CH 2.6

CHAPTER 2: SPRING COMES TO EVERYONE (VI)

Part 023

It was the 42th day of summer. Midoc, the capital city of Laurentine, was not too hot in summer and not too cold in winter, but it was a sunny Friday, as if it were the middle of summer.  The commander had been shaking silently since morning. As soon as morning work began, a complaint was received from Marquis Talus, the head of the Supply Department.

The commander receiving the complaint will reviewed it before holding a military trial. After the accused defendant and the accusing plaintiff each put in evidence and defended themselves, the commander collects the opinions of five heads of departments and decided whether or not they were guilty and sentences were imposed. Normally, it was a big event that would have to happen at least in a fit of shock somewhere, but the commander seemed calm for the time being. Those who knew that the person who received the complaint was none other than the commander, that the new commander had been rejecting almost all documents throughout the season, and that the head of the supply department had been sending claim documents as if fighting spirit, so they silently suppressed the situation. She was watching. People came and went in and out of the office of the head of the Supply Department all day long, but even they did not make a loud noise.

After the usual morning routine, Adrian and Damian ate lunch together. Damian felt that the other people’s eyes on her and Adrian were different from yesterday, but she didn’t know the situation because she had been fighting numbers in the commander’s office all along after work. She was only pitying Adrian, saying that he was extraordinarily busy today. After lunch, Damian left the office for a pre-scheduled tour of the military. It was known that in the three field trips, interviews were conducted with heads of departments or working-level officials.

After completing the training period, newly selected administrators write down their desired department and are appointed accordingly. Field trips were regarded as quite important during the training period, as the conflict to preoccupy bright talent and the hope of being assigned to a department with connections were intertwined. However, the supply department, which took a direct hit, as well as the other three departments headed by aristocratic aristocrats, could not be operated normally in a cluttered atmosphere. After a 7th grade administrator gave a brief introduction to the official residence, he left, leaving the five trainees unattended and asking them to take a self-guided tour.

As soon as they met, Talus’ young lord, Mario, who was talking with a sad face, explained the situation to the rest of the classmates. The trainees, who could not move around in the chaotic atmosphere of the military, naturally moved to a quiet corner of the garden of the official residence. It was an ambiguous position between Mario, who calmed the atmosphere by constantly chattering, and the other classmates who were busy paying attention, but Demian thought that she should go back to the office as soon as possible after spending some time. The turbulent atmosphere continued, and Mario, impatient, approached Damian.

His face looked like it was stung by a poisonous wasp.

“Lady Ethart, haven’t you heard something in the Commander’s Office?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, young lord Talus.”

Damian looked at Mario, who looked down with a sad face, and answered.

She guessed that he was going to explode someday, and she was already aware of the atmosphere. But Damian, who had neither the duty nor the thought to tell him what she had heard and seen, decided to pretend not to know. Then Mario’s voice starts to get louder and louder.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. Don’t you know what nonsense the proud commander was talking about to frame my father!”

“If you are curious about the situation, you should ask the supply manager. Why are you doing this to me? Even if I heard something in the Commander’s Office, why should I tell you?”

Without batting an eye at the loud Mario, Damian looked up and answered. And Mario, who was more angry at Damian’s uncooperative attitude, began to ridicule and ridicule.

“Ha, look at this. Are you saying you’re going to side with the Commander now? After all, there was something more during the New Year’s banquet. Otherwise, would he have picked out just the young lady and treated her like that? It’s difficult to do this with the Commander on your back.”

“It’s the commander’s office, not anywhere else. Most of the conversations there are confidential. Don’t you know how disturbing the demands the young lord is making right now? If you’re worried about your father, go home and whine. Don’t do this in a public place.”

When Damian opened his eyes and answered him back, Talus’ young lord rolled his fists and began to tremble. The three other trainees only looked at the two and whispered, but did not step forward.

“Confidential? What did you bastards do there, so it’s a secret? Did you do something unspeakable?”

“Didn’t you also do some office work in your father’s office, the head of the distribution department? Didn’t they say that you and your father were doing something unspeakable? Oh my God, it’s embarrassing to speak about it.”

Damian turned her head slightly and furrowed her forehead. Had she had a fan, she would have held it wide open and covered her mouth. Mario’s momentum grew even tougher at her obviously mocking gesture.

“What kind of nonsense did he tell you about? How did he frame my father?”

Mario, who stretched out as feverishly, grabbed Damian by the collar. Damian’s small body staggered at the violent hand and was carried towards Mario. Damian’s face turned white with astonishment. Mario, who thought he had beaten her spirits, pushed his face close to Damian with a fishy grin.

“You say it when I treat you kindly, right? If I just tell you what I heard in the commander’s office, you won’t see anything worse, right?”

Damian looked straight at Mario with eyes that were blue with anger. Her body was half-raised, her tip-toe and her dangling crotch were dumbfounded. Damian groaned low as she poised to kick him up the groin.

“Your breath stinks, so clean your mouth.”

Mario’s absurd face stared for a while at Damian’s with an unexpected reaction-

“I see.”

She heard a familiar voice beside her, sorting out the situation. Mario immediately groaned and grabbed his side and rolled across the floor. Adrian, who hit Mario’s side with all his might, hugged and supported Damian’s staggering waist.

Damian, who centered her and looked up at Adrian, blinked and couldn’t speak, Adrian’s face colored with concern.

“Are you okay, Lady Damian?”

“Ah, yes. Commander. It’s okay.”

Mario, who had been rolling on the dirt floor for a while, staggered to his feet. His hair, which was still difficult to manage, was clumped here and there and even soiled, so it wasn’t his hair that would shoot up toward the sky. Although his face was red from anger and pain, he stood with his eyes wide open as he could not face Adrian directly. When the commander appeared on the subject of saying everything he couldn’t do to her and even holding her by the collar, Damian’s anger, which she had forgotten for a while, surged up with Adrian’s appearance.

Leaving Adrian, who had a worried face, Damian approached him and swung her right hand at Mario’s fist. There was a squeaking sound from the palm that went all the way to the back and then returned to full swing. Mario, who had been beaten hard enough to turn his face, blinked his eyes and tried to raise his hand, but as he took a step closer, Adrian noticed and gnashed his teeth.

“At least, the count’s daughter, you’ll regret today.”

Mario gritted his teeth and groaned, but Damian showed off her snort.

“What are you talking about, crazy guy? Tied up your hair.”

Then he turned around and walked out, followed by Adrian, who glared at Talus’ young lord heavily. Damian, who climbed the stairs confidently and arrived at the commandant’s office, was arranging his collar in front of the mirror and weeping. He held his breath and followed her and Adrian, who had been staring at Damian without knowing what to do, asked with full of concern.

“Are you okay, young lady?”

Damian, who had drooping eyebrows, looked back at Adrian with a dead face, and Adrian’s mouth, facing her face, was tight.

Adrian, who had been spending a leisurely afternoon after receiving the complaint after completing all the preparations in advance, approached the window at the call of Cale, who had been looking out the window for a hobby. Then, in a threatening mood, he spotted a madman approaching Damian. Before Cale could say anything, Adrian was shot out of the office. And in the garden where he arrived, he found her strangled by the madman.

It felt like the back of his head was on fire. What was the idea? He ran to the madman and put his fist into her side and looked at her, but her face turned white and she was trembling. As was the custom, he reached out for the scabbard. As he was about to bite his tongue after he had put down his sword, Damian strode forward and put the madman’s slap up coolly. Aiming perfectly for a perfect swing, he was mesmerized by the cool hitting sound for a while, but the madman started talking crazy. He made up his mind to immediately dispose of it and think about it later, but Damian’s sonorous voice made his body stiffen first.

‘What are you talking about, crazy guy? Tied up your hair.’

Such an elegant curse word. Adrian followed Damian with admiration in his heart, but his heart skipped a beat when he saw her cloudy face, which he thought was okay.

“The brooch seam is broken.”

With a teary face, she looked down at the brooch in her small palm. It was a brooch he gave to her at her coming-of-age ceremony. He thought it was pretty good at the time because it was a jewel the same color as her eyes, but did he give her a shabby one? Looking down at her, crying that this little thing of hers was ruined, Adrian barely swallowed the saliva welling up.

“I will present it again with something better, young lady.”

“No. I liked it, it’s just that I regret it. It was a gift, but I’m sorry I broke it.”

Adrian thought that for the first time in his life, he wanted to reach a woman. He wanted to hug her saggy shoulders, he thought very strongly. After he got to know Damian, he was surprised by his new feelings and emotions every moment, but this was the first time he had felt such an earnest and passionate urge. He couldn’t bear to stretch out his hand, and apologized as he clenched his fist.

“I’m sorry, young lady.”

“Why Commander?”

Adrian grievously said, clenching his teeth once more at Damian’s clear eyes looking up at her with round eyes.

“I should have taken better care of you to prevent this from happening.”

“Oh? What just happened had nothing to do with the commander. Thank you for your help.”

Looking at Damian, who smiled refreshingly and expressed her gratitude, somehow he felt impatient. He didn’t like it when she said it had nothing to do with him.

“No. It happened while you were helping me. I should have protected you.”

Adrian denied it with his serious face. Damian was embarrassed for nothing as she looked pensive on his face. She had another one, but she was nothing special. When she was caught by the collar, she was stunned for a moment, but she was in the military commander’s garden. It’s not her who has to worry about her afterlife, it’s the madman. Moreover, why did the person who helped her appear like her superman even though she didn’t call him, feel sorry for her?

“You don’t have to feel responsible, Commander. It’s a daily problem for me, and it’s something I have to solve. What about a nice punch like the one you gave him, Commander?”

Damian said with a bright smile, but Adrian’s face continued to be dark. Adrian, who had been silent for a moment without answering her joke, opened his mouth with his hard face.

“Please fellowship with me, Lady Damian.”