62 - I Got Engaged to a Blind Duke
I thought that if he lived like that, begging, he would come back to me, begging for forgiveness.
I waited patiently for that day.
Even while getting engaged to the Young Lady of a baronet family who inherited the title and had quite a bit of wealth, he assigned a monitor to Marin and often received reports about her.
She was still shabby and living pitifully.
Then one day, Marin suddenly disappeared. And after two months, she appeared as the Duke's fiancée.
It was absurd. I was so angry I felt like I was going crazy.
Marin should have been groveling in the dirt, begging him to take her in as a concubine.
Enraged, he approached Marin while the Duke was away.
The Marin he met again was absurdly unchanged. She showed no remorse at all, even after committing such a great wrong against him.
Rather, she demanded an apology.
To make matters worse, his fiancée Christine intervened in the middle of his conversation with Marin. If Christine hadn't attracted attention, this wouldn't have happened.
Gerbium glared at Christine, who was trembling beside him.
Sensing his gaze, Christine gently reached out to grab him with tearful brown eyes.
Gerbium coldly pushed her hand away.
Christine's eyes widened as if she couldn't believe he could ignore her.
Seeing her surprised expression, Gerbium regained his composure and cleared his throat.
"The Duke, please don't misunderstand. I was just congratulating Marin, as we have been friends for a long time. I apologize for the disturbance to the party caused by my fiancée's misunderstanding."
Gerbium bowed his head in apology, secretly smirking.
By directly calling her name 'Marin,' he flaunted his familiarity with her.
Now that Marin was the Duke's fiancée, she wouldn't be able to bring up the past if she had any sense.
He had made it clear that all this commotion was his fiancée's fault, so he could gracefully slip away.
"Marin?"
The Duke's voice was chilling.
As the Duke reached out to the side, the cane embedded in the pillar quickly returned to his hand.
People looked at him with awe or fear at the miraculous sight.
The Duke took a step forward. It was just one step, but the immense pressure made Gerbium's head drop further.
Damn it. Was calling her name a mistake?
The Duke tapped his cane on the marble floor in front of Gerbium.
The sound of the 'thud!' startled Gerbium, and he quickly apologized.
"I, I'm sorry."
Gerbium was about to raise his head to explain again when he was startled. It was as if someone was pressing down on his head. His body wouldn't listen to him. Sweat poured down like rain.
"What are you sorry for?"
The Duke asked calmly, but Gerbium was terrified, his back soaked with sweat.
"I, I called The Duke's fiancée familiarly. My father and the late Baron Schwentz were close friends, so our families were close. I made a mistake. I'm sorry."
Gerbium was miserable. The pressure was as if someone was riding on his back, and his waist was bending further and further.
His gaze, which had fallen to the floor on its own, saw the Duke's shiny black shoes.
When did the Duke get so close?
"Can't you even distinguish who to apologize to?"
"Yes?"
Gerbium wanted to raise his head and see the Duke's expression, but his body wouldn't budge.
"You still haven't grasped the situation."
"Ugh."
Gerbium's body, crushed by the immense force, gradually lowered until his knees hit the floor. And then he was forcibly knocked prone.
Thud.
His forehead hit the marble floor, swelling up red. His body was completely out of his control.
"Now you look like you're apologizing."
"The Duke! I, I'm sorry. I was wrong. The Duke, please forgive me..."
"Still don't realize who you need to say that to?"
The Duke's monotonous voice rang in his ears like thunder.
Could it be? Doubt arose in his heart.
Does the Duke know everything?
How? Did Marin tell him everything? Does that woman have no shame?
Gerbium wanted to raise his head and tell the Duke that it was all a misunderstanding. But his lowered head wouldn't move.
The Duke doesn't want an apology.
Then...
"I was wrong, Marin Schwentz Young Lady."
It was humiliating, but he was more afraid of his body not moving.
"What did you do wrong?"
Gerbium bit his lip. She was going to ask that. That incident was a scandal for her too.
"Do you really want me to say it with my own mouth?"
It was a threat.
No matter how strong she came across, as a noble lady, she couldn't reveal her own flaws.
Marin looked down at Gerbium kneeling on the floor with a dumbfounded expression. It was a sight of the perpetrator threatening the victim.
She had told him to kneel and beg, and Gerbium actually knelt and prostrated himself in apology. Of course, it wasn't a sincere apology, but honestly, it was satisfying.
Rolling her eyes, she turned to the side and saw the Duke standing still with an unreadable expression.
She was grateful to the Duke for creating this whole situation.
Looking down at Gerbium again, Marin laughed inwardly. She was amused by his foolish thought that she would never be able to say the truth from her own mouth.
She had no intention of getting married anyway. Once this employment engagement was over, she had no desire to be involved in aristocratic society any further. Even if scandal followed her like a tag, it wouldn't matter at all.
Above all, she was the victim. Why should the victim be afraid?
"Since you won't say your sins with your own mouth, I'll say them for you."
"Marin! No, Schwentz Young Lady!!"
It was ridiculous to see Gerbium trembling as he tried to lift his face.
"I'm talking about that day when I barely escaped from you. I was lucky to escape with just a slap, but I'm asking you to apologize for that day when you dragged me into the room and tried to do something to me, Gerbium."
The repercussions of the story she calmly told were enormous. The space, which had been quiet from the start, became as silent as a graveyard.
People's sharp gazes poured down on Gerbium, who was lying flat on the floor.
"It's a lie!"
The pressure that had been crushing his body disappeared like a lie. As soon as he could move his body, Gerbium jumped up and shouted.
But his words were as futile as an echo shouted into the void.
Which noble lady would endure scandal and talk about such a past at a party? Especially when she was the main character of the party.
"It's all lies. You have to believe me."
Gerbium retreated, looking around anxiously as if searching for someone to take his side.
The Duke, who had been frozen with an icy expression, raised one hand.
Then Gerbium's body floated up, and his neck was grabbed by the Duke's large hand.
"Cough."
The Duke strangled his neck with a chilling expression. Gerbium, who was being lifted by the Duke with his neck strangled, was suffocating.
"Yo, Your Grace. You can't push me like this without e, evidence."
The Duke's lips, which had been tightly closed, slowly opened.
"Why do I need evidence?"
"Kuh."
Gerbium looked at the Duke with bloodshot eyes.
"My fiancée said so."
The nobles, who had been holding their breath, burst into murmurs.
Eyes of pity. Eyes of contempt. Eyes of curiosity. Eyes of suspicion.
Marin slowly scanned the eyes of the nobles standing around and slowly opened her mouth.
"I have evidence."
"She says she has evidence too."
"Cough. It's, it's a lie."
Gerbium squeezed out his voice to survive.
"I woke up."
Question marks were raised on the faces of the nobles at her absurd answer.
Marin looked pitifully at Gerbium's face, which was red as if it would burst, then slowly lowered her gaze. And then stopped at his lower body.
