I Accidentally Tamed the Duke

Chapter 1

Yurania was trapped at the very top of a tower, where not even a sliver of sunlight penetrated. She was notoriously known as the wicked and villainous Yurania now, but there had been a time when she’d been recognized as Count Vincent’s eldest daughter. At the very least, her predicament hadn’t been this wretched then. She blinked her weary eyes and thought back over the past few years.

It had all started when she’d run into the fire to save the former Duchess Euclid. Her father, Count Vincent, was a frightfully barbaric man, and the same went for her stepmother, Countess Erika. After she’d saved Duchess Euclid from the fire, her parents had forced her to take the pallack herb, a toxic herb that made anyone who took it lose their sight and speech.

Erika had looked like a demon when she’d said, “Don’t worry. Your vision and voice will return as soon as you stop taking it. So go on—take it.”

Yurania knew she would have been tormented if she dared to refuse. And so, she’d lost her vision and voice after taking the pallack herb against her will and became known as the unfortunate lady who’d become disabled from saving the former Duchess Euclid.

Once the news of Yurania’s handicap from saving Duchess Euclid spread like wildfire, Count Vincent brazenly demanded House Euclid an engagement between his daughter and Duchess Euclid’s son, Duke Casius, as compensation for the damage his daughter had suffered. House Euclid surprisingly didn’t refuse the request, and Yurania successfully married the Duke of House Euclid, the most powerful house in the empire.

It was a year after their marriage when Count Vincent abruptly ordered Yurania,“Go inside the duchy’s stone cave and destroy the Initiation Object artifact.”

It was a sudden and baffling command. However, Yurania had lived her entire life following Count Vincent and her stepmother Erika’s orders and had never learned how to defy her parents.

Where did it go wrong? No matter how hard she racked her brain, all she could remember was a faint memory of a day when she was ten years old, and even that memory quickly disappeared.

I have to carry out the order. Yurania, failing to consider the consequences of her actions, successfully completed what Count Vincent had ordered. However, Duke Casius had returned home earlier than expected, and he’d found out what she’d done.

“What have you done, Yurania? You’ll have to pay for your actions.”

In the end, Yurania was dragged by the duke’s merciless hand and imprisoned in a tower. After she destroyed the artifact, the empire’s barrier collapsed, and a monster invasion began. When Yurania became known as the wicked woman who’d caused it all, Count Vincent treated her like a lunatic and discarded her. That was how she’d ended up trapped somewhere in the very top of a dark and cold tower, abandoned by her parents and slowly dying alone from the side effects of the poisonous drug.

Yurania breathed heavily. She became more and more frightened as the scent of death kept creeping closer. She clasped her bony hands over her eyelids, belatedly feeling wronged for being exploited and sacrificed. She hated the monsters who’d pushed her to this point with a vengeance.

I was a fool. She should never have taken the pallack herb. Erika had promised that she’d lose her sight and speech only when she was taking the herb and that its effects would fade once she stopped taking it. That was a lie, though. The pallack herb accumulated inside her body the longer she took it, and her blood slowly solidified as a side effect of the poison. It was too late when Yurania realized all this. Death was already coming for her.

Trapped inside the tower, Yurania didn’t even get a chance to treat her illness and had to struggle with the agonizing pain and death that drew nearer every second. The only thing she had left now was harrowing regret and hate.

At that very moment, Casius’ last words to her crossed her mind. The biting memory of his cold and accusing voice stayed with her.

“Go to the tower. You brought this onto yourself.”

What on earth have I done? The fear and helplessness that had been ingrained into her by her parents had dragged her this far. This isn’t the kind of life I wanted to live. How nice it would have been if she could’ve been a good duchess. But was she even worthy of that position?

However, none of it mattered now. I would’ve tried defying them if I’d known that I was going to die like this. She might have ignored her conscience because she wanted to be loved and acknowledged by her parents, even just a little.

As she faced a lonely death, she desperately prayed for a chance to make those monsters shed tears of blood. She would even sell her soul for it.

She prayed, wishing for a chance to live like a decent human being.

***

Yurania realized that she was on her bed as soon as she woke up. It was impossible not to know that she was sitting on her bed when she’d spent all her time in this room after getting married.

How is this possible? She was sure she’d died, but here she was, back in her room at the duke’s castle. She reached out with her hand to check the brailled calendar and worked out that the date on the calendar was four months before she’d died. It was a year after their wedding day—a few days before she’d received Count Vincent’s order and broken into the duchy’s stone cave.

Did I travel back in time? Yurania sat in a daze, unable to comprehend the sudden turn of events. Did someone really hear my prayer? It was a ridiculous notion, but there was no denying she’d traveled back in time. The vividness of it all told her that it wasn’t a dream. If it was indeed true that she’d come back to the past, then this was an opportunity.

Clang, clang. Yurania belatedly noticed the sounds coming from beside her. Is someone there? She wanted to ask, but unsurprisingly, her voice didn’t come out.

A wet cloth slapped her face as Yurania turned her head toward the sound. She reflexively swiveled her arms at the acrid smell that brought an instant frown to her face, then fell to the ground when her wrist got caught up on something. What she heard next was a slightly rough female voice.

“Oh. You surprised me. Why would you suddenly push me like that, my lady?”

It was Talia, the head maid. She was in charge of managing the maids but also personally attended to Yurania from time to time. It was an everyday occurrence for Talia to look down on Yurania, who was only a duchess by name.

“Lady Yurania, stay still!”

Yurania didn’t reply.

“It’s time to wash up and go to bed!” Talia said a little more irritably than a moment ago.

Slap. The rag-like cloth whipped sharply against Yurania’s cheek once more.

Yurania wasn’t acknowledged as the duchess of the house because she and the duke had not consummated their marriage. The servants probably think of me as someone who could be kicked out at any time. Casius had been called by the emperor and had headed for the capital as soon as the wedding was over, and the couple had used separate rooms ever since. It couldn’t be helped when Yurania jumped in surprise and avoided Casius whenever he approached her. It was no wonder the servants sneered.

“I told you to stay still!”

“Urghhh!”

Letting out a groan was the loudest sound that Yurania could make. It was then that she realized nothing would change if she continued to live the same way she had in the past.

Knock, knock. The door opened before Yuriana gave permission, and her lady’s maid, Lina, entered. Though Lina was a little rude, she was an angel compared to Talia.

“Your Grace! His Grace has returned from Melun. A carrier pigeon has just come with the message that he’s arrived at the capital with the expedition group.”

“He’s arrived earlier than expected,” Talia responded to Lina’s report as if she were the lady of the house.

“It’ll be a tight schedule, even if we start preparing for his return immediately. He’ll arrive in Eamonn Territory four days from now.”

Yurania clenched her fist as Lina breathlessly finished her report. If Casius is returning from Melun, it means that I’ll be getting the count’s order soon. Count Vincent had made his move after Casius had returned from Melun in the past. Following the instructions that had been delivered to her via carrier pigeon, Yurania stopped taking the drug and temporarily regained her vision. Then, I broke into the stone cave and destroyed the Initiation Object. What happened next was horrific.

She was lost in her thoughts when she noticed that it was quiet. Everyone had left as she lost herself in her musings of the past.

Yurania tapped her temple in thought. What should I do first? Her body was currently under the influence of the poisonous drug. I died from its effects in my past life. So if she wanted to live, it was of the utmost priority to stop taking the medication.

However, this didn’t mean that she would regain her sight and voice as soon as she discontinued taking the drug. She had to drink a brew made from the yahn herb to completely restore her body to what it had been before taking the drug. After that, she additionally needed another kind of treatment to cleanse her body. Only the pharmacist of House Vincent knew the treatment, but she would get to that later. Right now, there was a more pressing matter.

I have to escape the duchy. If Casius found out that she’d deliberately pretended to have completely lost her sight and speech, he would mercilessly lock her away in the tower, then eventually banish her.

I have to get a divorce before he finds out about everything, Yurania decided. She then stood up and headed outside. Though her entire body reeled with every step she took due to her weakened health, she persistently felt the walls with her hands and exited the door. She arrived in the hallway, drenched in sweat from the exertion. There, she heard footsteps.

“Your Grace? How did you come this far? Did you come out by yourself?”

Zyle Desmond. He was the butler here in Eamonn Castle. He was the only person who didn’t make her feel conscious of herself. It was both his strength and weakness that he treated everyone fairly, which was why he was the perfect candidate to ask for a favor.

“Your Grace, are you all right? Where on earth is Lina, Your Grace? It’s dangerous for you to come outside without a maid.”

Yurania made a small gesture with her hand, calling him to her. When he came closer, she motioned with her hands to ask for something she could write with.

“Do you need a quill pen by any chance, Your Grace?”

She lightly nodded her head. She’d learned sign language before getting married, but because no one was familiar with her method of communication in the duke’s castle, she needed a pen and paper to get her message across.

“Then please take a seat over here and wait for me. You mustn’t go anywhere else, Your Grace.”

Zyle sat Yurania down on a chair and disappeared but quickly returned.

“Here you are, Your Grace.”

She slowly scribbled down the paper Zyle had brought her. She’d given up on neat penmanship once her vision had dimmed.

—Could you sweep the snow piled up along the way to the Lake of Clarity?

When she handed Zyle the note, he paused for a moment, then responded, “Yes, Your Grace. As you wish.”

Yurania wasn’t going to take that poisonous drug anymore. She wasn’t going to listen to Count Vincent anymore, either. The only thought she’d had in the pitch-black tower where no light came through was that she wanted to live like a human. Though it might be too late now, she wanted to discover herself.

Memories of how easily she’d smiled as a young girl flashed through her mind like an illusion. There was nothing she wouldn’t do to regain the happiness she’d lost.

***

Yurania became calmer as time went by. It was clear what she had to do. All things aside, I have to get a divorce after I get the side effects taken care of by treatment, or else I won’t be strong enough to live an independent life.

Objectively speaking, there wasn’t anything she could do if she simply ran away from the duchy. At the very least, she had to recover her sight and voice and lay the foundations to live independently before she left. She didn’t know when she would get a divorce, but until then, she needed the title and power of a duchess.

First, she needed to take care of Talia, who was taking advantage of her helplessness and doing whatever she wanted around the castle.

Yurania tapped on the table, calling for Lina, who was filling the kettle with water. When she came over, Yurania handed her a note.

—Bring me Ophelia.

Things were about to take a turn.