Ch.203Chapter 21. The Art of Deceiving Each Other (15)

“What’s with the gun?”

“It’s all over, Johan. Put the gun down. In the name of the Elza National Gendarmerie, I’m placing you under arrest. The right to remain silent… well, I wonder if you’ll be able to exercise it.”

Virginia slowly stood up. She pointed at me with a revolver that looked to be about 30cm long with seven chambers.

“You underestimated Letitia’s loyalty too much. Not everyone in the world is as corrupt as you, Johan. Everyone has values they follow. Something noble that you, a beast driven by instinct, could never understand.”

“On your knees!”

From behind, Letitia forced me to kneel. I felt the cold muzzle of a rifle against the back of my head. Virginia’s revolver gently pressed against the crown of my head.

“I’d love nothing more than to put a bullet in each of your joints. But this body still has some use…”

Virginia grabbed me by the collar, jabbing my lower abdomen with her revolver. A clear threat that she’d blow off my precious parts if I tried anything funny.

“Letitia, why?”

“I’m sorry, Johan.”

Letitia slowly shook her head.

“It’s nothing personal. I just did what I had to do. His Excellency promised to forgive all my mistakes and take good care of my family in the east. I didn’t want my brother and his new wife to suffer because of me.”

“What about you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Aren’t you unhappy?”

Instead of answering, Letitia turned her head away. Virginia seemed extremely satisfied with our conversation.

“I see. Your weakness. You actually treat your people decently, don’t you?”

“A virtue someone like you, who ruins decent men’s marriage prospects, would never understand.”

Virginia just smiled with satisfaction without slapping my face.

“If I were in your position, I would be very grateful. Because I chose you. Now that I’ve made the marriage declaration, I won’t kill you. However, I know several appropriate ways to punish a dog that bites its master. Various disciplinary measures that family can inflict on family. Camilia Rose, are you listening?!”

Suddenly, Virginia shouted loud enough to burst eardrums.

“I’ll tell you something you’d love to hear! I know you’re a skilled sniper. But I also know you suffer from loneliness! If you don’t crawl out right now, your lover’s genitals will be cut in half!”

This crazy woman?

– Johan, get down!

Wait, excuse me?

“Don’t shoot!”

I glanced at the cocked hammer of the revolver tilted far back. If Virginia had pulled the trigger just a “little more,” that vicious revolver would have fired. Almost as surely as Camila would have blown Virginia’s head off. Fortunately, no sniper shot came.

“How dare you!”

Letitia struck my shoulder once with her gun barrel. Then she aimed again and moved to the side. Virginia was in front of me. Letitia was at my side.

“Alright. Alright. Calm down. Calm down. We’ve formed a marital bond, but come to think of it, we haven’t had many chances to get to know each other, have we? And it seems we still have many days ahead to get acquainted, darling. What are you trying to do? No, what do you want me to do?”

“First, send the zombies back to their original positions. No, with your abilities, you could send even more to the western front. And you can infect both zombies and humans. I hear things affected by your virus become less hostile to each other? So your body will be offered to the National Gendarmerie, to serve Elza exclusively.”

“Whoa, so I’m becoming a living medicine?”

“Even better than that. You’ll become a flag. I plan to tie you to a flagpole and take you to Römer. After feeding Elza with everything you can shed.”

Something glinted from the direction where I’d heard Camila’s voice. It looked like the reflection from a sniper scope. Camila was watching me. I should probably stall for more time.

“Ah, so you’re planning to offer me to Römer?”

Virginia burst into laughter at my response. Unpleasantly, it was a relieved laugh, as if to say, “How does it feel to be on the receiving end?”

“What’s making you so excited and happy?”

“You don’t know.”

I’m not sure if this is the right expression, but Virginia truly laughed like a young girl, covering her mouth.

“I don’t?”

“Yes. You don’t know. A stud horse that just sows seeds doesn’t need to know such things. Don’t worry. I’ll give you as many women as you want. In exchange, you’ll be confined to a windowless solitary cell, though I’ll move you around occasionally.”

Letitia visibly wavered. But I couldn’t give her any signals. Virginia knew something I didn’t.

Getting married means she won’t harm my body. At any rate, a marriage declaration means she won’t kill me.

Virginia knows I can infect both humans and zombies.

And Virginia plans to “tie me to a flagpole” and take me to Römer.

She laughed when I asked if she was going to offer me.

She says I don’t know?

“You.”

I feel dazed. Part of my brain feels slightly numb. But I need to confirm.

“You’re planning to attack Römer, aren’t you?”

The National Gendarmerie members stirred. I saw Letitia flinch. The smile on Virginia’s face spread wider. I laid out everything I was thinking.

“Minsk might claim they’ll wage all-out war, but they won’t dispatch enough troops. If they commit all their forces to invading Elza, the possibility of a counterattack increases. But if you declare war on Römer too, both countries will come charging at Elza with all their might. Securing House Kybele’s database. Collecting know-how from countries that have experienced zombie outbreaks. And finally occupying Elza’s territory to rise again as a major power.”

“That’s right.”

Virginia admitted.

“I will declare war on Römer too. Elza will become a fully independent nation. Zombies are the world’s nuisance, but with you, they’ll become our reliable allies. They might occasionally eat their own allies, but we’ll consider that food supply.”

I couldn’t understand.

“…Don’t you have family in Römer?”

“I do.”

“And you’re going to attack Römer?”

“Is there a problem with that?”

Again, a reflection flashed. But beyond that, I was curious.

“I really don’t understand your concept of family, Virginia. You arbitrarily file for marriage to form a contractual relationship, and now you’re declaring war on a country where your family lives. What does that even mean?”

“Family is a contract.”

Virginia answered shamelessly. Yes, shamelessly. There was no other way to describe it.

“Spouses make contracts. Children grow up as their parents’ pawns. They live according to their greed, and in the end, all that remains is the family name. So I want to ask House Helford: Why? Why should individuals sacrifice for the family? The family could sacrifice for individuals too.”

“You’re insane. No, there’s something wrong with your head.”

It was a sincere nonsense remark, but Virginia unexpectedly became serious.

“I died.”

She’s clearly a madwoman. But Virginia didn’t laugh.

“My father enrolled me in a private school in Minsk. Of course, with a forged identity. I grew up there from age 7 to 13, and I did only one thing. Befriend the children of high-ranking officials and take pictures with them in front of their personal bunkers.

When I asked why I had to do that, Father said, ‘Because they’re friends, why not plant a tree in front of it to show your friendship?’ And finally, when war broke out. My friends and their families all hid in underground shelters. And Römer’s bombing squadron precisely targeted those shelters.”

Letitia covered her mouth in shock.

* * * * *

I felt a strange sense of dissonance.

Virginia laid out her past as if she were talking about someone else.

Virginia wasn’t crazy.

The House of Helford itself was insane.

Sending your daughter to a private school in an enemy country—I could understand that with a hundred concessions.

But taking pictures at high officials’ underground bunkers, then bombing those exact locations?

A child who wasn’t even of age. A child who had probably never been slapped by a Minsk citizen.

Used as a scout to deliver shells to her friends and their families?

“The surgery?”

It was an irresistible question. But even before hearing the answer, I seemed to understand. Virginia had said she also received a “procedure.” She must have been caught in the bombing and received physical enhancement surgery. But due to side effects, her head and skin became almost bleached white. Not to mention her unstable personality.

“I became healthy. I decided to call Osborn’s father my father. He gave me new life. But he had a daughter. There was no place for me. A genius with the gloomy name Cassandra. Anyway.”

Virginia lifted my chin with her gloved hand.

“After coming to Elza, I looked for ways to turn crisis into opportunity. Elza’s people are simple. They’re full of anger and want to vent it somewhere. That’s why they believe in grotesque gods like the Goddess of Hunger. They don’t learn patience from the Goddess of Hunger; they wait for the day when she, tired of hunger and thirst, will harvest the fruits of the earth.”

“That’s the apocalypse.”

“Yes. The apocalypse. And in the midst of it all, you proved yourself admirably. You proved yourself among those who might as well be dead. You gathered a group of the living. And finally became their leader. You relieved me of a considerable part of what I should have done.”

“Family is not a tool.”

I coldly brushed her hand away. Then I just stood up, regardless of whether she pointed her gun at me.

“I’m sorry for what you went through. But your methods are messed up. That’s not what family is.”

“My parents did it that way, so why shouldn’t I?”

“Because it’s the act of a fool who doesn’t know what’s truly precious. It’s like the reason we don’t defecate in the street even though we could. You don’t know love.”

“That’s right. I don’t.”

Virginia’s eyes flashed dangerously.

“But I have enough power to find what’s precious to others and destroy it!”

Virginia’s revolver spun like a living beast. It was toward where Camila’s scope had been glinting. Before I could even say “No,” the muzzle was already spitting fire. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. The place where a person could have been hiding until just now was blown to pieces as if hit by a shell.

I tried to push her, but Virginia simply grabbed my windpipe with her other hand. As my vision gradually darkened, I managed to flick my finger.

Click.

“…What are you doing, Letitia?”

Letitia’s gun barrel was pointed at Virginia. Virginia asked emotionlessly.

“Are you betraying me again?”

“No.”

Letitia answered.

“I betrayed you once. So ‘again’ doesn’t fit. Telling you Johan was here and to come quickly was to lure you out…”

Bang!

Virginia’s revolver spun instantly and fired.

Clang!

But a bullet from somewhere hit the revolver’s barrel. The sturdy barrel wasn’t pierced, but it was enough to drastically alter the trajectory. Just enough to graze Letitia’s head.

“…How?”

Virginia still had one bullet left in her revolver. But she didn’t aim it. Instead, she glared at Camila walking up the corridor.

“Good shot with the mirror, huh? You husband-stealing bitch. Johan, Letitia. Are you okay?”

“No.” “Not at all.”

Letitia and I answered simultaneously. Virginia’s pale face turned even paler. A small dart was embedded in her neck. A tranquilizer shot by Cassandra from outside the window.

“They say it’s enough sedative to knock out an elephant.”

“You…me…again…!”

Virginia pointed her gun at me. But in the end, she couldn’t use the last bullet before collapsing.