169 - I Got Engaged to a Blind Duke
“Marin?”
Gerald called Marin, noticing her strange expression.
Marin's nose tingled for no reason, and she hugged him tightly, burying her face against him.
“I won’t ask why. I like you coming to me like this.”
Gerald whispered in her ear, holding her even tighter.
“Yes.”
Marin buried her face in his chest and smiled happily.
\ \ \
“I did it!”
Marin wiped away the sweat and looked at her creation with pride.
“Well done, Lady Marin.”
“I couldn’t have done it without Surenne!”
“Lady Marin, have you ever thought about becoming my apprentice? You have a remarkable talent.”
Marin laughed brightly at Surenne’s excessive praise.
“Thank you for saying that.”
“Oh, you’re slipping away like this. Going straight to the handsome alchemist, are you?”
“Yes.”
After saying goodbye to Surenne, Marin headed straight to Jeromian’s lab.
When she knocked on the lab door, Jeromian greeted her with a smile.
“Lady Marin.”
Marin smiled, seeing the branch in his hand.
“Are you studying eggplants these days?”
“Yes, that’s right. Carrots were quite interesting, but eggplants are fun too.”
Jeromian, who had put a small eggplant in his gown, took something out of his desk drawer and handed it to her. It was her bracelet.
“Is it all fixed?”
On the way back to the Duke's Castle, the jewel no longer emitted fire. So she had left it with Jeromian for repairs.
“Yes. This time, it will emit an even stronger fire.”
“Thank you. As I’ve said before, Lord Jeromian’s bracelet has saved my life several times.”
Jeromian’s lips twitched at her endless gratitude.
“I don’t think you came just to say thank you, did you?”
Marin handed Jeromian an object wrapped in a handkerchief.
“You caught me. Could you possibly make something that connects us with this?”
“Connects each other?”
Jeromian repeated her words with a look that said, ‘What nonsense is this?’
“You can make anything like a wizard, Lord Jeromian. Maybe I’m wrong to think-”
As Marin glanced at Jeromian and wrapped the object back in the handkerchief, he grabbed it.
“Lady Marin, you succeeded.”
“Yes?”
Jeromian pushed up his glasses and stretched his lips.
“You made me want to make it. Give me some time.”
“Yes, thank you!”
Marin bowed deeply.
\ \ \
Jeromian glared at Gerald, who had been standing there aloofly for a while, with a displeased look.
“What? What is it?”
“Is the work going well?”
“What work?”
“I wouldn’t know. You’re always doing something.”
Jeromian took off his glasses with a look of annoyance and wiped them roughly.
“Say what you have to say and get out of here. I’m busy.”
“Can you make fireworks too?”
“Why?”
“I need them.”
Jeromian clicked his tongue inwardly, guessing what was going on.
Couples come to me one after another and ask for things. What is this? Is this a timed attack? Are they trying to rub it in?
“Until when?”
“Can you put shapes in fireworks too?”
“Haa. Just write it down and get out.”
Jeromian threw paper and a quill at Gerald to get rid of the annoying guy quickly.
Gerald caught it in an instant and began to write carefully, one letter at a time.
Jeromian shook his head and turned his gaze to the desk. Then he saw the object that Marin had given him earlier.
Suddenly, Surenne’s words echoed in his head.
Seriously, this is a love fest.
\ \ *
After a long time, the Diamond Carriage left the main gate of the Duke's Castle.
“Where are we going that it’s still a secret?”
Marin looked at Gerald with a curious face.
He had even left the maids behind and insisted on going alone. She had asked where they were going, but he wouldn’t tell her.
“You’ll know when we get there.”
“Is it a secret place? I love those kinds of places! Like a treehouse or something.”
“A treehouse?”
He responded with a look that told her to say more.
“When I was little, I liked climbing trees, so my dad built me a small treehouse. After I got older, my mom forbade me from climbing trees, so I couldn’t go anymore.”
“You climbed trees?”
The thought of Marin, smaller and younger than now, climbing trees brought a faint smile to his lips. It was cute just imagining it.
“Yes. I’m good at it!”
Marin puffed out her chest proudly.
“I believe you.”
As he said leisurely, Marin suddenly looked guilty and hesitated.
“Actually, I don’t think I’m very good at it now. A few years ago, some kids were crying because of a scarf stuck in a tree, so I helped them.”
“Excellent.”
It was something Marin, who cared for children, would do.
“I climbed up well, remembering the old days, but when I tried to come down, I was so scared. My body stiffened, and it was almost dangerous.”
“Marin, you’re forbidden from climbing trees from now on.”
Gerald warned solemnly.
“Oh, please listen to the end. So I screamed for help, and my voice was completely hoarse.”
“Your voice would be pretty even if it was hoarse.”
It was quite a talent to say romantic things in a blunt tone.
Marin’s eyes curved into crescents.
“Why?”
“It’s not good for people to change too quickly.”
“I haven’t changed.”
As he said casually, Marin shook her head and continued.
“Anyway, I was hanging on the tree until late at night, and a knight came and saved me.”
“I should thank him.”
Gerald decided to find the knight and thank him, even though it was years ago.
“I wanted to thank him too, but he just said he was passing by and was very blunt. He kicked the base of the tree and made me fall. I thought my heart was going to explode.”
As Marin continued to speak, Gerald’s back grew cold.
Why did it feel so familiar?
Marin was a vivid storyteller, but it felt like he had really been there.
Gerald clenched his sweaty hands tightly without showing it.
The moment he heard that he had kicked the base of the tree, the past flashed by quickly.
Could it be that the woman with the strange voice was Marin?
At the time, the woman had her face completely covered.
His annoyed attitude. The past where he had ignored her and gone his own way even though she was sitting on the ground came back to him.
‘……!’
Never, ever would he tell her that he was that person.
“Ahem. He must have been busy.”
“Well, maybe he was- you know, there are people like that, right? People who help but don’t get praised. Ugh, it was a bit like that. His tone was blunt too. That’s right, just like Lord Gerald’s tone-”
“Not me.”
Gerald hurriedly cut her off with a stiff face.
Marin’s eyes widened in surprise.
Oops. That was too fast.
Just as Gerald was about to make an excuse, she burst out laughing.
“Pfft. Of course not. How could I have met Lord Gerald in a place like that? But why are you sweating so much?”
Marin asked with a puzzled face.
“It’s hot in the carriage.”
“It’s not hot.”
Marin tilted her head, and Gerald simply closed his eyes and pretended not to know.
If he continued to talk to Marin like this, she would find out everything. He had to stop that from happening.
“It looks like it will take a while, so I’ll get some sleep.”
“Yes, please do.”
After some time passed and he had calmed down, Gerald narrowed his eyes and admired Marin, who was reading a book.
It had been a few years since he first met Marin.
Every day with her was so happy that he always regretted how quickly time passed.
If he hadn’t left so quickly after saving Marin back then, but had started interacting with her while receiving her thanks, they would have had more time together.
He couldn’t change the past, but he felt very pathetic about his past self.
