Chapter 1938: Beta Governor closed herself

"I don’t know what trick you pulled on our Governor, but I’m not letting this go on any longer!"

The Commander snapped as he pointed his gun at Lackey’s forehead while driving in another direction.

Lackey quietly stared at the gun pressed in his direction, but there was no trace of fear or even the slightest hint of worry on his face. Instead, the corner of his lips curled into an amused smile.

"Trick, you say?" Lackey mumbled, tilting his head slightly.

The Commander gritted his teeth.

"Of course! How else could you explain it? The Governor of Beta was never, ever interested in men, and now she’s suddenly letting you stay in her room!

Don’t tell me that’s normal! You must have used some kind of weird magic on her!"

Lackey nearly burst into laughter at the accusation.

But then... Never interested in men?

The statement raised an interesting question in his mind.

If Nova had never been interested in men, then who exactly was Epsilon to her?

How curious.

Meanwhile, the Commander was growing increasingly irritated by Lackey’s complete lack of concern.

"Do you think I wouldn’t kill you?" the Commander growled, the veins on his forehead bulging beneath his helmet.

"Huh? I will fucking kill you!"

"Do it, then," Lackey replied casually.

"Huh?"

The Commander momentarily faltered, seemingly caught off guard by the complete absence of resistance.

Lackey turned his head and gave him a brief, almost indifferent glance before asking,

"You love her, right?"

The Commander’s body stiffened.

"W-What are you talking about?"

Lackey smiled softly. "Come on. Even though you’re hiding behind that suit and helmet, I can still read your face. Haha... You’re not nearly as good at hiding your feelings as you think you are."

The Commander’s face turned red beneath his helmet.

"Y-You son of a bitch!"

"And I’m pretty sure she knows about your feelings, too," Lackey added, his smile never fading.

"W-What?" The Commander was taken aback.

Lackey noticed the change and continued,

"That woman has remarkably sharp eyes. You don’t even have to say a word, and she can tell what you’re feeling. I think that’s precisely why she keeps her distance from you. She knows how you feel, and she’s trying to avoid making things more complicated."

"DON’T TALK LIKE YOU KNOW HER!" the Commander roared.

He clenched his fist so tightly.

"Do you honestly think a monster like you could ever understand us? You’ve been with her for just four fucking days, and now you think you know her better than I do? I’ve stayed by her side for years! Years! What the hell could you possibly know about her?"

Lackey glanced at him, seemingly considering the Commander’s words for a moment. Then his gaze drifted downward, and a crooked grin spread across his face.

"You’re right... I am indeed a monster," he remarked, winking as he pointed toward his crotch.

The Commander’s face turned an even deeper shade of red beneath his helmet. For a moment, he appeared utterly speechless, caught between the urge to pull the trigger and the desire to strangle Lackey with his bare hands.

Lackey, meanwhile, seemed thoroughly entertained by the reaction. He settled comfortably against the seat again.

"So, what’s your plan now?" he asked. "Let’s say you actually manage to kill me. What are you going to tell her? Do you think she’ll simply accept your explanation without asking questions? And have you even stopped to consider why she assigned you to accompany me in the first place?"

The Commander frowned beneath his helmet.

"What do you mean?"

Lackey let out a short laugh and shook his head. "For a Commander, you sure don’t use your brain very much."

A vein throbbed on the Commander’s forehead, but Lackey continued before he could interrupt.

"She put you with me because she wanted us to work together instead of running around with our own assumptions. She trusts you, Commander. She’s putting her faith in you, believing that you won’t betray her judgment just because you dislike the person standing beside you."

The words struck a nerve. The Commander’s hand trembled slightly, causing the gun barrel to dip for a fraction of a second before he steadied it again.

So, she had considered everything?

She trusted him?

She believed in him?

She was putting her faith in him?

Wasn’t that... love?

Beneath his helmet, his cheeks grew warm as another thought took shape in his mind. He imagined returning to the Governor after completing the mission, only for her to greet him with a rare smile and perhaps even pull him into a hug, thanking him for believing in her decision.

The thought alone was enough to make his heart race.

Lackey, who had absolutely no idea about the ridiculous little fantasy unfolding inside the Commander’s head, continued speaking in the same casual tone.

"Besides, if she were really under my control, do you think she would have put you in this position? You know perfectly well how much I dislike having you around."

The Commander fell silent again. Unfortunately, Lackey was right about that. From the very beginning, Lackey had made his contempt abundantly clear, never bothering to disguise his irritation whenever the Commander was around.

And yet, despite all of that, Nova had deliberately placed the two of them together.

Even though they had met only a few days ago, both of them already hated each other, and neither made any effort to hide it.

For the Commander, it was the anger of watching Lackey grow closer to the Governor.

But for Lackey, the man was simply pitiful. He didn’t want this man, or any man for that matter, anywhere near his beloved... lovely... sexy-ass mother-in-law.

That was all!

There was nothing else!

Believe him!!

Lackey casually reached over, caught the gun in the Commander’s hand, and gently pushed it down without showing the slightest trace of fear.

The Commander stared at the lowered gun before turning his head toward Lackey, his irritation practically radiating from him.

"Fuck you!" he snapped.

Lackey chuckled. "Haha... Sorry, but I’m into MI-ahem... women."

"..."

The Commander snorted in disgust and returned his attention to the road, steering the vehicle back onto the highway.

"Where exactly are you going now?" he asked, his tone still laced with annoyance.

Lackey glanced at the Commander... He remembered how this man had come seeking revenge for the old man, as well as for the Governor.

Despite his temper and obvious hostility toward Lackey, the Commander was fiercely loyal to Nova.

Considering the kind of people who lived in this Empire, finding someone like him was surprisingly rare.

Of course, that didn’t mean Lackey was going to let him get any closer to Nova than necessary.

The Commander might have feelings for her, but those feelings would remain hopeless for the rest of his life.

Lackey would make damn sure of that!

After all, He didn’t want his beloved mother-in-law to be sad.

"Tell me, Commander... do you like this Empire?" Lackey suddenly asked.

The Commander frowned, "Of course I do."

"Everything that’s happening in this Empire?" Lackey continued. "The slums? The way people are treated like pieces of meat?"

The Commander fell silent.

After a moment, he finally asked, "What do you want?"

Lackey chuckled and shook his head. "Nothing. I just wanted to know."

With that, he turned toward the window and said nothing more.

The Commander remained silent for a while, though his mind was anything but calm. He couldn’t help wondering how a slave like Lackey knew about the slums.

Had the Governor told him about them, too?

The mere thought irritated him. It seemed Beta had been sharing far too much information with this man.

Yet, despite his annoyance, Lackey’s words continued to echo in his mind.

The slums.

The people treated like pieces of meat.

"Do you wish to change it?" Lackey suddenly asked, as though he had somehow heard the Commander’s unspoken thoughts.

The Commander flinched and turned to look at him. For a brief moment, he seemed genuinely unsettled by the question.

"You are... weird," he muttered.

Lackey simply smiled. "I’ll take that as a compliment."

The Commander looked back at the road, falling silent as he struggled to decide whether he should answer the question.

His expression slowly changed... to a heavier one.

"I... I’m from the slums," he finally admitted.

Lackey raised his eyebrows slightly.

"I managed to escape from there, unlike so many others who never got the chance. Beta has the weakest security around the slums, and that’s largely because of the Governor. As much as I hate to admit it, if it weren’t for her, people like me would have died there without anyone even knowing our names."

The Commander let out a quiet sigh, his gaze fixed on the road ahead.

"Even though she acts tough and cold, she really does have a gentle heart. She allowed the previous Commander to help the people in the slums secretly. She wanted to create a better world for them, to let them find their purpose, but..."

His voice trailed off, and his fingers tightened around the steering wheel.

"...all that awaited her was bloodshed."

He sighed again, and the memories he had tried so hard to bury began to surface.

"One of her soldiers betrayed her and informed the President about what she was doing.

Even though it was technically against the Empire’s rules, the President didn’t punish her directly.

Instead, he chose a far crueller way to hurt her."

The Commander’s voice grew quieter, and his expression hardened beneath his helmet.

"He killed the previous Commander’s family right in front of her eyes. His wife... and his little girl. The same little girl whom the Governor had once cared for as though she were her own daughter."

Lackey’s faint smile disappeared.

The Commander could still remember those days with painful clarity. Back then, he had been nothing more than a Unit Leader in the squadron.

He remembered standing among the other soldiers, watching helplessly as the very woman they had once admired for her kindness was forced to endure something no one should ever have to witness.

The Governor whom everyone had once been so proud of, the woman who had shown compassion to those abandoned by the Empire, had changed that day.

The warmth she had once carried so naturally had vanished before their eyes, leaving behind a coldness that no one could reach through.

The memory still gnawed at him.

He remembered the soldiers standing motionless, unable to intervene as the President carried out his cruelty.

None of them could have imagined that the President would go so far as to kill an innocent child.

And yet, he had done it without hesitation.

"She cried..." the Commander continued, "She kept saying that it had all happened because she had allowed him to help the people. She begged the President to kill her instead, but he never even laid a hand on her."

"It was as though he knew exactly what would hurt her the most. He didn’t need to harm the Governor herself. Killing the Commander’s family, making her watch as he murdered the wife and little girl she had cared for, was enough to break something inside her that could never be repaired."

Lackey fell utterly silent, his eyes slowly losing their usual brightness as he absorbed the Commander’s words.

"And... instead of killing the ex-Commander, the President cut off his hand. A hand that couldn’t even hold his dead family anymore." The Commander’s hand trembled violently as he spoke.

His helmet shifted and slipped from his head, revealing a handsome face.

Yet his eyes were covered in pain, fear, and memories.

"I watched that man... the man who took me in as his own son. I watched him cry there, unable to hold his dead wife or his little girl with his severed arm." His voice faltered, and his eyes glistened faintly.

"The President gave him something worse than death. Tell me, what could be worse than being unable to hold the people you love ever again?"

The man turned toward Aether, his expression filled with a grief that had survived the passage of years.

"And after that... the Governor changed completely. The woman who once showed compassion to the helpless closed herself off from everyone. She began doing unimaginable things to the slaves she brought in.

She tested them, tore them apart, piece by piece, all to secure our division’s Order within the Empire."

He swallowed hard before continuing, his voice becoming increasingly hollow.

"She developed all kinds of genetic technologies. Biological weapons, research into new bloodlines, experiments to identify their errors, advantages, and disadvantages. She wanted to discover a way for humans to use energy like the otherworlders. She pursued everything under the President’s orders, and as long as she obeyed him, our division would remain safe. But if she ever stopped..."

His words died quietly in his throat.

Lackey remained deeply silent as Nova’s image surfaced in his mind. He slowly turned toward the window, watching the scenery pass by without saying a word. The faint reflection of his face on the glass revealed none of the thoughts moving behind his eyes.

"Nothing will ever change," he murmured quietly. "This is our new life. No matter what anyone wishes for, nothing changes."

After a moment, the Commander continued, "I know you’re the one who caused that destruction at the zoo. I don’t have any proof, but I know it was you. There’s no way a place with security that strict would suddenly descend into chaos for no reason."

He briefly glanced at Lackey before returning his attention to the road.

"And honestly, I understand why you did it. Your people were treated like test subjects. Of course anyone would be furious if they—"

"Not just test subjects," Lackey interrupted, his voice suddenly turning cold. "You people treated them like fucking filth!"

The Commander’s lips pressed into a thin line.

The car entered a tunnel, and the world outside darkened around them. Overhead lights flashed across the windshield at regular intervals.

After driving in silence for a while, the Commander finally asked, "Why are you doing all this? What’s your end goal?"

"Peace," Lackey murmured.

The Commander frowned, glancing at him with open confusion. Peace?

What would a slave want with peace?

Wasn’t freedom what someone in his position should be seeking above everything else?

"Are you trying to gain your freedom or something?" he asked.

Lackey took a slow breath and turned his gaze toward the Commander.

"What’s your name?"

"...What?"

"What’s your name, buddy? I don’t want to forget it in case you die."

The Commander stared at him in confusion, his eyebrows drawing together.

"What the hell are you talking about? Die...?"

Just then, as the car approached the tunnel’s exit, a massive red glow flooded the windshield. The sudden crimson light washed over their faces, turning the interior of the vehicle bloodred.

The Commander’s eyes widened... Hell’s Gate appeared before them.

"SHIT?!"

He slammed his foot onto the brake and desperately twisted the steering wheel.

But it was already too late.

Their car crashed into another vehicle that had attempted to stop ahead of them. Metal screamed against metal as the impact threw their car off balance.

In the next instant, the entire vehicle leapt into the air, while the container attached to its rear snapped loose and rolled violently toward the opposite side of the road.

BOOM!!

The world spun around them.

Lackey almost rolled his eyes back in exasperation.

Seriously? Again?

This was exactly how he had gotten fucked over the last time!

Couldn’t he have a less ridiculous way to enter?

"Henry," the Commander shouted, his voice strained as the car continued rolling through the air.

Lackey turned toward him with an almost absurdly calm smile, even as the vehicle spun helplessly toward the enormous portal.

"Well... get ready, Henry. We’re about to get fucked!"

And with those words, the portal swallowed them whole.