The semester had ended. The seemingly endless and grueling exams of the military academy had finally come to a close.

It was the kind of night when sixteen-year-old noble youths boasted that they already knew how to enjoy the taste of wine and cigars.

Elisha, too, had spent the night sipping wine stolen from the kitchen with her dormmates, long past midnight.

“Huh? It’s all gone.”

The roommate holding the wine bottle, now nearly empty, could hardly pronounce her words properly anymore.

“Let’s just drink one more bottle.”

“Yeah! Let’s do it!”

“Of course we should.”

“So who’s going to sneak more wine from the kitchen?”

Everyone’s ears were red, but none of them knew their limits. In high spirits, they insisted on one more bottle and chose someone to sneak off to the kitchen. Unluckily, that someone was Elisha.

She was on her way back to the dormitory, clutching the glass bottle full of dark purple liquid. The night breeze was cool, and the garden was beautiful. It felt like a shame to head straight back inside.

She sat on a bench, blankly gazing at the bellflowers glowing blue under the silver moonlight. Then, she heard footsteps on the garden’s branches and voices approaching.

“Adrian, want a puff?”

“I’m good. Let’s head back.”

It was Adrian and his followers.

“Why! If we get caught smoking in the dorm, the dorm master will confiscate all our cigars.”

“Then just stop smoking.”

“You don’t get it. Let’s just hang out in the garden a bit more.”

They ended up dragging the reluctant Adrian Oberon into the garden. Elisha instinctively hid behind the bench she’d been sitting on. The group made their way over to her bench, unaware that she was hiding just behind it.

Elisha covered her mouth with her hand and held her breath.

She didn’t even know why she was hiding.

All she could register was that her face, which had been fine moments ago, was suddenly hot and flushed; her heart pounding far too fast.

Cloudy cigar smoke kept wafting her way. Elisha pinched her nose and barely managed to hold back a sneeze.

“Do you even realize Elisha Shooter’s been glancing at you lately? Adrian, are you seriously just going to sit by while some bastard-born thing dares to eye the future duchess’s seat?”

“What? Are you serious?”

“Yeah. That bastard-born girl.”

“Who the hell does she think she is? No noble in the empire would ever marry a bastard with a ridiculous surname like ‘Shooter.'”

“That’s why she’s desperate to become the grand duke’s mistress.”

“Like her mother?”

“She sure didn’t take after the Duke of Roserica. Must’ve gotten it from her mother.”

“But she’s got a decent figure, I’ll give her that.”

Then came the sound of sneering laughter.

Elisha regretted it with every fiber of her being. She shouldn’t have come out to the garden. Why had she decided to get fresh air just because she was tipsy?

And now, she couldn’t even jump out and confront them about their vile words, revealing that she’d heard it all.

That would only make her look more pathetic.

Even as the vulgar conversation grew worse, Adrian said nothing, lips sealed. Only when the cigar smoke thinned did he finally speak.

“If you’re done, go.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll stay a bit longer. Go ahead.”

“Why? We’re not done having fun.”

“I said go.”

Adrian’s voice, clearly displeased, made them leave one by one.

When their footsteps had faded completely, Adrian spoke again, “You heard, didn’t you? So stop staring and get back to your place, Elisha Shooter.”

In that moment, Elisha’s heart felt like it plummeted. After the shock came a wave of shame.

Adrian stood and walked toward the bench, stepping behind it to crouch down and meet her gaze.

Then he grabbed the tie draped over her uniform shirt and yanked it.

A strangled noise burst from her throat as it tightened around her neck.

But Adrian looked her over, completely unfazed by her struggle, as if her discomfort didn’t matter to him at all.

His gaze appraised her like a butcher inspecting a slab of meat. Elisha wanted to get up right then and there, but the pressure on her shoulder held her down.

“I won’t stand to be humiliated because of some bastard, so don’t you dare look at me with those filthy eyes again.”

Adrian leaned closer, speaking like it was a warning.

Elisha gasped reflexively.

Seeing her like that, Adrian smirked. “Of course, anytime my friends aren’t watching, you’re welcome.”

His voice sank low, as if whispering some grand secret. As if saying, You’re a bastard’s daughter, baseborn from birth, surely you’ll end up as some noble’s mistress.

Then Adrian Oberon pressed the heavy wine bottle into her hand. It must have been left behind on the bench when she hid.

That meant Adrian Oberon had known all along.

That she’d heard everything they said.

Whether she had fled right away or stood frozen in place until Adrian left the garden…

Elisha couldn’t remember anything clearly about what came after that night.

No, to be more accurate, she didn’t want to remember.

Elisha just wanted to cut out every moment she had ever spent entangled with Adrian Oberon.

***

Yes, once, even Elisha had been fooled by that lofty status and handsome shell of the Grand Duke of Oberon’s son, blushing before him. She admitted that.

But that was a truly childish time. Now that she had seen the real Adrian Oberon, there wasn’t a trace left of the Elisha Shooter from back then.

Now, in front of Adrian Oberon, Elisha didn’t feel her ears flush; if anything, her blood ran cold.

The ring that had sunk beneath the deep blue sea left no trace behind. Adrian, who had stared dazedly at the water spray for some time, finally came to his senses.

“What the hell did you just do…?”

His red eyes, constantly trembling, fixed on Elisha, but she didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow.

“Adrian Oberon. Get out of my unit. Now.”

“…Elisha, are you serious?”

Elisha was truly grinding her teeth. In the entire southern navy, no one called Elisha by name so easily or carelessly.

Even Enoch, son of Count Fitzgerald and her junior at the academy—who had once called her by name—had never referred to her by anything other than her title since joining the navy.

Clearly, to him, Elisha Shooter still seemed easy.

“A vice admiral who doesn’t respect my authority has no place in my unit.”

“When did I ever—”

“Vice Admiral Oberon. As admiral of the Southern Navy, I order you: If you don’t want to be thrown in the brig for insubordination, leave my unit. Now.”

Elisha pointed toward the entrance of the military zone.

Reading the firm resolve in her face, Adrian sighed helplessly and gave a salute.

But before turning to leave, he didn’t forget to whisper one last thing to Elisha.

“Elisha, why is it you never realize that things will go my way in the end?”

To Adrian Oberon, Elisha Shooter still seemed like the easiest woman in the world.

***

It was unprecedented. For an officer to be kicked out of a unit on the very day of appointment. Likely in the history of the Sepian Navy, or even in that of the Northern Border Knights and the Royal Palace Guard, such a thing had never happened.

That day, the navy officers gathered squatting in front of Elisha’s office. As if hoping to catch a sound from inside, they crouched their large bodies close to the door. To someone who had only seen them in pristine white uniforms at a victory ceremony, it would’ve been hard to believe these men were part of the navy.

“Colonel, please go in.”

“Greg, do you think I’ve ever dealt with something like this?”

“But Colonel, you graduated from the academy with the admiral!”

While Enoch was stuck between the firmly shut office door and the sailors urging him forward, the door suddenly burst open with a bang. A curtain of vivid red hair unfurled before Enoch’s eyes.

“What are you all doing here?”

“Th-that is… report! We’ve come to deliver a report to you, Admiral!”

Enoch barely managed to squeeze out a makeshift excuse.

“Report tomorrow. Everyone go home for the day, except those on duty.”

It was certainly different from her usual self. Normally, if she had found out they were loitering around like this, she would’ve sent them straight to training. And now she was telling them to leave?

Something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.

As everyone floundered about, unsure what to do, Enoch gave a short sigh and stepped up.

“Yes, understood. Then please get home safely.”

As Enoch raised his right hand in salute, the rest of the navy followed.

“All right.”

Elisha gave a brief nod and stepped out of the office. Even after driving out Adrian Oberon, her anger hadn’t subsided.

She had to find someone else, anyone else. She had to persuade Her Majesty. How could she hold an engagement ceremony, let alone marry, someone she couldn’t even stand to face?

Whatever it took, she would send Adrian Oberon back to the north where he belonged.

After barely calming herself with that resolve, Elisha opened the gate of the unit to go home, and was met with a piercing pair of red eyes.

The uniform draped over his broad shoulders was soaked. The white shirt clinging to his skin revealed everything—thick forearms, sculpted abs, and the subtle rise and fall of his chest with each breath. Judging by his dripping black hair, he must have taken a swim after being expelled. Water trickled along his sharp jawline and dropped onto his chest.

As soon as he spotted Elisha, Adrian strode toward her. Each step brought with it the smell of brine and the chill of the northern wind.

His soaked body was surely cold, but strangely, Elisha felt like every nerve where his hand gripped her arm was burning.

To Adrian, it was as if no one else in the navy existed. His sharp red gaze was fixed solely on Elisha.

The same was true for Elisha. Even as she answered Greg’s question, her golden eyes stayed trained on Adrian Oberon.

“Don’t we have quite a bit left to talk about?”

“…Follow me.”

Elisha begrudgingly allowed it, pushing past Adrian and walking ahead. But he easily caught up, then turned to walk backward in front of her with a sly grin.

“So, Elisha. Where are we going in such a hurry? Can’t wait to be alone with me?”

At Adrian’s utterly shameless face, Elisha’s expression twisted with fury.

“Shut up and just follow.”

The sailors left behind like unwanted extras could only watch anxiously as the two vanished beyond the base.