I Accidentally Tamed the Duke

Chapter 7

Casius stared at her for a moment, then said, “I would prefer to communicate with you like this from now on.”

He undid the buttons and pulled up his sleeve to reveal a toned arm and a bloody wound. Yurania handed the paper bag to him and studied the injury. It’s the same.

Casius looked inside the bag and saw some disinfectant and ointment. He tilted his head and asked, “How did you know I was hurt?”

Yurania gave a secretive smile at his question and shook her head. To be honest, she was confused too. Ever since she got her sight back, she sometimes saw a black shadow over some people. The shape and size of the shadows were all different, and she’d been wondering what on earth they were. But when she’d seen a black shadow over Casius’ arm a while ago and picked up the faint smell of blood, she’d suspected that he might have an injury.

When Casius finally pulled his shirt sleeve back, the wound she saw underneath had the same shape as the shadow she’d seen. Did I get some sort of power to discern injuries?

He didn’t question her further and carelessly applied the ointment.

“So why did you meet that bastard?”

Casius gave her his hand like it was routine. Yurania wrote on his palm, which she’d gotten just a little bit more used to.

—It had been a while since I last saw him. I wanted to see him because he’s my friend.

“Don’t do anything that would draw attention to yourself. Rumors spread over even the smallest things.”

Yurania pressed her finger down hard as she wrote,

—Intimate scandals often trail you too, Your Grace.

Did he think that she didn’t know? Casius was a husband that lived up to his looks. He was the kind of person who only needed to attend a party to have rumors explode with all sorts of women. Having an inconsequential wife as duchess only made the rumors more rampant.

“It sickens me that you refer to them as intimate scandals. You need not listen to those meaningless rumors.”

Casius breathed out a deep sigh and took something out of his pocket. It was a long necklace with a small crystal pendant. He held it for a while, then awkwardly stretched out his arms.

What’s he doing?

“I think it would be better for you to lower your head.”

He put the necklace around her neck as Yurania stiffly bowed her head.

“Eugh?”

“It’s a whistle. Use it when you need to call someone in a hurry. You need only lightly press your lips against it and blow.”

Yurania played with the whistle in her hands. The coin-sized crystal whistle felt smooth against her touch. She was about to blow on it for practice but couldn’t find the mouthpiece.

“Like this.”

Right then, Casius helped Yurania and brought the whistle up between her lips. The problem, however, was when she tried to hold the slippery whistle in place and unintentionally bit his finger. The foreign feeling of his straight joints filled the space between her soft lips and teeth.

Yurania froze and stared at Casius. She completely forgot to pretend to be blind and gazed blankly into his dark violet eyes that were endlessly sucking her in.

“This is where you blow, but… You’ll have to let my hand go first.”

Casius let out a slow sigh and retracted his finger as she belatedly opened her mouth.

—Thank you.

Yurania remembered to thank him for the gift, then played with the whistle hanging around her chest. The carriage that had begun to move rattled cheerfully.

I have to show Casius my bright side so he doesn’t hold onto his guilt… However, her weak body couldn’t fight off the sleep that overcame her even as she thought that, and the head that had been drowsily nodding off came to rest on a strong shoulder.

“You make me—”

She thought she vaguely heard Casius’ voice in her sleep but didn’t quite catch what he said.

***

Yurania listened to Ophelia’s report as she had her breakfast. She was getting the reports from Lina for now because she didn’t think it would be helpful for others to know that she was communicating with Ophelia.

“I-it seems that there’s a man Talia is seeing—Sir Gerard Venice, a Knight of House Euclid.”

Gerard Venice? He wasn’t someone Yurania knew. There were far more strangers than people she did know in the castle to begin with.

“Your Grace, Gerard Venice is notorious for his womanizing. They say that the thing between his legs is so frivolous that he’s canoodled with many a maid,” Lina whispered, then clicked her tongue in rage.

It seemed like Yurania needed to conduct a separate investigation into this. After she’d finished her meal and Lina had gone, a blue carrier pigeon she’d never seen tapped on her bedroom window. She opened the window and received a letter with Sade’s name.

—Come visit me again if you want to hear more about your mana. And like I said, I’m not cheap, so bring enough for payment.

The carrier pigeon disappeared as soon as she finished reading the braille with her fingertips. A magic carrier pigeon? Yurania became lost in her thoughts as she clutched at her strangely tingling fingers.

He’s probably not lying about the mana. Though Sade wasn’t the most serious person, he wasn’t the type to lie about important issues such as this. They didn’t have a proper conversation the last time she visited because Casius had shown up.

I have to see Sade again. Casius had been right when he said that she needed her own people at the castle—more than just Lina.

Just then, Talia opened the door and came inside without even knocking. Yurania leaned her hands against the table for support, then sat on the chair.

“You seem to be going out for quite a lot of walks these days, but we’ll have to cut down the number of times you go out from now on to once every two weeks.”

Yurania didn’t reply.

“Your leaving the house has made more work for the maids, all thanks to you coming back with all that dirt stuck to your clothes, tsk.”

She waved her hand for Talia to come closer.

“I can’t allow you to go for walks even if you ask.”

She handed Talia the note she’d written in advance.

—How’s my personal fund being managed?

“Don’t you remember that you told me to manage it as I wished?”

That wasn’t what Yurania had meant. Talia once asked her how she planned to use her personal fund, and she simply asked Talia to temporarily keep it until she thought of a use for it.

“Bri… ng… it… now.”

Talia looked around the room as if she’d heard wrong, but the calm voice that rang like morning dew was none other than Yurania’s.

“Bring me… the ledger, and the rest of the money, Talia,” Yurania said, looking at Talia straight in the eyes.

Talia’s face turned pale, and her cheeks shuddered. “I-it can’t be—”

“Right now… Talia.”

Though her speech was still a little slow and unclear, Yurania’s command was precisely directed at Talia.

“Your Grace, your voice!”

“That’s… right. Are you finally calling me… Your Grace?”

Yurania remained relatively calm as she smiled and watched Talia covering her mouth.

“I can… speak, but… it’s not yet per… fect, so keep quiet… for now.”

“Wh-why?”

Doubt flashed across Talia’s eyes as she questioned her.

Talia had been bent on finding Yurania’s faults from the day she’d arrived at the duchy. She despised me from the beginning. However, Talia wasn’t much of an opponent for her. Things might’ve been different in her past life, but she wasn’t afraid of many things after having died once. There wasn’t anything she truly feared other than Casius finding out the truth. Everything was fine as long as she didn’t have to return to the tower, where she felt excruciatingly lonely.

“Are you saying that you won’t tell His Grace?”

“That’s right. I’m going to tell him… when I’m completely better. Since he might… be disappointed… if it’s a temporary thing.”

“But won’t it be better to tell him as soon as—”

“Talia, that’s… for me to decide.”

Talia’s face twisted at Yurania’s firm stance. She looked immensely vexed. It looks like she doesn’t know that my sight’s returned too.

Yurania let out a deep breath. Though her throat ached from suddenly speaking so much, she wasn’t going to let Talia keep doing as she wished.

“That’s that… Now, bring me… the ledger.”

“If it’s the ledger you want, I lost it.”

Yurania didn’t have to think much about why Talia couldn’t bring her the ledger. She can’t give it to me because she snuck it away.

Talia suddenly lay face down on the floor.

“Forgive me, Your Grace. The personal fund is exhausted.”

“Already? But isn’t there… a long way to go, before winter is over?”

“Much money went into the maids’ welfare and garden management. Since you’re ill, I used up all the money to buy expensive flower seeds to plant in the garden to help you get better, Your Grace.”

Yurania couldn’t see, so the garden held no meaning for her. The fact that Talia had tended to the garden despite that meant she pocketed the profit margin for herself or embezzled. Moreover, it didn’t make sense for a year’s worth of the personal funds of the biggest duchy in the empire to disappear without a trace.

“I see… You may… stand.”

“Do I have your forgiveness?”

Talia was highly loyal to the family in her own way. She looked down on Yurania because she possessed the conditions to tarnish House Euclid’s reputation. It was unlikely that Talia would’ve embezzled the personal fund for her personal gain. Maybe someone urged her? Or was she fooled?

Yurania was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn’t notice Casius coming in. He walked into the room with Lina and stood gazing at Yurania.

“It seems like you’re busy.”

Yurania’s shoulders flinched and froze in surprise. Only after hearing his voice did she realize he was there. His breathtakingly handsome face was within close range. The particular yet ascetic aura about him made him look even more noble. She looked straight at him without realizing it. Though she belatedly shifted her gaze, it might’ve been too late.

“It sometimes feels like you can see me,” Casius continued, “When you stare right at me.”

Yurania didn’t reply.

“But you soon get scared and put up your guard, trembling. Am I wrong?”

She forced a smile. It would be hard to keep deceiving him at this rate. She wasn’t a good enough actor to trick Casius and his sharp wit.

His dark eyes slid past Yurania and turned to Talia bowing flat on the floor. Talia swiftly bowed her head down even more.

“Your Grace, I apologize for letting you see such an unsightly thing. I’m all right, so please don’t scold Her Grace too much.”

“I think you’re mistaken.”

“I’m sorry?”

“There’s nobody in this castle who can scold Yurania,” Casius said. He then faced Yurania and tilted his head. “Please, continue with what you were doing—as much as you wish.”

Talia’s back stiffened.