Ch.571Episode 21 – Peace in Our Time

What is this?

I was a bit startled, blinking my eyes several times in confusion.

“Why are you staring so intently? See something you like?”

Veronica propped her chin up with the back of her hand. Even at a glance, it was clearly a gesture meant to show off her face—specifically, her beauty.

Objectively and subjectively, everyone acknowledged that the First Saint was beautiful. True to her reputation as a peerless beauty since childhood both within and outside her family, her appearance continued to be the talk of connoisseurs even as she matured into adulthood.

However, I dare say with certainty:

If those gentlemen who praised the Saint’s beauty were to realize the true nature hidden behind that playful smile, anyone would undoubtedly come to the same conclusion.

“No, it’s just that… a beast of ill omen suddenly appeared before me…”

As I muttered these words with a blank expression, Veronica, who had been opening and closing her mouth repeatedly, finally raised her voice in disbelief.

“A-a beast?! Did you just call m-m-me a beast?!”

“There’s an old saying about black-haired beasts. And you happen to have black hair.”

“…!”

A silent scream erupted from her. She seemed extremely offended.

I looked at Veronica, who was stammering in bewilderment while gripping the steering wheel. My expression suggested I couldn’t understand why she was upset.

For reference, I had already sent my sister Adela inside, who had been looking around in confusion. Since it was a time when everyone would be at home, there was no one left on the road except the two of us.

“Anyway, why did you show up here?”

“We haven’t seen each other in months, and you’re getting straight to the point?”

“There’s no rule against it.”

“Come on~ That’s too harsh. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting?”

Veronica flashed a seductive smile. As always, she never lost an argument.

Every time I deal with her, I feel my energy being drained. Already feeling tired, I asked her straight out what she wanted.

In response, she opened one of the car doors and, tapping the seat, replied:

“You haven’t had dinner yet, right? Get in.”

Episode 21 – Peace in Our Time

Cities are exotic spaces that feel magical just thinking about them. At least, that’s how I imagined them in my childhood.

Thanks to my father who was a field officer, I was born near the front lines and attended more than five different elementary schools as we moved around.

The first proper city I encountered was a port city.

It was Hong Kong.

Hong Kong, whose name can be interpreted as “Fragrant Harbor” or “Harbor Carrying Fragrance,” was like another world entirely.

Hong Kong films that were wildly popular from the 80s to the 90s. I still vividly remember when I first encountered in person the city I had only seen in noir films set in dreamlike urban landscapes.

A downtown area glittering with lights.

Skyscrapers adorned with dazzling splendor.

Victoria Harbor with countless large and small ferries coming and going.

I had thought flowers only bloomed during the day, but I realized for the first time that flowers could bloom at night too. And that darkness could be so beautiful.

How did I react when I first set foot in Hong Kong, having left the mountains for the first time?

I remember jumping around with excitement. Everything felt special and happy back then.

It was the first family trip I took with my father and mother.

At least for me as a child, Hong Kong was a special overseas destination that gave me precious memories.

And when I visited that place again as an adult, the Hong Kong where flowers bloomed at night that I had seen as a child was still there, even after 20 years.

The difference was that the Consulate General in Hong Kong was no longer under the Embassy in London but had been incorporated under the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Beijing. And that I had taken over my father’s work.

That was all.

“…”

Returning to the capital of Abas after a long time, I felt a nostalgia I had forgotten.

The unnamed restaurant I carefully arrived at under the Saint’s guidance had, as she said, a truly spectacular view.

“The view is nice.”

As I muttered while looking at the flickering lights, Veronica smiled as if quite satisfied with my response.

“See? Isn’t it killer?”

“…What do you mean ‘killer’? Please use more refined language. I beg you.”

“Oh, why do you talk like one of our old fogies no matter what you say? Isn’t it demonic to have artifice and falsehood in your speech and conduct?”

Veronica’s mischievous eyes turned prim. She even turned her face away completely.

It was like the gesture of a child pouting because they didn’t want to hear a lecture.

“…”

As I couldn’t follow up with any words in response to her attitude, her averted gaze suddenly began to glance back at me.

“What?”

“I sometimes think it’s fortunate that you’re a Saint.”

“…? Why do you suddenly say that?”

“Well…”

If someone like you had ascended to the position of Pope, several countries would have already collapsed.

Or the world would be burning like Constantinople.

It was a harsh criticism that was difficult to say openly in front of Veronica. Even if she didn’t understand the meaning, she would certainly take it as a provocation. So I swallowed the words that had risen to my throat.

“Nothing.”

“What~? What were you about to say just now?”

“Ah, back off. Why are you clinging to me…”

“Tell me quickly. I’ll forgive you for everything.”

Judging that she had found something to play with, Veronica began to persistently cling to me with a subtle expression.

She was truly born with persistence. The problem was that her talent was entirely focused on mischief.

Anyway.

We had arrived at a restaurant located on a steep hillside.

The buildings lined up in terraces were all residential homes, so the surroundings were wide open, and the night city was visible at a glance through the streets lined with magnolia trees.

For a place I had been practically kidnapped to under the pretense of a dinner invitation, it had quite a nice atmosphere. It was a beautiful landscape.

Therefore, I had dinner with a slightly relaxed mind.

The menu was salmon en papillote (a type of French cuisine where meat, fish, or vegetables are covered with parchment paper and baked in an oven).

The moist flesh infused with lemon flavor, the soft broccoli and asparagus full of moisture, and the cherry tomatoes that stimulated appetite with their sweet and sour taste—each element was exquisite.

“How is it?”

With a smile spreading across her pursed lips, the Saint showed a confident expression. She seemed to be expecting something.

There was no way around this. No matter how playful Veronica was, I had to acknowledge what deserved acknowledgment. Or more precisely, I couldn’t help but acknowledge it.

I nodded and praised her taste. And that was the answer Veronica had been hoping for.

“It’s good. How did you find a restaurant like this?”

“I asked the nuns in the diocese. I wanted to know if there was a place where we could eat as quietly as possible within the capital.”

She must have prepared a lot.

Even researching all this.

I swallowed a small shrimp and calmly responded.

“You did your research thoroughly. If only you were this passionate about your regular work…”

“I told you earlier,” the Saint replied, gently creasing the corners of her eyes.

“That I’ve been waiting.”

The Saint, who laughed lightly, added a smile as if embarrassed. I leaned forward toward her.

I lowered my voice.

“…Veronica. I’m begging you, please tone it down.”

“Why?”

“Hey, can’t you see my sister has been malfunctioning since earlier…”

True to my words.

Adela’s condition was strange.

Her eyes darted left and right in confusion, and her hands trembled as if she had suffered a stroke despite her young age.

She was trembling so severely that the knife touching her plate was creating a noise disturbance like a sewing machine.

-Clatter-r-r-r!

And it wasn’t just her hands. Look at those eyes.

Adela’s eyes rolled here and there, unable to find their bearings, spinning wildly like a broken compass.

Not only that, but she was also mentally coming and going in real time as if she were a computer whose RAM had been forcibly removed during boot-up.

“Sigh. I told you to eat dinner alone…”

I let out a deep sigh at the spectacle my sister was making.

*

When Veronica suddenly appeared and extended a dinner invitation.

“What? Eating out?”

Adela’s first reaction was opposition.

“I’ve prepared everything, and you want to go eat outside? Are you crazy?”

“What am I supposed to do? Eat here and then go eat again?”

“No!”

Eat at home!

My sister protested as if she was about to foam at the mouth. She added that if I didn’t like it, I shouldn’t even think about coming back.

I understand her anger, given that she would have to deal with the dinner she had worked hard to prepare all by herself. But even considering that, her attitude was too aggressive and seemed almost desperate.

“Then I’ll just go talk and come back.”

“That’s not allowed either!”

“But…”

Why?

I genuinely couldn’t understand and had to ask what was bothering her.

If it had been my intelligence agency colleague who called himself a Japanese culture expert, commonly known as a “weeb,” he might have muttered incomprehensible nonsense like “Is this what I think it is?” Fortunately, my sister was a civilized person with socially acceptable values.

And the eldest daughter of the Nostrum family said:

“Are you out of your mind? You’re going to have dinner alone with the Saint?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Hey- Have you forgotten how our parents nearly fainted at the consulate a few months ago? Do you want to see that again? Huh?!”

“…Ah.”

“What do you mean ‘Ah’!”

That’s right.

Come to think of it, my credit rating within the family had plummeted due to women issues.

I was like a scoundrel who rarely visited home but brought three daughters-in-law at once.

In fact, from my perspective, it was an extremely absurd and bewildering situation.

That was also why I couldn’t help but be bewildered.

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding? Does that really look like a misunderstanding to you?”

“Why are you taking out your frustration on me for Father and Mother’s misconceptions? I can understand them, but when you and our brother do it too, what position does that put me in?”

“…This is driving me crazy. Driving me crazy. Oh, Grandfather… Your third grandson has now even lost his judgment when it comes to women…”

What is she saying?

Adela kept saying things I couldn’t understand. Anyone watching would think I had ruined the family.

Anyway, now with the strong opposition from my older siblings as a pretext, I quickly ran to tell Veronica the news.

“What did your sister say?”

“Well, she says today won’t work. There’s some family event tonight or something.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Veronica showed a hint of disappointment, but that was all.

She’s also nobility, so she understands what family events mean.

“I’m sorry for coming so late. I’ll visit early tomorrow, so we’ll see each other then.”

I made up a suitable excuse while thinking I had dodged a bullet. Every time I got involved with Veronica, I rarely had a good experience.

In other words, I was planning to find another excuse as soon as the day broke and escape quickly.

“Hmm~”

But what I had forgotten was:

That Veronica was practically the embodiment of shamelessness. Maybe it’s because it had been too long? I had momentarily forgotten.

That common sense doesn’t apply to crazy people.

-Clap!

“That’s great! Since it’s come to this, I’ll invite your entire family!”

“What?”

“Let’s all go eat together.”

“What.”

“Food.”

“…”

Veronica genuinely seemed to think she had come up with a Solomon-level proposal. And from my perspective, that was true.

“Surely~ you’re not planning to refuse a meal invitation from me, a Saint? That would make me feel so~ hurt.”

“…”

“What are you doing, Major? Hurry and tell your sister.”

Smile brightly. This is good news.

Unable to offer any rebuttal, I just gaped before trudging back to the townhouse to deliver this news.

And,

“…You’re a military officer, and that’s how you negotiate?!”

“Help! There’s a patricide here!”

“Come here, don’t you dare move from there!?”

I had to flee again because Adela was trying to use my head as a chopping board.

*

To cut to the conclusion, Adela’s mental state worsened as time went on.

The cause was, as everyone knows, thanks to the tactless Saint Veronica.

“What’s wrong~”

“Please go away. Please…”

“Don’t be shy! Here.”

Having been called a beast, she seemed quite angry and perfectly demonstrated what it means to be difficult.

The most troublesome thing was her explicit display of affection. Perhaps guessing why Adela had opposed eating out, Veronica began to torment me in earnest by engaging in blatantly embarrassing acts.

She would subtly grab my fingertips placed on the table, occasionally place her hand on my thigh or knee, or even touch my hair.

“Why aren’t you eating?”

“No, this is a bit…”

“Ah~”

She even tried to feed me food.

Why does she keep trying to feed me? I really couldn’t understand.

Of course, there was no need to understand. I just had to glance slightly to the side to clearly see why Veronica was behaving this way.

“Ah, uh, um…?”

Adela seemed to have lost her language ability and couldn’t even speak properly.

Her trembling eyelids conveyed her shock, and her mouth, which couldn’t close, symbolized how great the impact had been.

Regardless, Veronica’s interest was solely focused on tormenting me. She was truly a relentless person.

In the end, I once again recalled the old saying that black-haired beasts should not be taken in.

“Excuse me~”

In the midst of enduring a long humiliation, the Saint who had been tormenting me suddenly stood up.

She said she had something to bring, but honestly, I didn’t care.

I just wished she would disappear quickly.

“I have something to order, so I’ll be back in a moment.”

“Ah, yes. Go ahead…”

Preferably for a long time. Better yet, don’t come back. Please…

I worried that Veronica might be playing some trick, that another ordeal might befall me. But surprisingly, she walked toward the kitchen without leaving any words.

I let out a sigh I had been holding back.

“Sis, are you okay…?”

Just as I was waving my hand in front of Adela, who was sitting in her place with a soul-drained expression.

She seemed to have finally regained her senses and managed to open her mouth to answer.

“…Brother.”

“Yes. I’m listening.”

“Do you see that frame over there?”

Her trembling finger pointed to a decorative picture in one corner.

“Yes, I see it. Why?”

“I want to decorate your head with it.”

“…”

I closed my mouth with a solemn expression. If I didn’t shut up now, I might really end up with a frame stuck in my head.

Adela seemed unable to escape from the scene she had just witnessed. She held her forehead, feeling dizzy, and kept calling for our parents, “Mom…”

Being left alone with her was like sitting on pins and needles. I was twice as nervous because I felt an even greater aftermath would await me when we returned home.

“Here I am~”

As I was just carefully watching, Veronica reappeared. The sight of the Saint emerging from what appeared to be a storage space as the door opened…

It felt like watching Diablo emerging from the gates of hell.

“Major. I’ve prepared a gift for you. Would you like to see it?”

Veronica asked with a playful question, hiding something behind her back. I tried to hide my uneasiness as I responded.

“What is it?”

“Ta-da!”

And what she produced before me was-

“…Alcohol?”

None other than a bottle of alcohol.

…What is this? I accepted the alcohol she handed me with a slightly perplexed expression. What kind of trick is this now?

“It’s a liqueur called Bénédictine. It’s regularly produced by the monastery. It’s quite limited, so even I had a hard time getting it?”

Veronica explained as if this alcohol was something extraordinary. Honestly, it sounded like a lie, but it did look unusual at first glance.

Above all, if someone who would sell a cathedral for tobacco and alcohol praised it highly, there was a high probability it was genuine. For reference, she had a record of pawning sacred objects for gambling funds.

Glug-glug-glug- With a pleasant, refreshing sound, the appetizing alcohol filled the glass. Veronica placed it in front of me and began to stare, as if urging me to drink it quickly.

“…”

I drank the alcohol with a suspicious look, and Veronica asked the clichéd question of how it tasted.

“Indeed. It’s excellent alcohol, just as you said, Saint.”

“Hehe, isn’t it? How about another glass?”

“…”

I hadn’t answered yet. Regardless, Veronica filled the glass as she pleased.

By the third glass of drinking whatever she gave me, the harmony of herbs and honey wasn’t bad, giving it a medicinal feel, but it was a bit suspicious that she kept feeding me what she claimed was fine liquor.

“Sigh…”

Suddenly, Adela, who had been half-heartedly eating her food beside me, let out a deep sigh.

“What?”

“…Nothing. Just drink.”

“…? Have you suddenly gone crazy? Why are you so scary?”

I judged that Adela had finally lost her mind. Seeing our affectionate sibling relationship, Veronica let out a small laugh and then suddenly left her seat, using the excuse of washing her hands.

As the sound of her heels gradually faded away.

“Hey.”

The civil servant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who had been holding her furrowed forehead, opened her mouth with a cold voice.

“Sister will be stepping out for a moment. No matter what happens today, you come home. Go to the townhouse, or if not there, stay at the quarters provided by your Ministry of Defense. Got it?”

“Ah, what nonsense are you talking about now? It’s not like that.”

“…Frederick Nostrum.”

An awkward sentence flowed out.

Why is she suddenly calling me by my full name?

It’s making me uneasy.

“Do you even know what that alcohol you just drank is?”

Adela asked, pointing to the bottle of alcohol placed on one side of the table.

I pushed out my lower lip and shrugged, indicating I didn’t know.

“I don’t know. It seemed like… medicinal alcohol.”

“Yes, it is medicinal. In ancient times, so long ago that you might wonder if medicine even existed, people with colds would drink it. They thought it helped with recovery. But do you know what?”

“What?”

“It’s also used as a tonic.”

“…Ah, I see. So the beneficial effect for men is what again?”

Having belatedly understood her meaning, I jumped up from my seat in shock.

Looking at me, Adela muttered:

“Please just come home quietly tonight, brother… Your sister is begging you. Please…”

It was a soliloquy dripping with desperation.

However, whether the universe would help was another matter entirely.