Disguised as a Male Servant in the Duke's House - Chapter 5

Roselia, speechless at Klaus’s question, rolled her eyes around.

“Um… Well, that…”

Klaus leaned against the wall with a look that seemed to say, “I’ll listen quietly, so go ahead and speak,” as he waited leisurely. Roselia opened her mouth with a feeling of “oh, whatever.”

“I, I didn’t like where the vase was, so I was in the middle of moving it!”

“At this late hour?”

“Yes…”

Thinking how pathetic she sounded even to herself, Roselia wanted to crawl into a mouse hole.

Meanwhile, Klaus’s icy blue eyes scanned her once more. Feeling as if everywhere his gaze touched was turning red, Roselia struggled not to shrink back and tried to smile nonchalantly.

“It seems you have a hobby of sweating after showering.”

“M-more importantly, what brings Your Grace to my room…”

Roselia quickly changed the subject, her gaze moving to the envelope he was holding. It seemed the Duke had personally brought the 20 verans that Alejandro was supposed to deliver.

“Alejandro had to leave for urgent work in the afternoon.”

Saying that, he held out the envelope. Seeing Roselia with both hands full holding a vase as tall as her upper body, Klaus let out an irritated voice.

“Why don’t you put that down?”

“No! I haven’t decided on a spot yet! P-please put it in here!”

At her request, Klaus looked back and forth between the flowers in the vase and her with a bewildered expression.

“Here?”

“Yes!”

“You want me to put it in?”

“Yes!”

At her firm answer, Klaus inwardly sighed, thinking he must have brought in an eccentric, and gently tucked the envelope among the bunch of flowers in the vase as she asked. Only then did Roselia let out a relieved sigh.

He was about to turn and leave as if his business was done, but he didn’t forget to drop a final remark as if driving in a stake.

“I’ll be looking forward to the content you so boldly promised.”

At his chilling gaze that seemed to say he’d skin her alive and sell her off if she didn’t keep her promise, Roselia swallowed dryly and smiled awkwardly.

“How could there be any doubt?”

At her calm smile, Klaus still looked unconvinced as he slowly turned around.

But then, her tiny voice, as if trying to shrink away, caught his ankle.

“Um… I’m sorry, but could you please close the door on your way out…?”

“…”

Klaus, who had stopped abruptly for a moment in silence, quietly approached and closed the door.

After confirming the door was closed, Roselia slid down to the floor, still hugging the vase.

Her heart felt like it would jump out. She thought she might not live long if she had to endure much longer in this duke’s mansion.

* * *

Roselia was standing blankly behind five or six young ladies chatting cozily around a tea table.

Even though she barely had enough time to find writers who could earn 3,000 verans right away, here she was idly following behind the young lady…

Closet, sitting in front of her, seemed to be in a good mood from the rare outing, chatting away with the young ladies with a bright face. Occasionally, one or two of the younger ladies would glance at Roselia and blush.

“Miss Closet, that new il domestico you mentioned is really…”

“Handsome, right?”

Unlike Closet’s bold words, the young lady who had spoken was blushing. Closet’s shoulders perked up proudly as she turned towards Roselia.

“Antonio.”

At the haughty young lady’s voice, Roselia inwardly sighed deeply and willingly approached, bowing her waist.

“You called, Miss.”

Her voice, lowered as much as possible to avoid being discovered as a woman, sounded like a pleasant tenor. The young ladies who heard Roselia’s voice started squealing and blushing.

“My, how can his facial features be so delicate? I’d believe it if you said he was a woman.”

“Aren’t his eyes beautiful? Just like emerald jewels…”

“Look at that glossy black hair.”

Seeing the young ladies praising with ecstatic eyes, Roselia inwardly broke out in a cold sweat from embarrassment. She could perfectly understand their reaction, given that the recent trend in high society was for pretty boys.

“Antonio used to be a nobleman, so he has a different level of dignity and class compared to other servants.”

Closet’s appearance, all excited as if boasting about her own child, was somewhat cute.

“Oh my! I thought there was something different about him! No wonder!”

“Which noble family did he belong to? But… is he no longer a nobleman now?”

“Oh come on, Lady Madeline! Why does that matter? These days, you can buy and sell family titles, can’t you? Even if his family fell, he could just work hard and buy a title again, right?”

Hmm… That was new information. It was good to know that titles could be bought and sold if you had money.

She had been so focused on just surviving for now that she hadn’t thought that far ahead, but it was information worth considering for the distant future.

“Ah… But I’d be so sad if Antonio were to quit being an il domestico.”

“I know… I’m starting to feel sad already.”

Seeing the young ladies patting each other on the back and even looking into the future, Roselia inwardly clicked her tongue. They didn’t seem to have the slightest idea that the person they were blushing over was actually a woman. It made her feel a bit guilty.

“Oh right, my father recently brought something from the Western Empire. Would you like to take a look at it together?”

What the blonde young lady pulled out was an accessory that looked like jewels woven together like flowers.

Glancing at the accessory, Roselia could roughly guess its identity based on the description she had vaguely read in the novel.

While it was an unfamiliar accessory in the current Rugbelzet Empire, it was fashionable in the Lapelios Empire located in the West.

“What is this? It doesn’t seem to be a necklace… and it’s an odd length for a bracelet…”

“It can’t be earrings either… Perhaps it’s an accessory to attach to a dress?”

The young ladies chimed in one by one, but none matched the correct answer.

“I see the young ladies don’t know either. I received it as a gift, but I don’t know how to use it…”

At that moment, Roselia, who had been silent, quietly offered a word.

“It’s called a hair vine.”

“…? Pardon?”

As all the young ladies’ gazes suddenly turned to her at once, Roselia cleared her throat awkwardly and continued in a low voice.

“If it’s not too presumptuous, may I personally help the young lady put it on?”

She felt sorry and guilty towards the young ladies who were showing interest without knowing she was a woman, so she thought to help a little.

Contrary to Roselia’s thoughts, the young lady who owned the accessory nodded, blushing.

Roselia received the accessory, draped it over her arm, and carefully gathered the young lady’s hair, neatly twisting it up. Her hand movements were skilled and familiar from always styling her own lush hair.

The surrounding young ladies watched her with surprise or admiration at her delicate handiwork. After completing an elegant updo that was neat to the point of being graceful, Roselia took the hair vine she had draped over her arm and attached it around the young lady’s updo in a shapely manner.

Unlike the women of Rugbelzet who wore their hair long as a symbol of beauty, in the Western Lapelios Empire, it was fashionable to neatly twist up the hair to reveal the neck and shoulders.

And this hairstyle along with the hair vine accessory was soon to become a trend that would hit the Rugbelzet social circles.

Roselia smiled gently at the young lady who was touching her neck, seemingly feeling awkward with her neck and shoulders exposed.

“It suits you well, my lady. As the weather will soon be getting warmer, going about like this wouldn’t be bad.”

“R-really?”

Seeing the young lady blushing shyly, Roselia felt her heart lighten a bit from the guilt she had been feeling.

At that moment, Closet, who had been quietly watching, chimed in.

“Antonio.”

“Yes, Miss.”

“Do mine too.”

“Ah, yes…”

Seeing Closet puffing up her cheeks like a child upset at having her mother taken away, Roselia couldn’t help but smile faintly.

* * *

In the carriage on the way back, Closet was looking out the window with a beaming face, her hair still in the updo Roselia had done for her.

Finding it somewhat cute, Roselia wondered if this was how it would feel to have a younger sister.

Just then, Closet, who had been humming while looking out the window, inadvertently turned her head and made eye contact with Roselia. Seemingly embarrassed for no reason, Closet cleared her throat and changed the subject.

“It’s not that I like the hairstyle. I’m just in a good mood today, that’s all.”

Yes, yes, of course~.

Roselia nodded with a gentle smile.

“Unlike you, Miss, Lady Madeline of the Marquis family seemed to really like it, which is fortunate.”

Closet’s shoulders stiffened at Roselia’s words, and with a somewhat displeased expression, she turned her head towards the window and muttered barely audibly.

“It’s not that I don’t like the hairstyle though…”

“Pardon? I didn’t quite catch that~”

“Never mind! More importantly… Um… I heard from Al…”

Al? Who’s Al? Could she mean Alejandro?

“Klaus… brought Antonio in as a servant because of a debt…”

Well… to be precise, she had made the proposal first to pay off the debt, but… since the gist of it was correct, she didn’t refute it.

“Really… Even though we’re blood relatives, I don’t know how that person can only care about money.”

Feeling an inexplicable disappointment and resentment in her grumbling, Roselia tilted her head curiously.

“As a member of the Baltazar ducal family, I apologize on behalf of that cold-blooded man.”

“No… Well, there’s no need for you to apologize, Miss…”

“That money-obsessed person will get burned badly someday. You’re my il domestico, so I’ll protect you from that cold-blooded man from now on.”

“No, well… you don’t have to go that far…”

Seeing Closet’s expression, which looked somewhat resolute, Roselia didn’t bother to continue. She could only guess that there seemed to be some issues between the siblings.

In fact, in the original novel, the focus was only on Klaus, the villain, and there was hardly any description or development regarding his sister Closet. As a result, details about Klaus’s family circumstances or past history were never mentioned. Just that they had lost their parents early…

While she was thinking about this, the carriage had already arrived at the duke’s mansion.

As she was escorting Closet out of the carriage, she saw Klaus walking towards them, seemingly about to leave for work.

Closet’s shoulders stiffened visibly when she spotted Klaus.

Soon, Closet hardened her expression haughtily and walked past Klaus without even a light greeting. Watching her blankly, Roselia somehow felt Closet’s small retreating back looked lonely, and before she knew it, she found herself addressing Klaus.

“You could have at least greeted the young lady first.”

As if her words were truly unexpected, Klaus furrowed his brow and turned his head.

“Is that any of your business?”

“The young lady is still young, and you seem too cold to her.”

“You must have a lot of free time to worry about such things.”

After saying that, as Klaus was about to walk away again, Roselia, recalling how Closet’s bright expression had darkened, unconsciously blurted out.

“It seems you don’t understand what the young lady wants, Your Grace.”

Those words must have struck something in Klaus, as he slowly stopped and pierced her with a chilling gaze.

When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem

This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Synopsis:

“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”

Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.

Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.

While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the  Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…

Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.

_____

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