78 - I Got Engaged to a Blind Duke
A sunlit office. It was a place I used to visit often, but it felt very unfamiliar.
Marin's light green eyes scanned the surroundings.
The wide desk in the office. Bookshelves reaching the ceiling and various kinds of swords neatly decorated on one wall. Blackish-red wallpaper.
The black curtains were drawn, and the window was slightly open. Whether it had just been opened, the office still felt stale.
Did Peridot know I was coming and open the window? How? Well, it must be the male lead buff.
“So this is what it looks like inside.”
Olive, who was standing next to Marin, stifled a smile as she heard her mutter to herself and blew out the candle.
“Please, go in first.”
“Okay. Peridot, let’s go.”
Peridot also rolled his eyes, looking around the office.
“Hello, Gerald. It’s so bright today.”
Marin greeted him with a playful voice.
“…Hello.”
Peridot hid behind the hem of her dress and peeked out.
“Yes.”
The Duke nodded slightly with an indifferent face.
Olive greeted the Duke with a refreshing expression.
“Good morning, Your Grace.”
The Duke nodded in response and turned his head back towards Peridot.
“What’s wrong?”
Peridot seemed startled and hesitated, then let go of Marin’s skirt. Soon, he approached the Duke with a brave face.
“I’m sorry, Duke. I’ll ‘hoo’ it for you.”
“…What?”
For a moment, the Duke’s indifferent expression broke. He asked slowly, with a face that showed he didn’t know how to react.
“I hit you last night. I’m sorry for hurting you. So I’ll ‘hoo’ it for you.”
Peridot approached the desk and peered over it to see the Duke’s legs.
Marin held her breath at Peridot’s adorable appearance.
How could there be such a lovely child in the world?
Olive also looked at the Duke and Peridot with an impressed face.
“…It didn’t hurt.”
The Duke opened his mouth after a long pause, looking flustered.
“Ruby Noona says it hurts even if I hit her just once, though?”
“You shouldn’t hit your sister carelessly.”
The Duke warned in a stern voice, and Peridot nodded.
“It was a mistake when I was throwing a ball. I won’t do that anymore.”
“Okay. That’s a good attitude.”
The Duke raised his hand, then paused.
Peridot looked at his large hand and put his head under it.
“You can pat me. I’ll allow it.”
Ah, did you have to get permission to do that?
Marin looked down at her hand, which had touched Peridot’s head carelessly, with a sheepish expression.
The Duke stroked Peridot’s soft hair.
“Duke. Can I play here and then go?”
The Duke, who had been stroking Peridot for a while, turned his head towards Olive.
“Olive, prepare a chair. A soft one.”
“Yes.”
Olive replied with her usual gentle smile.
“I’m going to sit with my teacher.”
Peridot said firmly. Kind Peridot even considered the health of his teacher’s legs.
“A long chair.”
“Yes.”
“Anything else you need?”
“Teacher?”
Peridot looked at Marin with his dark eyes, as if asking for help.
“Um, paper and pastels and some snacks?”
Marin said after thinking for a moment, and Peridot nodded his head greatly as if agreeing.
“Yes. I’ll prepare everything quickly.”
Olive smiled brightly and quickly left the office.
\ \ \
Garnet knocked on Dia’s door. But there was no answer from inside.
“Unnie?”
When she opened the door slightly, Dia was sleeping in bed.
Dia, who was usually sensitive, couldn’t even hear the knocking.
It was strange. Something seemed to have happened last night, but Dia kept her mouth shut.
Garnet carefully closed the door so as not to wake Dia and headed to Rubiana’s room. She was about to knock on the door when Rubiana opened it and came out.
“Ruby, where are you going?”
“To the Baroness’s room.”
“Why are you going there?”
Garnet looked at her with a dissatisfied look.
“Because she’s my friend.”
“Friend?”
“Yeah. I decided to be friends with the Baroness. I read books to the Baroness every day.”
“You really have nothing better to do.”
Rubiana, who was holding a book to her chest, stared up at Garnet.
“Looks like Unnie has nothing to do? Want me to play with you?”
“No way!”
Garnet put her hands on her hips and pretended to be tough.
“Okay. I’m busy anyway.”
“Ruby!”
Garnet glared at Rubiana with a sulky face.
“Unnie*, I’ll play with you later. Bye.”
Garnet watched Rubiana go up to the third floor and turned her head away.
“Hmph. It’s not like I have nothing to do.”
She went down the stairs without hesitation. She opened the door to the detached building and went outside, and a winter wind blew.
Garnet’s long blonde hair and the hem of her dress fluttered in the wind.
“I have something to do too. I will.”
As soon as she spoke to the empty air, loneliness washed over her.
When she was at the Marquis’s residence, it was always crowded, busy, and fun.
But at the Duke's Castle, she didn’t know what to do, and it wasn’t fun.
As she walked aimlessly, she came to the front of the main building where the Duke stayed.
Peridot must be inside, right?
Should I ask them to call Peridot?
Garnet was lost in thought, rolling a stone on the ground, when someone called her.
“Miss Garnet?”
When she looked up, an old butler with a sturdy build and a white beard was standing there.
“Yes.”
“I am late in greeting you. I am Sebas Chen, the butler. Please, feel free to call me Sebas.”
“Ah, okay.”
Garnet nodded roughly and lowered her eyes.
I shouldn’t have come here. I didn’t really want to talk to the people at the Duke's Castle.
“What are you doing here?”
“Just. Taking a walk.”
“Is that so?”
“It’s not fun, so I’m going back now.”
Garnet turned her body halfway, but the butler asked in a subtle voice.
“Have you perhaps been to the Stable?”
“Stable?”
Garnet realized she seemed too interested and regretted saying it.
“Yes. There’s a very pretty horse there. Shall I guide you?”
“Well, I guess I could go see it.”
Garnet nodded with an expression that she had no choice but to follow.
Sebas Butler had a gentle smile on his face and led Garnet to the Stable.
When they arrived at the Stable, there were few horses.
“The horses here are specially managed, so there aren’t many.”
“I see.”
Sebas Butler approached the horse at the end of the Stable, which had a black face but a white body.
The horse seemed to recognize the butler, as it raised its head and neighed happily. The butler stroked the horse and turned to Garnet.
“What do you think?”
“It looks unique.”
“It’s lived a long time. It’s been over twenty years already.”
“Wow, but it’s so healthy?”
“It was the horse of Miss Garnet’s mother.”
Garnet froze as she reached out her hand to the horse.
My mother’s horse? I never thought I would hear about my beloved mother’s past here.
“She was going to take it with her when she went to the South, but she said that although she was separated from her family, the horse had its family here, so she regretted leaving it behind.”
Garnet put strength into her outstretched fingers and moved them. As she slowly stroked the horse, it neighed for a long time as if it felt good.
“That’s a very mother-like thought.”
“Isn’t it?”
Garnet took the apple that the butler offered and fed it to the horse.
“What’s the horse’s name?”
“Blackie.”
Garnet laughed heartily.
“That’s a very mother-like name. My mother would call a pink bird Pink and a yellow puppy Yellow.”
“She’s been like that since she was young.”
Sebas Butler smiled as he recalled the past.
“Hey.”
“Yes.”
“Is the name Sebas common?”
“I am the only one in the Duke's Castle.”
“Then were you perhaps the vice-captain of the Knights Order before?”
The wrinkled eyes of Sebas Butler, who was startled, widened.
“How did you know?”
“I heard it from my mother. She said she learned swordsmanship from the vice-captain of the Knights Order. I also learned swordsmanship from my mother sometimes.”
“Is that so?”
The butler stroked the horse with a lonely look in his eyes.
“About swordsmanship, can you teach me too?”
Garnet stared straight at the butler with an earnest face.
Sebas Butler hid his surprise and looked back at Garnet.
Did Marin foresee all of this?
