episode_0098

“What’s wrong?”

Lia asked, looking at Oberon, who had a slightly anxious expression.

Oberon hesitated for a moment.

‘······I can’t say that the prisoner tied up over there looks like my wife.’ He needed a plausible excuse.

“It’s just that seeing another elf in this distant foreign land is quite amazing.”

It was not a strange excuse.

It was also as natural as possible.

“That’s true. I’ve never seen an elf except for you, Oberon. And a prisoner on top of that, that’s a first.”

“I suppose.”

Honestly, Oberon was secretly hoping that it wasn’t Natasha.

If it were really Natasha, he didn’t think she would accept such an absurd demand.

‘······It’s absurd.’

The Natasha that Oberon remembered was by no means a weak woman.

So there was no way she wouldn’t resist such an absurd demand.

Even now, he couldn’t shake the thought that it was just someone who looked similar. This thought didn’t stop until the prisoner went up to the punishment platform.

But he kept getting more anxious.

The closer he got, the more familiar the back view became.

Familiar blonde hair and a somehow familiar appearance.

It was similar except that her skin was a little rough and severely wounded.

On top of that, the groans and screams that sounded similar every time the whip moved.

It was very similar to Natasha in some ways. Of course, it had been a while since he had heard it, so Natasha’s voice was quite faint.

But even considering that, the feeling that it was somehow similar didn’t change. And quite a long time had passed since he had met Natasha.

He came to Aman with Natasha. What are the odds that an elf resembling Natasha would be accidentally captured as a prisoner and publicly punished there?

No matter how he thought about it, it was almost zero.

In the end, he wanted to keep believing it wasn’t her, but what kept popping into his head was the speculation that the elf had to be Natasha.

It wasn’t even speculation anymore.

It was already close to resignation.

‘······Natasha, alone here.’

Regret and remorse washed over him for Natasha, who had been fighting alone until now, and that he could no longer stand proudly before her.

Before he knew it, his turn was near. He was next in line, except for the person right in front of him.

That meant that he was getting closer to the elf presumed to be Natasha, but in other words, it also meant that he could observe the reaction of the elf presumed to be Natasha more closely.

“Hoo, hoo. I never thought I would see an elf in real life.”

Oberon’s gaze moved to the man in front of him.

The man’s condition was somehow strange.

He wasn’t usually one to say things about others, but even if he didn’t consider that, he was in a state that could really be considered the worst.

He was so fat, and he was sweating so profusely that his clothes were wet.

In addition, the sound of him constantly huffing and puffing while looking at the near-naked elf in front of him was very annoying to his ears.

‘Filthy human, acting like a horny dog.’

No matter how he looked at it, he didn’t look good.

As expected, the man started making unpleasant noises as soon as he received the whip.

“Haa, haa. I can punish an elf myself.”

He strongly wanted to punch him in the face right away. But he shouldn’t do that.

There was no reason to cause an unnecessary accident.

He would just quietly wait his turn.

***

Crack.

“Aaaaargh!!”

With the man’s hand movements, the whip flashed and moved.

The whip immediately struck the bound elf’s white back.

A red line of blood vessels bursting remained along with the pain.

Just looking at it made him feel quite painful.

‘I can’t bear to watch.’

At least Oberon himself had no intention of doing that.

But even so, he had no chance to interfere with the person in the front.

He just watched intently.

‘How long is he going to keep doing that?’

It had already been over 5 minutes.

If he had been whipping for 5 minutes, he could have stopped him, but he didn’t.

In the end, all that remained were the scars on the prisoner’s back.

Of course, screams were heard every time a wound was created.

“Stop, next.”

Finally, it was over.

The man put down the whip with a very regretful look.

In his mind, he was just telling him to get lost.

As soon as his turn came, Oberon ran forward.

What he was curious about was the elf’s identity.

He hoped it wasn’t Natasha.

“Wait, direct contact is not allowed.”

As he approached, the guard blocked him.

“What are you doing?”

Oberon immediately glared at the guard.

“What? Who do you think you’re messing with!”

The guard immediately grabbed his weapon and tried to block Oberon.

But he had no choice but to cancel his actions right away.

It was because he saw the identification card that Lia was holding in the distance.

– The above person is recognized as an honorary noble of Aman.

‘······Honorary noble?’

The word honor wasn’t important. What was important was the word noble that followed.

The power of Aman’s nobles was very strong.

In addition, the emblem engraved at the bottom of the certificate was undoubtedly the imperial family’s emblem no matter how he looked at it.

Unless he was crazy enough to forge the imperial family’s emblem, the emblem engraved on that certificate was definitely the real one.

That meant that he should never stand against this man.

If he stood against him, he might be dragged away and killed at any time.

For that reason, the guard stood far away.

He didn’t want to be hated by the nobles for no reason.

Thanks to that, Oberon was able to get close to the elf’s side.

After quickly examining the elf’s face, Oberon couldn’t help but have a very stiff expression.

Her face was quite haggard and thin, but there was no problem recognizing who she was.

The moment he saw her face, he unknowingly called out her name.

“Natasha······.”

The face he had wanted to see so much, the face he had resented a little, but the moment he saw her face, those feelings completely disappeared.

Meanwhile, Natasha also turned her head to the voice calling her.

At the end of her gaze was Oberon.

Then she couldn’t help but shed tears.

“······Oberon.”

The two hadn’t said anything to each other in advance, but they shed tears the moment they saw each other.

It was truly a reunion of emotion.

But there was no way there wouldn’t be someone to interrupt the emotional reunion.

“Oberon-nim.”

At the faint voice that was heard, Natasha turned her head.

Of course, she couldn’t turn properly because she was bound by chains, and she only managed to grasp a rough appearance.

Even that was enough to know for sure that the subject was a woman.

“······What’s going on?”

It wasn’t just that there was a woman next to him. The woman who had just called him Oberon-nim immediately approached Oberon’s arms.

Just looking at that, it seemed like the two were already in a deep relationship.

Because of that, worry clouded Natasha’s face. Oberon wasn’t one to miss that.

“Wait a minute, Natasha, this is all a misunderstanding. This child is just a maid······.”

“Oberon-nim······. It’ll be difficult for me if you do this.”

“······What?”

“I came because you said you wanted to punish the prisoner, but if you do this, it becomes my responsibility.”

Lia was making a very sad expression.

In fact, she also knew.

That Oberon and Natasha had a pretty deep relationship.

But now was the time for her to perfectly carry out the work given to her.

Now was the only time to somehow separate the two and make Oberon swayed by her skirt.

‘If you succeed in seducing Oberon, I’ll make your family rich.’

Those were the words she still remembered.

For this, Lia had embraced Oberon.

“······Oberon-nim, please.”

Lia looked at Oberon with a more earnest look than ever before.

In her hand was the whip to punish the prisoner.

“Oberon, what are you talking about? No matter how I look at it, she’s not an ordinary maid.”

“Oberon-nim, we were good all this time. Please don’t abandon me like this.”

‘······.’

What should he do?

Oberon was in deeper thought than ever before.

The woman he loved.

Or the woman who recently made him realize love.

It was truly a difficult choice.

In the end, Oberon couldn’t choose anyone.

To be exact, he couldn’t choose on his own.

But unlike Natasha, who was tied up and still, Lia was different.

Lia came to Oberon and even hugged him.

“Oberon-nim, ignore that prisoner and go back to the palace with me.”

Words and actions had different effects.

He couldn’t beat Lia, who was appealing with actions, unlike Natasha, who was only persuading with words.

In the end, Oberon chose Lia.

Before he knew it, he was holding the whip that Lia had handed him.

“Oberon-nim, that’s it. It’ll be over with just a few more swings.”

On the other hand, Natasha’s reaction was sharp.

“Oberon! What are you doing! What are you trying to do!”