I Got Engaged To The Blind Duke - Chapter 173
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Got Engaged to a Blind Duke Episode 173
“Come to think of it, I’m curious about how many babies Gerald is thinking of having.”
“….”
“Since we need to continue the Duke’s family line, we should have at least one, but I’m actually fine with four. It was so wonderful when I had my brother. If our children could cherish each other too….”
Marine was talking when she suddenly realized she had been chattering excitedly by herself and looked at him.
Gerald’s expression had hardened stiffly.
“Gerald?”
“Do you want babies that much?”
Gerald’s low voice seemed to tremble slightly.
“Of course I do…. Don’t you want babies, Gerald?”
Gerald avoided her gaze and slowly nodded his head.
He had never dreamed of marriage until he met Marine. Let alone babies.
The Duke’s bloodline is passed down to the eldest son, and his- no, our baby would inherit that suffering as well. Just thinking about the terrible pain the baby would experience made his vision go dark.
The characteristics of the bloodline were the Duke’s family secret, so he couldn’t confide in Marine, who wasn’t married yet.
Marine stared blankly at Gerald with a confused heart.
For nobles, nothing was more important than continuing the family line.
So she had never considered the possibility that Gerald wouldn’t want children.
Marine fidgeted with her lips before struggling to find her voice.
“Then who will continue the Vines Family?”
“…We could adopt a son.”
He spoke slowly as if choosing his words carefully.
“Ah… Right. Adoption.”
There were often cases of adopting sons to continue the family line.
Could there be some kind of problem?
Marine’s gaze unconsciously drifted downward, having once experienced ending a family’s lineage.
When her gaze moved toward his lower body, Gerald grabbed Marine’s chin and lifted it up.
A bitter smile formed at the corner of his mouth before disappearing.
“It’s not that.”
“Then, why?”
“…I’m sorry. It’s a family secret, so I can’t explain it to you right now.”
His voice faded as if in anguish.
Marine quietly bit her lips with trembling eyes.
* * *
To clear her complicated mind, Marine chose to take a walk.
Since he said it was a family secret, she couldn’t ask any more questions and fled from his office as if escaping.
The reason she had given up on marriage before was because she knew that a poor noble woman who couldn’t even have a debutante ball wouldn’t meet a proper husband.
If she couldn’t meet someone who loved each other like her parents, she didn’t want to get married.
But she met the Duke and fell in love with him. And she had even imagined their future children in her mind.
But Gerald didn’t want children.
She couldn’t discuss this with Roanna either. Mom was also a woman from a noble family. She would think continuing the family line was a very important virtue.
More than anything, aside from noble virtues, she herself wanted children. Those tiny wiggling fingers and that warm, cozy scent.
A child of Gerald and herself.
Just imagining it made her heart swell.
Her chest ached with deep loss as if a child that didn’t even exist had been taken away somewhere.
“Teacher, Teacher!”
Marine turned around with a dazed expression.
“Dia?”
“I’ve been calling you for a while, but you kept walking past me.”
“Oh, did I? Sorry. I was lost in thought and didn’t hear you calling.”
“It seemed that way.”
She could feel Dia looking at her with worried eyes.
“Shall we take a walk together?”
Marine forced a smile, pretending nothing was wrong.
“Yes. I’d like that.”
Marine walked in step with Dia while fidgeting with her lips.
Would it be okay to ask about this kind of thing? Her mind was too complicated, but there was no one around to confide in.
As if sensing her dilemma, Dia opened the conversation first.
“Teacher Marine, when I have worries, I think of you first.”
“Thank you. I always learn a lot from talking with you too, Dia.”
“Thank you for saying that. Then, may I ask what the problem is?”
“Well, I’m worried this might be too personal and I shouldn’t bring it up to you… Do you want children, Dia?”
Dia’s eyes widened at the unexpected question as she met Marine’s gaze.
There was desperation in Marine’s eyes.
Dia recalled her conversation with the Crown Prince and spoke honestly.
“Yes. I even made a promise with His Highness the Crown Prince. I said I would fulfill my duty as Crown Princess by having as many descendants as possible.”
“I see.”
“Since you like children, Teacher, do you want to have many?”
“I wanted to have many too, but….”
Marine’s face darkened instantly as if clouds had gathered.
Dia carefully chose her words while observing Marine’s expression.
“Does Uncle not want children?”
Marine nodded with a sad face.
Dia suddenly remembered a conversation she had with her mother.
“Mom, where have you been going with Peridot lately?”
“Oh, our eldest daughter caught us.”
“Is it a secret?”
“Sorry. Peridot wants to keep it secret.”
“I understand.”
When Dia pretended to be upset, Monica didn’t know what to do.
“Then I’ll tell you another secret. So please forgive me just this once, my daughter.”
“What is it? Let me hear it first.”
“You must be the only one to know this. It’s my family’s secret.”
Dia had just brought it up playfully, but she nodded with a slightly tense expression at the unexpectedly serious atmosphere.
“Actually, Mom doesn’t know exactly either. But there’s a secret that’s only passed down to the eldest son of the Vines Family. Because of that, Uncle was very sick.”
“His Grace the Western Duke?”
“Yes. That’s why he lived alone in the tower when he was young.”
“My goodness.”
“This is the Vines Family’s secret, so you must never tell anyone. Understood?”
When Dia nodded, Monica gently stroked her daughter’s head.
“But if you ever meet Uncle’s precious person, I think it would be okay to talk about it.”
“I’ve never even met the Western Duke, though?”
“You never know what the future holds, right?”
Monica burst into clear laughter.
When she found Peridot in the tower, she hadn’t realized it at the time, but much later she had wondered if that tower might have been where Uncle lived when he was young.
Dia stared at Marine, who was looking dejected.
Just how far ahead could her mother see?
“Actually, it seems like the Vines Family has secrets.”
“Dia, you knew about it too?”
Marine’s head shot up with a surprised expression.
Since Marine seemed to know something about it, Dia felt she could speak more comfortably.
“I don’t know the details either. I heard from Mother that there’s something that’s only passed down to the eldest son of the family. Because of that, Uncle lived alone when he was young.”
In that moment, Marine’s mind snapped to attention as if she’d been struck on the back of the head.
Only then did she remember the conversation she’d had with Gerald back in the Sanders Empire.
That he had been very sick when he was young.
She didn’t know what the family secret was, but she had a strong feeling that it was the reason Gerald didn’t want children.
“Dia, thank you for telling me.”
Marine grabbed Dia’s hands and shook them vigorously.
“I’m glad it was helpful.”
Dia called out to her mother, who was buried deep in her heart, for the first time in a long while.
I did well, didn’t I? Mother.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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