CH 5

There was absolute certainty in the soft voice.

It wasn’t that the Duke had given up. The Duke was looking for a way to fix his eyes, avoiding people’s gaze.

He brought skillful doctors, miraculous sorcerers, and even those with divine powers, few on the continent.

Yet they all failed to fix the Duke’s eyes.

‘To think that a mere kid can fix something like that.’

Oddly enough, he was more curious than distrustful.

The Duke opened his mouth.

“Alright. As you said, the important thing is to treat my eyes, not how you knew I was hurt or how you would fix it.”

“…”

“From now on, I won’t ask anything. So fix my eyes. Then I’ll do whatever you want.”

It wasn’t a bluff. The Duke was really able to grant Liriette everything she wanted.

A huge amount of money. A huge castle. Tremendous power. Everything.

But in everything there is light and shadow.

The Duke added in a cold voice.

“But if you fail, you will have to pay.”

It must be about Liriette’s life.

Realizing the hidden meaning of the Duke’s words, Liriette’s face turned pale.

She answered, desperately clearing her voice.

“I will keep that in mind.”

The Duke didn’t waste time. He told Liriette to start treating him right away.

At those words, Liriette glanced at Simon, who was standing quietly beside her.

Simon gently bent his fine eyes at her gaze. As if he meant, ‘tell me if you need something’.

Liriette said cautiously.

“It’s difficult for me to show anyone how to treat the Duke.”

“Are you asking me to leave?”

“Yes.”

“But…”

Before Simon could say anything, the Duke spat out.

“Get out.”

He continued.

“Even if that child grabs the knife she was hiding in her arms and rushes at me, it won’t hurt me.”

Duke Windsorais wouldn’t die even if he was blinded and placed in front of an angry dragon.

The Duke was strong enough to think such absurd thoughts.

So Simon nodded his head obediently.

“I’m counting on you, Miss Liriette.”

Simon left, leaving only the two, Liriette and the Duke, in the vast room.

‘I’m more nervous because it’s just the two of us.’

Liriette internally said, “phew,” and exhaled to organize her thoughts.

‘I can heal people with my blood.’

However, she intended not to tell anyone about it.

Whether it was to the High Priest or to the Duke.

Thus, Liriette decided to lie.

“Duke. I have divine power, but I can’t use that power.”

Fortunately, thanks to practicing hundreds of times, she spoke naturally without any stuttering.

The Duke had no doubt that Liriette’s words weren’t the truth. He wasn’t particularly interested.

Because that didn’t matter, anyway.

“I know. That’s why I couldn’t guess any more. How are you going to fix my eyes when you can’t manifest divine power?”

“Actually, I have a special medicine.”

“Medicine?”

“Yes. This medicine will heal the Duke’s eyes. Could you please allow me to apply the medicine?”

In fact, Liriette was most worried about this part.

If you were to apply unknown medicine to a blind person, how many of them would allow it?

Liriette recalled the many words she had prepared to convince the Duke.

However, he nodded his head willingly, putting those worries to shame.

Liriette asked with a surprised face.

“Is that really okay?”

The Duke was dumbfounded.

‘To think that she’s so flustered after she suggested it.’

The reason the Duke accepted Liriette’s proposal wasn’t because of his naive belief that a child would never do anything bad to him.

It was simply because Liriette was too small and weak compared to the Duke.

‘No one worries about what to do if an ant so small that it’s hard to be seen harms me.’

Still, he added a word in case she did something useless.

“If you play a trick on me, you’ll see everyone in the temple where you were born and raised burn.”

Liriette’s face turned pale at his terrible words.

It didn’t matter what he did to the High Priest, but not for Noelle.

“I will never do anything that harms the Duke. Really! Trust me!”

The Duke was rather taken aback by her voice, full of desperation.

He felt like a scoundrel threatening a child.

“Alright, go ahead and do the treatment. At this rate, the day will end.”

“Yes.”

Liriette took a step closer to the Duke.

Then, reaching out her hand, she loosened the bandages around the Duke’s eyes.

Moments later, the wounds hidden under the bandages were revealed.

Eyes full of cuts, as if they had been cut with sharp objects, were filled with yellow pus and gave off a foul odor.

In contrast to the perfect man’s face, the wound felt all the more horrific.

‘She might burst into tears in surprise.’

The Duke thought so.

Contrary to his expectations, however, Liriette was unconcerned.

‘As it’s a wound I’ve already seen in my previous life.’

In addition, she healed countless people in her past life, and saw countless wounds worse than this.

With a calm face, Liriette rummaged in her arms and drew out a small knife.

She then put the knife over her finger.

Her hand holding the knife trembled.

‘Calm down, Liriette. You’ve done it hundreds of times in your past life.’

It’s nothing.

She can do it.

Moments later, a sharp blade pierced Liriette’s delicate fingers. Drops of bright red blood formed on her white fingers.

This was the identity of the ‘medicine’ that Liriette spoke of.

Liriette said, enduring the pain in her stinging finger.

“Then I will apply it.”

Liriette brought her bloody finger to the corner of the Duke’s eyes and carefully applied it over the wound.

It was a bizarre scene, but the blind Duke couldn’t imagine that such a thing would happen.

‘I thought it would feel nasty just because it was a medicine, yet it doesn’t.’

As the Duke was blind, his sense of smell became keen.

He didn’t know what the medicine for the eyes area was, but it smelled very good.

It was as sweet as the scent of flowers under the spring sun.

That’s why the Duke didn’t expect that the blood of a small child would be smeared over the wound.

After a while, amazing things started to happen.

The ghastly scars around the Duke’s eyes began to soften.

The throbbing pain, like being stabbed with a knife, disappeared in an instant.

Liriette quickly tied her bloodied finger with a handkerchief and slipped it into her glove.

“The venom in your eyes is strong, so it can’t be fixed at once. If we keep applying the medicine for a few days, you will get better.”

The Duke didn’t doubt that.

It’s only been applied about once, and he could feel that the condition of his eyes has improved dramatically.

“You have some pretty useful medicine.”

The Duke felt that Liriette was very nervous.

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to steal the medicine. I’m not cowardly enough to rob children.”

“…Yes.”

There was relief in her small voice.

The Duke was still blind. He couldn’t even see the figure of Liriette in front of him.

Still, he could feel something, like a wild animal.

‘She’s exhausted.’

The feeling of Liriette’s energy was too weak. He even wondered if she would lose even if she fought a chick.

It was as the Duke felt.

Liriette, who had run a long way from the capital without any break, talked to the Duke, with whom people tremble even just by being in the same space.

There was nothing to see in her gloves, but her wounded finger tingled.

Liriette’s physical strength was now reaching its limit.

The Duke called Simon.

He came into the room at lightning speed.

“Now that the treatment is over, take the child and let her rest.”

“I understand.”

Simon looked at Liriette and gently curved the corners of his long eyes.

“Let us go, Miss Liriette.”

Before leaving the room, she spoke courageously to the Duke.

“Have a nice dream, Duke. See you tomorrow.”

“…Alright.”

After a brief conversation, the door was closed.

***

Simon looked curiously at Liriette, who was following behind her.

He saw the brief moment he entered the room. The Duke’s wounds had noticeably improved.

‘What the hell did this young miss do during the short time I left the room?’

He was curious.

However, it wasn’t the virtue of a butler to ask a guest about such things.

So, Simon held back what he wanted to ask and led Liriette into the room.

“You can stay here while staying at the castle.”

Entering the room, Liriette opened her mouth wide.

‘It’s bigger than ten of my rooms in the temple combined.’

It wasn’t just the size.

A bed with a colorful embroidered duvet. A star-shaped light with a magic stone was shining on the chest of drawers next to it, and a dry pink rug was spread on the floor.

Liriette asked with a face of disbelief.

“T-This is really my room?”

“Yes.”

“You can just give me a small room that you don’t use…”

Simon shook his head as if it was nonsense.

“Miss Liriette is a valuable guest who has come from afar to treat His Grace. It goes without saying that we treat you the best. Please don’t be burdened and rest in peace.”

The best treatment Simon had said didn’t end there.

He clapped his handsand made a noise. Then, as if they had been waiting, the maids rushed into the room.