Chapter 29

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Engaged to the Blind Duke
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“Mandelsong. Investigate everything about it.”

Kay gave a slight nod and vanished without a sound.

Gerald fell deep into thought as he inhaled the cool fragrance emanating from her.

Her reaction had been amusing, so he had toyed with her by dragging out the conversation.

Help. As if there were anything she could offer him.

He let her do as she pleased, thinking of it as payment for teasing her.

He was slightly startled by the unfamiliar sensation of someone else touching his hair but didn’t show it.

Soon, he felt the cloth covered in leaves touch his forehead and eyes.

The cool scent he had smelled yesterday. And her fresh, grassy body odor as she drew close.

Having smelled it once before, her fragrance felt familiar.

The sensation of something touching his eyes always brought him pain, but he ignored the impending agony, considering it repayment for his teasing.

Before long, he became absorbed in the fairy tale she was reading to him.

This fairy tale was quite intriguing, with little room for nitpicking.

A crow that lied to survive but repaid the count’s kindness.

Immersed in the story, he listened until the end, but as time passed, he sensed something odd.

His eyes… didn’t sting.

The leaves covering his eyes had slowly seeped through the cloth and reached his eyelids long ago, yet they didn’t sting.

Shock swept over Gerald.

Ever since he went blind, he had covered his eyes with a thick black cloth because they had become extremely sensitive.

If his eyeballs had skin, it would feel like it was being peeled off raw—they always stung. Whether his eyes were closed or open, even the slightest stimulus made them sting.

But today, for the first time, his eyes didn’t sting.

Mandelsong. What in the world was that flower?

He pondered the flower so deeply that he lost track of time.

Before he knew it, Kay’s scent reached him.

“That thing is a poisonous weed?”

With his eyes no longer stinging, he marvelously found himself able to control the other senses that constantly tormented him.

For the first time in ages, with a clear mind, Gerald listened to Kay’s explanation and sank into thought.

His body wasn’t affected by anything short of a potent poison.

Poisonous weed. Spy.

Was she really a spy?

Ridiculous. If there were spies as clumsy as Temporary, he would have weeded out every single one in the duke’s castle long ago.

“Summon Olive and Zero.”

“…….”

Kay vanished like the wind, answering with silence.

Shortly after, the sound of Olive’s prim footsteps and Zero’s rough tread—who apparently hadn’t transformed into a child today—echoed down the corridor.

Just as they reached the door, he spoke.

“Come in.”

The door swung open, and Zero grumbled in a voice full of complaint.

“Duke. You might not sleep, but I need to. Why are you summoning me at this hour and making a fuss?”

Zero, his long silver hair reaching down to his waist roughly swept up, glared at the duke with displeasure.

“Lord Zero. Please lower your voice.”

Olive, standing beside him, glanced warily at the duke.

Zero took off his glasses dangling from the tip of his nose, wiped them roughly on his nightgown, and put them back on.

“That guy’s blind, not deaf.”

***

“Lord Zero!”

When Zero sniped at him, Olive called out to him with a pale face.

Zero had an angelic appearance and gentle speech in his child form, but upon reverting to adult form, he spewed venomous barbs with that same angelic face, bristling with thorns.

“A- alright. This place is always dark anyway. Might as well live in a cave. No difference between here and a cave.”

When Zero fiddled with the bracelet on his wrist, a bright light spread from it, illuminating the surroundings.

As an alchemist, he had many wondrous skills.

“Is it done?”

“Like it would be.”

Olive swallowed a sigh as he watched the two friends’ verbal sparring from the side.

The two, friends since childhood, seemed to get along well yet not at all.

“Then I’ll wait until it’s finished.”

“Hey. As a very kind person, I’m telling you, summoning people in the middle of the night when everyone else is sleeping is crossing the line.”

Zero stood skewed on one leg, glaring at the duke with icy blue eyes.

“It’s fine to call the duke ‘hey’?”

Gerald leaned back leisurely in his chair, arms crossed.

“If it bothers you, fire me.”

“I’m a duke too, you know?”

“I’ll inherit the title when I go home.”

“Would they really give that seat to a runaway son?”

Gerald sneered coldly, and Zero raised his eyebrows in dissatisfaction.

“Show me the letters flying in begging you to just come back?”

Olive, who had been watching their childish bickering, finally let out the sigh he had been holding.

“What’s with the sigh?”

“Why?”

Both men asked Olive at the same time.

They look so similar like this.

Olive stepped forward slightly and reported on Zero’s situation.

“Your Grace the Duke. Lord Zero has been up for three nights straight, so he’s quite on edge right now.”

“…….”

As the duke listened silently, Olive continued.

“He’s been developing a new medicine to cure Your Grace the Duke’s eyes…”

“Olive!”

Zero hurriedly tried to cover Olive’s mouth, but Olive dodged his hand with a sly smile.

“…and pulling all-nighters, so he’s irritable.”

Everyone present knew how much Zero was striving for the duke, even if his words were harsh.

“That Olive oil-making bastard.”

Zero glared at Olive with annoyance and huffed.

“Impressive dedication to your employer.”

Gerald exaggeratedly praised Zero in a teasing tone.

“Ask what you want to ask quickly. I’m going to sleep. Right now!”

Zero scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, pretending not to hear Gerald as he moved to stand against the wall.

Then, leaning back against the wall, he persistently glared at the back of Olive’s head.

“Tell me about Mandelsong.”

If Gerald had jumped straight to the point upon their reunion, Zero would have been even pricklier.

Having appropriately catered to him, Gerald posed the question he most wanted answered.

“Oh ho. Lots of people have been curious about that weed lately?”

Zero pushed away from the wall, adjusting his glasses with a glint in his eyes.

“Who’s asking?”

Gerald likewise leaned forward from his chair, furrowing his brow.

“Why are they curious about Mandelsong?”

***

“Could it be Temporary?”

The two men, answering a question with another question, fell silent for a moment.

Zero, who had slightly frowned upon seeing the cloth covering the duke’s eyes, spoke first.

“Temporary, huh…”

“Why show interest in Temporary?”

“You really call her that?”

Curiosity flickered in Zero’s blue eyes as he removed his glasses.

“…….”

Gerald clenched his jaw in displeasure. Conversations with this guy always veered off track.

“Mandelsong.”

Gerald gritted his teeth and returned to the original topic.

“Ah, Mandelsong is just a common weed growing everywhere outside.”

Zero answered straightforwardly with an annoyed expression.

“I heard it’s listed in the poisonous plant book you wrote.”

“Sort of yes, sort of no. Need some laxatives?”

Gerald frowned at his out-of-left-field remark, and Zero shrugged before continuing his explanation.

“The poison of Mandelsong? Even if you eat a ton, the worst you get is diarrhea.”

“It’s a poisonous weed, isn’t it?”

“Some unfortunate souls die of dehydration from it.”

Olive, listening to their conversation from the side, focused intently with a serious face. He hadn’t known diarrhea was such a dangerous ailment.

“What if… you don’t eat it, but the symptoms still appear?”

Gerald hesitated before adding.

“Puhahaha. That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Zero burst out laughing, clutching his stomach.

“……Get out.”

At Gerald’s irritated tone, Zero readjusted his glasses and grinned.

“By the way, I like her. Give her to me.”

“……Temporary isn’t an object.”

After a long pause, Gerald replied in a displeased voice.

“You don’t even call her by name, yet you say that.”

Sneering with a smirk, Zero closely observed Gerald’s expression.

“You’re not getting it.”

“A genius like me wouldn’t fail to understand…”

“Temporary is already mine.”