Chapter 76 – Divorce (2)

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Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“I’m trying to help Meursault and Daphne find their spark, do you know what we should start with?”

“…Haydam.”

The Commander said, putting down the document he was reviewing with a sigh.

“You haven’t forgotten that I am still Daphne’s husband, have you?”

Since I hadn’t forgotten, that was why I sought you out first.

“Do you still have no intention of getting a divorce?”

“…”

Instead of answering my question, the Commander crossed his arms and leaned back.

Then, with his remaining eye, he quietly stared at the white cat held in my arms.

“Is the one in your arms the cat Meursault spoke of?”

After opening up Luna’s existence to Bones and Lucas, I showed Luna to the people around me, such as Meursault, first.

This was because I thought if the Commander found out about Luna’s existence through others first, he wouldn’t find it particularly strange when they met.

Just as I thought, the Commander was not particularly surprised even when I was holding the cat.

Instead, he looked at Luna with curious eyes, and I whispered softly to Luna.

“Go to Father.”

Luna flinched and hesitated a bit, but soon leaped lightly from my arms onto the Commander’s desk.

After staring at the Commander for a moment, when Luna stuck her head out as if asking to be petted, the Commander smirked.

“Fearless, indeed.”

“Please cherish her as if she were me.”

Staring at me as if I was saying something out of character, the Commander casually stroked Luna’s head.

Luna purred, then flopped down right on top of the documents the Commander was reviewing.

“Right… she does have some parts that resemble you.”

Scratching Luna’s chin for a moment, the Commander looked at me with his remaining eye.

“But you have been visiting my office frequently lately. Is it because of what you promised Luna Moon?”

Hmm.

When I woke up in the hospital room earlier, I had mentioned that because I promised Luna Moon, I must protect the Commander at the risk of my life in the future.

The Commander seemed to think my recent frequent visits were to check if he was safe.

‘I can’t say I come often because your real son seems to miss you.’

Until now, she had come along in the form of a ring, but since I didn’t quite like the idea of letting her just watch the Commander from within the moonstone forever, I brought her in the form of a cat this time.

Of course, Luna strongly refused to show herself before the Commander at first, but.

—Is there any reason you must hide your appearance only in front of the Commander? Unless you are the real Haydam…

When I trailed off slightly, Luna immediately insisted she wasn’t Haydam and could show herself before the Commander anytime, which was how we ended up coming together in the form of a cat.

Just because I was acting as Haydam, there was no reason Luna shouldn’t receive affection from the Commander, after all…

‘By the way.’

“You keep asking only questions. But you haven’t answered my question, Father.”

When I asked that, the hand stroking Luna paused for a moment.

“…Haydam. Even for me, I cannot answer every question.”

My question was still whether he had no intention of getting a divorce.

‘If he doesn’t know the answer himself, isn’t that as good as not having any intention of getting a divorce yet?’

Come to think of it, the Commander was always lukewarm when it came to talks of divorce.

Did he not want to divorce Daphne?

Or was there some reason he couldn’t divorce?

Until now, I thought he was delaying the divorce to avoid friction with the pro-Daphne faction.

But currently, the pro-Daphne faction was as shrunken as it could get, with Anton’s retirement and Lieutenant General Max’s incident happening one after another.

If the Commander and Daphne were to divorce, there was no more opportune time than now.

The Commander must also know this.

“Is there some kind of problem? A reason you can’t divorce?”

The Commander stared at me blankly, then shook his head.

“…Luna Moon also never knew how to back down when she was curious about something. It must be because you resemble Luna Moon, but sometimes it is obnoxious.”

This guy blames all the bad things on me resembling my mother.

“Are you preparing well for the entrance exam? There must be only a few days left.”

Asking like that made it sound like a normal question to a son facing an entrance exam, but I was not ‘taking’ the entrance exam; I was the one ‘administering’ it.

It was a week until the military academy’s entrance exam.

My goal was to get a definite answer on the divorce from the Commander within that time.

“You don’t need to worry about the entrance exam. The preparations are complete.”

“Oh. What kind of exam will you set?”

“Even if you are my father, I can’t leak the exam questions.”

“Meursault seems to know the questions you prepared, though.”

…Since a while ago, instead of answering my questions, the Commander had only been deflecting the conversation.

Did he not want to discuss the divorce issue with his son?

However, I also needed to know the Commander’s thoughts precisely to decide on the subsequent plan.

The last three rewards remaining to me.

Because it would be best if I could get them divorced from Daphne without using these until the end.

“Is it perhaps that you don’t like Lady Daphne getting together with Meursault?”

“…It seems you came here today determined to hear an answer.”

Realizing that I wouldn’t back down even if he deflected the conversation, the Commander fell silent.

After a silence that was not particularly short, the Commander spoke.

“That I don’t like Meursault… Yes, that might be correct.”

…Was he really lukewarm about the divorce just because he didn’t like Meursault?

Fortunately, however, the subsequent words were a story that made his hesitation to divorce understandable.

“Daphne is a woman Luna Moon asked of me. Therefore, I must take responsibility. I cannot just hand her over because Meursault wants her. In the first place, she is not my possession.”

I realized my mistake.

Because I already knew Meursault was Daphne’s favorite, I was strongly pushing for her remarriage to Meursault, but the Commander was completely unaware of Daphne’s feelings.

Since the Commander only knew that Meursault unilaterally wanted to marry Daphne…

From the perspective of the Commander, who had been together with her for ten years after being asked by Luna Moon to marry Daphne, it was understandable to hesitate.

‘He probably thought that if he divorced Daphne like this, I might push and force her into remarriage with Meursault.’

Just as Daphne had been unaware all this time that she ended up marrying the Commander because Luna Moon left him a letter asking him to do so.

The Commander was also merely unaware that Daphne had already asked Luna Moon long ago to help her live with Meursault, stating she would not marry the Commander.

Once Daphne and the Commander learned each other’s circumstances, both the divorce and remarriage seemed likely to be accomplished without difficulty.

‘However…’

Even if I said here right now that Daphne also had feelings for Meursault, he wouldn’t believe it.

The Commander believed I could achieve anything, but at the same time, because he knew I would spare no means and methods for it, it rather meant he lacked trust in me…

Daphne’s feelings must be confessed by Daphne herself.

Only then would the Commander believe it.

‘Oh? Come to think of it…’

Daphne, didn’t that person definitely say she would gather her courage and confess once Meursault returned from the subjugation battle?

Surely she didn’t confess while I was lying in the hospital room?

* * *

“It seems Lieutenant General Max will be promoted to General.”

Meursault brought up work topics as soon as I visited.

‘This is absolutely not the face of someone who just received a confession from the person they’ve loved all their life…’

If they had confirmed each other’s feelings, his attitude would not have been so ordinary.

Anyway… Lieutenant General Max is getting promoted to General?

“Is it a decision made by His Excellency?”

“Half of it is, yes.”

“What do you mean by half of it?”

“The other executives besides Lieutenant General Max declined the General position.”

“They rejected the promotion on purpose? Why?”

“Why do you think?”

Asking that, Meursault gazed at me intently.

“…Why are you looking at me like that? Well, is it because of me?”

“What are you talking about? Of course it is because of Lord Haydam.”

“Why does it naturally become that way?”

“Did the other executives not see what happened to Anton and Josef, who were Generals? Right now, the General position is no different from a poisoned chalice. There was no one who would step forward to drink it.”

“Then Lieutenant General Max…”

“He was pushed into it. Since that incident happened last time, it was as if telling him to take responsibility.”

To think the matter would unfold this way.

If it was Lieutenant General Max, who had no flaws in character, getting promoted, I was not opposed to it either.

Since Lieutenant General Max also had a connection with Bones, he would probably be favorable to me.

“Then who is Josef’s successor?”

When I asked that, Meursault’s expression became truly sorrowful.

“…It seems it will be me.”

“Aren’t you a Major General?”

“It is His Excellency’s will, after all.”

Is this what a country ruled by a dictator is like?

“Why are you surprised? Was it not because you feared it would turn out like this that you tried to keep Josef alive?”

“Ah… right.”

Unable to say I had no intention of keeping him alive from the start, I nodded and smiled, and Meursault smiled along with me.

“Nevertheless, because of this incident, I felt relieved to think that Lord Haydam is also a human like me. The fact that even you cannot help natural disasters, that is.”

“…”

Since he said he felt relieved, let’s leave him to believe that for the time being.

“By the way, have you not seen Lady Daphne recently?”

“Lady Daphne… you mean?”

As if my question was somewhat out of the blue, Meursault tilted his head.

“It is strange that you ask me that. It’s not like I have any reason to meet Lady Daphne separately.”

“Anyway, you haven’t met her, right?”

“Yes.”

Previously, Daphne had set a love flag, stating she would confess her feelings once Meursault returned from the subjugation battle.

Since Lieutenant General Max’s matter was also wrapping up, I thought she would have contacted Meursault at least once somehow… but has Daphne still not taken action?

‘I don’t know if she just lacks courage or if Daphne has some other circumstances, but…’

At any rate, since I promised Daphne I would get her divorced, I must step forward.

“Meursault.”

“Yes.”

“I am going to see Lady Daphne tomorrow, you come along too.”

“What?! M-Me too?”

Meursault began to rattle.

“Uh… isn’t that not allowed? It shouldn’t be allowed, right?”

No, where on earth did the idea of marrying Daphne come from when he didn’t even have the courage to go see her?

Daphne did have an item I had never heard of called the ‘Violet Eye of Fascination,’ but.

Seeing that the Commander loved Luna Moon despite her wearing it, it seemed it only made her look beautiful but did not affect human emotions…

It was a week until the military academy’s entrance exam.

I should at least have Daphne and Meursault face each other within that time.

Anton was grumbling, but he had already fallen to my side, and Lieutenant General Max, who would succeed him, had also developed goodwill toward me due to Bones’s incident, so if the two were to divorce, now was the perfect time.

On top of that, it would be the icing on the cake if Meursault, who would soon be promoted to General, remarried Daphne.

If that happened, factions like the pro-Commander or pro-Daphne factions would become meaningless, and everyone could live peacefully as the pro-Haydam faction.

“I will get permission from Lady Daphne myself, so don’t worry.”

“Lord Haydam… thank you…! I will definitely keep my promise too!”

…A promise?

“What promise all of a sudden?”

“Did I not promise that I would do my best to help Lord Haydam also build an ideal family?”

“Ah…”

Was it that time when I acted like an understanding person to this guy?

“You don’t have to.”

“I will definitely find you a good match.”

“No, I am barely eleven…”

“If there isn’t one within the zone, I will search all the other zones to bring one back, so you only need to trust me, Lord Haydam.”

He really doesn’t listen.

While I was calming Meursault down, a soldier approached us hesitantly.

“What is it?”

As Meursault stopped his excessive talk and asked the soldier, the soldier offered a brief greeting to Meursault and spoke while looking at me instead.

“I think you must go see His Excellency right now, Lord Haydam.”

“Is His Excellency looking for Lord Haydam?”

When Meursault asked that on behalf of me, who was standing blankly, the soldier shook his head and replied.

“No, a delegation has arrived from the Love Zone.”

“What? Love Zone?”

What is coming from the Love Zone?

A delegation?

While I doubted my ears, questioning if I had heard correctly, the soldier’s words continued.

“They say they came to meet Lord Haydam. A girl about Lord Haydam’s age.”

I realized who it was at once.

The shaman of the Love Zone.

Player ‘Shin’ had come.