Disguised as a Male Servant in the Duke's House - Chapter 2
Roselia’s green eyes, which lightly avoided the flying bottle of alcohol, sank coldly.
The bottle that flew to the wall behind her shattered into pieces with a loud scraping sound and plummeted to the floor.
Turning her head slightly, she stared at the scene indifferently and then sighed deeply, looking at the person who had thrown the bottle.
“Damn it! Where’s the hidden money? Surely Father must have left you at least a penny?”
With every word the person called ‘Brother Yang’ uttered, a terrible smell of alcohol wafted. Roselia frowned in disgust and opened her mouth coldly.
“Where is there any money left in this wretched house? You’ve already taken and squandered all the money Baron Hesink left behind, haven’t you?”
Not a single word was incorrect.
As the health of Baron Hesink, the master of this house, deteriorated, the family’s fortunes rapidly declined. The son who was supposed to be the heir knew nothing but drinking alcohol and playing cards all night with unsavory characters, so it would have been more surprising if the family’s fortunes hadn’t declined.
Roselia was the one Baron Hesink had brought into the mansion with his new wife when he remarried.
Strictly speaking, they were no different from strangers without a drop of shared blood. That’s probably why the late Baron Hesink had treated her like a maid until his death.
“What about the money you’ve earned while gallivanting outside all this time? Is that gone too?”
Is he out of his mind from drinking? No, Antonio was originally a person who lived forgetting basic concepts.
“Who do you think has been maintaining this crumbling mansion without a single servant?”
Antonio, who seemed to have lost his words at her direct gaze, averted his eyes and then pushed past her, grumbling.
“Get out of the way!”
He had taken all the valuables left in the house, so there was hardly anything worth money left. She had removed and sold the frames on the walls and the few crystal chandeliers that had been hanging from the ceiling to make a living.
Antonio, who was looking around the mansion that was too empty and shabby to be called a baron’s residence, picked up the few remaining candlesticks that were still lighting up the mansion.
As if that wasn’t enough, he looked around like a starving hyena and irritably opened his mouth.
“Isn’t there anything else worth money?!”
Stay calm… After all, no one gets angry at a beast.
That guy was no different from a beast that had given up on being human.
Besides… It would soon be time for that incident to happen anyway, so it was about time to get rid of that annoying guy from this mansion.
Roselia quietly drew out the dagger she had hidden in her bosom.
When she suddenly pulled out a dagger and approached with an ominous expression, Antonio flinched and stepped back.
“W-What are you doing?!”
Antonio, who had no talent for studying or swordsmanship, probably wouldn’t be able to properly block even if she swung the dagger. Moreover, in his completely drunk state…
He stumbled backwards with a flushed face and finally fell on his backside. Roselia, who was looking at him indifferently, raised the dagger to the side.
“Eek…!!”
He cowered and raised his arms, frightened in advance.
Swish-
There was a sound of something being cut by the sharp tip of the blade. Rather than the sound of cutting something, it was more like forcibly cutting through cloth or thread with a knife.
When he felt no pain, Antonio slowly lowered his arms and looked ahead with a bewildered expression.
There stood Roselia, who had cut off her long, ebony-like abundant hair with her own hands, looking down at him with her hair now short to her ears.
As Antonio sat there dumbfounded with a dazed expression, Roselia held out a handful of the cut hair in front of him with a look of contempt.
“You asked for something worth money.”
“Uh, uh…?”
“This is the last thing in this house worth any money, so take it and disappear.”
The black hair, still glossy despite poor nutrition and lack of care, was held intact in her hand. Since it was fashionable to make wigs and adorn hair, she could get quite a bit of money if she took it to a wig merchant.
Antonio hesitantly reached out and snatched the cut hair, glaring at her with a sickened expression.
“You cold-hearted b*tch.”
With those final words, Antonio fled the mansion, and Roselia inwardly scoffed as she watched him go.
Cold-hearted? Well, what wouldn’t one do to avoid death? If her life was at stake, she was willing to do even worse things than this. This was just the beginning.
Antonio would be caught tonight by the gang he owed gambling debts to in the back alleys and would never return to the mansion. Whether he died or was sold into slavery was unknown. The novel didn’t go into that much detail.
And soon he would come. The man who held the lifeline of this damn body.
It was no different from gambling for her. Even if she abandoned this mansion and ran away, she would have starved to death or been sold to a brothel. She chose to take a risk rather than walk a guaranteed path of thorns.
Against Klaus de Balthazar, the duke who was the villain and antagonist of this novel.
Fortunately, she knew him very well, and he didn’t know her.
Looking at her short black hair reflected in the window, she smiled meaningfully.
* * *
A black carriage stopped in front of the mansion that looked so poorly maintained it was questionable if people lived there. As the carriage door opened, a tall man in a navy blue suit stepped out.
His dark blue eyes flashed with displeasure as he looked at the eerie mansion that seemed like ghosts might appear.
“Does anyone even live here?”
In response to his rhetorical question, a man with auburn hair who had gotten out of the carriage after him muttered while flipping through some documents he was carrying.
“According to the records, Baron Hesink has died and his blood relatives Antonio de Hesink and Roselia de Hesink are residing here.”
The man in the navy suit swept his gaze over the mansion with an unpleasant look and offered a brief comment.
“Even if we sold this mansion, we wouldn’t recover half of Baron Hesink’s debt.”
Klaus de Balthazar, Duke.
He was a man guaranteed wealth and honor just by breathing, but another name he was called was ‘the Vault of Lugvelzet’. It was said that all the money and gold in this Lugvelzet Empire passed through his hands.
Publicly, he was investing in the construction of schools, libraries, parks, and other facilities, but in reality, he was engaged in moneylending, lending large sums to nobles and collecting interest.
Some nobles gossiped that it was beneath the honor and status of a ducal family, but Klaus, who had been quick with money and numbers from an early age, had been pursuing this business with bigwigs since his hair started growing, and now he had become a tycoon that even the imperial family couldn’t easily deal with.
Moreover, since he was publicly in charge of constructing large and small public facilities for the empire, there were few who openly slandered the duke’s family. Rather, not only nobles but even major merchant guilds trembled at the mention of Duke Balthazar.
Even the imperial family was said to owe him, so what more needs to be said? It was said that there wasn’t a country beyond the border that hadn’t extended its hand to the Balthazar ducal family, so that said it all.
As the duke swept his gaze over the mansion with a terribly cold look, searching for any corner that might yield money, Alejandro opened his mouth as if disgusted.
“Well, let’s go in first. There might be something of value inside, contrary to expectations.”
With those words, Alejandro nodded towards the back. As if they had arrived unnoticed, several black-clad men got out of three or four carriages and entered the mansion in an orderly fashion.
Following behind them, Duke Balthazar and Alejandro leisurely walked in.
The interior of the mansion was full of dust, as if there weren’t even basic servants to maintain it. The duke’s brow furrowed as he surveyed the mansion, which was not just empty but even had cobwebs visible.
Beside him, Alejandro, who was looking through the documents, muttered as if explaining the situation.
“It seems all the servants were dismissed long ago when Baron Hesink died and the family fortunes declined. Ah… and…”
“And…?”
Klaus furrowed his brow as if wondering what could be worse than this, looking at Alejandro. Alejandro cleared his throat, glanced around slightly, and continued.
“It seems that after Baron Hesink’s death, his adopted daughter Roselia de Hesink also died recently from the same illness.”
Klaus’s already furrowed brow deepened even further.
“Is that true?”
“Yes… It seems the death report was filed recently. I just found it on the last page.”
It was bad news. If there was nothing of value to cover the debt, there should at least be many hands to bring in money. And now one of them had died…
“So only Antonio de Hesink is left?”
“According to the records, yes.”
Although he didn’t have high expectations since he had already received reports that Antonio was addicted to gambling and alcohol, what could he do? There was nothing else left in this baron’s family that could yield money.
The duke’s servants, who had barged in to confiscate the furniture and valuables of the baron’s mansion, were thoroughly searching the interior of the mansion, which was so empty that only dust was flying. Then one of them seemed to discover something and shouted loudly towards Alejandro.
“Um, Assistant Sevian. Over here!”
“What is it? Is there something there?”
Alejandro raised his head abruptly, wondering if there might be some valuable artwork, and the servant who had spoken continued with an awkward expression.
“There’s a person here.”
Klaus’s eyebrows rose quizzically at the servant’s words. The only person who should be in the mansion was Antonio.
He had thought Antonio might be in a back alley tavern since it was so quiet despite so many people barging into the mansion, but was he actually here? Then why hadn’t he come out?
Along with puzzlement, a flash of displeasure crossed Klaus’s face as he strode towards the room where the servant was opening the door. Alejandro followed quickly behind him with an uneasy look.
The room was relatively well-lit. One wall was densely filled with glass windows, allowing sunlight to flood in unfiltered. It was even more dazzling because there weren’t even curtains, probably all torn off and sold.
And in front of that window stood a figure.
Coming suddenly from the dark corridor without a single candle to this room full of light, Klaus squinted to make out the figure before him.
By the window stood a pretty boy dressed in a white poet shirt under neat suit trousers.
No, since the young baron was said to be in his mid-twenties, perhaps he should be called a pretty young man.
The man with short black hair and emerald-like green eyes looked at Klaus and smiled slightly.
“You must be Duke Klaus de Balthazar?”
Klaus silently met his green eyes.
The young baron boldly held out his hand as if asking for a handshake, smiling prettily with a delicate face that looked like it could have made many women cry.
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Antonio de Hesink, the eldest son of the Hesink baron family.”
Male lead is reincarnated to save his wife
I’ve also read this one twice already. The female lead is kinda soft and gets embarrassed easily—not really my type, but the plot is definitely worth reading. Hurry up and read it, y’all!
Intro
When Shen Yuan encountered Su Jin again in his previous life, she had already become the Prime Minister of the current dynasty. As for him, the former top young master of the capital, he had long since fallen into the abyss, becoming a singer on a pleasure boat.
After a song ended, he was redeemed and sent to the Su Residence.
Su Jin respected and cherished him, gave him a roof over his head, and bestowed him with warmth. Shen Yuan fell deeper and deeper, but before he could express his feelings, Su Jin passed away.
Shen Yuan died to follow her in death, but instead, he returned to when he was fifteen years old.
At that time, he was not yet engaged, and Su Jin was just a poor scholar.
Shen Yuan gritted his teeth, casting aside all his pride, and thought of ways to coax and entice her every day.
The colder and more indifferent Su Jin was towards him, the more proactive Shen Yuan became.
He was not afraid of being mocked by the world, only wanting to marry his Wife-master early, to hold her hand and never let go for a lifetime.
[Note: This story will not specifically point out the male lead’s reincarnation time point; it’s all in the details. Whenever you feel that the male lead is acting strangely, he has most likely been reincarnated.]
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
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