Chapter 35

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Engaged to the Blind Duke
-----------------------------------------------------------------

“What brings you here?”

The eldest, Dia, asked in a flat tone with an expressionless face.

“Tomorrow is the funeral.”

“Yes. I know……”

Dia’s impassive face crumbled for a moment. But she quickly hardened her expression and continued.

“……And tomorrow is also the day you promised to show us Perido.”

Kilon furrowed his brow and clicked his tongue.

This was the problem.

The youngest was gone, but the sisters thought he was hiding Perido.

If he hadn’t deceived them that way, they would have gone around digging into their parents’ accident.

It would have been better if Perido had died that day too.

Recalling the botched accident made his anger surge.

“How dare you speak to your uncle like that!”

“You’re no uncle of ours! You devil! Locking us up here and hiding Perido who knows where!”

The second sister, Garnet, glared sharply and snapped at him.

Kilon’s eyes gleamed menacingly as he took a step toward Garnet.

“Garnet, didn’t I tell you to fix that tone?”

Dia quickly stepped in front of Garnet, blocking her, then bowed her head at his intimidating aura.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sis!”

Garnet called out sharply, as if asking why she was apologizing.

“Uncle.”

Kilon spoke coldly, as if telling her to repeat after him, and Dia squeezed her eyes shut before apologizing again.

“I’m sorry…… Uncle.”

“Tch.”

Kilon glared at Dia, who had her head bowed, with dissatisfied eyes.

He couldn’t lay a hand on her recklessly with the duke present.

“Un……cle. You’ll show us Perido tomorrow, right?”

Dia’s voice trembled faintly, full of desperation.

Kilon narrowed his eyes and stared at Dia’s black hair.

Perido had black hair too. Just like her mother.

If he couldn’t find Perido by tomorrow, he’d have no choice but to use the plan he’d prepared in advance.

“Duke Vines has arrived.”

Kilon ignored her question and ground his teeth as he spoke.

Dia’s head snapped up at once.

Duke Vines had come?

She’d never met the duke once in her life.

He was always busy defending the west, and lately, she’d heard he was secluded after losing his sight.

So she’d assumed he would ignore even the news of her parents’ death.

“So behave as you used to in front of the duke. Weren’t you once on good terms?”

Kilon forced a kindly smile. But his cold gaze carried a warning.

One wrong move, and he might never show them Perido.

Dia bit the soft flesh inside her mouth and nodded obediently.

Pleased with her attitude, Kilon smiled in satisfaction.

***

“That’s right. Good girl, listening so well. You two should follow your sister’s lead and mind your manners in front of the duke. Dress as prettily as you can and come down by dinner tonight. We have to pay our respects now that the duke is here.”

“Yes.”

Kilon, beaming with satisfaction at Dia’s meek reply, left the room with the door open.

It was the first time in a week that the door, which had been locked except at mealtimes, had finally opened.

“Sis! Are you crazy? Why grovel like that to that devil?”

Dia looked at Garnet, who was fuming red in the face, with bitter eyes.

If she hadn’t groveled to him, Kilon surely would have struck Garnet.

Just like he had done to her the first time she’d defied him.

She was almost an adult, so she could take it. But she couldn’t bear to see her young sisters slapped by him.

“……We have to see the youngest, don’t we?”

At those words, Garnet bit her lower lip hard and turned her head away sharply.

“Sis, we’ll get to see Perido tomorrow, right?”

Rubiana, who had been hiding behind Garnet, peeked out.

“Yes. We have to.”

“Yeah! I can’t wait.”

Rubiana nodded eagerly with an expectant face and headed to the sofa.

Meanwhile, Garnet, unable to contain her anger, went to the bed and thrashed about wildly.

How had things come to this?

She still couldn’t believe what had happened over the past fortnight.

It was the day her parents had gone out to buy a birthday present for their youngest sister, Perido.

Perido had begged to go along so she could pick it out herself.

And a few hours later, when Kilon came tearfully announcing that their parents had died in a monster attack, the world had come crashing down.

A monster attack in the south? Not the west or north?

It was unthinkable.

But right now, something was more important.

Finding the missing Perido.

She had sought out the retainers who had followed her father, hoping for help.

But she couldn’t meet them.

Some had died in the accident or were bedridden, and others avoided her.

It was strange.

Her surroundings had changed in an instant.

Dia had gone alone to the one person she could trust besides her parents: her uncle Kilon.

“Uncle, no one is looking for Perido. The retainers are all avoiding me, and some of them had accidents……”

The always kind Kilon had dropped his mask that day.

“Tch tch. You should have just stayed quiet. Why make such a fuss? If you want to see Perido, stay silent until the funeral.”

“You don’t mean…… you orchestrated all this?”

Dia had snapped at him, screaming at the horrific suspicion.

But.

Slap. Her head snapped to the side. It was the first time she’d ever been slapped.

“Watch your mouth, Dia. Go back to your room with your sisters.”

“If we behave, will you let us see Perido?”

“Yes. I promise.”

And so they had been locked in the room for a week.

“Dia sis.”

***

Dia snapped out of her reverie at Rubiana’s call.

“What is it, Ruby?”

“Do you think the duke might help us?”

A flicker of hope shone in Rubiana’s pale green eyes.

“Hah, as if. He’s never once visited us. He’s practically a stranger. After seeing that devil pretend to be close to us our whole lives, you still don’t get it?”

Garnet lifted her head from the bed and sneered.

Rubiana looked up at Dia with a face on the verge of tears and spoke.

“But Mom always said…… Vines……”

“……protects.”

Dia blankly finished Rubiana’s words.

House Vines protects.

It was something her mother had told her hundreds of times.

Her mother never resented the duke who had never once come to see her.

She admired and took pride in him instead.

“Mom, why doesn’t the duke ever come visit you? You’re his sister.”

Her mother had grinned and stroked Dia’s hair.

“House Vines protects. It’s a saying about protecting our house. The Vines family has that many enemies. I understand it all. How hard that little kid works and tries to protect it. Dia, if anything ever happens, remember just one thing. Vines protects. That kid will protect you all.”

Dia stared blankly out the window, recalling her gentle mother.

Mom, will Duke Vines really protect us?