53 - I Got Engaged to a Blind Duke
Engaged to a Blind Duke - Episode 53
I’m screwed. This one phrase contained the meaning, ‘There’s no chance for me to meet the good person he mentioned.’
“Please, just call me by my name instead of Little Duke. And I apologize.”
Jeromian, realizing immediately, looked apologetic, thinking he had made a mistake.
Marin waved her unheld hand as if to say it was okay.
Jeromian stared intently at that hand and turned his attention back to the Duke.
“An engagement without an engagement ring?”
The Duke, who had been consistently cold towards Jeromian, showed the first subtle crack in his expression.
Marin gave an awkward smile and hid her hand behind her back.
“Did you get permission from Marin’s mother?”
The crack in the Duke’s expression changed to one of even greater bewilderment.
Jeromian snorted, reading the answer in that expression.
“See? What kind of engagement is it with someone who doesn’t even know these procedures?”
“I got permission.”
Marin, more curious about the Duke’s reaction, looked at him.
Then Jeromian crossed his arms and clicked his tongue.
“Tsk, tsk. How about becoming my disciple rather than being engaged to such an indifferent fellow?”
“Excuse me?”
“I’ll give you anything you need.”
“Kay.”
At the Duke’s call, Kay, who suddenly appeared from somewhere, knelt before him.
“Yes.”
“Throw that thing out.”
Kay nodded slightly in response and approached Jeromian.
“Kay. I told you not to come out so startlingly, didn’t I?”
Jeromian scolded Kay with a serious face.
“But that is my job.”
Kay replied in a voice that was not at all affected.
“What kind of job is it to startle people?”
“I mean that obeying the Duke’s orders is my job. Please leave. I will escort you politely.”
“Interpreting that, it means if I don’t leave when you escort me politely, you’ll drag me out, right?”
“……”
Kay remained silent in affirmation, and Jeromian nervously swept his long silver hair back.
“Don’t touch me. I’ll go on my own.”
Kay stepped back slightly.
“My dear, we will talk again…”
Kay interrupted as soon as Jeromian began to speak to Marin.
“Let’s go.”
He even blocked Jeromian’s gaze towards Marin.
Jeromian threw his silk gown back and turned to leave.
The office became silent as if a storm had passed through.
The Duke paused before opening his mouth.
“…I’ll buy the ring tomorrow.”
He touched his temple with his fingers, as if the commotion Jeromian had caused gave him a headache.
Ah, the ring. Even she hadn’t thought about the ring.
Because it wasn’t a real engagement.
“It’s okay. It’s just a fake engagement anyway. You already bought me a lot of jewelry with the dress last time. I can just wear one of those.”
Marin replied nonchalantly. When the boss tells you to do something, you just do it.
“No. The jeweler will come tomorrow.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Marin answered immediately.
“By the way.”
“Yes?”
Marin looked at the Duke, averting her gaze from her still-held wrist.
“How long have you been friendly with that guy?”
“That guy?”
Marin tilted her head, not knowing who he was referring to, and asked back.
“Are you perhaps talking about Jeromian? Are we close?”
“We?”
The Duke’s furrowed eyebrows openly displayed his displeasure.
“Well, when Jeromian was Zero, he often kept me company.”
“Kept you company?”
The Duke’s expression, repeating her words, was as cold as the northern wind.
Marin’s light green eyes trembled slightly.
Did she say something wrong?
It felt like the Duke kept picking at her words, but that must be her imagination, right?
“I occasionally met him when I was choosing books to read to you in the library.”
“Occasionally? How often?”
“Um, once or twice a week?”
Marin said honestly.
“That often?”
“Is that often?”
Marin stared at him with a questioning look.
“Then is it not often?”
The Duke also raised one eyebrow as if to say, “What nonsense are you talking about?”
“Did I perhaps do something wrong to you, Your Grace?”
“Are you changing the subject now?”
Marin was dumbfounded by the Duke’s sharp rebuke and opened and closed her mouth.
No, why are you doing this? Seriously.
“Thinking about it, I think you’re right, Your Grace. It was often. But when are you going to let go of my hand?”
Marin decided to just accept the situation. She thought she could end this inexplicable interrogation if she quickly agreed.
The Duke then seemed to realize that he had been holding her wrist the whole time and subtly let go.
Marin hurriedly retrieved her wrist and stroked it.
Good job, wrist.
“Then, shall I read the report now?”
“Yes.”
His tone was still somewhat dissatisfied, but Marin didn’t know why, so she began her work.
\ \ *
“Your Grace, Miss Marin, the jeweler has arrived.”
Butler Sebas, who had knocked and entered, announced the jeweler’s visit from the drawing room door.
“Let him in.”
As soon as the lean, middle-aged man in his fifties with a protruding mouth entered, he bowed politely.
“It is an honor. Your Grace, and fiancée. I am Yoreri Harkus, the Empire’s best gem appraiser, gem cutter, and jewelry store owner.”
“It’s been a while.”
Yoreri, having finished his long greeting, beamed with sparkling eyes and a proud smile.
“It is an honor to my family that you remember me.”
“Let’s proceed quickly.”
“Yes, I understand.”
He clapped his hands, and his employees entered in a line, carrying bags.
“I have carefully selected and brought 100 of the highest quality gemstone rings. I don’t know if the fiancée knows, but our jewelry store has a 300-year tradition…”
“I want to concentrate.”
“Yes.”
Yoreri quickly closed his mouth.
Marin was slightly overwhelmed, looking at the jewels that emitted such beautiful radiance that it almost blinded her.
Until her family fell, she had also grown up in a wealthy aristocratic family. However, it was the first time she had seen so many gemstone rings at once.
“Anything you like?”
At the Duke’s question, Marin took a deep breath.
Until now, she had been talking about the engagement in front of familiar people, but now she had to act like a couple in love in front of an outsider.
Marin slightly curled her fists, put them to her face, and tilted her head slightly.
“Will our handsome Duke help me? There are so many jewels that I can’t choose.”
The drawing room became momentarily silent at Marin’s display of affection.
Marin’s pupils trembled incessantly.
She could see Butler Sebas turning towards the door and shaking his shoulders.
Is this not it? Is this really not it? Did I go too far?
Marin subtly lowered her hands and deeply bowed her reddened face.
“Cough. I, who am handsome, want to help, but the situation is not favorable.”
The Duke covered his mouth and stifled a laugh.
Marin’s earlobes turned red.
“Yoreri. What ring would you recommend that is similar to my fiancée’s eye color?”
Yoreri, who had been briefly distracted by Marin’s charm, quickly regained his senses.
Money! Money is coming. Stay focused.
“I will find it right away.”
