“No, I don’t want to know.
If you intend to put me in danger again, like last time.”
When Ilya coldly interrupted, Yusar responded.
"It's not that.
And I have no intention of putting you in danger."
“At least for now.”
At Ilya's sharp remark, Yusar smiled sarcastically.
“Elijah, I like that point about you.
So I was thinking that you and I would fit well together.”
At his words, Elia nodded in agreement.
“As a team, we're pretty decent.”
Then Yusar changed the subject.
“By the way, that's Axion, when he told Keisha that you took down the most monsters.
Doesn't it seem like he's finally starting to admit his defeat?”
That high-pride Axion?
Remembering Axion pushing her through the monsters during training, saying he would defeat her, she shook her head.
When she thought about how angry he would be at her again at the next training, she felt a headache.
“Well, on the contrary, he's probably grinding his teeth in his room right now.”
“Not in his room, but it looks like he is grinding his teeth in front of your room?”
"What?"
Yusar pointed with his eyes to where Axion was standing.
Axion was standing there.
Elijah's face froze.
Why is he here?
Axion, who saw her, approached with long strides.
A bandage was wrapped on the arm that had been bitten by the monster.
Axion, paying attention to her gaze, hid his arm behind his back.
“What's wrong?”
Is it reasonable that he came to vent his anger?
When she asked with a skeptical face, Axion remained silent instead of answering, and quickly motioned his eyes towards Yusar.
Yosar, who was quick-witted, bid farewell to Elijah.
“So, I'm going now.
See you tomorrow, Erhan.”
When his trace completely disappeared, Axion looked at her and opened his mouth.
“I have something to tell you.”
“What?
If you came to fight, then go.”
Even though she responded sharply, Axion still looked at her calmly without the slightest movement.
“Bet.”
Axion, who called her, continued his speech after taking a short breath.
“…I’m sorry for my rude behavior during today’s training.”
Hmm?
Did I hear wrong?
Elia looked at him with a confused face.
Axion looked serious.
“I sincerely apologize.”
You hadn't heard wrong.
However, he was not a completely immoral person.
“Okay.
I accept your apology.”
Ilia Axion replied.
Axion nodded then and was about to leave.
That seemed to be all he had to say.
“One moment.”
She called out to Ilya Axion who was about to leave, his eyes narrowed.
So, I also have this opportunity, let me emphasize it clearly.
“In return, I also have one request.”
"What is it?"
Axion asked sharply, and Illya opened her mouth after taking a deep breath.
“Axion, I have no desire to compete with you.
So, leave me alone.
Let’s focus on our training hard.”
She didn't want him to get angry and push her like he had today.
Then, a sneer appeared on his lips.
“You mean someone like me doesn't deserve to compete?”
He really doesn't understand.
“Ah… think whatever you want.”
Does he have a competition addiction or what?
Surrendering, as she opened the door to the room and headed in, he grabbed her arm.
She tried to shake it off, but his hard hand wouldn't let go of her.
"What do you do?"
Instead of answering, Axion pulled her body towards him.
The sound of their breathing was audible.
Following his handsome face that suddenly approached until it was very close to hers, Elijah's heart skipped a beat against her will.
“I told you what to do?”
His blue eyes sparkled sharply.
Unlike Yusar's approach, which had hidden intentions, his intentions could not be guessed at all.
“Bet.”
Axion called out to her.
“I'm going to be the best here.
No...”
His eyes twitched as he looked at her.
"I have to be the best.
It has to be that way."
In his beautiful blue eyes, there was great despair.
He looked like he was intent on something big, but at the same time, he seemed like he was standing on the edge of the abyss, so weak and fragile.
Elia was confused to see that sight, but she quickly turned her face and answered coldly.
“Whether you become the best here or not, I don't care.
Just don't bother me.”
She pushed Axion's arm forcefully, then opened the door of the room and quickly entered inside.
•
“What on earth is this?”
Even though she lay in bed, Elijah couldn't sleep for a while.
She couldn't forget Axion's face right before she entered the room.
This was a look you never saw in the original novel.
This makes sense, because in the original novel, he gained Keisha's trust and successfully rose through the ranks, earning the position of deputy unit commander.
Even if he was a rival to Yusar, who was the number two man, he was always the undisputed number one.
Why is Axion so obsessed with competing with her like this?
Is there a story that she who read the original novel did not know?
But even if that was the case, Elijah, who had to safely complete her military service without revealing her identity here, didn't have much time to care about it.
Anyway, didn't he get a happy ending with the heroine Lavinia later on?
“But it still worries me.”
Because of those frantically desperate eyes.
Seeing her, her heart skipped a beat for no reason.
She had seen eyes like these before.
“I wonder if that kid is okay.”
Elia muttered as if talking to herself.
Faded memories of the past floated to the surface of her memory.
•
Long before the memories of her previous life returned, when Elia was young, she accompanied her Baron father to the outskirts of the capital and stayed there for a few days.
The Baron repeatedly stressed to her never to reveal her name or place of residence to anyone else.
This region was extremely hostile to the Baron Province.
While the Baron was at work, she was walking alone in the outer city when she met a boy her own age on a bridge over a river.
He was a thin boy, with straw-colored hair, full of scars, and a shabby appearance.
The boy was climbing with difficulty on the parapet of the bridge over the river, staring into space.
When Elia approached and called out to him, the boy turned around.
His gray eyes, unfocused, held intense despair.
“What are you doing there?”
When I asked him, the child answered with a trembling voice:
“I want to die, but I'm afraid to jump.
I think I'm a coward.”
She hoped the boy wouldn't jump.
“Get down here.”
The boy hesitated and was unable to get down.
He was blind and could not see in front of him.
Elia helped him get off the bridge and then gently advised him:
"You did not fail to jump, you chose not to jump.
You chose life over death.
So, you are not a coward, you are a brave person."
Tears streamed from the boy's unfocused eyes.
She silently embraced the boy.
She wanted to comfort him.
The boy did not reveal his name or where he lives.
More precisely, he seemed very reluctant to reveal them.
His shabby appearance clearly indicated that he was a vagrant or beggar in the area.
He said he had been living under the bridge and starving for days.
In the following days, Elia would visit the same place at the same time, meet the boy, take care of him and provide him with food.
The boy asked her name, but she remembered the Baron's will and did not answer.
Elia loved the boy.
Her heart was beating for no reason whenever she went to the river bank to meet him.
They sat on the riverbank all day, talking about different things.
The boy said that despite being blind, his dream was to become a soldier.
Some units accepted vagrants or beggars.
The boy's choice to become a soldier even in a desperate unit seemed like his best option rather than begging.
Of course, a blind person cannot pass a military medical examination.
But Elia, instead of pointing out this fact, calmly listened to the boy's story.
Because his eyes may get better later.
Also on that day, after the boy finished talking about his dream, he looked at her with unfocused eyes, smiled sadly, and asked in an unsure voice:
“But can a wretched person like me really become a soldier?”
The boy's smile was extremely pathetic.
Elijah's heart ached.
She wanted to give courage to those who lacked confidence.
After deep thought, Illya placed a light kiss on the boy's mouth.
A light kiss was given.
In contrast to his ragged appearance, the boy's lips were surprisingly soft.
When her lips pulled away, the boy's gray eyes twitched and his face flushed.
Even though he couldn't see, he seemed to realize that her lips had touched his.
Elijah's face was also burning intensely.
While she was thinking that it was fortunate that the boy did not see her like that, she whispered in his ear:
“If your eyes improve, promise me that you will become very strong in the future and become an excellent soldier who can protect this empire and me.
You definitely can.”