Charten Tortmund spotted Meria Su at a glance at the debut ceremony.
Unlike his close friend Earei, he had a broad field of vision; he could tell where the master he harbored a one-sided love for was, even with his eyes closed, simply by the scent carried on the wind.
It was rare to see that Meria Su in a dress.
Her body, wrapped in a green dress symbolizing death yet to come, was sensual, drawing the gazes of many men.
Charten knew full well just how many firm muscles occupied that body.
He had actually touched her before.
Meria had her disciple Earei do chores, and made Charten give her massages.
It was not out of any ulterior motive; she didn't see Charten as a man at all, and of course, not Earei either.
After Charten's hands began to harbor dark desire, Meria beat him thoroughly and demoted him to permanent mess duty.
This was all before the rebellion with Seorin and Earei.
*How dull.*
He already had a rough idea of the professors' identities and positions.
Meria Su, quietly watching Ortega's faction entry combat test, was the Martial Arts professor.
The one who had engaged in a heated, if contentious, debate with Ursel Puyol regarding the current economic direction, Paranggrin, was the Strategy and Economics professor.
The brown-haired middle-aged widow who fixed Shuren's tie, Rothe Shurazm, was the Liberal Arts and Survival professor.
He had been able to recognize them because he had fought alongside them during the rebellion and knew their levels and faces.
And the last professor had followed the beauty in black mourning clothes who had been teased by Shuren and run out crying earlier.
Had she said Bashport?
Charten, who had crossed swords directly with Ellaion, frankly found it uncomfortable.
To think that Neras Mun was present as Bashport's guardian.
The union of two families standing at opposite extremes of the rebellion felt quite alien to Charten, yet also like some kind of omen.
Even aside from that, the hidden young lady of Bashport gave Charten a strangely familiar feeling.
Because of that, Charten didn't fawn over Meria Su as usual and instead wasted time agonizing over whose presence that feeling reminded him of.
*It felt quite nostalgic…*
A girl with porcelain-doll-like clean skin, beautiful features, and lovely black hair, even demure—she was a textbook example of a lady.
*It wasn't simply because she's a beauty that my eyes were drawn.*
If that were the case, there should have been at least a hint of the same fluttering feeling he got when looking at Meria Su.
Above all, Charten had not the slightest desire to end his long one-sided love without gain.
Therefore, it wasn't out of sexual attraction that he was concerned about the young lady in mourning clothes.
*Where have I seen her before?*
Most of his connections had been forged in times of war.
Because of Seorin, who arbitrarily kept Earei by her side and wielded him, Charten had often had to step up to lead in important positions, resulting in connections formed haphazardly.
*Come to think of it, that Earei hasn't shown up at the social ball. Neither has the king.*
Even the letters they had exchanged right after the wedding had stopped.
He had assumed it was because their newlywed life was enjoyable, but seeing Seorin take a second and third husband from great families less than a week after marrying Earei, Charten felt something off.
Something had gone wrong.
Three husbands.
Especially for Earei, who was devoted and steadfast in his loyalty—he must have had not just his heart but his very soul torn apart by the shock.
Charten snickered internally, playfully teasing his friend.
Meria Su, seeing the uncharacteristic languid interest in his eyes, felt quite displeased.
*He isn't even talking to me.*
That Charten.
The Charten who would die without her.
And today of all days, she had gone through the trouble of wearing a dress.
A dress imbued with green, the color symbolizing her own family lineage mixed with fairy blood, at that!
Meria Su had believed that this time, she would make up with Charten, who had grown distant due to their argument over Earei's married life.
But from the start, Charten only threw her a brief glance before thoroughly scanning the young ladies attending the debut ceremony.
Especially, the gaze he sent to the Bashport young lady in gloomy black mourning clothes was particularly different.
*Hah, what is with that girl?*
Strange fashion sense, wearing mourning clothes that wrapped up to her neck yet clung tight showing her curves, and the bizarre act of bringing bread as party supplies despite bearing the Bashport name.
Yet also the pitifulness of quietly shedding tears at Shuren's teasing.
To all the women, including Meria Su, it looked like affectation and vixenish behavior.
So even though Shuren's actions went too far, quite a few young ladies rationalized his behavior.
Above all, Charten's gaze lingered on her eight seconds longer than it had on Meria herself.
It was humiliating, and it gave Meria, who had thought reconciliation would be easy, a great dizzying shock.
*Damn it, why did I…*
To fall for a disciple.
And with such a classic method as "there's no tree that won't fall after ten strikes."
It was still the same now.
She felt empty without the fellow who had always chattered by her side.
The scarier thing was that she still hadn't gotten used to this emptiness even after three years.
Meria Su, who had only intensely felt the absence after her noisy disciple disappeared following their argument, had no idea how much she had waited for this day.
But to see it turn out like this.
It was a shock.
It had been shocking when Charten had exploded in anger after she sneered that perhaps the queen took two new husbands because Earei was too weak; and it was shocking that even at the debut ceremony, Charten held another woman in his eyes longer.
Her mood plummeted straight to the bottom.
"Waiter, wine."
She received a wine glass from a passing waiter.
Swirling the glass filled with red, brilliant liquid, Meria Su pondered how things had come to this.
The conclusion was one.
It was because of Earei.
Charten cherished Earei as much as he loved her.
Having grown together like weeds relying on each other through an unfortunate past, they were like brothers—naturally, they were special.
So when he had confided his worries about Earei's situation to the woman he loved that much and was disregarded, he had flown into a rage.
Meria acknowledged that her assessment at the time had been correct but her expression crude.
After that, every year, Meria attended every event, official or unofficial, waiting for Earei to show himself.
Charten had done the same.
If she confirmed Earei's recent appearance, she would use it as a pretext to talk to him… no, that would hurt her pride.
Anyway, Charten would approach her on his own.
When he approached, she planned to accept him moderately, lightly apologize for her indifference that day, and accept him as if she couldn't help it.
Not even a lover, but as his mate, no less.
Charten Tortmund needed to know that he was a lucky man.
The young lady of a family with fairy blood, mad for the sword, a maiden who had never even held hands with a man until this age, was planning to fully accept him.
If he knew that, he should immediately kneel on one knee and propose to her.
He had to.
Charten had a duty to take responsibility for making her feel this way and accept his punishment.
So he had to….
*This is hopeless, damn it!*
He had to, but of course, neither Seorin nor Earei showed up at the social debut ball.
Therefore, Charten didn't even speak to her, who had dressed up to the nines, and on top of that, he looked at another woman longer.
There was no greater humiliation than for one in the position of master to be begging for affection from her disciple.
She brought the glass to her lips to shake off her gloom.
Tap.
"Urp?!"
At that very moment, someone bumped her hand, causing wine to spill down her mouth and chest.
The surrounding nobles, bewildered, inched away from Meria Su.
"Lady Dervek! Let's have a match with me!"
"Ah? You dare challenge my axe with such a tiny hatchet?"
The nobleman who had brushed past Meria with his shoulder raised an axe in each hand and pointed it at Ortega.
"Is size what matters? What matters is how sharp the blade is!"
"Huhahahahat! You have a point!"
Laughing heartily and taking a stance, before Ortega, Meria Su stood in his way holding a halberd.
"Hm? You are?"
"Hey, you bastard."
Ignoring Ortega, Meria pointed the tip of her halberd at the man.
"If you bump into someone, you should apologize."
"My, I've been rude to a lady. You look like a warrior, but I've already made an appointment with Lady Dervek—"
Thud.
"Hng…?"
"You put your weapon down, so why so much chatter."
Meria's movement was seen as an afterimage even by Ortega.
Having stabbed the man in the side with her halberd, Meria easily pulled the tip back out.
Charten was looking this way with surprised eyes.
Meria realized she had run out without wiping the wine off.
Wine was flowing down her mouth and chest like blood.
She was annoyed.
"You! Such outstanding skill, but to attack without even revealing your name?!"
She brought the blade of her halberd down on Ortega too, who was trying to rebuke her.
She blocked with her axe, but the monstrous force made Lady Dervek do no more than kneel and desperately endure.
"Krrrgh…!"
Pressing down with the flat of the axe blade itself, she drove Ortega to the verge of being crushed to death.
People were astonished to see Ortega drooling as she barely held it back.
*She holds up pretty well.*
Meria came up with the idea that if she crippled her like this, she could serve as a good warning to Dervek in Earei's stead.
But that idea was dismissed when a spear strike flying from behind was blocked.
"What do you think you're doing? Tortmund?"
Meria Su asked sharply of Charten, who had finally stepped in.
Charten shrugged his shoulders with a sigh.
"Aren't you taking it too seriously against kids?"
"Would you like to join me?"
Let's dance a sword dance for the first time in a while, sweating stickier than ever.
But Charten shook his head.
"I'm not feeling well today."
Her heated body cooled bitterly.
Meria Su decided to end the joke.
"You brats, good-for-nothing disciples."
As Meria growled, lowering her halberd, the professors gathered around her one by one.
"Allow me to introduce. I am Meria Su, your Martial Arts professor."
"Strategy and Economics professor, Paranggrin."
"Liberal Arts and Survival professor, Rothe Shurazm."
Though one professor was missing, Meria deemed the introduction roughly done and shook off the blood on her halberd.
"You insolent things, playing around amongst yourselves without a single greeting to your teachers."
She pushed aside the man she had stabbed earlier with the side of her halberd, but those words were in truth directed at Charten.
"The party is over."
Charten too understood this and wore an *oops* expression.
What was with that expression?
Had he truly not had me in his sights this whole time?
"All of you, get lost to your rooms!!!!!!!!!"
For reference, Earei had evaluated it this way.
Demetrix Virensha had a filthy temper and was powerful accordingly, but Meria Su had a dog-like temper and was insanely strong.
So he had even advised Charten to reconsider that one-sided love.
*Earei, I think I really should.*
Charten, having no idea why Meria was angry, was the first to move his feet and leave the banquet hall; seeing that, Meria swung her halberd in even greater fury and drove all the students out.