Ch.155Favorite Crime! (2)

#155

Still fuming, Stefan frowned at the two people whispering in front of him.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, we just have something to discuss. Please continue.”

Dexter casually made a circular gesture with two fingers, indicating that Stefan should continue speaking.

Even though Stefan had stepped down from the crown prince position years ago, Dexter was showing disrespect by having a private conversation right in front of him.

However, unable to openly express his dissatisfaction to the two people who clearly had information about his family, Stefan merely furrowed his brow.

“…Anyway, besides that wine-like stuff, they asked me to deliver items with unusual shapes. They’re definitely alien goods, but they wouldn’t tell me what they were.”

“Well, I understand you were asked to ship various items through diplomatic pouches. But do you know why the Encyclopedia ended up in that condition?”

Dexter spoke without much thought, but Stefan took it differently.

“That condition… Don’t you think that’s a bit harsh?”

Stefan, seemingly unable to tolerate the insult any longer, openly displayed hostility toward Dexter.

“Huh!”

Dexter was so taken aback by Stefan’s attitude that he involuntarily let out a breath.

Seeing Stefan’s apparent ignorance of his current situation, Dexter leaned in close to the desk and slowly began to speak.

“Are you feeling important because I’ve been showing respect to a former crown prince bastard?”

“…What did you say?”

“You lost your mind over a human woman and made a fool of yourself, but you should at least have some awareness. Don’t you know the planet she’s from is about to be fucked? Can’t you see it? I’ve been keeping quiet because your family is involved, but are you really showing off how clueless you are about the world?”

Dexter continued his merciless criticism, unable to contain his temper.

“Wait, Dexter… That’s going too far…”

Surprised by Dexter’s sudden outburst, Himena grabbed his forearm to stop him, but Dexter continued, glaring at Stefan.

“I understand your family is in danger, but have you considered that the lives of nearly 7 billion Earth humans might depend on you? Or is only the imperial family of our former crown prince important?”

“Then what am I supposed to do?!”

Stefan slammed his hand on the desk again in response to Dexter’s sarcasm.

-BANG!

“Do you think… do you think I wanted this? My father is sick, my sister won’t even take my calls, and the only communication channel available to me was someone from the same planet! What more could I have done from here?!”

In response to Stefan’s confession-like outburst, Dexter no longer showed any anger.

His voice was now devoid of any expression or emotion.

“So you’re saying it was an unavoidable choice?”

Dexter’s tone was clearly mocking.

“Nice excuse. No will to make an effort, just a yes-man following orders. It’s a good thing you stepped down from being crown prince. Otherwise, when you became emperor, you would have ruined an entire planet while listening to sycophants all day.”

With those words, Dexter shoved his hands into his pockets and headed out of the office.

“And then you’d be crying ‘it’s not my fault,’ blaming the generals who couldn’t stop it, the messengers who couldn’t relay information, claiming you tried your best.”

After spitting out these harsh words, Dexter left the office. Meanwhile, Himena, who had been biting her lip, remained standing in front of Stefan, who was staring blankly at the door through which Dexter had just exited.

She needed to continue the investigation.

“Mr. Stefan. Our agent… the Hughes agent who just left, has already taken care of everything.”

“…Taken care of what?”

“Agent Hughes has a personal connection with the CEO of Tenpenny Corporation.”

Himena took out a document from her folder and handed it to Stefan.

“What is this?”

“It’s a copy of a news article about Tenpenny Corporation providing loans and human resources to the Gaijin Empire.”

The news article Himena provided stated that Eliya, the CEO of Tenpenny Corporation, had temporarily provided funds to the Empire and had urgently dispatched personnel to assist the imperial family.

“That’s how it’s described in the article, but in reality, they’ve detained imperial faction members who were involved with or recruited by the Grand Marshal, and have also arrested the imperial physician.”

“…Tenpenny Corporation has no reason to do this?”

Stefan was bewildered by the idea that the notoriously ruthless Tenpenny Corporation would help the Gaijin Empire as if it were a charitable act.

“Of course, it was handled as a personal favor by Agent Hughes who just stormed out.”

All the information about the Gaijin imperial family had been included in the documents that Dexter had requested from Eliya.

There was no reason for Eliya, the CEO of Tenpenny Corporation, to provide funds and human resources.

It was all personally requested by Dexter to obtain Stefan’s testimony.

Knowing all this, Himena was also displeased with Stefan’s behavior.

She continued in a sharp tone:

“While you were busy hiding information without any concern for Earth’s danger, this much progress was made in just a few days.”

Himena pulled out another document from her folder.

“This is…”

“It’s a copy of a letter sent to you by Emperor Constantine. I was going to give it to you after hearing your testimony, but given the situation…”

After handing over the copy of the letter, Himena took out her mobile phone from her jacket’s inner pocket, checked the time, and said as she headed out of the office:

“I’ll be back in 10 minutes. I need to bring Agent Hughes back.”

Stefan looked alternately at the letter and at Himena with a bewildered expression, confronted with the actions of the two people who had swiftly resolved the issues he had been worrying about.

Whether Stefan was confused or not, Himena left the room to find Dexter, who was clearly angry.

“Dexy, honey.”

Dexter was gulping down water at the water dispenser.

“Couldn’t you have been a little more patient?”

“I thought the crown prince of the Gaijin Empire would be a more resilient and flexible person.”

Dexter clicked his tongue sharply.

“He’s more of an idiot than I thought.”

Himena somewhat agreed, but now wasn’t the time for that.

“But now we’ve heard that Emperor Constantine has regained his senses. Isn’t that good?”

“If he was that much of an idiot, I wouldn’t have helped. I would have slammed his head on the table until he testified.”

“Let’s be peaceful, do you have to solve everything with violence?”

As Himena continued to pat Dexter’s shoulder soothingly, Dexter, his mood somewhat improved, clicked his tongue once more and headed back to the room where Stefan was.

“I see you’ve read the letter…”

Upon entering the room, Himena could see Stefan crying profusely.

“Father…”

Since Eliya had passed the letter to them after receiving it, they roughly knew its contents.

They had expected tears, but they hadn’t anticipated Stefan would cry so bitterly. Dexter looked at him with a somewhat bewildered expression.

“Come on, he’s not a ten-year-old kid.”

“Wouldn’t you cry too if your sick father wrote you a letter?”

After a short while.

The two sat in chairs in front of the desk, waiting for Stefan’s emotions to subside.

After Stefan carefully folded the copy of the letter and put it in his jacket’s inner pocket, Himena cautiously broached the subject.

“…You know why Encyclopedia was subjected to biological experimentation, right?”

Stefan spoke in a muffled voice.

“We have our own informants. We were suspicious that Encyclopedia knew too much information, even for someone working at OSA.”

“So you planted informants around Encyclopedia?”

Stefan nodded in response to Himena’s question.

“You said Encyclopedia was found in a sewer? Our informants had also detected that Encyclopedia had been frequently moving toward sewers for some time. Of course, it was a pattern of briefly stopping by the sewer and then going to work.”

“What do you think was the reason?”

“No CCTV.”

Stefan sighed once, then continued.

“It was as if he was extremely averse to being tracked. As if no one should know about his unofficial schedule. There’s no reason for an OSA agent to specifically avoid CCTV, is there?”

“That’s true. We have no reason to deliberately avoid CCTV either.”

“So I confronted Encyclopedia.”

“What did you say?”

“I asked who was behind him.”

Stefan recalled the moment with an incredulous expression.

“Of course, he was shocked and asked if the former crown prince didn’t trust him… Thinking about it now, it was a despicable face.”

“Why did you meet Encyclopedia near the hotel area the last time?”

“That was the conversation I just mentioned, so you can probably guess.”

Dexter, who had been quietly listening to the conversation between Stefan and Himena, realized it was his turn and spoke up.

“He was caught.”

“Caught?”

“Once it was revealed that someone was behind him, it wouldn’t work anymore. According to Eliya, Dr. Morel, the physician, was trying to pack his bags and flee.”

“Was he trying to escape?”

“Well, rather than that, I’d say he was cutting ties. The reason Encyclopedia was subjected to biological experimentation that fused him with a car might be because they thought it was a waste to just kill him.”

At Dexter’s words, Stefan spoke with displeasure.

“Are you saying my father and I were merely pawns of the Grand Marshal?”

As if he had just realized it, Dexter laughed lightly and said:

“Her cruelty is extraordinary. Making Las Vegas citizens mentally ill, attempting biochemical terrorism against OSA agents. Each of her actions is a major crime that most organizations couldn’t even dream of committing.”

Dexter pointed to the photo of Grand Marshal Olivia on the desk and said:

“What you were trying to hide was a cosmic-level psychopath.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!”

“Would it have made a difference to someone who thinks of himself as a victim?”

At those words, Stefan showed his discomfort by twitching his lips, but Dexter, unfazed, raised one corner of his mouth and said:

“Anyway, thank you for your testimony.”

As the two stood up, having obtained everything they needed, Stefan jumped up to stop them.

“Wait, what if the Grand Marshal comes back?”

“When was the last time you heard from the Grand Marshal? It’s been months, right? And not once since Encyclopedia disappeared?”

Stefan hesitated, then slowly nodded.

“…That’s right.”

That meant the Grand Marshal’s side no longer needed the Stefan couple.

“The ties have been cut, indeed.”

Dexter was about to leave the room after saying that, but then turned back toward Stefan.

“Come to think of it, it’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous?”

“Everyone who was connected to the Grand Marshal and then cut off has died.”

Dexter stroked his chin once, then looked at Himena and said:

“Is there a spaceship to the Gaijin Empire?”

“There probably is, but it’s quite far, so…”

“Then we’ll have to ask Eliya at an intermediate stop.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?”

Stefan, who had been listening to their conversation, looked at them with a puzzled expression, and Dexter said:

“What do you mean? Ambassador and Mr. Stefan, you obviously need to leave Earth and go to the Gaijin Empire.”

“Now? Right away?”

“Yes, well… if you don’t want to, you can stay on Earth.”

Dexter said with a light smile, and Stefan looked at him suspiciously.

“If you want to be buried in an Earth cemetery.”

It was clearly a sarcastic remark, but the content was so ominous that Stefan looked more confused than angry.

“But my wife is a civil servant of a country… she can’t just leave her post.”

“You gave up the crown prince position for your wife, and now you’re going to lead her to death?”

Dexter was right.

What mattered was life, not face or proper handover procedures.

No husband would leave his wife in danger, so Stefan nodded heavily to Dexter and said:

“I’ll contact OSA soon.”

As Stefan picked up the phone to call Anna, the two left the room.

“Would you give up your position as crown prince for me?”

“No.”

“Really? You really wouldn’t give it up?”

Himena, who had expected Dexter to readily say he would give it up, frowned and asked, and Dexter casually replied:

“I’d grab the emperor by the collar and declare that if he doesn’t approve the marriage, he’s dead. End of story.”

It was like answering the question of who you would save first if your mother and girlfriend fell into a river by saying you would just dam the river.

Unlike Himena’s astonished eyes, Dexter shrugged.

“Love is something you fight for, not something you give up.”

“You’re saying you’d commit an unfilial act for love?”

“Is that how it sounds? Besides, if my father were the emperor, he would have readily approved. This situation wouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

Seeing Dexter answer seriously, Himena punched his chest lightly and said:

“What if, just what if!”

“I told you. I’d grab him by the collar. I think I could quickly resolve the issue of a father who won’t approve the marriage.”

“…That’s a barbaric solution.”

“But it’s an opportunity to have both the emperor’s throne and the woman I love.”

Dexter said as he wrapped one arm around Himena’s waist.

As the physical distance between them suddenly decreased and she found herself in Dexter’s embrace, Himena grumbled:

“You really never back down.”

“I can’t tolerate losing.”

Dexter raised an eyebrow once and then smacked Himena’s bottom.

“Ah! Dexy!”

Himena glared at Dexter for suddenly slapping her bottom, but he laughed it off and said:

“We still have a lot to do, so let’s go.”

“Your playfulness, really.”

Although Himena grumbled, she wasn’t really upset.

Since they needed to return to OSA in Las Vegas to handle the remaining tasks, the two left Los Angeles and headed to OSA headquarters.