I went straight to Masera in tattle-tale mode, but he was gone.
Apparently, he had a lot of work piled up from the trip.
‘It’s been really hard to see his face ever since we got back from our honeymoon.’
After waiting for a long time in the empty bedroom with only a bed as furniture, I hurried out to greet him when I heard the report that he had returned to the official residence.
“Brigadier General, I have something to talk about just the two of us.”
“Let’s do it tomorrow. I have a lot of work.”
He headed straight to his office as if running away.
Since he said he was busy, I had no choice but to wait quietly in the room.
“…Why isn’t he coming? I’m dying of sleepiness.”
Even when dawn came, he didn’t come to the room. According to what I heard belatedly through Dahlia…
“The Brigadier General said he would only sleep together on consummation nights.”
“Oh.”
Is this the ‘separate rooms‘ cliché of political marriages?
He probably has no intention of doing that kind of thing with me, so this is basically saying we’ll use separate rooms for life.
It seems Masera has started to distance himself from me in earnest.
“Well, that’s that.”
I jumped up from my seat and put on a sweater coat.
“It’s about Eugene, whom everyone in the residence cares about.”
How can you pretend not to know when sadness is dripping from my voice?
Having made up my mind, I headed straight for Masera’s office.
“Brigadier General?”
The office was empty, but judging by the uniform coat hanging and the firewood burning in the fireplace, he seemed to be somewhere in this room.
‘Is he sleeping?’
Deciding that I had to tell him even if I had to wake him up, I walked confidently towards the room attached to the office.
Click.
It was the sound of the bathroom door opening in front of me.
In the misty steam pouring out like fog, my eyes met Masera’s as he came out shaking his platinum hair. He was completely shirtless, though he had kept himself tightly wrapped throughout the honeymoon. At least he was wearing pants.
“Gasp.”
I covered my eyes with my hands and stepped back.
But I saw everything through the gaps between my fingers.
The well-built practical muscles and broad shoulders, the chest as wide as the sea and the slender waist, even the forearm muscles and veins of the arm holding the towel.
Analysis result: Masera had a noble face but the body of a beast.
“…”
But it wasn’t just praise for how handsome he was. His body was densely covered with traces left by war.
‘Gunshot wounds, stab wounds, burns…’
The processes of struggling to survive were clearly engraved.
From my past life experience, I could pretty much tell how he got injured by looking at the scars.
Because I, too, had been full of such wounds.
Suddenly feeling like crying, I pressed my eyes tightly with both hands and said,
“Brigadier General. I’m sorry for coming suddenly. I have an urgent matter.”
“What’s so urgent?”
For a moment, I felt the freshly washed soap scent and moist heat coming closer.
“Coming here like that without any fear.”
At his dry voice, I checked my attire.
It was a very decent outfit with a nightgown dress and a sweater coat.
“Isn’t this heavily armored enough?”
Aren’t you the one who’s shamelessly like that?
I couldn’t understand the standards of this all-ages man who was making a fuss over sleepwear no different from casual clothes…
At that moment, he came even closer, raising one corner of his mouth crookedly.
“Did you come here on your own to set the consummation date because I mentioned consummation?”
“No.”
“I had no intention of doing that in the first place, and even if we did, it wouldn’t change our relationship.”
“I told you it’s not like that, you!”
Ah, just put some clothes on!
It was terribly difficult as he kept approaching as I retreated. At this rate, he might be the one wanting consummation.
Having backed up against the wall, I met his cold eyes.
Ah, he’s trying to scare me away.
“You’re standing in front of me completely naked without knowing how scary it is! Since you’ve gone this far, I have no choice! Let’s have fun together!”
I took off my sweater coat with a flourish.
I’ll show you how scary a person on their second-life can be.
As I clung to his body tightly, he flinched and stepped back, grabbing my shoulders.
“What are you doing right now…”
“I’m putting into practice the words you want to hear, Mr. Answer-Seeker.”
“Answer what?”
As if his soldier’s stubbornness and competitiveness had been triggered, the hand that was holding my shoulder touched my waist.
He tightened his arms around me and said,
“Go ahead, do as you please.”
Backing down means losing.
My competitiveness was no less, so I tried to maintain my composure even as my cheek touched his firm chest.
“Now, the next step is consummation!”
At my spirited cry, he flinched once again.
Just then, Masera turned his head sharply, sensing someone’s presence.
I also turned my eyes following his gaze, and met eyes with Diego, who was standing stiffly with his mouth wide open.
Thud.
It was the sound of Diego dropping the report he was holding.
Diego was looking at us tightly embracing. It was a hot atmosphere to anyone’s eyes.
“…Dear lord.”
The exclamation came from Diego, who was typically the picture of dignified calm, cool, and collected.
“Sorry for interrupting…”
He was so surprised that he ran away without even finishing his words.
We were surrounded by cold silence and stillness. I could see goosebumps rising on Masera’s skin.
He must be embarrassed.
“Hey. Let’s call a truce for a moment.”
I was just as embarrassed, so I raised the white flag first.
He let go of me as if pushing me away and quickly put on his robe.
Then he turned to look at me with a fierce gaze like a growling beast.
“I suggest you retreat. Your mission to launch yourself at me has failed.”
“Forget the hand-to-hand combat or whatever, just take a look at this for a sec.”
I showed him the book I had placed on the side table.
His dawn-colored eyes, which were narrowed warily while keeping his distance, gradually widened.
“That book, you finally got your hands on it?”
“I didn’t get it myself. It’s a book that the tutor gave to Eugene. It seems he’s teaching strange ideologies, so I think it would be good to fire him.”
I quickly stated my business before receiving further misunderstanding.
“You’re saying to chase away the person Eugene trusts the most?”
“Yes. It seemed different from children following someone they like. It felt like he was following unwillingly, suppressed.”
I added to Masera, who was finally listening attentively.
“I think he’s instilling hatred towards the Esatain.”
I also explained what had happened with Major Rodriguez.
Masera, who had been listening quietly, nodded.
“I understand.”
“But how did that tutor come to the official residence?”
“Eugene was a child who didn’t open up easily and was very wary. He had about twenty tutor interviews. Hayden was the first one Eugene didn’t reject.”
He poured grape wine into a glass and turned his eyes as if reminiscing.
“Is his background information certain?”
“He’s an intellectual who fled from a colony occupied by the Empire. I confirmed his university professor career and papers.”
Not everyone from an Imperial colony hated the Empire.
Rather, there were bound to be traitors who had assimilated to the ideology.
“My position is that someone who teaches how to hate others is not qualified to be a teacher. Because adults who discriminate and hate someone will eventually be hated by everyone.”
A child who receives such teachings will eventually repeat the history of conflict and war when they become an adult.
* * *
After Cynthia left, Masera stared blankly at the book she had left behind.
He was recalling the past bombing of the Duchy.
The Duchy was bombed for accepting Esatain refugees.
In just an hour, countless people died and were injured, and the estate became ruins.
Masera had been tasked with finding the daughter of an allied country’s naval admiral who went missing in the bombing.
Her husband, the lieutenant colonel, maintained his composure and commanded the scene, but he looked strangely dazed.
Was it a loveless marriage that the admiral’s daughter had clung to? He had vaguely heard rumors that the lieutenant colonel hated his wife.
“We found Lady Gronendal. She’s alive, but…”
She was found in a terrible state three days after going missing, and eventually passed away in the military hospital.
After reporting the results to the military and coming out of the ward, Masera saw the black-haired lieutenant colonel standing facing a brick wall.
Tears were falling beneath his deeply bowed head.
“May you not forgive me… who was blinded by anger and didn’t know your true heart.”
His monologue was tinged with late regret and a sense of loss.
Did he only realize after it was all over?
As Masera walked alone in thought, he discovered a black-haired child standing with his back to the sunset.
The child was looking at the lieutenant colonel standing far away with a sorrowful face.
“Are you Lieutenant Colonel Gronendal’s son?”
At Masera’s question, the child with bandages on his arm and patches all over his face shook his head.
“I thought he was my dad…”
The child, who had been mumbling, rubbed his eyes with his bandaged arm and quickly ran away.
This was Masera’s first encounter with Eugene.
Poor little guy. Hayden, you have earned so much suffering for your awful actions, and you’ve only doubled down on that with what you’ve done to Eugene.