Chapter 13 : He’s My Real Brother, Duke 

The maid, Rudel thought.

It was not a good wish for the Duke’s benefactor to dare to serve, but Astel now felt like a young daughter who wanted to be seen well by her parents, so she couldn’t be recklessly removed.

She has always been evaluated for being cool and straightforward.

It was an essential quality to manage the Duke castle without a hostess in a neat state at all times and without problems.

So the nervous breakdown was only up to her.

There wasn’t a single person who knew that…

‘How did she notice that her straight head felt heavy today?’

“So, just take it!”

The glistening human eyes.

And the interior of the Delphinium Room, which looks like heaven, was organized with her beautiful fingertips.

She could see that little human woman as small as a bean was trying to look good on her.

Does it work like that?

Surprisingly, Rudel liked the meticulous and impeccable handling of everything in the room, and the gentle side of the maids who had not yet been educated was quite good.

Perhaps that’s why a little bit of warmth came up in her frosty eyes.

‘There’s nothing we can do about it.’

Although she was the most cold-blooded person in the castle, she also had a human heart.

She wasn’t so ruthless enough to push away anyone who warmly hits her like the sun.

She stared at Astell, pressing down on the aching temples once again, and accepted what she was handing over.

“Thank you.”

“If you want to try it and it’s good, you must tell me!”

“I’ll do that, Astel.”

‘In particular, if she kept following me with those cute eyes, I couldn’t stand it.’

‘I don’t think it’s good to feel like being captured by humans.’

So she drew the line moderately.

“However, in the case of potions taken by shapeshifters in the Duke’s Castle, it was a rule to ask the healer of the internal treatment center to check the ingredients, but they cannot be taken immediately.”

Astel laughed bashfully, even though it meant that she couldn’t be trusted.

She was warm like a person who has never been hurt.

“Yes, you can! I only put in good ones. It’s the truth!”

It’s something Rudel couldn’t understand.

‘It must be hard to smile so warmly even though you’re being suspected and rejected.’

She must have grown up comfortably and lovingly.

“…Yes, please.”

Rudel turned away after a short glance.

She had no immunity to people without shade.

At least it seemed that she shouldn’t dig more about it today.

She turned bluntly without speaking more.

* * *

I made up my mind once again, looking at Rudel walking out in a straight posture.

In fact, I was used to being rejected and discouraged, so I approached bravely with the heart of saying,

“If it doesn’t work, don’t do it.”

I was confident that I would be fine even if I was rejected.

‘It was essential to get acquainted with the Maid Rudel, who does not know anything about public news outside the castle.’

I have entered the Duke’s Castle, but I haven’t reached the spies who have destroyed and framed our family.

‘Let’s think carefully about the information I know about the castle.’

The Duke of Anais was different from the common aristocratic family.

There were a total of four major families within the Duke Castle.

Jaguar of swordsmanship, silver fox of magic, shark of divination, wolf of intelligence.

The four successors to each family were also candidates for the next Duke.

At this time, the succession was not necessarily determined by blood ties.

At the moment, the current Duke of Anais was adopted by the former Duke, who came from the wolf family.

It wasn’t even clear if the current Duke of Anais was a wolf.

Nevertheless, it was a strange case in which he became a head of the wolf family with overwhelming power and also became a Duke.

In accordance with this custom, the successors of each vassal family lived in a separate house of Duke Castle and received successor education, including the Kingdoms education, separately.

And…

I once again recalled the hint about the spy from the original.

‘The spies would surely be near the successors.’

There are a total of three spies, all of whom are males, and are working to kill the immediate blood relatives of the vassal family, especially the current major successors.

I didn’t know why they wanted to kill the successors, but the fact that they were going to kill the successors was clearly stated in the original.

What was important to me at this time was the spies themselves, but it was more important to get my hands on the artifacts they had.

There was a setting that when the artifacts they possessed were combined, behind them their background would be revealed, together with the final villain.

Therefore, before the spies killed the heirs of the vanished family and escaped to the Duke Castle, I have to capture them, and knock them out, and steal their artifacts to find out who was behind them.

It was a devastating situation, but fortunately, there was a spy who was revealed in the original.

It was Sam, the only human healer in the Duke’s Castle.

‘I need to find out information about how Sam lives.’

From then on, I greet Rudel with pleasure every time I meet her.

There would be nothing to do anyway, so I went to the place where she would appear and began to act like a golden retriever maid.

“Did you take the potion I gave you?”

“Not yet, lady Astel.”

“Well… do you like key lime pie?”

(N: Key lime pie is an American dessert pie made of Key lime juice, egg yolks, and sweetened condensed milk.)

“I don’t like it that much.”

Despite the stern refusal, I pulled out a nicely wrapped pie from my pocket.

“I knew that, and I prepared a pie made of hawthorn leaves! This was good for headaches. It makes you feel relaxed.”

The onslaught certainly worked.

I could see Rudel’s expression softening day by day.

“It’s rose water mixed with lime. It’s good to sprinkle it on sensitive nerves!”

“I have to spray it on my face once.”

I was delighted when Rudel joked with a blunt face and a slight smile.

You even laughed and joked at me now.

It was a tremendous improvement!

“Thank you, Astel.”

She got close to me as if her clothes were wet from her drizzle.

(T/N: Astel meant that Rudel’s close to her now, like wet clothes that stick to the body.)

Of course, it’s still a critical hit.

Probably, the countless men present in this Duke Castle have confirmed me and Rudel often going around together.

People who are obsessed with shapeshifters supremacy, don’t like me and Rudel being together.

However, it was evident that some of the shapeshifters noticed that Rudel, the real proxy of the Duke, quietly gave her side to me and changed her route.

Thanks to this, the atmosphere began to change.

So the maid, Rudel, and the other maids were gradually becoming my source of information.

I mean…

It meant that the time had come to throw the bait.

I started fishing for information, recalling the book “Revenge Manual” in my pocket.

“How’s the atmosphere at the treatment center here?”

Sally took the bait first when I talked about the treatment center.

“Ah, yes! Astel said you were a therapist, right?”

“Yes!”

“It’s not like I like humans, but…!”

I’m almost done.

I stared at Sally’s bean-like eyes then bent the corner of my eye as if blinking.

Sally, inspired by my wink, opened her mouth.

“And now that I think about it…There’s a human healer inside the Duke’s castle, his name is Sam.”

My eyes glistened as if I had heard the good news.

“I want to work in a treatment center like him!”

“How about talking about it with the Duke? Since you’re a benefactor, wouldn’t your Excellency accept your request?”

I nodded my head vigorously.

If the maids, who have seen the Duke for a long time say so, the chances that he might let me work at the treatment center are indeed high.

No matter how hard I think about it, I could see a brilliant future!

* * *

“No.”

The Duke answered, inside the Duke’s office.

The Duke’s delicate mouth, which was sitting opposite me, was strangely twisted.

“It could strain Astel’s body.”

Unfortunately, my first attempt failed.

He put his hand on the back of my hand with a look of indifference.

Looking at the back of the hand with the thick tendons, I was curious about Duke Anais’s race, which no one knew.

“Today I didn’t overdo it at all, Astel.”

When his hand held mine, Only then I could breathe.

“You have a slight fever.”

“Don’t worry.”

Fortunately, there was still something I prepared.

I showed “A Pledge never to Overwork,” “Take Care of Work and Life Balance” and “Skinship Therapy” on his desk.

“So I made a perfect plan that I would never overwork.”

I opened my eyes and reached out my hand towards him, grasping the papers tightly.