Chapter 4 – It’s Indecent, Captain! (Part 4)

“Ugh, and that scoundrel!”

“…….”

Lena began ranting about her ex-fiancé for the seventh time. He had cheated, and the woman he cheated with was pregnant.

The miserable breakup story she swore never to tell him flowed out once she got drunk.

Alhendore, unable to listen any longer, put down his glass right when she started her eighth rant.

“Ha, Lena.”

“……Ugh, are you sick of it? You’re sick of it, right?”

“……It’s not that.”

“What do you mean it’s not!”

Though he remained silent, Lena kept laughing and crying by herself.

“You don’t understand, Captain. What do you know!”

“What don’t I know?”

“Then, hic… what do you know?”

“…….”

She thrust her flushed, drunken face toward him. Alhendore, unusually quiet, stared closely at her as she drew nearer.

Her long eyelashes blinked repeatedly, hiding her green eyes like young sprouts. Her reddish eyes were not from what he had caused, which irritated him.

The heat of her breath was excessively warm. The fact that the warmth wasn’t his doing made him frown deeply.

Her sadness, everything about her, should all be mine.

Just then, she abruptly went silent.

“Lena?”

This clueless stray cat.

Alhendore gently patted Lena’s back. She didn’t move, perhaps falling asleep.

“If you’re going to sleep, go inside. There’s a small bedroom in the back. I can sleep on the sofa—.”

“Captain…”

“Yes?”

Lena, who had been blinking quietly, suddenly lifted her head. Feeling an ominous premonition, Alhendore grasped his glass unnecessarily.

“Captain, I… I think I’ll quit the Knight Order.”

“…What?”

His eyes widened. The golden ripple of his emotions, which had been trembling, suddenly stilled.

“You told me to go eat…”

Her pronunciation was slightly slurred from the alcohol, but Lena conveyed her thoughts clearly, one word at a time.

“I thought about it while eating. I think it’s time for me to get married.”

“Married, huh…”

His voice turned eerily calm as he repeated her words. The sound of his grinding teeth was faint, but heavily intoxicated Lena didn’t notice at all.

“Yes, married! I’m getting older too… Oh! I don’t mean to criticize you for not getting married until now, Captain…”

Alhendore momentarily forgot his anger and let out a hollow laugh.

How could she be so clueless even in this situation?

Her cluelessness seemed both bitter and endearing, showing just how much he was infatuated with her.

“…I didn’t miss the chance to marry. I chose not to.”

“Eh, same thing.”

“Ha, really.”

Alhendore laughed incredulously.

“Anyway! That’s not the important thing right now…”

“I know.”

“Whoever I marry… I don’t think they’d like me being so close to another man…”

Lena paused and then started to sob.

Was she thinking about that bastard? 

He was angry at the man who made her cry, but he was also pained by her thinking of another man in his presence.

The one in front of you is not him, but me. Even before, and long before that, it was always me by your side, not him.

“Sniff, I would have felt the same way!”

“…Did that fiancé say he didn’t like you because of that?”

“No, no, it has nothing to do with that jerk!”

“Doesn’t seem like it.”

She was talking about him, thinking about him, and reflecting on the wounds he gave her. She was thinking of not showing the same side to the next person she met.

‘And that next person can’t be me?’

The man in front of you doesn’t even cause a ripple in your heart?

“Anyway! That’s not the important thing…”

“Haa, okay.”

“I think I’ve been too selfish…”

“…”

Suddenly stopping, Lena looked dejected. Alhendore, who had been staring at her drooping head, sighed and spoke.

“…Indeed, you’re too selfish.”

Misunderstanding his words, Lena quickly lifted her head and raised a finger.

She thought he meant that her continuing to work in the Knight Order would indeed be a disservice to whoever she was to marry soon.

“Right? You think so too, right? Then I’ll start the handover-.”

“Lena Leshuriel.”

“Yes?”

“Where do you think you’re going?”

The word ‘handover’ tore away the last bit of reason he was holding onto. Alhendore, who cut her off, growled lowly.

Drunk and unable to discern things clearly, Lena blinked blankly.

“Huh? Didn’t you just say that my being in the Knight Order wouldn’t look good to the person I’m about to marry-.”

“When did I say that?”

“Just now…”

A twisted sneer appeared on his lips.

“Lena.”

“Yes?”

“Didn’t I tell you? From the moment you came back to me. No, from the beginning, you were always mine.”

“What?”

Not understanding his words, Lena dumbly moved her lips.

Regardless, Alhendore, who had been sitting on a single sofa, moved to sit on the long sofa where she was.

“Isn’t this bad guy better than that bad guy?”

He took a step closer to her and leaned in further.

His low, wavering voice and his eyes. The overflowing emotions couldn’t be contained anymore.

Emotions that had been suppressed and locked away for so long.

“You don’t have a fiancé to worry about anymore.”

Lena just blinked her eyes dumbly. The alcohol-addled thought process could not comprehend the meaning behind his words, leaving her frozen

“Lena Leshuriel.”

He took a step closer and met her gaze.

“How about formally dating me?”

Huh?

Why is this man suddenly like this? Is he teasing me? But the Captain was someone who didn’t know how to joke, being socially inept.

Lena answered before her brain could process it. Her expression stiffened awkwardly.

“I don’t want to.”

Sure, his face is nice to look at, but what’s the point? Everything else is terrible.

Having drunk several bottles of strong liquor, she wasn’t in her right mind and couldn’t pretend to be coy.

“Why?”

“Well… because you’re a wicked boss?”

“Ha.”

When she awkwardly avoided his eyes, Alhendore’s expression twisted.

“I don’t think I’ve given you that much work.”

His tone was almost joking, but his voice remained sticky.

“No?”

“Why? I only gave you as much work as you could handle. I did more of the work myself.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Strictly speaking, it was true.

Though there was a lot of work, it only took time because she wasn’t used to it, not because it was hard or difficult.

When she got stuck, he would tell her how to do it, so, well, maybe not? Thinking back, Lena got indignant.

“Who makes someone they like work so much!”

“I told you I didn’t make you work that much.”

“But you made me work overtime! I had to do extra hours almost every day, and there were plenty of days I couldn’t even go home!”

“I made sure to give you overtime pay. Generously, too. And I didn’t make you work that much. Only on the days you had plans with your fiancé…”

“…”

For the first time, Lena was at a loss for words. Maybe She had drunk too much.

Lena raised her eyebrows and glared at him. It was the moment he admitted he had been sabotaging her plans with her fiancé.

Though she didn’t say it directly, Alhendore, sensing her gaze, raised a white flag.

“That’s true, I admit it. But I couldn’t help it. Because I… I didn’t want to let you go. I wanted to see you longer.”

His golden eyes trembled slightly as he looked at her. Even hidden behind fluttering eyelashes, the uncontainable tremor left a long, lingering effect.

As if he was pouring out emotions he had wanted to express for a long time but had suppressed.

Looking into his eyes, her heart also fluttered uncontrollably. 

Had his trembling infected me? 

Their locked gazes refused to part.

Their eyes dug into each other persistently, intertwining secretly in the night air.

If it had been the usual Lena, she would have shouted to back off immediately at the strange sign, but her alcohol-soaked mind was still in a state of numbness. Moreover, the fiancé who would have spoken about ethics or whatever no longer existed.

“Lena.”

His voice, deep like an echo in a cave, blurred her already hazy thoughts.

“Lena Leshuriel.”

Alhendore slowly leaned in. His eyes were boiling with hot desire. His breath scattered with a slight tremor, as if trying to hide his urgency.

Lena, who had been staring at him, slowly closed her eyes as her vision narrowed to his eyes, his prominent nose, and his lips.

There was no permission, but there was also no rejection. His lips, coming closer, touched her soft lips.

Before she could even comprehend what was happening, his slightly dry lips brushed against hers briefly. Nevertheless, the tickling sensation lingered on her lips, leaving a trace of the contact.

‘Wh-what just happened!’

Her alcohol-fogged mind realized the situation a step too late. Lena, who opened her eyes in surprise, found herself locking eyes with him still at a close distance.

“Eek!”

Her heart pounded wildly, and her whole body trembled. The breath that reached her was hot.

Alhendore gently stroked her head. As his hand caressed her tense head, her delicate eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings before she slowly closed her eyes.

Perhaps because of fear of the unfamiliar sensation. Though the trembling remained within her, his gentle touch melted her frozen body warmly.

“This is really… hard to resist.”