Rosie's Games

Chapter 151: The Weird Duke 2

"Why?" Lieutenant Fraunces hissed as she stared at the red-eyed man in front of her. "Why can't you let me in?"

"The Duke is having a private conversation with Miss Rosie."

"Do you understand what would people say if they knew that the Duke invited her to his room? This is— "

"Is that any of my business?" Denys responded.

"You— you really are— can't you just let me in? I have something important to say to his Grace."

"His Grace is occupied. You may come back later."

"But— "

"His Grace is occupied." josei

Those were the only words that would come out of the man's mouth since Fraunces started asking him to let her inside the Duke's Lucas's room where Rosie and the Duke were dining.

"Why can't you just let me in?" Fraunces said. "I said it is important."

"His Grace is occupied. You can tell it to me and I will relay it to the Duke."

"You really— " Fraunces stomped her foot and left the man standing just outside of the Duke's room. Why was it always like this?

Unbeknownst to her, Rosalind and the Duke were able to hear her. The walls in this inn were not particularly thick and an outburst like that could be heard by the whole place.

"You do know that she liked you, right?" Right now, Rosalind and the Duke were already enjoying their tea to cleanse their pallet when they heard the commotion that Fraunces created outside. She expected the Duke to leave the room to talk to the Lady, yet he did not. He just stayed there with the same expression on his face.

"Fraunces had been spoiled by the Count. I will have her stay with you from now on."

She rolled her eyes.

"Do you like the attention that much?" she blurted out before she could think.

"Pardon?"

"You know that the Lady likes you, yet you are not doing anything to make her stop. You are giving her hope and that can be a problem in the long run." Hope was a double-bladed sword. It could make people succeed or ruin them. She refused to believe that the Duke did not know about this.

He lifted an eyebrow, surprised at her words. Before she could retract her statement, he said, "Perhaps, I have not made it clear to you and this was completely my fault. Dame Fraunces knows that she and I can never be together. I refused her attempts and made it clear that I do not have any intentions of having a relationship with her. It was her choice to continue hoping."

"I did not mean to pry," Rosalind quickly said. "Thank you for inviting me. I am going to rest now."

She got up and gave him a curtsy before she started walking towards the door.

"I do not sense jealousy in you," she heard him say.

"Jealousy?" she turned and looked at him. "Of what?" First, they are not in that kind of relationship. Second, she does not have the right to be jealous when he was not even hers. Third, love burned her in her past life, she does not want to get too close to that fire and suffer the same burns in this life.

He only smiled in response.

"You are tired. Have a good rest."

She tried to find an answer on his face, but just as she expected, his eyes did not show her any clues. She shrugged and quickly excused herself before leaving the room.

"Denys…" Duke Lucas said. His servant appeared before him.

"Your Grace…"

"Are you certain we got the records right?"

"What records?"

"Rosalind Lux."

"Yes sir."

"She was supposed to be seventeen this year?"

"Yes sir. She is turning eighteen in a few months."

"No. Something must be wrong."

"Pardon?"

Lucas said nothing. His eyes narrowed at Rosalind's empty tea cup as he recalled what happened during the wolf attack earlier. Rosalind was too calm. This should be the first time that she encountered something like this, yet she was too calm. Was it because of the things that she had been through?

No. The information about her clearly stated that she was ignored for most of her life. Growing up, she lived in the back of the mansion and then she was sent to the borders, unable to interact with people her age.

She was not given a chance to socialize nor do anything that would change her behavior too much. However, Rosalind's attitude did not match her experience, she was simply too calm and collected.

Moreover, her words earlier reminded him of someone older talking to someone younger than them. It simply did not make any sense. Then he thought about the cold sensation that he felt when she touched him just before he fought with that wolf. How could he forget that sensation?

It was the sensation of someone being blessed by both the light and the dark Blessings. Light and dark.

Very interesting, he thought.

Someone like her should not exist. The Goddess would never allow that to happen again.

"Your Grace, we received information from the Aster Empire," Denys said.

"Continue."

"It seems that the Lux Family wanted to hide the curse. It had started to spread into the slums and even the Unbelievers had been affected."

"Send someone to inform the Unbelievers to leave the Kingdom, let them go to the North and we will help them with food and medicine. Call everyone back, they cannot stay in that place anymore. Everyone be careful, that curse will spread very soon."

He felt Denys's gaze on him, but he ignored it. The Duke knew how expensive medicine were, yet he was actually inviting people to stay in the North and even offered to give them medicine. Isn't that illogical?

The Duke smiled in response.

"The North will have its very own Saintess very soon," Duke Lucas said. "It is time for us to make some changes…" It is time for them to unite the North.

In response, Denys nodded. Without saying another word, he left the room, leaving the Duke alone.

Now that he was alone, the Duke frowned. Again, his gaze landed on the empty tea cup.

Was everything just a coincidence?