TTMLPTWW ~ Chapter 94

“I’ll conclude the main session here.”

Masera, in his uniform, straightened his clothes and rose from his seat.

The long and tedious meeting of war heroes from various countries had come to an end.

The place was so overly solemn and quiet that it even felt empty. Of course, this emptiness seemed to have started when he boarded the ship leaving Rutemia.

“Can’t we just exchange these things in writing? What a waste of time.”

General Rothschild, Queen Medea’s son-in-law and the Princess’s husband, stretched languidly.

‘And he’s the one hosting it…’

Masera muttered inwardly.

Yawning and sweeping back his silver-white hair, he looked directly at Masera as if he had read his mind.

“I heard you married a Princess too. Time flies.”

“That’s right.”

“But aren’t we close? I don’t remember getting a wedding invitation.”

“We received a reply that you couldn’t come because of the naval battle at the time.”

General Rothschild was the one who had captured Masera, then a boy soldier, as a prisoner, taught him the Chopsticks Etude, and then released him.

He was crazy enough to love the Princess of an enemy country and betray his own. Even though his country was the empire that started the war.

In the end, his madness made him a war hero, and he even got married.

“I have a daughter too.”

The mad general began to boast about his daughter. Not content with that, he even took out a photo of his daughter from his pocket to show him.

“Take a good look; her eyes are unique like yours. They were born with different colors on each side.”

“She’s beautiful.”

“So, make sure you have a daughter. I’ll invite you to the ‘Daughter-Having Bragging’ club. It’s a club where we tease and mock the married men who only have sons.”

For some reason, Masera felt his cheeks tingle and tightened his lips. It was all happening too fast for him.

“You’re newlyweds, but you’ve had to be apart for a long time. Don’t you feel the emptiness?”

“I don’t know.”

“I miss my wife. Should I go home?”

At Masera’s lukewarm response, he nodded with an understanding look.

“Ah, you got married first. That yellow-haired friend over there made a baby first. Stylish, isn’t he?”

“Ah.”

“But he didn’t take responsibility and left the woman to raise the child alone. He deserves to be shot. You can shoot him if you see him walking by.”

“You crazy bastard. Don’t spread rumors when you even got an invitation.”

The blond officer, who had been quietly sitting, suddenly burst out in anger.

Soon, he began to explain to Masera that he was not such a shameless man and that he had been stuck in a prisoner-of-war camp and couldn’t help it.

In Masera’s eyes, those who had suffered their own misfortunes seemed to have found a common happiness.

“Mastiff. I told you to treat her well when you had the chance. Now you’re regretting it.”

“What are you talking about? She’s doing well at home.”

Beyond the childish bickering of the two men, a black-haired officer was visible in the distance.

It was Brigadier General Gronendal, who used to be a lieutenant colonel and had now been promoted.

Masera approached him and saluted.

“It’s been a while. I brought the data you asked me to look into before.”

Brigadier General Gronendal handed Masera a document in an envelope.

It was the hospital record from when Eugene was first discovered, which he had asked for in the past to find Eugene’s parents.

“Thank you.”

“You’re the one who found my wife with your blessed eyes. Thanks to you, I was able to hear my wife’s last words. I hope it helps, even a little.”

His wife had been found alive under a collapsed building due to bombing and eventually died at the hospital where Eugene was first met.

Masera, recalling the horrific scene when he went out for the search at the time, clenched his fist tightly.

A city covered entirely in ash, a frighteningly silent chaos, buildings burned black, acrid smoke rising from the place where life had been extinguished.

“…Was that you?”

The sensation of her desperately grabbing his hand while buried under the collapsed debris was still vivid.

“I couldn’t go to the wedding because of the naval battle, but congratulations from the bottom of my heart.”

Just as Brigadier General Gronendal was about to leave after patting Masera on the shoulder, Masera spoke.

“When I found your wife… I didn’t have the chance to tell you then, but…”

Brigadier General Gronendal stopped walking and looked at Masera with trembling eyes. His bright blue eyes seemed to be getting darker.

Masera conveyed her words, which he had held onto for a long time.

“…She said not to forgive.”

During the war, her father had assassinated Brigadier General Gronendal’s father, so in another way, they were like enemies.

Brigadier General Gronendal stood silently for a long time, then nodded.

“Okay, thank you.”

Masera mustered the courage to ask him as he slowly turned to leave.

“…Have you forgiven her now?”

He stopped walking, paused for a moment, then shook his head.

“I don’t have the right to forgive. Everyone is a perpetrator and a victim during war.”

Masera wondered what to say. Then he thought about what Cynthia would say.

He snapped his boots together and saluted.

“Brigadier General Jeffrey Gronendal, I hope you live happily ever after.”

Brigadier General Gronendal stared at Masera intently, saluted, and turned away.

Masera’s eyes, watching his lonely figure disappear, turned to the ceiling with the painted angels.

The angels with many eyes that Cynthia was so afraid of that she couldn’t even sleep.

“Coward.”

Masera, who muttered to himself, also headed outside.

* * *

On his way back to the hotel, Masera looked around at the clear sky, the flowers blooming everywhere, and the streets filled with greenery. The sunlight was warm, and the fresh scent of flowers and grass lingered at the tip of his nose.

These were things he had passed by without noticing when he came before.

“It seems I found spring before she did.”

This was the country where Cynthia was looking for spring.

Having been born and raised in a barren country with cold seasons, it was only natural that she would long for spring.

He took off his uniform coat and slung it over his arm, stopping when he spotted something on a shop stall.

It was a bizarre duck doll whose purpose he couldn’t understand, but it was something Cynthia would definitely buy. The only function it had was that it made a duck sound when you pressed its belly.

“Well, the moment you give it affection, it becomes useful.”

It felt like he could hear Cynthia’s voice, as she often bought useless things.

“……”

Masera looked around to see if anyone he knew was there, then quickly bought the doll. He would be teased to death if he was caught buying something like this.

He walked along the street and found a bench overlooking the river and sat down. Unlike the cold winds of the Republic of Rutemia, a pleasant breeze blew as if caressing his cheeks.

He thought of Cynthia sitting blankly on the bench. He wondered why she was just sitting there doing nothing.

“Brigadier General, you might see the men fighting on the other side, but I just see the river, the sky, and the town.”

Masera deliberately squinted and tried to see what she was seeing.

Occasionally, women would sit next to him and bother him with conversation, but surprisingly, the bizarre duck doll was a great help.

“Then, have a good day!”

Instead of answering, he made the doll quack, and they ran away like that.

He sat the duck doll, which protected his chastity, next to him and focused on the scenery again. But the memory of seeing the river with Cynthia kept distracting him.

“A fight broke out in front of the restaurant. Five people this time.”

“To see them fighting over who will pay for the meal, the world is still warm.”

“…I don’t know. Is she seeing it from a different perspective than me?”

Masera leaned back on the bench and crossed his legs.

The unfamiliar leisure of sitting and doing nothing wasn’t so bad.

‘I can’t understand it, but I think she would have liked it if we had come together.’

Masera, suddenly realizing the reason for his emptiness, shifted his posture. It was because he didn’t have the voice chattering in his ear.

“I was bored.”

In fact, he… thought the things Cynthia said were quite interesting. After meeting her, his monotonous and boring life had become a little more colorful.

Masera recalled Cynthia waving her hand at the train station.

“Did you have a good trip?”

Masera got up from his seat, took the useful duck doll, and looked down at his wristwatch.

“Should I go home?”

Compared to the Republic of Rutemia, this place was like paradise on earth, but he just wanted to go back quickly.