176 - I Got Engaged to a Blind Duke
"I got engaged to a blind peacock, Chapter 176"
"Marin?"”
Yuria, looking anxious, called again, and Marin peeked out from under the covers.
“Yuria. I, I mean……”
“Yes.”
“I’m so embarrassed.”
“Pardon?”
“No matter how much I think about it, I’m so embarrassed that I just want to die, you know?”
“Marin, you mustn’t die.”
Yuria stopped her with a tearful face, and Marin shook her head.
“No, I don’t really mean I’m going to die. Sniffle.”
Marin bit her lower lip as if she couldn’t bring herself to continue, and cast a wistful gaze out the window.
Just last night, she had sympathized with Gerald’s childhood pain and felt heartbroken.
That day of comforting him came to an end, and she opened her eyes to the morning sunlight.
Even this dazzling light would look different to him, with his heightened senses, right? Would it look even brighter?
The chirping of birds echoed from afar, announcing the morning.
Even the sound of those birds would sound closer to him, right? How fascinating—
Wait. Closer?
Her mind, still hazy from the lingering sleep, snapped awake as if splashed with cold water.
Marin’s green eyes darted back and forth incessantly. And her past cringeworthy moments began to replay endlessly in her mind.
The Duke insults she had uttered in the office hallway. The rumbling sound from her stomach. The soliloquies at the capital mansion. The whispers she had exchanged with Dia. The sound of her heart pounding whenever she got close to him.
And his words and attitude, as if he knew everything.
All. All. All.
The more she thought about it, the more her face flushed and her ears burned as if they would explode.
“Ughhhhh!”
Yuria and Elmis exchanged glances, at a loss for what to do.
Marin, feeling like the innocent maids were watching her, tried to act as if she was okay and lifted her head.
“Would you two like to go out and rest until I call you?”
The embarrassment was something she had to endure alone.
“Yes, Marin.”
As soon as the two left and the room became quiet, Marin started kicking the blanket and pounding the pillow.
“Why am I so careless! No, right? It’s not like I can do anything about it by being careful, right? It’s force majeure, or something. But I should have been more careful! It’s not my fault, okay? I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m so embarrassed!”
The angel and demon in her heart fought a desperate battle.
\ \ \
“Marin?”
Outside, the sky was already a blend of deep navy and orange, as dusk was setting.
Gerald had heard late that Marin was holed up in her room and hadn’t come out, so he had come to find her.
Marin was rolled up in the blanket like a silkworm cocoon, only her eyes peeking out.
“You’ve come?”
Even that appearance was lovely, but she hadn’t eaten all day. She was already so thin.
As Gerald tried to approach the bed, Marin shouted.
“W-wait a minute!”
He stared at her with a silent, questioning face.
“Are you going to come closer now?”
“And?”
“I, I don’t think you should.”
“Why?”
Gerald stood in place, crossed his arms, and watched her intently.
Marin buried her face further into the blanket and mumbled.
“I haven’t, um, showered yet……”
“I don’t care about that.”
“I knew it!”
Marin suddenly raised her voice.
“What?”
“You can hear my voice, right?”
There was a hint of resentment in her voice.
“Because you’re talking.”
“I’m speaking in a voice as tiny as an ant’s fart right now. You’re not supposed to be able to hear it.”
Marin pouted and grumbled.
Only then did Gerald understand her behavior, and he strained his lips to suppress a laugh.
“Ah, I thought it was hard to hear.”
“Liar.”
Marin narrowed her eyes and looked at him suspiciously.
“Okay. It’s a lie. I heard you very well.”
“I knew it.”
Marin retorted sulkily as he confessed honestly.
“Marin, I’ll ask you politely, may I come to your side?”
Marin’s eyes seemed to waver slightly.
“Marin, I want to come to your side……”
Gerald deliberately trailed off at the end, feigning a pitiful tone.
“Sigh, fine. But no clinging.”
“I won’t.”
Gerald approached the bed.
As he came closer, she made sounds of effort and moved back a little.
Before she could move any further away, Gerald quickly lay down next to her and hugged her tightly.
“Lord Gerald!”
Marin, surprised, looked at him with sharp eyes.
“I said I would come to your side.”
“I said no clinging!”
“How can I cling when this blanket is wrapped around you like this?”
As he joked, Marin narrowed her eyes and moved her lips as if to speak, but then closed them tightly.
“So, how long are you going to stay here?”
“I was about to leave soon.”
“Do you think I’m weird?”
Gerald asked, following her eyes that were avoiding his gaze.
“Pardon? No!”
Marin looked at him with wide eyes, as if wondering what nonsense he was talking about.
When their eyes finally met, Gerald lowered his head slightly to the side and whispered with a forlorn expression.
“Then why don’t you want me to come to your side? I think I’m going to get hurt.”
Marin hurriedly took her hand out from under the blanket and turned his face to look at her. Her green eyes were darkened with guilt.
“I’m sorry if I hurt you. I didn’t mean to.”
“Then?”
“I’m just embarrassed. You’ve heard everything so far, and I thought you could smell me.”
Her face was gradually turning a pretty red color, as if she was embarrassed just thinking about it.
Gerald gazed at her as if she were lovely.
She had revealed her secret to someone for the first time. He had fully expected this kind of reaction.
People tend to avoid those with abilities.
Who would want their privacy to be exposed? Sometimes it’s better not to know. That’s why the secret has been passed down only to the head of the family, their spouse, and the eldest child.
It was also a consideration for the other person.
“I’m not hurt. I just thought I had to say that to get my lovely fiancée to show her face.”
As he spoke with a playful voice, Marin scrutinized his face as if to discern his true intentions.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Only then did a sense of relief spread across Marin’s face.
“But can you control that ability?”
Gerald raised the corners of his mouth and nodded.
“Then, please try to control it as much as possible when you’re with me.”
Marin pleaded with earnest eyes.
“I will.”
“Promise?”
“Yes. But shouldn’t you eat something now?”
“Why?”
“I’ve been hearing you say you’re hungry since-”
“Lord Geralddddd!”
Marin covered his ears and looked as if she was about to cry.
Gerald hugged her soothingly and burst out laughing.
To think he would feel this way.
Sharing a secret with a loved one definitely made them feel closer.
\ \ \
The village square at the foot of the mountain.
The residents all watched one family with sad and bleak expressions.
A small figure covered by a blanket. A small, delicate hand sticking out from between the blankets. The child’s mother sobbing over it. And the father.
“Sam, Sam. Sniffle. All because of those wild strawberries……”
The child’s mother couldn’t even bring herself to lift the blanket and knelt down, calling the child’s name over and over again.
The child, who had gone alone to the mountain to pick wild strawberries to give something delicious to their mother on her birthday, had returned cold and lifeless.
The child’s father gritted his teeth and glared at the sky as if resenting it.
“Did they see a gray wolf?”
The village manager, Rumus, looked at the hunter who had brought the child’s body.
“I didn’t see it myself, but the wounds are definitely from a gray wolf. It’s clear that they’ve settled in the mountain.”
