Chapter 7

After a long silence, Ivanna spoke.

“Leader, you promised to marry me.”

Of course, it was a meaningless promise. However, Ivanna depended on Elje ever since Elje saved her. Ivanna lived with the belief that Elje was the best man in the world.

For Ivanna, Elje’s marriage to Shan Crixus was on par with the sky collapsing.

Ivanna absolutely wanted to stop Elje’s. Ivanna pulled her long coat open where she was hiding a glass bottle. Tarkan and Rafiné leaned back in fear. Ivanna asked in a gloomy voice.

“Have you been threatened? Shall I kill someone?”

“No, it’s not like that!”

Elje hurriedly calmed Ivanna down. If the wrong move was made, House Targayel would be ruined.

Unlike the stubborn Ivanna, Tarkan and Rafiné were slowly accepting the reality. Tarkan nodded seriously.

“Somehow…… you were very hesitant in the Battle of Shan-Elijah in front of Heglatan. Did you do that because there was something between you and Crixus?”

At Tarkan’s words, Ivanna widened her eyes and said.

“I thought it was because the leader didn’t want to go to Heglatan, but it was because of Shan Crixus?”

Ivanna regretted not throwing Shan to the Heglatan soldiers in the battle. Elje wasn’t sure where to begin in explaining everything. Rafiné, who was still thinking, opened his mouth.

“Leader, there seems to be something you haven’t explained to us yet.”

His calm voice silenced everyone.

“I’ve heard about Shan Crixus’s marriage but his partner……”

Rafiné said, looking at Elje.

“I’ve heard that it’s a Targayel.”

“……”

Elje felt that now was the time to reveal everything.

“I’m sorry I lied to you all this time.”

Elje sighed and confessed.

“Eljenès Targayel…… that’s my real name.”

Ivanna’s face paled and she called Elje in a quivering voice.

“Leader……”

There was no one who did not know of Targayel in the Valoir Empire. Everyone was confused by the series of shocking confessions, and Tarkan spoke boldly and brightly in the back.

“What, leader, you’re a noble lady? No wonder you were so elegant.”

“You idiot! Don’t you know Targayel?”

Ivanna criticized Tarkan, but he really didn’t seem to know. All he cared about was the sword.

Rafiné looked rather relieved now. As he watched from the side, Elje’s natural talent for swords was beyond common sense. Rafiné even suspected that Elje might not be human. But if Elje was a Targayel then that explained her talent for the sword.

“Targayel’s talent for the sword hasn’t ceased yet.”

Elje smiled vaguely at Rafiné’s words.

“That’s right. But you know, I……”

Rafiné knew what was hiding at the end of her fading words. He nodded heavily.

Elje was a woman and the fact that she had inherited the talent of the sword might make a mockery out of House Targayel. That’s why Elje hid her gender and her talent. Rafiné shook his head and said.

“If the fact that Elje of the Elijah mercenaries was a woman spreads, there will be a lot of problems to deal with.”

“I’m sure there will be, so it’s a secret.”

“Don’t worry. We’re the ones who would jump into a fire pit following the leader’s words.”

The four people continued their discussion. Ivanna said she would make a liquid bomb for Elje so if Crixus wanted to do something weird, she could secretly pour it in his wine glass.

Elje didn’t want to see Shan explode alive no matter how annoying he was, so she tried to dissuade Ivanna.

All the Elijah members didn’t think well of Shan. They all saw him on the battlefield and they did not consider him a normal human being. That’s why even though they knew about Elje’s situation, they wanted to stop this marriage if possible.

They ended up talking about the reason they gathered today. Elje wouldn’t be able to contact them often, but she promised to deliver news whenever she got the opportunity. Elijah took the first steps toward continuing activities without Elje. After the discussion, Rafiné told Elje with a serious expression.

“If you want to escape in the darkness of the night, please tell us anytime.”

Tarkan and Ivanna nodded in agreement. It was reassuring and funny at the same time so Elje stopped laughing.

*

Prince Raymond was planning a very grand wedding for Shan and Elje. The wedding ceremony at Targayel’s mansion was like a celebration of the end of a war.

Thanks to this, Elje was struggling with the wedding preparations. No matter how much the imperial family helped with the arrangements, in the end, the wedding was held at Targayel’s mansion, so as the bride and owner of the mansion, Elje spent her time busily preparing everything.

Astin, who heard the news a few days before the wedding, came home after taking a family vacation from school.

“Sister!”

As soon as Astin entered the mansion, he looked for Elje.

“Welcome, Astin!”

Unlike Elje, who greeted him happily, Astin cried in a tearful voice.

“Sister, marriage!”

In fact, no matter how good the deal seemed, in the end, Elje’s marriage was as if she were being sold to the war hero Shan Crixus to save the struggling Targayel family.

Because of this, Elje deliberately informed Astin about the wedding late. She didn’t want this to upset Astin and have it interfere with his studies. Of course, Astin blamed himself for Elje’s marriage.

“It’s because I don’t have the talent of the sword……”

“Astin.”

Elje grabbed his shoulders and said firmly.

“Stop.”

“……”

Astin looked at Elje with tearful eyes. Elje smiled softly at Astin instead of speaking, because a smile was enough. Elje’s smile was full of confidence in Astin.

“Sister……”

Elje took out a handkerchief and wiped Astin’s tears. He said with a determined face as the tip of his nose turned red from crying.

“This semester is a bit difficult because I missed a lot of classes, but I’ll definitely take the top spot.”

Elje stroked Astin’s hair because he was so cute and he blushed shyly. The two siblings sat in the drawing room and drank tea.

While talking about what had happened and drinking tea, it suddenly became noisy outside.

“……?”

As Elje tilted her head, the door of the drawing room burst open and the screams of the maid could be heard. When Elje saw the man coming in through the door, she stiffened as she held the teacup.

“I’m sorry to have come here so suddenly.”

The unexpected intruder was Shan.

Elje looked at him stupidly for a moment and slowly lowered the teacup to the table. The same was true of Astin, who was surprised by the sudden appearance of his future brother-in-law. Shan briefly asked Astin, who looked at him with bewildered eyes.

“Astin Targayel?”

“Yes, but……”

“……”

Shan was silent, but Elje knew why he came. Hearing the news that Astin was here, he must have come to check if he was Elje. It was clear that he rushed without even informing them of his visit in fear of Elje running away.

However, Astin was completely different from Elje. Astin was a typical civilian; he was thin and frail and he was wearing glasses.

Shan exhaled as he walked over and sat down next to Elje. Elje opened her eyes wide as Shan took the cup she had been drinking from and drank the tea.

“I’m thirsty.”

Elje only laughed at his words that were not much of an excuse. She asked him as he put down the cup.

“Why did you come here so suddenly?”

“I came because I wanted to see your face for a moment. I’ve seen your face.”

Shan got up from his seat. He came quickly and he was hurrying to leave just as fast. It was ridiculous to behave this way, but Shan took it even further. He smiled at Elje and shamelessly asked.

“How about seeing me off?”

Oh really…… Elje got up to see him off while scrunching up her face. She told Astin to wait in the drawing room for a while.

Shan and Elje walked through the corridor side by side. The hallway was empty. Compared to the spacious mansion, the number of employees was not much, so the mansion felt empty. In the middle of the quiet hallway, only their footsteps could be heard.

Elje glanced at Shan; she thought he was handsome even though he had a bad personality. She could see a raised nose and even though his soft hair fluttering in the wind was black, which she had seen tirelessly in Korea, Shan’s hair felt special.

His tanned skin caught her eyes. When Elje returned to her hometown, her skin quickly paled again, but his remained tanned.

After walking together for a while, Shan suddenly stopped and Elje stopped with him. As she turned to look at him, his hand shot out and wrapped around her waist.

“!!”

Elje took a breath and when she opened her eyes, Shan’s face was right in front of her nose. She felt his tight embrace as he grabbed her wrist fiercely so that she couldn’t escape.

He examined Elje’s hand and then looked at her again. Their eyes met and it made her heart start pounding. She saw herself in his eyes.

“Because the lady’s……”

His fingers touched the calluses on Elje’s hand.

“Your hands are rough, Lady Eljenès.”

Do you know everything now? Or is this just a stab in the dark?

At that moment, all kinds of thoughts ran through Elje’s mind. Depending on which situation it was, Elje’s actions would change accordingly.

However, based on his personality, if he had convinced himself that she was Elje, he would not have just asked her about it, he would have taken his sword out.

His purple eyes were staring at Elje. If she hesitated then he would probably find out the truth.

He touched Elje’s hand, and if he looked closely at the calluses then he would know they came from holding a sword. Elje withdrew her hand as naturally as possible and said while looking straight at him.

“It’s because House Targayel doesn’t have money.”

Shan’s eyes narrowed, however, Elje continued.

“I have to work, so my hands are rough.”

Shan laughed while still hugging her waist. His lips approached her ear; he whispered as he gently moved a strand of her hair with his hand.

“What happened?”

Elje flinched as she felt his breath on her ear. The parts of their bodies that were touching felt hot. Eventually, it became unbearable and Elje pushed his chest. Shan let her go and she stared at him as she said.

“I want to remind you that we’re still not married.”

He laughed and said something unexpected.

“Oh, you’re stronger than I thought.”

Elje turned away from him and straightened her crumpled up dress.

“You don’t have the right to handle me at will.”

“Not yet.”

“Not ever.”

Shan smiled at the remark; he was having fun watching Elje’s defiance. Shan smiled cheerfully.

“I’m looking forward to it, Lady Eljenès.”