Duke, Please Fail! - Chapter 58

Episode 58

As expected, I felt perfectly fine. Even the occasional drowsiness I used to experience had disappeared, perhaps due to the sleeping potion. 

Instead, I felt a strange vitality. My mind was clearer than before, and my body felt lighter.

‘Was I always in a drowsy state?’

We used to do the work of four people with nine, so I thought it would be more manageable now. Why was it still challenging?

I tilted my head in thought when Gerald brought over ledgers and reports. I skimmed through the documents and checked the remaining stock of alcohol. Come to think of it, there was a time when I complained about running out of beer during a festival.

“We should pay more attention to the brewing and consumption quantities. We can’t afford to run out of beer at the festival a few months from now.”

“Yes, Miss Nelly.”

Since Queen Her Majesty was coming, it might be wise to purchase separate wine for hosting guests. After reading through the ledgers and reports, I made a brief note on my notepad: ‘If beer supply runs low, purchase in advance from nearby cities; investigate wine suppliers.’

After Gerald left, I moved on to other tasks. In the afternoon, I rode Guadang and personally inspected the cultivation fields. This time, I explored a larger area without a carriage.

Even though the weather was getting warmer, I didn’t feel as suffocated as I did when riding in a carriage. My breathing was better than usual.

‘Today, my physical condition seems good.’

I returned to the management office and tidied up my desk, humming to prepare for my departure. I could sense Tom, Gerald, and Sophie lingering beyond the open door. Normally, I might have been on guard and wondered why they were acting this way, but today I was in a good mood, and I didn’t pay much attention to it.

After finishing tidying my desk, I was about to leave when Sophie entered the room.

“Are you leaving work?”

“Yes. See you tomorrow, Sophie.”

“Okay!”

Sophie smiled brightly and nodded. But then she suddenly realized something and followed me.

“Miss Nelly!”

“Yes?”

“If you have time today, would you like to go for a drink together?”

Going for a drink together?

I turned my head, and Tom and Gerald approached as if they had been waiting.

“Mr. Faust is also at the tavern.”

“He would be pleased if you came.”

I was taken aback by this sudden invitation. I had never had a private gathering with them before. I had been too busy to socialize with them, so I didn’t have much interaction with them.

However, one thing was clear: I had never received such an invitation before.

Not that we didn’t have camaraderie. We had a certain level of camaraderie, caring for each other’s well-being, but it was at that level. We had been too busy with our knightly duties to form a close bond.

‘I feel like it might be awkward if I join them.’

As I hesitated, Sophie’s shoulders slumped.

“Is it too sudden?”

“Well, that’s one thing, but…”

For a moment, Frer’s words crossed my mind. It was about people dying after drinking alcohol while taking a fatigue-inducing medicine.

Of course, what I drank wasn’t a fatigue-inducing medicine, but still…

Can I drink alcohol after taking medicine?

No, it’s better not to engage in risky behavior.

“I have other plans for today.”

Right, it’s not because I want to avoid it but because I have other plans.

It was the right thing to say, but it made me feel guilty as if I had lied. Was Sophie disappointed because of my response? She seemed to hide her disappointment behind a smile.

“Well, there’s nothing I can do about it. Please join us next time.”

Sophie smiled and concealed her disappointment, then went to Tom and Gerald. I greeted them with a nod, and I left the place.

As I rode back to the castle on my carriage, I wondered what Leonel might be doing. He must have been too tired to work properly due to fatigue.

That’s what I thought as I opened the door to my room.

“You’re early.”

Leonel was sitting on my room’s sofa, crossing his legs. Was it okay for him to enter a room without permission? I scrutinized his face with a puzzled expression.

Strangely, he didn’t seem tired.

‘Did you rest a bit if you were too tired to work?’

Leonel approached me with a measured, elegant stride as I stood there, lost in thought. He stood erect at an appropriate distance, looking down at me. When our eyes met, I felt an inexplicable dryness in my throat.

I swallowed hard, trying to clear the dryness. He stared at me with an unreadable expression before taking another step closer.

“Nelly.”

“Yes, yes?”

“What did you give me to drink?”

My heart skipped a beat. Unconsciously, I took a step back.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Well, let me make it easier for you.”

Leonel raised his hand, and my gaze instinctively followed his movements. In his hand was the potion I had asked Frer to make, and the realization hit me like a ton of bricks. My breath caught in my throat.

As our eyes locked, Leonel tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“Is this what you put in the strawberry juice?”

* * *

“Where’s the manager?” 

Faust asked as he entered the tavern.

Tom shook his head with a sullen expression. Faust settled himself down between Sophie and Tom, wearing a disgruntled look.

“Did you tell her I was coming?”

“We did.”

Tom discreetly raised his hand in response. Sophie responded, sounding somewhat dejected.

“She’s got some matters to attend to.”

Faust nodded nonchalantly, raising his hand to order a drink. 

“Well, if she’s got matters to attend to, then I suppose she does. It may be an awkward relationship with you guys, but I’m close with her.”

He laughed heartily, and Gerald trembled with frustration. 

“Is that the truth?”

“Of course, it is! We even had a drink together. We had a candid conversation, you know? We were just letting loose and talking.”

Even though Sophie, Tom, and Gerald were roughly the same age as Nelly, they were amazed that she would talk so openly to Faust. 

Sophie, recalling something from a few days ago, spoke up.

“I saw her talking to Mr. Faust rather politely last time.”

“Well, that was in a formal setting.”

“When you bumped into each other during your lunch walk, was that a formal setting?”

Faust grumbled as he picked up a beer placed by the waiter. 

“Oh, come on. Don’t be so uptight.”

Meanwhile, Faust distributed beer glasses to Tom, Gerald, and Sophie.

“You said you wanted to get to know the manager, so I let you sell my name.” 

“But it seems it didn’t work.” 

Tom muttered gloomily. Faust cheerfully raised his glass.

“Well, what’s done is done. Let’s drink and forget about it!”

Tom, Gerald, and Sophie reluctantly raised their glasses.

Faust tapped the three glasses that seemed to float in the air. After a toast-like sound, he downed his drink in one go. Gerald took a sip of his drink and suggested to Sophie.

“How about next time you speak up and bring Lizzy along? We were all knights, so she might have felt uncomfortable joining us.”

It was a fairly accurate assessment. However, Sophie shook her head.

“I don’t think she’d join even if I asked. It seemed like she was trying to maintain some distance from us.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a resident who had been sitting at a nearby table chimed in.

“That’s right. I invited her for a meal to express my gratitude for adjusting the fees for the barn and oven last time, but she refused.”

“I thought she got along well with Frer.”

“I’ve never even seen her face except when she’s working. Except when she’s working, she rarely comes down to the village.”

“No matter how much I tried to offer her something, she just kept refusing. It’s disappointing.”

Voices joined from various directions. The three supervisors were quietly surprised. They had always felt that Nelly worked hard but didn’t socialize much with the villagers, almost as if she intentionally kept her distance.

It seemed that other villagers felt the same way now. Perhaps they had observed how Lizzy tried to prevent Nelly from leaving.

Gerald exhaled loudly and gulped down his beer.

“It seems like she’s intentionally avoiding getting close.”

He said, taking another big sip.

Tom nodded. 

“Avoiding getting close might mean that she’s soft-hearted.”

“Remember, she once mentioned that she’d leave eventually.”

“Yeah, she might leave sooner than we thought.”

As they continued their conversation, the word “leaving” stuck in Faust’s ears.

“What?! The manager is leaving?”

“Please, Mr. Faust, keep it down.”

Sophie frowned and glanced around, but Faust’s loud exclamation had caught the attention of most of the people in the tavern. The previously lively establishment fell silent.

In their minds, memories of previous managers’ misdeeds began to resurface – those who embezzled money were lazy, or raised taxes secretly. Managers who left under a cloud of suspicion.

Tom, Gerald, and Sophie also remembered similar incidents from the past. Even some managers couldn’t be bothered to remember their supervisors’ simple names. Those who weren’t diligent in their duties would eventually flee.

There was no guarantee that the next manager after Nelly would be any better. Sophie spoke up with determination.

“We need to catch her.”

“Maybe we should try to get closer to her.”

Gerald’s words prompted Tom to slam the table and stand up.

“The strongest bond of all is love! What if she finds someone to love? Maybe then she’ll settle down!”

The tavern erupted in excitement once again. Someone shouted.

“Let’s encourage her to fall in love!” 

People started suggesting suitable bachelors, but none seemed to meet their standards.

“Can’t we find a decent young man in the estate?”

“And what if they break up? What then?”

“She might even leave with her lover; she’s quite competent.”

“We need someone who, once they start dating, will never break up and will never leave the estate.”

“Where can we find someone like that?”

As they discussed, Faust, who had been quietly drinking, finally spoke up.

“There’s one person.”

All eyes turned toward him with curiosity.

Faust grinned mischievously, relishing the attention.

“Someone who would be so devoted that once you catch them, they’ll never let go, and they’d never leave the estate.”

“Where can we find someone like that?”

Faust’s response was cryptic yet intriguing.

“Leonel Altwood, His Grace, the Duke.”

The room fell silent once more.