Chapter 55

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Engaged to the Blind Duke
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“Whoa! Your Grace, did you just say diamond?”

Surenne widened her purple eyes.

The emperor of her homeland, the Sanders Empire, had melted down gold to build a golden palace.

But diamond? Something several times more expensive than gold, turned into a carriage?

“The diamond mines are done for.”

Sebas the butler stroked his beard, struggling to maintain his composure.

“Crazy.”

Zeromian spat out his honest impression bluntly.

“Can you do it?”

The duke asked Surenne again, as if he couldn’t care less about the trio’s reactions.

“If it’s made of diamond, it’d be super sturdy and shiny. Wow, I’ve never even thought of that. Handsome alchemist, what do you call this?”

Surenne’s eyes sparkled with amusement.

“Mon.ey. Waste.”

Zeromian informed her slowly, even flashing a kind smile.

“Your Grace sure knows how to throw money around.”

Surenne praised the duke with genuine admiration.

“Surenne, you can’t say things like that.”

Sebas the butler turned pale and tried to stop her.

“Why not? I’m great at giving compliments.”

Sebas the butler let out a deep sigh.

Olive’s absence was keenly felt. Normally, reining in the utterly wild Zeromian and Surenne was Olive’s job.

“Zero. Research a way for the inside of the carriage to see out, but the outside not to see in.”

Gerald, who had kept his head fixed toward Surenne the whole time, finally addressed Zeromian.

“Why on earth would you need such a bizarre carriage?”

“For my fiancée.”

“Woooow. Money waste, love waste.”

Surenne stuck both thumbs up at the duke with an awestruck expression.

“Surenneyyy!”

Sebas the butler hurriedly covered her mouth.

“Exactly. Double waste.”

Zeromian looked at Surenne as if she’d done well.

A faint smile flickered across Gerald’s impassive face before vanishing.

* * *

Flutter flutter. Countless birds carrying secret messages took to the skies vigorously.

The birds arrived first at the imperial palace and the houses of the dukes, excluding the west.

A falcon landed on the shoulder of the Southern Duke, who was hunting in the forest.

While the falcon preened its feathers, the duke untied the knotted message from its leg.

Causing such a commotion in the south, and now the Western Duke announces his engagement?

The Southern Duke crumpled the message in his fist, a cold smile curling his lips.

Meanwhile, the Eastern Duke lay bedridden from illness.

In his stead, a white-haired woman in the duke’s office slowly stroked her teacup as she read the message, a cryptic smile on her face.

And in the Northern Duke’s laboratory, Aide John entered.

***

The Northern Duke shot to his feet the moment he saw the message John handed him.

“Well, well. Looks like I’ll have to contact my son after all.”

“You’re always contacting him anyway, excuse or no.”

Aide John pointed out the Northern Duke’s doting-father tendencies.

“What are you talking about? It’s been two whole days. And with something this important, of course I have to reach out.”

The Northern Duke hurried out of the laboratory, his stern expression at odds with his actions.

Finally, the emperor of the empire received the news of the Western Duke’s engagement in his office.

“The Western Duke is getting engaged.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.”

The old chamberlain finished his report and quietly awaited the emperor’s orders.

“Interesting. What do you think, Chamberlain?”

“Perhaps it stems from the death of the countess wife.”

“Tsk. The countess wife was a useful card, but I thought too simply….”

The emperor tapped his desk as he gathered his thoughts.

“The Western Duke and the countess wife never met once after she married the count.”

“Indeed.”

“The countess wife has only one son. With no nephew to inherit the duchy, perhaps thoughts of succession have finally hit him.”

The chamberlain cautiously continued his opinion.

“Tsk tsk. That’s the worst possible scenario. It’d be best if the Western Duke died without an heir. Find out about that fiancée.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.”

The chamberlain bowed deeply and left.

Alone in his office, the emperor tapped his desk, lost in thought.

Afterward, the nobles who received the information from the scattered birds were unable to hide their shock.

* * *

News of the Western Duke’s engagement and party rocked the western social circles.

Whenever western nobles gathered, they gossiped about the duke and his fiancée.

Her status. Her appearance.

Nobles who had visited the jewelry shop picked up tidbits from Yoreli’s chatter: the duke doted on his fiancée, and she was overflowing with charm.

They said the duke had known his fiancée for a long time. They said he’d gifted her an entire jewelry store. They said he was so smitten he couldn’t distinguish public from private.

The inflated rumors even twisted into the absurd tale that “the duke went blind from loving a lowborn baron’s daughter too much.”

At a tea party in a greenhouse, the young ladies’ topic was entirely the Western Duke’s engagement and party.

“I thought His Grace the Duke would never marry.”

A round-faced young lady pouted sullenly, making no effort to hide her disappointment. She was one of the duke’s usual admirers.

“Oh, come on. Considering His Grace’s age, he’s already long overdue.”

A young lady who had just sipped her tea scolded her.

“I know, I know. But still. He’s our eternal His Grace the Duke. Right, Lady Susan?”

Susan, the hostess of the tea party, quietly set down her teacup after sipping.

Her golden hair sparkled even more brilliantly in the sunlight pouring through the greenhouse windows.

Everyone suspected she might be the lady rumored to have sneaked into the Western Duke’s bedroom. Her unrequited love for him was famous. But until she confirmed it herself, it was just idle talk.

“Now he’ll be His Grace the Duke for one woman alone….”

Everyone looked at Susan in surprise at her calm tone.

Those who knew her fiery temper had expected tears and tantrums.

Truth be told, they’d gathered in hopes of witnessing exactly that.

“Has anyone here actually seen that fiancée?”

Ommanda, who had been quietly brooding as if the topic irked her, scanned the room.

She had to be the center of attention everywhere. Yet everyone was obsessed with the Western Duke’s engagement.

So she needed to drag the star of that topic into the spotlight to reclaim hers.

“No.”

***

“I heard she’s a baron’s daughter. They say she rarely attends young ladies’ gatherings.”

The eight invitees to Susan’s tea party were the core figures of western high society.

If they didn’t know, no one did.

Ommanda, who had met her most recently, smiled smugly. Of course, it hadn’t been a pleasant encounter, but the young ladies here were oblivious.

“Actually, I recently…”

“I know.”

Christine, seated at the far end of the tea party, cut Ommanda off mid-sentence.

Ommanda shot Christine a displeased glare. She’d only invited her after she’d offered jewelry to worm her way in.

She didn’t know when to butt in or bow out.

“Christine, do you know about that fiancée?”

“Yes. I’ve heard of her.”

“So you haven’t met her. I did just a few days ago…”

As Ommanda tried to boast, Christine interrupted again.

“My fiancé said that woman’s exceptionally skilled at seducing men for profit.”

The impact of Christine’s words was immense.

Even Ommanda, whose sentence had been severed, was too stunned to get angry.

Susan, who had been calmly drinking her tea, deliberately set her cup down with a clink. All eyes turned to her.

“Lady Christine. Could you tell us more about that story?”

Susan’s green eyes gleamed sharply.