Episode 10.
“Elisa, do you really intend not to show me your beautiful appearance?”
Elisa’s entire body trembled. She even got goosebumps on her arms.
Adrian whispered plaintively as if they were truly a couple. Thanks to that, the inside of the dressing room turned into a mess. The employees each inhaled sharply in surprise, their faces flushing as if they were the ones who had heard Adrian’s words.
However, Elisa, the actual protagonist, only felt like throwing up the sandwich she had eaten in the carriage.
Instead of Elisa, who remained without a single hint of agitation, the employees rolled up their sleeves.
“Not anymore. Your fiancé absolutely must see you!”
“Hey, bring the tiara and the necklace, oh, even the earrings as a set.”
“What suits her well? Pearls? Or….”
“Where is Rien right now? Can’t we at least do a simple makeup look?”
All of these things happened in a split second, and without Elisa’s consent.
“Wa-Wait, there’s no need to go that far—”
“No. It is all necessary work, so the Admiral just needs to sit here. We will take care of everything.”
Elisa’s weak resistance no longer worked. They finished all preparations in an instant and opened the door of the dressing room.
Adrian, who had been sitting leaning languidly against a chair, straightened his back as if he were truly nervous. However, he did not say anything for a long time.
His red pupils widened slightly, and other than his lips parting a little, he truly showed no reaction at all.
Due to that reaction, the employees began to feel anxious instead.
“Young Duke, do you perhaps not like it?”
The employees were looking at Adrian’s face so much that Elisa felt as if her own mouth were going dry.
And after a long while, Adrian slowly opened his mouth.
“……Perfectly beautiful.”
* * *
Most of the clothes inside the crude wardrobe of the official residence were only naval uniforms and training suits. Until tonight, when a silk dress with diamonds embedded in the hem like stars came in.
In the wardrobe full of naval uniforms, a dress as expensive as her salary did not suit it at all. It was merely placed there in isolation, like a sack of barley that couldn’t find its place.
And Elisa knew one more thing that was just as unsuitable as the white dress among the gloomy uniforms.
Perfectly beautiful.
After spitting out those words like a sigh, Adrian Oberon smiled brightly as if he had truly and sincerely fallen in love.
However, even while recalling that scene, Elisa’s face hardened coldly. She knew better than anyone.
Such words did not suit the relationship between Elisa Shooter and Adrian Oberon.
Just as this white dress did not suit this wardrobe right now.
She and he could never be perfectly beautiful. Because she had not forgotten the fact that Adrian Oberon had shoved her into the mire.
‘So, how much are you betting? That Elisa Shooter accepts Adrian Oberon’s request to be his partner for this Queen’s Birthday Banquet? Or that she doesn’t accept?’
‘Are you joking? Of course she accepts. He’s the man who will inherit the title of Grand Duke Oberon. Would an illegitimate girl be able to resist without falling for him? How much are we betting? This is definitely an all-in.’
The even more appalling thing was the fact that everyone at the academy knew about that bet. It had spread uncontrollably to the point that the rumor had circled around and finally reached her ears.
Seventeen-year-old Elisa Shooter, of course, did not cry, stay still, or feel ashamed upon learning of that rumor.
Because she truly had done nothing wrong.
Those who spread that rumor were all expelled from the academy, and their family names will be remembered forever in the Sepian military as a disgrace for not even possessing a diploma. They will never be able to reach the position she holds in the Sepian military until the day they die.
However, she failed in only one thing: kicking Adrian Oberon out of the academy.
The officers of the academy who heard her story all said the same thing with one voice.
That Cadet Oberon truly did not know about all these matters.
Meaning, the only person at the academy who did not know the rumor that had reached even her ears was Adrian Oberon.
It was absurd. I’m supposed to believe that? No one at the academy delved into the fact that the group spreading those words all over the school until the rumor was fully out were the children of vassals serving the Grand Duke of Oberon.
Simply because Adrian was the son of the Grand Duke of Oberon.
After that day, Elisa thoroughly ignored Adrian. He had done something worthy of being expelled from the academy, but since he was staying through the power of that great family, Elisa simply acted according to principles.
She did not treat him as a fellow cadet, she did not treat him as a fellow soldier, and when they inevitably had to face each other, she acted as if he were not in that place.
Because that was all Elisa could do.
Therefore, at the very least, Adrian Oberon should not have dared to let a compliment like “perfectly beautiful” out of his mouth today.
And above all, he should not have appeared saying he would marry her, nor should he have boarded her fleet as a Vice Admiral.
However, all those things had already happened. Elisa was simply appalled by all of this.
Elisa glared at the dress as if it were the Adrian Oberon of her academy days and then closed the wardrobe door so hard that the room rang.
As if vowing to seal the memories of her academy days here and never take them out again.
* * *
At the rumor that a foreign royal would soon arrive in the Roserica territory, prominent nobles began to descend to the South one by one.
And that night, a four-wheeled carriage led by a white horse entered Roserica Castle.
From the carriage, a woman with fragile, pure white silver hair stepped down. The woman, for whom the expression ‘young’ suited better than ‘youthful’, had rosy cheeks glowing in the moonlight.
The delicate pink dress she wore was by a designer whom even the Sepian Royal Family had to wait months to receive work from.
The silhouette of her slender body, visible here and there through the thin silk dress, showed exactly how many men in the royal capital’s social circles she had made cry.
When the carriage came to a complete stop in front of the Roserica mansion, Deren met her.
“Why are you so late? Kiiene Roserica.”
Kiiene Roserica. If one were to pick the finest rose in the social circles of the Sepian royal capital, her name would naturally come out first.
Her beautiful appearance and high-ranking family background were reasons for enchanting men, but more than that, she enjoyed the gazes of men fixed upon her more than anyone.
“Brother, can’t you even see that I’ve traveled all through the night?”
The voice flowing from her pale vermilion, plump lips rang shrilly through the Roserica garden. At Kiiene’s momentum, Deren sighed and took a step back.
Kiiene’s mood was twisted as much as it could be. And there were extremely few people who could scare her at a time like this.
“Whew, fine, good work.”
“More importantly, that girl Elisa is really getting married to the young Duke of Oberon?”
“Yes.”
“Unbelievable! There is no way the Grand Ducal House of Oberon would have permitted that.”
“Hah, really. You’re talking like someone who doesn’t know how the world works. Why is it that you’re the only one who doesn’t know the rumor that has already spread far and wide in the social circles since he was appointed to the Navy? Just what have you been doing in the royal capital’s social circles all this time?”
“Until two months ago, no rumors at all had spread in the royal capital’s social circles! Rather, I was the first to hear it and ran to the Roserica territory!”
“Well, a noble with a proper mind wouldn’t be able to go around bragging to everyone about a marriage with an illegitimate child.”
“It’s certain that the young Duke of Oberon has been caught in a weakness by that bitch Elisa. Otherwise, if Roserica was needed, he naturally should have proposed to me, not that illegitimate girl, shouldn’t he?”
Kiiene poured out her anger before Deren even had a chance to agree.
“There is no way the young Duke would have chosen such a lowly girl. It’s obvious that bitch played her cards. Just like her mother.”
Deren, who was listening to Kiiene’s aimless anger, whispered low and quietly.
“Then, can’t you just go and take him away?”
“What?”
“Kiiene. You are Kiiene Roserica. You aren’t planning to just lose the young Duke of Oberon like this to a mere illegitimate child who is ugly and goes around ignorantly brandishing a gun, are you?”
“…….”
“You know that you have much more to give than a mere illegitimate child. After all, you are my only sister, the daughter of the woman whose place was stolen. If you covet the fiancé of such a lowly girl, wouldn’t it be fair for you to have him?”
At Deren’s words, she pulled up the corners of her mouth and laughed radiantly. As if to prove the rumors surrounding her that any man who sees the smile of Kiiene Roserica will bring her whatever she wants.
“Yes, that’s right. That’s the only way everything will be fair.”
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