The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 139

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 139

Gideon didn’t answer right away.

Memories triggered by “when I was 14” surge up, coloring her image.

The moment when a light he thought had gone out, that wouldn’t have been strange to extinguish completely, blazed again. Her figure that guided him like a lighthouse in the fog.

He chose his words carefully as he looked down at the transparent eyes gazing up at him.

Feeling her left hand caressing the area around his right eye, he looked into her eyes that held him completely.

The purple hue of dawn created when the rising sun mixes red into the dark blue night sky. That light was in her eyes. The same color as the current sky.

At this moment, the fact that her pupils were brilliant, that her silhouette outlined by the dawn light like a halo was devastatingly captivating, felt like a secret only he could recognize.

He didn’t care about the objective fact that anyone could see Lillieta was beautiful now, he just had the conviction that he would see her more beautifully than anyone else.

How this clear light in her eyes was forged like a jewel, how it blazed again without being extinguished in any situation, how much such light could enchant a person—no one would know better than him.

Therefore, her true beauty became a secret only he knew.

It was absurd logic, but Gideon was sincere. The Lillieta reflected in his eyes was the most enchanting and beautiful in the world.

Simply, truly beautiful…

As emotions surging like waves swept away his worries and anxiety, the soft texture of lips touching his fingertips felt suddenly stimulating.

‘Ah.’

He had noticed the scab and was trying to check if the wound she had clearly bitten herself had healed properly, but from this moment on, it was no longer just checking.

He pulled his hand away from her lips as if fleeing. Hoping he could dismiss the heat rising to his cheeks and nape as being due to dawn, Gideon cleared his voice.

“Back then…”

Without going into detail, just saying “when I was 14” while touching the area around his eye was enough to know what time he was talking about.

Suddenly, this fact was immensely satisfying. He was so happy to know well the moments that composed her.

Unlike before, there were probably more things she didn’t know about what composed him now, but that was okay.

He didn’t want her to know. No, he hoped she wouldn’t know. He didn’t want to tell her what he had done for her sake.

After all, if you really thought about it, it wasn’t ultimately for her sake, but for himself who couldn’t bear her absence.

“…That squad leader said he would discharge you from the squad. I got angry and rushed at him… and that’s how it happened. It was a mistake.”

So this time too, he tells a half-lie.

That trash squad leader had said something even more trashy than discharge.

That night, the man was using an awl to punch new holes in a newly issued leather belt.

In that era when far more people starved than ate properly, when even the soldiers guarding the Last Line of Defense couldn’t eat abundantly, he was the kind of person whose belly fat had grown enough to need additional belt holes.

The squad leader was quite drunk at the time. Sniffling with his reddened nose as he punched holes in the leather belt, Gid brought him honey water with precious ice.

“Hm? Ice? How did you get this?”

“I heard there’s a frost mage in a squad stationed nearby, so I asked them. You like ice, Squad Leader.”

He didn’t bother mentioning how much trouble he went through to get that ice and bring it before it melted.

The boy was serving the squad leader with even more devotion than usual to protect the girl in a precarious state.

The man drank the cool honey water and chewed the ice with a satisfied smile.

“Hmm, quite useful, this kid isn’t even arrogant despite being young.”

“Thank you, Squad Leader.”

“But your friend… *burp*, hmm, I can see she’s completely lost it. Can’t use her anymore. Should dispose of her after all.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Well, I don’t mean kill her. She’s a girl, isn’t she? Even disposed goods have many uses, could sell her… for that kind of purpose, being out of her mind is actually more useful.”

Cracks appeared in the gentle smile on the boy’s face. The squad leader reeking of alcohol grinned lewdly.

“Ah, our little one is still too young to understand what I mean? Ahem, should this adult teach you directly? How a broken girl can be useful.”

Gid Pascal was not ignorant.

He was already quick-witted, and having spent two years among adult soldiers in a frontline squad, there was no way he wouldn’t understand what the squad leader meant.

Knowing made him want to vomit. It was the first time he felt like he wanted to tear someone apart and kill them this badly.

The boy felt his vision turn bright red and held his breath, suppressing his rage.

No, he’s a superior and formally our protector. If I touch that bastard, we’ll have to live as fugitives in the ruins. Rita needs a stable environment right now…

But if that thing tries to touch her, what good would any of that do?

The boy desperately racked his brain. How? How could he protect Rita? Transfer, reassignment, desertion, assassination… He opened his mouth to buy time to think, in the most calm and emotionless tone possible.

“Squad Leader, that girl still has value. A mage gunner as skilled as her is rare. She’s still young, so she’ll become more useful as she grows. She’s barely recovered from her serious injuries, so if you could just watch her a little longer…”

*Burp.* The squad leader’s belch crushed his desperation. The man glared at him with bleary eyes.

“Where does this brat dare to argue with a superior? How long has it been since I praised you for not being arrogant?”

“I’m sorry, Squad Leader. But…”

“Well, look at this. I’ve been too lenient calling you cute, and now the little brat is getting cocky?”

Gid read the fear rising in the squad leader’s gleaming eyes.

It was a strange emotion for a man in his 40s with a bit of a belly but tall and well-built to feel toward a 14-year-old boy who only came up to his shoulder.

But if that boy was a monster achieving results equal to all the other squad members combined, if he was Pascal’s child, then it was possible.

This man was genuinely afraid of Gid Pascal rebelling against him.

The moment the boy read that emotion, he realized the squad leader would try to somehow crush and tame him using this opportunity.

And that she would be the means to do it.

“Our little one seems to treasure that girl quite a bit? Enough to defy a superior?”

The man laughed thickly. Gid felt a chill.

He had made a mistake. He should have endured more. He shouldn’t have shown it. He should have smiled without wavering and said, “Yes, please dispose of Rita Pascal,” then turned around and secretly devised countermeasures.

“This won’t do, will it? I need to dispose of her quickly before the useful kids get corrupted too.”

The squad leader spun the awl around and stood up. Passing by the frozen Gid toward the barracks entrance, he said:

“I’m going to dispose of that girl now. Little one, follow me and watch carefully what happens to her. Watch and throw away useless emotions. What does a Pascal think he’s…”

There was no time to devise countermeasures. The boy reflexively blocked the squad leader’s path.

“Please reconsider.”

“Well, look at this brat?”

“You’re very drunk right now, Squad Leader. Please judge with a clear mind!”

“This one’s really going too far?”

Young Oli, carrying an armful of paper bundles, saw Gid and the squad leader arguing at the barracks entrance. The squad leader pointed the awl at Gid, his eyes flashing wildly.

“You know this is insubordination, right?”

“Just a little, just give me a little more time. I’ll definitely help her recover—”

“What can you do? When even the medics have given up, what can a little brat like you do? Huh? When a superior tells you to do something, you do it, where do you get off…”

The awl swayed back and forth in front of the boy’s eyes. Oli, who had turned pale watching this scene, threw down what she was carrying and ran somewhere. Gid gritted his teeth.

It was his fault that this bastard was trying to lay hands on Rita right now. He was doing this on purpose because he was annoyed that Gid had dared to argue with his judgment.

Then, if he drew this trash’s attention more to himself. If he made him vent his anger on him, at least Rita would…

“I can do it. So please, give me a chance.”

“What makes you think I should waste time and resources on some girl who’s going to be scrapped anyway, just because you’re crawling up to your superiors like a pathetic worm? Huh?”

“Squad Leader!”

“Look at this bastard’s eyes, keep rolling them a little more and you’ll commit fragging next?”

“I have no intention of defying the Squad Leader’s will. It’s just that I….”

Fear, disgust, rage, intoxication.

The Squad Leader was terrified by his own casual mention of the possibility of killing a superior. The disgust he normally harbored toward Pascal’s Child surged up. He was enraged at a weapon that dared to rebel against a ‘human.’

All those emotions dissolved into his drunkenness, becoming a violent impulse.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————