Margaret was led away from the execution ground by Belen, trembling and unsteady. The bloody atmosphere all around, the gazes of the people looking at her nearly bald head made her feel fear and despair. As a result, she hid behind Belen a bit fearfully, following him to a relatively quiet place: a street corner that had already been cleared.
"Madam, I wanted to co find you earlier, but you were no longer at your original residence. If I hadn’t heard a colleague’s voice, I wouldn’t have known..."
As they sat down, Belen looked at the woman’s disheveled appearance in front of him, appearing hesitant to speak.
Margaret was slightly stunned by his words, then she lowered her head and said,
"Ever since Elmano disappeared without a trace, I didn’t know what to do... Our ho was in difficulty, and I had no ans of livelihood, but our daughter needed food. I first went to work at a hotel run by the Germans, and there I t a German, he... gave a bit of help, but... but it wasn’t what I asked for!"
At the end, Margaret seed afraid of Belen’s misunderstanding and quickly said this with so agitation.
After hearing this, Belen blinked and then smiled bitterly,
"No need to explain, madam, I understand. He is pursuing you. We surrendered too quickly back then, and many did not welco the war. Ending up like this today was understandable, but you and Elmano are both good people... You know, among the things that happened today, many people would be wrongly accused or excessively sentenced. As long as you can survive, I can give an account to Elmano."
Upon hearing this, a glimr of hope finally sparkled in Margaret’s previously hopeless eyes. She looked at Belen incredulously and asked,
"Is Elmano still alive?"
"Alive? Oh, no... he..."
The light in Margaret’s eyes dimd a little, then she lowered her head a bit in a daze,
"So he died in the war with the Germans? But I didn’t know... I moved to Paris, maybe there was news back ho... I... haven’t had news for a long ti..."
Belen, already hesitant in his speech, seed even more stuck, but after a mont of silence, he continued,
"Elmano might have been killed by the British cannons due to that damned ’Crossbow Action’. Of course, it’s just possible. But I heard he was on the Brittany, the British feared the navy would be controlled by the Germans, so..."
Margaret just stared blankly at the officer in front of her, with all the past events and mories flooding over her mind.
Elmano believed the navy was less likely to join the battle, so he had his wife leave the war zone early with their child to move to Paris, yet it caused her to miss four years of news and notifications, and Margaret only learned the news so late.
"Al... ally? Why..."
"...we were allies before surrendering."
Belen lit a cigarette and then leaned against the wall, paused for a long ti before speaking.
The little sparks of hope in Margaret’s eyes were extinguishing bit by bit, as she hung her head lifelessly like a walking corpse, sitting with Belen on this chaotic, almost ruined street.
The shouting, killing, and parade sounds in the distance gradually faded away, and as the surrounding atmosphere remained cold, Margaret finally said blankly,
"I... want to go ho."
"Let escort you back, madam."
Belen sympathetically glanced at the exhausted woman beside him, then put on his military cap and extinguished the cigarette, saying,
"During the clearing activities, so might take advantage of the chaos to steal. I lead the team here to prevent such situations from happening and going back with you is safer, I can also see Elmano’s daughter whom we had agreed to et... Also, after you return, don’t go out again. I’ll inform others of this..."
Margaret walked ahead silently, with no response to Belen’s lengthy words. He involuntarily looked at her back, seemingly wanting to say sothing comforting, but couldn’t find the words for a long ti.
He seed to rember how Elmano used to boast about his wife when they t before.
Elmano said his wife had a head of lovely golden hair, well-read in the classics, could write poems; gentle and beautiful, simply the dream lover of all romantic Frenchn.
They walked silently back to the street where Margaret lived, and as she hurried with what seed like extre worry, Belen was the first to see an open door and the disordered room inside.
In the open bedroom, a pool of bright red blood was spreading steadily.
"..."
Margaret’s back stiffened silently in Belen’s sight, not moving at all, just staring at the direction of the bedroom like a statue...
Indeed, she was as beautiful as Elmano described, even with her hair shaved off now.
But perhaps, she was no longer romantic.
...
...
"Buzz buzz..."
The cool morning light scattered through the South Continent’s sky, enhancing today’s weather as fresh and cool, and woke up the golden-haired beauty curled up asleep on the bed.
Her cascade of golden hair spread across the wide bed like a waterfall, her empty-looking, dazed light blue eyes fixed on the towering tower beyond, gazing at the simple, crowded buildings.
Various demi-humans or humans walked in the residential area built in just half a year, including special kinds from the Tree Continent; brought from afar by Uncle Chun.
Looking closely, tens of thousands of them already lived here, faintly showing prosperity and vitality.
Margaret dazedly watched everything in front of her, hardly moving, only the occasional golden shimring from behind the tall tower like waves.
That was, fate’s radiance.
"Margaret..."
A gentle voice ca from behind, awakening Margaret from her daze.
She turned her head and saw Uncle Chun ascending from the stairs to the tower.
"Chun."
Uncle Chun glanced at the center of the tower, where the deep, almost black pool water was located, with the golden light of fate scattered from it.
Soon he withdrew his gaze and said to Margaret,
"People have co from outside the kingdom, it’s Fisher and those transferees from before..."
"I know, I’ve known for a long ti."
Margaret slowly sat up, gazing into the sky that had darkened with coldness, then softly said,
"Let them in."
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