4.
A sense of coziness settled over her, like lying beneath the gentle, warm rays of the spring sun. A refreshing sensation washed through her, as if she were in the heart of nature, surrounded by the babbling of a stream and the chirping of birds.
It was a wondrous experience, one she had never felt in her entire life.
It was entirely different from singing.
The content of the book she read aloud sank into her, as if etched directly into her mind. It wasn’t boring in the slightest. Her faint presence was instantly imprinted upon him by her voice alone.
As he had suggested, she truly felt like someone essential to the Duke.
“Miss Marin, shall we go?”
“Yes.”
Marin nodded and followed diligently behind Olive. Perhaps because his legs were long, or perhaps he was simply in a hurry, he moved at a remarkably fast pace.
The hallway was long—so very long. As they moved through the five-story castle, she felt as if she would be hopelessly lost if she let him out of her sight.
As she followed closely, the surroundings gradually deepened into gloom.
There was no way the sun had already set.
Marin slowed her pace, glancing around. Every window in the hallway was choked with heavy, black curtains.
It was as if she were being sucked into a pitch-black cave, and Marin came to a sudden, involuntary halt.
When he no longer heard the rhythm of her footsteps behind him, Olive turned around.
Marin swallowed hard, her eyes darting through the darkening corridor with mounting anxiety.
As she looked ahead again, Olive offered a bitter smile.
“His Grace the Duke is sensitive to light.”
“Ah, I see…….”
“I will teach you the precautions you must take if you are to serve His Grace by his side in the future.”
“Yes! I understand.”
Marin deliberately answered with more vigor than she felt.
She didn’t yet know if she would be able to hold the position, but it was vital to stay in the good graces of Olive, who would be her direct superior.
“Then, shall we proceed?”
“Yes.”
As she followed him again, Marin unconsciously clutched the book she had just read as if it were an amulet.
* * *
Olive composed his breathing before the office door and turned around.
He saw Marin, who was panting from the effort of keeping pace. At the same time, his eyes landed on the book she was holding so dearly.
“It would be best to leave that here for a moment.”
“Oh? Yes.”
With a startled look, she set the book down next to the door.
As Olive stood motionless before the heavy wood, a voice flowed from within.
“Enter.”
Olive signaled to Marin, who stood behind him, to wait for a moment.
He lit a candle fixed to the wall, picked up the holder, and pushed the door open.
The office, its windows suffocated by black curtains, was as dark as a deep, empty well, despite the hour.
“Your Grace.”
“What is it?”
Duke Gerald’s low, deep voice was heavy with exhaustion.
“I intend to hire someone, and I came to see you as it seemed like a matter that required your personal approval, Your Grace.”
“Since when have I had to concern myself with the servants one by one?”
When he spoke in that indifferent tone, Olive bowed his head a little lower.
“You have no need to worry about them in the future either. It is just that this person is a bit special. I believe it is necessary to keep her by your side.”
“By my side?”
Gerald’s voice, questioning as if the idea were absurd, sank even lower.
“Yes. I believe she is someone essential to Your Grace.”
Olive spoke with conviction and resolve.
“Is she a doctor? I believe I have already met every doctor in the Empire.”
There was a faint, yet distinct flicker of interest in Gerald’s tone.
Olive squeezed his eyes shut. For over a year, he had invited every physician with any claim to skill, yet none had been able to reach the Duke’s eyes.
Feeling as though he had offered false hope yet again, Olive bowed deeply.
“She is not a doctor. I apologize.”
“…….”
In the face of Gerald’s silence, Olive added desperately.
“She is not a doctor, but she will be of genuine help to Your Grace. Please, meet her just once.”
Even if the Duke could not see him, he would surely sense his aide’s desperation.
“……Bring her in.”
After a long silence, the reluctant permission fell from Gerald’s lips.
“Yes. Thank you.”
Olive quickly moved to the doorway.
“Miss Marin. Please come in.”
“Yes, yes.”
Overly tense, she replied twice without meaning to.
Marin followed behind Olive and stepped inside.
The office was stuffy, smelling of stale dust, as if it hadn’t been ventilated in an age. Furthermore, not a single sliver of light penetrated the black curtains.
Only the dim glow from the candle holder on the floor illuminated the room. The deep reaches of the office remained in total darkness.
The Duke was there.
A massive shadow that didn’t even stir in the coal-black room exuded an immense, stifling presence.
*Ah, is this the majesty of a protagonist?*
Marin swallowed hard. She felt a frantic urge to run away.
“Miss Marin.”
“Yes?!”
Her frightened voice jumped an octave.
“Here.”
Olive, who had been holding a stack of documents, stepped forward and held several sheets out to her.
“Please, just as you did in the reception room.”
“Yes…….”
Marin took the documents with trembling hands.
The paper was white, the letters black.
But the text seemed to float on the page. She chased the dancing characters with her eyes. Cold sweat trickled down her back.
*I can do it. No, I can’t. No, I must.*
“Miss Marin?”
Olive called to her with a puzzled expression.
Marin squeezed her eyes shut.
*Right. How can I possibly deceive the Duke? I should just tell them I can’t do it now.*
But the moment she was about to open her mouth, the image of Roanna lying on the bed with a pale, sickly complexion crossed her mind.
*No. I have to do it!*
Marin snapped her eyes open. Her trembling body relaxed, and the letters on the documents began to resolve into clarity.
Taking a deep breath, she began to read aloud.
“This is an urgent report regarding the silver mine discovered in the Nairo Territory.
After a year of deploying miners for exploration and analysis, the mineral appears not to be silver, but a low-grade, opaque white ore.
Furthermore, magical beasts often emerge from burrows within the mine, causing the workers to be reluctant to enter.
According to mining experts, the consensus is that it would be better to abandon the mine rather than take further risks.
I am reporting this urgently and request your orders as soon as possible.”
Marin read the report with sparkling eyes, finding it quite interesting.
This silver mine in the Nairo Territory was a significant location in the middle of the novel.
In the original story, after the mine was abandoned, the female lead visited it to collect medicinal herbs, found an ore, and crafted a necklace. That jewel became the sensation of high society.
The mine, destined to be discarded, was actually an opal mine.
Opal was a gemstone that had never been discovered in the Empire before. Its value would skyrocket to unimaginable heights.
“What a waste…….”
*Why didn’t I think of this sooner? If I secretly went there and dug up a few of those minerals, I’d make a fortune.*
“What is?”
“Eek! Yes?”
Marin looked up at the massive Duke standing before her, startled.
While she had been lost in her own thoughts, the man she had forgotten had moved, and now stood right in front of her.
He was so tall that she had to tilt her head back as far as she could to see his face. It wasn’t just his height; his frame was massive.
She caught sight of the Duke’s smooth, sharp jawline, tilted at an angle. Lifting her gaze slightly more, she saw his entire face, his eyes hidden behind a black silk ribbon.
Even with his eyes covered, he possessed a sculptural, high nose bridge, and beneath that, lips of a voluptuous, red shape.
He truly was the male lead. He was so handsome that he seemed to glow even in the dark.
“I asked what was a waste.”
It seemed he had heard her mutterings.
Marin felt as if the world had gone dark.
*I have to answer quickly.*
Her heart hammered against her ribs.
*If I say it was because this is a world inside a book, that I know the future, and therefore it was a waste to close this mine—?*
She might be dragged away then and there to be burned at the stake as a witch. Or worse, kicked out as a raving madwoman.
*Think, quickly.*
“Th-that is…….”
Marin racked her brain while shivering. She felt like a rabbit, hardly a mouthful for a tiger, standing before a giant beast.
“Olive.”
“Yes.”
Olive, standing to the side, answered in a tense voice.
“Was I someone with a lot of patience?”
A faint, sharp irritation laced the Duke’s languid voice.
“No, Your Grace.”
Olive looked at Marin with a pitiful expression.
“So it seems.”
“…….”
Marin racked her brain so hard she felt like steam would surely escape her ears.
“It seems you don’t understand what I’m asking.”
At the Duke’s icy tone, Marin opened her mouth with a trembling voice.
“The, the magical beasts.”