43 - I Got Engaged to a Blind Duke
Engaged to the Blind Duke - Episode 43
Marin went to the end of the servants lined up on both sides and stood quietly.
The Duke, whom she had seen in a long time, seemed a little thinner, and his jawline was sharper.
Has he been suffering a lot? Has he been sleeping well?
As the Duke walked slowly between them, the servants bowed their heads in unison.
Marin also took the same posture as them.
However, the Duke's neat steps stopped right in front of her. It was as if the Duke knew she was standing here and came to find her.
Marin, who was looking at the Duke's feet standing motionless in front of her, slowly raised her head. The Duke's face, standing with his back to the sunlight, was shadowed, making it impossible to read what he wanted.
The servants near her bowed even deeper.
Marin looked around with a troubled expression and said with a half-doubting heart.
"Welcome? Your Grace."
"I'm back... Be careful."
The Duke, who leaned slightly towards her face, whispered as if blurring the end of his words.
Marin, her eyes wide, realized that it was an answer to what she had said when she saw him off, and soon smiled brightly.
"Yes!"
\ \ \
"Your Grace, the preparations for departure are all finished. I will organize this place and move with the Count's son and daughters. And I am investigating the person behind it."
"Tell the spies sent to each Duke's family to dig in detail. After all, the person behind it is either the Emperor or one of them."
"Yes. And here is the quarterly report from the eastern spy. 'The child' is growing up well without knowing anything."
"Okay."
"Yes."
"Can Peridot still not speak?"
"The doctor says it's a temporary symptom caused by the shock. It seems like time is needed."
Olive reported in a pitiful tone.
"I see."
It's time to leave now.
"Um, but there's a bit of a problem."
Olive cautiously watched the Duke's expression.
"……."
Gerald waited for the next words.
"The eldest daughter has agreed to move her residence to the Duke's Castle for safety, but she has set conditions. She asks for a small annex and hopes that no one approaches it. She even refused a tutor. She is in a state where she cannot trust anyone after experiencing this incident."
"Do as the children want."
"The tutor can stay in the Duke's Castle and be found gradually over time, but the biggest problem is that the eldest daughter will soon have her Debutante. A noble woman is needed to chaperone the eldest daughter. In fact, any adult noble woman can be a chaperone, but the eldest daughter does not want to interact with any nobles other than the Duke's family."
"No one?"
"Yes. If only the Duchess were here at times like this..."
Olive blurred her words in a self-deprecating voice.
"……."
Gerald was lost in thought without saying a word.
\ \ \
A dark study covered with curtains.
The conversation with Olive before leaving for the Duke's Castle lingered in Gerald's mind.
He could wait as long as it took for the children's wounds to heal before assigning a tutor.
But Dia's chaperone was another matter.
As her guardian, he intended to take perfect care of his nieces and nephews. In that case, Dia's Debutante was a very important event.
A noble woman who does not have her Debutante is ostracized from noble society. It was impossible for his eldest niece to be ignored in noble society.
He needed someone to put forward as a chaperone for Dia, but his niece did not want to interact with nobles from other families.
He couldn't just go somewhere and marry any woman right now.
There was no need to go as far as marriage. Even just an engagement that could be broken at any time would be good.
Gerald pondered and fiddled with the eye patch on his desk. It hadn't been long since he had taken it off, but for some reason, it felt like a very distant past.
At that moment, Gerald's lips opened at the familiar sound of someone approaching from outside.
"Come in."
"Hello, Your Grace. You must be tired from just arriving? I thought it would be better for you to go to bed early today, so I came a little early."
Marin chattered like a bird, pushing the trolley. Even in the midst of that, she did not forget to lower her voice to be considerate of him.
She smelled of familiar books and Mandresson Grass.
The corners of Gerald's lips lifted slightly, but he did not even realize it.
"I'll put the grass on your eyes. Did you use what I gave you well?"
"Yes."
Marin, who had come close and was about to put the cloth on his eyes, felt like she hesitated. It seemed like she had just realized that he wasn't covering his eyes.
"You don't cover your eyes anymore? Can I put this on as it is?"
"Yes."
As the cloth filled with Mandresson Grass was placed on his eyes, his eyelids felt cool.
"Today, I'll tell you the story of the Crown Prince and the Beggar."
She cleared her throat and began to read the fairy tale in a low but clear voice.
Her cozy voice tickled his ears. Sleep slowly came over him, but he held on to his flickering mind because he regretted hearing her voice after a long time.
"The Crown Prince disguised as a beggar returned to the Imperial Palace and said to the knight. I am the Crown Prince. The knight laughed at the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince who left the Imperial Palace said to an old man walking down the street. I am the Crown Prince. The old man threw a stone at him, calling him a liar."
A life where the real and the fake are switched, and the fake becomes the real.
He hated lies, but sometimes they were necessary.
As he listened to the fairy tale, he realized that there was a noble woman who could pretend to be his fiancée very close by.
A deep smile was etched on the Duke's lips as he listened to the fairy tale.
\ \ *
The next morning.
A tea table was set in the center of the dark study. Flickering candles brightly illuminated the area around the tea table.
Gerald felt Marin's fidgeting movements and slowly opened his mouth.
"How is life at the Duke's Castle?"
"Thanks to Your Grace's great consideration, I am living very comfortably. I am always grateful."
It was a typical social life remark, but why was it so funny when she said it?
"Do you like living here?"
Gerald asked again, thinking about what he was going to say next.
Would she still like it after hearing his plan?
"Yes. I like it so much."
"Then let's get engaged."
Gerald brought up the main point in a calm tone.
"I, I didn't hear you correctly?"
"Are your ears not good?"
"No. It's not that……."
"Let's get engaged."
"Yes, that word…… Hic."
As expected, Gerald suppressed a laugh at her surprised reaction.
"Your Grace, I think my ears are not good after all. I think I should go to the Duke's Castle doctor, so I'll be on my way……."
"Sit down."
"Yes."
"Shall we go back to the main point?"
"Yes."
"Your answer is very short. Did you understand what I said?"
Gerald slowly stroked his lips with his long fingers, hiding his smile.
"Yeeees."
Perhaps because of what he had just said, she answered very long this time.
"It's better to be short. And if possible, naturally."
"Yes."
Gerald pondered how to persuade her well, then asked a question first.
"What do you want?"
"What do you mean……."
"Miss Marin Schwentz."
She stopped breathing for a moment. The noisy movement of her fidgeting fingers also stopped at the same time.
She had to breathe.
He was worried about her freezing up, but he pretended not to know and continued.
"When you hid that you were a noble and came to work at the Duke's Castle, there must have been something you wanted, right?"
