Disguised as a Male Servant in the Duke's House - Chapter 1

In the dim darkness, the thought struck me that his blue-tinged eyes were chilling.

Those eyes, reminiscent of the crisp dawn air or the sharpness of a finely honed blade, evoked the image of a predator before its prey.

“Um… Duke Balthazar?”

Warning bells flashed in my mind.

Klaus de Balthazar, the master of this mansion.

The Duke before me was unlike his usual, terribly cold and unfeeling self. His icy navy eyes, seeming to have evaporated all reason, swept over her neckline.

Those enormous hands that looked capable of easily grasping a human head seemed about to seize her pale neck at any moment.

But contrary to expectation, Klaus’s hand moved very slowly towards her hair. The time it took for that massive, thick-knuckled hand to approach felt excruciatingly slow.

Her black hair, far too short to be considered a woman’s, falling just below her ears, wrapped around his hand. Roselia, who had somehow ended up with her back against the wall, looked at the Duke with her shoulders hunched, her face showing utter bewilderment.

“Um… Did you call me because you have a task for me?”

At her expression of innocent bewilderment, Klaus let out a deflated, hollow laugh.

“A task…? Ha… Yes, I do.”

Having said that, the Duke, as if displeased with the current situation or perhaps angered, growled as he planted his hand next to her head with a thud.

“I need to check something.”

A chill ran down her spine in that instant.

Check? What…?

Could it be… that I’ve been found out?

I thought I had hidden it successfully for three months…

Roselia’s ebony-like long black hair was cut short like a boy’s, barely reaching her ears, and she was dressed in the typical servant’s attire – a neat black tuxedo vest over a white ruffled shirt.

To be precise, a male servant’s attire.

“What exactly do you need to check…?”

Despite her calm voice, Roselia’s gaze avoided Klaus’s eyes and slid to the floor.

Displeased by this, Klaus grabbed her chin and turned her to face him. His navy eyes, meeting her emerald green ones, were filled with a mix of confusion and anger.

“Antonio de Hesink.”

It was her brother’s name, one that still felt unfamiliar no matter how many times she heard it. As that name pierced her ears, her pounding heart gradually found its regular rhythm.

Stay calm. Right now, I am Antonio. I can’t show even the slightest hesitation.

If he discovers I’m a woman, I’ll be killed by this man.

More precisely, I’ll be used and then discarded as in the original story. Of all things, I had to be reincarnated as an extra maid who gets used and killed by the villainous Duke, but it’s still alright for now.

As long as he doesn’t discover that I’m a woman.

“Antonio…”

His face came down so close it nearly touched the tip of her nose.

For some reason, his breath also seemed rougher and faster than usual.

“Damn it, didn’t I tell you not to wear that perfume?”

At Klaus’s growling warning, Roselia felt a surge of indignation.

“I’ve told you, I don’t wear anything like perfume.”

“Ha… For someone who came here in place of a fallen baron’s debt, you certainly speak well…”

“…”

That was true.

She was a maid… no, a manservant who had entered the Balthazar duchy in place of a debt.

Originally the daughter of Baron Hesink, she became a maid in the Balthazar household to pay off the enormous debt incurred by her family’s downfall.

A foolish woman who falls in love with the Duke, gives him her body and heart, only to be used and then killed.

That was the extra character she had been reincarnated as.

But of course, knowing the contents of the novel, she had no intention of dying as written.

So to avoid that death, she had disguised herself as a man.

She thought she just needed to avoid catching the Duke’s eye, but this damned Duke had brought her in disguise to pay off the debt, something that wasn’t even in the original story.

Did it not matter if she was a man? Or was it impossible to change the course of the original story to this extent?

Roselia, now calm, stared fixedly at the Duke’s face, her eyes full of questions. Perhaps interpreting this as defiance or challenge, Klaus twisted up the corner of his mouth and pressed his body even closer to hers, trapped between his arm and the wall.

It seemed to be an act of intimidation, but contrary to his intention, a strange atmosphere formed. Klaus too seemed to instinctively sense this atmosphere, as he remained silent for a while.

“Your Grace…?”

It was she who broke that strange silence.

She could feel his hot breath pouring onto her forehead. Her heart raced madly, fearing that if they stayed this close, the Duke would discover her chest tightly bound with cloth.

“I told you, Antonio. I have an uncanny ability to find what’s hidden.”

It sounded as if he was referring to her chest wrapped in cloth, causing cold sweat to form on her back.

Klaus’s hot lips came close enough to almost touch her ear.

“I need to know what you’re hiding.”

Her ear where his breath touched, and her thigh pressed against his, felt burning hot. The feeling of heat surrounding her from all sides made her mind hazy and unable to think straight.

Roselia confusedly met Klaus’s navy eyes that seemed to pierce through her. It felt as if an invisible, tautly drawn thread was precariously suspended between him and her.

In this extremely difficult and awkward situation, Roselia inwardly screamed.

Hey, Your Grace. Do you really not care if I’m a man?!