Chapter 33
At some point, the sound of horse hooves chasing after the carriage began to echo behind them.
The presence closing in from behind was unmistakably aimed at Adrian and Elisa.
Adrian lightly tapped on the wall of the carriage.
“Someone is following us from behind. Lose them.”
Although they settled back into their seats, both Elisa and Adrian remained on edge.
The person pursuing them was riding a horse.
Without overtaking them, the rider maintained a constant distance, driving them forward like prey during a hunt.
It was not an opponent an ordinary coachman could shake off.
“Do you have any idea who it might be?”
“Schultz Tugrahan.”
“What?”
“I made eye contact with him just before getting into the carriage.”
“It wasn’t suspicion.”
“It was certainty.”
“So that damned performance has been completely exposed.”
After thinking for a moment, Elisa spoke again.
“We can’t go to the naval base.”
“We can’t reveal its location to the King of Shulid.”
As she said that, Elisa opened the front window and called the coachman.
“Change our destination to Holden Harbor.”
“Take us to the western beach road beside the harbor.”
“I’ll pay you double.”
“Yes, understood.”
Holden Harbor was the greatest commercial city in Roserica.
With so many people gathering there, tourism had naturally flourished alongside commerce.
Holden’s western beach had become a famous destination for its sunsets.
Elisa nodded.
Once the window was closed and the carriage started moving again, Adrian looked at Elisa with a puzzled expression.
Seeing that foolish look on his face made Elisa sigh.
“Why Holden?”
“You said Schultz Tugrahan seems to have realized we’re putting on a show.”
“So we’ll just keep insisting.”
“We’ll pretend not to know until the very end.”
“So now you’re voluntarily going on a date with me?”
“Is there a better option than this?”
Like someone left without an answer, Adrian quietly avoided Elisa’s icy stare.
Perhaps embarrassed, the tips of his ears had turned red.
After traveling for quite some time, they arrived at Holden Beach.
Outside the carriage came the sounds of merchants bargaining along with every kind of noisy commotion.
While Adrian paid the coachman, Elisa stepped out of the carriage first.
Instinctively, Elisa detected Schultz Tugrahan’s presence.
He was trying to conceal himself behind a building.
However, Elisa was a soldier.
She immediately realized that he was watching them as well.
The moment Adrian stepped down from the carriage, Elisa grabbed his arm.
Then she put on a bright smile.
“Where shall we go this time?”
“Let’s walk first.”
Fortunately, unlike in the carriage, Adrian Oberon did not act foolishly.
He immediately picked up on Elisa’s cue.
The two of them headed toward the beach.
Their goal was to remain fully visible on the wide stretch of sand while ensuring that Schultz Tugrahan could no longer hide among the shops.
If he could no longer follow them in secret, perhaps he would simply give up and leave.
At least, that was what Elisa briefly hoped.
However, Schultz Tugrahan acted in exactly the opposite way Elisa had expected.
“You’ve known I was following you for quite some time now, haven’t you, Admiral Shooter?”
“Greetings, King of Shulid.”
“How did Your Majesty come here alone?”
“If you had informed us beforehand that you wished to see Holden’s scenery, Her Majesty the Queen would certainly have arranged a suitable occasion.”
Erasing everything that had happened that day, Elisa chose to behave as though this were the first time she had seen Schultz Tugrahan.
Watching Elisa, Schultz Tugrahan smiled faintly.
He appreciated Admiral Shooter’s intentions, but he had no intention of letting this hard-earned opportunity slip away so easily.
“Then let us say that you and I met here by chance today.”
“Weren’t you curious before about why Shulid’s capital and Schultz’s capital are different?”
“If so, may I tell you the reason now?”
He behaved as though he and Elisa were alone together.
From the very beginning, he completely excluded Adrian Oberon from every conversation, as though he could not even see the man standing beside Elisa while occupying one of her arms.
“A founding story of Shulid told by its founding king himself.”
“That certainly sounds fascinating.”
“Then allow me some of your time—”
“However, I was spending time with my fiancé.”
“I’ll wait until Her Majesty the Queen arranges another occasion for that story.”
“I promise.”
“This will be the last time.”
“After that, I’ll withdraw the marriage proposal I submitted to the Queen of Sepia.”
“Then neither you nor the Vice Admiral will have to put on a performance like today’s ever again.”
“It’s not an act, I’ve told you time and—”
As Adrian attempted to step between Schultz Tugrahan and Elisa, Elisa was just slightly faster and grabbed his forearm.
“If I give you my time this one last time, then you promise you will never interfere between the two of us again.”
“Your Majesty gave me your word.”
“Yes.”
“I swear it in the name of Shulid.”
Different answers escaped Elisa’s and Adrian’s lips at exactly the same time.
“I’ll trust you.”
“How can anyone trust those words?”
The affirmation came from Elisa.
The denial came from Adrian.
So he’s finally lost his mind.
That was the thought that crossed Elisa’s mind as she stared blankly at Adrian.
The king of an entire nation had sworn in the name of his kingdom, and yet he claimed he could not trust those words.
How could anyone possibly say something like that?
“I was speaking to Admiral Shooter.”
“I have no need for Vice Admiral Oberon’s answer.”
Elisa noticed Adrian’s eyes narrowing in unmistakable displeasure.
Seeing that, Elisa realized something.
No matter how well she acted, she could never match him.
His attention to detail was on an entirely different level.
In the end, before Adrian Oberon became too immersed in the act and said something even more arrogant, it fell to Elisa to salvage the situation.
Elisa tugged gently at Adrian’s sleeve.
Naturally, Adrian turned toward her.
Elisa reached out and softly caressed his cheek.
“You trust me, don’t you?”
As Elisa stepped close against his chest and whispered those words, Adrian nodded as though entranced.
His neck even seemed to flush slightly.
As expected, Adrian was an excellent actor.
Perhaps Elisa herself had also become accustomed to this damned performance.
If someone had told her five years ago that the day would come when she would whisper words of affection like this to Adrian Oberon, she never would have believed it.
Leaving behind Adrian, who continued nodding as though under her spell, Elisa walked toward Schultz Tugrahan.
“Let’s go together.”
“Very well.”
Instead of walking along Holden’s coastline with Adrian Oberon, she ended up walking it with Schultz Tugrahan.
Schultz Tugrahan extended his right arm, offering to escort Elisa.
She could feel Adrian’s gaze fixed on the two of them as they gradually moved farther away behind him.
“I’m not wearing a dress right now.”
With those words, Elisa politely declined Schultz Tugrahan’s escort.
After hesitating briefly, Schultz Tugrahan nodded and lowered his arm.
Adrian’s gaze lingered on her back until the two of them had nearly left the beach and reached the harbor and the pier where the fishing boats came in.
“Now that only the two of us remain, wouldn’t it be alright for you to be a little more honest?”
“I have always answered Your Majesty with complete sincerity.”
“Then why is it that, despite not loving Adrian Oberon, you still wish to remain in Sepia even to the point of marrying him?”
“Do I still appear to you as though I do not love my fiancé?”
The question was far too leading.
At the same time, Elisa found it remarkable that Schultz Tugrahan still had not dismissed his suspicions after witnessing everything from the party aboard the ship to today’s date.
Then again, perhaps that was precisely why he had succeeded in leading Shulid to independence from the Estroa Empire.
“Then let me ask differently.”
“Yes, please.”
“The position of Queen of Shulid would grant you far greater authority than becoming the Duchess of Oberon.”
“So why won’t you come?”
“…”
“Or… are you afraid of Shulid?”
“Do you also believe those ridiculous rumors that the desert tribes practice cannibalism or offer blood sacrifices?”
“Haha, of course not.”
“If that isn’t the reason, then were you dissatisfied with the conditions I offered?”
The playful look in Schultz Tugrahan’s eyes instantly deepened.
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