I Grabbed The Leash Of The Blind Beast - Chapter 26

“Are you all right?”

Eleon’s soft voice was heard from above. 

There were always times like these.

     When I fell asleep next to Eleon while reading him a book. When I fell on top of him while shooing a bee in the park. 

Tearful

Elysia tried to hide her feelings.

“El…..”

Elysia was so surprised that she almost called out his name without realizing it.

     He doesn’t know me.

And supposedly she shouldn’t know him either.

Elysia barely raised her head.

“Ah……”

Elysia’s eyes met his piercing red eyes.

Eleon tilted his head and looked down at his arms.

     Since when have you been watching?

She got goosebumps.

A vivid primary color shone in the place of gray eyes.

Elysia looked him in the eyes for a moment, enchanted.

     I thought his red eyes would be scary or strange.

It’s a different color from the average human.

She used to wonder what it would be like to actually see it.

Eleon’s real eyes were very beautiful.

It was a mysteriously beautiful red.

At that moment, she heard someone approaching through the trees.

Elysia, who suddenly came to her senses, was bewildered.

Eleon’s arms still held her waist.

Their bodies were so close that anyone who saw them, would misinterpret this as a meeting between lovers.

“Tha… thank you.”

“It was nothing.”

Words were exchanged, but Elysia was still confused.

     Yes?

She wanted him to let her go, but strangely, it felt as if Eleon was holding her tighter.

“Uh……. Grand Duke.”

Elysia called him this time by his title, and not by Sir Eleon.

“I, I am fine. You can let me go.”

The familiar scent of Eleon made her heart ache.

Besides, she was worried because someone was getting closer and closer.

“Your Highness? Let me go before someone sees us.”

“They will be jealous.”

“…….Yes?”

Elysia foolishly opened her mouth, then quickly closed it.

There were occasions when she was speechless, even when he couldn’t see, she thought it was because of their master-servant relationship.

Apparently, it was not that.

“That was just a joke. I said it to make you laugh, but My Lady didn’t laugh.”

Eleon helped her get back on her feet.

Elysia carefully stood upright because of the voluminous skirt.

“What is your name?”

“My name is Elysia Yuter.”

Elysia quickly grabbed her skirt and bowed to greet him.

She had only practiced this in front of Gillian and Mariela, but he was Eleon.

     You should know that, apart from my family, you are the first.

Elysia was embarrassed for nothing.

“Your name is Elysia Yuter. Elysia… Elysia.”

Eleon mumbled over and over again as if trying to memorize her name.

     Why?

She couldn’t figure out why.

“By the way, how did you know I was the Grand Duke?”

“I……I have heard the rumors …. .”

“What rumors?”

“I heard that the Grand Duke Clevent’s eyes were healed.”

“Ahh, I see. That’s the rumor going around.”

Strangely, Elysia kept finding fault with his words.

     Ugh, it’s uncomfortable.

Suddenly, Mariella’s serious face came to her mind.

「“If you lose your honor, it’s not only your problem, it would be a disgrace to the Duchy of Yuter.”」　

She made Elysia promise several times.

「”Never! It must never be known that you worked as the Grand Duke’s maid. Even if nothing happened to you, that’s what a scandal is. It has nothing to do with the truth. If it was provocative, it would be everything.”」　

Elysia just vaguely thought that she wanted to see Eleon open his eyes.

When she ran into Eleon, she had a lot of questions.

     I want to ask you, how do you feel? Do you feel any pain? Are you eating well?  

But maybe Mariela would turn pale if she saw her face to face with Eleon like this.

Her mother, who gave birth to Elysia, was very concerned about her.

“Then I’d better go.”

It was best to avoid it for now.

Elysia hid her disappointment.

She doesn’t know when she will see Eleon again. But he shouldn’t have found out that she was Rona.

She was going to turn around at that tense moment when suddenly Eleon called her.

“Lady Elysia.”

“Yes?”

“This is destiny, so let’s have a cup of tea together”

“Wi…With me?”

Elysia tilted her head in puzzlement.

She heard from Bernard that Eleon was not interested in any women and that he had never dated. Especially he never invited them to drink tea.

「“His Highness, who has never drank a cup of tea with a woman, let alone grabbed a Lady’s wrist, has to live like this now!”」

     But why does he want to drink tea now? And with me?

When Elysia did not answer, Eleon stared at her.

“Is there a problem?”

“N.. no.”

Come to think of it, there was a tea table in a secluded spot among the trees in the garden.

A while ago, a maid had told her where she could rest while waiting for Mariela.

     But why are there two teacups? Was it for Mariela before she was summoned to the Empress’s palace?

Bewildered, Elysia walked over as Eleon sat down first.

There were three types of tea on the table.

“There are three kinds of tea. Dried orange tea, black tea. Black tea is so strong that the color appears black. And the other one is ginger tea pickled in honey.”

Elysia explained in detail to him.

Without realizing it, Elysia, who naturally stood next to Eleon, blushed.

     OMG! Why am I explaining this!

When Eleon was still blind, Elysia would explain everything one by one in this way.

He would wait for her to finish explaining and then pick up a tea.

     Habits are really scary.

Elysia raised her head in embarrassment, and Eleon had his eyes closed while he listened to her explanation.

When the explanation was interrupted he opened his eyes.

“Why? Go on.”

“Ahh. Ha ha ha. It’s because I like tea… so….”

Elysia picked up the dried orange tea with the tongs and put it into Eleon’s teacup.

She lifted the teapot and poured hot water into the teacup.

“I never said I would drink orange tea.”

Her eyes widened.

Eleon didn’t like the sweetness very much.

So, ginger tea pickled with honey is eliminated.

And she didn’t like the black tea that was roasted so dark that it looked black.

The black tea, which was brewed slowly and thickly, was a luxury hobby for aristocrats.

And Eleon, who was always on the battlefield from a young age, did not like the bitter taste of the black tea that was brewed for a long time.

She chose it without thinking.

“Why did you give me orange tea?”

She felt the cold sweat running down her back.

“I think it goes well with the color of your eyes.”

“Does it suit me?”

“Yes. After red comes orange. It.. It’s beautiful.”

“Really? You think it’s beautiful.”

     I’m crazy. What the hell are you talking about, Won Yun-Ji?

Elysia wanted to pull out her neatly combed hair.

“Lady Elysia.”

“Yes?”

She looked at Eleon and felt like her soul was being ripped off with a thresher.

“My Lady. Have we met before?”

     Red eyes. Are they a gift from the First Emperor, who became a god?

Looking him in the eyes, Eleon seemed to see right through her for some reason.

“It’s the first time I have met you, Your Highness.”

But Elysia still had reason to feign innocence.

“Yes, the first time.”

He drank the orange tea that Elysia had prepared.

After emptying the teacup, he rose from his seat.

“Thank you for the tea. You have good skills.”

“No, it’s nothing. I am glad my bad skills did not bother you.”

“See you again, Lady Elysia.”

Elysia stared blankly at Eleon as he disappeared through the garden trees.

“Will I see you again?”

Nothing went through her mind.

CRACK

Sabiel gritted his teeth as he watched the scene through the trees.

The branch he held in his hands was broken.

“Eleon Clevent, how dare you.. to my woman.”

His eyes gleamed fiercely.

* * * * *

Empress Seraphina was in a good mood.

She kept Mariela in her palace, talking nonsense about the debutante, and planning to send her away later.

     Sabiel must be with Lady Elysia, right?

Marriages of noble families are not common marriages.

It is not different from signing a contract and doing business. It’s a give-and-take marriage.

However, it was common for young aristocratic ladies to fantasize about ‘seeking a natural encounter‘.

If it is an arranged marriage is the beginning of an unhappy marriage and a love marriage is the beginning of an ideal marriage full of love.

Seraphina was also raised as a young lady of a noble family, so it wasn’t something she couldn’t understand.

Instead of having tea with the Emperor and Empress, Sabiel and Elysia were allowed to spend time, avoiding audiences.

She immediately sent word to Sabiel to come to her garden on time.

“That way they will get to know each other without any prejudice.”

Empress Seraphina smiled with satisfaction.

Sabiel is not a bad-tempered child, but due to his good looks, it is rumored that he had several relationships with noblewomen.

It was very rare in social circles to talk about marriage with the first person they went out with.

Seraphina had no doubts that if she could provide time for the two of them to spend together, they would be able to develop feelings for each other.

“Your Majesty.”

“All right. How is it going?”

The maid, who was sent to inspect the two of them, returned.

“The Crown Prince did not come to the garden.”

“Then……….So, how long was Lady Elysia alone in the garden?”

“No. It is said that the Grand Duke Clevent happened to pass by and saw the young lady and had tea with her.”

“What? Eleon?”

Seraphina felt blood rushing.

“How dare he… in my palace.”

The Imperial Palace was Seraphina’s domain.

An annoying fly roamed around the flower she cherished.

“I can’t believe he regained his sight…… .”

A cold energy emanated from the Empress.

* * * * *

Eleon welcomed the guests after returning to his manor.

“I investigated everything about Lady Elysia Yuter as you instructed me.”

Eleon asked the guild, instead of finding ‘Rona’ to investigate everything about Elysia.

The information guild, which seemed incompetent when looking for people who did not exist in the world, was adept at collecting data about women who did exist.

“Do you need anything else?”

“Yes. I will call you later.”

Eleon couldn’t take his eyes off the thick report.

He carefully looked into the life of Elysia Yuter.

“Elysia who was seriously injured in a raid half a year ago barely recovered her health.”

It is said that it was only two weeks ago that Elysia returned to her home after being excommunicated from Hadunsha due to her memory loss.

A woman disappeared and another one appeared.

A smile appeared on Eleon’s lips.

“I found her.”