173 - I Got Engaged to a Blind Duke
Engaged to the Blind Duke, Episode 173
“Come to think of it, I wonder how many children Lord Gerald wants.”
“……”
“We need to have at least one to continue the Duke’s family line, but I actually think four would be nice. I loved having an older brother. Our children could cherish each other……”
Marin trailed off, realizing she was the only one excitedly talking, and looked at him.
Gerald’s expression was stiff.
“Lord Gerald?”
“You want children that much?”
Gerald’s low voice seemed to tremble slightly.
“Of course……. Perhaps, Lord Gerald, you don’t want children?”
Gerald avoided her gaze and slowly nodded.
He had never dreamed of marriage before meeting Marin. Let alone children.
The Dukedom’s bloodline is passed down to the eldest son, and his—no, their child would inherit that pain. Just thinking about the terrible pain the child would experience made him feel faint.
The characteristics of the bloodline were a secret of the Dukedom, so he couldn’t confide in Marin, who wasn’t yet married.
Marin stared blankly at Gerald, her mind in turmoil.
For nobles, nothing was more important than continuing the family line.
So she had never considered the possibility that Gerald might not want children.
Marin moved her lips, finally managing to force out a voice.
“Then who will inherit the Baines family?”
“……We could adopt.”
He opened his mouth slowly, as if choosing his words carefully.
“Ah…… Right. Adoption.”
Adopting an heir to continue the family line was not uncommon.
Could there be a problem somewhere?
Marin, who had a history of severing a family line, unconsciously lowered her gaze.
As her gaze drifted towards his lower body, Gerald grabbed her chin and lifted it.
A bitter smile formed on his lips, then disappeared.
“It’s not that.”
“Then, why?”
“……I’m sorry. It’s a family secret, so I can’t explain it to you right now.”
His voice faded as if in pain.
Marin bit her lip silently, her eyes trembling.
\ \ *
To clear her complicated mind, Marin chose to take a walk.
Since he said it was a family secret, she couldn’t ask any more questions and fled from his office as if running away.
The reason she had given up on marriage before was because she knew that a poor noblewoman who hadn’t even made her Debutante wouldn’t find a proper husband.
She didn’t want to marry unless she met someone who loved each other like her parents.
But she met the Duke and fell in love with him. And she even imagined her future children with him in her mind.
But Gerald doesn’t want children.
She couldn’t even discuss it with Loanna. Her mother was also a woman from a noble family. She would think that continuing the family line was a very important virtue.
More than the virtues of a noble, she herself wanted children. Those tiny fingers and the cozy scent of baby powder.
Gerald and her child.
Just imagining it filled her heart.
It hurt as if she had lost a child she didn’t even have.
“Teacher, Teacher!”
Marin turned around with a dazed look.
“Dia?”
“I’ve been calling you for a while, but you kept walking past me.”
“Oh, really? Sorry. I was lost in thought and didn’t hear you calling.”
“That’s what it seemed like.”
Marin could feel Dia looking at her with a worried expression.
“Shall we take a walk together?”
Marin forced a smile, trying to act as if nothing was wrong.
“Yes. I’d like that.”
Marin walked in step with Dia, moving her lips slightly.
Could she ask about this? Her mind was so complicated, but there was no one around her to confide in.
As if sensing her worries, Dia started the conversation first.
“Marin, Teacher, when I have worries, you’re the first person I think of.”
“Thank you. I always learn a lot while talking with Dia too.”
“Thank you for saying that. Then, may I ask what the problem is?”
“Um, I’m worried that it’s too personal and I shouldn’t bother Dia with it, but…… do you want children, Dia?”
Dia’s eyes widened at the unexpected question, and she met Marin’s gaze.
There was a sense of desperation in Marin’s eyes.
Dia recalled her conversation with the Crown Prince and spoke honestly.
“Yes. I even made a promise with His Highness the Crown Prince. I said I would try to have as many descendants as possible to fulfill my duties as the Crown Princess.”
“I see.”
“You like children, Teacher, so you want to have a lot, right?”
“I wanted to have a lot too, but……”
Marin’s face clouded over as if a storm had suddenly gathered.
Dia carefully chose her words, watching Marin’s expression.
“Perhaps, your uncle doesn’t want children?”
Marin nodded with a sad face.
Dia suddenly remembered a conversation she had with her mother.
“Mom, where have you been going with Peridot lately?”
“Oh, our eldest daughter caught me.”
“Is it a secret?”
“I’m sorry. Peridot wants to keep it a secret.”
“Okay.”
When Dia pretended to be sulky, Monica didn’t know what to do.
“Then I’ll tell you another secret. So please forgive your mother just this once.”
“What is it? I’ll listen first.”
“This is something you really have to keep to yourself. It’s a secret of your mother’s family.”
Dia had just said it playfully, but she nodded with a slightly nervous expression at the unexpected serious atmosphere.
“Actually, your mother doesn’t know exactly either. But there’s a secret that’s only passed down to the eldest son of the Baines family. Your uncle was in a lot of pain because of it.”
“The Duke of the West?”
“Yes. That’s why he lived alone in a tower when he was young.”
“Oh my.”
“This is a secret of the Baines family, so you must never tell anyone. Understood?”
When Dia nodded, Monica gently stroked her daughter’s hair.
“But if you ever meet someone precious to your uncle, I think it might be okay to tell them.”
“I’ve never even met the Duke of the West, though?”
“You never know what the future holds, do you?”
Monica burst into a bright laugh.
She hadn’t realized it when she found Peridot in the tower, but much later, she wondered if that tower wasn’t the place where her uncle had lived when he was young.
Dia stared at the gloomy Marin.
Just how much could her mother see?
“Actually, it seems like there’s a secret in the Baines family.”
“Dia knew too?”
Marin raised her head in surprise.
Dia felt a little more comfortable speaking because it seemed like Marin knew to some extent.
“I don’t know the details either. I heard it from my mother, but there’s something that’s only passed down to the eldest son of the family. That’s why my uncle lived alone when he was young.”
At that moment, Marin felt as if she had been hit in the back of the head.
Only then did she remember the conversation she had with Gerald in the Sanders Empire.
That he had been very sick when he was young.
She didn’t know what the family secret was, but she strongly felt that it was the reason why Gerald didn’t want children.
“Dia, thank you for telling me.”
Marin grabbed Dia’s hands and shook them wildly.
“I’m glad I could help.”
Dia called out to her mother, whom she had buried deep in her heart, after a long time.
I did well, right? Mother.
