# 8
"What…?"
The movement of the fork in Angelica's hand suddenly stopped as she turned to her steak.
At first, she thought she had heard wrong, as she had not expected there to be this much revulsion, even though she knew they feared it.
But…
“Even me, when I saw him for the first time, I almost fainted from shock! That prestige… for a moment, I thought I was one of the enemies.”
“Um, well, he was born and raised in the North.”
“Haha, indeed! It is impossible for him to bear having someone next to him.”
Soon, conversations about Hugo began to flow all over the table, without anyone trying to stop the first speaker, but on the contrary, they were adding to his talk.
“Oh, I've spent two years under him, and yet, I can't look him straight in the eye! His eyes suggest he's about to kill someone.”
“If only it were just his looks! His swordsmanship deserves respect, but… Ah, I can’t wait for him to be transferred to another unit.”
“He's a respectable person, but he's not someone you want to be around.”
Everyone agreed unanimously on this opinion, and Angelica had to suppress a sarcastic laugh that almost escaped her.
The young man sitting in front of her, from what she heard, was a new recruit, who graduated from the military academy with high grades and was directly assigned to the empire's first unit.
He clapped cheerfully whenever someone said something, and laughed loudly, which quickly revealed his character to her—someone who took pleasure in putting down others of a higher rank than himself.
But what was worse was not him, but the rest of the knights.
“You've been with him for more than a year, haven't you? And yet you keep up with this conversation? And you laugh?”
The words they made about his respect and swordsmanship were just a thin cover.
In essence, they feared him and wanted to get away from him.
“All this just because he is secretive and scary looking?”
-Hit!-
Angelica threw her fork on the table without hesitation, making a sharp scraping sound that suddenly cut through the noise of the room.
She looked across the table, and although she could not see clearly, they undoubtedly saw the ugly reflection of themselves in her eyes.
A dry smile appeared on her lips as she spoke:
“Did you know? The scar on his hand, he got it when he was nineteen on the battlefield.”
“What…? Suddenly, what is this talk—”
“There was a colleague next to him who lost his arm and his sword. Suddenly, the enemy attacked him with his sword. He did not have time to block the attack with a weapon, so he instinctively raised his hand to take the blow instead of his colleague. The result? His colleague survived.”
But he is, he's almost lost the use of his hand forever, and even now, he can't quite feel his pinky.
"As for the scar that runs from his neck to his chin, he got it when he was twenty-one, while trying to save another colleague—and it wasn't just a colleague, but a field doctor. Think about it, if that doctor had died, none of his soldiers would have been treated. So he decided to sacrifice himself for him."
When someone asked him what he would have done if he had died, he simply replied:
“When we go to war, we are prepared to die, so we have no regrets.”
"As for the prominent scar from his forehead to the bottom of his eye, it is due to the monsters he faced while protecting the northern borders of the empire. At that time, the reinforcements of the imperial knights were delayed, and he was forced to face the enemy alone."
At that time, his doctor told him that there was a high possibility that he would lose his sight in his right eye, but he miraculously survived, and his vision remained intact.
Angelica continued to tell the stories she knew about him, in a calm, measured voice, even though anger and bitterness were suffocating her inside.
“I learned all of this in just one day. But, of all of you, who have spent years by his side, do any of you know these stories? No, have any of you even thought to ask?”
There are always people like that—when it's hard for them to believe in someone's accomplishments, they simply deny them and try to tear them down.
“While Hugo was sacrificing his body to protect the empire and its people, what were you doing?”
Suddenly, silence prevailed, then the knights began waving their hands in confusion:
“No, Miss Angelica, that was not our intention at all...”
“We never tried to belittle him, ever!”
But there was one person who still did not understand the situation.
“Oh, I think your eyes are blinded, miss. If you had actually seen him, you would have thought just like us.”
“Hans! Shut up!”
"What?! What's wrong with what I said?"
The new young man, who came straight from the military academy, raised his voice defiantly, as if his words were indisputable logic.
Then, Angelica couldn't help but snicker.
“It seems that the academy's swordsmanship department doesn't teach ethics, right?”
“Huh? What? Even if you are a noble, this is unacceptable—”
“Ah, so it's okay to make fun of others, but you can't bear to have someone do the same to you? What a hypocrite!”
"What...? Hypocrite... what?"
“I mean, your morals aren't even worth an ant's hair!”
She slammed the table with both hands and got up angrily.
“So what? If I see, you would think like I do? Ha! That won’t happen, so mind your behavior.”
She pushed the annoying chair that was an obstacle under her foot forcefully, without realizing it, and the chair fell and the sound resounded in the place. The new guy in the group merely made muffled sounds, not daring to respond.
“…Angelica, let’s go.”
The first to move was Isabelle Cotton, who had been silent the entire time among the knights.
Angelica was about to reject her hand, but in the end she calmly leaned on it and left the dining room.
As soon as she moved away, she felt her anger rising again. Although she let out her anger, the feeling of anger was increasing instead of decreasing.
Isabelle tried to get her to get some fresh air, and slowly took her to her room.
Then, moments later, the door opened and the refreshing scent of mint filled the air, relieving the scent of the salty sea.
Angelica took a deep breath of the scent, then leaned toward Isabelle.
“...I'm sorry. Because of my behavior, you couldn't eat dinner properly.”
"No, there's no need to apologise. I wanted to go out too."
Her words didn't seem like a compliment.
Since Angelica couldn't see, her other senses became more acute, and she sensed Isabel's emotions keenly through her voice. Isabelle hated the knights who were inside.
"Thank you."
This thanks had a great effect in calming her anger.
Isabelle shook her head in embarrassment and took Angelica to bed.
“Have a good night, Angelica.”
“And you too, Isabelle.”
The simple dinner greeting ended, and the room fell silent.
“Ah…”
Angelica took a deep breath and threw herself onto the bed.
She felt like she needed a shower, but her body was exhausted. This was the first time she had taken out her anger like this on a group of people, so it was more difficult than she expected.
"Funny. Do they think I'll change my mind if I see Hugo?"
Anger still dominated her feelings more than anxiety about the future. She continued to think about the words Hans said, clenching her hands tightly.
“If they heard about my taste, they wouldn't be able to get up.”
Who is her favorite person? Of course it was Hugo Bernstein.
“My favorite is nicknamed the ‘Martial Ghost on the battlefield, who must drink blood to live’.”
And not only that.
Hugo Bernstein had scars on his body, though a few on his face as well.
“It is not surprising that he has a lot of scars on his body, because he is a challenging character.”
Although the hero in the novel, Cain Avendel, said he did not find him ugly.
These words increased the beauty of Hugo Bernstein's personality.
“I have preferred him over the Northern Duke for a long time, and I can assure you that Hugo will have the same scars, just like my favorite character Hugo.”
The scars were sure to make him look as majestic as the Northern Duke.
“People say things like that...”
I suddenly remembered the words that Hugo Bernstein had heard at the Academy, which were similar to what the knights had said about Hugo, as if they were some trivial joke.
“Ah, this bothers me.”
Although the scent of mint had somewhat alleviated her anger, the hot feelings resurfaced.
Angelica started walking outside.
After feeling around the walls, she grabbed the railing and headed out into the fresh air.
The cold wind was blowing her hair, and the sound of the waves was getting louder in her ears.
“This is better.”
She took a deep breath of the cold air and smiled slightly. Then, without realizing it, she muttered:
“I miss him.”
"from?"
"Yes!"
These quiet words reached her ear as if they were whispering inside her.
She trembled slightly, and when she tried to respond, two strong arms surrounded her from behind.
“Hugo!”
"Yes."
I was so happy when I heard his voice, I smiled automatically.
She wanted to ask him when he arrived and why he was late, but she chose another question.
“So, who is he?”
"What? What do you mean?"
“The person you were missing.”
She thought her whispers were very small, but he seemed to hear them.
Was his sense of hearing strong? I thought about this for a moment. Then, she decided to shut up.
“Who was that?”
"Who? The person who...that was...my first love."
Her throat suddenly went dry. Although she wanted to say “I was missing you,” she felt that those words would be too ridiculous.
She tried to justify her words by saying:
“Maybe because I'll never see him again. So, just, for a moment, I got into these thoughts...”
But the more I spoke, the more I felt the words intertwine. She wished she hadn't added anything else.
Hugo stopped to stare at her with determination, and although she was carrying feelings of hesitation, her lips opened to say:
“Who is he?”
“Yes? His name..?”
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