Episode 12.
At Elisa’s blunt choice of words, Adrian’s expression looked as if something had gotten stuck in his throat.
It was amusing to see him unable to find words to say. So Elisa found the answer herself on behalf of Adrian.
“It’s not, is it.”
“……How can you be so sure.”
The answer was very easy. Adrian’s expression looked as if he were being strangled, as if he had so many complaints about the answer that had been decided since their academy days.
“If you had even a shred of feelings for me, you wouldn’t have made a money bet with those great noble friends of yours over whether or not I would accept your request to be your partner back in our academy days.”
“…….”
“It’s disgusting just to imagine, isn’t it? It’s the same for me.”
Elisa said so and turned around. She didn’t want to face Adrian Oberon’s mug anymore. Already, just bringing up that incident with her own mouth put Elisa at her limit.
“Stop, Elisa.”
She heard those words from behind, but Elisa did not stop walking. Instead, she moved her steps as if crushing the white sandy beach with her military boots.
Adrian Oberon was still under a delusion.
The grand delusion that a stupid Elisa Shooter, who would come when he said come and go when he said go, would still exist.
How could he be like that? How can a person be that brazen?
The more she thought and mulled it over, the more anger welled up. She moved her steps quickly, wanting to get away from him as soon as possible, but Adrian Oberon’s stride was much faster than hers.
Before she knew it, Adrian, having overtaken her, stood holding Elisa’s shoulders firmly so she couldn’t move.
“Let go, take your hands off right now.”
Adrian, who stared for a long time at Elisa glaring up at him, closed and opened his eyes with an expression of enduring a
great many things.
By what right do you? Have you ever endured anything in your life?
Adrian, who refused to let Elisa go until the end, began to interrogate her.
“Fine, let’s say it’s like that for now. Since we haven’t even held an engagement ceremony yet. But you, do you intend to keep acting like this even after we get married?”
“Then, in a marriage held by royal command, are you telling me to even harbor feelings for you?”
“It’s a settled marriage anyway. Surely you aren’t naive enough to think it will end with us just pretending to be married? Get a grip, Elisa Shooter.”
“I know. We’ll eventually get married. The day will come when you and I live in the same house.”
“Yes! Knowing all that, why on earth—”
“What does that have to do with me.”
“What?”
“I’m asking what that has to do with me. Do I even have to satisfy that great sexual desire of yours?”
“…….”
“Just go out and solve it on your own as you see fit. Whether you make a mistress or buy people with money like you tried to do to me, do it yourself.”
The blood drained from Adrian’s face. Despair appeared on his face, which was as white as a sheet of paper.
As the strength left the hands that had been holding on so tight that veins popped when she shouted at him to let go, Adrian’s arms fell thud, from Elisa’s shoulders.
“Why do you have a shocked expression. Did you not know it would turn out like this?”
“…….”
“Did you really not know that such a conclusion would be waiting when you and I get married? Was he that dim-witted? Adrian Oberon?”
“…….”
“Get a grip. It’s already too late. If you hated this kind of marriage, you should have ended it long ago when I told you to break the engagement.”
To Adrian, who could say nothing, Elisa emphasized their relationship several times. That this was all his fault. Then, for the first time, fear dwelled in Adrian’s red eyes.
“So, what you’re saying is……”
What, since it seems the toy you’ve been playing with all this time is now standing on top of your head, do I finally not seem amusing anymore?
To Adrian, who couldn’t even continue his words out of fluster, Elisa kindly provided the answer.
“Whether you play around with a mistress or play around with a prostitute, I won’t care.”
“……Stop it.”
“What are you dissatisfied with? I’m saying I’ll willingly be a generous and titular Grand Duchess. Wasn’t that the meaning of you and me getting married in the first place?”
“I told you to stop!”
A sharp silence descended between the two. However, their gazes, looking as if they were stabbing one another, continued.
While a tense confrontation followed with neither yielding, it was ultimately Adrian who opened his mouth first.
“Then what about you?”
“What about me?”
“Are you, do you also intend to keep a
paramour?”
Elisa’s face distorted reflexively. Adrian Oberon’s mind was vulgar and filthy to the end.
“Don’t worry. I have no intention whatsoever of begging you to make my illegitimate child the successor of the Grand House of Oberon.”
Elisa thought she had conceded a great deal at this point. If I’ve done this much for you, it should be enough. How much more do you want me to do?
Nevertheless, Adrian knew no satisfaction. His already heavily distorted face crumpled even more fiercely. Veins bulged on the back of his clenched fists.
“So you’re going to keep a paramour? And as if that’s not enough, you’ll even make an illegitimate child?”
“And what is it that I can’t do?”
Of course, Elisa had no intention of doing so at all.
Elisa knew better than anyone how an illegitimate child is treated among nobles.
So she had never once thought that words like paramour or illegitimate child would exist in her life. There was no such filthy thing in Elisa Shooter’s options to begin with.
However, there was no need for Adrian Oberon to know that fact, was there? There was no need to let him know and make him look down on her, was there?
So she kept her head stiff and her chin tilted up.
So that Adrian Oberon could not look down on Elisa Shooter ‘again.’
Adrian Oberon was despicable by nature. No one knew better than Elisa what kind of person he was—how he treated someone he thought of as an amusing and easy opponent.
The red eyes slowly sank. The eyes that had revealed intense emotions for a moment sank into a dark red as if they had never done so. When Adrian slowly parted his lips, a low voice like a growl flowed out.
“How can I believe those words?”
“What?”
“That promise that you won’t set up an illegitimate child as the successor of the Grand House of Oberon even if one is born, how can I believe that?”
“Ha, are you calling that a logical argument right now?”
A hollow laugh burst out. Adrian Oberon hadn’t changed at all. He was still high-handed and treated her like a filthy woman rolling around in the back alleys.
“Shall we put it in a contract? Shall I get a lawyer or someone to get it notarized?”
“Isn’t a contract something you can just break?”
“What?”
“You’re the one bringing up words like
mistress and illegitimate child even in a marriage held by the Queen’s command, so how can a mere contract stop you?”
“…….”
“I have no intention of letting the position of the Grand House of Oberon be shaken by putting forward an illegitimate child as the successor. Therefore, I need a legitimate eldest son. Until a legitimate eldest son is born, neither mistresses nor illegitimate children are allowed.”
After finishing those words, Adrian turned around just like that and left the white sandy beach. Leaving the frozen Elisa just as she was.
At Adrian’s last words, Elisa froze where she stood.
So. He’s telling me to bear his child? Can such a future even exist?
Has Adrian Oberon really forgotten everything? All of it into blackness? Has he been struck by amnesia?
If not, he could not make such a demand to Elisa Shooter. How dare he. He could not do that.
So, it was exactly two weeks after that
incident in the garden, involving that damn wine bottle.
From age sixteen, after becoming an adult, one could attend the balls held at the military academy.
Exactly once a year, the military academy opens its doors to outsiders. One could be chosen by an academy cadet to attend the ball as a partner.
However, Elisa’s head was too complicated to be excited about her first ball.
Why did he say those words? Was there a reason he had to speak to that extent? Until now, Adrian had never once ignored me for being an illegitimate child.
Even if everyone at the academy did, at least Adrian Oberon didn’t.
I wanted to hear the reason. And at the same time, Elisa didn’t want to know anything. She just wanted to graduate quietly and not encounter him for the rest of her life.
Anyway, Adrian Oberon would go to the Royal Knights, and since I am not a noble, I cannot enter the Royal Knights. Then, wouldn’t there be no more reason to run into him.
Then the incident where I suffered that disgrace from Adrian in the garden would become something nobody knows about?
I even thought it would be better if that were the case.
Far from thinking of finding a partner for the ball, it was already hard and overwhelming enough for Elisa just to avoid Adrian.
Until she heard that story.
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