Shall I Save You, Duke? (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 2
“Lina, I heard you’ve become the personal maid of the Duke who just returned?”
She had already been working as a maid at Permanence Manor for three years.
By the time Lina returned to the estate after her summer vacation, she had already been appointed as the personal maid of the Duke, who had come back from war.
“Has the rumor already spread?”
“Of course! Everyone keeps a close eye on anything related to His Grace! Susan kept boasting that she’d be the Duke’s personal maid—and look how that turned out!”
May, with her short brown bob, chattered excitedly, then quietly crept closer to Lina.
“But Lina, have you heard that rumor?”
“What rumor?”
“The curse on the Permanence ducal family.”
“…A curse?”
May glanced around cautiously and whispered into Lina’s ear in a hushed voice.
“I overheard Rilda from the kitchen saying… the reason the Permanence ducal family—the founding nobles of the Empire—hasn’t even a single collateral branch is because they’re under a divine curse…!”
“A divine curse…?”
“Yeah. It’s said that for generations, the Permanence family has only ever produced one son to carry on the lineage—and not a single one of them has lived past thirty. There’s even a rumor that the previous Duke and Duchess died because of this curse.”
Lina had heard that the previous Duke and Duchess had died in a carriage accident when the current Duke was just eight years old. At the time, the late Duke had been only twenty-eight.
‘That really was far too young to die.’
“So when our young Duke, with no heir of his own, was dragged off to war, everyone apparently whispered that this would finally be the end of the Permanence line, which had barely clung on all these years. Yet here he is, returning in glory…”
May cupped her flushed cheeks with both hands as if recounting a fairy-tale hero’s story.
“Doesn’t he seem just like the male lead of a novel with a tragic past?”
Lina smiled gently at May and spoke softly.
“I get it—let’s stop talking and finish cleaning first. You keep sweeping the stairs. I’ll quickly wipe down the hallway and come help you.”
“Oh dear! Look at me! Got it!”
Lina watched May’s retreating back and picked up a rag to start mopping the floor.
“A divine curse…”
The current Duke was twenty-five—if May’s words were true, that meant he had barely five years left to live.
“How tragic…”
Some people wanted to die but couldn’t, while others longed to live but couldn’t—it was a truly ironic situation.
Long ago, Lina had fallen victim to someone’s curse and lost her beauty.
Because of it, she could only regain her original appearance once a month—on the night of the full moon.
To break the curse and reclaim her true form, she needed someone’s genuine love—someone who would cherish even her shabby, cursed self.
‘This isn’t some children’s fairy tale.’
But the strange thing was, she had absolutely no memory of her life before the curse.
All she remembered was the fact that she’d been cursed and the two syllables of her name: Lina.
She couldn’t recall who had cast the curse, or when. She didn’t even know her age, or whether she’d had parents or siblings.
In the end, unable to bear the fear of being utterly abandoned by the world, Lina had leapt from a storm-lashed cliff to end her life.
But what awaited her wasn’t the peace death promised.
Instead, she heard the unfamiliar, sickening crunch of breaking bones and felt the excruciating pain just before death.
Only then did she realize—it wasn’t just her beauty that had been stolen. Lina must have been lost in thought for quite a while, her expression blank as she recalled the past.
“Kyaaak!”
At the sound of a sharp scream and something crashing heavily to the floor, Lina snapped back to her senses.
“That voice… May?”
She dropped the broom she’d been holding and dashed toward where the sound came from.
“May!”
Sure enough, May lay sprawled on the floor, as if she’d tumbled down the stairs.
“Lina… Ugh!”
Seeing Lina, May tried to sit up, but winced in pain—apparently she’d hurt her leg—and collapsed weakly again.
“May! Are you alright?! Lean on my shoulder! We’re going straight to the infirmary!”
Lina supported May and hurried toward the infirmary.
Click.
When Lina opened the infirmary door, Hans—the assistant to the Permanence family’s personal physician—was sitting inside.
After helping May onto the infirmary bed, Lina asked Hans for treatment. But his reply was a cold refusal.
“What? You can’t treat her?”
“I already told you—I’m busy. I don’t have time to waste on a mere maid who’s just twisted her ankle.”
Hans spoke with an arrogant expression and tone. Glancing at his desk, Lina noticed telltale signs that he’d been doing a word puzzle.
Watching him, Lina barely swallowed the angry retort rising in her throat and managed to continue speaking.
“Then at least let me use some medicine. I’ll treat her myself.”
“The Permanence family’s precious medicines can’t be carelessly handled by a maid with no medical knowledge. If you really want treatment, go gather herbs from Alina Forest.”
“Hans!!”
Frustrated by Hans’s endless excuses, Lina shouted his name—but he calmly walked out of the room as if he had nothing more to do with her.
Bang!
“Sigh…”
This wasn’t the first or second time Hans had refused to treat her or May like this.
Ever since they’d been outsiders among the estate’s young maids, he’d constantly ignored them and denied them care whenever he got the chance.
‘What should I do? Should I tell the head maid?’
But even if she did, the head maid would surely just slap on some ointment and call it treatment. Lina examined May’s ankle.
‘The injury doesn’t look too serious. With Forinen herbs, it should heal quickly.’
Convinced that reporting to the head maid would only delay treatment, Lina decided to gather herbs from Alina Forest behind the estate.
“May, wait here for a bit. I’ll quickly run to Alina Forest and be back.”
“What? No, Lina! Alina Forest?! That’s the forest where the ghosts of the late Duke and Duchess appear! I’m fine—just tell the head maid, and she’ll definitely…”
“When would she even get around to treating you? And even if the head maid or the butler came, do you really think Hans would properly treat you? He’d probably just pretend to help and give some random, useless remedy again. I can handle this myself, so don’t worry. I’ll hurry to the forest and quickly gather the herbs we need.”
“But, Lina…”
Lina gently patted May’s head and smiled.
“And ghosts? There’s no such thing in the first place.”
Caw! Caw!
The moment Lina arrived at Alina Forest—having boldly declared her intentions earlier—she instantly regretted it.
The cawing of crows in the deserted forest only deepened its eerie atmosphere.
“It’s darker than I thought… and kind of cold, too…”
Lina rubbed her arms with both hands against the chilly air brushing her skin and hurried her steps.
But in her haste, she failed to notice a tree root stretching across the ground—and tripped over it.
“Ugh!”
She tumbled into a pile of dirt, utterly ruining her pristine white apron.
“Sigh. This just won’t work. It’s too dark to tell herbs from weeds, and I’ll probably hurt myself before I even find any. Normally, I’d never use magic inside the estate… but since hardly anyone comes here, it should be fine, right?”
Glancing around, Lina picked up a slender twig lying on the ground.
[Fortismos.]Holding the twig, Lina murmured a quiet incantation. Light began to glow from the tip, gradually brightening her surroundings.
“Phew… Now I can actually see something.”
She surveyed the area again, satisfied.
Not long after realizing she’d become immortal, Lina discovered she possessed a small amount of magical power.
That magic had greatly aided her through four centuries of life. Yet in this age, using magic was something she couldn’t reveal—so she avoided it whenever possible.
‘At least thanks to using magic, no one’s found out I’m immortal.’
If she were discovered, she might be dragged to the Mage Tower and turned into a horrifying test subject.
Thus, to keep her identity hidden, Lina couldn’t stay in one place too long or live a life that drew attention.
Of course, that didn’t mean she didn’t wish to use magic to become a noble and live luxuriously, or earn money for a comfortable life.
‘I’ve actually lived that kind of life before.’
But the lives of nobles or wealthy merchants carried too great a risk of exposure. To avoid revealing her agelessness, she’d have to periodically reinvent her identity—and it was surprisingly troublesome for someone of high status to vanish abruptly.
Whether by sudden death or disappearance, such events always drew intense public scrutiny. In contrast, no one cared if a commoner girl disappeared.
So she chose to become a maid—the most common life for young commoner girls like her current self. Just one among countless maids serving in a noble estate.
Lina finally snapped out of her thoughts when she spotted Forinen glowing purple among the weeds.
“Found it. I should take a little extra—just in case I need more later. I really don’t want to come back here.”
As she focused intently on plucking Forinen petals, a rustling sound came from behind her.
‘No way…’
Startled by the sudden noise, Lina quickly dispelled her magic.
Instantly, the brightened surroundings plunged back into darkness. She watched the direction of the sound and swallowed hard.
‘Is someone there…?’
She sensed something unknown slowly approaching her. In an instant, her mind filled with confusion and panic.
[That’s the forest where the ghosts of the late Duke and Duchess appear…!]May’s words suddenly echoed in her ears.
“Oh, come on… no way…”
But as soon as she recalled May’s warning, cold sweat beaded on her skin, and a trickle ran down her back.
An inexplicable chill made Lina’s shoulders tremble.
‘I can’t stay here. I need to leave—now!’
Determined to escape the forest as quickly as possible, she hastily gathered the petals.
Just as she stood and took a step toward the estate, an unfamiliar sensation seized her hand.
A firm, rough grip enveloped her entire hand, yanking her backward with sudden force.
The armful of Forinen she’d gathered tumbled to the ground in a cascade.
“Oh.”
Her mouth hung open in shock, and for a moment, she forgot to breathe—letting out only a soft gasp.
Amid the heavy silence, a gentle breeze drifted through, lifting the fallen petals from the ground.
Through the softly fluttering purple Forinen petals, a man stared at her with piercing eyes—and somehow, his face didn’t feel entirely unfamiliar.
A stranger might have found the scene quite romantic.
Or, if she were an ordinary woman, she might have felt her heart flutter at the sight of such a handsome man standing before her.
‘No—even if I weren’t ordinary… at least if he were someone I’d never seen before, I’d probably blush shyly at the very least.’
Yes. If only this were their first meeting.
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.]
MANGA DISCUSSION
2 Comments
Chapter Comments (64)
As if hearing Loen’s words, Susan curled one corner of her mouth.
“Well, we’ll see about that.”
A strange, sinister glint flickered in her eyes.
There is always character like that ckckck
haha well the duke remembers you alright,you are doomed
They were fated kah? That scene is so cliche 😂 it’s okey, still good…
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Blairwoods
So, both of them were cursed? It’s like beauty and the beast. Find a true love 😂
debban23
this looks complicated on both ends,let us see how it goes