Chapter 34
“Commander!”
The sentry, spotting the commander, quickly straightened his posture. After the clash with Arthur, the commander’s presence had become even more menacing. The sentry’s spine tingled as he met the commander’s fierce gaze.
(T/L: Sentry is a soldier stationed to keep guard or to control access to a place.)
“Where is Commander Arthur?”
“He is confined inside the barracks.”
Debert, wearing a stern expression befitting the commander, entered the barracks.
“You’re here?”
Arthur greeted him, with a half-empty whiskey bottle placed on the side table. Debert leaned against the chair opposite without responding.
“Did you mistake your confinement for a reward leave?”
“Ha. You could say that. But I’m still a prince, after all. They didn’t want to embarrass me too much.”
A sigh, half-laugh, escaped from Arthur, his voice tinged with resignation. He hoped Debert wouldn’t notice the self-mockery hidden within it.
“So, have you thought about how to punish this disloyal commander?”
He tried to force a smile, but his stiff lips wouldn’t cooperate. He had thought he’d practised enough to perfect it, but the futility of it all left him feeling hollow.
“What are you thinking?”
Even Arthur, who prided himself on knowing Debert best, couldn’t understand him now. Had it not been for the Emperor’s orders, Debert would have pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Because that’s who Debert Cliff was.
The hunting dog meticulously trained by the late Duke Cassius. No, more like a beast driven solely by purpose.
“Did you say you were tired of it?”
Instead of answering, Debert spoke in cryptic terms.
“What do you mean?”
“Tired of living like this.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Arthur recall his words from that day. It was the day a Kovach spy had been discovered within the Imperial Guard. He had tried to act playfully, complaining while smoking a cigar behind the hospital.
To think Debert remembered that.
“Well… Everyone feels that way.”
“Not me.”
“What?”
“I’m tired of it.”
Debert had never spoken about the war, nor about the tiresome power struggles. There were times when Arthur even doubted if Debert actually enjoyed all of it, as the rumours suggested, given how well he concealed his emotions.
“I don’t want to live like this.”
His voice was calm, considering the gravity of his confession.
“I’m going to end it.”
Debert slowly stood up, his shadow falling over Arthur.
“To do that, I need a reliable commander.”
“You’re not serious…”
Arthur’s fine blonde hair fell forward as he bowed his head. Debert continued speaking over his bent head.
“I’m going to use the right of pardon.”
In Nexus, the commander was the only person besides the emperor who held the right to pardon. In Nexus, where military strength was synonymous with national power, the commander wielded unparalleled authority. A single word from him could not be opposed.
If he mentioned ‘confinement’, it meant the sentence had to be enforced. This naturally meant Arthur would be stripped of his command.
“You do realise you can only use the right of pardon once?”
“Are you planning to hand Nexus over to Kovach?”
Debert’s cold gaze fixed on Arthur.
“You’re a Nexus citizen, not a Kovach one.”
Debert gripped Arthur’s tense shoulders with just enough force.
“Loyalty to His Majesty is expected of every citizen of the empire. Don’t waste time with trivial guilt.”
“So, you knew.”
That he (Arthur) was the emperor’s eyes.
“How could I not?”
“And yet, how…”
“You know my secret, and I know your weakness, so it’s fair, isn’t it?”
Debert’s secret. But could it even be called a secret?
“Or you could wrap it up in some notion of brotherhood if that suits you better. Tomorrow evening at six, there’s a tactical meeting in the isolation ward. Be ready.”
As Debert left the barracks, he tossed out one final remark. It didn’t seem directed at Arthur, but the words hung in the air.
“There’s no need to publicly announce the pardon. The rats who were eavesdropping will spread the news before dawn.”
As Arthur listened to Debert’s footsteps fade away, he covered his face with his hands. He felt so pathetic that he wanted to hide, even though he was alone.
There was nothing in the silent barracks to comfort him. Though Debert’s hand had left his shoulder, the weight of it remained, pressing down on him.
It was probably guilt, or perhaps self-loathing.
And so, the night passed, with each person unable to sleep for their own reasons.
The winter night’s chill was different for everyone. It was a cruel thing.
* * *
Debert headed to the hospital late in the afternoon.
The fact that he insisted on holding the staff meeting in the isolation ward at sunset was ultimately for security reasons. After the Kovach spy, and now even the emperor, there were too many things not to trust.
They had already suffered two humiliating defeats.
Even Debert couldn’t guarantee the outcome if they failed a third time.
“Ah, Commander!”
The soldiers’ discipline was at its peak due to the previous day’s events.
Debert didn’t go straight to the fourth floor but instead began inspecting the hospital from the ground floor. The soldiers, half curious and half fearful, wondered, ‘Who is he after this time?’ but no one dared to speak to him.
“Ah, hello, Duke!”
Of course, there were always exceptions. Dixie, greeting him cheerfully, was one of them.
Debert, who had been nodding perfunctorily, noticed the woman rubbing her eyes next to the redhead. She quickly looked up at the word ‘Duke’ but just as swiftly cast her gaze down, pretending not to see him. It was quite endearing how she was trying so hard to be unnoticed.
“How are you, Nurse Beth?”
Though it seemed unlikely he was the type of man to let it pass.
Beth hastily handed over the chart in her arms to her friend, making a loud thud as she did so. She heard Dixie’s voice calling after her as she suddenly turned back the way she came, but she pretended not to notice. It wasn’t important.
She had been relieved that Debert hadn’t been seen all day.
Why on earth did that soldier keep showing up at the hospital so often?
“As you know, the camp’s telephone lines were destroyed.”
Surely, that man must have studied telepathy instead of military science. The crisp sound of military boots echoed through the hallway, contrasting with the hurried clicks of her heels.
Unlike Beth, who had been on the verge of tears thinking about ‘that incident’ from the previous day, Debert’s face displayed an almost leisurely calmness.
The vivid red of her ear, peeking out from beside her neatly tied black hair, stood out. Debert suppressed a slight smile that threatened to curl his lips.
“Stop for a moment.”
The staircase at the end of the hallway was already in sight.
“You’ve got nowhere else to go.”
He was probably referring to inside the hospital, but Beth recalled their conversation from the previous night.
When asked where she would return after the war ended, she hadn’t answered. But knowing him, he might have understood anyway.
“Come with me.”
Beth’s steps halted as the man lightly overtook her, blocking her path.
“Look at me.”
He stepped closer, matching her gaze, which was fixed stubbornly on the wall. The golden brooch, which only two people in Nexus could wear, filled her view.
“Today—”
“Commander Debert.”
Debert’s eyebrows knitted in irritation.
How could there be so many people interrupting whenever he tried to speak to this woman? Sighing, he turned his head and saw Lady Molly waving from the top of the stairs, completely unaware.
“Yes, madam.”
“There’s a call from the palace, and you happened to be nearby.”
Debert licked his dry lips once. Of all people, it had to be the most useless one calling him.
After evading his gaze for so long, she only met his eyes when he had to leave, her expression clear and innocent. He felt a twinge of resentment. He dragged his feet reluctantly, his boots tapping the floor with a dull thud.
“Wait for me.”
He threw out the command like a threat before rushing up the stairs. When Lady Molly asked what was going on, Beth shook her head vehemently, her face flushed.
There was nothing she could answer for.
* * *
“I’m here to see His Majesty.”
[Ah, Debert.]
Despite the dry tone of Debert’s voice, the Emperor responded warmly. Words of encouragement came through the crackling telephone line, but Debert’s expression remained stony.
It was all too obvious.
The Emperor was a fool who couldn’t discard or swallow the Cliff family, a constant thorn in his side.
“Get to the point, please.”
[Ahem.]
An uncomfortable silence passed over the line.
“Arthur made a mistake.”
As Debert fiddled with the telephone cord, the thought crossed his mind to cut it off.
[He’s always been plagued by his inferiority complex towards you. I had instructed him to join forces with the Britain army when you recovered. I was so shocked to hear he messed up.]
A string of excuses, all too predictable.
[Nexus relies heavily on your abilities. He’s always resented that. He’s always been a spoiled child, favoured by the late Emperor.]
The blade of the jackknife Debert pulled out glinted sharply.
[Nexus cannot withdraw from—]
The droning, nonsensical chatter was cut off along with the phone line.
“Useless bastard.”
Selling out his own brother to save his own skin. Debert had no intention of defying the Emperor, but he also had no intention of being his puppet.
Perhaps once, but not now.
As Debert opened the door to the isolation room, an irritable expression he couldn’t hide crept onto his face. Gale, noticing, saluted the military commander.
The news that Debert had pardoned Arthur spread to the Britain army even before noon.
After a series of crushing defeats, if Arthur, who held a significant role in the army, were to be stripped of his rank, morale would undoubtedly plummet. The overwhelming consensus was that the commander had taken this into account.
Despite his ruthlessness and the rumours surrounding him, everyone knew that his dignity and sense of duty were what maintained his esteem and admiration.
“We’ll proceed as originally planned. If they have any sense, they’ll remember.”
Debert cast a glance at the bandages wrapped around Gale’s head. A map of the operation was spread out over the bed.
The meeting that began in the early evening only showed signs of ending late into the night.
“Blow up the bridge leading to Kovach’s capital. The goal is to cut off their supply line. Nexus will take the centre, while Britain flanks on both sides. We don’t need to capture them all. Just trap the ones stuck between the destroyed bridges.”
“What should we name the operation?”
“Pig hunting?”
Arthur answered in place of Gale’s question.
“That’s crude.”
Debert’s long fingers slowly traced the circular area that would become the enemy’s prison.
“Doesn’t it look like a ring?”
He tapped the starting point again as if to put a full stop on it.
“Let’s call it Proposal.”
“Pardon?”
Debert answered clearly, facing his subordinate’s puzzled expression.
“The operation’s name will be Proposal. I think that’s fitting.” (T/L: It literally means proposal LOL.)
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TRANSLATOR:
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