Chapter 17

Lamirio was overwhelmed by Lucretia's sincere attitude and couldn't say no.

--- If I show it, it's over. This girl will surely run away too.

Despite this thought, Lamirio couldn't shake off Lucretia's hand.

Lucretia held Lamirio's hood with both hands and gently let it fall to his back.

“---!”

What Lucretia saw was a black spot spreading from Lamirio's eyelids to his forehead. The unsightly color made Lamirio himself want to look away, as the spots covered his face.

“Glasses...?”

When asked hesitantly by Lucretia, Lamirio gave up.

He took off the tinted glasses himself.

With the obstructive glasses gone, he could now look directly at Lucretia with his bare eyes.

Lucretia, without the brown tinted glasses, was---

Several times more beautiful and ethereal than when seen through the tinted glasses.

Lucretia suddenly began to shiver slightly at the shoulders. The sound that leaked out, "haha, hahaha," was unmistakably laughter.

“Hahaha, this is ugly...! Hahaha...!”

Lucretia laughed, holding her stomach.

“I apologize. Oh, I was so surprised! I still think that Lord Lamirio is a person of remarkable appearance! Who said you were the 'Ugly Duke'?”

Lamirio, confused, touched his eyelids.

His whites and eyelids were covered with countless black spots from birth.

These spots, which looked like the compound eyes of an insect, apparently made people feel very uneasy.

This was a symptom of the early stages of eye tumors, and he was told as an infant that he wouldn't live long. However, he had lived to this age in good health without any issues.

“Do you not feel repulsed when you see this?”

“No? Not at all. Lord Lamirio probably has more melanin than others. Your hair and irises are completely black.”

Lucretia smiled.

“I am the complete opposite. I was born with a lack of melanin, and my eyes were completely white.”

Lucretia's eyes, as she spoke, were a beautiful golden color.

“With white eyes, it seems that the eyes don't function properly. My grandmother said that because I couldn't see people's faces as a baby, I missed the opportunity to learn. As a result, I have fewer expressions than others.”

It was an unexpected confession.

He had somehow thought that the beautiful girl lived in a different world from him.

“Thanks to the old herbalist, my world became colorful.”

“Herbalist...?”

Wasn't she a noble duke's daughter? It seemed unlikely that her grandmother was an herbalist.

“I was entrusted to the old herbalist until I was eight years old.”

Lucretia looked up at the starry sky, as if reminiscing about the past. The sky was now filled with a beautiful array of stars.

“I was told that I was secretly entrusted to her because of my eyes. I was also told that I must never speak about it when I returned to the duke's house. If it was known that I had an eye disease, it would be a scandal for the nobility.”

Indeed, herbalists were often thought of as eccentric old women living alone in the mountains, with low social status.

For a noble, they would be people whose connections one would not want to be discovered.

“It was a fun life. Many people came to the old lady for treatment... Among them was someone with the same condition as Lord Lamirio. When she saw the spots in the eyes, the old lady said, 'Insect eyes'...”

Lucretia leaned forward, placed her hands on Lamirio's cheeks, and looked directly into his eyes with confidence.

“Give me one month. I can cure Lord Lamirio's eyes.”

Lamirio stared at Lucretia, dazed.

He couldn't believe what she said right away.

But seeing Lucretia's silver hair without the tinted glasses, which mixed the clear blue of the night and the color of the bonfire, made her look like a beautiful goddess descending from the heavens.

Feeling as if he were bewitched, Lamirio opened his mouth.

“...Is it really...? These eyes... which every doctor has given up on... can be made normal and healthy?”

“They will be cured. Please believe in me.”

Lamirio felt as if a goddess had truly descended.

“However, once the treatment starts, you will need to spend a month in a dark room. Direct sunlight will be a burden. You will need to be wrapped in bandages so that you cannot see anything, and live like a blind person. Can you clear your schedule for a month, Lord Lamirio?”

Lamirio quickly thought about his schedule and nodded.

“If it can be done during the summer break, I can take a month or even two.”

“Then, let's start the treatment when summer comes. It will be exciting! I will prepare for it as well.”

Lucretia said brightly, ending the conversation and returning to the task of boiling jam.

Lamirio felt as if he were in a dream, unable to grasp the reality of it all, and watched her work for a long time.

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