ラミリオはルクレツィアの真摯な態度に呑まれてしまって、嫌だと言えなかった。
――見せたら、終わり。この娘も、きっと逃げていくだろう。
そう思うのに、ラミリオはルクレツィアの手を振りほどけなかった。
ルクレツィアはラミリオのフードに両手をかけて、そっと背中に落とす。
「――!」
ルクレツィアが見ているのは、まぶたから額にかけて広がる、黒い斑点。汚らしい色合いで、ラミリオ自身も目を背けたくなるシミが一面に広がっている。
「眼鏡は......?」
ルクレツィアに遠慮がちに聞かれて、ラミリオは観念した。
自分から、色眼鏡を外してみせる。
邪魔なものがなくなり、裸眼でルクレツィアを正面から見つめることになった。
色眼鏡をかけて見ていたころよりも何倍も美しく、幻想的だった。
ルクレツィアは、いきなり肩を細かく震わせ始めた。ふふ、ふふふふ、と、漏れ聞こえてくる声は、どう聴いても笑っている。
「ふふふふ、これが、醜い......! あはははは......!」
腹を抱えて笑うルクレツィア。
「失礼いたしました。ああ、びっくりした! やはりラミリオ様は容姿端麗なお方だと思いますわ! 醜悪公だなんてどなたが言い出したのでしょうか!」
ラミリオは戸惑いながら、自分のまぶたに触れた。
彼の白目やまぶたには、生まれつき、黒い斑点が無数にあった。
まるで昆虫の複眼のように見えるこの斑点が、人には非常に気味悪く見えるらしい。
これは目に腫瘍ができる前段階の症状だから、きっと長くは生きないだろう――と赤ん坊のころに宣告されたが、何事もなく健康でこの年まで生きてきた。
「これを見て、君は嫌悪感を催さないのか?」
「いいえ? ちっとも。ラミリオ様は、色素が人より沈着しやすいのでしょうね。髪も、虹彩も真っ黒でいらっしゃいますもの」
ルクレツィアはにこりとする。
「わたくしと正反対ですわ。わたくしは生まれつき色素が足りなくて、瞳も真っ白でしたの」
そう語るルクレツィアの瞳は、美しい金色だ。
「瞳が白いと、目の機能がうまく働かないようで。赤ちゃんのころに人の顔が見えていなかったから、学習する機会を逸したのだろうとおばあさまが。そのせいでわたくしは人より表情が乏しいようなのです」
意外な告白だった。
なんとなく、美しい少女は自分と別世界に生きていると思っていたからだ。
「薬師のおばあさまがわたくしを治療してくださったおかげで、世界に色がついたのですわ」
「薬師の......?」
彼女は王族筋の公爵令嬢ではなかったか。その祖母が薬師であるとは考えにくい。
「わたくしは八歳まで、薬師のおばあさまのところに預けられていたのでございます」
ルクレツィアが昔を懐かしむように、星空を見上げる。いつの間にか満天の綺羅星が観測できるようになっていた。
「この目のせいで、おばあさまのところに極秘で預けられたのだと言われておりました。公爵家に戻っても、絶対に喋ってはならないとも。目の病気だったなんて知られたら、貴族にとっては醜聞につながるから、と」
確かに、薬師といえば、山奥にひとりで住んでいる偏屈な薬草売りの老女と決まっている。
社会的な地位も低い。
貴族としては、関係を探られたくない相手だろう。
「楽しい毎日でしたわ。色んな方がおばあさまの診察を受けに来ていて......その中には、ラミリオ様と同じ病と思われる方もいらっしゃいましたの。目の斑点を見るなり、おばさまは『昆虫眼』だとおっしゃって......」
ルクレツィアはぐっと身を乗り出して、ラミリオの両頬に手を添えた。真正面から覗き込んで、自信ありげに言う。
「一か月、わたくしにくださいませ。わたくしなら、ラミリオ様のお目を治してさしあげることができます」
ラミリオは呆けたようにルクレツィアを見つめる。
すぐには彼女の言うことが信じられなかった。
惑わされたような気分で、ラミリオが口を開く。
「......本当......なのか? この目が......どの医者も匙を投げた目が......人並みの、健康な色に」
「治りますわ。わたくしを信じてくださいませ」
ラミリオは、本当に女神が舞い降りたかと思った。
「ただし、治療を開始したら、ひと月の間、暗い部屋で過ごしていただきます。直射日光が負担になるからですわ。何もご覧にならないよう、厳重に包帯を巻いて、盲人のように過ごす必要があるのです。ラミリオ様は、ひと月の間予定を空けることができますか?」
ラミリオはざっとスケジュールを思い浮かべて、うなずいた。
「夏季休暇に合わせてもらえれば、ひと月でもふた月でも」
「では、夏になったら治療を開始いたしましょう。楽しみですわね! わたくしもそれまでに準備しておきますわ」
ルクレツィアは明るく言って話を打ち切り、ジャムを煮詰める作業に戻った。
ラミリオは何もかもが夢の中にいるようで、現実味が感じられず、いつまでも彼女のする作業を見ていた。
Ramilio was so overwhelmed by Lucrezia's sincerity that he couldn't say no.
'If I show it to her, it will be the end. She'll probably run away, too.'
Despite this thought, Ramilio couldn't shake off Lucrezia's hand.
Lucrezia put her hands on Ramilio's hood and let it fall gently on his back.
"--!"
Lucrezia saw black spots, spreading from his eyelids to his forehead. The spots were a dirty shade and spread all over, making Ramilio himself want to look away.
"Your glasses....?"
When Lucrezia asked him that, Ramilio resigned himself to fate.
He took off his tinted glasses.
With the obstacle removed, he gazed squarely at Lucrezia with his naked eyes.
She was many times more beautiful and fairy-like than when he was looking at her through his tinted glasses.
Lucrezia's shoulders suddenly began to tremble. The voice that leaked out was, no matter how you listened to it, laughter.
"Pffft, this is, the so-called ugly....! Hahahaha.....!"
Lucrezia laughed while clutching her stomach.
"I apologize for my rudeness. Oh, what a surprise! I knew you were a good-looking man, Ramilio-sama! Who said anything about you being ugly?"
Ramilio touched his eyelids in confusion.
He was born with numerous black spots on the whites of his eyes and eyelids.
These spots, which looked like the compound eyes of an insect, were said to look very creepy to people.
He was told as a baby that he probably wouldn't live long because this was a pre-stage symptom of a tumor in his eyes, but he has lived to this age in good health without any incident.
"Does this not disgust you?"
"No? Not at all. I think Ramilio-sama just has more pigmentation than other people. Your hair and iris are all black."
Lucrezia smiled.
"I am the exact opposite. I was born with a lack of pigmentation, so my eyes were pure white."
Lucrezia's eyes were a beautiful golden color as she said this.
"It seems that when the eyes are white, they don't function as well. My grandmother told me that because I couldn't see people's faces when I was a baby, I must have missed the opportunity to learn. That's why I seem to be less expressive than other people."
It was an unexpected confession.
Somehow, he thought that this beautiful girl lived in a different world from his own.
"It is thanks to my grandmother's pharmacy skills that the world has become more colorful for me."
"Pharmacy....?"
Wasn't she the daughter of a royal duke? It was unlikely that her grandmother was a pharmacist.
"I was sent to live with my grandmother until I was eight years old."
Lucrezia looked up at the starry sky as if reminiscing about the old days. Before she knew it, the sky was full of beautiful stars to observe.
"I was told that it was because of this eye condition that I was entrusted to my grandmother in absolute secrecy. Even if I returned to the Duke's house, I must never speak of it. She said it would be an ugly story for the nobility if they knew I had an eye disease."
Indeed, a pharmacist was usually defined as an eccentric old woman selling medicinal herbs who lived alone deep in the mountains.
Their social status was also low.
As an aristocrat, they probably didn't want to be involved in such a connection.
"I enjoyed every day of my life. There were a lot of people who came to see my grandmother, and some of them seemed to have the same disease as Ramilio-sama. As soon as she saw the spots in their eyes, she said they had "insect eyes"...."
Lucrezia leaned forward and put her hands on both of Ramilio's cheeks. She looked straight into his eyes and said confidently.
"Please give me one month. I can heal your eyes, Ramilio-sama."
Ramilio stared at Lucrezia as if dumbfounded.
He didn't immediately believe her.
Feeling bewildered, Ramilio opened his mouth.
".... Is it true? These eyes.... the eyes that every doctor has given up on.... turn into a healthy color, like a normal person's...."
"It will be cured. Please believe in me."
Ramiro thought that a goddess had truly descended upon him.
"However, once we start the treatment, you will have to stay in a dark room for a month. Direct sunlight will be too much for you. You will have to stay like a blind man, heavily bandaged so that you won't see anything. Can you free your schedule for a month, Ramilio-sama?"
Ramilio briefly thought of his schedule and nodded.
"If you can get it to coincide with the summer vacations, it can be one month or even two months."
"Then, let's start the treatment in the summer. I'm looking forward to it! I'll be ready by then, too."
Lucrezia cheerfully ended the conversation and went back to simmering the jam.
Ramilio was watching the work she was doing, as if everything was in a dream and he didn't feel any sense of reality.
My Sister Took My Fiancé and Now I’m Forced to Marry the Ugly Duke
書籍・漫画化／妹に婚約者を取られてこのたび醜悪公と押しつけられ婚する運びとなりました～楽しそうなので張り切っていましたが噂が大げさだっただけで全然苦境になりませんし、旦那様も真実の姿を取り戻してしまい
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/my-sister-took-my-fiance-and-now-im-forced-to-marry-the-ugly-duke/
Action Adventure Romance
Aristocracy Arranged Marriage Broken Engagement Calm Protagonist European Ambience Family Conflict Female Protagonist Hard-Working Protagonist Hated Protagonist Multiple POV Nobles Sharp-tongued Characters Underestimated Protagonist Wealthy Characters
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3436hc/
くまだ乙夜