Nevertheless, the flowers were innocent, and the pleasant scent went well with the morning, so she took the bouquet and deeply inhaled the fragrance of the freesia.
Gulp.
At that moment, half a dozen servants who had just come in met her eye.
Most of the servants of Lindcoem Mansion were residents of Lindcoem’s territory, so some of them knew the reputation of the faithful nurse living in the convent and treated her humanely, the one who had come out of the dungeon. Until last night.
“…Good morning.”
Attempting to break the awkward and embarrassing atmosphere, she greeted them first, but the servants’ faces were filled with subtle contempt.
Contempt?
That look made her take an objective look at herself. Standing on the Duke’s bed, wearing only a transparent shimizu, holding the bouquet she had received from the Duke.
Anyone would see her as having perfectly spent the night with that man.
“We slept… separately.”
They were only connected by handcuffs, sleeping at opposite ends.
The servants didn’t respond but began cleaning the bedroom. Thanks to that, Skaha, who had been virtually driven to the bathroom, could hear them muttering.
‘See, she lies without blinking an eye. They say when they brought in the morning tea, they were in bed together.’
‘That’s right.’
‘Good heavens. No matter how tough imprisonment is, how could she do the work of a wife…?!’
So, from this morning, all the servants except the housekeeper started to blame Skaha. They seemed to think that Skaha had become the Duke’s wife since she came out of prison.
At least the housekeeper performed his duties diligently according to the Duke’s instructions, though that was limited to bringing breakfast or telling her where to go after bathing.
In fact, she had heard that this is what it meant to be a wife. Social coldness towards those without honor. She never dreamed it would apply to her, though.
But the Duke’s goal would not be to make her his wife. He even said last night that he had no intention of mingling bodies while talking about honor.
Ultimately, she was treated as a fugitive who needed to be handcuffed even when sleeping by the Duke, and as a wife by the servants.
She doesn’t even hope for guest treatment, but wife treatment right after leaving prison.
Among all the misunderstandings, it was not the nobleman of the 10 families who got blamed, but Skaha, the commoner woman mistaken for a wife. So she couldn’t just watch the situation go by.
Since she didn’t have a choice in everything from the moment she was dragged to the dungeon of Lindcoem Mansion.
The Duke might be fine with the misunderstanding that he has a wife as long as he manages his territory well, but if the mansion’s servants, mostly residents of Lindcoem, misunderstand her that way, it would be hard for Skaha to live here.
Skaha went to the living room and carefully spoke to the servants who were tidying up the bedding.
“I’m not a wife.”
“?”
“I’m not anything like a wife… it seems like you all misunderstand…”
Two servants exchanged glances, then shrugged their shoulders with unbelieving faces.
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The soft pink crinoline dress prepared by the butler was a custommade dress for someone.
It was a bit tight in the chest and loose at the waist, but most offtherack products were like that for Skaha, so it didn’t bother her much.
However, having a custommade women’s dress in the mansion of a male heir meant there was a mistress separately. That’s probably why the servants used the expression ‘wife’.
Thinking this way, she understood why they looked at her with contempt.
Standing in front of the Duke’s office door, Scana let out a breath, slightly tense. It was embarrassing somehow, even though she was not dressed up for him. It had been almost ten years since she had worn a dress.
Knock, knock.
At the call to come in, Scana cracked the door open and cautiously entered. The Duke, who did not look particularly tired when he said he was fatigued last night, was sitting in an even more perfect form today.
Thump, the Duke dropped the documents on the desk, staring intently at Scana as she stepped into the office.
When she looked into the other person’s eyes, she could roughly guess what they were thinking, but this man was difficult to understand.
“Not bad for something hastily put on.”
She knew he meant the dress. Scana looked at the Duke, who was complimenting her unexpectedly, with fresh eyes.
“Whose clothes are these?”
“Would you know if I told you?”
“Did I ask for a name? I was asking if you have a wife…….”
At Scana’s grumbling, the Duke leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and slightly raised the corner of his mouth.
“Are you curious about that?”
“I’m more curious about whether your wife is okay with me sharing a bed with you.”
At her defiant voice, the Duke let out a fake laugh and got up.
“Where in the world would a wife be who would share a bed with a woman like you?”
What’s wrong with a woman like me? Scana wanted to say but closed her mouth. She knew the fact from the Duke’s mouth last night.
‘A commoner woman like you.’
Sharing the same bed was dishonorable, but she didn’t want to confirm it with those cold words.
Thankfully, she was able to live as a commoner and not be beheaded like other royalty of Eberen.
“Did you get the flowers?”
Asking with a faintly smiling face that seemed like teasing, Scana opened her mouth with a blank expression.
“The people working at the Duke’s place seem to misunderstand.”
“What?”
“They think I’m your wife.”
“Do I need to care about what my servants think?”
At his indifferent response, Scana shut her mouth. He was truly aristocratic to the core. As the saying goes, he didn’t need to care about the servants’ misconceptions.
Their worlds were different, so there was no need for reputation management.
“Sit.”
Scana approached the table the Duke had gestured to. There were three chairs around the round table in the middle of the office. After a moment of hesitation, Scana sat in a chair slightly behind the Duke.
“……You had to sit there.”
“You didn’t tell me where to sit.”
At the Duke’s dissatisfied voice, Scana moved to a chair where she could face him. Sometimes he talks about honor and being a commoner woman, but he can’t stand her turning her back on him.
Still wearing a blank expression, Scana sat down, and the Duke slowly rose.
“Are you trying to be irritating?”
Her feelings towards him were not positive, but she didn’t want to annoy him either. At least until she got her necklace back.
As he walked towards the table, Scana stared at him intently, and his red eyes never left hers.
“Your eyes are good. You must have slept well.”
“So did you, Your Grace.”
When Scana hit back without losing, a meaningful smile crept onto the Duke’s lips.
“No, I couldn’t sleep because you were touching me so much.”
“What? I… I? I have good sleeping habits……?”
When the bewildered Scana protested, the Duke chuckled.
“Who said that? Someone might have thought you were attacking me.”
“No, what……! Don’t lie!”
“Lie? Who was the one clinging to me no matter how much I pushed you away?”
“No way!”
Her face turning bright red, Scana, on the verge of exploding, shouted in informal language, and he burst out laughing.
Most of the time, he was consistently indifferent, often scowling, but that laughter was…
No matter what he did with that handsome face, it was splendid, but only after seeing that laugh did she realize she had fallen for his joke.
Speaking informally to the only Duke of the Parsad Empire as a commoner! She should at least kneel down, considering he was still laughing.
“I’m, I’m sorry. I was startled…….”
“Sigh…… You’re really an interesting woman.”
He enjoyed the lingering feeling with a chuckle, then pulled out a cigar and sat down across the table.
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
_____
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