I Held the Leash of a Blind Beast (1 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 11
“You can trust me.”
Illeon thought this as he fiddled with the lock on the bathroom door from the outside.
Knock knock.
She should come out once she’s given fresh clothes, yet there was no sound from inside the bathroom.
“Could she have fallen asleep?”
Illeon felt oddly restless. The butler, who had just entered carrying a tray with warm soup and food, asked him as he paced in front of the bathroom.
“What seems to be the matter, sir?”
“It seems Rona has fallen asleep in there.”
“Pardon?”
Bernar couldn’t understand. Aside from the strong male servants and guard knights, there were no other resident staff at the moment—yet Rona was monopolizing the third-floor maid’s bathroom.
But here Rona was bathing in Illeon’s room, and Illeon himself was barging into his own room? What an inefficient situation.
“Are Niel or Olivier still around?”
At those words, the butler regained his composure.
“Everyone has already left for the day. They won’t return until tomorrow morning.”
Even the butler joined in, knocking on the door and calling out to Rona—but she must have been sleeping so deeply that not a single sign of life came from within.
“What should we do?”
“Sigh… There’s nothing for it. I’ll go in and somehow…”
At Bernar’s words, Illeon’s expression turned serious.
“That’s out of the question.”
“Th-then what should we do?”
“I’ll handle it myself, so just leave the room.”
Driven out of the room as if dismissed by his master, Bernar felt as though he were under a spell. What was that look of disdain his master just gave him? It was as if he were shooing away something terribly annoying. The capable butler felt rather wronged.
“No, wait—what exactly does he mean by ‘handle it himself’?”
Alone in the hallway, the butler sighed, gripped by an inexplicable premonition.
[This is the timeline separator]She had a dream.
She knew for certain it was a dream because, within it, she wasn’t Rona—but Wonyun Ji.
The ground was soaked in crimson blood.
Beneath swirling smoke and arrows falling like rain, Illeon lay collapsed.
“Your Grace!”
Someone clutched him, crying out in anguish. Beside a large horse sprawled on the ground, gasping in pain, Illeon lay motionless.
Heh heh.
She heard a breath that sounded like someone chuckling in delight. Though it was a dream, the presence of an unseen figure nearby gave her an uneasy feeling. Rona herself seemed transparent in this dream world—no one appeared to see her.
Heh heh. It’s going perfectly according to plan.
But when she heard that mysterious presence murmur contentedly while watching Illeon suffer, a strange chill ran down her spine.
The scene shifted. It was the ducal palace—familiar even to Rona. Illeon, unable to see, clawed at his own eyes until they were bloodied. He thrashed about like a wounded beast, lost and desperate. Seeing this, Rona’s heart ached.
“I’d rather die.”
The once-proud man couldn’t bear the dishonorable discharge resulting from his failure to complete his mission. Though he’d won every battle up to the last, he considered his return—blind—as nothing short of defeat.
Heh heh. At this rate, things will unfold just as in the original story.
Again, an impure chuckle echoed from somewhere, making Rona frown. It sounded as if someone were rejoicing that Illeon’s misfortune was proceeding exactly as planned. Rona felt a surge of intense resentment.
She approached the sobbing Illeon. As expected, he didn’t seem to see her.
“Just wait a little longer. I’ll come to you, okay?”
She placed her hand near his shoulder—though she couldn’t actually touch him—and offered comfort he couldn’t possibly hear.
At that moment, Illeon’s weeping abruptly stopped.
“Who’s there? Is someone there?”
Illeon asked in a trembling voice.
“Please… don’t leave me alone.”
Rona embraced him, though he remained out of reach. She held the large man close, gently soothing him—even though he couldn’t truly be held in her arms.
[This is the timeline separator]She didn’t know why she’d had such a dream.
Rona let out a soft sigh as she woke. The dream’s afterimage was so vivid that her vision blurred and her mind felt hazy.
“Could it be because I’ve been worrying too much about Illeon due to Karina?”
In The Flower of the Blind Beast, Illeon’s eye injury on the battlefield isn’t shown directly—it’s only mentioned as a backstory when he tells Karina how he lost his sight.
But seeing something with your own eyes is different from imagining it. Even though it was merely a dream, the scene felt so real it weighed heavily on her chest.
She wanted to return to her original world. Yet, while caring for Illeon, she’d unknowingly grown attached to him. That’s simply how human connections worked. Even as a hired servant paid for her work, her concern for him was genuine.
“Illeon. I’ll help you see again.”
Without thinking, Rona pulled Illeon’s broad shoulders toward her, just as she had in the dream.
“Huh?”
She felt the firm, expansive breadth of his shoulders against her body.
When she opened her eyes, Illeon’s face was once again right before her. Yesterday, she had pulled him into her arms as they slept—but today, it was the opposite. She had drawn him toward herself.
Illeon’s hair stuck out messily, brushing against her bare shoulder.
“Is this another dream?”
Rona tried to retrace her memories.
She remembered bathing under Illeon’s watchful eye yesterday—and falling asleep in the tub.
“That’s right. I definitely fell asleep while washing.”
Then why had she woken up in the duke’s bedroom?
She carefully lifted the white sheet wrapped tightly around her body.
“……!”
She was completely naked. Rona swallowed a silent scream. Clutching the sheet tightly, she tiptoed out of Illeon’s bedroom. Wrapped entirely in the sheet, sneaking back to her own room, she nearly cried from sheer embarrassment at her own absurd predicament.
“This feels just like those stories—‘the duke’s maid this, the duke’s maid that.’”
She was absolutely certain nothing had happened between her and Illeon. But if someone saw her like this, she risked being fired from this dream job—and humiliation would be an added bonus.
Once back in her room, Rona hurriedly pulled out clothes and dressed herself. Only after she was fully clothed did she finally feel relieved.
Just as Rona was catching her breath, Illeon let out a sigh so deep it seemed the floor might cave in.
“This is driving me insane.”
After chasing the butler away, Illeon draped a large sheet over himself like a cloak. Years in the knightly order had made rescue operations second nature—he was quite resourceful.
Since he couldn’t see,
there was no way he’d let Rona suffer disgrace because of him.
He lifted Rona’s arm from where she lay in the tub, draped it over his shoulder, then carefully wrapped her in the sheet and carried her out.
It was his version of a “rescue operation.” Don’t you dare doubt my sincerity, Illeon repeated endlessly in his mind. That part had gone well enough—the problem was he hadn’t thought beyond it.
He couldn’t dry off a naked woman, nor could he dress her for the same reason.
After holding Rona in the middle of the room for a long while as water dripped from her wet hair, Illeon staggered toward his bed. He fetched a towel to dry her hair so she wouldn’t catch a cold and tucked her tightly under the covers. Then he spent the rest of the night listening to Rona’s steady breathing as she slept soundly in his bed.
“It was a rescue operation. Staying in hot water too long isn’t good for you. You might catch a cold. And also…”
Illeon kept justifying his actions, his face flushed red.
It was all Rona’s fault for suddenly hugging him.
His mounting frustration finally peaked when Rona brought him breakfast.
[This is the timeline separator]“It’s time for breakfast.”
Rona set the plates neatly before Illeon.
He seemed unusually down today. Dark circles shadowed his otherwise smooth, statue-like face.
“As expected—the finishing touch of darkness is the face itself.”
Perhaps because he was so handsome, the slight dark circles made him look as though burdened by deep worries or sorrow.
“Rona. Can I ask you something?”
“Yes, of course.”
It was an ordinary morning—no, it had to remain ordinary. Rona tried her best to treat Illeon as she always did.
She had resolved not to bring up how she’d ended up in bed after falling asleep in the bathroom—unless Illeon himself raised the topic.
“Oh dear, Your Grace. I’m terribly sorry about this.”
That was the conclusion after mentally rehearsing countless apologies.
“What do you think of me?”
Illeon’s sudden question—completely unrelated to yesterday’s incident—made her pause briefly.
“May I speak honestly?”
“…Hmm.”
When she asked if she could be “honest,” Illeon looked slightly flustered.
“Y-yes.”
“Phew.”
Rona took a deep breath.
“You’re truly an excellent employer, sir. The world runs on give and take, doesn’t it? You can’t possibly imagine how honored I feel to be working in the ducal household.”
The Clevent ducal estate was a dream job—even judged by salary alone, it deserved a perfect five-star rating. Passion pay? Our employer has never heard of such a thing. Whenever he pays for something, it’s always in gold coins.
“That’s not what I meant. I asked what you think of me—personally.”
Rona looked at Illeon with pity. When the employer tells the employee to speak honestly, can they really do so? Perhaps due to his long military service, Illeon sometimes failed to grasp the feelings of ordinary people.
“You’re a handsome and admirable man, sir.”
Rona shifted her perspective.
“People who are exceptionally gifted, like you, often struggle greatly when health issues arise.”
Maybe it was because of that dream. For some reason, she suddenly wanted to tell Illeon this.
“You live each day so diligently. That’s what makes you truly remarkable—and worthy of respect.”
Illeon fell silent, apparently satisfied with Rona’s answer.
“Then please eat your breakfast.”
She placed a spoon in his hand.
“As for what I really think of Illeon… He’s like a giant, super cute, fluffy dog.”
But she couldn’t possibly say that aloud—so she kept it to herself.
[This is the timeline separator]Throughout breakfast, Illeon felt oddly unsettled.
“What do you think of me?”
Even asking that question had left him deeply troubled.
Though he thought about Rona every day, she showed no personal feelings toward him. She was the ideal maid—exactly the kind Bernar would generously rate for her work ethic. In fact, it would’ve been more problematic if she acted overly familiar with her master or harbored selfish intentions toward Illeon, who was still young and unmarried.
But that was only true in an ordinary employer-employee relationship.
If Illeon cared deeply for Rona, her impeccable professionalism and tidy work habits might leave him feeling strangely disappointed.
“‘You’re truly remarkable—and worthy of respect.’”
Illeon kept only the part he wanted to hear, cutting out everything else.
“So in the end, she does think well of me.”
At least she didn’t dislike him.
“Not bad. Quite good, actually.”
He hadn’t felt particularly happy even when graduating top of his class—so why now did he feel his emotions softening in a way that surprised even himself?
“There’s no need to compare it to back then.”
A knight’s life
demanded great restraint and required him to be a model others could look up to. Over time, Illeon had grown unresponsive to trivial matters. Living like this now, he realized he’d been almost inhumanly strict with himself.
Anyway, he’d already decided to take Rona to the dressmaker’s today, so he informed her of the day’s plan as she cleared the dishes.
“Huh? My clothes?”
“I’m sorry about yesterday. I lost my composure—unlike myself.”
“Oh, you could’ve just given me the money, and I’d have gone to buy them myself.”
“I dislike that—it wouldn’t feel rewarding.”
It wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of giving personally. He’d already ruled that option out.
“And if I gave you money, you probably wouldn’t even buy clothes, would you?”
“Ahahaha.”
Rona laughed awkwardly.
“So you noticed I didn’t go to the dressmaker’s.”
“The butler mentioned it. He said you went to the park wearing your winter outdoor clothes despite the weather.”
“I don’t usually go outside. And the maid uniforms here are good quality and quite pretty.”
“I went there intending to pay for a generous selection of outfits.”
Illeon said calmly.
“May I ask where you went?”
Male lead first thought she played hard to get, only to realize she
really disliked him
Short intro:
What she can’t stand the most is the streets full of effeminate men, especially that so-called top beauty whom she avoids at all costs.
Shen Yaoxing looks at Jiang Mingyue, who keeps approaching her with coy shyness.
Shen Yaoxing: Bro, don’t be like this, I’m really about to throw up!
She fears nothing in heaven or earth, except for him getting close to her.
*
At first he thought she was just using the trick of feigning indifference to attract his attention. Later, he learned that she truly despised him.
This dealt a heavy blow to Jiang Mingyue, and he vowed to make her, like everyone else, fall at his feet in worship!
***
Synopsis:
Before transmigrating, Shen Yaoxing only wanted to find a reliable man to spend her life with. Who knew that after transmigrating, she would become a reliable woman herself…
A forced misandrist, highly skilled, and reliable female lead
vs.
An initially aloof and arrogant, later morbid, obsessed male lead
_____
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Haha, just picturing this is so hilarious. Imagine Duke Illeon fan girling.
The real blind guy is here; calling someone else’s woman his 😂