“Unless there’s solid evidence, I want you to restrain yourself for now. Acting unilaterally without permission from above not only risks a court-martial but also endangers the lives of your unit.”
Masera mulled over Lieutenant General Lev’s words, his superior officer.
He had been warned by headquarters for recently cracking down on both the People’s Liberation Front and underworld groups alike.
The only reason he could exercise patience during the virtual house arrest was Cynthia’s safety.
To carry out operations in another country, permission from the Rutemia General Headquarters was required, making it difficult for the Medea military to move easily.
Breaking military discipline in this situation could tie his hands at a crucial moment.
Captain Carlton nagged Masera, who returned to the official residence only in the morning.
“What have you been doing every night, gallivanting around so disgracefully? Are you planning to switch careers to become a phantom thief?”
“Shut up.”
Masera refused the captain’s attempt to apply a cat-patterned bandage and headed to his office.
Pulling at the stifling collar of his shirt, he turned his head at the sound of tapping on the windowpane.
“Coo-coo.”
A carrier pigeon, a rare sight in this day and age, stood in front of the window with a note tied to its leg.
As soon as he untied the note, the pigeon flapped its wings and flew away.
Standing by the window, Masera unfolded the note with a mix of subtle anticipation and anxiety.
It said that there was important information about Cynthia to convey, and requested a meeting in a secret place, away from prying eyes.
The content was suspicious, but somehow the handwriting looked familiar.
He opened a drawer and took out the paper he had recovered during the previous note forgery incident. It was an invitation Helene had written to Cynthia in the past.
“……”
At a glance, the handwriting was a perfect match.
He immediately headed to the location written on the note.
Masera arrived at a rural village quite far from the capital.
Knocking on the door of a humble house, he heard a familiar voice.
“It’s open, come in.”
Masera’s eyes widened slightly as he entered the house, then narrowed sharply.
“……Surprised?”
A woman sitting on the old bed gave him a bitter smile.
“Helene Queensguard.”
She, who he thought was dead, was here.
Masera aimed his pistol as if ready to cut off her breath at any moment.
It didn’t matter why she was alive. He suppressed the urge to shoot her dead immediately and asked.
“Where is Cynthia?”
Helene looked up at him with a fierce gaze and a desolate expression.
“I don’t know either. However, I’m here to help you.”
“Help? You, who have been trying to undermine and bring Cynthia down all along?”
At the harsh tone, Helene sighed and asked.
“Why do you think I called you here, unable to escape?”
Only then did Masera notice the rusty wheelchair beside the bed.
Helene looked down at her numb legs with a futile gaze and said.
“I can’t walk for the rest of my life. My lower body was crushed during the collapse. Of course, I didn’t call you here with the petty intention of asking for forgiveness for something like this.”
Having already lost Cynthia, he couldn’t possibly feel any sympathy.
Masera tried to stab her in any way he could.
“Your brother’s body was found in the basement of the mansion you were staying in. He had gunshot wounds all over his body.”
This was a fact that had not yet been released to the public.
‘Gunshot wounds?’
Helene’s eyes widened, and she lowered her head with an expression that had lost even a shred of hope.
‘My brother…… is dead…….’
She didn’t bother to make excuses, saying she had never used a gun.
Whatever the ultimate cause of death, it wouldn’t change the fact that she had caused her brother’s death.
“A person who deserves to die surviving means they’ve fallen into a living hell worse than death.”
Masera watched her tightly closed lips and trembling fingertips.
It was the typical appearance of an adult who had learned to endure before crying.
It was like seeing the cracks in the cold, elegant mask that had been made to fit the princess’s status.
“I think so too. My brother said he would dedicate his life to fulfilling my dreams and tried to stop my foolish self. But that became my brother’s last words, and I, blinded by fear, killed the person who stayed by my side until the end with my own hands.”
While hating the world she had lived in obediently, she was afraid of collapsing. Afraid that there would be no place for her outside of it.
But Carlos, as promised, dedicating his life, pulled Helene out of the abyss filled with malice.
Her slightly trembling voice continued.
“……I only realized how precious he was after losing him.”
Helene, belatedly realizing her mistake and knowing that the rest of her life was a punishment, bit her pale lips until they turned red.
“Whether you imprison me again or kill me on the spot, I’ll leave it to Brigadier General’s decision. But before that, as a way to atone for my sins, I will help you as much as I can.”
Having deeply interacted with the leader of the Organization, she would know more about the Organization than anyone else.
But what if even this was a lie?
“How can I believe your words that you’ve turned over a new leaf just from losing your legs?”
“I understand that you can’t easily trust me. I’m not asking for leniency or begging for my life. The reason I called you to the place where I’m staying is so you can dispose of me at any time.”
Helene slowly raised her head with a face lost in reminiscence.
“First of all, let me tell you, it was Cynthia who saved me.”
“How?”
“I don’t know either. When I came to after the collapse, she was in front of me.”
Helene closed her eyes, recalling the memories of that day.
“I was thinking about how to save you. In conclusion, it was just lucky that I was by your side.”
She let out a shallow sigh and continued slowly.
“I’ll tell you everything that happened that day. It was a truly bizarre event that cannot be explained by common sense.”
That day, Helene, who thought it was completely over, opened her eyes again with a groan.
It was because she heard someone’s voice.
“You have regressed. How does it feel to be given a new life? Will you take revenge on the one who defeated you?”
A new life?
Helene, who had read a novel where the protagonist died and came back to life, looked surprised.
It was then that she blinked several times to try to focus her blurred vision.
“Achoo!”
A beggar-like woman sneezed loudly, stirring up a cloud of dust.
Helene opened her mouth as she saw silver hair revealed as the dust that had covered her fell off.
It wasn’t a beggar, it was Cynthia.
“……Am I not dead?”
“Yeah.”
At Cynthia’s monotonous answer, Helene looked utterly incredulous.
“Did you save me?”
“Yeah, I guess your knight in shining armor was me.”
Cynthia raised her nose pretentiously.
Before the Second Collapse occurred, the sign that fell in front of Cynthia was pointing in the direction where Helene was.
She recalled the tenacious and terrible luck that had allowed only her to survive amidst all sorts of disasters in her previous life.
So she returned to Helene, who had lost consciousness alone. Thinking of being next to her like a lucky charm.
As soon as she reached Helene, the floor of the second floor where the two were collapsed, and when she opened her eyes, she saw a hole leading outside.
For some reason, Helene’s body, which had been buried under the rubble, had been pulled out, so she was able to carry her on her back and evacuate to a nearby place.
“How? How is that possible……. What exactly are you?”
Helene asked, feeling confused by the absurd event, but Cynthia just shrugged.
“I was lucky. I got hit by a rock and my forehead got a little cut, though.”
As she said, there were traces of blood flowing on Cynthia’s forehead.
Helene still didn’t understand and clutched her head.
“You could have died. But why did you make that choice? I was your enemy.”
You…… hated me, didn’t you.
In response, Cynthia, with wide red eyes, retorted in a tone that questioned what was so strange about it.
“You tried to save me first, didn’t you? It’s probably something similar to that.”
Above all, if I hadn’t made the choice to go to Helene, I might have been trapped in that hallway and died too.
As my dear sister said, perhaps choosing to save others among the countless branching choices saved my life.
Cynthia, who was thinking alone, said.
“The ‘Holy Spirit-filled’ priest I’m pen pals with told me that when something happens that’s hard to explain with my head, or when I do something I don’t understand myself, I should just vaguely attribute it to God’s will. It looks quite mysterious.”
Helene, staring at Cynthia’s smile, slowly lowered her head.
……You were an opponent I couldn’t beat from the start.
“You were someone loved by God.”
“No. Maybe I’m the person God sent to save you. Seeing that God is favoring you to the point of favoritism and trying to rehabilitate you, it seems like you’re the one being loved.”
Salvation was everywhere, but she hadn’t recognized it even when it was right in front of her because it came in the form of trials.
“Think of it as a long prologue. As long as you’re alive, you can always start over.”
That bit about not recognizing salvation is a goodie