old light morning light

Chapter 44 "Two"

"So your father is still there?"

After listening to my description, Nalia thought about it, and then asked me as if she had thought of something.

that place?

You mean the supply base for UP-R-II, right?

Maybe she thought my father was still there and couldn't escape?

"um, yes."

"He stayed there forever."

"Um, ah?"

"forever?"

Seemingly sensing the change in my tone of voice and emotion, Nalia was also slightly taken aback.

"He's dead, buried with the Empire's sunken aircraft carrier."

It's obviously like telling someone else's story, why is it still so uncomfortable?
Why can't you accept it calmly, Lin Man?

He is no longer in this world, and you have nothing to do, not even his body can be found...

But I just don't know why, his face, his words, and his calloused hands are still echoing in my mind.

why!
"sorry, I……"

"It's okay, it's a fact, and I've accepted it."

Am I really accepting it?
"...Remember, you have to live well..."

dad……

"Well, sorry..."

"You live very hard, too."

Everyone has their own tribulations, the world is not so gentle.

So instead of expecting tenderness from others, it is better not to expect the so-called tenderness.

"It's better than most people's. At least I still have my own identity."

Think about those slaves living at the bottom of society...

No, they shouldn't even belong to this class of society, should they?

I already feel quite satisfied.

"Ugh..."

Gulu in his arms suddenly twisted his body, received the hand that was originally protruding from his chest, and protruded it in front of his stomach.

Wouldn't it be comfortable to fall asleep like this?

Or straighten your hands?
Although this folded-hands posture can bring a sense of security to oneself, after all, pouting your hands makes you feel uncomfortable.

"But I didn't expect you to be so gentle."

Seeing me gently straightening Gulu's hand and hugging myself, Nalia understood what I was thinking.

"Gentle, the world is not gentle to me anymore, so the reason why I am still struggling is that I don't want people around me to feel such pain."

"By the way, you said that your father relied on his own skills and exchanged you to study in an academy in the empire, so it should have happened in the past few years?"

"Ah."

"What were you doing before then?"

I realized a problem in what I said, the age of graduating from a college should be around 16 to 18 years old, and the technical studies in imperial colleges and universities generally last about 8 years.

And my father and I were obviously very young when we came to the empire. What was I doing in the time between that?

"Imperial Reformatory."

Although I haven't told Moral about it, there is nothing to hide. If she wants to know, then tell her generously.

"Imperial Reformatory?"

"To put it bluntly, it is an orphanage, but it is built and operated by the empire."

"That's what my father asked for."

As the saying goes: "How can you not get your shoes wet when you often walk by the river?"

He also understands this truth very well, as long as he is still serving on the ship, there is a danger of being sunk again at any time.

"He knows that he has no way to decide whether he can leave those flying iron coffins, so he hopes that at least I can leave."

"So what he asked at that time was: Send me to the earth, receive a normal education, and be able to...survive well."

"Although it sounds like there are many conditions, it is actually one thing. For a giant like the empire, it is really an insignificant thing."

"So they granted your father's request?"

"Ah."

"I have to say that your father is quite far-sighted. His purpose is clear, and he clearly knows how to make a decision."

"Thank you."

"He can be regarded as a good father..."

The voice suddenly became quieter, is it because he also thought of his father?
And it seems that because of the topic of being a good father, she has become less confident. Is it because she has any resentment towards her father?
"Well, but these things happened behind my back. At that time, I just felt that he also wanted to abandon me."

"I didn't receive a letter from him until I entered the imperial academy, and I didn't know all this."

"also?"

"Well, I don't have any impression of my mother in my memory."

"You mean your mother abandoned you and your father?"

"I don't know, he's been pretty tight-lipped about it."

"Every time I asked him about my mother, he always kept his words vague, using words like going to a distant place or coming back later to trick the young me."

"Could it be that it's just a white lie..."

Nalia, who suddenly realized what she was talking about, stopped speaking abruptly.

What she wanted to tell was a white lie, right?
"Well, it's okay, I've always considered myself an orphan."

Haven't I never deceived myself in this way?

But the heartfelt resentment hidden in my father's eyes kept warning me that the story might not be as simple as I imagined.

"Feel sorry."

"You don't have to do this, it's true that my own story is too depressing."

"So actually I don't want to mention these things to others, but since you have already taken the initiative to tell me your story, I have nothing to hide."

"Since I chose to tell you, I don't care about your opinions and evaluations on these things."

Of course, if I cared about your views on these matters, then naturally I would not be able to let you know such details.

"So you don't have to keep apologizing."

"Well, how are you doing in the orphanage?"

Nalia looked like she wanted to change the subject quickly, so the heavy atmosphere might have begun to oppress her senses, right?
But Moral, although he also looked heartless, kept silent all the time, listening quietly with his body tilted all the time.

But she may not know that the topic she wants to change is also very heavy.

"You should be able to guess that my life can't be too good, right?"

"Ok?"

"Didn't they take extra care of you?"

It seems that he did not expect it.

"Why do you have the illusion that they will take extra care of me?"

"Is it because of my father's request?"

"Well……"

"Let me tell you this, apart from promising my father to send me to the ground, the empire will not give me special preferential treatment just because my father is an excellent pilot."

"Because it's only for the empire, agreeing to these conditions is already a favor to me and my father."

"We don't kneel down to thank Dade, but instead we have the cheek to expect some special preferential treatment. Are you here an empire or a welfare home?"

"How can this be..."

It seems a bit frustrating, although I am very glad that you can forgive me for what happened to me, but this also exposes the possibility that Nalia may be more naive than I thought.

This is not a good thing.

"I'm sorry, but that's the way it is."

"Except for the daily necessary study time in the reformatory, I am almost always busy."

"We also have to do some simple labor in order to get the daily food supply."

"Simple labor?"

"It's like cleaning crops, packing materials, packing packages and other sundries."

"They formed gangs, put all the things in their hands on my hands, spoke ill of me to the nun, and pushed all the bad things they did on me."

"Although it didn't work at first, it couldn't last for a long time, and there were so many of them. In the end, even the nuns thought I was a bad boy."

"But you want to say that you're actually not that bad?"

"No, quite the opposite."

"I don't need to hide it, I'm just plain bad!"

Thinking about me at that time, it can be said that I committed all kinds of evil and tried every possible way to get revenge on them.

"At that time, besides studying and working, I spent most of my time fighting."

"They bullied me, and I called back, it's as simple as that."

"So you were so direct when you were young?"

What is so direct?

Do you think I'm willing to call back and forth like this?

"You mean I'm not direct right now?"

"Is that true, haha, I just didn't expect you to be so cute back then."

What is cute?
Using cuteness to describe a person who fights every day, don't you think it's somewhat rebellious?

"Hmph, cute, isn't it so cute after being beaten all over the ground?"

"Oh, I thought you would be very fierce if you kept fighting, but it turned out to be the one that was beaten."

"One-on-one, I've always hit someone else."

"But who told them to be numerous?"

At the beginning, they pretended to break heads with me fairly, but who knew they couldn't beat me, so they tore off the hypocritical coat.

"Then you can't run if you can't fight?"

"Just send it in and give them a call?"

"Escape? Is it implying that they can get worse?"

"So in the eyes of these nuns, I always provoke a group of people on my own initiative."

"Of course, I won't suffer so easily. I often secretly put salt in their milk and pour water into their bed."

"It's far more than that, but it doesn't make sense to say these now."

"In short, in short, it is very bad..."

"Then you, you are really bad..."

"Hey, I really didn't see it."

Moral, who had been silent on the side, suddenly uttered such a sentence with a strange smile.

"There are still many things you didn't see."

Gradually, the roar of the machine began to grow louder. Is this a jump adjustment?
It may be time to enter the jump route now, so I can relax in a real sense...

But Nalia, if she just keeps running away, where can she escape in the end?

(End of this chapter)