148 - I Got Engaged to a Blind Duke
Betrayed Duke, Engaged 148
Bitra's eyes widened for a moment, then she shook her head as if wronged.
"No, Your Highness. Why would you misunderstand like that..."
"Sweetie only said her name once, and you were at the door then. But somehow my brother and mother knew it too. If not the Empress, then is it my brother?"
"Your Highness, you misunderstand."
"I've suspected you for a long time. I didn't really care who you told. But you shouldn't have touched Sweetie. Will you tell the truth if you lose more fingers? Or should I cut off your neck this time? Ah, then you can't talk."
Bitra, staring at Tan who was speaking innocently while giggling, felt a chill run down her spine.
Serving him for 15 years under the Empress's orders, this was the first time she had seen this side of him.
He was always kind and caring, so why did he suddenly change? Or, was it not 'suddenly'? Was he actually deceiving everyone?
She had to go to the Empress right away and tell her this fact.
Bitra sobbed softly to look as pitiful as possible.
"Your Highness, please let me get treatment. It hurts so much."
No matter how well she had hidden her true feelings, the Third Prince was a kind person by nature.
A person who gave bread to the hungry and medicine to those who needed treatment.
She had to stimulate his sympathy to escape.
"Your Highness..."
"Why? Are you going to go tell the Empress again?"
Her sobs gradually subsided at Tan's sneering and unfamiliar appearance.
Who is this man really?
"Cal, lock this woman in the warehouse."
"I am only tasked with protecting the Lady."
"How inflexible."
In the end, Tan grabbed Bitra's arm and pulled her up himself.
Bitra was anxious. She couldn't be dragged away like this. She needed someone to stop him somehow.
Bitra's gaze reached Marin, who was watching the situation with a bewildered expression. Even if she had to use that woman.
"Lady, I did nothing wrong. Please, help..."
As she shook off Tan's hand and quickly approached Marin, her black hair was neatly cut in half.
Bitra stared at her hair that had fallen to the floor with a pale face.
She had a feeling that if she had taken one more step, what fell to the floor might not have been her hair.
Trembling with fear and unable to move, the cold voice of the guard pierced her ears.
"If you come any closer, you'll die."
Tan, who watched the scene from behind, curved his lips into a smile.
"Inflexible, but I like it."
Soon, Tan grabbed Bitra's arm and left the room.
The sound of Tan dragging the maid away could be heard.
As soon as the Third Prince disappeared, Lord Gerald immediately checked on Marin.
She was hanging her head powerlessly.
"Are you alright?"
"Ah, yes. I'm fine."
Marin's green eyes, which had lifted her head, were darkly sunken.
Lord Gerald swallowed his regret as he watched her face.
He had swung his Sword quickly to avoid showing a deliberately cruel side, but should he not have done it at all?
If he had, he would have aroused the Third Prince's suspicion, but he kept thinking that he should have been more considerate of her.
Marin's complicated gaze turned beyond the door.
"I just, feel sorry for her."
"Sorry? Who? That maid?"
Marin slowly shook her head.
"Third Prince. If it's been 15 years, they would have been together since he was young, but what would it feel like to live a life where you can't trust anyone around you?"
Lord Gerald strode over and blocked the door from her view.
Marin looked up at him with a puzzled expression.
The Third Prince had already left, but he was jealous even of her looking at the place where he had left.
"...Gerald is more pitiful."
He couldn't control his jealousy, and the words came out of his mouth without him realizing it.
He didn't want her to have any feelings for another man. Even if it was just sympathy.
"Yes?"
Marin asked with a bewildered face.
"I'm saying, don't make that kind of face while looking at other men."
"Yes?"
Marin asked again with a dumbfounded expression.
"Gerald had a problem with his body since he was young, so he lived locked in a tower, and he never saw his married sister for his entire life. So Gerald is more..."
Lord Gerald was ashamed of himself for wanting her sympathy, so he trailed off in a faint voice at the end.
He was so embarrassed that his ears were burning hot. He couldn't bring himself to face her, so he covered his face with his hands.
How pathetic.
Meanwhile, Marin's eyes widened in surprise.
No way. She had guessed that he couldn't meet his sister, the Countess, but the Duke had lived locked in a tower? Since when?
The scenery inside the tower she saw when she went to find Peridot came to mind.
A bed and wardrobe that a child would use. The only place connected to the outside world was the window.
The Duke was the one who lived there?
What kind of illness was it that they locked a child in a tower? Is he all better now? How long was he there?
Marin couldn't speak because of her worry and pity for the Duke, and she hung her head.
If he were next to her now, she would hug him tightly.
No, she wanted to meet the Duke when he was a child and hug him tightly. Everything will be alright.
When Lord Gerald didn't hear any response from Marin, he took his hands away from his face and looked at her again.
Tears were dripping from her eyes as she hung her head.
Lord Gerald looked at Marin with a flustered face.
He didn't mean to make her cry.
"There's no need to cry-"
"Is Lord Gerald's illness all better?"
Marin cut him off with a worried look.
"...Yes."
He didn't like her crying, but he couldn't be happier that Marin's attention was only on him.
"That's a relief."
Lord Gerald engraved the sight of Marin looking noticeably relieved in his eyes and slowly continued.
"So don't think about other men, just think about Gerald."
"Yes? When did I think about other men?"
She quickly wiped away her tears and asked as if to say what are you talking about.
Lord Gerald, satisfied that the Third Prince had completely disappeared from her mind, didn't bother to answer.
"The Creature Hunting Competition is a very good opportunity to leave this palace. You have to act as inconspicuously as possible in the meantime."
"I think so too."
Marin nodded.
"At the Creature Hunting Competition, if I give you a signal, don't leave my side. If it's not possible, I'll hug you and run away."
"What's the signal?"
"Imsi."
"Yes? Imsi?"
Marin asked with a look of disbelief.
Lord Gerald smiled inwardly at her cute face and answered with a serious face.
"I just like the word."
"Pfft. I see. You really are friends. Lord Gerald also liked that word a lot."
Marin burst into a clear laugh and nodded.
Lord Gerald filled his eyes with her smiling wistfully as she thought of him.
\ \ *
It was a half-day trip between the Sanders Empire's Imperial Palace and the Sairan Desert.
The long procession that left the Imperial Palace arrived at the Sairan Desert when the sun was at its highest.
Ban, riding a white horse, looked around at the princes lined up behind him.
Everyone attended except for the First Prince, who was physically weak.
The Fifth Prince was angry, the Sixth Prince had a bored expression, and the youngest Tenth Prince, who was nine years old, was clinging to his escort knight with a frightened face.
["Thank you all for gathering to celebrate my birthday. I will present this Sword to the one who hunts the biggest Monster."]
Ban took off the Sword he was wearing on his waist and held it up high.
The golden Sword was studded with glittering jewels and didn't look practical, but the princes' eyes shone with greed.
That Sword was given to Marquis Shaon, who had made great achievements, by the late Emperor.
In short, it was a treasure of the Imperial Palace.
Tan looked up at the Sword of his maternal grandfather, Marquis Shaon, with a crooked smile.
It seemed that he was even giving the Sword, which he never even showed him once, as a gift to his brother.
He had experienced discrimination so much that he was sick of it, so he wasn't particularly upset.
It was just that he was worried about Marin's safety because the other princes seemed to be turning on their eyes and stirring up the Monsters for a pretty tempting prize.
Tan approached Marin, who was under the Sunshade.
Marin was covering her face with a red cloth and wearing a shabby navy blue dress.
"Sweetie, you know you're standing out a lot right now, right?"
Tan twisted his words while looking at the dress, and Marin's face turned red.
"This dress is so comfortable to move around in. It's a desert-customized dress."
Marin lowered her voice and said firmly.
She had been wearing it for a long time and was about to become attached to it, but everyone who saw it ridiculed this dress.
"Are you kidding me?"
Tan smiled and looked around. Her gaze followed him.
Under the colorful Sunshades, the Emperor's wives and the princes' fiancées were gathered in groups of three or five. They were all wearing fancy and beautiful dresses.
In particular, the designs were almost bare due to the humid and hot weather in the desert, and maids were seen fanning them by their sides.
"How can you wear those dresses?"
"It's better than dying from the heat."
Tan was also wearing a sleeveless shirt and loose pants that felt cool.
Good ventilation.
When he glanced to the side, Cal was wearing black clothes that covered his entire body.
"Cal is wearing clothes like that too."
"Well, those kinds of clothes are the standard. Because the sandstorms in the desert are fierce. But we're going back before sunset, so light clothes are good."
When he looked around, it was clear that most of the knights were also dressed in simple clothes.
The confidence of the Sanders Empire could be felt in that sight. It was a Monster Hunting, but most of the knights didn't seem to have a sense of crisis, as if they had come to hunt rabbits.
It was then.
["I will start the hunting competition."]
Ban, riding a white horse, threw a flag into the sky.
