Disguised as a Male Servant in the Duke's House (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 12
May I speak frankly?
But before she could, Ibellione spoke first, cutting off Rozelia.
“I was just about to call for you, Duke, because I was curious about Clojet’s well-being.”
“Your Highness?”
Glancing sideways, Rozelia realized Ibellione wished to conceal the fact that she was collecting paintings through her.
Rozelia also had too much at stake to openly confess everything, so she chose not to argue.
Klaus swept a suspicious gaze over Rozelia, then quickly turned his attention back to the Crown Princess.
“More importantly, is your wrist all right?”
“It’s fine, Duke.”
“Does His Highness the Crown Prince still treat you so carelessly?”
“That’s none of your concern, Duke.”
Rozelia watched their exchange with blank eyes.
It had been the same in the original story. The Duke always showed Ibellione a tangled mix of affection, resentment, and obsession.
Whether it stemmed from familial bonds forged since childhood as playmates or genuine romantic love was never made clear—because the Duke… was destined to vanish just as the main couple’s love story unfolded.
Just as she pitied him, struck by an odd sense of shared misfortune, he seemed to notice her gaze. His navy-blue eyes met hers, cold and sharp.
“What are you doing right now?”
Startled by his icy tone, Rozelia stared back with wide eyes.
“Yes?”
What do you think I’m doing? Just watching the two of you talk.
“Do you really think this is a situation where you belong, staying here?”
It was a clear hint to leave.
“Do I need you to outright tell me to go before I’ll leave?”
She had actually arrived first, yet the way he dismissed her—as if she were bothering the Crown Princess—left her not just bewildered but oddly hurt.
Hurt? Because the Duke was being cold? When had he ever treated her kindly?
Never. He had always been distant toward Rozelia.
Precisely because of that, seeing him show unexpected warmth toward the Crown Princess beneath his usual cold exterior made him all the more infuriating.
Feeling unsettled, Rozelia gave only a stiff nod instead of a proper farewell and abruptly left the room.
Yes, it was simply unfair that damn Duke treated people so differently.
Just then—
The Crown Prince, leaning casually against a pillar across the corridor with his arms crossed, called out to her.
“Hey….”
At the disbelieving voice, Rozelia’s head turned slowly, stiffly, like a broken machine.
His voice, thick with annoyance, made Rozelia’s face twitch.
I’m just as annoyed as you are!
No matter that this had happened to the original Rozelia—facing the very person who’d killed her, right before her eyes, how could she not feel furious…?
Rozelia deliberately lowered her head as if she hadn’t heard Esteban’s call and tried to walk away.
But before she knew it, Esteban had caught her by the collar, yanking her so abruptly her feet nearly lifted off the floor.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Where else? Home!
Outwardly, however, Rozelia turned her head with an air of innocent obliviousness, as if she truly hadn’t heard him.
“Good heavens! Your Highness, what could you possibly need with this humble servant…?”
“Pretending you didn’t hear me… Listen here, Valtezar’s dog.”
Who was he calling whose dog?
Come to think of it, whether by coincidence or not… in the original novel, the Crown Prince had also called Rozelia “Valtezar’s dog.”
Back then, since Rozelia had been utterly devoted to the Duke and brought him royal secrets without hesitation, the nickname had seemed fitting—but now that she herself was the one in that role, things were different.
Suppressing her irritation, Rozelia forced a tight smile.
“Your command, Your Highness?”
“What did the Duke send you to do? If you tell me honestly, I might let you keep your life.”
In the original story, he’d killed Rozelia instantly without a second thought—and here he was, still threatening her life despite the changed circumstances. It was absolutely infuriating.
Ignoring the twitch at the corner of her mouth, Rozelia continued.
“I didn’t come to the palace on the Duke’s orders…”
At her words, the Crown Prince glanced toward the Crown Princess’s private reception room where Klaus had just entered, then dragged her along by the collar.
“Y-Your Highness?!”
Was she about to be dragged off and killed again?!
While her mind spun with wild thoughts, Esteban pulled her to the palace garden behind the main building.
“Now, you can speak here.”
“Yes…?”
“The Duke won’t be able to overhear us here, so speak freely.”
Well… it wasn’t that she had anything to do with the Duke anyway…
Strictly speaking, she’d approached the Crown Princess to repay her debt to the Duke, so it wasn’t entirely unrelated—but she certainly hadn’t been acting on his orders. Even if she gave Esteban the answer he wanted, there was no guarantee he’d let her live; after all, he treated human lives as less valuable than a dog’s.
“Your Highness, I humbly beg your pardon—I merely came at Princess Clojet’s request to pay respects to Her Highness the Crown Princess.”
“How much is the Duke paying you? I’ll give you double.”
“…”
“Triple!”
Somehow, the atmosphere suggested he’d instantly hand over three thousand velangs if she named that amount. Rozelia nearly gave in on impulse, but lacking both the nerve to fabricate a nonexistent arrangement and the audacity to accept such suspiciously easy money, she quietly abandoned the idea. From the original story, she knew all too well how disastrously such money tended to backfire.
“Your Highness, I humbly apologize, but as a mere servant, I have mountains of duties awaiting me even while my eyes are open. I shall take my leave now.”
Just as she turned to leave, Esteban roughly grabbed her wrist and stopped her.
Barely suppressing her rising irritation, she opened her mouth to protest—when the Crown Prince looked down at her wrist with puzzlement.
“What’s this… Why is a man’s wrist so slender?”
Rozelia froze for a split second, then ignored the cold sweat trickling down her spine and answered calmly.
“I didn’t get enough to eat growing up.”
It wasn’t a lie. After the Baron’s death and the family’s decline—or more precisely, ever since her mother’s death and the Baron began treating her like a maid—she’d never received the care befitting a Baron’s daughter, going hungry and poorly clothed throughout her youth.
The fact that she’d long passed twenty yet still not made her debutante ball was proof enough of that.
Rozelia tugged her wrist firmly from Esteban’s grasp.
Yet Esteban still stared at her wrist with suspicion.
She’d thought him nothing but a mad Crown Prince, but he seemed surprisingly perceptive.
No wonder he’d caught onto the original Rozelia’s espionage in the story.
“You’re far too slender for a man… and your height is unusually short as well…”
Unnecessarily sharp!
Feeling her blood run cold, Rozelia forced a cold tone.
“I simply stopped growing early.”
“Hmm… Fine, I’ll accept that. What’s your name?”
Why suddenly ask for her name?
In a flash, a scene from the original novel surfaced in her mind.
“What’s your name?”
“My name is Rozelia.”
“Rozelia… A lovely name. Too good for a traitor’s dog.”
Right after that exchange, the original Rozelia had been sent to the executioner’s block.
Spooked by the similarity of the question to that fateful moment, Rozelia swallowed hard and answered the real Esteban before her.
“My name is Antonio.”
“Antonio…”
The Crown Prince smiled faintly at hearing her name.
“A fine name. Though it doesn’t quite suit you.”
Hearing Esteban speak words eerily similar yet subtly different from the original left Rozelia unsettled.
“I suppose I’ll believe you’re not lying to my face—this time. But if next time you fail to give me the answer I want, I can’t promise what might happen.”
Was that trust or a threat…?
Staring at him in exasperation, Rozelia realized staying any longer would bring no good. She bowed quickly and hurriedly took her leave.
Esteban’s golden eyes followed Rozelia’s retreating back with dogged intensity, as if trying to decipher something.
[This is the timeline separator]Rozelia walked down the dim corridor, clutching the envelope containing the Crown Princess’s thousand-velang check.
Late that night, Klaus had summoned her.
Since she’d already planned to seek him out to repay her debt, Rozelia left without hesitation.
Yet the closer she got to Klaus’s study, the heavier her steps became.
Was it because of his words earlier—treating her like a bothersome pebble while worrying over the Crown Princess?
True, it annoyed her—but was that really enough reason to dread meeting Klaus?
Shaking her head sharply as if to clear her thoughts, Rozelia knocked firmly on the Duke’s study door.
“Come in.”
At the familiar yet icy timbre of Klaus’s deep voice, Rozelia took a deep breath and entered.
Klaus placed the document he’d been reading aside on his desk, uncrossed his arms, and stared at her intently.
“It would be best if you spoke plainly.”
Caught off guard by his abrupt directness, Rozelia’s eyebrows twitched.
“Don’t waste my time with that nonsense about visiting Her Highness to relay Clojet’s greetings. What were you really thinking, approaching the Crown Princess?”
His tone immediately branded her as a threat to the Crown Princess without even hearing her side—infuriating her instantly.
“It wasn’t I who approached her—Her Highness summoned me.”
At her defiant tone, Klaus twisted one corner of his mouth and let out a scoffing breath.
“Her Highness summoned you? And why, exactly, would she wish to see you?”
“I couldn’t possibly say—it’s a private matter of Her Highness.”
Seemingly displeased by Rozelia’s unyielding reply, Klaus stood up. His towering frame—easily over 190 centimeters—radiated overwhelming presence.
Rozelia kept her expression calm, refusing to show how shaken she felt.
Slowly, he stepped right in front of her, leaned in close, and murmured threateningly.
“I don’t know what scheme you’re plotting, but you’d do well not to use Her Highness the Crown Princess for your own ends.”
For a moment, she was so flabbergasted that all the air rushed out of her.
Don’t use the Crown Princess?
And what about him? In the original novel, hadn’t he used Rozelia exactly like that—draining her dry of every last drop of loyalty and usefulness?
Klaus, whom Rozelia had devoted herself to wholeheartedly, hadn’t even shown up when she stood on the executioner’s block. Though the original story hadn’t detailed her feelings—as a mere extra—she surely must have waited for him.
For that damn Duke.
Yet hearing those very words from his own mouth now—though she hadn’t lived through it herself—filled her with sudden, burning resentment and a sense of injustice.
Rozelia glared at the Duke’s face inches from hers with such intensity it seemed she wanted to bite him—and leaned in even closer.
“So what if I do use her?”
Male lead fell into her trap — and shattered when she walked away
This is also on my reread list!
This one is a slow burn, but when it burns, it burns hard.
Definitely worth a read, y’all!
The story follows a thousand-year-old seductive spirit who, on a bet, sets out to charm the male lead—a once-promising but unfortunate cultivator.
But just when she succeeds in making him fall for her, she heartlessly leaves, driving him to madness.
Determined to find her at all costs, he captures her, keeping her by his side no matter what, even if she hates him.
I love this kind of trope—I enjoy watching the male lead suffer in agony.
The ending drags a bit with unnecessary filler, but that’s fine.
As long as I enjoy the beginning, I’m good.
Intro
As an enchantress, Su Heng possesses captivating eyes and charming beauty, easily manipulating the joys and sorrows of living beings at her fingertips.
But to enchant a god, making him taste the bitterness of love’s separation, long-lasting resentment, unattainable desires, and inability to let go…
Do you dare?
Su Heng assists a divine lord in his cultivation, aiming to make him experience all the sufferings of love, so that he can attain the Great Dao.
Only after being chased down from the heavens by the divine lord, confined and completely possessed by him, does she realize how successful she has been.
The once gentle and polite youth has transformed into someone she no longer recognizes.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
Most Commented This Week
The Villain Has Gone Mad For Me (Completed Main Story)
I’m The Lowest-Ranking Daughter Of A Martial Arts Villain (2 Chapters Left to Complete)
I Became the Assassin Family’s Foster Daughter (Completed Main Story)
The Duke Only Needs My Child (Completed Main Story)
Men of the Harem (137 Chapters Left to Complete)
At the End of Ruin, There You Are (56 Chapters Left to Complete)
She’s a Villainess but her Husband is Handsome (Completed Main Story)
People Aren’t Meant to Be Fixed! (4 Chapters Left to Complete)
My Discarded Fiancé Returned (Completed Main Story)
Summer Must Die (16 Chapters Left to Complete)
Regret With All Your Might (Completed Main Story)
I Received The First Time Of My Extraordinary Superior (9 Chapters Left to Complete)