"Lord Mokaka gave us food that would allow us to survive, she gave us a ho where we don't have to worry about being attacked at any mont. Although the conditions are a bit harsh, it's countless tis better than a life of constant fear and uncertainty."
Saying this, the woman glanced at the cradle beside her. The baby, wrapped in a swaddle, had finished nursing and was already fast asleep, its lashes fluttering with each tiny snore. The woman couldn't help but smile.
"So, do you truly believe from the bottom of your heart that Mokaka will always be your leader, your savior?"
Yun You lowered his voice and asked again, "Do you think she is soone you can rely on for a lifeti?"
"..."
Faced with this question, the woman's smile froze, and she fell silent.
Unlike Tian En, who stood by Mokaka no matter what and believed Mokaka was perfect forever, the woman, with more life experience, clearly had so thoughts hidden in her heart.
"Don't worry, these words won't reach Mokaka's ears."
Yun You noticed the woman's concern, so he shook his head and added, "Moreover, Mokaka wouldn't care about your thoughts and opinions."
This was the truth.
As a superior, Mokaka didn't care about how others judged her.
Or rather, she cared, but she was always confident that everyone adored her like Tian En, willing to obey her commands and arrangents. So even when she encountered complaints and rumors, she wouldn't mind.
The woman clearly agreed with this point of view, so after Yun You said this, she moved her lips and finally spoke up.
"For us... at least for , this might be the happiest period since I was imprisoned."
"We don't have to worry about finding food to eat, nor are we pushed by hunger to kill... let alone worry about the War Gang's brawls dragging us in."
"And all of this, it's Lord Mokaka who bestowed it upon us."
"No matter her motives, we are sincerely grateful to her, treating her as our faith."
"It's just..."
The woman paused, her tone turning a bit somber.
"It's just that we all know clearly in our hearts that these days probably won't last long."
"Lord Mokaka is a good person, an unconventional 'good noble,' willing to betray her own heritage to help us on a whim."
"But a noble is ultimately a noble; one day she will return to where she should be. By then, we will surely rember her, rember that she once created an incredible era of peace on the Floating Island."
"But here will eventually return to its original state, people devouring people, people killing people, people tornting people... it will never change."
"As for us..."
The woman chuckled bitterly, gently shaking her head.
"Whatever happens, let it happen."
The words were quite euphemistic, but Yun You still heard the aning hidden within.
The woman and the vast majority of the camp's civilians essentially recognized that Mokaka's presence here was indeed just a "young lady's pretend ga."
She ca here with the heart to seek amusent and individuality.
Once she gets bored, naturally she will go where she belongs, unable to invest too much affection in the civilians.
"It seems everyone understands in their hearts, only putting on such extre dependency on her to make Mokaka a little happier."
Yun You sighed.
"But we don't really expect that much..."
Seeing Yun You sigh, the woman quickly waved her hand, explaining: "My husband and I were imprisoned due to taking the fall for the company, but later in the Floating Island, due to the lack of food... we also killed quite a few people, we're by no ans innocent."
"People like us, even if we die, it would be no great loss..."
"Moreover, although Lord Mokaka indeed has so small flaws, her kindness... or rather her chivalry, should never be insulted."
Saying this, she looked at her younger child, murmuring: "My husband and I were childhood sweethearts. Even before going to prison, we had a girl."
"That child was the apple of our eye, we poured all our love and emotion into her."
"She was also very understanding, liked to tinker with chanical parts from a young age. At three years old, she disassembled and reassembled my old radio, and it still worked."
The holographic sign outside the tent flickered, casting the woman's shadow in and out of the light.
She touched her right eye, and only then did Yun You notice it was a prosthetic eye.
"This was replaced with the money from Xiaoxuan's first month's wages."
"That child... when she left, was only seventeen."
The woman exhaled heavily, clutching a broken radio in her hand. Outside, it suddenly began to drizzle, and the streets started to fill with the stinging scent of tal.
"That morning, she said she was going to deliver the advanced neural coupler for repair. I said let her father go with her, but she refused, saying she was already seventeen and had walked that road hundreds of tis..."
A gust of wind blew by, lifting a yellowed piece of paper, which was an advertisent for a prosthetic repair shop designed by the woman's daughter; its fluorescent lettering had already faded.
"When the police took to identify the body," the woman's voice trembled, "she lay there, covered in blood."
"They—the gangs of Nest City took her chanical arm."
"And her heart..."
The radio suddenly snapped with a "crack," its parts scattering all over. The woman hurriedly crouched to pick them up, only to find her fingers were shaking badly.
"My husband said, there are things the police can't do, so we must do them ourselves."
"But I'm just an accountant; what can I do?"
"Thinking it over, I could only join my husband in taking the bla for the company's embezzlent we dared not even imagine."
"The company promised us a large sum of money, my husband said we could use it to hire rcenaries, I agreed, that was our only way."
"We handed the money to a rcenary Corps, the leader promised us he would bring the heads of the gang mbers responsible before us before we were imprisoned."
"But until the day of the trial, we heard nothing more from the rcenary Corps."
"My husband couldn't help but look for them... he found the leader, but the leader was drinking and chatting with the gang people, saying they would split the money from selling my daughter's heart."
"My husband, unable to endure it, went up to argue, but they broke his leg, saying we lowly people deserved our family's ruin due to lack of vigilance..."
"My husband and I were thus sent to the Floating Island—penniless."
"Later, shortly after I gave birth to our second child, my husband died from inflammation in his leg..."
"When we thought all was lost, Lord Mokaka appeared before us."
"She listened to my story, said nothing, and left, finding the next day with a large bag in hand containing thirty-six heads."
"Those were the heads of the rcenary Corps and gang mbers, none missing."
"With this, I am willing to die for Lord Mokaka... she may be self-indulgent, but kindness remains her true nature."
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