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chapter 65
How dare he. So arrogantly.
“……”
Even with the Admiral of the Navy right before his eyes, Director Flancy didn’t offer so much as a greeting.
He just slumped into a worn-out chair as if his legs had given way, head hung low, arms twisted behind his back.
The kind-hearted Admiral Advelo didn’t point it out. In fact, he pretended not to notice.
“Let’s see… when was the last time we met?”
“Before the cruise, sir. You met to discuss training for officers slated for promotion.”
His chief secretary answered in his stead.
“At that time, Captain Noah Bello was mentioned as a prime candidate. In recommendations, evaluations, every category—he scored the highest.”
“Chief Secretary, I wasn’t asking you.”
“My apologies.”
The secretary bowed, then added,
“I assumed the accused wouldn’t be answering easily.”
“That’s true enough.”
Nodding a few times, Admiral Advelo turned his gaze back to Director Flancy.
“…Why did you do it?”
His voice, tinged with regret, rebuked his former comrade.
“Why did you throw everything away doing something like that?”
“……”
“Your family fled the South as though they were escaping. Now they’re left with debts to repay. That daughter you boasted about endlessly—she dropped out of the Academy to earn money.”
“……”
Advelo inhaled sharply, then stood up, tilting his head slightly.
‘So even family won’t move him.’
He had suspected as much, but seeing it with his own eyes was all the more pitiful.
Not the wretch before him—he was worthless. What was truly pitiful was his family, who still worried for him as a husband and father.
‘If he’d truly cared about them, he never would’ve done this in the first place.’
To former Director Flancy, family had never been more than a tool—to secure his social standing, to polish his own image.
A devoted husband, a caring father.
Those were the labels he needed.
All he wanted was for people to look at him and recall that packaged image.
“…Fred Relly.”
In the end, Admiral Advelo began reciting names.
“Varius Fork, Emil Vugo, Aulus Gordian…”
The stream of names came out like song lyrics, so many it was almost miraculous he remembered them all.
But Flancy didn’t react to any of them.
“……”
He remained bound, staring at the floor, as if he had abandoned everything.
Advelo never took his eyes off the traitor, and finally spoke another name.
“…Dimone Nyx.”
At that moment—
“……”
It was faint, but unmistakable to Advelo’s eyes.
Flancy’s hair trembled.
“You filthy piece of trash…!”
At last unable to restrain himself, Advelo seized Flancy by the throat and slammed him into the wall.
“Khak!”
Still bound to the chair, the man was dragged along, coughing and trembling violently.
“You thought you could make a fool of me?”
“Gr… ghhk…!”
“That’s right…”
The veins bulged along the back of Advelo’s hand as he tightened his grip.
“So that’s why you unleashed that bastard into the South.”
The traitor, face-to-face with the Admiral’s blazing green eyes, foamed at the mouth in terror.
And then he collapsed, unconscious.
“…Chief Secretary.”
Advelo tossed the filthy scum onto the floor like garbage and held out his hand.
The secretary carefully wiped her hand with a cloth dampened in water, prepared in advance.
“Contact the Marquis of Oceanus.”
“…Mr. Raxo?”
After lunch, while out for a walk to digest, Noah spotted a familiar face.
“Oh, Miss Bello.”
Raxo, wearing a civilian visitor’s pass on his chest, waved and smiled.
“First time I’ve seen you since the wedding.”
“Thank you again for everything back then.”
Raxo had stood as a groomsman at her husband’s wedding. Even during her courtship days, she had met him a few times—they had shared drinks together on several occasions.
“And thank you as well for always getting along with my husband.”
“Wow, hearing that brat Reto called ‘husband’ still doesn’t feel real!”
Raxo shuddered in mock disbelief, making Noah laugh awkwardly. Truth be told, it was the first time she herself had ever called Reto “husband” to someone else.
“But what brings you to the base today?”
“Oh, to collect payment.”
Raxo pointed to the envelope of documents he was holding.
“Navy officers often come to my tavern for get-togethers. I came to process their bills today.”
“You’re always busy.”
“What’s so great about being busy with liquor, eh?”
“Where are you headed? I’ll escort you.”
“The Special Command office. These receipts are under Reto’s name.”
The two headed toward the command office.
Inside, only Reto sat alone at his desk.
“Why are you two coming in together?”
“We ran into each other outside. He came to submit the bar bills.”
“Should I wait in the lounge like before?”
Raxo offered politely, mindful of Reto poring over his papers.
“…Did you skip lunch?”
Noah asked.
When she had gone to eat earlier, Reto had still been sitting at his desk—and clearly, nothing had changed since.
“I had something light.”
“If you mean the bag of grain crackers tossed on your desk—that doesn’t count as a meal.”
“We call that an emergency ration.”
Still, the concern warmed him.
“I’ll grab a sandwich after I finish with Raxo.”
“All right.”
Only then did Noah exhale a relieved sigh—before suddenly realizing something.
“…Shouldn’t we at least offer tea?”
“Don’t bother.”
Reto chuckled, stopping her as she turned toward the break room.
Finally lifting his head from his papers, his face showed deep fatigue.
“Why would you serve military food to someone who left the military because he hated it?”
“……”
Blinking, Noah recalled what she’d once heard—Raxo had been Reto’s classmate at the academy. After about four years in service, he’d retired and opened a tavern.
“He was never really cut out for military life,” Reto explained, adding,
“Honestly, it’s amazing he held out four years.”
“And yet you became a soldier.”
“Family circumstances, or something like that.”
“Then why did you become a soldier, Admiral?”
“…Out of nowhere?”
Just then, Reto signed off on his last document and smiled faintly.
Noah answered honestly.
“Because I want to know more about you, sir.”
“Now that’s a reason I like.”
Reto finally stood, stretching his arms high overhead. The groan that escaped told how exhausted he really was.
Lowering his arms, he said,
“I suppose it was partly family too.”
The Oceanus family was renowned as a house of warriors, their heroes still immortalized in children’s books.
“And partly because the person I respected most was a soldier.”
“May I ask who?”
“You know them too.”
Reto grinned confidently.
“In fact, if you don’t, you’d be suspected of treason.”
“The General.”
“…You mean Dolphin?”
Startled, Noah forgot herself and slipped into informal speech.
“Of course not!”
Reto smothered a laugh and explained,
“I respect the Dolphin General too. But I actually took the name from the person I truly admired.”
“Ah…”
“Now you get it?”
“General Oceanus…”
Blushing at her silly mistake, Noah whispered the right name.
“That’s it.”
Reto nodded lightly.
“Since childhood, I admired him. Naturally, I wanted to follow in his footsteps.”
Recalling his memories of the General, Reto’s face softened into a look of pure happiness.
Watching him quietly, Noah finally asked the question that had long lingered in her heart.
“…Hey.”
If she was going to blur the line between personal and professional, she might as well ask what she’d never found the timing for.
“I got a letter from the Marquis of Oceanus.”
“……”
“It arrived during our honeymoon.”
“…I see.”
Reto gave a faint, unreadable smile.
Then fell silent.
“……”
Noah had expected him to ask about the contents. Instead, his bad habit reared its head again—clamming up, retreating into silence.
“Reto.”
But Noah now knew how to handle that coward.
“He wrote that he was sorry he couldn’t attend the wedding—and that he hoped to meet us sometime.”
Rather than let him wallow in mistaken assumptions, she cut straight to the truth.
“I want to meet him.”
“I can just reach out separately—”
“Don’t decide for me. I want to meet him.”
“……”
“Or is there some reason I shouldn’t?”
“No, but…”
Unable to give a proper reason, Reto glanced sidelong at her.
But Noah had been watching him the whole time, so their eyes met squarely.
“Reto.”
Her voice softened.
“If it comes down to a fight, I’ll win.”
“……”
“I’m younger, still in active service. Don’t you think I have the advantage?”
With a teasing smile, she gently closed his jaw, which had fallen open in shock.
“Wow, cake!”
Clare, just back from school, circled excitedly around the snack on the table—a cake smothered in white cream.
“And it’s peach cake too.”
“As must really love me…!”
“More than anyone in the world.”
“Heehee, then I must be the happiest kid alive!”
She cut into the pointed tip with her fork, and juicy peach jam oozed from the soft layers of sponge.
Clare’s mouth watered just as much.
While Clare devoured the cake with gusto, As cut up the rest in the kitchen and placed the slices onto plates.
Two were for Noah and Reto, who would be home after work.
One was for herself.
‘The whiskey pound cake for Master and Mistress is chilling in the fridge…’
So who would get the last slice?
“As~”
Drawing out the word, Clare brought over her empty plate and fork.
“Thank you for the meal!”
“Thank you for enjoying it.”
“Can I have another?”
“No.”
The firm refusal made Clare pout. Then her eyes landed on a familiar brown bottle.
“Huh?”
She pointed.
“Grandma’s anesthetic.”
“I already spread some on this cake earlier.”
Ignoring Clare’s startled gasp, As picked up the cake and walked out onto the balcony.
