Episode 6.
Elisa was lost for words at the brazenly confident answer.
There was no way he received nothing.
This marriage was, after all, a royal union commanded by the Queen. And yet, the heir of a Grand Duke received absolutely nothing from the Queen in exchange for marrying an illegitimate child?
Elisa snorted inwardly.
After mulling over Adrian’s words for a long while, Elisa belatedly recalled the fact that her father was Duke Roserica.
Even though she was an illegitimate child, her father was the Duke of Roserica. Half the blood flowing through her was blue. He likely viewed Elisa as nothing more than a bridge to connect the two families.
I thought so. There was no way Adrian Oberon would engage in a losing business deal.
“Then, is the purpose of this marriage my father?”
“What on earth are you talking about right now…”
Adrian questioned her back as if he had heard something truly bizarre. As if he genuinely had no idea what she meant.
Such shamelessness. She had almost been fooled. The acting in his expression atop that handsome face was truly top-tier.
‘If he hadn’t been born the son of a Duke, he would have succeeded as a stage actor.’
Elisa sarcastically mocked Adrian in her mind.
“Stop pretending you don’t know. Doesn’t it mean you can endure a marriage with an illegitimate child if it strengthens your power through the union of the Roserica and Oberon families?”
When Elisa finished speaking, Adrian looked a bit angry. He even looked wronged, as if there were truly not a single political intention like that.
“Elisa, it’s not like that.”
“What?”
The sudden informal speech, calling her name as if they were on equal footing.
Eyes that seemed somewhat urgent and desperate.
Adrian Oberon was trying all too easily to return Elisa to that garden of the past, back to being an academy cadet, back to being just one of the many girls who admired the heir of Grand Duke Oberon.
But Elisa was no longer that young and immature girl.
“It really isn’t. I swear by the Goddess Asnata, I received nothing from Her Majesty. This marriage is simply—”
“Shut up.”
How on earth could she believe those words?
Adrian Oberon proposed to Elisa Shooter.
The legitimate eldest son of Grand Duke Oberon, the overlord of the North, proposed to the most famous illegitimate child in the kingdom.
Not only Elisa, but no one in Sepia would believe it. No, would it be just Sepia? It was a story that anyone on the continent would snort at upon hearing.
Therefore, he must have been given a price significant enough to offset that ridicule.
Adrian Oberon viewed Elisa as a half-wit who couldn’t even realize the obvious logic that even a three-year-old would know.
Even that alone made her blood boil to the top of her head, but Adrian Oberon finally began to pour out even more words.
“I am not proposing to Elisa of Roserica. If I were, I would have sent a formal proposal to the Duke, the Lord of Roserica. But I didn’t do that; I came to you directly. I proposed to Elisa Shooter. Because I wanted to hear your intentions personally…”
Adrian’s words continued after that, but Elisa could no longer hear them.
Truly, Elisa couldn’t help but be shocked. She couldn’t help but grind her teeth at Adrian Oberon.
How can nobles be so elegant and refined…
And yet, so annoying?
You’re a lowly illegitimate child. Do you dare try to be treated as the young lady of the Roserica Ducal house? Just how many lines was he stretching out that one sentence until his mouth hurt?
Her head, which had been burning with heat, began to cool down calmly instead.
“Fine, as you said, I am not the young lady of Roserica, but merely an illegitimate child.”
“What? How on earth did the conversation end up there?”
She had no patience left to listen further to Adrian’s words as he tried to refute her in bewilderment.
“As you said, since I am a mere illegitimate child, I cannot even refuse an engagement arranged by Her Majesty. But you, who have been an Oberon since birth, are different. Wouldn’t it be terrible for you to live seeing a face like mine every day?”
“…”
“So tell Her Majesty even now. That you cannot be engaged to me. That Elisa Shooter’s fiancé should be changed to another man—”
Adrian blocking her mouth came before the story of changing her fiancé to another man could leave Elisa’s lips.
“It’s not terrible for me.”
“What?”
She was dumbfounded and lost for words. As Elisa became flustered, Adrian regained his composure in inverse proportion. When his bright red eyes met Elisa’s, his lips curved into an arc.
“This marriage is not as terrible to me as it is to you. So, Elisa Shooter, if you want to make this marriage void, you should tell Her Majesty yourself.”
As if he had never worn a desperate and anxious expression, Adrian smiled broadly with a relaxed face.
“Try your best, Elisa. I wish you luck.”
The hot sun of Shulid, capable of burning skin, was illuminating the long corridor in golden light. Lujan ran through the golden corridor until he was out of breath and arrived in front of the King’s room.
“Enter.”
As soon as permission was heard, the massive door began to push open heavily. In the golden chair at the highest point of the audience chamber sat a young man with blue hair.
Above the golden chair, a sharply cut ruby flashed and shone behind the King. He, who had been sharpening a dull blade, raised his head and faced Lujan.
Lujan’s shoulders slumped automatically at that gaze, which was as cold as the blade’s edge.
The King of Shulid, Schultz Tugrahan, was draped in the red cloth that was the symbol of the royal family.
However, his eyes and hair color were a deep blue that did not exist at all on the lands of Shulid.
Sitting in the golden chair decorated with rubies, he had one shoulder completely exposed, perhaps due to the sweltering summer weather or perhaps as a symbol of Shulid warriors.
Firm tanned shoulders and muscles were revealed through the blood-red cloth.
There, the traditional Schultz tattoo representing royal status and the brand of a colonial prisoner were stamped together.
When Lujan barely raised his head, eyes as fierce as a blade were looking down at him. He knelt before that overwhelming presence.
“I greet the Master of the Wind that carves through Shulid.”
“What of the proposal sent to Sepia? Has the answer arrived?”
“…Yes, the answer has arrived. But…”
“But? Did a problem occur? Did I not clearly warn you that this matter must absolutely not go wrong?”
His solid brow furrowed deeply. His head, already hanging low from being overwhelmed by Schultz Tugrahan’s presence, was shoved even further down.
It wasn’t just because of fear. Lujan
respected Schultz Tugrahan more than anyone. As a citizen of Shulid, how could one not revere him, who led them, former subjects of the Empire’s colony, to achieve independence?
However, the image of Schultz Tugrahan’s massive sword moving as if dancing in a bloodbath on the battlefield was still embedded in Lujan’s mind and could not be erased.
Schultz Tugrahan was that kind of existence to the people of Shulid. He inspired the highest respect while simultaneously evoking a fear that prevented one from daring to raise their head.
He could not be replaced by anyone else.
Lujan barely opened his mouth while feeling two contradictory emotions at once.
“T-That is… the answer came from the Queen of Sepia, not Admiral Shooter.”
As soon as he heard those words, Schultz Tugrahan clicked his tongue.
“So, what did the Queen of Sepia say?”
“She said that since Elisa Shooter is the daughter of the Roserica Ducal house and is betrothed to the son of Grand Duke Oberon, you should choose if there is another beautiful young lady in Sepia who catches your eye. H-Here is the list of young ladies personally recommended by the Queen of Sepia.”
“Throw it away.”
“Pardon? But on this list—”
“Even if the Princess of Sepia were included in that list, the only one Shulid needs is Elisa Shooter, her alone. Others are of no use whatsoever.”
Tugrahan spoke and slammed the sword he was holding into the floor. The sound of the metal blade striking the smoothly polished stone floor echoed with chilling clarity.
Lujan’s shoulders trembled at the metallic sound.
“I didn’t think that old fox of a Queen would give up her naval admiral easily, but to reject me in this manner.”
“I-I will send a letter to Sepia again!”
Schultz Tugrahan shook his head at the frightened Lujan’s words and rose from his throne.
“No, prepare a ship. I must go meet Elisa Shooter personally.”
Schultz Tugrahan felt as though he had to confirm with his own eyes what kind of person Elisa Shooter was.
Whether she was a coward who merely hid behind the Queen and the Duke of Roserica, or a strategist who had already finished all calculations and was drawing him into a board she had set.
He felt as though the voyage, which he thought would be nothing but boring, might become a little interesting.
Bang, bang, bang, bang.
The blunt sound of piercing through wooden targets along with sharp gunshots that seemed to tear the eardrums filled the entire training ground.
The wooden target boards were already
beyond ragged; they had become tattered scraps.
No matter how familiar a sailor might be with firearms, there was only one person among them with that level of skill.
“Is that a rag or a piece of wood?”
“I’d believe it if you said it was a floor cloth rolling around Greg’s house.”
“Hey, even the floor cloth at my house isn’t that bad.”
A shadow like a dark cloud loomed over the sailors who were staring blankly at Elisa for a long while.
Enoch was looking down at them crookedly.
“C-Colonel…!”
“What are you all doing? Is there some kind of spectacle? Is the amount of training insufficient, or do you have enough leisure time left over to engage in small talk?”
“No, sir!”
“To your positions immediately.”
“Yes, sir!”
After tightening the discipline of the sailors and sending them out to the practice grounds, Enoch approached Elisa’s side.
However, Elisa did not take her eyes off the iron sights, unaware that Enoch was approaching. Enoch grabbed the barrel of Elisa’s gun with his hand. The barrel was burning hot, as if it had absorbed heat from being used for who knows how long.
Only then did Elisa, recognizing Enoch’s presence, open her mouth.
“Move.”
“It’s already been over two hours.”
When Enoch held onto the gun barrel and did not let go until the end, Elisa sighed, took her eyes off the target, and looked back at Enoch.
“Please explain. Why on earth did the person who should be in the North come here? And what’s this about a marriage?”
“…”
“It makes no sense. The legitimate eldest son of the Grand Duke who leads the Northern Knights being appointed as the Vice Admiral of the Southern Navy—isn’t that impossible unless Her Majesty intends to turn Oberon into an enemy?”
“…”
“Admiral!”
Yes, it was a fact Enoch also knew. How nonsensical it was for Adrian Oberon to come here.
But what did Adrian Oberon say yesterday?
That he received nothing. He said he received nothing from the Queen in exchange for coming here.
‘Just how much did he ignore me.’
Reaching that conclusion, she felt as
though her anger would not be appeased even if she treated the already shredded target board as Adrian and shot at it more.
“Adrian Oberon didn’t come to become a southern sailor.”
“Pardon? Then why on earth did he even receive an appointment and come?”
“He came to get married.”
“No way… the partner is?”
“…”
Silence was an affirmation. Understanding the meaning, Enoch’s face turned red and blue with anger.
“How can that be? After how that man treated the Admiral during your academy days!”
“Lower your voice, Enoch. Unless you want to spread rumors about me to the entire Navy.”
At Elisa’s words, Enoch looked around in surprise, but fortunately, he had already driven everyone out of the training ground, so there were no other soldiers.
“Are you really… going to get married?”
“No. Since he told me to try my best to ruin this marriage, I plan to do my absolute best. Speaking of which, Enoch, there is something you need to do.”
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