Getting Married Without My Badge

Noah had a fever since morning and her body shuddered.

Adding to what she had done in a flash, she was suffering from body aches that had come for the first time in several years.

Ami once cursed her and Leto for not suffering, and she was right.

“Sister…”

Clare, who had finished preparing for school, rushed into the room.

“Are you in a lot of pain? You can’t go to work?”

Her little hand rested slowly on Noah’s forehead.

“It’s hot…”

Clare cried.

She was terrified to see her face hot from the heat and her sister shivering from the cold even though she was covered with a thick blanket.

Noah, who had such a cute little sister, pulled her finger out of the blanket. Then she tapped Clare’s plump cheeks.

“Why? Worried about me not making money?”

“Yes.”

“…”

“I’m joking, sister.”

“Yeah, honestly, I almost cried.”

After the shrill laugh, Noah let out a sigh, her body shuddering once more.

“Oh my, sister! Sister, why are you like this?”

Surprised, Clare continued to cry.

“Hey, don’t die!”

“Don’t say something stupid…”

Trying to comfort Clare, Noah felt her energy drain even more.

“Miss.”

At that moment, Ash appeared like a savior.

“You have to go to school now.”

“I can’t go to school today! I have to take care of my sister. This is how she dies!”

“Ash, take her out quickly…”

“Did you hear? Seeing the little master open her mouth, she’s still fine. She’s not ready to die.”

“Is there no one on my side in this house…?”

Ash managed to take Clare, who was stubborn, out of the room.

“Take your medicine. Oh, did you contact the navy?”

“…”

“…I’ll do it.”

“Okay.”

There were a lot more things she wanted to say, but Ash reluctantly closed the door and left the room.

Noah, who was left alone, closed her eyes and dug further into the blanket.

Perhaps because of the quiet environment, the ambient noise was exceptionally clearer than usual.

The voices of Clare and Ash were heard through the door, the second hand of the clock in her room was moving, and the chirping sound of a mountain bird could be heard.

And a familiar car engine sound.

The moment she reflexively recalled whose car it was…

“…For what reason did you come?”

Noah asked with a blunt voice to the visitor who immediately appeared.

“I got permission to come in.”

Leto furrowed the corners of his lips.

“The head of the house doesn’t remember giving permission…”

“The head of this house is Miss Clare.”

“…”

Noah’s eyes, which had sunk helplessly, twitched.

It was more surprising that he didn’t call her ‘sister-in-law’ as usual, than Clare allowing Leto into Noah’s room.

Having read the thought, Leto sat down on the bed.

“I’m sensible too.”

“You should have taken care of it earlier then.”

“I know.”

His face was not visible because he turned his back, but Noah knew what expression Leto had.

“You’ll notice it early…”

It was a late confession.

“…Therefore.”

Noah’s voice, exhausted from the heat, was not as strong as it had been yesterday.

“Why are you here?”

“Aren’t you going to kick me out?”

“If the head of the household has allowed it, I have no right to expel you.”

“Miss Clare is the strongest.”

Leto remembered the confident little girl who was glaring at him a while ago and threatening him.

“Is it because of you that my sister is sick? Do you want me to get mad?”

“Miss, don’t look at the dirty things. Throw your eyes away.”

“Ash, don’t hold me! You will see blood today!”

“Aren’t you holding me though?”

“…Hold on. Don’t think I’m letting you off the hook just because of this!”

For a moment, he almost burst out laughing, but after barely holding it in and asking for forgiveness, he was allowed to enter Noah’s room.

“There will never be a little girl that adorable.”

“My little sister is originally lovely…”

“When I see Miss Clare, I imagine your childhood a little bit.”

She was a sister with a big age gap. Before her younger sister was born, it seemed that she had grown up with a lot of love from her parents.

“Were you that cute too?”

“I…”

Following those words, Noah thought about her childhood for a moment.

“…Why did you come here?”

But the recall of memories ended quickly.

“Well.”

Leto didn’t even mention the strange gap he had felt a while ago.

“I don’t think you would believe it even if I said that I came to visit because I was worried about the subordinate I love and cherish.”

“Did you come to say you love me now?”

That’s an excuse to see your subordinate.

It was a very bad trick.

Noah did not hide her displeasure, and Leto did not deny it either.

“You’re pathetic.”

“It’s nice to know.”

Frustrated, Noah pulled the blanket up to the tip of her nose. Still, she wanted to keep her eyes on Leto’s head as he sat with his back turned, so she lowered the blanket slightly.

Just in time, Leto turned his face around.

“…Did you cry?”

“I didn’t cry.”

Even with that, Leto’s eyes were red.

“I just stayed up all night.”

“Are you here to blame me?”

“You know, um, right?”

Leto smiled softly and looked around the room for a moment.

When he first entered Noah’s room, it was completely different from what he had imagined.

Small props that looked like playing house toys were displayed here and there, and unorganized books were scattered around the bookshelf.

Maybe she wasn’t good at tidying up, and in the corner were piles of magazines that she had finished reading.

At first glance, the desk was pretty messy. The blanket that was hung on the chair was also a bit dirty.

‘You’re not good at organizing.’

A room that does not overlap with the Noah he knows.

However, thanks to that, Leto had a great realization.

“…If you had asked, I would have told you.”

The day they came back from Marai School.

“You are always honest, upright, and beautiful.”

“I’ve heard it before.”

“That’s why you’re being so foolish.”

“You know?”

“Then you don’t know?”

The two repeated the conversation of the day once more.

Only one thing has changed.

“…I’m here to apologize.”

Leto began his belated confession.

“Major General Francis was trying to use you to keep me in check.”

“Is that why soldiers who are promoted to military rank are temporarily assigned to the military headquarters?”

“You knew it too.”

‘You didn’t tell me, so I figured it out.’

Noah only grumbled inwardly. She didn’t have the energy to refute because she was sick, and she didn’t have the will to do that because she vomited her heart out yesterday. Read only at pm tl.

Leto continued the story.

“He had been embezzling military funds for quite some time. Even secretly contacting the imperial broker.”

The same was true of the private ship smuggling plan.

“They tried to blame me for their sins through you. Originally, you would have been promoted to major. It was almost certain.”

Leto praised Noah’s performance.

“So, was that why you interfered with your promotion?”

“There’s that too…”

“…”

Leto meekly confessed that he was selfish in hindering his promotion.

It was then that Noah’s sharp eyes relaxed.

“Did you take the sword on purpose?”

When you are promoted to the rank of lieutenant, the country will award you with a ceremonial sword.

If Noah had been promoted as expected, she would have gotten the sword that should have been given, and what Leto did was take it away.

“You were strangely greedy for that sword.”

It was as if he had stolen something to get the attention of a child.

“It’s so trivial and mean, right?”

“…”

“It’s tragic.”

Leto placed his interlaced hands on his knees.

“…”

But it took a moment for him to speak again.

“…Dirt.”

Leto asked softly.

“Did you ever eat dirt?”

“…”

Instead of answering, Noah sat up. Then Leto quickly grabbed the upper body that stumbled backwards.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah, yes…”

“Do you want me to lay you down again?”

“No, get me up…”

With Leto’s help, Noah sat and leaned on the back of the bed.

“Is it that surprising?”

Unlike Noah’s embarrassing expression, Leto was aloof.

“Should I not continue?”

“If you don’t talk, we’ll really break up.”

Leto smiled at the mischievous warning. It was nice to see Noah speaking to him again casually.

“I starved a lot.”

And he started telling his story.

“Because my father didn’t think I was enough.”

He was a person who valued the attention of the world. So he even resorted to tricks to prevent him from appearing in the world.

“… But my mother was kind.”

Until she died.

“It was the prelude to misfortune that she met him, who was a man in charge. Now that I think about it, it was a motherly ending.”

“…”

“Still, I don’t resent my mother. She was the one who whispered to me that she loved me right before she died.”

But the love of the dead did not save the rest of the child’s life.

“So I ran away.”

It was fortunate that he managed to escape from his father’s surveillance, but the problem was next.

“I won’t go into detail.”

Because the life of a child wandering the streets alone was there.

Sleeping trembling in the open air, violence and extortion disguised as the territoriality of those who had already taken control of the back alleys were no big deal.

The real pain was hunger.

If he couldn’t get bread from the trash can, he would go up to the mountain and dig up unknown plant roots and eat it.

And if not even that.

“…Dirt is not food.”

If the Marquis of Oceanus, who was searching the area at the right time, had not found him, he would have been really dead.

“I was afraid.”

The dirt that was gripped with dry hands.

She said she loved him, but she left him.

The father who thought he was not enough.

The shock from his childhood, which he thought was no big deal, left a cruel scar, and Leto saw his scar in a really unexpected situation.

When he saw dirt roads, he felt nauseous. He avoided walking around late at night, and became a coward who couldn’t even tell his true feelings to his loved ones.

“That’s why I joined the Navy. I wanted to work where I could see as little dirt as possible.”

“…”

“It’s fine now.”

Still, he laughed softly, saying that training on the sandy beach is still not worth it.

But Noah couldn’t laugh along.

“…The excuses end here.”

The rare confession without permission is over.

“You can kick me now.”

Leto still smiled at Noah, who had only him in her eyes.

Noah’s blue eyes trembled slightly.

“Son of a bitch.”