The Male Lead I Raised Is Obsessed With Me - Chapter 5

When I opened my eyes, the sun was already high in the sky.

I jumped up in surprise, and somehow my side felt hot.

Oh, right.

While patting Ruth until he fell asleep yesterday, I also fell asleep because I had ran all day long.

“Ruth, why did you sleep there like that? Without a pillow?

“Yeah…”

“Oh my.”

I rubbed Ruth’s cheek, which had a mark from the blanket.

The warmth and the soft texture of his skin felt good.

Ruth showed no signs of distaste from being touched by me .

“What about Bella? She should have come to wake you up in the morning. How long did you sleep? I know I overslept.”

“She came, but I sent her away. You went to sleep late last night, so you can sleep in a little more.”

I felt tired when I stretched . It had been a while since I last moved like that, and the muscles all over my body didn’t hesitate to complain.

When I got out of bed, Ruth followed along with me.

We found Bella cleaning my room.

After we ate the meal Bella prepared, I sat in front of the dressing table.

I will definitely deal with Frug today.

Now that I have the male lead’s permission, I have nothing to hesitate about.

Bella asked while combing my hair.

“Madam, how can your hair be so soft? Did you know that everyone is making a fuss trying to see who would serve the Madame?”

“Why me?”

“What do you mean why? It’s because you’re so lovely. When you walk around holding hands with the Duke, everyone swallows their tears because it’s so cute. I’m proud that I’m the only one who’s this close to you!”

“Really?”

“Yes! So can you not change your maid?”

“If Bella makes me pretty today, I’ll let it slide.”

“Madam is beautiful no matter what she does. Hmm. What should I do?”

Bella seemed to be really worried.

I tied my hair in pigtails while I was busy thinking about how to handle Frug.

This hair was awkward because it was the first time I’ve done it in decades, including in my previous life.

“Isn’t this weird?””

Bella shook her head adamantly when I asked as I fiddled with the pigtails.

“Not at all! You’re so lovely! If we go out like this, everyone might faint because of your cuteness.”

“Is that so? Ruth, what do you think?”

When I asked Ruth, who was waiting next to me, he put his hands on both his cheeks and said.

“So pretty.”

That kid already knows how to please a person’s heart.

Listening to the two, it did look really good.

Yeah. I’m still young and this body is naturally very pretty.

I’m going to keep this hairstyle then.

Okay, today is pigtails day.

I smiled happily and headed to the office with Ruth.

Frug sat in the chair in the office today, and looked quite arrogant as Ruth came in.

“What brings you here?”

“Moving forward, I will be taking over the housekeeping duties of the castle as its hostess”

I’m also here to make you throw up the money you had embezzled.

Frug thought my words were childish and only replied with a smirk.

“It’s very complicated to live in and take care of a castle. Children like you won’t be able to do it.”

“You never know.”

“Madam, you haven’t been married that long. You must first get permission from the Duke.”

“Ruth. Can I be in charge of housekeeping?”

I saw Ruth holding my hand tightly and asked.

“Yes! If you want it you can do it!”

“Did you hear that? The Duke told me I can do it if I wanted to.”

“But Duke, your wife is an outsider…”

Ruth then cut Frug off.

“Frug. Noona is not an outsider. Are you going to go against the order of the Duke?”

How smart of Ruth.

This was to be expected.

“Duke. I’m just worried about you and your family. Do you know how difficult it is to live here? It’s all thanks to me that things are able to keep going like this. It’s not hard to hand it over to your wife. But what if she fails?”

Frug impersonated a fairly good loyalist.

I stepped forward.

“So…what you’re saying is that I don’t have any abilities to do so.”

“Yes.”

“Then all I have to do is prove that I have the abilities to handle the family affairs. Wouldn’t you say so?”

I pretended to think for a moment and then said.

“How about if I earn 1 million marks in a week?”

A million marks was a lot of money that ordinary people would have to work for a full year in order to earn it.

“A million marks?”

Frug’s face was filled with ridicule.

It was clear that he thought I, as a child, was bluffing.

“Well okay, let’s do that.”

Frug said yes smoothly.

You can laugh a lot about it now.

In one week, you won’t be able to smile anymore and can only beg for help.

How dare you aim for the Duke’s money?

~*~

“Madam! Tomorrow is already the last day of the week we had promised!”

I stopped reading to Ruth and looked at Bella.

Ruth followed my gaze and stared at Bella.

“Yes, I know.”

I didn’t really do anything during the week I promised Frug.

I just read books to Ruth as usual, learned about the layout of the castle, and greeted other servants.

Bella was rather frustrated by my calm response, so she continued to urge me.

“Ma’am! We only have 50,000 marks left after you sold the jewelry last time! If this continues, the madam will lose!”

Bella shouted like she was crying.

“Then Mr. Frug would be really mean to you! Should I go out and earn some money?! Everyone knows that a million marks is too much, but it’s not like you can’t earn anything at all!”

“Thank you, Bella but it’s really okay.”

“But ma’am!”

“Oh, my. Will you look at the time already! Ruth! It’s time to go out for a walk!”

I escaped with Ruth because I thought I would tell Bella all of my plans if I had stayed any longer.

“Whew. Bella worries a lot. Right, Ruth?

“I know.”

I made eye contact with Ruth, who knew all my plans, and laughed openly.

Then Ruth held my hand.

“Huh? Ruth, is everything okay?”

“Don’t worry too much if it goes wrong, noona. I can still kick him out then.”

I smiled and tapped Ruth’s nose.

“You don’t have to worry about me.”

“But…”

Still, it was always nice to hear sincere support.

“Let’s just take a walk rather than talk about that. Now…where should we go today? Since we went to the east last time, should we go to the west instead today?”

We walked around the castle holding hands.

After a while, we arrived at the large hall.

A space that used to be filled with luxurious things was now empty.

“Lady! Duke!”

The cleaning maid saw us and made a friendly face.

“Hello!”

“What are you doing here? I heard that you were betting with Mr. Frug!”

“Where did you hear that from?”

“I heard it from Mr. Frug!”

He must have had the intention to embarrass me.

Instead, it was rather helpful for me though.

“I am always on your side! Cheer up!”

“Thanks.”

I saw a big sword that was framed, hanging in the center of the hall.

The sword pattern across the center was quite exquisite and delicate.

“It symbolizes that the founder of the family helped the first emperor defeat the demon king, who was terrorizing the world and then became a duke.”

Ruth explained the origin of the sword when he noticed that I was interested in the engravement.

“Demon king?”

“It was about a thousand years ago. He was so strong and evil that he brought the world to the brink of extinction. It was the first emperor and the first Duke of Valruga who managed to save it.”

“I see.”

I nodded and touched the sword as if possessed.

“Ouch!”

“Hey! Are you okay? You’re bleeding!”

The soft skin was rubbed against the rough side, and blood was oozing out.

“It’s okay. What if blood gets on it?”

“Blood on the sword is not the problem now…!”

Ruth grabbed my hand and screamed.

What? Something feels strange.

Why does it sound like Ruth is talking from far away?

My vision was getting blurry.

‘Come on.’

Someone had called out to me…

‘Come on, come on.’

Ruth’s voice became more and more faint, but the strange voice became stronger and more distinct.

A low, majestic, and powerful voice was heard.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

A heartbeat was heard.

‘I’ve been waiting.’

The last words I had heard coming from the mysterious, I had blacked out.

~*~

When I finally opened my eyes, I was in a dark cave.

“Where the hell am I?”

The cave was high enough for a small mountain, but the entrance was blocked off by a huge wall of ice.

I was about to touch the ice wall in front of me, but I hurriedly pulled my hand back as I felt the cold air before I could even get closer.

It felt like I was going to get frostbite if I had touched it.

Where the hell am I?

Is this the space prepared for the male lead?

So should I go bring Ruth?

Wait…how could I even bring him?!

I don’t remember anything like this in the original.

‘How do I get out of here?’

No, wait.

‘This was not an ice wall!’

I thought it was an ice wall because it was so big and huge, but when I looked closely, I saw tiny reptile scales.

It was a crouching dragon.

As I slowly moved forward, I saw the dragon’s head with its eyes closed.

It was so huge that I just mistook it for a wall.

The dragon’s body was white bit transparent like ice. There was also a dark light like the deep sea emanating from it.

‘What the hell is this?! What should I do? Do I have to go through it to get out? How do I get out without touching the dragon if this was the only exit?!’

It looks like the dragon was asleep, but if I touch it, I just might become the dragon’s food.

It was then that I heard that voice again.

“It’s dangerous to touch.”