95 - I Got Engaged to a Blind Duke
Blinded Duke and I are Engaged 95
“It’s Uvis.”
Yuria looked at Marin with a flustered expression, and Marin smiled brightly and said,
“Come in.”
Uvis, with bandages wrapped tightly around one thigh, came in. Yuria glared sharply at Uvis.
“Don’t look at me like that. I said I was wrong. Marin Young Lady, I’m sorry. I was wrong.”
“It’s not your fault. I was standing in the path you were running, so I got caught up in it. If I hadn’t been there, you would have escaped just fine on your own.”
“Yuria, can you leave us alone for a moment?”
“Why?”
“I have something to say to the Young Lady.”
“Okay. Yuria, go out for a bit. I’ll eat this slowly.”
Marin had a hunch about what it was, so she sent Yuria out.
“Apologize to the Young Lady.”
Yuria still glared at her brother with sharp eyes.
“I will.”
As she closed the door and left, Uvis lowered his head deeply.
“I’m really sorry, Young Lady.”
“It’s okay, I told you.”
“And El-nim. Thank you. I kept El-nim a secret.”
Uvis looked around in the air and greeted.
“El probably heard you.”
Marin answered instead of the silent El.
“Yes. I’m going to work harder. I realized it last night. I was just showing off because everyone said I was good. Next time, I will definitely protect you, Young Lady.”
Uvis, lifting his head, said with eyes full of enthusiasm.
It was a good look.
Marin nodded and smiled gently.
“I’ll support you. And carry a compass with you.”
“Yes……”
At her last words, Uvis became dejected again.
“Go and rest. Get good treatment.”
“Yes. You rest too, Young Lady.”
After sending Uvis away, there was another knock as she was finishing her meal.
“Come in.”
The door opened quietly, and The Duke came in.
Marin stared at The Duke with wide eyes.
“Oh, I thought it was Yuria.”
“How’s your body?”
“I’m fine.”
“Then let’s go out for a bit.”
The Duke suggested bluntly.
“Okay.”
She had run hard last night, so it would be good to take a walk today to stretch her legs.
He held out his large hand.
Marin, thinking he was going to check her wrist right away, placed her wrist in his hand.
He chuckled and naturally took her hand.
Not the wrist?
Marin’s face turned red, and she looked down at their clasped hands.
“There’s no one here right now.”
“From now on, stay within ten steps of me except when you’re sleeping.”
“What does that……”
“It means there won’t be any more dangerous incidents.”
Last night’s events must have been quite a shock to The Duke as well.
Marin looked at her hand, which was enveloped in The Duke’s large hand. Seeing it like this, her hand looked really small.
Marin, looking at their tightly clasped hands, smiled slightly without realizing it.
\ \ \
She left the mansion with The Duke. She was walking without thinking, following The Duke, when she saw the back gate.
“Oh?”
“You recognize it.”
“I thought I just had to avoid this place last night.”
Marin replied in a voice that was absurd to herself.
“Want to see the mine?”
Go back to the place where all that chaos happened last night? Had they cleaned up the Monster corpses?
Curiosity and fear coexisted in her heart.
“Don’t worry. I’m here today.”
She looked up at his profile. This man probably didn’t know how reassuring those words sounded.
“Yes.”
She followed The Duke and left through the back gate. Walking on the dirt path, they soon reached the forest.
The Duke headed forward without hesitation. If someone saw him, they wouldn’t believe he was blind.
“Greetings. The Duke, Schwentz Young Lady.”
At the entrance of the mine, which they had reached before she knew it, two knights were standing. The Monster corpses had already been cleaned up without a trace.
Why weren’t you here yesterday?
Marin looked at the knights with sad eyes and just gave a slight nod.
“Let’s go in.”
As they entered the cave-like entrance, there were torches here and there.
As soon as she entered, the memories of last night came rushing back.
Marin wrapped her arm around the arm that was holding The Duke’s hand. Then, The Duke’s hand gripped hers even more tightly. As if to reassure her.
\ \ \
As they went deeper inside, a cave with a faint blue-green light appeared. Inside, a miner was breaking the wall with a pickaxe.
“It’s out!”
At the words of one miner, the others gathered.
“This time it’s black. It seems like black ones are rare.”
“Then let’s give it to the Lord right away.”
A knight was standing where the miners were breaking the wall. The knight, upon discovering The Duke, quickly bowed his head.
“Greetings. The Duke, Schwentz Young Lady.”
As the knight greeted, the miners stopped their movements and bent over in half.
“Greetings, The Duke.”
“Continue your work.”
At The Duke’s words, the miners started swinging their pickaxes again.
The miner who had discovered the black Opal a little while ago came forward and handed over the mineral.
“Very small amounts of this black-colored one are being found here.”
The Duke, receiving the Opal, said in a low voice.
“Good work.”
“Oh, yes. Thank you.”
The old miner was delighted, as if the fact that he had spoken with The Duke was like a dream.
Black Opals were rare and expensive in her past life, and it seemed like they weren’t found much here either.
“Do you like it?”
“What?”
“Here.”
“Of course. I named it Opal myself. I like it very, very much.”
This money smell—no, gemstone smell. She couldn’t imagine how much it would all be worth.
“Take it.”
“Yes?”
Marin asked back with a dumbfounded expression.
“You said you liked it, didn’t you?”
“Are you just giving me this mine because I said I liked it?”
“Bonus.”
The Duke tilted his head towards her and whispered.
“That’s too big of a gift.”
As she became flustered, he chuckled.
“You can’t receive a pure gift, is that it? Then there’s no helping it. Let’s just say I’m settling the debt for yesterday with this.”
“Debt?”
“Yes. I said I would protect you, but I exposed you to danger, so I owe you. Now there’s no debt. I won’t accept a refusal.”
“In that case…… I will gratefully accept it.”
When she first read the report about this mine, she thought it would be good to get just one mineral.
Marin forcibly suppressed the urge to cheer.
The Duke secretly opened his eyes without anyone noticing.
In his black vision, he could see slightly less black light moving slightly.
Was it not a delusion?
\ \ *
They left the Neylon Lord’s territory, receiving an enthusiastic send-off from the Lord and his wife.
The journey that followed was peaceful as well. They finally left the western region and entered the central region where the Emperor was.
Dia was gradually growing to like the Diamond Carriage. It was comfortable for embroidering because the carriage didn’t shake much, she said.
When they left the Neylon territory, Yuria also got into the Diamond Carriage. She had decided that she had to be with her no matter what.
The three of them enjoyed the carriage journey, chatting amiably.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
“What’s that sound?”
Dia, who was embroidering, lifted her head with a startled expression.
Marin’s gaze reached the side of the carriage. Arrows that had flown in from somewhere were hitting the carriage.
“Kya!”
Yuria, who had also looked to the side, screamed and quickly covered her mouth. The two Young Ladies were calm, so she couldn’t be the only one making a fuss.
Marin calmly locked the latch of the carriage from the inside. According to the scroll instructions that Jeromian had given her, once the latch was locked from the inside, it could never be opened from the outside.
Even so, she took out a dagger from the rolled-up leather and placed it next to her so she could grab it at any time.
“It seems like an ambush.”
“A-An ambush?”
Yuria’s red eyes widened with fear, but she tried hard not to show it.
“This kind of thing is happening as soon as we leave the Western Duke’s territory.”
Dia stared at the arrows that continued to fly in, gripping her embroidery frame tightly.
