Contract of Submission with the Enemy - Chapter 29
He entered Rité’s room first. Khalid, feeling conflicted, spoke to Rité.
“Please follow the Major’s orders.”
Rité looked up at him, her resolute blue eyes meeting his. He was the only person here who addressed her with respect.
“Let me assist you.”
Khalid gently guided her without force, respecting her as Aster’s partner.
Lieutenant Khalid supported Rité’s limp body as they walked into the room. Major Aster Cloud was sitting on a folding chair next to the bed, his legs crossed. He gestured toward the bed and said, “Lay her down.”
Khalid gently placed Rité on the bed. She lay still, her hands resting on her stomach, eyes closed as if she were dead.
Aster placed a large hand on her swollen, bruised face and began to heal her wounds. A healthy green light emanated from his hand. In a moment, the injuries disappeared without a trace, but Rité kept her eyes closed. The scars on her heart were not as easily healed as those on her body.
After withdrawing his hand, Aster spoke calmly, “Rest for a few days and then resume training. Everyone doubts you now, but if you train hard, you can improve your reputation. Don’t let anyone bully you again.”
His words sounded so absurd to her that she chuckled softly and asked, “Are you saying that you’re the only one allowed to bully me? How am I supposed to stop you or anyone else?”
“I told you before,” he replied. “You have two options if you want to ensure no one can touch you. One is to prove that you’re a powerful force they can’t challenge, and the other is to become my perfect partner.”
Recalling his words, Rité fell silent. Seeing this, Aster said, “Rest now.” He started to get up from the chair.
“Since coming here, I’ve had a growing thought,” Rité spoke in a faint voice, her eyes still closed.
Aster stopped and turned to look at her. She continued, her voice like a dying flame, “I can’t imagine how that child endured in a place like this. You said my brother is alive, that he’s on a covert mission deep in enemy territory. Honestly, I still can’t believe it. Sometimes I think it’s all just my wishful thinking, that I want to believe he’s alive so badly that I’ve created this terrible nightmare. Maybe when you found me back then, I was already shot and dead, and now I’m in hell, paying for my sins, enduring endless punishment.”
Rité truly believed that. While her abilities could heal physical wounds, they couldn’t mend the ones on her heart. Her outward appearance was fine, but inside, she had long since been rotting away.
The most concrete, horrifying evidence that she was alive and that this wasn’t a dream was the pain. But once that pain vanished as if nothing had happened, the emptiness in her heart grew just as large.
“Am I really alive right now?”
This doubt often consumed her thoughts.
Listening to Rité, Aster recalled something Commander Maud had once said:
“We are already dead from the moment we are captured.”
Aster stood in silence for a long time before finally speaking. “It’s true that Nox is alive. And it’s also true that you are alive right now.”
With that, he walked out of the room. Khalid gave Rité a slightly pitying look before following him.
As Aster walked down the hallway, he asked Khalid, “How does she seem to you?”
“What do you mean?” Khalid replied.
“I mean Rité Rainhills. How does she seem to you right now?”
Khalid thought for a moment before answering seriously, “She seems to be in a serious condition. It looks like she’s under considerable mental strain.”
“…”
Aster also sensed that she was reaching her limit. There was a high possibility she might do something extreme. After some contemplation, he made a decision and said, “We need to attempt a meeting with Eisen.”
“What?” Khalid asked, surprised.
Aster replied with a serious expression, “For effective cooperation, we need to have Rité meet with Eisen at least once. Prepare for it.”
Khalid responded with equal seriousness, “Yes, sir.”
* * *
A man in a suit walked alone along a quiet path, lined with neatly arranged trees and well-kept grass. His steel-colored hair blended naturally with the surrounding greenery. As he walked on the path in his shiny shoes, he stopped by a tree and looked up at a nest. A bluebird popped its head out of the nest and, after a few flaps, landed on his head.
The man laughed innocently as the bird nibbled at his hair, “My head’s not a nest!”
Due to the greenish hue his hair took on in the sunlight, he blended into the scenery near the trees. When the bird flew to his index finger, he gently stroked its head with his other finger and asked, “Is your leg all healed?”
The bird closed its eyes gently, as if nodding. This was a bird he had once found fallen from its nest. He had treated its leg and released it. Although the bird still had a small bandage on its leg, it seemed to fly fine, so he didn’t bother to remove it. It served as a symbol of their connection.
He took some nuts from his pocket and offered them to the bird. While it ate, he reached into the nest and retrieved a small note written in Aster’s handwriting. He placed a small packet of nuts in the nest and said, “I’ll be back again. Stay safe. Don’t get caught.”
The bluebird chirped sweetly in response and slipped back into the nest.
He took a long detour along the path, walking slowly, and entered a building. Once inside, he went straight to the bathroom and opened the note. It contained a series of ciphered words. His expression shifted slightly as he decoded it.
He flushed the note down the toilet and left the bathroom as if nothing had happened. He looked stoic and focused, a stark contrast to the man who had been walking on the path earlier.
* * *
While Aster and Khalid were preparing for their rendezvous with Nox, Benyak gathered the unit members for training. Stamina, endurance, cardiovascular strength, and running speed were crucial not only for mission success but also for the assassins’ survival, so they never neglected physical training.
During the intense session, the soldiers were doing push-ups in unison when Benyak sensed someone’s presence at the entrance. It was Rité, dressed in her training gear.
“I want to join,” she declared resolutely.
Benyak replied, “Major Aster told you to rest for a few days. You’re not in good condition; just go inside and rest.”
“No,” Rité insisted. “That makes me want to do it even more. Let me join.”
Seeing the determination in her eyes, Benyak relented. “Fine, join in.”
Rité took her place at the end of the line and assumed the push-up position. The man next to her sneered. “Don’t be a nuisance, traitor.”
Others around them laughed. Rité’s reputation had plummeted after she helped Commander Maud escape, betraying Aster.
Ignoring the taunts, Rité kept her gaze on the ground. Benyak reiterated the rules. “No using your abilities during training. If anyone uses their powers, the sensor will detect it, and we’ll all be doing extra drills until sunset. Learn to enjoy the pain and survive without your powers.”
The mention of enjoying pain made Rité’s eyes light up. Training was a better reminder that she was alive than lying in bed. She wanted to feel her heart pounding as if it might burst.
Benyak resumed the commands, and Rité followed diligently through push-ups, pull-ups, and dagger drills. With her face contorted and breath heavy, she thrust her dagger forward repeatedly.