🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 26
Ami and Celine, who were in the same class as Noah, had started a bet over what was happening inside the break room.
“…Weren’t they friends?”
Next to the two, who were openly encouraging gambling, stood Lieutenant Colonel Ice, unable to hide his sorrow.
Known for his dignified yet kind personality, he was wiping his eyes with a handkerchief.
“Oh dear, Captain! I’ve always thought of you like a daughter! And that’s why I told you, a man like the Lieutenant General isn’t right for you!”
So she really was going to marry a soldier!
“Who do we give the congratulatory money to?”
“How much should we give? This is the first time someone close to me is getting married.”
“Well…”
“By the way, when are they coming out? I’m dying of thirst here.”
The other members just said whatever they wanted.
“……”
Warrant Officer Feast quietly turned around.
“Huh, Warrant Officer?”
A passing soldier greeted him.
“You seem busy. Heading out again?”
“To the infirmary, a bit…”
“Are you sick?”
“Yes…”
Feast nodded weakly.
“My headache is about to come back…”
When Noah and Reto came out of the break room, they each explained what had happened inside in their own words.
“The honeymoon will be a week long.”
“For the greater good, I will sacrifice myself.”
Most of the special task force members understood and accepted the latter statement first.
“Captain, you’ve made a huge decision.”
“To think you’d join your life with that crazy—no, that Lieutenant General!”
“You absolutely must never divorce!”
“Oh, Captain! I always told you, like a daughter, never to marry a soldier!”
“Congratulations on your marriage!”
Though there were some tearful pleas for reconsideration in between, the members sincerely congratulated the two on their engagement.
In fact, the team had already suspected something between Noah and Reto.
“The General always looked out for you, didn’t he?”
Celine said she’d been expecting this day, then spat lightly on her finger and started carefully counting her winnings from the earlier bet.
Meanwhile, Ami hung her head and sniffled.
“Ugh, my thirty Pina…!”
She was too upset over the money she lost to properly celebrate her friend’s engagement.
News of the engagement spread quickly.
People at headquarters congratulated them whenever they passed by. Some even teared up or grew sad. Most of the regret seemed directed at Noah.
“Captain, congratulations on your marriage…”
“Sniff… Congratulations!”
That day alone, two soldiers broke into tears mid-congratulation and ran off.
Left staring blankly after them, Noah felt someone’s presence behind her.
“Our Captain sure is popular.”
Reto smiled at the gift in Noah’s hands.
“You’re far more popular than me, General.”
“My popularity’s the bad kind, though.”
Reto snatched the gift from Noah’s hands and grinned slyly.
“Have you told the Commander?”
“Told her what? That we’re getting married?”
“Yes. Since a married couple working in the same unit is a bit…”
“It’s fine.”
He had already looked into it and gotten confirmation.
“Special Ops is a core naval force, and people capable of piloting personal vessels are extremely rare.”
They couldn’t just be reassigned elsewhere.
So, ever since the unit was formed two years ago, the roster had remained unchanged.
The only exception was Private Honess Mera, who had joined last year after passing the test.
“Actually, I already called the Commander.”
“What did she say?”
“The old hag…”
What followed in his serious tone was unexpectedly funny.
“She seemed senile.”
“Excuse me?”
What was that supposed to mean?
Startled, Noah stopped walking and demanded an explanation.
“Nothing serious.”
Reto relayed the conversation.
“At first she was furious. That old hag’s been nagging me forever to meet her granddaughter. But when she heard my partner was you, she immediately congratulated me.”
“……”
“Her granddaughter? We don’t even need to ask who that is.”
Noah asked with a suppressed laugh.
“‘Ardvelo,’ right?”
The cause of the Grand Mage Tower Explosion, and the most powerful noble family in the kingdom. Not to mention, a house deeply tied to the navy.
For anyone in the navy, it was an extremely attractive match.
But Reto thought differently.
“One Ardvelo in my life is enough—the old hag and that crazy Tower Master.”
Having dealt with them before, even the memory of those two made him shudder involuntarily.
“And one woman in my life is enough too—you.”
He leaned down, asking if she didn’t feel the same. His slight smile was just a little calculated.
“I’ll let it slide since it sounds nice.”
Smack—their lips met with a sound that tickled their ears.
“By the way, today’s the day.”
“Yeah…”
With just one kiss, Reto’s face melted into tenderness, then quickly hardened into resolve.
Noah patted his back lightly, both out of support and affection.
“Think you can handle it?”
“I’ve got what you taught me.”
Thanks to Noah’s help, Reto recalled the preparations he’d made one by one.
Their conversation continued in the car after duty, on their way home.
The only red Chetty car in the southern Sharp territory drove carefully along the coastal road.
“I’m nervous…”
Reto was dressed more formally than usual.
A dark navy suit, a bluish shirt beneath.
No tie, but the silver watch on his wrist gave him a neat look.
“The last time we met, she wasn’t exactly friendly toward me…”
“Didn’t it go pretty well? You even scored some points.”
Noah adjusted his hair as she spoke.
“When you went to visit me in the hospital.”
“Ah…”
Noah knew exactly what he meant.
The day Reto had come by.
When Clare returned from school, she’d suddenly performed a full-blown doll play titled ‘A Man Who Regrets Must Suffer!’
Right in front of Noah’s hospital bed.
The performance had lasted a full two hours.
“‘A man who regrets?’ That means… a man who did wrong?”
“More or less.”
“And your sister didn’t say anything?”
“As… sharpened a knife.”
“So I really made a bad impression.”
“No, she literally sharpened a knife.”
As the car stopped at a red light, Noah mimed the motion.
“Like this, grinding on a whetstone.”
“……”
“She said she’d cut you into pieces with it.”
Beside her, Clare had practiced her special move—kicking between the legs of her life-sized plushie, ‘Butcher Bunny.’
“…Lovely.”
Just then, the light turned green. The red car passed through the city, heading for the only hill in Sharp territory.
“Should I have written a will?”
Veins bulged on Reto’s hands gripping the wheel.
“Whew…”
On bloody battlefields he had claimed victory, outmaneuvering plots that would cripple lesser men. He thought nothing could scare him anymore.
But meeting the family of the woman he loved—that even a mad dog like him found terrifying.
They climbed the gentle hill, the kind even an old man with a cane could manage.
“Enemy spotted!”
At the gate, Clare waved her arms.
“You’re the bad man who made my sister cry! Go home!”
It was the day to meet her sister’s fiancé. Yet the little lady was already in her pajamas.
With her whole body, she declared she had no intention of dressing up for the likes of him.
“My, my.”
As observed from behind, As scooped Clare up into her arms.
“Why greet such an unworthy guest at such a noble home? Want me to sprinkle the salt I brought?”
In her arms, Clare bared her baby teeth with a growl.
“Grrr!”
“Here, sprinkle it like this.”
“Grrr! Go away! I said go away!”
Nothing ever works because of you!
Even as she growled, Clare hurled the salt As handed her.
“Well, this is something.”
Watching through the car window, Noah glanced at him sideways.
“Told you, family’s the scariest.”
“……”
“You really should’ve behaved better.”
Patting his shoulder, Noah got out alone.
“Haah…!”
Left behind, Reto slumped against the wheel.
Honk! The horn cried mournfully.
“Shut up!”
Still in As’s arms, Clare threw another handful of salt at the car.
With such an enthusiastic welcome, Reto entered the mansion, his nerves never easing.
“Would you wait a moment? Dinner will be ready soon.”
“You don’t get anything, Mister! Just leave!”
“Calm down, young lady. He did at least bring our little mistress here safely. We should offer him some salted water.”
“Even salt’s a waste. My sister and As work so hard to earn that money.”
“My, how sweetly our young lady speaks!”
Seeing his future sisters-in-law bonding together, Reto worried not about receiving permission to marry, but whether he’d leave alive.
So that’s why Noah helped me prepare beforehand.
But now it seemed even that might not be enough.
“Mister.”
While Noah changed clothes and As prepared dinner—
“I heard everything.”
Clare, still in pajamas, personally came to greet the guest.
Back when they first met, the little lady had at least shown some manners.
But now, seeing Reto as the villain, she showed her hostility outright.
“You made my sister suffer, didn’t you?!”
“Hmm, it’s more of… an adult matter…”
“‘Adult matter,’ my foot.”
On her pajama top, the picture of Butcher Bunny wobbled.
The bunny held a bloody kitchen knife, its eyes marked with X’s.
“If you can’t explain properly to a kid, it means you really did something bad.”
Impressed by her sharp tongue, Reto bowed his head.
“I’m sorry…”
Half of it was genuine remorse, half of it was struggling not to laugh at how adorable this little sister-in-law looked puffing out her belly and threatening him.
“Honestly…”
Clare folded her arms atop her round belly and sighed.
“This is why Grandma left me the role of head of the family.”
At those words, Reto thought of someone else missing from this home.
