🧁 Cupcake
Regenerate
Engaged to the Blind Duke - Episode 44
"When you hid your noble status and came to work at the Duke's Castle, there must have been something you wanted, right?"
"Th, that, how did you... hiccup."
Gerald leaned back casually in his chair and opened his red lips.
"If you believed you could deceive the Duke Vines family so easily, should I call you naive?"
"I'm sorry. I was wrong. I needed money..."
She readily admitted her mistake.
"The reason you infiltrated the Duke's family was because of money?"
Gerald tilted his head further towards her to read her reaction.
"...Not infiltrated, employed."
She muttered in a timid voice.
"Was the reason you stuck by my side also because of money?"
"...Not stuck by, assisted."
She replied in a voice full of injustice. She was trembling, but she spoke very well.
"Was the reason you whispered next to me also because of money?"
"...I whispered because you don't like loud noises, Duke."
Even though he was openly teasing her, she didn't notice at all.
Gerald was unknowingly drawing a smile on his lips.
"So all of that was because of money?"
"Yes."
"Then how much will it take?"
"...What do you mean?"
"I said it before. Let's get engaged. How much will it take to allow a hired engagement?"
"H-huh?"
"Briefly."
She quickly lowered her voice and asked again.
"I am too foolish to understand Your Grace's words?"
"Didn't you say you liked living in the Duke's Castle? Congratulations. You'll be able to continue living in your favorite place."
"Actually, now that I think about it, it doesn't seem that good..."
"Really? Hmm, if you deceive the Duke's family, where to..."
"But! The Duke's Castle is the best, Your Grace! Did I ever tell you? That I want to be buried in this beautiful and wonderful Duke's family?"
"No, I didn't hear that."
Gerald chuckled and no longer hid his smile.
"Oh dear, I thought I had already said it. I will serve Your Grace with all my heart until I am buried here..."
Gerald interrupted her words, which seemed as sincere as possible.
"I don't need bones, I want a fiancée."
"Perhaps, just perhaps, do I have the right to refuse?"
She asked timidly in a trembling voice.
"Do you think you do?"
When the same answer she had received when she asked if she could change her wish came back, Marin mumbled with a dejected face.
"...No."
Instead of forgiving her for deceiving him all this time, he was telling her to have a hired engagement.
Hired engagement.
It was a very unfamiliar word. But it was like a contract marriage or contract engagement that she had seen countless times in novels in her previous life.
Is this possible? There was no such content in the novel.
Marin forcibly resisted the urge to tear her hair out and raised her hand slightly.
"Um, I have a question."
"Ask."
"When did you know I was a noble? Why did you watch me until now?"
"From the beginning. Are you asking why the person who deceived me has deceived me until now?"
When he wore a sneer, Marin quietly closed her mouth with an embarrassed expression.
An awkward silence fell between the two.
Marin quietly raised her hand again.
"Um, can I ask why you're trying to have a contract enga- no, a hired engagement with me? If Your Grace proposes, all the young ladies in the West would agree."
"I need a temporary fiancée. And there happens to be a noble young lady working temporarily around me? A young lady who even has the sin of daring to deceive a duke."
Wow, I don't know who it is, but they're the perfect fit.
That's me.
Marin sniffled inwardly because she had sinned against the Duke.
"My nephews and nieces will be coming soon."
"Yes."
Duke Vines would be the guardian of the children.
"I need someone to teach those children. I also need a chaperone for the eldest's Debutante."
Suddenly, a new job appeared before her eyes.
"Perhaps, are you mistaking a governess for a fiancée? I think that can happen sometimes."
I don't think that can ever happen.
But when the superior's superior was talking nonsense, it was necessary to appease them.
"Imsi. Do I look like someone who would talk nonsense enough to mistake those two?"
Kya! Telepathy? He's definitely reading my mind!
Marin glanced at the Duke and gently raised both hands to her chest.
It was a will to somehow prevent her mind from being read.
"I have many enemies."
"Yes..."
Marin awkwardly trailed off at the sudden confession.
"So I'm going to hold a very grand party to celebrate the engagement."
"H-huh?"
Accepting a hired engagement was already a big mental burden, but a grand party?
Why are you talking about a grand party after talking about enemies?
Is this duke really sane?
It hasn't been long since he lost his sister. But he's throwing a grand party for the engagement?
In aristocratic society, rumors would spread that the Duke was ignoring the dead Count and Countess and was crazy about a woman.
Marin stared blankly at the Duke with a dumbfounded expression, and a chill ran down her spine at the sudden realization.
What if the death of the Count and Countess was the work of enemies?
In the novel, it was only briefly mentioned as an accident, so she naturally thought it was an accidental death.
But if they really killed the Count and Countess on purpose, who would it be? The Imperial faction? The aristocratic faction?
Marin looked at the Duke's complexion with pitiful eyes.
"You seem to like grand parties."
No, why can't you read my mind at times like this?
"No, I don't!"
Marin shook her head wildly with a bewildered face.
"The reaction is passionate."
A smile was drawn on the Duke's lips and quickly disappeared.
"It's a normal reaction when you're surprised."
Marin pouted and made excuses.
"Imsi, why do you think I want a grand party?"
He threw a question as if he were testing her.
The children are coming soon. The Duke has many enemies. He's throwing a grand party to celebrate the engagement.
Marin carefully revealed what she had thought.
"To protect the children."
The Duke was listening silently as if telling her to continue.
"Isn't it because you're trying to turn the enemies' attention solely to Your Grace so that Your Grace's enemies don't target the children by holding a grand party?"
He nodded as if he was satisfied.
"As expected, you're a great spy in the making."
"I'm really not a spy."
Marin whispered with a wronged face. Her heart dropped whenever she heard the word spy.
"If you were a real spy, you wouldn't be in this position."
Her nape became cold at his nonchalant tone. Marin shuddered and rubbed her nape.
"But there's something I'm worried about. If the children, who haven't had their parents for long, see a grand party as soon as they come, I think they'll misunderstand Your Grace."
"Then we can deceive the enemy even better."
Marin slightly parted her pink lips, closed them again, and stared silently at the Duke.
This person is only thinking about how to protect his nephews and nieces, rather than being misunderstood by them.
She had a glimpse of the Duke's heart, which cared for his family more than anyone else behind his cold exterior.
"The hired engagement is only known to Imsi and me."
"Yes."
"The period will be until after the eldest Dia's Debutante ends. The wage is 10 gold per day."
"H-huh?"
She swallowed the words, 'That's too much?'
In any case, she did not have the right to refuse this hired engagement.
It was a profit if she was forgiven for deceiving the Duke and earned a lot of money.
Marin decided to think as positively as possible.
"Imsi."
His voice deepened as he called her name in a low voice.
"Yes."
"Don't ever leave my side from now on."
"Yes?"
Marin looked at the Duke's serious face with bewildered eyes.
"I want to say 'in front of my eyes,' but I can't see."
A bitter smile flickered across his lips and disappeared.
"..."
She didn't know what to say to comfort him in times like this, so she chose silence.
"I'll protect you. I promise."
The Duke's heavy promise fell.
He said that he was holding a grand party to give the enemies the impression that his nephews and nieces were not important to the Duke.
Conversely, that meant that she could become a target of the enemies.
The Duke was the strongest person in the Empire, but he was currently blind. Perhaps he judged that it would be better to protect one fake fiancée than to protect four nephews and nieces.
"Yes!"
Marin answered cheerfully.
Vines will protect me. She trusted him.
