CH 42

10-13 minutes

****

Sponsored by Io. Thank you  (17/26)

***

After the Munich operation, which he thought had failed, Heiner miraculously returned with even France’s secrets and was warmly welcomed by the Marquis.

France was the opposite faction of the Allies, to which Padania now belonged.

Moreover, it was a representative among them.

Therefore, this operation was as important to Padania as its difficulty. What Heiner brought not only solidified the Marquis’s position, but also gave him a boost in his promotion.

However, Heiner did not tell the Marquis that he had disposed of the traitor. Anne and other colleagues were declared dead during the operation.

Because of Heiner’s achievements, Marquis Dietrich became the highest-ranking of the five military generals. After great satisfaction, the Marquis approved Heiner’s entry into formal military service.

It wasn’t a simple approval of his enlistment. In addition to the rank of second lieutenant, which was the starting rank for a military academy graduate, the Marquis also ordered him to be appointed lieutenant in recognition of his career so far. It was truly an extraordinary appointment.

Heiner was invited to the Rosenberg residence for the first time after many years. It was his first visit as a reserve officer about to be commissioned, not as a trainee spy whose identity could not be revealed.

The dinner was held in the banquet hall, the pride of the Rosenberg mansion. Heiner was familiar with this place.

Heiner looked again at the murals on the ceiling. It was as gorgeous and sacred as ever, but he felt no excitement.

His eyes rested on Saint Marianne. Heiner always saw Saint Marianne through the multicolored windows in the midday sun.

But in the middle of the night Saint Marianne looked not like a saint, but only like an ordinary woman. It was as if she had escaped from a mirage—.

“Congratulations on your promotion, Mr. Valdemar!”

“Not yet, sir.”

“Almost there, and that’s it! Come on, let’s have a drink, shall we? It’s a precious wine from Emburg.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant General. However, I am currently recovering from an injury……….. I cannot drink alcohol. Please understand.”

‘”Um, not even one drink?”

“According to the doctor, I’m in a poor condition because I had not received any treatment there, and that it could become serious if not properly treated now.”

“Well…… that won’t do. Let’s do it together next time. Before, I would have drank despite the injuries, but the world has really improved, hasn’t it?”

The lieutenant general waved the bottle of wine at the attendant with a teasing laugh. Straight away the attendant came over and opened the bottle. The meal was then served in course order.

The dinner with the general officers was incomparable to what Heiner had experienced when he was a trainee. The food and wine were of the highest quality.

But Heiner felt like chewing sand the whole time. He politely answered incoming questions and poured the drinks.

Late in the evening, everyone, except Heiner, became drunk. The Marquis laughed vigorously, as if he was in a good mood, and tapped Heiner on the shoulder.

“I’ve been studying you since your trainee days! I knew one day you would do something big!”

“I am very honored to have come to the attention of the Marquis.”

“Yes, the first time I saw you was when you…….. killed four senior members, right? You were only in third grade! I heard you and them didn’t get along.”

“It wasn’t personal. Just because they tried to attack me…………”

“That’s why you didn’t get along! Now that I look at it, you don’t seem very sociable, do you? Were you okay with your colleagues during the operation?”

“We were not allowed to interact with each other more than necessary during the mission. There was no personal proximity.”

“Still, it’s a blessing. In this job, you often experience the deaths of people close to you, so you shouldn’t give it too much emotion.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

The drunken Marquis kept talking alone, no matter what Heiner replied or not.

“Everyone died in this mission except you, didn’t they? It’s a pity. I’m really sorry. Two of them died in a carriage accident—and the rest died of torture—the vicious French bastards……..!”

Heiner’s hand holding the fork suddenly stopped. He raised his head without a change of expression. Then he stared blankly at Marquis Dietrich.

“Still, how honorable is it to die while working for the country? How much ……! Originally, they would have died on the street without having accomplished anything…..!”

Said in a tone of exaggerated theatrics, the Marquis set down his glass roughly. He was still smiling with a face full of liquor.

Heiner replied that it would have been a great honor for them and filled the Marquis’ cup. Blood red wine filled the glass to the brim.

The Marquis talked more about it, but it was a story without the nourishment of sin. Shortly thereafter, the drunken Marquis said he was tired and left his seat.

The maid led Heiner to his bedroom. It was late, so the Marquis was considerate enough to ask him to stay the night.

“If you need anything, just pull this string. Then I wish you a peaceful night.”

“Thank you.”

As soon as the door closed, Heiner opened the window and turned on the oil lamp. It was then that he finally had a chance to catch his breath a little. He pulled up a chair near the window and sat down.

Since escaping from the interrogation center, Heiner had never been able to stay in an enclosed, dark space. Just being in such a place seemed to be a recurring nightmare.

It was a major drawback for an active duty soldier. He intended to get through this alone without telling anyone, but he had no idea how to overcome it.

Heiner was pensive as he looked at the lamp. His fingers tapped slowly on the window glass. Many things passed through his mind. Some of them were the words of the Marquis.

His regular tapping on the window stopped. Heiner’s gray eyes darkened.

Aiden and Michelle did not die in the carriage accident. Or, more accurately, not reported as such.

It was a multiple rear-end collision. The result was that they were hit by the carriage, but since he could not determine the exact cause of the accident, he just reported it as an accident that was caused by a collision on the road.

The Marquis, however, accurately referred to it as a carriage accident.

His memory went back in time.

It was a time when the domestic situation in Padania was unusual for the Marquis. Before his death, Aiden had said something meaningful about this.

“The Marquis tends to make frequent mistakes. That will catch up with him someday.”

“Oh, really? Still, there hasn’t been any noise about him, has there?”

Aiden answered Anne’s question with a look of stifled laughter.

“That’s right. Because he removes those who can hold back his ankles in advance.”

As Dietrich’s close associates, Aiden and Michelle knew the Marquis’ secrets. That could probably be called shackles.

Heiner quietly let out an empty laugh. It was really quite absurd. They were overseas and in a classified operation, and they were killed.

They had been loyal to the Marquis, willing to give up their lives, but he had discarded them like pieces of paper.

In any case, it was all over. The operation was a success, and the Marquis became the first military general with uncontested power.

Dead chess pieces were worth less than trash to the Marquis. They did not even have graves or small stone monuments.

Heiner clenched his fists and released them, as if he had lost his will. The night wind that flowed into the room was cold.

***

The Marquis and the others did not get out of bed until the next morning.

It was a particularly sunny day. After washing up and having a quick breakfast, Heiner went out to the rose garden like an old habit.

The sun shone on the empty garden. He walked where his feet took him. The warm light seemed to blur his mind.

Walking aimlessly, Heiner suddenly stopped in the middle of the path. He realized belatedly that he was heading for the practice room.

Heiner lowered his head and stared at his feet. His eyes met his shadow against the light. The shadow was exceptionally dark.

The practice room had long since been moved deeper into the mansion. She would not be there either. So where exactly was he going? Heiner asked himself.

Why did he want to come back here?

‘To see her.’

What was he going to do when he saw her?

‘To talk to her.’

What would he say?

‘What words. …………’

Everything was vague. He was living this way for that one woman, but the place he came back to was very bright and unfamiliar.

Painful heat crawled along the letters engraved on his chest. Heiner gritted his teeth. What in the world was he going to do when he met her with a body full of wounds and scars?

‘Let’s go back.’

He thought, but for some reason his feet wouldn’t move. He struggled to turn his body.

At that moment, he suddenly heard a rustling sound nearby.

With characteristic agility, Heiner noticed that it was the presence of a person.

He immediately took a step back and raised his head. About ten paces away, the shape of a white umbrella flickered.

The surface of the umbrella glistened in the sunlight. It took him a moment to realize that it was not an umbrella, but a parasol.

A woman in a light blue dress was walking toward him. Her long blonde hair fluttered in waves as she walked.

Heiner looked down and slowly raised his eyes as if he was trying to escape.

He could see slender ankles under the not-so-long dress. The woman was wearing white socks and low heeled shoes.

The monochromatic dress had no special embellishments, but it was elegant and classy. Heiner did not know much about the dress, but he felt it suited the woman perfectly.

Her thin arms were visible under the short sleeves. The hand holding the parasol had a pair of translucent lace gloves on it.

A necklace of blue emeralds hung from her slender white neck. The necklace was the same color as her eyes. Her eyes and……….

For a moment, time seemed to stop. Little by little, the thoughts in his head, which straddled the border between consciousness and unconsciousness, became clearer.

Heiner, who had been standing there like a nail, finally realized who the woman was.

It was her.