39 - I Got Engaged to a Blind Duke
I Got Engaged to a Blind Duke Chapter 39
"Dia!"!”
Killon, his eyes wide, tried to take a step toward her. Then, a cane with a sharp blade protruding from it flew toward his thigh.
“Aaaaargh!”
Consumed by pain, Killon clutched his leg and writhed on the floor like a worm.
The Duke slowly rose from his seat and approached him.
“D-Duke, Your Grace. How could someone like me ever be a match for the Duke, the shield of the Empire? Please, forgive me. I don’t know what I did wrong to Your Grace, but please, forgive me…”
With bloodshot eyes from the extreme pain, Killon crawled to the Duke’s feet.
The Duke pulled out the cane.
“Aaaaargh!”
“Indeed. How dare someone like you do such a thing?”
Killon snapped to his senses at the Duke’s cold voice. He hastily applied pressure to his thigh with his hand and looked up at the Duke with trembling eyes.
“I was wrong. I was wrong. Duke, Your Grace, please have mercy.”
“Do you know who is behind you?”
“Pardon?”
Killon stared blankly at him with a face covered in tears and snot.
“Where did that woman go?”
“Sniffle. W-Who are you talking about?”
Killon collapsed in a posture of submission, tears streaming down his face.
“Where is my fiancée?”
Olive, who had been looking down at him coldly, asked instead.
“She, uh, went out for a moment.”
“Find her.”
At the Duke’s murmur, the curtains of the window fluttered once.
Subsequently, the blade of the cane in the Duke’s hand slowly approached Killon’s neck.
“A worm like you dares to touch my family…”
Unlike his emotionless voice, the Duke’s hand was trembling slightly with anger.
Sensing death at that moment, Killon closed his eyes, tears flowing.
The Duke hadn’t even interrogated him.
Everything had been exposed. He had sprinkled Monster blood on the corpse to make it look like a Monster attack. He had killed the men who killed his brother and sister-in-law to silence them.
But how was he found out? Why is he asking about my fiancée’s whereabouts at this moment?
“J-Just a moment, Duke, Your Grace.”
Then, Dia, who had been standing far away, approached them.
The blade that had stopped at her words created a fine line on Killon’s neck.
“Dia!”
Only his niece could save his life. Killon stared at her with a servile face.
“You saw it too, didn’t you? The Duke is trying to kill me for no reason. Go to His Majesty the Emperor right now and tell him…”
“Where is Peridot?”
Dia asked, engraving his pathetic appearance in her eyes one by one.
“What?”
Killon asked back with a dazed look.
“Where is Peridot! Give him back, my brother! I don’t care if you die or not, you who killed our parents and stole my brother! Give me back my brother!”
“No, I didn’t kill him.”
Killon shook his head wildly with a blank expression.
He hadn’t killed him. He had simply given orders to the men his fiancée had introduced him to.
“Where is Peridot!”
Dia grabbed his collar and shook him, tears streaming down her face.
“I, I don’t know. Peridot disappeared!”
“…What?”
Dia barely managed to voice out, her face contorted.
“I was actually looking for Peridot too!”
“You’re holding Peridot, you locked us up, and now you’re saying you don’t know?”
As Dia, shocked, loosened her grip, Killon’s eyes flashed momentarily. He grabbed Dia’s neck, who was close by.
Killon took out a small knife he had hidden in his shoe and held it to Dia’s neck.
“If you touch me one more time, I’ll kill this child.”
The Duke, who had been closing his eyes, raised both hands. Then, the forks and knives on the table floated into the air.
Killon, terrified by the sight he had never seen before, shouted pathetically.
“I’ll really, kill…”
His words were not finished.
It was because the silver knives and forks flew and pierced him as if they were alive.
The servants’ faces turned white.
Killon, covered in blood, passed out with his eyes rolled back.
“I-Is he dead?”
Dia asked in a trembling voice, coldly glaring at Killon, who had collapsed at her feet.
“…Not yet.”
No sooner had the Duke’s words fallen than Dia pulled out one of the knives.
Her hand, aiming the knife at the center of Killon’s chest, trembled.
“I’ll kill him.”
Dia slowly lowered the knife, tears streaming down her face.
Olive gently grabbed her hand.
“A noble cannot kill another noble.”
He shook his head with a bitter tone.
“I also want a duel…”
Dia still had the knife aimed at him.
“The opponent must acknowledge it, young lady. And there is a reason why the Duke, Your Grace, has not killed him yet.”
“…Why?”
“We must reveal all of his crimes. He will be torn apart and his head displayed in front of all the southern nobles. So that everyone can see the price of recklessly touching a member of the Duke’s family. So that no one will ever touch a member of the Duke’s family again.”
Clang. The knife fell to the marble floor.
Dia closed her trembling eyelids. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
‘I will protect Bynes. Mother. Mother was right.’
\ \ *
Caw. Caw.
Crows gathered in the wide open space in front of the Count’s estate.
The Count’s territory residents spat or cursed at the displayed head with angry faces as they passed by.
Many people gathered in front of the Count’s estate from early morning. There, Killon’s crimes were revealed one by one.
An executioner from the Imperial Family had visited, and a summary trial was held.
The territory residents had not yet escaped the death of the benevolent Count and his wife.
They were angry at the fact that Killon was behind it, and some were even crying in resentment.
In the meantime, a black-haired boy was found dead in Killon’s secret warehouse, his face disfigured. It was a child that Killon had prepared as a substitute for Peridot in case of an emergency.
Dia fainted after confirming that it was not Peridot.
Since the Count and his wife had already been cremated, the nobles who had flocked to the funeral were sent back, and a simple family funeral was held instead.
The smell of fishiness floating in the air became stronger. It felt like it would rain soon.
Kay bowed behind Gerald, who was standing by the window.
“The woman disappeared without leaving any traces, and we were unable to find any traces of the mastermind.”
After listening to the report, Gerald’s lips opened heavily after a long time.
“Was I the variable? I thought he would use Killon more.”
“……”
Kay lowered his head even further without saying anything.
At that time, a presence was felt outside.
“Come in.”
Olive and Dia, with a gaunt face, entered together.
“The young lady said she had something to say, so I brought her here.”
Gerald still stood by the window and nodded slightly in response.
Dia clasped her hands together and took a step toward Gerald, bowing deeply.
“Thank you for all the grace you have shown me. Now, if I can just find Peridot, I think I can go back to the way things were.”
She could no longer return to the past when her parents were alive, but now she was the head of the family. Dia, who forcibly calmed her surging emotions, raised her head.
“……”
Gerald was still standing silently.
Dia looked at the Duke’s profile with his eyes closed and recalled her beloved mother’s face.
“Are you telling me to go back now?”
“Pardon?”
Dia’s eyes widened at his direct words.
“You are still young.”
“I’ll be an adult in a few months.”
Dia said firmly, clenching her hands tightly.
“The Empire does not recognize women as heads of households.”
Dia bit her lip tightly.
Could it be that resolving everything was all because of this? Now that Killon is dead, is the Western Duke trying to swallow the Count’s family?
Due to the betrayal of someone she had trusted, she could no longer trust people.
Dia opened her mouth with an anxious face.
“I’ll be honest. I don’t need a guardian. I’ll be an adult soon, so I can be the guardian of the children.”
“Impossible.”
“Do you want the Count’s property? Or land? I’ll give you anything. Just please go back.”
Dia said coldly, staring straight at Gerald.
The corners of his lips slightly lifted.
