Chapter 32

With a sigh, Lieutenant Erabelle Vermilion tossed her backpack beside the heater and curled up on the floor.

“......”

She stared silently out the window.

Beyond the shuttle’s glass, past the planet’s gravitational field, the four suns of the Four-Star System glowed a pale white. No matter how many times she saw it, the alien landscape still felt strange.

And terrifying.

Erabelle pressed her bare feet against the heater, pulled a folded slip of paper from the waistband of her pants, and stared down at it.

...112th Street.

The paper was crumpled, a string of numbers neatly written across it.

“......”

I really didn’t want to go this far... but I don’t have a choice.

Life never went the way you wanted it to.

If it did, she would already be back home, taking her equivalency exam and making a belated start on finding a job.

She folded the note again and tucked it back into her waistband, then casually set an alarm on her wristwatch for two hours later.

And as though nothing whatsoever were out of the ordinary, she promptly passed out.

***

“What?”

Aries Cider gnawed at his thumbnail, phone clenched in one hand.

When Erabelle Vermilion had first requested a transfer to the 80th Colony, no one had expected her to last more than a few months.

They assumed she would either die or give up and return home.

At best, she might hold out for a little while.

But that little while had stretched into a year and a half, and somehow she was still alive and kicking in the conflict zone.

“Why the hell is she taking so long? Is she screwing with me?”

A man’s {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} voice chirped faintly in the background.

What the hell... Has she lost her mind?

“Forget it! Just get over here already!”

Aries snapped into the phone and hung up.

A few seconds later, he picked it up again and called back.

“Hey. Bring coffee when you come. Mocha frappe. Drown it in syrup.”

Then he tossed the phone onto the couch.

Virgo Hag, sprawled lazily across the cushions, idly swung one foot back and forth.

“I seriously don’t get it. What’s with all the drama?”

Aries shot him a glare.

Virgo was half-naked as usual, looking as if he’d gambled away his shirt again.

Aries was sorely tempted to gut him on the spot.

“Oh, come on. Why do you always get like this? You seriously think Dezeb gives a damn about her?”

“Yes.”

“Wow. You’re actually serious?”

“Yeah. Dead serious. Shit, what about you? What are you doing all the way down here?”

The low-rise lobby, still half-finished from renovations, was where the Dogs usually gathered whenever they wanted to keep a low profile.

It was also the farthest place from Commander Dezeb Avganis’s office, aside from the parking deck.

“Oh, so this is all because of her?”

“......”

Of course Aries thought it was because of Erabelle.

Dezeb had only found out after the fact that she’d undergone surgery again, this time for a ten-centimeter gash in her side.

Aries simply couldn’t be bothered to explain the whole thing.

“Seriously, why do you keep asking questions when you’re not going to listen to the answer?”

There was no point.

Aries and several others from the surveillance team were firmly convinced that Erabelle was the reason behind the recent chaos.

The rest of the Dogs thought they were insane and mocked them relentlessly for it.

Virgo was among the loudest.

“Let’s be serious. If Dezeb actually cared about her, would he leave her rotting out there for more than a year?”

“Hah...”

“She’s still alive because she’s tough as hell. If she were even slightly incompetent, she’d have been dead ages ago. What you’re doing is insulting her.”

“Goddamn it... Why do you spout the same bullshit every single time?”

“And you never listen.”

The divide between them had only widened with time.

There was exactly one thing they agreed on.

Sometimes, Dezeb’s mood suddenly took a nosedive.

And when it did, both of them knew better than to stay anywhere near their master.

“When’s the lieutenant getting here?”

Still glaring at Virgo, Aries turned to see Ori enter the lounge.

“...Four days.”

Aries hated them both.

Virgo with that smug grin of his, and Ori, who had somehow started taking Virgo’s side lately.

“Ori. Can’t we just call her back already?”

“We can’t. The platform is almost finished.”

“Screw the damn platform... Then send me. I’ll take her place.”

“Do you have a transport license?”

“No. Shit! But I’m serious. I’m reaching my limit here! Even the Empire’s agents are starting to move. Just call her back already!”

“Lieutenant Vermilion can take care of herself. You don’t need to worry so much.”

“How am I supposed to not worry? She may not look like it, but sometimes she just snaps out of nowhere.”

Their conversation didn’t last much longer.

“Hey. Hey!”

Still lounging on the couch, Virgo suddenly cut in.

He was tapping away at his device, casually sending Erabelle an order for snacks.

“Instead of whining about it, why don’t we make a bet? I’ll make a move on her, and we’ll see how Dezeb reacts.”

“...Make a move on her?”

Aries Cider asked quietly.

“How?”

“What do you mean, how? Isn’t it obvious?”

“......”

The two stared at each other in heavy silence.

“If you’re going to fight, take it outside,” Ori said flatly.

Too late.

Aries had already smashed the barrel of his gun into Virgo Hag’s head.

“Take it outs—!”

Virgo cackled and slashed a knife across Aries’s neck.

“I SAID TAKE IT OUTSIDE!!”

Ori finally lost his temper and screamed at the top of his lungs.

By then, he was little more than background noise.

What a goddamn mess.

“Ugh! You got blood on me! This is a white shirt!”

“You psycho! These pants are brand new!”

“Can we get some goddamn peace and quiet?!”

The other Dogs nearby started shouting as well.

If they got involved too, the entire lobby would turn into an all-out brawl.

Everyone had been so tightly wound lately that the slightest provocation was enough to make the Dogs tear into one another.

And yet, four days from now, Erabelle Vermilion would stroll in looking perfectly calm and composed.

Just as she always did.

Just like the very first time.

The first time she had come to the capital on external duty, a year and a half earlier...

***

One and a half years ago.

“...You seem... fine?”

It was Lieutenant Erabelle Vermilion’s first return to the capital after being stationed in the conflict zone.

Ori gave her a puzzled once-over.

For the briefest instant, her expression seemed to say, Why are you suddenly worried about me?

Then it vanished, replaced by her usual gentle smile.

“Yes. I’m unharmed.”

She meant it literally.

Erabelle Vermilion appeared physically intact.

Aside from her tangled hair, the dark circles beneath her eyes, and the pallor of her face, she was in one piece.

No visible injuries.

A woman with physical capabilities barely above subhuman had survived several months in a war zone and returned without so much as a scratch.

And she had come back voluntarily, no less, for a procedure that was essentially torture:

the reinsertion of her identification tag.

Commander Dezeb Avganis, sitting atop the desk, tilted his head as he looked at her.

“What the hell happened to you?”

He had been lounging around his adjutant’s office for nearly an hour before she arrived.

He claimed he had only come by to drink a few beers and chat, but the timing was far too convenient.

Ori didn’t believe him for a second.

He wisely kept that opinion to himself.

Still, Dezeb had a point.

Erabelle looked terrible.

No one in their right mind would have guessed she had come to meet a man, much less for anything resembling a romantic rendezvous.

Her wrinkled uniform sleeves were rolled to the elbows. Her hair looked like a bird’s nest. Her face looked as though it hadn’t seen water in days.

She looked like she had just crawled out of bed.

And not in an attractive way.

Standing beside the perpetually immaculate Dezeb only made the contrast worse.

“I apologize. I suppose I relaxed a little too much on the way here. I’ll clean myself up at the dormitory and report back by 0800 tomorrow.”

Ori froze.

“The dormitory?”

That was right.

Erabelle Vermilion had absolutely no intention of staying with Dezeb while she was in the capital.

“Yes. The Count’s family estate has an unused residence here in the capital.”

“...Isn’t that place practically abandoned?”

Dezeb asked as he lit a cigarette laced with sedatives.

Erabelle paused.

Perhaps sensing that something was off, she answered more cautiously.

“It’ll be sufficient for a short stay.”

Wrong answer.

“You’re hurting my feelings, Erabelle. Didn’t you miss me at all?”

His tone was light, almost teasing.

But Ori saw it.

He saw the black tendrils writhing beneath Dezeb’s skin, twisting just under the surface.

That was the exact moment Ori decided the surveillance team might have been right after all.

***

Erabelle drew a deep breath of the capital’s warm air.

The bone-deep cold of the conflict zone was gone.

Here, even the sunlight seemed crisp and clean.

Maybe it was just the air purifiers, but whatever the reason, breathing felt wonderfully refreshing.

And frankly?

It felt incredible.

Her uniform was freshly pressed, not a wrinkle in sight.

She had taken three showers and gotten a full-body wax before disembarking.

For the first time in what felt like forever, she actually felt human again.

Ahhh... civilization!

Civilization.

The place where Dezeb and the Crown Prince lived!

“......”

Her excitement died almost immediately.