Ch 22.
After finishing his brief conversation with Elisa, Schultz Tugrahan returned to his cabin.
“You have arrived.”
The aide, who had been organizing the documents, hurriedly stood up and greeted Schultz Tugrahan.
“Um……. How was the banquet?”
“It was more enjoyable than I thought. There was an interesting person too.”
Lujan, who was carefully observing the complexion of the King he served, realized that his mood was genuinely not bad.
Why? He could not understand the reason. Although they had come all the way to a distant foreign country just for one person, Admiral Shooter, taking her away as the Queen had now become a distant matter.
That was because all members of the Shulid delegation had witnessed the scene of her and her fiancé, the Young Duke Oberon, kissing.
And clearly, our King had seen that scene too.
While they were coming by ship, Admiral Shooter had gained a fiancé. A fiancé whom she even loved passionately.
There was no way such a woman would come to Shulid, a distant foreign land. No matter if she was offered the position of Queen.
It meant that everything had become a futile effort. However, the King Lujan served seemed quite pleased now that they had set foot on the soil of Sepia, even after directly confirming all those circumstances of Sepia with his own eyes.
Could it be that he found a new candidate for Queen?
To read the King’s mind, Lujan threw a probing question at Schultz Tugrahan.
“What should we do with the rest of the gifts brought from Shulid? It would probably be best to send them back in advance, right? Or, even now, should you look for another candidate for Queen…….”
“No. There is no need for that. There is no change in the plan.”
“Excuse me? But didn’t you see the appearance of Admiral Shooter and the Young Duke Oberon today.”
“How did the appearance of those two look in your eyes?”
Lujan sincerely worried about his superior’s eyesight.
Has presbyopia already come to him?
If eyesight was not the problem. It was a problem of memory. It was certain that the master of Shulid must have severely injured his head during the War of Independence.
However, since he could not dare to utter such disloyal words regarding the young King, Lujan hesitantly began to recite the eyesore scenes he saw at the banquet hall today.
“The relationship between Admiral Shooter and the Young Duke Oberon looked extremely close. For them to engage in a deep display of affection in front of so many people, it is clearly a difficult thing to do unless there is certainty about marriage. Could it be that, after all, Admiral Shooter has no intention of coming to Shulid?”
However, Schultz Tugrahan, who heard Lujan’s answer, clicked his tongue at once.
“Lujan, are your eyes even attached straight?”
“Excuse me?”
Lujan, becoming dumbfounded, opened his eyes wide. He was so frustrated he felt like going crazy. The one whose eyes were strange was not himself but his superior, but because this statement was also far too irreverent to spit at the King of Shulid, he tightly swallowed it down.
Lujan endured Schultz Tugrahan’s pathetic gaze and waited for his words to drop.
“While dancing with me, Elisa Shooter never looked at Adrian Oberon even once.”
“Does that become a problem?”
Everyone saw the scene of the two passionately kissing, though?
Contrary to Lujan’s deepening suspicion, Schultz Tugrahan’s subsequent voice was laced with certainty.
“The fact that Admiral Shooter was dancing with me means that the Young Duke Oberon was also in a situation where he could dance with another woman.”
“And so……?”
“You still don’t understand even though I’ve explained this much to you?”
Lujan felt a little aggrieved by the expression of the King, who looked at him with eyes that seemed to view the most pathetic and stupid person in the world.
“I am saying that she did not care even once, even though her fiancé could dance with another woman.”
“But couldn’t that just be because she was nervous, or it could be a coincidence? If her fiancé is not even in her thoughts, what on earth was that kiss that happened today where everyone could see.”
“That is what you have to find out from now on.”
“Excuse me?”
“Find out what benefit those two combined for. And whatever that benefit may be, say that we will hand it over from our side.”
“Ex-cuse me?”
Schultz Tugrahan handed down the order in a tone filled with certainty.
“You must find out by all means before the shipboard party ends. You know what I mean, right?”
For Lujan, who had suffered from a lot of seasickness while coming by the sea route, overwork was reserved for today as well.
☆☆☆
Elisa, who could neither enter the room where Adrian was again, nor stand for long because her injured foot throbbed, tried to head to the lounge.
That is, if she hadn’t faced the supreme misfortune of running into her father, Duke Roserica, on the way.
“You did very well earlier. I didn’t know you had such an ability.”
The fact that the words ‘the ability to hook a man just like your mother’ seemed to be omitted would probably not be just her imagination.
“I will take care of my own business.”
“Who do you think has fed you, clothed you, and sent you into that grand Military Academy all this time? If you have received that much grace, shouldn’t you also be of help to the Duke Roserica’s family?”
“In this day and age, it seems confinement is also called parenting. Father.”
Duke Roserica clicked his tongue once upon seeing such an Elisa, and then looked down at her disapprovingly, saying she still hadn’t grown up.
“If you can get pregnant, get pregnant first. Because that is the fastest way for you to enter the Grand Duke Oberon’s family.”
The moment she heard the word pregnancy, Elisa’s mind turned blank. There wasn’t even time to feel disappointment or anger.
It felt as if her reason snapped just like that.
The human being in front of her did not feel much like a person the same as herself.
By the time she came to her senses, Duke Roserica had already finished everything he had to say to her and disappeared.
Elisa slammed the wall with her bare hand, Crash.
If only she could, her heart felt like jumping into the sea right now to escape this damn shipboard party.
Duke Roserica, what did that wretched human say at the last moment?
“Do not engage in behaviors that cause misunderstanding, and return to Adrian Oberon’s side early.”
Ah, then, Elisa firmly resolved that she should only cause incidents today that would make anyone thoroughly misunderstand if they saw them.
☆☆☆
Every time Elisa moved her steps, the loud noise grew distant. A navy soldier stood in the hallway adjacent to the control room.
The sentry, who failed to recognize Elisa walking from afar while wearing a navy blue evening dress, blocked her path.
“This place is restricted for all except the navy, Ad- Admiral!”
The sentry, who recognized Elisa belatedly, saluted.
“I am sorry for not recognizing you sooner. Colonel Fitzgerald is waiting inside.”
The sentry inserted the key into the rattling latch and opened the tightly locked door. It was a place where no one, even if it were the Queen, could enter except for the navy.
The sentry closed the door again, and the walls of the hallway, which was filled with darkness, were full of weapons mainly used by the navy.
It was a military warehouse prepared for emergencies. At the end of that hallway, there was a small room.
Candlelight lit up the inside of the room in an orange hue. In the center of the small cabin, a man whose two eyes were covered with a black cloth and whose limbs were bound was sprawled.
“You have arrived.”
Enoch, who was looking at the man with pathetic eyes, raised his head and saluted. Nixon, who was next to him, was also stiff with military discipline. Nixon, who was a rookie who entered this year, was extremely nervous as it was his first time seeing the Admiral, the hero of the South, this close.
“You did something unnecessary.”
“No one in the navy will sit idly by watching someone insult the Admiral.”
After finishing those words, Enoch grinned and added.
“And, Admiral, you didn’t have any intention of just sending that bastard away either. You definitely said so earlier, that you would handle him later.”
“Hey, even so, I didn’t think of pulling off such a crazy stunt on a ship carrying the King of Shulid.”
Elisa turned her gaze toward the bound man, and then discovered a pretty decent bottle of whiskey sitting on the shelf.
Elisa, grasping the thin neck and lifting the heavy bottle, pulled back the hem of her dress. Meaningless to the fact that Enoch turned his head, a dagger popped out from inside Elisa’s dress hem.
As Elisa uncorked the whiskey, a sharp alcohol scent pierced her nose along with a refreshing hiss sound.
“Enoch, if I pour this over that bastard’s body, will it catch fire well?”
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
