Chapter 73 – Father (5)

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Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“You are not going to prove his innocence! What on earth does that mean?!”

I held down the legs of Bones, who was about to jump up from his seat, and said.

“You said you would make Lieutenant General Max pay the price if he did wrong, but you actually hope Lieutenant General Max is innocent, don’t you?”

At my question, Bones shrank back as if hit in a sore spot, and sat down quietly in his seat again.

“Isn’t General Josef the culprit? That is why you sent me to General Josef…”

I stared blankly at Bones and asked.

“Bones. Do you believe in your father?”

“Of course I believe in him. He is the one who raised me, after all.”

“Then why did you tell me to leave you behind and go back then?”

As his own dark history was brought up, Bones’s face turned red in an instant.

“Could we please not talk about that time?”

“Back then, you definitely did not believe in your father.”

“At that time…”

“You respect Lieutenant General Max, but you think he could abandon you at any moment. You aren’t his biological son, and he has plenty of other adopted sons besides you.”

“…”

Bones did not deny my words.

It was only natural.

For the efforts he had made to be recognized by Lieutenant General Max were, in other words, no different from struggling not to be abandoned.

“…Fine. I get what you are trying to say.”

Bones stared quietly at me, then opened his mouth and said.

“I do not believe in Lieutenant General Max, but because I hope he did not abandon me, I want him to be innocent. Are you satisfied now?”

“Yeah. Same here.”

“Lord Haydam, you feel the same too?”

“There is no evidence that either General Josef or Lieutenant General Max is the culprit. We suspect Josef, but it is strictly circumstantial. In other words, the possibility that Lieutenant General Max is the culprit also remains. Even so, there is only one reason I am setting up such a play to hold the executives’ meeting.”

I held up one finger.

“To verify which bastard is more worth keeping alive.”

“…It is hard to understand.”

“Many of my precious soldiers died in this incident.”

“By those precious soldiers, by any chance do you include Colonel Sampson too?”

“Of course. If not for this incident, he was a guy who would have fulfilled his role in his position.”

I continued toward Bones, who still seemed not to understand what I was trying to say.

“Between Josef and Max, I want the one who will no longer sacrifice my soldiers to remain.”

“Are you saying… we can find that out through the executives’ meeting?”

“Yeah. Since ancient times, they said that if you want to identify the parent who truly cherishes their child, you should tell them to split the child in two before their eyes.”

“What? Insane… Who on earth said such a horrible thing?”

“Solomon.”

“I’ve never heard of that bastard. …Hm?”

Bones, who had fallen into thought for a moment, looked at me as if he realized something.

“But isn’t the child that needs to be split in two right now me?”

“You might not know Solomon, but you’re quick-witted.”

“I’m terrified because it feels like you would actually split me, Lord Haydam, so please tell me what you plan to do.”

“Don’t worry.”

I smirked, looking at Bones.

“When the time comes, you’ll know too. Why Solomon told them to split the child in two.”

* * *

Josef entered the executives’ conference room in an anxious state.

The rumor kept spreading, but he couldn’t identify the soldiers who witnessed Colonel Sampson before the meeting.

In the end, without properly verifying the truth of the rumor, he ended up attending the emergency executives’ meeting for Bones’s testimony.

Separately from the sightings of Colonel Sampson, he brought in the guys who had handled the job that day and tortured… no, had an honest conversation with them, but.

‘They only said they were absolutely certain he was dead.’

Josef knew.

Those eyes were eyes that spoke the truth.

At the very least, those guys witnessed the exact moment Colonel Sampson drew his last breath.

‘Now, I can only hope that the rumor of Colonel Sampson being alive is merely a rumor.’

Glancing around the meeting room, the only ones present here were the Commander, the executives, and Bones.

‘Lord Haydam isn’t in sight.’

Having thought that unconsciously, Josef realized only late.

That he had taken it for granted that Haydam would be present at the testimony seat for a major incident where seven soldiers were murdered and one colonel committed suicide.

It seemed he was not the only one who had unconsciously thought that way.

For all the executives, who had been looking around as if searching for someone, composed their expressions with faces that had realized something.

‘Is this the influence of a young child who returned to his proper place after ten years? This influence is not within the realm of normal.’

It seemed obvious that one day, that child would swallow up even his own domain entirely.

Perhaps the reason he took risks to frame Lieutenant General Max just to protect his own position was because he felt pressured by Haydam’s growing influence.

‘Still, we are in the same boat now…’

However, Josef’s relief did not last long.

Just as he tried to put his mind at ease, thinking he could get a foot in Haydam’s influence by supporting Bones.

It was because former General Anton, who burst into the executives’ meeting room, made a bombshell declaration.

“Based on Colonel Sampson’s testimony, I shall accuse Second Lieutenant Bones.”

“What does that mean?”

Although it was the worst unexpected situation that he had never even imagined, Josef maintained his composure as much as possible, stood up, and spoke.

“Accusing Second Lieutenant Bones based on Colonel Sampson’s testimony… Colonel Sampson committed suicide, did he not?”

Looking at Josef, Anton wore an incomprehensible smile.

It was a smile that seemed to ask if he didn’t already know about the rumor.

“I am protecting Colonel Sampson.”

At those words, Josef felt his heart sink.

‘Then that rumor was true?’

Even so, Josef tilted his head as if he didn’t know what he meant.

“Protecting him? Are you saying Colonel Sampson is actually alive? No, even if Colonel Sampson were alive, why would former General Anton, who is merely a civilian, have our soldier?”

“It was His Excellency who entrusted Colonel Sampson to me.”

‘His Excellency did?!’

As if Anton’s words were not a lie, there was no change in the expression of the Commander sitting in the center of the conference room.

No, in the first place, without the Commander’s permission, Anton would not have even gained the opportunity to open the conference room door and speak here today.

‘At most, I thought he just turned a blind eye to Anton smuggling Colonel Sampson out… but if he entrusted him directly…’

Josef’s heart began to beat rapidly.

If things he didn’t even know about had progressed to this extent, the flow had already become uncontrollable.

‘If that’s the case, now is not the time to support Bones.’

If he abandoned Bones here, he would betray Haydam’s trust, but they said the colonel was alive.

If he didn’t coordinate his story with the colonel, that guy might change his mind and bring up Josef’s name.

For claiming here that Lieutenant General Max was the culprit would amount to accusing the colonel of giving false testimony.

However, changing his attitude right here on the spot would arouse suspicion.

Josef spoke while acting confused.

“What did Colonel Sampson testify that makes you accuse Second Lieutenant Bones?”

“Colonel Sampson’s testimony is as follows: Second Lieutenant Bones, in his stubbornness to build achievements, accidentally killed a team member, and then tried to silence the witnesses. He said Colonel Sampson fell into the crevasse while running away from Second Lieutenant Bones.”

Except for the fact that Second Lieutenant Lucas’s part was completely left out, it was no different from the real testimony he had heard from Haydam.

‘It’s fortunate Lord Haydam isn’t present here.’

Thinking it would have been difficult to act as if he were hearing it for the first time if Haydam were present, Josef continued to act as if he did not understand.

“What on earth do you mean… Did Colonel Sampson not testify that Lieutenant General Max instigated the murder?”

“Lord Haydam found Second Lieutenant Bones fleeing and saved him from a monster attack, and at that time, Bones testified to Lord Haydam that Lieutenant General Max ordered him killed and that Colonel Sampson instead killed the team members to silence them. Since the words of Colonel Sampson and Second Lieutenant Bones differed, His Excellency decided to publish a false testimony and observe the situation. In the meantime, we also verified that there was no contact between Lieutenant General Max and Colonel Sampson.”

That was only natural.

For Lieutenant General Max indeed had no connection to this incident.

‘Since there is no evidence of him being the culprit, did they find evidence of him not being the culprit?’

“Even so… isn’t there also no evidence that Second Lieutenant Bones is the culprit?”

“We have at least verified that the gunshot wound left on Colonel Sampson’s shoulder was fired from Bones’s firearm. In the first place, if Colonel Sampson had been contracted to kill him, how could a newly commissioned officer who just graduated survive? Unless Second Lieutenant Bones launched a preemptive strike, it makes no sense that the one who survived in that situation was Second Lieutenant Bones.”

Josef knew that Bones and Lucas had indeed survived that situation on their own, but it seemed clear that at this rate, circumstantial evidence would flow unfavorably against Bones.

“But why didn’t you reveal that from the beginning and only do so now…”

“Since Second Lieutenant Bones did not testify that Lieutenant General Max was the culprit, I watched, thinking he might have at least stopped trying to frame Lieutenant General Max… but I stepped forward after seeing him instigate you all to hold an executives’ meeting today. Even if I have stepped down, I cannot simply watch my old friend, Lieutenant General Max, suffer parent-betrayal, can I?”

‘This executives’ meeting was not held for Bones’s testimony from the beginning.’

They had designated Bones as the culprit and set a trap.

‘I can’t let myself get dragged into this too.’

After letting out a long sigh, Josef.

Glared fiercely at Bones, who was standing in the witness stand.

For some reason, Bones just stood there silently with his head hung low.

Although it was strange that he did not actively deny it, Josef assumed he had given up because he could not overturn this situation himself.

‘Rather, this is for the best. If he has no intention of actively explaining himself, it will be easy to cut ties with him.’

Having completed his calculations in his head, Josef shouted at Bones to completely wrap up the situation.

“Bones! I trusted you and tried to protect you to the end, but no matter if he is an adoptive parent, how could you sell out the father who raised you! Not content with committing filial impiety, you even tried to play me and Lord Haydam, what an outrageous—”

“No!”

Hearing a sudden shout, he turned around to find it was Lieutenant General Max.

‘Did he just… shout no?’

He was finally about to clear his name, so what was not the case?

Josef thought resentment toward his son who committed filial impiety would pour out of his mouth, but.

The words Lieutenant General Max blurted out in an urgent voice completely defied Josef’s expectations.

“Colonel Sampson’s words are not true! I am the one who blackmailed Colonel Sampson to murder Second Lieutenant Bones, I ordered it! Colonel Sampson is making a false confession right now to evade his own guilt!”

Josef could not understand what on earth was going on.

Was it not Lieutenant General Max who was making a false confession right now?

“Therefore, my son is innocent.”

At the subsequent words, Josef was shocked.

He wondered why he was stepping forward when he would be set free if he just stayed quiet, but that foolish bastard was making a false confession to save his adopted son.

Josef looked in that direction, wondering if Bones would step forward to cover for his father again, but.

Bones, strangely, was just staring blankly at Lieutenant General Max with a face that seemed to have realized something.

‘What is wrong with these guys?’

He felt somewhat uneasy, but Josef struggled to brush that feeling aside.

‘No… rather, this is for the best.’

Even if it was a false confession, since he had revealed his crime in the presence of everyone, it would be difficult for him to avoid punishment.

As a rule, is it not several times harder to prove innocence than to prove guilt?

Even the Commander would not be able to just overlook it when the party involved went so far as to confess before his eyes.

Looking at the Commander while thinking so, Josef instinctively felt that something was wrong.

The Commander was looking at Lieutenant General Max with eyes that had discovered something highly interesting, and there was not a shred of displeasure in that gaze.

“This is the ‘Solomon’ Haydam spoke of.”

‘Solomon? What is Solomon?’

Josef, who had no idea what that was, was merely dumbfounded, but Bones nodded his head as if he knew what it meant.

“I understand now too.”

“Since we seem to have verified everything that needed verification, let us dismiss this meeting. We shall punish this matter at a later date.”

Saying so, the Commander exited the conference room before anyone could ask anything, and by the time Josef regained his senses, both Max and Bones had vanished from the room.