As she followed the masked man, Elze had many thoughts in her mind.
How did Duke Seraph find out? There was no way to know. Elze's situation was absolutely unfavorable. Most people would have thought of a way to persuade or threaten, but the person Elze was dealing with right now was none other than Duke Seraph.
He was never someone to be taken lightly. If Elze didn't agree to the meeting, she didn't know what he would do. He didn't know how much he knew, but he could reveal Elze's true identity to the world. Elze clenched her molars in agony from the unwanted forced meeting.
She followed the masked man through the winding imperial corridors. When she arrived at the place where Duke Seraph was waiting, there was no one around. It seemed like they were intentionally blocking people from coming and going. The man stopped in front of a door.
“Please come in.”
He opened the door with his head bowed deeply. Now Elze had to move alone. Elze hesitated for a moment and then slowly went inside. Every step felt heavy as if a stone was hanging from her feet. She felt like a prisoner being dragged to the execution ground.
Elze looked around the room, lost in her thoughts. There were many doors as if several rooms were connected. And one of them was half open. Elze went into the room where the dim light came in.
“Countess Targayel.”
An elegant voice greeted Elze. The first thing that caught her eye was his platinum hair, swaying in the candlelight. The warm light on his pale hair made him look as beautiful as the setting sun.
And there was no one. There were only the Duke of Seraph and Elze.
Duke Seraph was sitting at the table. The table was set with a magnificent tea set, perfectly arranged without a single detail out of place.
He stood up and pulled out a chair for Elze. As Elze sat down, the Duke sat down opposite her. Duke Seraph picked up the teapot. But before he could fill his cup, Elze spoke coldly.
“Please just get to the point, Your Excellency.”
"Ah..."
Duke Seraph put the teapot down again. The clanking sound was unusually loud. He looked at Elze with his clear, blue-gray eyes and asked.
“There’s no rush, right?”
And then he continued with a faint smile.
“Madam will do as I wish anyway.”
Let's not get caught up. This is psychological warfare...
Elze tried to calm herself down. But she couldn't help but feel confused by the Duke's confident appearance. Elze responded in the most calm tone possible.
“I don’t quite understand what you’re talking about.”
However, at Elze's words, Duke Seraph muttered with his eyes drooping in regret.
“Maybe I spoke too roundly.”
He said it with his gaze fixed on her.
“To be a little more honest and blunt...”
Duke Seraph slowly took off his gloves. The table was small, so he could just extend his arm and touch Elze's shoulder. The feeling of bare skin against skin was eerie.
“No matter what I do here.”
With earnest words, the Duke's fingers slowly fiddled with the necklace. Following the crystal chain that flowed down in a thin line, his fingers went down to the area near her sternum. He whispered, gently scratching the edge with his nails.
“Madam, you are saying that you cannot move.”
Elze remained silent for a while before answering.
"...Yes."
Duke Seraph smiled at Elze's answer. His smile was so perfect and beautiful that it was almost creepy, and he was enjoying looking at the trap he had set.
Duke Seraph was right. Elze was powerless in the current situation.
Duke Seraph was the absolute superior, and Elze was the complete inferior. Before confirming how much Duke Seraph knew, she had to please him. However, that was according to the script that Duke Seraph had made. Elze had no intention of moving according to his will. That didn't fit with Elze's personality.
Breaking the plan that the Duke had laid out. That was the best policy for Elze right now. Elze opened her mouth while quietly taking Seraph Duke’s hand.
“Then I too...”
Her eyes met his. Elze smiled as she looked into his sparkling eyes.
“Let me be a little more honest and blunt.”
Elze placed her other hand on Duke Seraph's wrist.
“Your Excellency, you know what I am going to do here.”
Duke Seraph lowered his eyes. Something cool touched his wrist. It was the butter knife that had been placed with the dessert.
The blunt knife, which was simply used for spreading jam, butter, cream, and the like, held a cool aura in Elze's hands. Elze whispered back as she gently scratched the Duke's wrist with the tip of the butter knife.
“I don’t know why you move your hands like that.”
“...”
Duke Seraph looked down at the butter knife without saying a word, then met Elze’s eyes again. Elze felt her heart sink as she met his eyes. Hot joy flowed from his noble, almost sacred, blue-gray eyes.
“Really... Your Excellency the Countess...”
Duke Seraph said, brushing back his slightly disheveled hair.
“You are an interesting person.”
He grabbed the butter knife Elze was holding and pulled it away. Elze obediently handed the knife over to him.
“What can you do with a butter knife like this...”
Duke Seraph put the knife down on the table. Then he smiled pleasantly and whispered.
“Madam, you are acting as if you were Elijah’s Elze now.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Elze answered him indifferently.
“If it’s Elijah’s Elze, she could kill someone with her bare hands, without even using a knife like that.”
As soon as Elze finished answering, Duke Seraph burst into laughter. It was a laugh that was so genuinely joyful that he didn’t know what to do. Hearing such laughter that went beyond joy and bordered on madness made her feel like she was going crazy.
Duke Seraph slowly stopped laughing. But he still looked at Elze with eyes full of laughter. He immediately asked a question.
“Aren’t you thinking of getting a divorce?”
“...”
No, what the heck... It seemed like his brain had shaken while he was laughing. When Elze looked at him with a look of disbelief, Duke Seraph added with a grin.
“Lady Elze.”
Son of a bitch.
Shan licked, bit, sucked, and swallowed Elze. She was completely out of her mind from the passionate kiss. Elze was engulfed in him for a long time, and only after Shan let go did she finally catch her breath and come to her senses. Shan muttered as he held Elze tightly, who was gasping for breath in panic.
“I... thought about everything...”
The voice, broken into pieces, rang out low. Shan's hand holding Elze tightened. He slowly pushed Elze back. Then they met eyes. Shan said with his eyes darkened.
“Don't abandon me.”
It was an ambiguous confession, neither a request nor an order. Strangely, her heart ached at that ambiguous word.
It's not 'don't run away, don't leave'... it's 'don't abandon'.
That arrogant man who had nothing to regret in the world was now asking Elze not to abandon him.
“Shan...”
Elze called his name as if she was exhaling. For a moment, the two of them faced each other in silence. It was unclear whether their heated bodies were due to the heat of the kiss or the heat of the summer night. Shan slowly began to speak.
“At first, I was just curious. When I couldn’t see you, I searched all over the ballroom. When I couldn’t see you in the ballroom, I searched around the garden.”
His eyes looked as if they would burst into flames at any moment, but the words he spoke were calm.
“Then suddenly that thought occurred to me.”
Shan lowered his head. He continued speaking in a tone that was neither fast nor slow.
“Like the countless people in the garden, aren’t you also spending time with the right partner?”
“...”
“Wouldn’t it be better for you if I didn’t search so desperately for you?”
Then he slowly raised his head again. There was a crooked smile on his lips. It was a smile he often wore, but today it looked a bit bitter.
“Shan.”
Elze covered his face with her hands. Shan closed his eyes, feeling Elze's warmth. Elze whispered, gently caressing his cheek.
“Our relationship is... not the kind where one person throws something away and the other picks it up.”
“....”
“It’s not like you are subordinate to me or I am subordinate to you.”
Shan was silent for a long time. He exhaled slowly. Then he kissed Elze again. Their lips met carefully, slowly.
The feeling of being gently tickled was sweet. The hands that were sweeping her waist were so affectionate that a dizzying sound came out of her mouth without her knowing. It was a round kiss, completely different from the previous passionate kisses.
“I have something to tell you.”
Shan said, planting short kisses on Elze's face.
“I felt like I had to tell you right now.”
And the story Shan brought out was none other than his past.
Elze was surprised by the unexpected story about the past, but Shan began to speak dryly as if he were telling her the story of a complete stranger.
“If it’s common, then it’s a common story.”
The story begins with Shan suddenly becoming an orphan one day. Shan moved from one relative to another, and was looked down upon wherever he went, called the devil's child who had eaten his parents.
And then, as he was wandering from relative to relative, a rape occurred at one place...
The story continued about the days when he struggled in despair, fell to pieces, and cried, but no one reached out to him.
He was infinitely calm when he spoke of the moment when he gave up everything. He quietly recited the fact that he had been pushed to his limit and destroyed himself, leaving an empty shell filled with nothing but emptiness and anger.
“It’s the perfect past history to buy cheap sympathy.”
Shan cut off the end of his story in a sarcastic tone. Elze spoke only after a long time had passed since he had finished his story.
“Why...”
It was such a miserable story that it made Elze's heartache as she listened to it. But Shan, who was telling it, was incredibly calm.
“Why do you talk like it’s someone else’s business?”
Shan answered Elze's question as if it was nothing.
“Because it’s in the past. It was covered up.”
“...”
Shan's answer was, as expected, dry. The dry answer was so brittle that it seemed as if it would crumble into dust at any moment. Elze hesitated and then asked him what she had been wanting to ask him for a while.
“Then why... did you fall in love with me?”
Elze was curious. Shan was the one who had cursed all women. She was a demon who had grown by trampling on their lust and obsession for him and feeding off their sorrow.
But it wasn't like that for Elze. He always whispered his love and cherished her. Elze wanted to know what was different about her from them. It was a question that came up after much thought, but Shan gave the answer very easily.
“Because you were the first person to do me a favor for no reason.”
Elze thought back to her first meeting with Shan. From then on, Elze had always done Shan a favor without any reward. No, it wasn't just a favor, since she saved his life.
Shan took off Elze's mask. The mask made of black lace hung limply in Shan's hands.
“All I’ve ever learned about women is how to ruin them.”
Shan crumpled it in his hands. The lace mask was torn apart and made a sound as if it was going to tear. Then it was thrown away somewhere in the darkness. Shan slowly stroked Elze's bare face, which was revealed, and said.
“But you were an exception in many ways. From beginning to end.”
He whispered, noses touching noses.
“My special someone.”
And he kissed Elze on the lips. His lips touched the tip of her chin, then slowly moved down along the line of her neck.
The lowered lips settled on the upper chest revealed between the deep neckline. Along with the chain of the hanging crystal necklace, the tongue slowly licked the chest. The feeling of the solid chain and the soft tongue mixed together, created a strange sensation.
Elze flinched her shoulders and tried to pull back, but at some point, Shann bit her lips hard and sucked her. A red mark appeared where his lips had bitten her.
The mark left on her chest, not covered by the dress, was a clear kiss mark that would make anyone blush. Shan looked at Elze with his eyes half-open. He smiled faintly and said.
“So don’t leave me.”
It was the sound of him throwing it away again. Elze, who was thinking about getting angry and telling him not to say that again, stopped when he whispered faintly after that.
“...Because I don’t know what I might do.”
Elze blinked and looked at him. Shan's mouth was smiling. But his eyes were not smiling.
“If even the unfortunate past that I hate to even mention can become a noose that holds your heart back even a little.”
In the curved eyes, the purple pupils held a dangerous light.
“I can say it over and over again.”
“...”
Elze couldn't say anything. She just stared at him frozen, and Shan shook his head slightly. Then he spoke in a brighter voice.
“Just let it pass as a passing remark. I was alone with my serious thoughts because you weren’t there.”
It was like trying to brush off the stories he had told her so far as if they were nothing. But how could that be? Elzecouldn't pretend that she had already heard something.
Shan, who felt somewhat angular, was not just created by falling from the sky. He was carved and torn through countless hardships to become the Shan Cirxus he is today.
That fact made her angry. She wanted to erase the past moments that made Shan like this. Elze clenched her fists and called out to him in a suppressed voice.
“...Shan.”
Shan looked at Elze's face in the serious atmosphere. Elze bit her lower lip to suppress her anger and then said.
“I don’t know about anything else.”
“Elze?”
Elze suppressed her anger and spoke in front of the puzzled Shan.
“That woman deserves a beating.”
"...”
Shan narrowed his eyes. He seemed to have no idea what Elze was talking about. Elze slowly chose the words in her head and spoke.
“The wife of the merchant who first... harassed you.”
The reason she softened it to the word 'harassed' was because she didn't dare to say the word 'rape' in front of Shan.
That woman was the beginning of all this. The filth of the very old past still covered Shan. It was a filth that would never go away until the source was dug up.
So she will definitely erase it. She will sweep it away and wipe it clean so that not a single stain will remain. Elze made a determined resolution.
“I will take revenge.”
But why? Even though Elze's words of swearing revenge were cold, Shan felt very happy when he heard them.
In the quiet summer night garden, Shan laughed for a long time. He laughed as if he had been putting off laughing for a very long time. He barely stopped laughing when Elze tapped him on the arm.
“Revenge, you really are...”
Shan ran his hand over her face, which was still bright with laughter. He shook his head a few times as if he had lost and muttered.
“Totally unpredictable.”
Then he smiled at Elze and said playfully.
“So you are good?”
It was a sudden confession.
Elze, who was caught off guard, blushed. Shan saw Elze's blushing face and began to laugh out loud again. Elze cooled her flushed cheeks by blowing wind with the fan she was holding, and then she pretended to look angry at Shan and said.
“I was very serious.”
“I know. You were serious.”
But Shan, who was answering, was not at all serious. Elze, who was glancing at him, suddenly opened her eyes wide as a thought occurred to her and asked.
“No way... you’ve already done it?”
Now that she thinks about it, it seems like Shan's personality wouldn't have left that woman alone. Her limbs had already been torn off a long time ago, and she might have become food for some fish in some ocean. However, Shan gave an answer that was completely different from what Elze had expected.
“No, I never even looked for that woman.”
“Why?”
Elze asked in surprise, but Shan answered as if it was nothing.
“It’s evidence of a past I don’t want to remember. I chose to forget it instead of taking revenge.”
“...”
Shan kept saying it was nothing. But Elze could tell. It was resignation. Resignation that he didn't want to look back on the miserable past, so he just covered it up and whispered to himself that it was okay.
But that was also Shan's choice. If Shan didn't want it, she didn't want to touch up the old past. Just a moment ago, she was thinking about how to chew that woman out, but he was going in the direction of just letting her go. Shan heard muttering next to her.
“But it feels good when you say it like that.”
Then Shan got up from the bench and held out his hand to Elze. It looked as if he was asking her to dance. Elze grabbed his hand and got up after him. Shan kissed the back of Elze's hand that he was holding and said,
“Because you want to do something for me.”
Does this mean that I can take revenge, or that I should just stay still? Elze, who was thinking hard, finally asked him outright.
“I don’t quite understand, but... Are you saying it’s okay for me to take revenge, right?”
But when Elze asked seriously, Shan burst out laughing again. Only after Elze heard him laugh for a long time was she finally able to get an answer that said,
How did Duke Seraph find out? There was no way to know. Elze's situation was absolutely unfavorable. Most people would have thought of a way to persuade or threaten, but the person Elze was dealing with right now was none other than Duke Seraph.
He was never someone to be taken lightly. If Elze didn't agree to the meeting, she didn't know what he would do. He didn't know how much he knew, but he could reveal Elze's true identity to the world. Elze clenched her molars in agony from the unwanted forced meeting.
She followed the masked man through the winding imperial corridors. When she arrived at the place where Duke Seraph was waiting, there was no one around. It seemed like they were intentionally blocking people from coming and going. The man stopped in front of a door.
“Please come in.”
He opened the door with his head bowed deeply. Now Elze had to move alone. Elze hesitated for a moment and then slowly went inside. Every step felt heavy as if a stone was hanging from her feet. She felt like a prisoner being dragged to the execution ground.
Elze looked around the room, lost in her thoughts. There were many doors as if several rooms were connected. And one of them was half open. Elze went into the room where the dim light came in.
“Countess Targayel.”
An elegant voice greeted Elze. The first thing that caught her eye was his platinum hair, swaying in the candlelight. The warm light on his pale hair made him look as beautiful as the setting sun.
And there was no one. There were only the Duke of Seraph and Elze.
Duke Seraph was sitting at the table. The table was set with a magnificent tea set, perfectly arranged without a single detail out of place.
He stood up and pulled out a chair for Elze. As Elze sat down, the Duke sat down opposite her. Duke Seraph picked up the teapot. But before he could fill his cup, Elze spoke coldly.
“Please just get to the point, Your Excellency.”
"Ah..."
Duke Seraph put the teapot down again. The clanking sound was unusually loud. He looked at Elze with his clear, blue-gray eyes and asked.
“There’s no rush, right?”
And then he continued with a faint smile.
“Madam will do as I wish anyway.”
Let's not get caught up. This is psychological warfare...
Elze tried to calm herself down. But she couldn't help but feel confused by the Duke's confident appearance. Elze responded in the most calm tone possible.
“I don’t quite understand what you’re talking about.”
However, at Elze's words, Duke Seraph muttered with his eyes drooping in regret.
“Maybe I spoke too roundly.”
He said it with his gaze fixed on her.
“To be a little more honest and blunt...”
Duke Seraph slowly took off his gloves. The table was small, so he could just extend his arm and touch Elze's shoulder. The feeling of bare skin against skin was eerie.
“No matter what I do here.”
With earnest words, the Duke's fingers slowly fiddled with the necklace. Following the crystal chain that flowed down in a thin line, his fingers went down to the area near her sternum. He whispered, gently scratching the edge with his nails.
“Madam, you are saying that you cannot move.”
Elze remained silent for a while before answering.
"...Yes."
Duke Seraph smiled at Elze's answer. His smile was so perfect and beautiful that it was almost creepy, and he was enjoying looking at the trap he had set.
Duke Seraph was right. Elze was powerless in the current situation.
Duke Seraph was the absolute superior, and Elze was the complete inferior. Before confirming how much Duke Seraph knew, she had to please him. However, that was according to the script that Duke Seraph had made. Elze had no intention of moving according to his will. That didn't fit with Elze's personality.
Breaking the plan that the Duke had laid out. That was the best policy for Elze right now. Elze opened her mouth while quietly taking Seraph Duke’s hand.
“Then I too...”
Her eyes met his. Elze smiled as she looked into his sparkling eyes.
“Let me be a little more honest and blunt.”
Elze placed her other hand on Duke Seraph's wrist.
“Your Excellency, you know what I am going to do here.”
Duke Seraph lowered his eyes. Something cool touched his wrist. It was the butter knife that had been placed with the dessert.
The blunt knife, which was simply used for spreading jam, butter, cream, and the like, held a cool aura in Elze's hands. Elze whispered back as she gently scratched the Duke's wrist with the tip of the butter knife.
“I don’t know why you move your hands like that.”
“...”
Duke Seraph looked down at the butter knife without saying a word, then met Elze’s eyes again. Elze felt her heart sink as she met his eyes. Hot joy flowed from his noble, almost sacred, blue-gray eyes.
“Really... Your Excellency the Countess...”
Duke Seraph said, brushing back his slightly disheveled hair.
“You are an interesting person.”
He grabbed the butter knife Elze was holding and pulled it away. Elze obediently handed the knife over to him.
“What can you do with a butter knife like this...”
Duke Seraph put the knife down on the table. Then he smiled pleasantly and whispered.
“Madam, you are acting as if you were Elijah’s Elze now.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Elze answered him indifferently.
“If it’s Elijah’s Elze, she could kill someone with her bare hands, without even using a knife like that.”
As soon as Elze finished answering, Duke Seraph burst into laughter. It was a laugh that was so genuinely joyful that he didn’t know what to do. Hearing such laughter that went beyond joy and bordered on madness made her feel like she was going crazy.
Duke Seraph slowly stopped laughing. But he still looked at Elze with eyes full of laughter. He immediately asked a question.
“Aren’t you thinking of getting a divorce?”
“...”
No, what the heck... It seemed like his brain had shaken while he was laughing. When Elze looked at him with a look of disbelief, Duke Seraph added with a grin.
“Lady Elze.”
Son of a bitch.
Elze muttered a curse under her breath. It seemed like it would be useless to try to think in front of Duke Seraph.
Aren't they the Seraph family, famous for their inhuman appearance and outstanding intelligence? And this generation's Duke, Enoch Seraph, is the quintessence of the Seraph family.
No matter how hard she tried, Elze, who was a physical player, would never be able to defeat him, who was a brain player. It was foolish to think that she would engage in psychological warfare against Duke Seraph. The only way out was to go for the direct attack. Elze simply asked the question outright.
“How did you know?”
Of course, Duke Seraph did not tell her so easily. He smiled vaguely and asked her a question instead.
“Aren’t you curious to know what the price for keeping your secret is?”
“...”
Of course, she wasn't curious, nor did she want to know. But the initiative wasn't in Elze's hands. She just waited for him to speak.
Duke Seraph didn’t open his mouth for a long time. He just stared blankly at Elze. While waiting for him to speak, Elze looked around the room. It had been a while since she had entered the room, but she was so focused on confronting Duke Seraph that she didn’t have time to look around.
As Elze looked around the room, she realized something. The elegantly decorated drawing room was spotless. They said that Duke Seraph had a severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, and it seemed to be true.
Elze's eyes, which were looking around, caught sight of a horsewhip placed in a corner of the room. The solid black leather whip was as crisp as new. Suddenly, a feeling of discomfort surged up inside her. Her eyebrows naturally furrowed. Seeing Elze frowning, Duke Seraph finally spoke.
“I have never seen such perfect blue eyes as yours, Madam.”
Elze knew that the Duke was obsessed with the color blue. She was curious to know what he would say, so she decided to listen until the end.
“It’s not just the beautiful colors. What makes those blue eyes shine so brightly is the deep, determined will... that will never be broken by anything.”
Duke Seraph continued speaking in a gentle voice.
“I want to know about you.”
If you look at the sentence as it is, it was a really ticklish confession of love. However, looking at the heated face of the person who said it, she couldn't take it well. And as expected, the words that followed were beyond imagination.
“What kind of emotions can these beautiful blue eyes hold? And how pretty would they become if they held those emotions?”
Duke Seraph looked at Elze with his eyes as if licking her. The whispered words stuck to him earnestly.
“Be happy, be angry, be afraid, be ecstatic....”
He spoke with a cracking voice.
“If tears gather in those beautiful, perfect blue eyes, how can they flow down?”
And Elze, who was listening to him, opened her mouth in surprise. She knew he was crazy, but this was beyond imagination. Even if Elze had gathered all the crazy people she had ever met, they would not be as crazy as Duke Seraph.
Was a well-educated pervert this scary? Even as Elze looked at him with a blank expression, Duke Seraph continued speaking calmly.
“So I want to be with you, Madam. In the world, this is what people call a proposal, right?”
Adding the word marriage proposal here, it seemed that if he had proposed to her twice like this, all the girls in the world would have given up on marriage. Elze was so shocked that she missed the time to respond to him. Elze opened her mouth a beat late.
“No...over there...”
Are you able to live a normal life? Elze couldn't bring herself to ask that question and swallowed it in the back of her throat. Duke Seraph added with a grin.
“I know this isn’t a matter that can be decided right away. I’ll give you some time to think about it.”
“...”
“And to make it a little easier for you, Madam, I’ll give you a little help.”
When Elze remained silent, Duke Seraph continued to say what he wanted to say.
“I hope we can have tea time together often in the future. It’s really fun.”
It was a truly enjoyable tea time, almost to the point of making her want to curse. Elze had to try hard not to punch him in the face.
In the end, Duke Seraph had nothing to say. He had only completely shaken and confused Elze and had not revealed even a single card he had in his hand.
“By the way, it’s a shame you didn’t even touch the tea. I prepared a lot of things...”
Elze felt a chill down her spine at the words of Duke Seraph. It was even more so because she could imagine what would have happened if she had drunk the tea. Elze stood up, vowing over and over again to never eat anything that guy gave her again.
“It seems the conversation is over, so I will take my leave, Your Excellency.”
There was no reason to talk any further since he was just talking nonsense and not telling me anything.
“And you don’t have to give me time to answer. Whenever you ask, my answer will always be no.”
Elze picked up the butter knife she had put down earlier and placed it upright on the table.
“Even a mouse will bite a cat when cornered, Your Excellency.”
The butter knife began to dig into the wooden table without a sound. As if cutting through soft cream, the knife was deeply embedded in the table.
“If you move recklessly...”
Elze continued, thrusting the butter knife right up to the handle.
“I am afraid that I might accidentally harm Your Excellency.”
Then she looked down at him and spoke again with emphasis.
“It was just a mistake, you know.”
But even in the face of Elze's murderous threats, Duke Seraph showed no sign of fear. Instead, he began to laugh even more joyfully. He was truly a complete lunatic.
Elze left the room, leaving the smiling Seraph Duke behind. The Duke did not grab Elze. Elze was even more offended by his not grabbing her. It was as if he was telling her that wherever she ran, she would be in the palm of his hand.
When she came out into the hallway, the man wearing the same black mask was waiting for Elze. He seemed to be a different man than before, and his movements were different.
“I will guide you.”
The man bowed his head politely and took the lead. Elze followed him down an unknown corridor, lost in thought.
Elijah's Elze...
As the leader of the Elijah mercenary corps, Elze led them to victory in the Hundred Years' War. However, Elze was in a position where she could not proudly reveal her identity, calling herself a war hero.
The most basic reason was that she was a woman. Fortunately, there were no such people around Elze, and even among those who followed Shan, who was thoroughly meritocratic, it was rare to find anyone who looked down on women.
But this was only a special case. Not only in the Baluar Empire but throughout the entire continent, the passport was low.
In the midst of all this, even if Elze had announced that she had inherited Targayel's pride and joy in swordsmanship, she would have been fortunate not to be ridiculed, let alone recognized.
The fact that she was the eldest daughter of a noble family and had been a mercenary was also a problem. Many nobles looked down on mercenaries. The moment a woman said she had been a mercenary, she was sure to be treated the same as a prostitute.
The Crown Prince, who wanted to get rid of Elijah, could not be ignored either. Although Shan had barely managed to bring Elijah into Targayel as a private soldier, Crown Prince Raymond would kill Elijah if given the chance.
There was also Astin, who did not inherit the talent of the sword. Because of that, she did not have the confidence to tell Astin, who even attempted suicide, the secret she had kept until now.
Elze didn't want to see how Astin would react when faced with the truth. The moment Astin showed even the slightest sign of sadness, her heart would break.
Elze sighed inwardly as she listed the reasons why she had to hide her identity. There were so many that came to mind right away. The numerous prejudices and threats surrounding Elze always made her shut her mouth.
If she were a single person, she would have said, “I don’t know, I’m Elijah’s Elze,” and committed the crime. But she couldn’t say anything because she had many people to protect.
Suddenly, she felt grateful. Shan had never once said anything to Elze about women or mercenaries. He had always just looked at her as she was, completely as Elze.
Thanks to that pervert's work, Elze, who thought she was thinking of everything, was able to hear music flowing softly. She had reached the vicinity of the ballroom. There were a few people here and there.
“I will step down.”
The man in the black mask disappeared without a trace from a distance, visible from the ballroom. Elze, who was momentarily contemplating whether to catch him or not, just let him go. If there was any information to be gained from hitting the low-level guy, it could have been sorted out by Shan’s line long ago.
Elze lowered her eyes for a moment, then slowly entered the ballroom. The ballroom, with its strangely melodic music, seemed peaceful as if no duel had ever taken place. As she looked around to find Shan, she sensed the presence of people groaning.
"Are you looking for your lover?"
"Your Majesty the Queen."
Elze turned around hurriedly and bowed. The Queen wearing the butterfly mask smiled and said.
"I guess there's no need to worry since Count Targayel won the duel."
As expected, Shan won. However, she thought he would be looking down on the ballroom with arrogance as the winner, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Where did he go? The Queen, who noticed Elze furtively searching, continued speaking leisurely.
“But the Count could not fully enjoy his victory because he was busy searching for his missing wife. He might be wandering around the garden right now.”
"Ah..."
Thinking about it, she disappeared without saying a word. She felt really sorry when she thought he must have come looking for her.
Elze wanted to quickly find Shan and tell him about her conversation with Duke Seraph, but she was held captive by the Queen and couldn't move for now.
Elze carefully examined the Queen. And she realized that the Queen had sent away the people of Ryel who had been following her, Cecilia, and the Count of Epernon and that she was standing alone with one courtier. The courtier was a woman with a calm and composed expression. The Queen smiled and said.
“Have I ever told you my name? It’s Ryeo Hyeon. This is my secretary, Lee Ra-sun.”
"This is the leader."
Elze was suddenly greeted by a courtier named Ra-sun. The Queen affectionately grabbed Elze's wrist and pulled her towards her.
"Would you like to talk? I have a lot to talk about with you. I have a lot of questions."
But Elze's priority was finding Shan.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. Can we talk another time? Right now, I have something urgent to do.”
"Hmm."
At Elze's words, the Queen let out a short, low voice and then asked a question.
"Are you going to find Count Targayel?"
"Yes."
Since there was nothing to hide, Elze answered honestly. Then the queen asked with a mysterious expression.
"Do you love him?"
"Yes?"
"I asked you if you loved Shan Kiraxus."
"..."
The Queen's question was sudden. Elze couldn't answer right away. If she had been asked if she liked Shan, she would have said yes. However, she was still embarrassed to confidently answer the question of whether she loved him.
The Queen sighed faintly at the sight of Elze blushing slightly without being able to answer. The Queen’s eyes, visible behind the butterfly mask, looked a little complicated.
“Don’t give him too much attention. He is...”
However, the Queen's words could not be continued until the end. This was because Ra-sun, who had been quietly listening from the side, stepped forward and stood between Elze and the Queen.
"Your Majesty."
The Queen raised her eyebrows at the short words of the spiral and cut him off. After a moment of silence, she spoke instead of what she had intended to say.
"It was a pleasant conversation. I look forward to our next meeting."
Then she walked back into the ballroom with Ra-Sun. Elze blinked. The Queen was clearly about to say something about Shan.
But how much would she, the Queen of Ryel, know about Count Targayel? It seemed unlikely that a Queen of her nature would say something like that, just based on a few bits of gossip from the high society.
What is the story of how the subordinate, Ra-sun, interrupted the Queen's words, even at the risk of being rude?
Elze first took note of the Queen's strange behavior. There was time to think about her actions, even if it wasn't now. It seemed like it would be best to start by looking for Shan.
There was no Shan in the ballroom. Since the Queen had mentioned the garden earlier, Elze walked towards it.
Suddenly, she started to worry. She thought that maybe he had gone home first, and she was worried that he might have some strange misunderstanding about me being gone.
She felt anxious to find Shan quickly. But at the same time, she felt sorry for Shan, wondering if he had been looking for her like this.
“Shan, where are you...!”
Elze called out to Shan in a low voice. The dark garden was already filled with lovers having a secret meeting. Elze blushed at the loud moaning coming from somewhere in the bushes and hurried her steps.
When she felt like she had walked for quite some time, the nasal conversation of the lovers and the rustling of clothes began to die down, and a quiet surrounding came to visit. She could hear the chirping of insects.
And on a bench where a small lantern formed a circle, Elze found Shan.
“...”
Shan, who had been sitting quietly on the bench, slowly turned his head towards Elze.
Even though Elze didn't call him, he looked back as if she had called his name. He stared blankly at Elze. His purple eyes were dark and hard to see because of the light. Shan just stared at Elze for a long time. Elze was the first to speak.
“Shan...”
She called his name hesitantly. Shan didn't answer. Elze hesitated and slowly approached Shan.
Only after getting closer could Shan’s face be seen properly. Only his purple eyes were shining deep in the darkness on his hardened face. Elze carefully sat down next to him. Shan still did not move. Elze brushed his face with her hand and called his name.
“Shan...?”
It was then that Shan hugged Elze tightly. Then, he placed his hand on the back of her head and kissed her passionately.
"Ugh...!!"
Aren't they the Seraph family, famous for their inhuman appearance and outstanding intelligence? And this generation's Duke, Enoch Seraph, is the quintessence of the Seraph family.
No matter how hard she tried, Elze, who was a physical player, would never be able to defeat him, who was a brain player. It was foolish to think that she would engage in psychological warfare against Duke Seraph. The only way out was to go for the direct attack. Elze simply asked the question outright.
“How did you know?”
Of course, Duke Seraph did not tell her so easily. He smiled vaguely and asked her a question instead.
“Aren’t you curious to know what the price for keeping your secret is?”
“...”
Of course, she wasn't curious, nor did she want to know. But the initiative wasn't in Elze's hands. She just waited for him to speak.
Duke Seraph didn’t open his mouth for a long time. He just stared blankly at Elze. While waiting for him to speak, Elze looked around the room. It had been a while since she had entered the room, but she was so focused on confronting Duke Seraph that she didn’t have time to look around.
As Elze looked around the room, she realized something. The elegantly decorated drawing room was spotless. They said that Duke Seraph had a severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, and it seemed to be true.
Elze's eyes, which were looking around, caught sight of a horsewhip placed in a corner of the room. The solid black leather whip was as crisp as new. Suddenly, a feeling of discomfort surged up inside her. Her eyebrows naturally furrowed. Seeing Elze frowning, Duke Seraph finally spoke.
“I have never seen such perfect blue eyes as yours, Madam.”
Elze knew that the Duke was obsessed with the color blue. She was curious to know what he would say, so she decided to listen until the end.
“It’s not just the beautiful colors. What makes those blue eyes shine so brightly is the deep, determined will... that will never be broken by anything.”
Duke Seraph continued speaking in a gentle voice.
“I want to know about you.”
If you look at the sentence as it is, it was a really ticklish confession of love. However, looking at the heated face of the person who said it, she couldn't take it well. And as expected, the words that followed were beyond imagination.
“What kind of emotions can these beautiful blue eyes hold? And how pretty would they become if they held those emotions?”
Duke Seraph looked at Elze with his eyes as if licking her. The whispered words stuck to him earnestly.
“Be happy, be angry, be afraid, be ecstatic....”
He spoke with a cracking voice.
“If tears gather in those beautiful, perfect blue eyes, how can they flow down?”
And Elze, who was listening to him, opened her mouth in surprise. She knew he was crazy, but this was beyond imagination. Even if Elze had gathered all the crazy people she had ever met, they would not be as crazy as Duke Seraph.
Was a well-educated pervert this scary? Even as Elze looked at him with a blank expression, Duke Seraph continued speaking calmly.
“So I want to be with you, Madam. In the world, this is what people call a proposal, right?”
Adding the word marriage proposal here, it seemed that if he had proposed to her twice like this, all the girls in the world would have given up on marriage. Elze was so shocked that she missed the time to respond to him. Elze opened her mouth a beat late.
“No...over there...”
Are you able to live a normal life? Elze couldn't bring herself to ask that question and swallowed it in the back of her throat. Duke Seraph added with a grin.
“I know this isn’t a matter that can be decided right away. I’ll give you some time to think about it.”
“...”
“And to make it a little easier for you, Madam, I’ll give you a little help.”
When Elze remained silent, Duke Seraph continued to say what he wanted to say.
“I hope we can have tea time together often in the future. It’s really fun.”
It was a truly enjoyable tea time, almost to the point of making her want to curse. Elze had to try hard not to punch him in the face.
In the end, Duke Seraph had nothing to say. He had only completely shaken and confused Elze and had not revealed even a single card he had in his hand.
“By the way, it’s a shame you didn’t even touch the tea. I prepared a lot of things...”
Elze felt a chill down her spine at the words of Duke Seraph. It was even more so because she could imagine what would have happened if she had drunk the tea. Elze stood up, vowing over and over again to never eat anything that guy gave her again.
“It seems the conversation is over, so I will take my leave, Your Excellency.”
There was no reason to talk any further since he was just talking nonsense and not telling me anything.
“And you don’t have to give me time to answer. Whenever you ask, my answer will always be no.”
Elze picked up the butter knife she had put down earlier and placed it upright on the table.
“Even a mouse will bite a cat when cornered, Your Excellency.”
The butter knife began to dig into the wooden table without a sound. As if cutting through soft cream, the knife was deeply embedded in the table.
“If you move recklessly...”
Elze continued, thrusting the butter knife right up to the handle.
“I am afraid that I might accidentally harm Your Excellency.”
Then she looked down at him and spoke again with emphasis.
“It was just a mistake, you know.”
But even in the face of Elze's murderous threats, Duke Seraph showed no sign of fear. Instead, he began to laugh even more joyfully. He was truly a complete lunatic.
Elze left the room, leaving the smiling Seraph Duke behind. The Duke did not grab Elze. Elze was even more offended by his not grabbing her. It was as if he was telling her that wherever she ran, she would be in the palm of his hand.
When she came out into the hallway, the man wearing the same black mask was waiting for Elze. He seemed to be a different man than before, and his movements were different.
“I will guide you.”
The man bowed his head politely and took the lead. Elze followed him down an unknown corridor, lost in thought.
Elijah's Elze...
As the leader of the Elijah mercenary corps, Elze led them to victory in the Hundred Years' War. However, Elze was in a position where she could not proudly reveal her identity, calling herself a war hero.
The most basic reason was that she was a woman. Fortunately, there were no such people around Elze, and even among those who followed Shan, who was thoroughly meritocratic, it was rare to find anyone who looked down on women.
But this was only a special case. Not only in the Baluar Empire but throughout the entire continent, the passport was low.
In the midst of all this, even if Elze had announced that she had inherited Targayel's pride and joy in swordsmanship, she would have been fortunate not to be ridiculed, let alone recognized.
The fact that she was the eldest daughter of a noble family and had been a mercenary was also a problem. Many nobles looked down on mercenaries. The moment a woman said she had been a mercenary, she was sure to be treated the same as a prostitute.
The Crown Prince, who wanted to get rid of Elijah, could not be ignored either. Although Shan had barely managed to bring Elijah into Targayel as a private soldier, Crown Prince Raymond would kill Elijah if given the chance.
There was also Astin, who did not inherit the talent of the sword. Because of that, she did not have the confidence to tell Astin, who even attempted suicide, the secret she had kept until now.
Elze didn't want to see how Astin would react when faced with the truth. The moment Astin showed even the slightest sign of sadness, her heart would break.
Elze sighed inwardly as she listed the reasons why she had to hide her identity. There were so many that came to mind right away. The numerous prejudices and threats surrounding Elze always made her shut her mouth.
If she were a single person, she would have said, “I don’t know, I’m Elijah’s Elze,” and committed the crime. But she couldn’t say anything because she had many people to protect.
Suddenly, she felt grateful. Shan had never once said anything to Elze about women or mercenaries. He had always just looked at her as she was, completely as Elze.
Thanks to that pervert's work, Elze, who thought she was thinking of everything, was able to hear music flowing softly. She had reached the vicinity of the ballroom. There were a few people here and there.
“I will step down.”
The man in the black mask disappeared without a trace from a distance, visible from the ballroom. Elze, who was momentarily contemplating whether to catch him or not, just let him go. If there was any information to be gained from hitting the low-level guy, it could have been sorted out by Shan’s line long ago.
Elze lowered her eyes for a moment, then slowly entered the ballroom. The ballroom, with its strangely melodic music, seemed peaceful as if no duel had ever taken place. As she looked around to find Shan, she sensed the presence of people groaning.
"Are you looking for your lover?"
"Your Majesty the Queen."
Elze turned around hurriedly and bowed. The Queen wearing the butterfly mask smiled and said.
"I guess there's no need to worry since Count Targayel won the duel."
As expected, Shan won. However, she thought he would be looking down on the ballroom with arrogance as the winner, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Where did he go? The Queen, who noticed Elze furtively searching, continued speaking leisurely.
“But the Count could not fully enjoy his victory because he was busy searching for his missing wife. He might be wandering around the garden right now.”
"Ah..."
Thinking about it, she disappeared without saying a word. She felt really sorry when she thought he must have come looking for her.
Elze wanted to quickly find Shan and tell him about her conversation with Duke Seraph, but she was held captive by the Queen and couldn't move for now.
Elze carefully examined the Queen. And she realized that the Queen had sent away the people of Ryel who had been following her, Cecilia, and the Count of Epernon and that she was standing alone with one courtier. The courtier was a woman with a calm and composed expression. The Queen smiled and said.
“Have I ever told you my name? It’s Ryeo Hyeon. This is my secretary, Lee Ra-sun.”
"This is the leader."
Elze was suddenly greeted by a courtier named Ra-sun. The Queen affectionately grabbed Elze's wrist and pulled her towards her.
"Would you like to talk? I have a lot to talk about with you. I have a lot of questions."
But Elze's priority was finding Shan.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. Can we talk another time? Right now, I have something urgent to do.”
"Hmm."
At Elze's words, the Queen let out a short, low voice and then asked a question.
"Are you going to find Count Targayel?"
"Yes."
Since there was nothing to hide, Elze answered honestly. Then the queen asked with a mysterious expression.
"Do you love him?"
"Yes?"
"I asked you if you loved Shan Kiraxus."
"..."
The Queen's question was sudden. Elze couldn't answer right away. If she had been asked if she liked Shan, she would have said yes. However, she was still embarrassed to confidently answer the question of whether she loved him.
The Queen sighed faintly at the sight of Elze blushing slightly without being able to answer. The Queen’s eyes, visible behind the butterfly mask, looked a little complicated.
“Don’t give him too much attention. He is...”
However, the Queen's words could not be continued until the end. This was because Ra-sun, who had been quietly listening from the side, stepped forward and stood between Elze and the Queen.
"Your Majesty."
The Queen raised her eyebrows at the short words of the spiral and cut him off. After a moment of silence, she spoke instead of what she had intended to say.
"It was a pleasant conversation. I look forward to our next meeting."
Then she walked back into the ballroom with Ra-Sun. Elze blinked. The Queen was clearly about to say something about Shan.
But how much would she, the Queen of Ryel, know about Count Targayel? It seemed unlikely that a Queen of her nature would say something like that, just based on a few bits of gossip from the high society.
What is the story of how the subordinate, Ra-sun, interrupted the Queen's words, even at the risk of being rude?
Elze first took note of the Queen's strange behavior. There was time to think about her actions, even if it wasn't now. It seemed like it would be best to start by looking for Shan.
There was no Shan in the ballroom. Since the Queen had mentioned the garden earlier, Elze walked towards it.
Suddenly, she started to worry. She thought that maybe he had gone home first, and she was worried that he might have some strange misunderstanding about me being gone.
She felt anxious to find Shan quickly. But at the same time, she felt sorry for Shan, wondering if he had been looking for her like this.
“Shan, where are you...!”
Elze called out to Shan in a low voice. The dark garden was already filled with lovers having a secret meeting. Elze blushed at the loud moaning coming from somewhere in the bushes and hurried her steps.
When she felt like she had walked for quite some time, the nasal conversation of the lovers and the rustling of clothes began to die down, and a quiet surrounding came to visit. She could hear the chirping of insects.
And on a bench where a small lantern formed a circle, Elze found Shan.
“...”
Shan, who had been sitting quietly on the bench, slowly turned his head towards Elze.
Even though Elze didn't call him, he looked back as if she had called his name. He stared blankly at Elze. His purple eyes were dark and hard to see because of the light. Shan just stared at Elze for a long time. Elze was the first to speak.
“Shan...”
She called his name hesitantly. Shan didn't answer. Elze hesitated and slowly approached Shan.
Only after getting closer could Shan’s face be seen properly. Only his purple eyes were shining deep in the darkness on his hardened face. Elze carefully sat down next to him. Shan still did not move. Elze brushed his face with her hand and called his name.
“Shan...?”
It was then that Shan hugged Elze tightly. Then, he placed his hand on the back of her head and kissed her passionately.
"Ugh...!!"
Shan licked, bit, sucked, and swallowed Elze. She was completely out of her mind from the passionate kiss. Elze was engulfed in him for a long time, and only after Shan let go did she finally catch her breath and come to her senses. Shan muttered as he held Elze tightly, who was gasping for breath in panic.
“I... thought about everything...”
The voice, broken into pieces, rang out low. Shan's hand holding Elze tightened. He slowly pushed Elze back. Then they met eyes. Shan said with his eyes darkened.
“Don't abandon me.”
It was an ambiguous confession, neither a request nor an order. Strangely, her heart ached at that ambiguous word.
It's not 'don't run away, don't leave'... it's 'don't abandon'.
That arrogant man who had nothing to regret in the world was now asking Elze not to abandon him.
“Shan...”
Elze called his name as if she was exhaling. For a moment, the two of them faced each other in silence. It was unclear whether their heated bodies were due to the heat of the kiss or the heat of the summer night. Shan slowly began to speak.
“At first, I was just curious. When I couldn’t see you, I searched all over the ballroom. When I couldn’t see you in the ballroom, I searched around the garden.”
His eyes looked as if they would burst into flames at any moment, but the words he spoke were calm.
“Then suddenly that thought occurred to me.”
Shan lowered his head. He continued speaking in a tone that was neither fast nor slow.
“Like the countless people in the garden, aren’t you also spending time with the right partner?”
“...”
“Wouldn’t it be better for you if I didn’t search so desperately for you?”
Then he slowly raised his head again. There was a crooked smile on his lips. It was a smile he often wore, but today it looked a bit bitter.
“Shan.”
Elze covered his face with her hands. Shan closed his eyes, feeling Elze's warmth. Elze whispered, gently caressing his cheek.
“Our relationship is... not the kind where one person throws something away and the other picks it up.”
“....”
“It’s not like you are subordinate to me or I am subordinate to you.”
Shan was silent for a long time. He exhaled slowly. Then he kissed Elze again. Their lips met carefully, slowly.
The feeling of being gently tickled was sweet. The hands that were sweeping her waist were so affectionate that a dizzying sound came out of her mouth without her knowing. It was a round kiss, completely different from the previous passionate kisses.
“I have something to tell you.”
Shan said, planting short kisses on Elze's face.
“I felt like I had to tell you right now.”
And the story Shan brought out was none other than his past.
Elze was surprised by the unexpected story about the past, but Shan began to speak dryly as if he were telling her the story of a complete stranger.
“If it’s common, then it’s a common story.”
The story begins with Shan suddenly becoming an orphan one day. Shan moved from one relative to another, and was looked down upon wherever he went, called the devil's child who had eaten his parents.
And then, as he was wandering from relative to relative, a rape occurred at one place...
The story continued about the days when he struggled in despair, fell to pieces, and cried, but no one reached out to him.
He was infinitely calm when he spoke of the moment when he gave up everything. He quietly recited the fact that he had been pushed to his limit and destroyed himself, leaving an empty shell filled with nothing but emptiness and anger.
“It’s the perfect past history to buy cheap sympathy.”
Shan cut off the end of his story in a sarcastic tone. Elze spoke only after a long time had passed since he had finished his story.
“Why...”
It was such a miserable story that it made Elze's heartache as she listened to it. But Shan, who was telling it, was incredibly calm.
“Why do you talk like it’s someone else’s business?”
Shan answered Elze's question as if it was nothing.
“Because it’s in the past. It was covered up.”
“...”
Shan's answer was, as expected, dry. The dry answer was so brittle that it seemed as if it would crumble into dust at any moment. Elze hesitated and then asked him what she had been wanting to ask him for a while.
“Then why... did you fall in love with me?”
Elze was curious. Shan was the one who had cursed all women. She was a demon who had grown by trampling on their lust and obsession for him and feeding off their sorrow.
But it wasn't like that for Elze. He always whispered his love and cherished her. Elze wanted to know what was different about her from them. It was a question that came up after much thought, but Shan gave the answer very easily.
“Because you were the first person to do me a favor for no reason.”
Elze thought back to her first meeting with Shan. From then on, Elze had always done Shan a favor without any reward. No, it wasn't just a favor, since she saved his life.
Shan took off Elze's mask. The mask made of black lace hung limply in Shan's hands.
“All I’ve ever learned about women is how to ruin them.”
Shan crumpled it in his hands. The lace mask was torn apart and made a sound as if it was going to tear. Then it was thrown away somewhere in the darkness. Shan slowly stroked Elze's bare face, which was revealed, and said.
“But you were an exception in many ways. From beginning to end.”
He whispered, noses touching noses.
“My special someone.”
And he kissed Elze on the lips. His lips touched the tip of her chin, then slowly moved down along the line of her neck.
The lowered lips settled on the upper chest revealed between the deep neckline. Along with the chain of the hanging crystal necklace, the tongue slowly licked the chest. The feeling of the solid chain and the soft tongue mixed together, created a strange sensation.
Elze flinched her shoulders and tried to pull back, but at some point, Shann bit her lips hard and sucked her. A red mark appeared where his lips had bitten her.
The mark left on her chest, not covered by the dress, was a clear kiss mark that would make anyone blush. Shan looked at Elze with his eyes half-open. He smiled faintly and said.
“So don’t leave me.”
It was the sound of him throwing it away again. Elze, who was thinking about getting angry and telling him not to say that again, stopped when he whispered faintly after that.
“...Because I don’t know what I might do.”
Elze blinked and looked at him. Shan's mouth was smiling. But his eyes were not smiling.
“If even the unfortunate past that I hate to even mention can become a noose that holds your heart back even a little.”
In the curved eyes, the purple pupils held a dangerous light.
“I can say it over and over again.”
“...”
Elze couldn't say anything. She just stared at him frozen, and Shan shook his head slightly. Then he spoke in a brighter voice.
“Just let it pass as a passing remark. I was alone with my serious thoughts because you weren’t there.”
It was like trying to brush off the stories he had told her so far as if they were nothing. But how could that be? Elzecouldn't pretend that she had already heard something.
Shan, who felt somewhat angular, was not just created by falling from the sky. He was carved and torn through countless hardships to become the Shan Cirxus he is today.
That fact made her angry. She wanted to erase the past moments that made Shan like this. Elze clenched her fists and called out to him in a suppressed voice.
“...Shan.”
Shan looked at Elze's face in the serious atmosphere. Elze bit her lower lip to suppress her anger and then said.
“I don’t know about anything else.”
“Elze?”
Elze suppressed her anger and spoke in front of the puzzled Shan.
“That woman deserves a beating.”
"...”
Shan narrowed his eyes. He seemed to have no idea what Elze was talking about. Elze slowly chose the words in her head and spoke.
“The wife of the merchant who first... harassed you.”
The reason she softened it to the word 'harassed' was because she didn't dare to say the word 'rape' in front of Shan.
That woman was the beginning of all this. The filth of the very old past still covered Shan. It was a filth that would never go away until the source was dug up.
So she will definitely erase it. She will sweep it away and wipe it clean so that not a single stain will remain. Elze made a determined resolution.
“I will take revenge.”
But why? Even though Elze's words of swearing revenge were cold, Shan felt very happy when he heard them.
In the quiet summer night garden, Shan laughed for a long time. He laughed as if he had been putting off laughing for a very long time. He barely stopped laughing when Elze tapped him on the arm.
“Revenge, you really are...”
Shan ran his hand over her face, which was still bright with laughter. He shook his head a few times as if he had lost and muttered.
“Totally unpredictable.”
Then he smiled at Elze and said playfully.
“So you are good?”
It was a sudden confession.
Elze, who was caught off guard, blushed. Shan saw Elze's blushing face and began to laugh out loud again. Elze cooled her flushed cheeks by blowing wind with the fan she was holding, and then she pretended to look angry at Shan and said.
“I was very serious.”
“I know. You were serious.”
But Shan, who was answering, was not at all serious. Elze, who was glancing at him, suddenly opened her eyes wide as a thought occurred to her and asked.
“No way... you’ve already done it?”
Now that she thinks about it, it seems like Shan's personality wouldn't have left that woman alone. Her limbs had already been torn off a long time ago, and she might have become food for some fish in some ocean. However, Shan gave an answer that was completely different from what Elze had expected.
“No, I never even looked for that woman.”
“Why?”
Elze asked in surprise, but Shan answered as if it was nothing.
“It’s evidence of a past I don’t want to remember. I chose to forget it instead of taking revenge.”
“...”
Shan kept saying it was nothing. But Elze could tell. It was resignation. Resignation that he didn't want to look back on the miserable past, so he just covered it up and whispered to himself that it was okay.
But that was also Shan's choice. If Shan didn't want it, she didn't want to touch up the old past. Just a moment ago, she was thinking about how to chew that woman out, but he was going in the direction of just letting her go. Shan heard muttering next to her.
“But it feels good when you say it like that.”
Then Shan got up from the bench and held out his hand to Elze. It looked as if he was asking her to dance. Elze grabbed his hand and got up after him. Shan kissed the back of Elze's hand that he was holding and said,
“Because you want to do something for me.”
Does this mean that I can take revenge, or that I should just stay still? Elze, who was thinking hard, finally asked him outright.
“I don’t quite understand, but... Are you saying it’s okay for me to take revenge, right?”
But when Elze asked seriously, Shan burst out laughing again. Only after Elze heard him laugh for a long time was she finally able to get an answer that said,
“Do whatever you want.”
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