Episode 4.
The semester ended. The difficult and long exams at the academy, which felt as if they would never end, also drew to a close.
It was a day when the scions of noble families, having just turned sixteen, bragged that they already knew how to enjoy the taste of wine and cigars.
It was a day when Elisa, too, had passed midnight while sipping wine secretly taken from the kitchen with her dormitory roommates.
“Huh? It’s all gone.”
The pronunciation of the roommate holding the wine bottle clinking at the bottom was already as slurred as it could be.
“Let’s just have one more bottle.”
“Yeah! Great!”
“Of course we should.”
“But who is going to go to the kitchen and take out more wine?”
Everyone’s ears were already glowing red, but those who did not even know their own proper drinking limit were in such a good mood that they decided to sneak into the kitchen to snatch one more bottle each, and unluckily, Elisa was picked.
She was on her way back to the dormitory, clutching a glass bottle filled with purple liquid. The night breeze was cool and the garden was beautiful. It was to the point that it felt like a waste to go straight into the dormitory.
It was when she was sitting on a bench, blankly staring at the shrub lily of the valley shining blue under the silver moonlight. Along with the sound of stepping on tree branches in the garden, voices were heard from afar.
“Adrian, do you want to smoke one too?”
“I’m fine. Why don’t we stop here and go back?”
It was Adrian and his followers.
“Why! If we smoke inside the dormitory and get caught by the smell, the proctor will take all the cigars.”
“Then you can just stop smoking, can’t you?”
“You don’t know anything. Let’s just stay in the garden for a bit.”
They persistently dragged Adrian Oberon, who said he didn’t want to, into the garden.
Elisa unknowingly hid behind the bench she had been sitting on. They soon came to the bench where she had been. Without knowing that she was holding her breath right behind them.
Elisa covered her mouth with her hand and even stifled the sound of her breathing.
She didn’t even know why she hid.
She could only perceive the fact that her heart was beating too fast and her face, which had been fine until a moment ago, was suddenly heating up, perhaps because the intoxication had rushed in.
Faint cigar smoke kept drifting back. Elisa covered her nose with her hand and barely held back an impending sneeze.
“Do you even know that Elisa Shooter has been glancing at you a lot lately? Adrian, are you just going to sit back and watch a mere illegitimate child eyeing the position of the Duchess of Oberon?”
“What? Is that true?”
“Yeah. How dare an illegitimate child, of all things.”
“What nerve she has. There wouldn’t be a single noble in the Empire who would marry an illegitimate child with that ridiculous surname, Shooter.”
“That’s why she’s so anxious to become even a mistress of the Duke of Oberon’s family.”
“Like her mother?”
“She didn’t seem to resemble Duke Roserica at all? Then she must take after her mother.”
“Her figure was quite worth seeing, though?”
And then, loud laughter spread.
Elisa regretted it insanely. She shouldn’t have come out to the garden. Why did she think of getting some fresh air, claiming she was drunk?
She couldn’t show herself now, let them know she had been listening to everything here, and question their filthy behavior.
Because that would only make her look more ridiculous.
Adrian, who had remained sitting still and kept his mouth shut without saying a word no matter how blatantly the conversation flowed, finally spoke up when the thick scent of cigars began to fade.
“If you’re done smoking, go now.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll stay a bit longer before I go. You guys go first.”
“Why? We haven’t even had enough fun yet.”
“I told you to go.”
At Adrian’s voice, which clearly showed that something had offended his mood, they left one by one.
When they had moved far enough that even the sound of their footsteps could not be heard, Adrian spoke again.
“You heard, right? So stop glancing and go back to your place, Elisa Shooter.”
In that moment, Elisa felt as if her heart had dropped. Following the surprise, shame washed over her like a wave.
Adrian rose from his seat and walked with thumping steps behind the bench where she was. He then bent his waist to match the eye level of her, who was crouching.
Then, he mercilessly pulled her necktie that was draped over her uniform shirt. For a moment, her throat was constricted and a ridiculous choking sound came out.
However, Adrian scanned her as she came close before his eyes, as if her situation was none of his concern.
At that gaze, which seemed to evaluate the worth of a piece of meat, Elisa wanted to stand up immediately, but she couldn’t even leave her spot because of the pressure pressing firmly down on her shoulder.
“I don’t want to be insulted because of a mere illegitimate child, so don’t you ever scan me with those filthy eyes again.”
Adrian, speaking as if warning her, moved closer to Elisa, who had frozen in place. Elisa, “Hup,” unintentionally took a sharp breath.
Looking at Elisa in that state, Adrian smiled mockingly.
“Of course, you’re welcome anytime when my friends aren’t watching.”
His voice was lowered as if he were saying something incredibly secret. With a voice that seemed to ask, since you are the daughter of an illegitimate child and lowly from birth, aren’t you planning to become a noble’s mistress at any time?
As he did so, Adrian Oberon pressed a heavy wine bottle into her hand. It seemed she had left the wine bottle on the bench when she hid.
So, Adrian Oberon had known from the beginning.
That she had been listening to every story they told.
Did she run away immediately, or did she stand in that spot as if nailed down until Adrian Oberon left the garden on his own?
Elisa didn’t remember the events after that night very well.
No, more accurately, she didn’t want to remember.
Elisa just wanted to cut out every moment she was involved with Adrian Oberon.
Yes, at one time, Elisa too had been deceived by the high status of being the son of Grand Duke Oberon and his handsome shell, and her ears had turned red in front of him. She admits it.
However, that was a matter of truly immature days. Now that she had discovered the true nature of Adrian Oberon, that Elisa Shooter of that time remained nowhere.
Because now, far from her ears turning red in front of Adrian Oberon, Elisa felt as if her blood was turning cold instead.
The ring that sank beneath the blue seawater was now gone without a trace. Adrian, who had been staring blankly at the spray of the water for a long time, finally came to his senses.
“You, what on earth did you just do…!”
Red pupils that shook incessantly glared at Elisa, but Elisa didn’t even twitch an eyebrow.
“Adrian Oberon. Get out of my unit right now.”
“……Elisa, are you serious?”
Elisa was truly at the point of grinding her teeth. Among the Southern Navy, no one called Elisa’s name so easily and carelessly.
Even Enoch, who was the son of Earl Fitzgerald and her junior at the academy and had once called her by name, had never once called her by anything other than her rank since becoming a sailor.
It seems he still thought Elisa Shooter looked easy.
“I have no need in my unit for a Vice Admiral who does not respect my authority.”
“When did I ever…!”
“Vice Admiral Oberon. I command you as the Admiral of the Southern Navy. If you don’t want to be dragged to the brig for insubordination, leave my unit right now.”
Elisa pointed her hand toward the entrance of the military area.
Adrian, reading a firm resolve in Elisa’s determined face, sighed as if he had no choice and offered a salute.
However, before turning around to leave the unit, he did not forget to whisper this to Elisa.
“Elisa, why on earth don’t you know that in the end, things will go my way?”
As if Elisa Shooter were still the easiest woman in the world in the eyes of Adrian Oberon.
It was an unprecedented event. Being kicked out of the unit on the first day an officer-level was appointed. It would likely never have happened throughout the history of the Sepian Navy, or even including the history of the Northern and Royal Palace Knights.
That day, sailors were gathered, crouching in front of Elisa’s office door. Their large bodies crumpled and stuck close together in case any sound could be heard from inside the office, looking quite unseemly, if the Roserica residents who had only seen them dressed in pure white uniforms at the victory ceremony saw this, it was a sight they wouldn’t believe was the Navy.
“Colonel, you should try going in.”
“Greg, do you think I’ve ever experienced this situation before?”
“But Colonel, you graduated from the academy with the Admiral!”
When Enoch was feeling troubled between the firmly closed office door and the sailors pushing his back, suddenly, “Tang,” the office door opened. Red hair spread out like a banner before Enoch’s eyes.
“What are you all doing here?”
“That, that is…… a report! I came because I have something to report to the Admiral!”
Enoch barely managed to squeeze his brain to think of an excuse.
“Report tomorrow. Everyone except those on duty, go ahead and leave for the day.”
It was certainly different from the usual Admiral. The Admiral, who would have normally realized they were idling around and made them train first, was letting them leave work.
Something was very, very wrong!
As everyone milled about unable to find their bearings, Enoch, letting out a shallow sigh, stepped forward.
“Yes, I understand. Then, please get home safely.”
When Enoch raised his right hand in a salute, the rest of the sailors followed suit.
“Right.”
Elisa received the short greeting and left the office. Even after kicking out Adrian Oberon, Elisa’s anger was not appeased.
She had to find another partner somehow. She had to persuade Her Majesty the Queen. How could she hold an engagement ceremony and get married to someone whom it was sickening even to face?
She just needs to use whatever means necessary to return Adrian Oberon to the North where he originally was.
After Elisa barely managed to soothe herself and as soon as she opened the entrance of the unit to leave work, what she encountered were intensely shining red pupils.
The uniform draped over his broad shoulders was soaked. The white shirt, having absorbed water, no longer functioned as clothing and revealed Adrian’s skin as it was. From his thick forearms and abdominal muscles to his ribcage that rose and fell shallowly every time he breathed. Whether he had enjoyed playing in the water after being kicked out of the unit, water dripping from his pitch-black hair caught along his sharp jawline before falling to his chest.
As soon as Adrian spotted Elisa, he strode toward her. Every time he approached, the saltiness of the seawater and the smell of the cold wind wafted together. Surely Adrian’s soaked body would be cold, yet strangely, Elisa felt as if every nerve in her arm, which he grabbed, was burning up.
Adrian acted as if he couldn’t even see the other sailors besides Elisa. He fixed his sharp red gaze solely on Elisa.
It was the same for Elisa as well. Even when answering Greg’s question, Elisa’s golden pupils glared at Adrian Oberon as if on guard.
“Don’t we still have a lot of stories to talk about?”
“……Follow me.”
Elisa reluctantly granted him accompaniment and moved with thumping steps past Adrian. However, Adrian quickly caught up, rendering Elisa’s gait meaningless, and instead walked backward in front of Elisa while smirking.
“So Elisa, where do you want to go with me so badly that you’re walking so fast?”
At Adrian’s face, which was incredibly brazen, Elisa’s face distorted wildly.
“Shut up and just follow me.”
The sailors left behind like uninvited guests could only look on anxiously as the two disappeared outside the unit.
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