Shall I Save You, Duke?

Chapter 3: Veils of Illusion

"Who is it?"

Only the sound of trees hitting the wind repeated in this place, the man's chilly voice made the surrounding temperature even colder.

Perhaps the throat was hurt in the frozen air.

Nothing came out of her trembling lips, as if something was tightly blocked.

"Can't you speak?"

As Lina fluttered her mouth like a goldfish, the man furrowed his neatly organized forehead and tightened his grip.

"Or won't you speak?"

The warning- like low voice dug into her ears again.

"Ah...!"

Lina, unable to bear the increasingly tightening pressure, let out a shallow moan, and only then did he loosen his grip on her wrist.

However, unlike her freed arm, she couldn't be free from his persistent gaze.

He looked at Lina closely, as if trying to verify her identity.

"You could speak after all."

Again, hearing the chilly voice, Lina, who felt like being splashed with cold water, quickly put her hands together on her belly and bowed.

"I apologize. I am a maid working at the Duke of Permanence's house, and I came out to pick herbs because a colleague was injured, but I heard someone's presence... I was so surprised to see someone... I'm really sorry."

'Did he see it?'

Calming her pounding heart, she cast her eyes down.

Then she gently kicked away the tree branch rolling on the ground with the light off.

Even though it was a place where there were few people, she felt pathetic for using magic in the Duke's territory.

"Moreover, that man was a knight of the Permanence family...!"

That night, if she had known the man was a knight of the Permanence family, she wouldn't have given him a second glance.

If she hadn't erased his memory, the mere thought of the outcome made her dizzy.

"I didn't know Permanence was so poor that it couldn't even heal one injured maid."

The desperately bowing figure of Lina looked quite desperate.

Looking at her indifferently, the man soon spat out words as if sighing.

"I don't know why you came here, but it's best not to come here again. Go."

"...Yes. I'll be careful from now on! Then- ."

As soon as the man's words ended, Lina, who was in perfect form, fled to the mansion.

For a moment, the man who had been staring at the place where the maid had disappeared looked down at his hand.

"What was that just now?"

Tilting his head as if something was strange.

[This is the time separator]

The next day, in the morning.

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

"I was so surprised yesterday that I left the linen in the forest... Haah- ."

That day, a knight who had spent the night at a party for the knights was the Duke of Permanence's knight of all people.

Lina's eyes seemed to be dim.