~Chapter 54~
“The Blind Faith”
“…Rubiana.”
For the first time since being locked in the prison, Damien felt the fog in his mind clear just a little.
He didn’t know if it was because Rubiana’s presence reduced the influence of the curses… or because of what he was seeing.
“Damien.”
In front of the tightly shut iron door stood a slender silhouette.
She wore only a thin white dress, barefoot, holding no weapon. The small duchess looked completely defenseless.
And—
“I… I can’t see anything right now.”
A thick blindfold covered her eyes, hiding half her small face.
She had blinded herself so she wouldn’t see Damien’s cursed form, so that he wouldn’t be ashamed.
No one else would ever choose to do this.
Only Rubiana could.
“So, will you help me? If not, I think I might fall.”
Damien knew she had entered this prison on her own, and yet… he couldn’t ignore her asking for his help in such a vulnerable state.
And he realized—she knew exactly that he wouldn’t be able to refuse.
‘Clever.’
He had thought she was only innocent. But she could be sly too.
He finally moved toward her.
Clang—
The chains that bound his limbs rattled as he stepped forward.
“Hold my hand,” he said.
“Yes.”
Damien laced his fingers with Rubiana’s blind hands. She willingly reached out to him.
It was dangerous. Who would extend both hands to someone consumed by rampaging curses?
Damien’s gaze dropped to her bare feet.
They were so pale, so soft, too delicate to touch the cold, filthy prison floor covered in black curse-blood.
“Place your feet on mine.”
Damien was barefoot too—his feet a mess of curse-blood and scars—but it was better than the floor.
He guided her slowly, step by step.
“Move slowly,” he whispered.
“Yes.”
He supported her carefully, as if she were made of glass.
It felt like that first night, when he had helped her move because she couldn’t open her honey-sealed eyes.
“…We’re here.”
He led her to a small cot at the deepest part of the prison and gently helped her sit down.
“Thank you,” she said.
“…It’s nothing.”
“Thanks to you, I made it all the way here.”
Beside her sat the Duke of Maledictus, who could lose his mind again at any moment.
Around them, curse tendrils, slick and black, slithered through the prison walls after feeding on fear.
Damien wondered how she could sit so calmly in this terrible place.
“…Don’t you trust me too much?” he asked suddenly.
“How can you walk in here and trust me with your life, your hands and feet, when you know I could harm you at any moment?”
He knew she had approached because she believed he wouldn’t hurt her, and that thought felt unbearably naïve.
Rubiana smiled softly.
“Isn’t it natural for a wife to trust her husband? If we can’t trust each other, marriage would be shaky, don’t you think?”
“…Ruby.”
“See?”
Even blindfolded, she turned exactly toward him.
“You’re calling me Ruby. Even if you’ve lost control, even if you’re consumed by the curses—you’re still the Damien I know.”
At that moment, the curse tendrils crawling like snakes around the room froze.
“You shouted at me and then felt sorry about it, didn’t you? I could feel it.”
“…”
“That’s when I knew. You’re still the Damien I know.”
Blind, Rubiana reached out.
Her searching hand found his tattered sleeve… then his scarred arm.
“No, don’t. You’ll dirty your clothes.”
The black curse-blood would stain her white dress and pale skin. Damien hated the thought of sullying her.
“What does it matter? We’re married.”
She didn’t stop.
“Getting dirty together isn’t so bad, is it?”
She wrapped both hands around Damien’s right arm, then his hand.
Her spotless dress was splattered with sticky black curse-blood.
“Damien, how about you? Do you still not want to show me your face?”
He bit his lip.
He thought of the time Rubiana had been sick in bed.
He had understood then why she didn’t want him to see her weak.
Now he understood why she had eventually shown him her face.
“…Of course not.”
Slide—
Damien reached for the blindfold and untied it.
The black fabric fell to the blood-soaked floor, turning a deeper red.
Her ruby-like eyes, shining like the moonlight, met his.
“…Ah.”
She looked at his face—half-covered in rampaging curses, then at his scarred arms and legs, at the walls crawling with horrific curse tendrils.
She took it all in.
But unlike others, she didn’t scream, faint, or run away.
“You’re not horrible. You don’t look like a monster at all.”
“…That’s impossible.”
“I mean it.”
On her knees on the cot, Rubiana straightened her back to match his height and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“But… you look like you’re in so much pain.”
Hiss—
The curses crawling on the walls flicked their tongues, sensing something.
They began slithering toward Rubiana, wrapping around her arms and legs.
“So I’ll make them disappear.”
Damien thought he saw tears glisten in her ruby eyes as she smiled softly.
Unable to contain the wave of affection and gratitude, Damien pulled her close—not with the curses, but with his own arms.
“Disappear.”
With that single magical word, all the curses crawling through the prison turned to dust and vanished.
