The Devilish Duke Can’t Sleep

Proofreader: somnium

The world has to be a little rough

Lena greeted them while loosening her expression that had been a little stiff until now.

“Hello. My name is Lena, I work as the Duke’s close maid.”

At Lena’s attitude in replying with a smile on her face, which was completely absent of malice, the two knights also softened their stiff pose.

“Uhum! That, then…… You must be a noble family’s Lady.”

“No. I am a commoner.”

“Ah…… So, did you grow up in a temple?”

“What? No…… I worked as a maid in Kerouac.”

Lena answered, but she believed it would be shocking to the knights. The position of a duke or duchess’ close maid was a fairly high position among the vassals, and usually, no, it was necessarily a woman from a noble family. Unsurprisingly, the two of them stood firm with subtle expressions.

“Actually, I don’t even know how I became the close maid. I do it because they asked me to…….”

Lena was somehow embarrassed, so she added something for no reason.

However, what surprised the knights was not the fact that commoners became the Duke’s close maid. She was not from a noble, priesthood, or knighthood, but just how an ordinary woman could withstand the Duke’s devilish power. It was the part that all employees were curious about since Kahel and his party arrived at the castle.

However, they were ordered to remain silent about the devilish curse, so they couldn’t even ask her directly.

“Hmm! Hmm, hmm…… His Excellency must have thought everything out, so he put Miss Lena as his maid.”

While trying to bury their curiosity in that way, Lena lowered her eyebrows and threw out another bombshell.

 

“I think His Excellency is very kind and sympathetic. I may have looked a little pitiful in my situation, but there was no need to give me such an undeserved position…… Because he’s such a weak hearted, it’s too much, but sometimes I’m worried about him. The world has to be a little rough.”

The expressions on Jeter and Hayern’s face became extremely strange at the sound of Lena’s chattering. Hayern seemed unaware of losing the skewer with the potato that he held in his hand.

“Are you talking about His Excellency the Duke of Luave?”

“Yes. Is there anyone else you call His Excellency?”

“He’s…… very…… kind…… and sympathetic?”

Lena smirked at their astonished faces.

“Actually, when I first saw him, I was scared. But when I watch him from the side, he is very kind. It seems like he is trying not to show that.”

Still, Jeter and Hayern’s expressions did not improve. Eventually Lena picked up the potato skewer, which Hayern had missed, and, as they did, she buried them in the ashes in the fireplace. Just as the water in the kettle began to boil, Lena carefully lowered the kettle from the fire by lifting the stick by the side of the fireplace.

“Ah! I put a luggage bag with tea leaves in the sled compartment. Wait a minute. I’ll bring it to you soon.”

Lena hurriedly headed for the sled parked outside the hut, and the two men, who were still stiff, slowly met each other’s faces.

“Our Duke…… kind…… ?”

“I don’t know whom she’s talking about, but that probably isn’t the Duke I know. For sure”

“She is a maid from the countryside, right? Could it be that if she doesn’t get beaten with a whip, she mistook it for being kind? I heard that there are still nobles in the countryside who treat their people like slaves.”

“That’s a pretty reasonable guess.”

“By the way…… How can she really be okay in front of the Duke?”

 

“I know, right? It is said that most of the devilish power is suppressed thanks to the holy relic, but sometimes when he is in a bad mood, it just pop out.”

Hayern scratched his chin and tilted his head. The reason Jeter and Hayern were assigned to escort him to Kalahan Mountain was because their auras were the strongest. It was strong enough for them not to be possessed by Kahel’s devilish power if they protected themselves with their auras.

However, in their view, Lena was no different from other girls her age, and she didn’t seem to have powers, just as she said. Still, it was strange that she was not affected by the devilish power at all.

“Isn’t it possible that she drinks a potion of purification every time she eats without realizing it?”

“Things like that happen, too. No, that’s the most plausible.”

Since Kahel didn’t tell her, if they dig it out, only bad things would come up. They shrugged and rummaged through the potatoes being roasted in the ashes again. After running in a cold place and sitting in front of a warm fire, they became very tired. Then, suddenly, Hayern muttered.

“Then, why hasn’t the lady who went to pick up tea leaves come back?”

“…… .”

At that moment, the two of them, whose backs grew cold, got up and opened the door of the hut. However, there was just a pure white snow field in front of them, and the presence of the maid who had been chatting with them until just now was nowhere to be felt.

“My God, damn it!”

The sled was tied to the back of the hut, but Lena’s footprints were cut off without even going round the corner of the hut. What’s even more depressing is that where Lena’s footprints were cut off, other footprints, not hers, were also scattered.

“This is Sevchek’s footprint…….”

Sevchek was a monster in the form of a dwarf. It walks on two legs, but its arms are long and it can run on four legs when in a hurry. At first glance, it has a human-like shape, but it has horns growing from the top of the head along the spine, so its shape is quite eerie. Besides, among the monsters, it was quite smart, and it was more troublesome than the bigger monsters.

“How did I not hear anything?”

“No matter what happens, we have to chase after it!”

The two hurriedly began to follow Sevchek’s footsteps.

* * *

“Strange…….”

Kahel let out a low groan as he looked over the magic railings on Kalahan Mountain. There was something very strange.

The magic barrier was intact with no cracks. If that was the only thing that could be confirmed, it would be over as no monsters had yet to appear. However, on the still snowy scene of Kalahan Mountain, there were too many footprints to be attributed to a mountain beast. It must have been the footprints of a monster.

‘If there was a monster, of course they would have tried to go down the mountain…… Why is the fence intact?’

Although monsters also eat wild animals, they instinctively try to harm humans. It’s a natural thing because it’s a beast from the demon world that made a contract with the devil. So, the monster that arose in the middle of Kalahan Mountain when it smelled humans, they would attack the closest humans first. And usually because the human was Kahel, they could not harm the people of Shardden.

However, there were no footprints under the barrier. It was strangely clear on the snow, to the extent that he thought that the footprints above the railings would not have come down this far even if they were the footprints of a wild beast.

‘What? Obviously there is something…….’

Kahel headed back down the mountain with an ominous feeling. Using magical powers, his physical abilities could be further strengthened, so his speed was so fast that it could not be compared with a normal human. But even as he was moving so fast, a pit, dug as if a bomb had exploded, stood out.

‘What is that? That is definitely something….’

It was the first phenomenon he had seen while traveling to and from Sharden. Kahel headed to the place where the ground had been dug like a black dot on a white snowfield. And then he quickly clenched his teeth. The pit was a pit from which the monster came out. Around the pit, traces of magic and the dark energy of monsters were still vibrating.

He doesn’t know what the hell happened, but a monster that had arisen in the middle of Kalahan Mountain burrowed out here beyond the barrier.

At that moment, it was Lena that came to mind. If the monster had crossed the barrier, the humans closest to here were Lena and the two guards. And just at the same time, two of the escorts were seen running in the distance. They were running towards Kalahan Mountain, pointing over the snow.

There was no way the two of them would have left Lena alone in the hut. That meant that Lena was in danger.

“Jeter! Hayern!”

Kahel quickly headed to where the escorts were. They seemed to be quite surprised by Kahel’s sudden appearance, but before that, their face had already turned white.

“What about Lena?”

“Se, Sevchek has appeared, Your Excellency!”

“It seems that Sevchek has kidnapped the maid. But it hasn’t been long!”

“You go back to the hut. Protect yourself with the aura. I will find Lena.”

Jeter and Hayern felt the powers build up as Kahel spoke, their breath choking. However, Jeter grabbed Kahel’s attention even in the midst of a frenzy.

“Something is strange this time, Your Excellency. The maid disappeared less than a few steps from the hut, and we swore we heard nothing. Even though there is no way the maid could not have seen Sevchek and not yelled.”

A groan that could not be swallowed came from Kahel’s throat.

“The monsters…… Looks like they evolved. Are the sleds and reindeer safe?”

“Yes. They didn’t even touch the reindeer.”

“Then you go straight to the castle. Divide the knights and defend the castle and village. Leave right now!”

“Yes!”

Jeter and Hayern knew very well that they couldn’t be Kahel’s great strength in this situation where the monsters appeared. Because of them, it was a greater danger if Kahel could not draw out enough of his magic power, so they hurried to the hut as Kahel ordered.

And Kahel began to follow Sevchek’s footprints and the magic it had spilled.

* * *

“Kiik, Kihiik.”

It was the sound an old man with phlegm in his throat would make. Lena opened her eyes, wondering where this sound was coming from. Her eyes were blurry, but she could tell that someone was standing in front of her. Then, as she pondered, she remembered that her eyes suddenly flashed white while she was on her way to pick up tea leaves.

Although the surroundings weren’t bright, it didn’t look like she was indoors from the cold air flowing down to the bones. She regretted leaving her sable coat in the hut. And then there was a strange, unidentifiable sound. Surrounding her was someone, no, not someone. Those feet in front of here were not human.

‘What is that? Beast? No…… Were there any beasts that walked on two legs … ?’

In addition, the feet were divided into three parts. The long, split toenails on the tips of the toes, which were as green as a corpse, were hideous.

Lena tried desperately to think of something, taking hold of her dazed mind.

‘So, that’s…… Yes, that must be the monster. And I…… I was caught by a monster. Is it?’

Kahel never told her, but Lena had heard the story from Arder before she came to Sharden about the hunt. So that thing which she couldn’t figure out what it was, must have been a monster.