the forest at night.

‘It’s just that the time of leaving the mansion has come forward, Lina.’

If I ever became a duchess, I planned to send Lina out of the mansion. Of course, I didn’t plan on sending her off nicely.

‘If I become a dedicated maid, it’s only a matter of time before I become a duchess.’

Everything was going well. Now all I had to do was watch Lina, who was soaked in pain, being kicked out of the mansion.

Soon, Cullen opened the lid of the box that had been covered in dirt. With a click, the box opened, revealing a round, transparent crystal shining brightly inside.

The duke, who had been looking at it, looked down at Lina and asked.

“Give me one last chance to make an excuse.”

In the room filled with suffocating tension, only a languid voice echoed quietly.

Lina tried to control her trembling voice and spoke calmly.

“It’s true that Alina went to the forest, but the reason I went was because May was injured and needed herbs to heal her. If you go to my room, there will be some herbs left over from that time.”

“Why did you go to the forest to get herbs when there was a perfectly good infirmary in the mansion… … .”

Lina cleared her voice again at the duke’s words and said.

“Yes. I really went to the forest to get herbs. And even if there were people who saw me come out of the forest, no one saw me bury something there. It’s unfair to be suspected of being the culprit just because I went to the forest.’

“If it’s so unfair, bring me evidence that you’re not the culprit.”

Lina frowned as if she found the Duke’s words ridiculous.

‘If it’s evidence, you have it now!’

The words she couldn’t bring herself to say tickled Lina’s throat. The energy she felt from the crystal in front of the Duke. It was definitely magic.

And there was only one case where magic was felt from the crystal.

‘But… … . Can I tell you?’

She hesitated for a moment, then thought about it, and then calmly spoke to the Duke as if she had made up her mind.

“The evidence is in front of you now, Duke. The crystal in front of you, isn’t it a green stone?”

“A green stone… … . Why do you think so?”

“Normally, crystals don’t come out as clean spheres like the one in front of you, Duke. It’s also difficult to polish by hand. It must have been processed with magic, but the only cases where such effort is put into crystals are luxury items for nobles to show off their wealth, or green stones that are magical tools. However, since luxury items that are mostly used by women do not fit in the duke’s office, I guessed that the crystal was made to record the room.”

Furthermore, it was an office that seemed regrettable for the head of the duke’s family to use.

A luxury item that only noble ladies would use in the duke’s room with a frugal personality. What could be so inappropriate?

The duke looked at her, who was kneeling and speaking in a clear voice, and said.

“… … Yes. You are right. With this crystal, I can know what is happening in the room while I am away.”

Soon, the duke stretched out his arm and placed his hand on the crystal, and a white light began to ripple.

The light shot out to the ceiling, and the room was filled with a hazy smoke like fog. And a small image began to appear above the smoke.

The duke’s office, visible in the black and white image, seemed to be empty, and it was quiet. The duke moved his finger again, and the video began to move quickly.

And after a while, the door in the quiet space opened with a click and Susan came in.

Susan, who had been looking around the office for a while, gradually approached the crystal, and the video ended.

Susan, who had been watching the video with an expression of not knowing what was going on, flinched when she saw herself appear in the emitted light.

Then, she stuttered without even thinking about closing her gaping mouth at the next scene.

“, nonsense… …!”

“Cullen.”

Susan, whose lips were trembling at the duke’s frosty voice, knelt down and began to beg.

“Ha, please forgive me just this once!! Please, just once… …! Your Highness!”

“Let’s deal with it according to imperial law.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

When Cullen nodded, the knights next to her dragged Susan, who was begging, away.

Her desperate screams from beyond the door seemed to ring in my ears like tinnitus.

Knock-. Knock-.

In the room that had become quiet once again, the duke, who had been drumming his fingers on the desk, stared blankly at Lina and asked.

“And, you.”

“… … Yes. Duke.”

“How did you know that this was a recording stone? This wouldn’t have been something a commoner like you could easily see.”

It was natural for the duke to be suspicious. The recording stone was a magical tool.

Since it was an exclusive item used exclusively by the royal family and nobles, it made no sense for a commoner who had difficulty accessing magic to know about it.

“My mother used to be a maid in a noble family. She told me what she heard from the lady she served.”

The duke, who had been brushing his chin for a moment at Lina’s plausible excuse, answered.

“Well, it’s not a satisfactory answer, but let’s just say it is. But, it is true that you entered the forbidden forest.”

‘No way… … . So you kept your mouth shut even though you knew it was a green stone?

‘Because I entered the forest?’

He was angry at the thought that if he didn’t know the identity of the crystal, the man might have pretended not to know until the end.

But he was a commoner, and the man was a noble. So he had no choice but to beg.

“… … I’m sorry. I will gladly accept the punishment for going into the forest.”

“I will gladly accept any punishment?”

“… … Yes.”

The duke, who was looking down at Lina who was kneeling, said, supporting her chin with his hand.

“Do you know what kind of punishment I’m going to give you?”

The man’s arrogant, mocking gaze seemed to grab Lina’s heart.

“Cullen.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“That maid is to be removed from the mansion starting today.”