Chapter 1 – Gambling Failure? Success? (Part 4)

Ellerdin blinked.

The Earl, who seemed to come to his senses, shouted.

“What are you talking about! Getting married without the parents’ consent! Don’t joke around!”

“Why is this a joke? I’m serious. Is there any reason why it shouldn’t be done?”

“Well… that’s…”

The Earl closed his mouth in embarrassment.

The anger that had risen to the top of his head gradually subsided, and he began to see the situation clearly.

Although there were rumors that the man in front of him was cursed by the devil and abandoned by the Imperial family, he was the only Duke in the country.

The Earl’s family, which was on the verge of collapse, couldn’t refuse the proposal.

Moreover, there was no reason to refuse.

Baron Brian, who promised to clear the gambling debts, and the Duke, who could clear the debts and give even more.

The choice was obvious.

Having finished his calculations, the Earl said with a greedy expression.

“Taking my daughter, who looks just like my late wife, so quickly, I will be too sad to sleep.”

Ellerdin couldn’t help but laugh at the Earl’s shamelessness, though she had expected it. She glared at the Earl with a look of disgust.

Duke Keallad smiled and said.

“Oh dear, I understand the feelings of a father sending off his daughter. While wealth can’t fill that loneliness, would you accept it as a gesture of sincerity?”

“What do you mean?”

The Earl asked with a sly smile.

“I will provide three million gold coins, a business in your name, and a gold mine.”

Three million gold coins were enough to pay off the family’s debts and buy two or three more mansions in the capital.

Ellerdin was shocked by the Duke’s generosity and opened her mouth, but the Duke held her hand and stopped her.

However, the greedy Earl, still unsatisfied, cautiously opened his mouth while watching the Duke.

“Sending off my daughter, such wealth doesn’t easily ease the loneliness. For a Grand Duke of a country…….”

“Hmm… is that so. But all I have is wealth. Then I’ll give you the mansion in the capital. Hosting parties might help ease the loneliness.”

The Grand Duke’s mansion was enormous and well-known in the capital.

Having that mansion would change the nobles’ perception of the Earl.

That would make the business even more successful.

Thinking of the impact, the Earl smiled slyly and bowed his head.

“Then please sign.”

The Duke took out the marriage certificate and handed it to the Earl.

The Earl hurriedly signed the marriage certificate and handed it to Ellerdin, whispering low.

“Don’t think you’ve escaped from me with this. You will soon be discarded and will have to come back to me. Then you will pay for acting on your own.”

“…….”

Seeing Ellerdin’s terrified expression, the Earl smiled satisfactorily and bowed to the Duke.

“Then I’ll take my leave.”

After the Earl Pure left, Ellerdin angrily spoke to Duke Keallad, who was fiddling with the marriage certificate signed by the Earl.

“What have you done? This is a loss for you. Do you know how greedy that man is?”

Strangely, she wasn’t scared in front of the Duke, and the words came out suddenly.

“Well, it’s something I don’t need at all……. If you don’t like it, I’ll take it back later.”

The Duke smiled.

His changed tone made Ellerdin nervously roll her eyes.

“But… why are you speaking formally…….”

“In our family, we don’t use informal speech between spouses. Even if it’s only for three years, we are still married. I look forward to working with you, Madam.”

The Duke smiled and extended his hand.

Ellerdin hesitated but placed her hand on his.

Receiving an escort, which she had only read about in books, from him felt strange.

“Nice to meet you, Duke Keallad.”

“Don’t treat me like a stranger, Madam. You can call me Fernan.”

“Yes, nice to meet you… Fernan.”

Fernan gently asked, seemingly satisfied with Ellerdin, who wasn’t yet used to her contract husband’s name.

“Do you have any belongings to take with you?”

“……No.”

“Is it okay if your attendants don’t come with you?”

Fernan asked as he climbed into the carriage and extended his hand.

“It’s okay.”

Ellerdin answered as she climbed into the carriage with his help.

The inside of the carriage was much larger than the one she had ridden earlier.

It was spacious enough for two adults to lie down, but being in the same space with him made her uncomfortable.

As Ellerdin sat stiffly with her back straight, Fernan rubbed around his eyes.

‘Did I make a mistake?’

Although he couldn’t see her expression well, he could tell that Ellerdin’s posture was as stiff as a statue.

After pondering for a moment, Fernan spoke.

“My wife, I can’t see well. If I make any mistakes, please tell me immediately.”

Seeing his demeanor, which now resembled a drooping puppy rather than the intimidating figure from the cathedral, Ellerdin looked at him in confusion.

Now that she thought about it, he had said something similar earlier.

‘How could he not see?’

For someone who couldn’t see, he acted like an ordinary person.

Perhaps sensing her hesitation, Fernan smiled and said.

“It’s not that I can’t see at all. It’s just that my vision is darkened, and other living beings appear as red stripes, making it hard to see details.”

Because of this, he couldn’t tell what the woman in front of him looked like.

Feeling the weight of Fernan’s words, Ellerdin hesitated and asked.

“Is your blindness… from the devil’s curse?”

Ellerdin chose her words carefully.

She had just secured the contract by claiming she could lift the curse, and if he found out she didn’t know much about it, the marriage certificate might be torn up right in front of her.

Fortunately, Fernan didn’t seem suspicious and shook his head obediently.

“No. This appeared much later than the curse. It changed at some point, so it’s hard to say exactly when. It probably can’t be lifted by anyone except someone with special power. This is different from the devil’s curse, so it’s not part of the contract. Don’t worry about it.”

After that, there was silence between them.

Although Fernan said not to worry, she couldn’t just leave it at that.

He had pulled her out of that hell and even lost a fortune, so doing nothing didn’t make sense.

Even with Fernan’s blindness added, her task remained the same.

Ellerdin silently looked at the Duke, who had closed his eyes in the swaying carriage, and resolved to lift the devil’s curse and his blindness.

***

‘So far…….’

Ellerdin, exhausted from the long journey, bit the inside of her cheek.

They had used several teleportation scrolls to shorten the distance, but they hadn’t even reached the entrance of the Duchy yet.

If only she could lean back.

At that moment, the carriage jolted violently due to the bumpy road. The shock disrupted her upright posture.

‘Oh.’

Ellerdin quickly corrected her posture, her face turning pale as she lowered her head.

‘Did he see?’

Suppressing her trembling hands, she slowly looked at Fernan, who was sitting opposite her.

Fortunately, he was still asleep, unaffected by the recent jolt.

‘Thank goodness.’

Ellerdin let out a small breath.

If she had been with her father, she would have been beaten until they reached their destination.

Earl Pure, who insisted on maintaining perfect posture at all times, would fly into a rage at the slightest mistake his young daughter made.

‘It’s okay, that person is gone now.’

‘So there’s nothing to be afraid of.’

Suppressing her anxiety, Ellerdin looked out the window.

The once sunny outside had turned dark.

After a long ride, the carriage finally passed through the Grand Duchy and arrived at the Duke’s mansion.

Ellerdin got off the carriage with the Duke’s escort.

As soon as she got off, the Duke’s mansion looked like a dilapidated ruin.

The dark castle walls were mostly cracked, and cobwebs were everywhere throughout the castle. Moreover, the lower part had crumbled, with broken stones piled up.

Ellerdin, unable to move in the situation where it was difficult to find the entrance, saw a man running from afar.

He was a man with dark brown hair slicked back.

He ran up to the Duke and asked him various questions, then, upon discovering the documents Fernan handed over and seeing Ellerdin behind him, he was startled and shouted.

“Master! Did you finally kidnap her?”

Then he started running around in a panic, shouting.

“Kidnap! Kidnap! Help!”

Fernan clicked his tongue at the pitiful sight and said.

“What kidnapping? She’s my wife starting today, so take good care of her.”

Hearing the word “wife,” Fernan took the documents from the man’s frozen hands.

“My wife, I have a lot to do, so I’ll go in first. Take your time looking around.”

Fernan said in a kind voice.

The man’s eyes widened in shock as he looked back and forth between them.

Left alone with Ellerdin, the man whispered suspiciously.

“It’s a kidnapping, right?”

“No, he proposed formally. Um… and I’m Ellerdin. Please take care of me.”