Duke, Please Fail! - Chapter 52

Episode 52

While it was partly in jest, Nelly had already suspected Frer once before. Leonel, unaware of this fact, had partially dropped his suspicions.

“Let’s call it a day for now. But if anything suspicious is found,” 

Leonel paused and stared at Frer. His eyes, which were usually bright, gleamed a few shades redder than usual. 

“You won’t get off lightly.”

Frer involuntarily swallowed dryly but outwardly maintained his usual nonchalant demeanor, scratching his head casually.

“It seems I shouldn’t play any tricks, even if I’m scared.”

Without responding, Leonel turned away. It wasn’t until Leonel had completely left the scene that Frer, taking a deep breath, sat down in his spot. He then picked up his pen before the surveillance, which had somewhat relaxed, intensified again.

Before it got too intense, he wrote a coded message to Prince Adelhardt under the pretense of writing a letter to his father.

[What should I do if I’m about to be exposed?]

But the reply he received was cold.

[Just don’t get caught.]

For some reason, the words seemed to be smirking at him. Annoyed, Frer burned the response.

* * *

“Guadang, look here. This is the western tower, and over there is the main building, and beyond that is the eastern tower. This is the garden. I’ll show you the stable.”

I headed towards the stable while greeting the occasional knights I encountered. What I noticed as I roamed around to show Guadang the ways was that there seemed to be an unusually high number of knights today.

‘I hope they aren’t keeping an eye on me?’

I briefly entertained the thought but dismissed it as too speculative, and continued to the stable.

“You can roam freely, but you must sleep here. Do you understand?”

Frer had emphasized that I must continue to remind Guadang that the stable was his home.

After deciding to go for another walk tomorrow and saying goodbye to Guadang, I turned around.

Yawning, I walked towards the western tower. Just as I was about to pass the garden, I saw Leonel standing towards the western tower.

When I stopped walking, it seemed like he sensed my presence and turned around.

“Duke, ahh! Blood!”

“Blood?”

As he tilted his head, blood trickled from his neck. His shirt was already stained bright red.

Just seeing it made me dizzy, and sick to my stomach, and it felt like blood was draining from my entire body.

I rushed over immediately and blocked Leonel’s neck with both hands.

“Are you strangling me now?”

“Are you joking?!”

Leonel shouted but then closed his mouth.

“What should I do? Blood, too much blood is flowing!”

I fidgeted, not knowing what to do, and whether they heard a scream or not, the knights rushed over.

“What’s going on?”

Leonel gestured for them to go away as if it were nothing important.

The knights greeted him with a bow, not showing any concern even when they saw his shirt, which had turned bright red.

‘What’s going on? Are they going like this? The one they’re escorting is bleeding so much?’

I was frozen in shock, and Leonel removed my hand.

“It’s just a scratch, no need to make a fuss.”

“What kind of scratch makes this much blood come out?”

“Well, a knife?”

Is he joking? Is he serious? Given the amount of blood, it seems serious!

Could someone be trying to assassinate Leonel? Is that why the knights suddenly increased?

It’s possible.

However, there had been no such incidents before. Maybe they just passed off incidents like this without me knowing.

Anyway, what should I do? What should I do?

As I rolled my eyes in confusion, I heard a soft laughter from above my head.

“You’re like a startled squirrel.”

Laughter? Squirrel? Making such an inappropriate sound while bleeding like this?

When I looked at him with a puzzled expression, Leonel stopped laughing and turned away.

“It’s late, so go back and rest.”

“Just a moment!”

I instinctively grabbed Leonel’s clothes as he tried to leave.

“Go to Frer.”

“Enough.”

“What’s enough?! Or maybe, maybe a doctor…”

I stopped speaking and bit my lip.

Leonel, like a terminally ill patient with paranoia, had not hired a doctor.

It was an absurd reason, wanting to avoid putting someone in a position where they could easily kill him.

‘At the moment, it doesn’t seem like such an absurd reason, but…’

Anyway, a doctor arrived in the castle about two years later. I don’t know what prompted this decision though.

“Just put some ointment on it!”

“It’s nothing.”

He didn’t seem to be listening at all.

If I let him go, he’d probably change his clothes and go to sleep. In bed! While bleeding profusely!

What should I do? Should I ask the butler for help? Or Levance? Arette?

But why does it seem like none of these three cares?

As I pondered this, I saw Leonel tightly close his eyes, then open them. It was clear that he was feeling dizzy from the loss of blood. At that moment, I remembered the ointment I had kept in the room.

‘I kept it when I cut my finger, but would it work for such a big wound?’

It should. It has to.

I grabbed his clothes and headed west toward the tower without a plan.

As I entered, I ran into Mary. I expected her to scream, but she surprisingly remained calm. She showed a brief look of surprise, but that was it.

“Shall I prepare clean clothes for you?”

Ironically, I was the one who became more flustered. I stuttered out an answer, asking her to do that, and then went into the room.

First, I sat Leonel down on the couch and rushed to the drawer to retrieve the ointment.

There was a red mark in the shape of fingers on the drawer. The blood from my hand, when I tried to stop Leonel’s injury, had also stained the drawer.

I paused for a moment at the eerie sight, then shook my head to regain my composure. I approached Leonel.

He was leaning against the back of the couch with his head down.

“If you keep doing that, your wound will reopen!”

Leonel corrected his posture.

I sat down beside him and examined the wound. I saw dried bloodstains around the wound.

“Ugh.”

It must hurt. I wrinkled my face and opened the ointment, only to discover that my palm had turned bright red.

“Wait. I’ll wash my hands and be right back.”

After washing my hands and returning, I noticed a basket on the sofa table that I hadn’t seen before.

It was filled with clean cloth and bandages as if Mary had left it there.

I sat down next to Leonel again.

“Will this ointment work?”

“It’s not needed.”

Leonel closed his eyes and leaned against the backrest.

“Are you feeling dizzy?”

“I’m tired.”

Is it just an act, or is it genuine? I stared at his face for a moment and then applied pressure to the wound with a white cloth.

“Why is no one paying attention when the Duke is injured?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Seriously, when you get back to your room, look in the mirror. Even ghosts might run away if they see Leonel’s face.”

Leonel chuckled lightly, and blood oozed out.

“Don’t laugh! You’re bleeding.”

After applying pressure for a while, it seemed like the bleeding was slowing down. My hands, which had been clean, turned red again. I gave up and simply opened the ointment jar.

Frowning at the painful-looking wound, I applied the ointment. A bright red gaze stuck to his forehead.

“Then why do you care?”

Without realizing it, I stopped my hands and looked up. Leonel was gazing down at me with half-lidded eyes.

“Didn’t you hate me?”

I thought the word “hate” would come out right away, but I couldn’t get the words out.

Well… it’s because you can’t insult someone directly when they’re right in front of you. That’s why my words got stuck.

I applied more ointment to the wound and pressed my lips together.

“Why do you think that way?”

“You should know without me having to say.”

“Not at all.”

I really can’t figure out where this is going. I thought I had treated him well to avoid revealing my desire for revenge.

We even ate together and had conversations!

Sure, I sometimes glanced at him, retorted, kept my distance when he approached and felt uncomfortable when we were together…

But, wait, this is the same with other people…!

No, it’s not. I haven’t treated anyone else this way. It seems like I do hate Leonel.

‘He’s like a ghost. Well, he is sensitive, so he’s probably suspicious.’

I grumbled to myself as I reached for the bandage. However, Leonel covered the bandage with his hand first.

My fingertips briefly touched the back of his hand. I didn’t intend for that to happen, but I quickly pulled my hand away as if it had been burned.

I raised my head. Our eyes met briefly, and I hurriedly lowered my gaze. But it seemed like the red imprint was still flashing before my eyes.

As I exhaled, my heart raced like an excited donkey.

‘Why is this happening all of a sudden? Did I get too nervous?’

I lightly thumped my chest with my fist, and Leonel tilted his head to the side, meeting my gaze.

“I haven’t heard your answer yet.”

“W-what answer?”

“Why do you care that I’m hurt.”

“When someone is hurt, you either care or you don’t…”

Turning away and removing Leonel’s hand, which covered the bandage, I replied.

Leonel was still tilting his head, looking at me.

His naturally flowing black hair looked soft. Beneath that, perfect eyebrows framed his eyes.

His abundant eyelashes were cast like a shade. His partially obscured irises were a deep color, like dried blood.

Below his straight and perfect nose was his lips, with a more lively hue.

Like blood flowing from the throat…

“Ugh! You’re bleeding. Just stay still!”

I held his head up and wiped away the blood. Fortunately, the bleeding wasn’t too heavy, thanks to the earlier pressure.

After applying the ointment again, I quickly wrapped the bandage tightly before he could move.

“I don’t need the bandage because it’s not broken.”

“If we don’t do this, you’ll keep moving and I’ll see blood everywhere.”

I muttered quietly and picked up another bandage.

I was going to wrap it thickly to prevent any movement. Like a tree bark!