Confession (4)

After hearing what happened, Yunia came up and patted Alex.

Her comforting smile touched Alex.

Inger removed the soundproofing array and stepped aside.

Despite this unexpected episode, the peace talks had to go on.

A few days later, the peace agreement between Rivelle and Cune was formally reached. On the last day, journalists were allowed in and the two emperors shook hands, which was captured on camera.

Inger sighed as he watched this scene.

He had only seen scenes in history books, and he never imagined that one day he would be able to experience and witness them in person.

From April 1893 to the end of March 1894, the war lasted nearly a year, and the hardships experienced by every witness are difficult to describe in words.

However, both Inger and Alex knew that this was just the appetizer for the real war of mankind.

After the peace talks ended, Li Wei'er's party returned home first, and Qiu Nie's party also gradually withdrew its troops.

Alex, Ola and others returned to the capital first due to government affairs.

Inger applied to stay for a while, as there were many injured and disabled people in the tent waiting for him to treat them.

During this time, something happened.

"Master Wizard! Admiral Neka! I beg you! Please save my brother!"

A soldier held his feet tightly and begged.

Inger examined the man and found that the external injuries were not serious. It was the improper treatment that led to infection and severe sepsis.

This was an era when no one had invented antibiotics, etc.

Inger could only say to him: "I can't help it..."

The soldier said in despair: "I only have this one brother. Our parents died early and we have been dependent on each other since we were young. He is my only family! Master Wizard! Aren't you immortal? Didn't you save the prince of Li Wei'er? Why can't you do it! You just don't want to save him! Because he is not worth saving!"

Inger froze in his place.

Cheryl rushed forward and knocked the soldier to the ground with a punch.

"fart!"

Inger stopped Cheryl.

He watched the soldier cry and die over the dying body of his brother.

He thought.

What if it had happened to Alex or Elena, any of his friends?

Will he say there's nothing he can do and let go?

No matter how nice the words are, human life is equally precious.

In fact, the weight of every life to humans is different, and each life has its own priority.

If he really wanted to save those who were dying on the battlefield, he should be able to save them.

He just doesn't want to die so many times again...

Inger was stunned and burst into tears.

Cheryl and Uri were beside him, hugging him tightly.

Cheryl trembled and said, "Ying, don't cry...it's not your fault..."

Eric, who was not far away, watched this scene and pressed the camera button, but fell into deep thought for a long time.

Huhun worked desperately with medical staff and wizards to heal the injured who could be saved.

Later he also rushed to the northern battlefield, where there were more casualties than in the southwestern battlefield.

Inger was the last to return home.

He declined the farewell and simply changed his clothes and boarded the return train like an ordinary soldier.

No one noticed that the tall, thin, dusty young man standing among the crowd getting off the train was their great wizard and commander.

He returned to the capital as quietly as he had gone to the battlefield.

Return to Neka Mansion.

At the door were his parents and brother who were waiting anxiously, his butler Jason, the flapping wings of Finne, the elderly maid Diana who was responsible for taking care of his life, the young chef Lasse who greeted him in the kitchen, the little maid Nobin who liked to play with cats, and the guard knight Funkte who he often saw at the door...

Everyone he could name was waiting for him there.

Kalena opened her arms and hugged him with red eyes, "My child, you have worked hard. Welcome home."

"Oh my God! How did you get so thin!" Lanmore exclaimed.

Peng Delijia wiped away tears repeatedly, "How could you treat people like this..."

Jason's eyes also turned red and he held his hand tightly.

"Young master, you have suffered a lot. Tell me what you want to eat and I will cook it for you in different ways every day. I guarantee that I will feed you fat!" said the chef with clenched fists.

The head maid took the cloak and said, "The spring chill hasn't passed yet. Will you freeze to death if you wear so little?!"

Finne shrank and burrowed into his arms, rolling around, unable to stop in excitement.

Inger looked at a group of people with tears in their eyes, but he couldn't help laughing.

It was a smile from the heart that he hadn't had in a long time.

He went home.

No one asked him why there were scars all over his body, how he got his eyes of different colors, or what the immortal wizard meant. No one blamed him for leaving without saying goodbye and going to the battlefield alone.

Inger lay flat at home for three days.

He hardly had to move a finger, and people around him took care of him like a baby.

He declined all official business and many visitors, but no matter how busy he was, Lanmore would always take time to come back and have a meal with him and touch his hair as if he were a child.

Inger was enjoying his rare leisure time.

During this time, he went to the palace to look for Alex.

Alex was buried in a pile of official business. When he saw him coming, he took him to his dormitory.

Ariana sat on the sofa holding Coco.

Alsophila was originally standing aside, but at Alex's signal, it went out and closed the door.

Ariana's expression has become much calmer.

She must have heard from Alex what had happened to Coco.

Inger sighed.

Alex just said calmly: "Go ahead."

Ariana told him without reservation what she knew the Queen had done and what she had done herself.

When she mentioned that it was she who informed Rudolf, which led to Inger's murder, and that the person who shot Inger in the barracks was Rudolf's undercover, Alex grabbed her neck directly.

"don't want!"

Coco jumped onto his arms and yelled.

Inger finally pulled himself out of the memories, and with cold sweat dripping down his face, he held Alex's arm and shook his head.

Ariana's face was quite calm, as if she didn't mind dying now.

Inger said to Ariana, "You stay here and take care of Coco, but don't show up in front of me."

Alex put her down and said to Coco: "She is your biological sister, but she did something that cannot be forgiven."

Facing the disappointment in Alex's eyes, Coco just kept shedding tears.

Ariana said quietly: "No matter what the punishment is, I deserve it, Coco, don't be sad."

She continued: "Anything you ask me to do, I will do it."

Inger stared at her for a while and said, "Ariana, you have been working for others all your life, for your sister, for the queen, and obeying the fourth prince. Have you ever lived for yourself?"

Arianna looked confused.

"We don't need you to do anything, except stay out of my sight and don't hurt anyone. You can go find something you want to do and live your own life."

Arianna turned pale.

Inger thought that it might be difficult to truly find oneself, but that was the pain that one had to go through to truly become an independent person.

Inger smiled and touched Coco's head. "You have to help your sister. She has a lot to teach her."

Coco held back tears and nodded repeatedly, "Thank you, Master Wizard."

Alex said angrily, "You always blame me, but you are the hopeless nice guy, right?"

Inger smiled and said, "I just did what I wanted to do. Alex, don't feel sorry for me. It's all in the past."

Alex was speechless for a while, then held his hand and said, "Ying, I want to go to your house for dinner."

"Why? Aren't His Majesty and the Princess accompanying you?"

"Sister Aola and I were talking about work while we were eating, and I couldn't even eat."

"Ha ha ha ha."

"You're still laughing! You took me to your house for dinner. I was afraid I would be beaten if I went there alone."

"So you want to sleep at my house for one night?"

"Yes. Yes."

"Bring a change of clothes."

"Yeah. OK."

Inger woke up in the middle of the night, and he felt relieved for a while by pressing his aching head and the confused memories that filled his mind.

A second before he woke up, he could still hear the unpleasant buzzing of artillery fire and enemy attack horns in his ears.

Alex held his hand, "You woke up in the middle of the night again."

Inger held his palpitations and said reluctantly, "I had a nightmare."

Alex used to do this a lot, but his childhood trips with Inger helped him change this habit.

It was post-traumatic stress disorder, he knew.

Alex comforted him, "I'm here, you can see me when you wake up, go to sleep."

Inger took a sip of water and closed his eyes again. This time he slept soundly until dawn.

As Alex said, he could see him as soon as he opened his eyes.

Alex was sitting on the bed reading a letter. Noticing that he had woken up, he turned around and said with a smile, "Did you have a good rest? How about I just sleep with you every day? I can eat and drink for free."

Inger did not refuse.

Alex comes back to stay for a while occasionally.

Although Inger's family members were not very welcoming, Alex shamelessly came to stay often, despite Inger's consent.

Inger's sleep quality has indeed improved a lot.

They can also discuss political affairs during the day.

Four months passed in such an ordinary daily life.

During this period, they received a letter from Levi's that Prince Rondeau, Gao Lingshi, Rudolf and others were all sentenced to public hanging and the execution was carried out in September.

The Duke of Amiaire was also convicted of treason.

But shockingly, his son Mo Lian asked to carry out the execution himself.

As one of the meritorious generals in the Southwest Campaign, Mo Lian could not avoid being labeled as the son of a traitor. Even if he did so, some people would think that he was killing his own relatives for fame, wealth and his own safety.

Ola did not allow this, but instead sentenced Duke Amiel to death by firing squad after a formal trial.

It is worth mentioning that on the day of Duke Amiel's execution, his wife woke up.

Inger once accepted Mo Lian's invitation and visited her.

It turned out that she had chronic toxins accumulated in her body. He used magic to detoxify her body and combined it with medication.

The medicine that Duke Amiel brought back from Levitra is really effective.

The Duchess recovered well, but she had no memory of anything when she woke up. She may have had some brain damage.

Mo Lian stayed by her mother's side and did not go to see her father for the last time. She just asked someone to tell him that she woke up.

No one knows what his end will be.

Only with his death did Mo Lian ask Aura to give him the reward of changing his surname.

Ola gave him a new title of Viscount and a new surname.

Later, through Arianna, they also learned that Duchess Amielle was given a slow-acting poison by the Queen and had been lying in bed for so long.

She wanted to use this to control Duke Amiel.

The title of Duke Amiel was stripped, and Ola established a new duke. She merged the territory of Gazi into the original southwestern territory, and Gazi became the new duke's surname.

Yunia took over the position reluctantly with a sour face.

As the adoptive mother of Chu Jun and one of the heroes of this war, the Jiazi Territory also has at least two level 8 knights stationed there, and this position is well deserved.

Ola originally wanted to reward Inger, but with his current position, he would be promoted to Duke, and Lanmore would inherit the title of Duke, so it was impossible for one house to have two dukes.

Inger wanted basically nothing.

There is no way Ola would not give it, as Alex and Inger made the greatest contribution in this war.

Alex has already been banned, and it would be inappropriate for Inger to not give him any help either.

Inger then made a suggestion.

Aura finally granted him a pardon according to his wishes. She also gave him a title of honorary earl, without fiefdom or actual power, a nominal professorship at the Royal Military Academy, and an honorary assistant professor at the Institute of Magic.

Inger, who had already achieved great honors at a young age, refused all visitors and stayed at home.

However, such mystery makes the rumors about him more and more intense.

Some people say that he is the reincarnation of an angel sent by the goddess, some people say that he is a prophet instructed by the goddess, some people say that he is the parasitic container of the soul of the immortal bird, and some people say that he is the next generation of the Pope...

The media used the news of the war to exaggerate the facts, describing the Battle of Qiu Ne as a huge victory. The people were happy to see such "facts."

The comics show wizards and knights from Quene trampling dragons and flowers under their feet.

However, in this trend, the magazine "Full Moon", which always likes to go against the mainstream media, spent a huge amount of space to introduce Inger Nieka.

Different from other texts with only words but no evidence, this article is accompanied by many on-site photos. Each carefully selected photo is a shocking work and was taken on the actual battlefield.

The author also interviewed soldiers who participated in the war and, with their consent, recorded the content and edited it into the interviews.

The author calmly and objectively describes the facts and the countless real pains on the battlefield. In this article, Inger Nieka is just like any other soldier, an ordinary person who can feel pain, illness, fatigue, anger, tears, helplessness and self-blame. She did not focus on describing his glorious glory, because that has been sung countless times. She just treated him as a human being.

The same is true of how she describes Alex.

Many people were moved to tears after reading this article. It seems that these words have a magical power that allows even people who have not personally experienced the battlefield to empathize with it.

Not many people read this issue of "Full Moon" magazine at first, but after a period of word of mouth, it was quickly sold out in less than three days.

Alex showed the magazine to Inger.

"Hmm? Irene?" Inger glanced at the content and praised it a few times: "It's really well written." But he was still a little embarrassed. "Why did you show this to me?"

Alex pointed at the text and said, "Don't you think it's strange? Even if this kind of text is well written, how many people would read it?"

People like to read articles that match their own ideas, like to read exciting articles, and like to read the glorious side of heroes' triumphs. Who wants to read about pain and sorrow? Especially those who have not experienced war in person, behind the battlefield.

Inger flipped through the publication information of the magazine and said, "I remember that when Norihua came back to report to me, she mentioned this publishing house once."

Alex: "You listened so perfunctorily that I thought you didn't remember it."

Inger flipped through the pages nonchalantly. "How could that be? I'll remember everything whether I want to or not."

Alex suddenly stopped talking.

Inger didn't notice his strangeness and touched the page, "Hmm? This..."

He frowned slightly, and the magic began to flow.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked.

Inger felt it carefully and said, "...I can sense something in this magazine."

Alex: "Is this why I feel so strange? I am not as sensitive to magic as you are, so I gave it to you."

Inger nodded and continued to explore. His hand rested on the magazine, his brow furrowed even deeper. "Not much, very little. Ordinary wizards can't detect it. At least they have to be high-level. The fluctuations are different from ordinary magic. The frequency and aura are different. They are very hidden. There are no traces of spells and they cannot be tracked. This is the first time I've seen this... No, I should have felt similar fluctuations before."

Inger thought about it and realized that his impressions of vivid visual memories and memories of smell and touch were different. He could remember the former clearly and quickly, but the latter required some time to distinguish.

Eric's face appeared before his eyes.

"…Ah, the ring." Inger blurted out.

Alex: “What?”

Inger said to him, "Eric, the one who took me in before, she was also our classmate, but now she has dropped out of school and seems to be a reporter now. I met her before, and she bought an old ring from an old lady, and the fluctuations on it are the same as this one."

Alex: "So, the author of the article is her? Irene... does she have a friend? Her name is Alin Ai."

Inger: "Yes. I remember the soldiers said a reporter came to the battlefield. Could it be her?"

The two looked at each other and then turned their gaze back to the magazine.

Christine walked on the beach, kicking the crystal sand. She looked at the endless blue sea and realized that she was dreaming again.

Ever since the Coco incident, she gave up her original attitude of letting dreams take their natural course. She used to prefer not to dream and was very resistant to predictive dreams, but since then, she has started to train herself.

Regardless of whether it is a precognitive dream or not, she tries to record the details of each dream, and through several experiments to determine whether she is dreaming, whether it is a precognitive dream, and to strengthen her self-suggestion and impression.

This was also the advice Inger gave her.

In fact, she didn't have the time to go to the beach. The ocean sunlight was not hot. The sand was so white, but the reflected sunlight was not dazzling. Everything showed that this was a dream.

However, the touch of the beach sand is so real, and the salty and moist sea breeze blows against my face.

Christine pressed the visor on his head and made a judgment.

This must be a prophetic dream.

She calmed herself down and observed her surroundings.

On both sides of the body, many familiar faces appeared within sight.

Ola, Inger, Alex...

There are also many unfamiliar faces.

The sound of waves passed by her ears.

Christine took in everything around him and turned his gaze toward the ocean.

There was not a single cloud in the sky; it was a sunny day with the sea and sky merging into one.

The white horizontal line connects the sky and the sea.

However, the line turned black the next moment.

Christine clenched her fists.

My heart was beating wildly.

Not long after, the true appearance of the black line came closer and appeared clearly before her eyes.

She felt as if an electric shock had passed through her body. Her hair stood on end and her body froze and she couldn't move.

Just like when she lost her legs, she lost all consciousness.

The sky was covered with black and the sea was flooded with black.

The blackness surged toward them. When it was so close, Christine couldn't bear the palpitations from the explosion anymore and took a deep breath.

He suddenly opened his eyes.

Christine curled up, hugging herself, her every muscle trembling.

The horrifying scene seemed to still be engraved on the bottom of the retina.

Christine adjusted his breathing, quickly got up, and drew everything he had just seen, and wrote down the time: March 1895.

Only after she finished writing did she realize what she had written. As she wiped away the fresh ink, the blush on her cheeks faded completely.