UCT Ch 15

After leaving the hangar, Diana returned to her barracks. The long day had finally come to an end. She lay on the small bed in the barrack, staring at the ceiling. The feeling was strange, trying to sleep in a semicircular building that looked like a can cut in half.

‘What was it like before?’

She had stayed in hotels, slept in trenches, and traveled from place to place by train, fighting in whatever battlefield she was needed. Compared to those times, this might actually be a luxury. With a shower that provided hot water, tasty food, and clean clothes, it was quite comfortable.

She tried to close her eyes and fall asleep quickly, but for some reason, Richard Ashwood’s face kept appearing before her eyes. She tossed and turned, trying to think about something else, but it was hard to shake off.

He was a man who, while speaking truths, had a peculiar talent for getting under people’s skin and insulting them. Telling her to get lost or calling her life trivial, those words had made her momentarily furious.

‘I shouldn’t think too deeply about it.’

Diana muttered to herself.

She couldn’t foresee what would happen tomorrow. With her thoughts left unorganized, Diana drifted into sleep.

In her dream, the melody of a waltz continued to play.

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23 years ago, in the capital of Arke, at the Great Ballroom of St. Materai Palace.

A winter ball was in full swing at the Great Ballroom of St. Materai Palace in the Arke capital.

Looking at the palace, war seemed like a tale from ancient times. There were no disabled veterans, beggars, or orphans to be seen in the capital. Here, only things that the Emperor deemed beautiful were gathered.

The first floor’s ballroom sparkled under the light of chandeliers. Servers dressed impeccably served sparkling wine in long glasses, while on the dance floor, noble men and women in lavish dresses and uniforms danced the waltz in pairs. Thump-thump, thump-thump. People twirled gracefully to the 3/4 beat, their movements looking like dogfights between fighters tailing each other.

Fernan Lowell was seated in a secluded spot on the third floor, watching the scene below, a cigarette in his mouth. Going downstairs would mean being pestered by all sorts of people, so he had no choice but to stay here.

People asked for autographs on photos, to dance, to hold hands, what was his most thrilling down, whether he would attempt to break the transcontinental flight record again, if he could kill with mind-melding, how he maintained melding during flight.

At first, he managed to answer these questions, but now they had become overwhelming. He had lived enjoying the adoration and interest from others, but now he was sick of this attention. The war two years ago had certainly changed his personality.

He no longer trusted any truths. Good and evil, friend or foe, he couldn’t be sure. A shadow he himself couldn’t understand had fallen over his once cheerful face.

Fernan’s reverie was broken by a voice calling him from close by.

“Fernan, there you are.”

“…Ah.”

Turning his head, he saw a woman with rosy cheeks standing there. Elizabeth Athena. Fernan’s face twisted as if he had bitten into a sour lemon.

Elizabeth was the only daughter of the Athena Count family and was known as the Golden Rose of Arke. Her milky-white cheeks and flowing golden hair were quite famous in Arke.

Fernan knew her well; after all, his closest comrade in arms was her brother, Yan Athena.

She had been just a child before the war, but now she was undeniably a beautiful woman. Tall, slender waist, and sharp features, all praised. However, every time Fernan saw her, he felt nausea.

Elizabeth was his ardent follower, to the extent that she caused a commotion saying she would marry him, making everyone sigh in exasperation. One reason he was hiding in this corner of the second floor was her.

He couldn’t face the memory of his dead friend, Yan, under these circumstances.

Elizabeth asked with a playful smile, pretending to be harmless:

“Why aren’t you dancing down there?”

“I’m feeling a bit dizzy.”

Fernan extinguished his cigarette in the tray and turned his eyes away, but the woman stepped boldly towards him with movements too bold for her delicate frame. Here we go again, Fernan clicked his tongue, regretting the cheap cigarette he hadn’t even finished.

“Fernan… are you avoiding me?”

“I-”

“Is it because of Marianne from Bringerton? Are you still thinking about her?”

How many times had this repertoire played? Fernan sighed.

“That can’t be. We broke off the engagement because of the war.”

His voice came out naturally sharp, but Elizabeth continued her interrogation as if she didn’t understand.

“But there are many stories that she doesn’t think so. They say she cries every day because of you.”

“…”

“Even now, I get goosebumps. If you had followed her to Bringerton, oh.”

Elizabeth dramatically twisted her body, taking on the role of a tragic heroine. When had it started? Her unrequited love had now entered the realm of madness.

Sometimes he felt sorry for the once clever child who had become like this, but now it was just irritating. However, he couldn’t outright threaten her.

Not only was she the daughter of Count Athena, but she was also the fiancée of his dear friend, Raelle Farnace.

For Farnace, who had risen from a fallen noble family with his exceptional mind-melding abilities and piloting skills, the engagement to Elizabeth Athena was a lifeline for social advancement.

Therefore, he was extremely devoted to this mad woman, ignoring her obsession with Fernan.

Regardless, it was a troubling situation for Fernan. He hadn’t done anything wrong, yet he was being interrogated by both Athena and Farnace. Moreover, gossipmongers added their own speculations to these three people’s stories, sometimes including Marianne Tarentilia, the future queen of Bringerton and Fernan’s former fiancée.

‘How unfair.’

Fernan sighed without hiding his displeasure. He muttered in a cold voice again:

“Don’t you think I might want to escape to Bringerton because of you, Miss Athena?”

“What? You want to go with me? Oh, Fernan. I’m so happy. An escape of love.”

It was suffocating. The misunderstanding spouted by the woman with her gray eyes sparkling was overwhelming. Fernan clenched his jaw.

“…How many times do I have to tell you to stop?”

“Why? What do you want me to stop doing?”

“These antics. Aren’t you ashamed in front of your father and fiancé?”

“That doesn’t matter. They decided everything without my consent.”

“…”

Tears began to flow down Elizabeth’s delicate cheeks. Seeing her trembling shoulders, Fernan clicked his tongue even louder. She’s crying again. He spoke to Elizabeth in a low, firm voice:

“Miss Athena, let’s be honest. It seems like you’re under the illusion that you’re experiencing some pure, passionate love…, but you’re no different from other self-interested people.”

“No, I’m different from those fools who just squawk after you!”

Fernan laughed bleakly at Elizabeth’s protest.

“Do you really think so? If it weren’t for the title and status, you wouldn’t be so obsessed with me, would you?”

“You’re wrong. I, I… I would love you no matter what you were born as, even if you were an inanimate object. I would recognize you in any moment, in any space-time.”

The woman glared at Fernan with eyes wide open, filled with passion that made Fernan feel completely disgusted.

‘There’s no getting through to her.’

Somehow sensing his contempt, Elizabeth cried out louder and threw herself at Fernan.

“Please, don’t abandon me, Fernan.”

‘This won’t do.’

Fernan quickly made up his mind. There was only one way. He used mind-melding to sharply reprimand the approaching woman.

[Elizabeth Athena. Stop this now.]

Her body stiffened with his words, and Fernan felt her sadness and despair flooding him like a tide. It was a pity, but he didn’t feel much sympathy for her sorrow.

[I could live and die thousands of times, and I would never love you.]

[Fernan-.]

[Why? Because you’re the kind of person I despise the most. Clingy and messy. Every time I see you, I feel like I’m going to vomit deep from my stomach.]

Elizabeth’s face crumbled. The light vanished from the eyes of the once beautiful young woman in an instant.

Fernan laughed. His reflection in her gray eyes looked crueler than ever.

[So, I hope we won’t be entangled like this after today, Elizabeth. We’ll next meet at the wedding.]

Leaving the dazed woman behind, Fernan walked away. He didn’t want to be seen alone with her, as there was no telling what new, strange rumors might arise.

Hurrying down a small staircase to the back door, the cold winter air filled his lungs, making him short of breath. Since when had his breathing, his lungs, deteriorated so quickly? It had been getting worse since he inhaled a lot of smoke from a burning airplane engine.

“Damn, I guess I can’t smoke anymore.”

Stepping out into the small garden behind the ballroom, he felt both relieved and an immense loneliness. He thought he was completely free after the war, but now he felt bound by another chain, this one called Duke Lowell. Moreover, the Emperor had no intention of releasing him from the chains of service.

[Fernan. The failure of this war can be repaid in the next one. It will be the last battle of the world. Then, I will give my full support so that you and your White Falcon Knights can perform properly. I promise.]

What should he have answered back then? But he didn’t have the courage to harbor any disloyal thoughts in front of the Emperor, knowing that if he could, the Emperor would see through his true feelings as easily as flipping a hand.

‘In the end, many more will die.’

Perhaps he was becoming a coward. Or maybe he was always one. The knights in the novels he read as a boy never had these sordid concerns.

While he was walking around the garden with these thoughts, he noticed a shadow moving in the bushes.

‘Is it a black cat?’

At that moment, the small shadow that had been moving jumped out in front of him.