# 34
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Episode 34
“Your way of speaking has changed.”
Ruelia's eyes trembled violently upon hearing the Duke's answer.
Did you speak to him in a casual tone?
“How did you talk?”
“It wasn't just your strange, knight-like manner you used on me.”
“Ah…”
“It was a bit exaggerated, I was confused.”
Upon Cales' scolding, Ruelia's memories returned.
- Sir Duke! My good lord the duke! Who said my lord duke was evil?
- Sir Duke, no matter how sad or upset you are, you shouldn't do bad things, okay?
- Sir Duke, can't we just live together happily?
- Sir, the Duke is the most handsome in the world! Why do they say otherwise?
-I am not your mistress, Sir Duke!
Ruelia's face turned red.
How badly had she humiliated herf with twenty glasses of champagne?
“I…I…”
'I will tender my resignation.'
These words almost came out of her mouth. No matter how tempting the salary was, how could she work for a master who saw this embarrassing side of her?
"I'm sorry. I'll be more careful in the future!"
“Well, it wasn't bad.”
“Are you making fun of me?”
"I'm serious. I felt like you were finally comfortable with me."
Caelis raised his eyebrows.
He was really enjoying teasing Ruelia now.
'She's nice.'
Even he found this feeling confusing.
“No, sir! How dare I have such disrespectful thoughts towards a great master like you?”
Ruelia had never seen herf as anything more than a servant. Perhaps she was so bothered by the rumors that she was the duke's mistress that she drank endlessly.
Is this because of her professional pride?
He should have been impressed, but he felt bitter.
“Okay, okay, I get it. If you still feel upset, you can write an apology letter.”
“A letter of apology?”
“If you don't want to, I can deduct your salary.”
“I will write ten or a hundred letters a day!”
Ruelia bowed respectfully.
Kyles laughed unintentionally.
“You really… stop that weird, knight-like manner.”
Caelis shook his head, and Ruelia smiled happily.
"Yes! Thanks for your tolerance, I mean, thanks!"
I felt exhausted, but it was okay.
As long as Ruelia stayed in the Duke's Palace without distraction, they could rely on each other as master and maid.
This is much better than receiving and adapting to a stranger like the Duchess.
“Go and rest. Don't come back and blame me if you have a headache later.”
“No, I'll finish today's work first. But you need to shower, sir. You look tired.”
Kyles looked down at himf, drenched in sweat.
He was so worried that he did not pay attention to his appearance.
“Okay, do whatever you want.”
As Kyles headed up to the third floor, a noise was heard from down the stairs at the end of the hallway.
“Duke Abert! How could this happen?”
“Sir Count, what impudence is this?”
“Go away, I have to talk to the Duke now.”
Count Emil was pushing Signor and approaching them angrily.
* * *
Countess Bellona was kneeling in a quiet room on one side of the trade, with her eyes closed.
She was muttering prayers.
“Madam Countess, I am back.”
Upon hearing a voice calling her, she quickly finished her prayer.
"Brillion, hello. What's the score?"
She turned to see a priest, the same priest who had been humiliated yesterday by Ruelia and Duke Aber.
“The amount of blood is small, so it is not certain, but it seems that it is not Ruelia.”
"truly?"
Countess Bellona looked disappointed.
“Even if it wasn’t Ayla, that bold girl, I thought Ruelia definitely was.”
“Isn’t it just a commoner? How can lowly blood produce a noble? There was no need to check in the first place.”
The countess looked at the priest with contempt and sighed.
“You seem glad it's not Ruelia.”
I thought he was not qualified to be a real priest.
If he continued to show this feeling of inferiority, he would not be able to blend in with the priests.
Donations may not be enough to maintain its standing.
"I'm sorry."
“Anyway, please ask the priests for more information. I will try to obtain Ayla’s blood.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“If those strangers hadn't sneaked in yesterday...”
Countess Bellona shuddered at the thought of yesterday.
I spent a lot to secretly invite a priest with special powers, but yesterday's chaos wasted the opportunity for nothing.
Fortunately, she obtained Ruelia's blood.
“Could this be a conspiracy by the Duke and the Crown Prince?”
Things looked fishy.
The events and timing are both suspicious.
"Why would that be? They don't know what you're looking for."
"who knows."
The Duke of Abert was strangely hostile to her.
Maybe since taking Roelia? Since then, he has shown open hostility.
However, he does not know Ruelia's value, so he only makes her arrange the cards.
“By the way, I said something unnecessary to Ruilia yesterday. I didn’t know it wasn’t her, I made a big mistake.”
The countess shook her head regretfully.
She didn't know how that evil Duke was keeping Ruelia, but she couldn't leave things like this.
She wanted her precious ball back.
“I have to apologize to Ruelia first.”
Dissatisfaction appeared again on the priest's face.
* * *
In the office, Ruelia tried to arrange the papers she had seen earlier.
"Where did you go?"
But the papers disappeared without a trace.
“Strange. I was sure there was a report about the wastelands in the fiefdom.”
They were documents about undeveloped lands. She had to arrange it to make it easier for the Duke to understand.
She planned to compare reclamation possibilities, but she returned to her desk and only reviewed her papers. There was a mountain of work.
But before that, she had something else to do.
Ruelia carefully took out her diary from the bag she always carried.
Since finding it, she has always carried it.
'By the way…'
Ruelia flipped through the diary and stopped at a page.
There was a painted cross, a symbol often used in her previous life to represent the temple.
Next to it, three words:
'Fraudster?' incitement? Fall…’
Words that fit the temple perfectly.
“Attacking the Crown Prince? How bold.”
The temple seemed to deny it, but Ruelia was convinced that they were the guilty ones.
‘Countess Bellona had a good relationship with the temple…’
She looked at the diary again, and tapped her left finger on the desk, similar to how her master sometimes did.
“Should I tell her or not?”
I worried about Countess Bellona. If it continued like this, Bellona's guild along with the temple might collapse.
But this feeling quickly disappeared.
"It doesn't matter! What did you do to me?"
She remembered what the Countess had said yesterday, and her hesitation quickly ended.
No matter what she did for her, she received nothing in return.
Upon seeing the diary, she remembered the wealth she had contributed to the Bellona Guild, and became angry.
“Huff...”
In any case, the Duke's family would not tangle with Countess Bellona, they would never meet again.
I felt relieved after this conclusion.
"Mr. Duke! The investigation you ordered... Oh? Miss Assistant?"
I felt annoyed again when I saw Belen enter the office.
Ruelia stared at him sharply.
“Mr. Belin, don’t you have something to tell me?”
"What?"
Belen's eyes looked confused.
Ruelia got angry, so she got up from her seat and approached him.
“The report you gave me yesterday. It was fake.”
"No way! I used a very reliable and accurate source. It can't be a mistake."
Belen stood confidently, proud of his skills.
“The target was me!”
"Haha, did you notice? I should have told you earlier. You were surprised, weren't you?"
Belin scratched his head with a confused face.
Upon seeing him, her desire to question him faded away. He seemed to do it carelessly because he didn't want to work.
'It was clear from the beginning that he didn't want to work.'
Ruelia sighed deeply and spoke coldly:
“From now on, you're out of the game, Mr. Belin.”
"What?"
“The committee arranging the duke’s marriage has been dissolved.”