Chapter 12

The rear door of the automobile was pulled open. After waiting for Kyle to settle in comfortably, the secretary closed the door for him.

“I’ll take you straight home.”

“I’m going to sleep a little, so wake me when we arrive.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Seeing his employer close his eyes, the secretary signaled to the driver with his hand to slow down. If he was this tired, it seemed better to let him sleep properly in the car than to wake him awkwardly in the middle.

‘His seasickness really was bad……’

Even a man with iron stamina, who endured on four hours of sleep a day, had his weakness. The secretary had learned half a year ago, on the first ship ride he had taken with Kyle Strauss, that good stamina and motion sickness were two separate things.

The sight of a man well over six feet tall, dressed in a suit, retching for three whole hours had left an extremely strong impression on him at the time. He had even wondered whether the reason his employer had refused an easy posting and stayed stuck on Kartnia Island for years was that, once he went onto an island, he could not get off it again.

The secretary, checking his employer’s complexion in the mirror, flinched. The eyelids were opening.

“You bought a newspaper at the harbor, right?”

“Yes, Sir. I was reading it.”

“I hope nothing much happened in those four days. I don’t want more of a headache today.”

“……Will you still be able to go to the theater?”

“Ah.”

The eyes that had been about to close with a sigh opened again. He had been suffering from seasickness so badly that he had completely forgotten his appointment for this evening.

“Even if it kills me, I have to go. Such an important person has made time from her important schedule.”

After looking through the list of unmarried ladies the secretary had brought him, Kyle had set his own priorities in his own way.

Today, he was meeting none other than his first choice. Her name was Hannah Margaret, granddaughter of Jameson Moore, the unparalleled hero of the conquest war. He had heard she was a young lady quite favored even by the royal family thanks to her warm and gracious manner.

It felt as though his stomach was turning over again. In place of Kyle, who had shut his eyes once more, the secretary discreetly began reciting information about the young lady.

“Miss Margaret has a complex about her height. There is a high chance that today too she will appear in high heels, so it would be best not to compliment her shoes. She might take offense.”

“I know. That’s the third time I’ve heard that.”

“Her favorite topics are history and the royal family. She is very proud of her maternal grandfather, who was a soldier, and she is eloquent……”

Kyle waved a hand as if annoyed and changed the subject.

“I’ll handle Miss Margaret on my own. If there’s anything that happened in the last four days that I absolutely need to know right now, tell me that.”

For the sake of his employer, who truly did not seem in any condition to read the newspaper himself, the secretary gave a resolute nod.

“There is one incident you ought to know about. There was a terrorist attack on Kartnia Island, and one soldier was killed.”

“Terror attacks in the colonies happen from time to time. That gives me one more conversation topic for Miss Margaret.”

“If it had been an ordinary attack, yes…… but apparently it was an attack aimed at the Prince.”

“Prince Edward?”

Kyle opened again the eyes he had half closed. He thought of asking for the newspaper, but gave up because the world was swaying, and shut his eyes again.

He decided to look into the details after returning from the theater; for now, it was time to rely on the information the secretary provided.

“Yes. It seems he had gone to personally inspect the management conditions in the colony and nearly met with disaster. They say the dead soldier will be awarded a medal, and the funeral will be held in Bukata today.”

“Where did the attack happen? Where on Kartnia Island?”

“The article gives the place name as ‘Reto.’”

“……That’s strange.”

“Pardon?”

“Never mind. I’ll think about it later. If I’m going to avoid throwing up on Miss Margaret’s dress, I think I need to rest now.”

Hiding his complicated thoughts beneath a humorous gesture, Kyle got out of the car.

The sun was setting. In an hour, he had to go offer Hannah Margaret his arm.

* * *

Colin Bennett’s funeral was held in Bukata.

If Colin had still been alive, it would have been the sort of funeral he would have called extravagant and fled behind a door from. From the church entrance all the way to the coffin, the scent of white chrysanthemums densely arranged along both sides of the aisle filled the funeral hall.

Earl Nett earnestly begged Mr. Bennett to please stay at their home. Unable to disregard an old friend’s kindness, Mr. Bennett silently accepted the request.

Hazel felt relieved in another sense as well. Simply having her father and Sally under the protection of someone they knew in the unfamiliar city of Bukata eased her mind greatly.

Thanks to that, she even had the freedom to go out. After telling Alice to please take good care of her father and Sally, she set out.

Though several hours had passed since the funeral ended, the pastor’s eulogy still rang in Hazel’s ears.

“The deceased was our kind neighbor, and as a brave soldier……”

He died.

“He was a loving husband, and a proud son……”

He died.

The kind neighbor, the brave soldier, the loving husband, the proud son was dead.

Everyone dies. But no young man ever thinks he will end his life at the age of twenty-five.

It was futile. Hazel raised her head and looked up at the sky. Raindrops had begun to fall.

She had not brought an umbrella, but Hazel had no intention of turning back. Her steps moved only forward, toward the direction in which she had no choice but to go.

Her father was old, and Sally had lost her husband. Jen knew nothing. Hazel was, in every sense, the head of the household now, and the one who was least allowed to grieve.

So she could not cry.

As she walked with no destination, Hazel thought about practical matters.

A soldier who dies in an operational area receives ten thousand dollars in compensation. In a few months, once she took up her teaching post and had a stable income, she would be able to support the four of them, including Jen.

A painful groan escaped between Hazel’s lips as she walked.

“Ugh……”

At her mother’s funeral, her father had said something like that. Even when someone we love dies, the world goes on as it is. As if to prove those words, carriage wheels rolled and automobiles drove before her eyes.

“Watch out!”

Ring-ring, a thin bicycle rushed past, grazing her. Even its wheels were spinning fast.

Everything turned. But Hazel remained circling in place. Her face was hot and her arms were cold. Was it because it was night even though it was summer, or because drizzle was still rain, after all? It felt a little cold.

Then suddenly she came back to herself. The reason she had briefly lost returned to its place.

Wandering like a madwoman would help nothing. She had to finish this night walk, go back, hold Sally tightly, and sleep. She also needed to make sure the gloomy atmosphere of the adults did not harm little Jen. Colin would have wanted that too.

She turned her body back toward the way she had come. Then a cry almost like a scream burst from her mouth.

“Kyle!”

Kyle Strauss was walking toward the lit theater. He wore a hat and carried a black umbrella, but it was definitely Kyle.

“Kyle……!”

Her body called out to him before her mind did. She had no time even to realize that tears were pouring down like a waterfall despite all her efforts to hold them back.

The front hem of her black one-piece dress, so black it looked as though no filth would show on it, had grown wet and damp. But she did not think it felt cold. She had no time for that.

People often make mistakes. They think humans are rational creatures, that reason can control emotion.

But that applies only to emotions that can be controlled. Things that belong to the category of what ordinary people in a peaceful world feel almost every day, like a small sorrow or a trivial desire.

Unfortunately, the world is not so gentle. Like the notice of her brother’s death that flew into a peaceful early summer, the world calmly drives tragedy down as though it were the most ordinary thing.

From the perspective of fate, which throws the spear of tragedy, it may be nothing more than an everyday event. But to the person whose heart is struck by that spear, it is the one and only world being shaken.

A cold hand seized a firm arm with desperate force. It was the ordinary act of an ordinary person instinctively searching for something to rely on.

With tears streaming down her face, Hazel looked up at the face of her childhood friend.

And she realized something was wrong.

“……”

He was deeply frowning. Even through her tear-blurred vision, she could tell at once that Kyle did not welcome this situation.

She had not expected this. Hazel’s eyes trembled. But she did not know what to do with the arm she had already grabbed.

Over her disheveled hair fell a cold question.

“Who are you?”

“……”

No answer came. Hesitating, Hazel turned her gaze aside.