I Got Engaged To The Blind Duke - Chapter 2

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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 2

Knock knock. After knocking and opening the door, Marine entered the room holding a tray with both hands.

She saw her mother Roanna lying listlessly on the bed.

Her once luscious blonde hair was now full of gray and white strands, and her cheeks were sunken, clearly showing signs of illness.

Marine hid her sad expression and called out to Roanna in a deliberately bright voice.

“Mom.”

Roanna’s eyelids trembled and opened weakly.

“Marine.”

Slowly raising her upper body, Roanna sat with her back against the headboard.

“You look much better today. I think you’ll get well soon.”

At Marine’s flattery, Roanna drew a gentle smile on her pale face.

“Thank you. But you’re old enough to get married anytime – how long will you keep calling me mom?”

“Oh my! Even when I’m your age, I’ll still call you mom.”

Marine widened her eyes as if asking what she was talking about, then grinned broadly.

“Oh dear, who could stop you? Your brother…”

Roanna was smiling along when she suddenly stiffened and couldn’t continue her words.

“Mom! Here’s your unstoppable daughter who brought bitter medicine and soup.”

Marine pretended not to hear and proudly showed off the tray.

Roanna looked down at the medicine and soup, then raised her head with a dark expression.

“Have you eaten?”

“Of course. I just had two bowls before coming here.”

Though she hadn’t eaten since yesterday, Marine deliberately puffed out her stomach and pretended to be full.

Roanna watched this with sad eyes, then turned and lay back down on the bed.

“I don’t have an appetite. So you eat my portion too.”

It was a single bowl of soup made by scraping together whatever food ingredients were left in the house.

She couldn’t eat this precious thing instead of her sick mother.

“Mom…”

“I really don’t have an appetite.”

Perhaps noticing her lie about being full, Roanna was firm.

Once she became stubborn like this, there was no stopping her.

“Mom. Then shall I read you a book?”

This was the most effective way to comfort Roanna.

“Aren’t you busy today? Actually, I haven’t been sleeping well lately. When you read to me, I sleep better.”

Expectation appeared on Roanna’s face.

“You should have said so earlier.”

“I didn’t want to burden you when you’re busy.”

“I’ll read to you. But in exchange, you have to drink the soup.”

Roanna weakly shook her head as if she couldn’t do that.

Thump thump thump.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to persuade her mother somehow, the sound of knocking on the cabin door was heard.

“Mom, someone’s here. I’ll read to you later. I’ll leave the soup on the table, so eat it if you get hungry. Okay?”

“…”

Leaving behind Roanna who didn’t answer, Marine left the room. She immediately passed through the small kitchen and opened the cabin door.

The middle-aged landlord Jorno, whose belly protruded like a pregnant woman’s, grinned as if pleased to see her.

“Marine.”

“Mr. Jorno. Hello.”

At the appearance of the landlord she didn’t want to see, Marine tried to hide her displeased expression and greeted him.

“Yes, I’m always fine. How have you been, Marine?”

“Fine. What brings you here?”

Jorno burst into hearty laughter as if he’d heard an amusing joke.

“What brings me here? Between us?”

At Jorno’s lecherous gaze that openly looked her up and down, Marine clenched her fists.

Despite being a married man, he always threw such looks at her.

Should I just hit him once? Hit him and run away?

Marine thought of her sick mother lying in the room and hid her trembling hands behind her back.

“If you have no business, I’m busy.”

When Marine spoke coldly and tried to close the door, Jorno grinned and grabbed the cabin door.

“Starting this month, the rent has tripled.”

“What do you…”

Marine looked at him with a bewildered face.

“Marine has been paying rent diligently, so I haven’t raised it until now, but other houses raised theirs long ago. It’s rent day in 5 days, right? I’ll come collect it myself. If you don’t have the money, you’ll have to leave.”

Jorno glared and threatened her.

“If you suddenly triple it, how can I get that much money right away? Can’t you give me a little more time?”

Marine bowed her head and pleaded.

Winter was approaching. If she and her sick mother were kicked out of here, it would be terrible.

Jorno grinned as if he expected this and leaned his face closer.

“Of course, there’s not entirely no other way…”

Before he could finish his slimy words, Marine slammed the door right in his face.

“Ahhh, my nose!”

Serves him right. Marine firmly locked the cabin door and blocked it with her back.

Rattle rattle. As Jorno grabbed and shook the doorknob, her body shook along with it.

“Hey, open the door! You think I’ll keep being lenient? You dried-up broomstick. Ugh, ptui ptui.”

Jorno, who had been shouting at the top of his lungs, disappeared.

Marine swallowed a sigh and looked toward Roanna’s room. She must have heard all this commotion.

She was already a sensitive mother, and Marine worried that her mental condition might worsen.

Marine went to Roanna’s room and was about to knock, then lowered her hand.

Could she comfort her mother?

Could she lie and say everything would be okay?

Marine hung her head low and opened the door to her own room across the way.

A loud noise echoed from the hinges.

Marine looked at the hinges with displeasure. The rusted hinges should have been replaced long ago.

The only furniture in the room was a shabby bed and an antique vanity table.

The vanity table was the only piece of furniture brought from their old manor.

She couldn’t bear to throw it away, remembering her father’s face as he asked her to take good care of it, saying grandmother had used it since childhood.

“I need money.”

Marine muttered quietly to herself. Really, she desperately needed money.

Sick people need proper nutrition, but every time she had to give her sick mother soup without any substance, her heart felt like it would tear apart.

On top of that, the rent had tripled. It was one disaster after another.

“Damn landlord.”

Marine slumped into the chair and carefully took out a paper hidden in the corner of the vanity table drawer.

The paper was densely filled with writing that only she could read in this empire.

Her gaze lingered on the first line.

「The Blue Bird of the Western Duke Does Not Cry」

She realized she was living in this novel after the carriage accident.

She hovered between life and death for over a month. When she finally woke up, she realized like lightning that this was the world of a novel she had read before.

Because she was the protagonist?

No.

It was because she was born and raised in the Western Region, which was the novel’s setting.

Those born in the Western Region couldn’t help but know about House of Vines.

The content of the novel “The Western Duke’s Bluebird Does Not Cry” was simple.

It was a romance fantasy novel where the male protagonist, a Western Duke, becomes blind and devastated from a monster attack, then meets the female protagonist, a prodigy in the Herbology Circle, who heals his eyes. Afterwards, the two fall in love.

She had read many Northern Duke novels, but chose this book simply because a Western Duke seemed fresh.

To think she had been reincarnated and living in that novel’s world all this time.

“Ridiculous…”

She was a special extra who didn’t appear in even a single line of the novel. Just a background-like existence who could simply stay still and do nothing.

If time passed like this, she would probably naturally hear news of the Duke’s happy ending. The Duke’s marriage would be the wedding of the century, after all.

But the problem was money.

“I need money.”

She didn’t have time to be confused by the realization that she had been reincarnated in a book’s world.

Because her family had fallen to ruin, and financial hardship immediately came crashing down.

Schwentz Baronet House had been a wealthy family with vast lands and assets passed down from previous generations.

However, after the carriage accident, it was revealed that her father had enormous debts.

They had to give up all the land, assets, and the manor, and even sell all the jewelry and dresses they owned.

By selling the last remaining expensive dress, they could barely afford to rent a two-room cabin at the mountain entrance.

Roanna had been bedridden ever since that incident.

She had to do something herself.

The title of baronet’s daughter who had lost her family and couldn’t even have her debutante ball was of no help in life.

“I need money.”

Marine repeated the same words again, hypnotizing herself.

Otherwise, her resolve to jump into the protagonists’ lives seemed like it would waver.

Until now, she had lived desperately trying not to interfere with their lives. But now she had truly reached her limit.

Marine’s tender, fresh green eyes like young sprouts stared intently at the paper she held in her hand. The paper was densely filled with important content from the novel she had read.

The fact that she already knew about matters related to the Duke, who was the male protagonist of this world.

It was time to use the only weapon she possessed.

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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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