My Beloved Oppressor

Annette looked at him blankly and turned her head slightly. Her trembling lips opened several times before closing again.

She knew that she had to explain herself. She should not be seen as a useful hostage threatening the Commander-in-Chief. She should not be seen as important to Heiner…………..

Her lips couldn’t move even though she knew. Her head felt like it was jam-packed with gaps or, paradoxically, empty.

As if he was giving her situation some consideration, Elliot shrugged his shoulders and spoke flatly.

“Well, I don’t know. At the time I thought it was because he was desperately in love with Miss Rosenberg, but when I heard what you said earlier….”

“…”

“Calling out the name of the woman he loved probably wasn’t as romantic as it looked.”

Elliot chuckled and added jokingly.

“Maybe I couldn’t hear the rest of the sentence he mumbled in his unconscious mind, like ‘Annette, I’m going to kill you.’ I only heard the first part, haha.”

Annette was confused as to whether he really believed her that she was not a worthy hostage or if he was just teasing her by pretending to believe her.

‘If it’s the latter, …… what should I do?’

In fact, Annette could not even believe the words herself.

If she wasn’t important to Heiner in the first place, she wouldn’t have cared whether she was a hostage or not. Because Heiner would not come to negotiate anyway.

But Annette desperately denied it and explained it away. Because, in fact, she subconsciously knew.

That she was important to him. It would have been strange if she didn’t know. It was evident from the fact that he had persistently encouraged her to be discharged and had given her orders twice to move to the rear.

But Annette didn’t think that “importance” was love, as Elliott thought. At least, this was not the kind of love she knew.

“I’m only unhappy with you…”

Love was not like that.

Annette adjusted her expression and her breathing and spoke in matter-of-factly tone.

“…because his goal was to destroy me and my family.”

“To think that the silent, uninteresting fellow turned against you, after all, things in the world don’t always work out as expected.”

Elliott led her after opening the church with perfect decorum, as if he were escorting a lady at the entrance of a party hall.

“Now, let’s go in first.”

Elliot was back to his usual light and mischievous manner. Annette entered the building, keeping as much distance from him as possible.

At that moment, something fell like a flying object at her feet.

Annette let out a short scream and stumbled backward. Elliot supported her back.

The man who had fallen by the door groaned painfully as he curled up. He was the only surviving friendly sniper of the group that came with her.

His face was completely covered in blood. It was difficult to find the shape of his original features.

“Oh my god…!”

Annette, startled, pushed past Elliott and ran forward. Elliot, who had been inadvertently pushed out the church door, took hold of the center.

 “He’s been dumped without even confessing.”

Elliott grumbled behind her. Annette knelt down and carefully observed the soldier’s condition.

Seeing that there were no major problems elsewhere, it seemed that they had assaulted him intensively, but only in the face. Annette turned to Elliott and shouted.

“Stop!”

“Why?”

Elliot cocked his head suspiciously. Annette sighed. It was like her mindset itself was different from that man’s.

At that moment, a French soldier approached and spoke quickly. But his tone was so angry that she couldn’t catch anything.

Elliot asked the soldier something. The soldier replied quickly and hurried to approach Annette.

“Calm down.”

Elliott extended his arm to stop him. The French soldier still looked ferocious, but he stopped where he was, perhaps he couldn’t disobey the words of his superior.

Elliott looked down at Annette as if in trouble.

“Hmmm, Miss Rosenberg. The unit that that sniper belonged to killed a lot of our kids. A friend of this soldier here also had his face exploded by a bomb. I think he’s just pissed off.”

“…piss off?”

“And it’s hard to let go completely.

You know what I mean. There are things that need to be settled.”

“Give him the least humane treatment!”

“Miss Rosenberg. I know you’ve changed quite a bit, but as I said, you’re still too innocent.”

 Elliot sighed.

Do you want to keep your allies alive, or do you want to help your people? If it’s the former, well, I understand, but if it’s the latter…”

“….”

“I’m also trying to keep a lot of our people alive. For that I will have to kill a lot of Padania soldiers. Isn’t that what war is all about?”

Annette glanced at Elliot with a shudder. Her chest was tight with anger, frustration, and helplessness.

At this rate, the sniper would be tortured. In the worst case, they could make not only him but others reveal information.

She looked around the chapel, biting her lower lip. Everyone was scared and holding their breath.

The only people here were civilians, nurses, and wounded soldiers. With this manpower, it was impossible to devise a countermeasure or escape plan.

There was nothing she could do here. That was the reality.

Elliot chuckled and said softly.

“I would appreciate it if you would be relieved that I am not cutting off your hands right now and sending it to the Commander-in-Chief.”

“…”

“Well, go over there now. Leave the man.”

Elliot pointed at the injured sniper with his chin as he approached. Below, the sniper kept groaning.

Annette did not get up; she knelt with stubborn defiance.

“You really ……”

Elliot clicked his tongue and took a step closer. Annette’s body jerked. Just as he was about to take another step, someone called Elliot.

Elliot turned around with an annoyed look on his face. A communication officer on France’s side stood breathless at the entrance of the church.

“What?”

Elliott asked irritably. The correspondent raised his hands in salute to him and then, without pausing for breath, reported something.

“—Southern ……. Orders to move ………….. tomorrow morning…….”

The longer the report continued, the more expressions of France’s soldiers, including Elliott’s, changed.

Elliott frowned terribly, listened to the report, answered roughly, and beckoned. Several of the French soldiers who had been sitting around the chapel stood up.

They began to discuss something in a serious atmosphere. It seemed to be about the report received from the correspondent.

Annette concentrated as much as she could to understand what they were saying.

“Anything here —— is not my responsibility.”

“Then what about these people…”

“Now ….. nothing of value—“

However, it was difficult to hear them, as their voices were not loud enough and the situation was not conducive to peaceful concentration.

Suddenly Nicolo turned his head toward her. Annette met his eyes. Nicolo moved his lips.

“Time …. the middle of the night…..get rid of them all…………”

***

“Your Excellency, orders have been given to assign the Southern Front Armored Corps to the Huntingham Occupation Force!”

That evening, an urgent report was made to the General Headquarters. It was good news for them. Heiner immediately called the General Staff together.

“As expected, the enemy forces intend to redeploy their forces to focus on Cheshire Field. We will send reinforcements through the river to recapture Huntingham and support forces to Cheshire Field………..”

At first glance, France’s bombing of the Padania mainland had done a great deal of damage to Padania. This was due to the sight of the city in ruins and the low morale of the Padanian army.

Therefore, France expected that Padania would soon surrender.

No matter how hard they defended the front, it would be useless if the mainland was not protected. In fact, after the air raid on the mainland, the citizens of Padania felt substantially threatened. However, this was an illusion on France’s part.

While France was concentrating on raiding the Padania capital and other urban centers, Padania was preparing a huge counterattack.

Thanks to the fact that factories and military facilities escaped damage while the bombing of the mainland continued. Padania had restored most of its facilities to fast availability.

On top of that, the redeployment of troops had halted the enemy advance for some time, giving Padania the time to build up its defensive line.

The plan built in Heiner’s mind was going smoothly. Even though he knew that he shouldn’t jump to conclusions in wartime, subconsciously he was envisioning it until after the war was over.

First of all, he intended to publicize the achievements that Annette had made. Not only her military service as a nurse, but also her role in deciphering the codes.

He also had to correct the false articles and rumors against Annette. That way she would regain her more peaceful life….and not have to think about death. And after her discharge, his plan was to find her a home in the most peaceful and livable place in Padania.

If she wanted to live with the Grott family, he would have to look for a slightly larger home. It seemed that he would have to get a separate caretaker, as it might be difficult to manage the divided property.

“I really hope this meeting will be our last.” (H)

Even if he wasn’t sure about every moment of it.

Even if it meant standing behind Annette for the rest of his life, just so he could hear the news of her life…

Soon the long meeting was drawing to a close. The huge map on the desk was filled with all kinds of marks and numbers.

A supremely difficult discussion finally came to a conclusion. Heiner opened his mouth, gripping the desk with both hands.

“Two days later at dawn.”

The eyes of the high ranking officers turned to him. Then the final order came from the mouth of the Commander-in-Chief.

“The battle to retake Huntingham begins.”