Episode 8
“Have you ever seen a spy say, ‘I’m a spy’?”
“No…”
Of course, she hadn’t. If someone did that, they’d be a terrible spy.
Marin looked like a scolded puppy. She slowly walked over to the wall and thunk—bumped her forehead against it.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m taking time to reflect.”
“What?”
Gerald’s breathing faltered for a moment.
But Marin was too busy being lost in her own thoughts to notice.
“Because Your Grace is right. What kind of spy would admit they’re a spy? Of course, they’d deny it. I said something stupid, so I need some time to reflect.”
Facing the wall, Marin quietly entered her “reflection time.”
I should’ve shown it through my actions instead of words. How am I supposed to prove I’m not a spy?
Maybe I should tell him some future information from the novel?
No, seriously, why does this duke have so many enemies?
If he hates the Emperor, he could just join the noble faction.
But the duke hated political factions and proudly stood alone.
Because of that, both the imperial faction and the noble faction disliked him.
When the duke was healthy, every attempt to spy on him or bring him down failed.
But now he was hiding away because of his injuries.
Taking advantage of that, spies from both sides had flooded into the duke’s household.
That was why Olive couldn’t tell Marin about the duke’s condition.
So somehow, she had to convince them she wasn’t a spy.
If they labeled her a spy, she’d be heading straight to the execution grounds.
Reflection time?
A small crack appeared in Gerald’s usually expressionless face.
He listened carefully to her movements.
She had walked over to the wall, bumped her head against it, and was now standing perfectly still.
Was she really reflecting?
Even her heartbeat, which had been noisy the moment she entered the office, had calmed down.
What is with this woman?
She seemed terrified of him, yet somehow she wasn’t afraid of him at all.
Her behavior was inconsistent.
He could never predict what she would do next.
Unpredictable things were dangerous.
Like monsters.
His suspicion rose again.
Marin Shubetz.
Daughter of a baron.
After a carriage accident killed her father and older brother, the family fell apart.
She now lives in a crumbling cottage while supporting her sick mother.
She never made her debut into society.
She had no dowry and therefore couldn’t marry.
The shadow knight, Kay, was always efficient.
Within a single day, he had uncovered nearly her entire life.
She wasn’t a particularly secretive person.
If she wasn’t a spy, then why had she approached him?
Was it really just for money?
Even if she wasn’t a spy, she had lied about her identity.
That alone was enough reason to punish her and throw her out immediately.
“How long are you planning to stand there?”
“Until Assistant Olive comes back.”
“Are you planning to read reports from over there, too, when Olive returns?”
After hesitating for a moment, she answered carefully.
“…No. I’ll come over.”
He heard her soft footsteps as she approached.
How skinny was she?
Her footsteps were as light as feathers.
Even Kay, who spent his life moving silently as a shadow, might envy her.
She stopped a short distance away from him.
A scent he hadn’t smelled in a long time reached him.
The smell of dry autumn sunlight.
“It’s hard to see inside there, so would it be okay if I stayed here and—”
Suddenly, Gerald reached out, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her toward him.
“Gasp—!”
She quickly covered her mouth with her free hand to stop herself from screaming.
Her heart immediately began pounding loudly.
Gerald frowned slightly and listened.
The secret of the Vines bloodline was passed only to the eldest sons.
Even his closest aides only guessed that he could hear a little better than ordinary people.
“Why?”
“…Huh?”
Her speech was muffled because she was still covering her mouth.
“I asked why you didn’t scream.”
Marin’s light-green eyes trembled.
Is this guy insane?
Being pulled so close to him, Marin seriously began to wonder.
Now that she was near him, she could make out his features hidden in the darkness.
Black hair fell over the black silk ribbon covering his eyes.
His nose was sharp enough to look like it could cut someone.
Below it were full red lips, as tempting as rose petals.
Even in silhouette, he was ridiculously handsome.
A crazy, handsome man.
That fits perfectly for a male lead in a romance fantasy novel.
But in The Bluebird of the Western Duke Never Sings, the male lead was never described as crazy.
Wait…
Maybe the heroine just didn’t know?
The novel was written from the heroine’s first-person perspective.
She had assumed he was just the typical cold-to-everyone-but-sweet-to-his-woman male lead.
But what if he was only nice to his woman and completely insane the rest of the time?
As someone who was lying to him, Marin desperately hoped that wasn’t the case.
“I asked why.”
His voice sounded like a beast growling right in front of her.
The kind that could rip her throat out at any second.
Marin’s brain worked at full speed.
Even if the duke really was crazy, she couldn’t exactly ask, ‘Are you insane?’
She needed to give him an answer he’d accept.
“B-Because screaming would be noisy.”
“Being startled is a natural reaction.”
“You knew that and still did it?”
Her green eyes shook nervously.
Please don’t be crazy.
“The fact that an employee doesn’t react naturally makes them suspicious, doesn’t it?”
Marin blinked rapidly.
Wow.
So he wasn’t crazy.
He was testing her.
“Because Your Grace can’t see— I mean, because seeing is difficult for you.”
Relieved that he wasn’t insane, she carefully chose her words.
The duke listened silently.
“I thought you might be especially sensitive to sound instead. That’s why. I’m sorry.”
There had been several scenes in the novel where noise made him violent and irritable.
Being careful can’t hurt.
“You’re quite observant.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
Marin bowed her head.
At the same time, she already knew what his next question would be.
Are you a spy?
“Are you a spy?”
“No. Sigh…”
As expected.
Without thinking, she let out a long sigh.
“Did you just sign in front of me?”
He didn’t say, ‘How dare you?’
She could practically hear it.
Marin firmly shook her head.
“No.”
“You did.”
His voice dropped lower in warning.
“Would I really dare do such a thing in front of Your Grace? That wasn’t a sigh. It was merely a deep exhale.”
She deliberately straightened her shoulders and stubbornly insisted.
After all, the only person who could define whether her breath was a sigh or just an exhale was herself.
The muscles in the duke’s jaw twitched with annoyance.
He didn’t argue further.
Marin secretly felt relieved.
Still…
The fact that he was still holding her wrist was really bothering her.
If the test was over, shouldn’t he let go?
How am I supposed to get my wrist back?
Just then, a thin beam of light slipped through a gap in the black curtains.
Her eyes naturally followed it.
The beam stretched farther and farther before brushing across the duke’s profile as he turned his head.
Oh my God.
What is that?
The room suddenly spun around her.
Thankfully, she’d already experienced dizziness once earlier, so she was prepared.
Slowly, she covered her mouth again and called out to him, trying not to scream.
“Y-Your Grace!”
“Why?”
The beam of light illuminated his ear before disappearing again.
Marin’s anxious gaze followed the line from his ear down to his jaw.
There she saw it.
Dried blood.
“B-Blood. You’re bleeding.”
“I was.”
The duke sounded completely unconcerned.
“I think you should get treatment right away.”
She sounded more worried than he did.
She wanted to run and call a doctor immediately.
But unfortunately…
He was still holding her wrist.
