Chapter 71

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Engaged to the Blind Duke
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Gerald set the cup back down on the desk after drinking the Mandelsong juice that Kay had prepared for him.

A bitter, astringent taste filled his mouth. Even though he drank it once a day, it was a flavor he could never get used to.

Kay quickly cleared the cup away.

The fact that he was consuming Mandelsong was a top secret. He hadn’t even told Marin.

The toxic component that had caused her stomach pains had no effect on him whatsoever.

It had worked when applied to his eyes, so he hoped drinking it would yield even better results.

Once Kay melted back into the shadows, Gerald habitually reached for the blindfold on his desk.

There was also a report left behind by the butler sitting there.

The interrogation of the previous Norman Viscount had concluded long ago. The assets he had embezzled from House Schwenz were already spent and gone.

After his son Geviam inherited the viscountcy, he had squandered the money on gambling and revelry as if it grew on trees.

The fortune vanished quickly, and debts piled up instead. It seemed he had planned to use the dowry from his marriage to House Wares to reinvest and pay off the debts.

At that moment, he sensed Marin’s presence outside the study door.

“Come in.”

She wheeled in a trolley.

“Gerald, it worked! I just put my nieces and nephews to bed! Ahem!”

Her voice brimmed with excitement.

“The children fell asleep?”

A faint smile curved his lips.

That was a relief. The fact that the children couldn’t sleep was something even Olive had overlooked.

When she came to him and asked to use her method on the children, he had approved it immediately.

He knew better than anyone the torment of sleeplessness. The children had already suffered enough. He didn’t want to add to that.

“...Thank you.”

Gerald said it sincerely.

“Yes. I’ll accept your thanks.”

She replied in an even more playful tone on purpose, and a deeper smile formed on his lips.

“Name your wish.”

“Suddenly?”

Marin burst out laughing and repeated exactly what she had said back then.

“It’s an order.”

He echoed her words precisely.

He recalled the day they had walked together. It had been sudden, fun, and sad.

“You’re not going to count numbers right away this time, are you?”

Marin asked in a suspicious tone.

“No. Take your time thinking about it. Tell me whenever you’re ready.”

“Got it!”

Marin answered brightly.

“Are you in a good mood right now?”

“Of course!”

“I see.”

Gerald swept his arm over the report on the desk, covering it. He didn’t want to ruin her good mood with these documents.

“Why are you suddenly asking about my mood?”

“Isn’t it normal for a fiancé to ask about his fiancée’s mood?”

***

“Hmm.”

He sensed her cautious footsteps drawing closer.

“What?”

“Are you hiding something from me right now?”

“Why are you suddenly acting perceptive?”

She let out a snicker at his prickly tone.

“Because I saw you covering something with your arm just now.”

Gerald hesitated for a moment before sliding the report over so she could see it.

“Why hide something like this...”

Marin trailed off as she flipped through the report while speaking.

Rustle, rustle.

In the quiet study, only the sound of turning pages echoed.

Gerald waited in a parched state of tension for her lips to part.

Would she cry? The hardships Marin and her mother might have endured because of the fake contract were beyond anything he could dare imagine.

A moment later, Marin placed the report back on the desk.

No sound came from her.

He listened carefully, and her heartbeat was quickening.

She must be angry.

“...So what happens now?”

“I wanted to confiscate the viscountcy’s assets and return them to you, but they’re buried under a mountain of debt. You won’t get the money back. Of course, the previous viscount will rot in prison for life, never to see the light of day, and his son will suffer the same fate. Do you want them dead, by any chance?”

He felt Marin slowly shake her head.

“I can’t forgive them that easily. Death would end it all. I want them to live miserably, tormented every day. Give them the harshest labor possible. Make them work hard to repay our family’s money. Feed them only one meal a day. Who has time to eat? They need to pay back the debt.”

Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke calmly and steadily.

Was she holding back tears?

“Understood.”

Soon, the sound of crumpling paper followed.

Gerald lifted his head toward where she stood.

“You’re not showing this to Viscountess Schwenz?”

“No. I won’t show it to her.”

Marin meticulously crumpled each page of the report.

She couldn’t show something like this to her mother.

While she had been wandering on the brink of death and realizing her past life, Roanna had lost their fortune to the creditors with her frail body.

By the time Marin opened her eyes, all the assets had already been seized.

They had been too busy scraping by to even investigate the details of how the debts had arisen.

If her mother learned the facts written in this report, she would surely blame herself.

It might trigger another mental shock and make her ill again.

She had finally pulled herself together and was getting healthy.

It would be a lie to say her heart didn’t ache.

The guilty viscount would pay for his crimes for life, and she would earn far more money than he ever took.

That should be enough. She thought it was enough, but...

A tear that had welled up in her eye finally fell.

Thank goodness. The duke can’t see. It would be embarrassing to act fine and then cry.

But then the duke suddenly shot to his feet.

He crossed to her in a single stride with his long legs and covered her eyes with his large palm.

Darkness fell before her like a night sky.

“...I didn’t have a handkerchief ready.”

The duke whispered, almost like an excuse.

It was a hand so big it covered nearly her entire face.

Marin wrapped both her hands around the duke’s large one. An incongruously natural scent wafted from his skin. Ah, the aroma of Mandelsong leaves.

“Your hand feels pitch black.”

***

“Yes.”

His calm voice was the signal.

Marin buried her face in his large hand and unleashed the tears she had been holding back. With nothing in sight, her embarrassment vanished.

Marin wept as she thought in turn of her late father and brother, and her mother who had suffered after being deceived by those villains.

***

Dia opened her eyes after a long time, feeling refreshingly well-rested.

Refreshingly?

She looked around the room in surprise, and it was bathed in the blue light of dawn.

Looking down at the weight on her thigh, she saw Garnet sleeping soundly with his face pressed against her leg.

What about Perido? Glancing at the bed, Perido was also sleeping peacefully.

What on earth was going on?

As she tried to get up to lay Garnet down properly, she felt the blanket draped over her.

She had no memory of covering herself with it.

The duke’s fiancée, Marin.

Had she lulled all three of them to sleep?

How?

She had listened to Marin reading the picture book, drawn in despite herself.

The soft voice enveloped her body like a warm embrace, making her feel as if she were sitting by a cozy fireplace.

Her last memory was thinking that she had fallen asleep listening to Perido’s even breathing.

They had entered this room in the late afternoon, but now it was dawn. She had slept straight through for nearly half a day without waking once.

“Mmm, nom nom.”

She stretched Garnet’s legs out on the long sofa for more comfort and tucked the blanket around him. She wanted to wake him and move him to the bed, but she couldn’t bear to disturb his deep sleep after so long.

Dia approached Perido cautiously.

Perido wasn’t wearing a tearful expression or clenching his fists. He was the child who always woke up crying from nightmares, even from short naps.

Just in case Perido woke again, Dia lay down quietly beside him.

Being with Perido, she could finally stop worrying about the child for the first time in ages.

Dia gazed down at Perido’s sleeping face and thought of the duke’s fiancée.

Marin. She had asked her to believe in her.

Dia couldn’t give her the belief she wanted, but she should at least express her gratitude.

Dia gently brushed the hair from Perido’s forehead and watched over the sleeping child for a long time.