My Desertion Would Be Faster Than Heros' Obsession-Chapter 61Vol 2. .2

"Winter, I'll give you the floor first."

Altair spoke in a solemn voice.

Winter furrowed his brows for a moment at Altair’s theatrics but ultimately let it slide—Altair always acted like this anyway.

"I think I've misunderstood Salvia all this time. She was weaker than I thought."

"Yeah."

"And I've realized something. No matter what, I..."

"Wait!"

Altair quickly cut Winter off and exchanged a glance with Yuri.

'Yuri, you remember, right?'

'Yeah.'

They both knew that while Winter was an elite in everything, he was utterly clueless when it came to relationships.

Back when Altair and Yuri had been sharing their embarrassing dating stories from home, Winter had said he had never loved anyone before.

"Holy hell, Winter. Why do you take dating so seriously?"

"Man, if you think you might like someone, just go for it. No need to overthink it."

That’s what Altair and Yuri had told him, but Winter had responded with:

"No. Love is when you feel like you could never love anyone else for the rest of your life. Only then..."

"Yeah, I’ve been living a completely messed-up love life. Just call me Trash-altair from now on."

Anyway, they were confident that deceiving Winter about his own feelings would be a piece of cake.

If their suspicions were correct and Winter had indeed fallen in love, there was a high chance he’d end up exposing himself and getting transferred. That was something they absolutely had to prevent.

...More than anything, though, they just really didn’t want to see their close friend all lovesick. It would be unbearable.

Thus, Altair and Yuri had made a pact—if Winter ever started talking about love, they would convince him otherwise.

Altair was the first to take the initiative, speaking in his usual casual tone.

"So you're planning to look out for her more~? We actually talked about that too! Honestly, you were basically already in her group, even if you wouldn’t admit it~."

"You should start looking after her like she’s your little sister now."

Ignoring them, Winter looked at them with firm resolve.

"No matter what, I..."

"Admiration for your junior?"

"A brotherly kind of care?"

But in the end, Winter said what everyone had been avoiding.

"I think I've fallen in love."

"NO! XX, I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN!"

"DAMN IT, I KNEW IT TOO!"

As the two of them groaned in agony, Winter glanced at them, clearly confused.

"Why are you both acting like this?"

"Because if you fall in love, it’s just... ugh, I don’t wanna see it."

"And because you’ll be so obvious about it, you’ll get thrown in the brig."

At that, Winter simply nodded as if reassuring them.

"You don’t need to worry about that. I'll follow military regulations."

...Altair was dumbfounded all over again.

"Wait...? You’re in love?"

"Yeah. But I can't break military law."

"Then you have no intention of making it work?"

"That’s something to think about after discharge."

"NO—Even if you want to make it work after discharge, you need to at least drop some hints here first!"

Altair pounded his chest in frustration.

"Dating isn’t an assassination mission, damn it! You can’t keep love a secret!"

"But I also can't break military law."

"Haa..."

Altair was left speechless, so this time, Yuri let out a deep sigh.

"Yeah... You really are a soldier to the bone... Just make it official and commit your whole life to the military already..."

From Yuri’s perspective, there was no way Salvia would ever notice what was going on in Winter’s head. Not now, not ever...

***

"I was completely wrong."

Winter had no choice but to admit his mistake.

He had completely misunderstood Salvia.

'Every single thing—I was wrong about all of it.'

He recalled the time when he had asked her about her past before enlisting. She had hesitated in silence before eventually answering that things had been better back then.

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"I just grew up in an orphanage, um... I had a pretty average upbringing. Well, anyway, it was better than here."

But when she had injured her arm and seemed unable to control her emotions, she had said she never wanted to go back. That this place was better.

"Compared to before enlisting, sniff... this is better. This is much better... So I'm never going back."

Perhaps, this time, it was Winter who had been too ignorant of the world.

He himself had been born to two hetero sapien parents, raised in a well-off family, and had followed a solid elite course in life.

And yet, even he knew how children of hetero sapien descent fared without guardians. He knew exactly what kind of treatment they received. There was no way Salvia had been happy in that orphanage.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

"Hetero sapien children without guardians are sometimes bound by dark sorcerers and used for their spells."

Winter had been the one to say those words himself. And yet, he had never thought to consider what Salvia's past must have been like. The realization made him feel like an idiot.

So in the end, Salvia hadn’t been bright and positive because she had grown up loved and cared for.

'Come to think of it, she said something like that before, too.'

"No matter how scary a person looks, there are far scarier things in this world."

That was what Salvia had said while looking him directly in the eye, utterly unafraid.

She wasn’t fearless. She had simply seen things far worse than what others feared.

'Far worse things...'

Winter turned those words over in his mind.

Once again, the image of Salvia crying uncontrollably, her arm injured, came back to him.

She had whined to Ishina as she wiped her tears away—something she had never once done in front of Winter.

He had thought they were casual with each other, but she had shown a level of closeness to Ishina that she had never shared with him. And from the way Ishina had reacted, it was clear she was used to Salvia acting that way.

'And then... those bruises on her shoulder...'

Bruises from repeated firearm training were normal, but the moment he saw them on her, Winter had felt his heart drop.

That was when he had completely realized.

Salvia had never been strong from the beginning.

She had simply needed to become strong to survive. And she had needed to pretend to be strong.

But in reality, she was nothing more than a fragile existence...

Realizing that brought an unfamiliar feeling.

He had always found it irritating when people around him lived their lives in a way that strayed from his standards. Yet, strangely enough, no matter what Salvia did, he didn’t think he would ever find it irritating.

Winter imagined a scenario where Salvia broke military law, even imperial law.

...And he still didn’t feel like stopping her.

'This is strange.'

Was it because he had come to understand that she had started out weak, yet kept pushing forward on her own will? That she was constantly fighting to live?

Winter tried to find a logical explanation for why he, of all people, wanted to just let her be.

'...Maybe I'm just making excuses.'

There was no way to rationalize it anymore.

Even though she had barged into his life and completely wrecked the principles he had established—

Instead of being bothered, he only wanted to keep watching her.

"...Trying to find a justification when I already know the answer is a waste of time."

Winter understood exactly what this feeling was. He couldn’t pretend otherwise forever.

And so, he finally made up his mind.

Even though he had reassured Altair and Yuri that he would follow military regulations...

'As long as I don’t blatantly break them, it should be fine.'

From now on, Winter was simply going to act as his heart dictated.

***

"Salvia, what are you doing?"

"Ah."

The moment I heard that familiar voice behind me, my pupils shook.

I had just accidentally trampled a flower bed and was hurriedly trying to erase the evidence when—

'I've been caught.'

In the end, I drooped my eyebrows and turned to look at Winter, trying to show a repentant attitude.

"Sir Winter. I may have accidentally crushed the flowers, but I swear I wasn't trying to cover it up..."

I began explaining the situation, but Winter’s reaction was shockingly indifferent.

"I see."

"...Excuse me?"

"Do as you wish."

"I must have misheard..."

"If that’s what you want, then that’s fine."

'...Wait. Does he mean he’s going to scold me later once I do as I wish?'

But Winter truly just walked away without saying anything more...

'...What the hell?'

Normally, I would have gotten a solid 20-minute lecture about crushing flowers and trying to cover it up.

Looking back, Winter had stopped nitpicking me altogether recently.

If it were because I had gained favor, that would be one thing. But he was acting as if nothing I did mattered anymore.

This wasn't some cliché romance novel where he had fallen in love with me—because in the original story, Winter had tried to control Dalin completely.

'Then... could it be?'

After furrowing my brows in thought, I finally realized it.

'He's given up on me!'

...Sure, I had made a few mistakes, but giving up entirely?

It was convenient, but for some reason, it pissed me off.

***

Winter’s changes didn’t stop there.

"Aquila, be careful not to clash."

"Ah, yes."

"If you fight head-on, you might get hurt."

Lately, Winter and Aquila had been exchanging subtle tensions during training.

It was eerily similar to how male leads fought over the heroine in «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» romance novels.

'...A romance trope?'

Alright, let’s spin this positively.

Could it be that I unknowingly became the heroine of this story, and they were fighting over me?

"How do you expect to freeze fire?"

"You think I can't?"

...No, it was just a natural elemental rivalry between fire and ice. Winter had finally gained enough experience to openly express his discomfort toward Aquila.

Yeah, Winter had reacted to Aquila’s fire aura ever since he first awakened it...

'Ugh, what romance novel? This is reality.'

I won’t fall for it anymore! I refuse! I REFUSE, YOU XXs!

***

"Hmm..."

Benny sat crouched on the ground, watching Winter and Aquila spar, while Salvia stood a little further away.

"...Tasty."

"...What the hell are you eating?"

Ishina’s bewildered voice interrupted her from behind. Benny quickly flashed a smile.

"Nothing at all!"

...But honestly, it was still delicious.

Satisfied, Benny gave a firm nod.

It seemed there would be plenty more entertainment to come in this military life.