Chapter 59
When Jiang Yun walked into the courtroom, everyone except the presiding judge Rachel had already taken their seats.
The space was clearly divided by the cold steps. At a glance, only the two seats at the top were empty.
The defendant's seat is isolated at the bottom. Compared with the solemnity and grandeur of the trial platform, it is just a simple and small wooden chair.
As if anyone could easily look down upon it.
The overexposed light fell on the wooden chair, and the old cracks were clearly visible, each one looking like the most desperate struggle.
And now, Jiang Yun's husband is sitting on this wooden chair.
Like everyone else, Lu Huai stood up the moment Jiang Yun appeared.
Among all the senior military and political officials over the age of 40, Lu Huai is undoubtedly the youngest.
He didn't look like someone from the same era as the senior officials.
But if we go back seventeen years, none of the people present had a higher rank than the colonel who was only twenty-four years old at the time.
But seventeen years later, some people felt they were qualified to "judge" the colonel, who was still only twenty-four years old.
Perhaps Lu Huai also felt that this trial would come sooner or later, so he took the initiative to request it to be brought forward so that he could better control the situation.
In such an occasion, Jiang Yun did not give her husband too much glances, and walked towards the pyramid-like empty seats without looking around.
After Jiang Yun sat down, the others sat down.
Agatha sat in the middle of the courtroom, her eyes sliding over the high-ranking officials above her one by one.
Miyazawa, Marcus, and several major generals in the military...
Behind her sat some colonels and lieutenant colonels like Morris and Balke.
Among the high-ranking military and political officials in the court, nearly half of the Alphas had more or less thoughts about Jiang Yun.
Rachel's entrance interrupted Agatha's thoughts. Everyone stood up again.
The gavel fell heavily, and the trial officially began.
"Colonel Lu Huai," Rachel's sharp eyes focused on Lu Huai through the semicircular lenses, "On January 13, 327-NE of the Alliance Standard Calendar, you piloted the battleship Doomsday and engaged in a large-scale battle with interstellar aliens. In that battle, you were tasked with two missions. Do you still remember the specific content of those two missions?"
"Remember." Lu Huai's answer was calm and clear. "First, ensure that the alien army cannot enter the alliance's safe star field. Second, obtain the [Sleeping Queen]."
Rachel asked, "Obtain the [Sleeping Queen], and then what?"
Lu Huai said: "Return to the Terminus."
Rachel narrowed her eyes. "That's all?"
Lu Huai nodded: "That's all."
Rachel: "Very good. For my next question, you only need to answer [yes] or [no], [can] or [can't]."
Lu Huai: "Okay."
Rachel: "At that time, on the Terminus, including you as the commander-in-chief, there were a total of seventeen officers, including the current Lieutenant General Oswald, right?"
Lu Huai: "Yes."
Osvid, who was sitting next to Jiang Yun, moved his throat and his facial muscles tightened silently.
He couldn't help but glance at Jiang Yun, with a hint of worry in his eyes.
Over the years, he never mentioned the details of Colonel Lu's death to Foreign Minister Jiang, and Foreign Minister Jiang never asked him about it.
If Colonel Lu did not tell Foreign Minister Jiang about this matter after returning, this might be the first time Foreign Minister Jiang heard the following content.
Rachel: "Before you [died in the line of duty], you transferred all sixteen officers from the Terminus, correct?"
Lu Huai: "Yes."
Rachel: "Did you move them to a safer area because you judged that the Apocalypse was about to disintegrate?"
Lu Huai: "Yes."
Rachel: "Do you know that although the Alliance's order is to bring the [Sleeping Queen] back to the Eternal, the ultimate goal is to hope that you can bring the [Sleeping Queen] back to the Alliance?"
Lu Huai: "Yes."
Rachel: "You had the opportunity to hand the [Sleeping Queen] over to Oswald and his men, and have them bring her safely back to the Alliance, but you insisted on keeping the [Sleeping Queen] with you on the Apocalypse, didn't you?"
Lu Huai: "Yes."
The word "yes" was like a stone thrown into the middle of a lake, causing the silent audience to become agitated instantly.
There was indignation, amazement, and even a sneer that prevailed.
Even though they knew in their hearts that Lu Huai did this because he wanted to make the End the only bait to lure away the alien army.
Only when the Alien [Queen] is on the Apocalypse will the Alien army give up on breaking through the Alliance's defenses and continue to pursue the Apocalypse at all costs.
The Final was destined to disintegrate, and Lu Huai could not and would not allow the other sixteen officers to die with him.
However, Rachel's evasive questioning made things develop in a direction that was extremely unfavorable to Lu Huai.
If Jiang Yun hadn't held his shoulders, Osvid would have wanted to stand up and argue with Rachel, even though he was not good at speaking.
Rachel: "One last question: Can you guarantee that everything you reported, whether it was seventeen years ago or now, is true?"
Lu Huai: "No."
Jiang Yun seemed to have thought of something, his pupils suddenly constricted, and his heart began to beat uncontrollably.
The whole audience was in an uproar.
"Quiet!" Rachel banged the gavel, forcing silence back into the courtroom. "Colonel Lu Huai, is there anything you said that is untrue?"
Lu Huai's answer was as concise and clear as ever, and both his wording and tone maintained the crispness and clarity that a colonel should have in a military court.
He replied with only two words: "[Last words]."
Jiang Yun slowly lowered his eyes and quietly felt his own heartbeat.
His heart was beating very fast again because of Lu Huai.
Just a few meters away from Jiang Yun, after the handkerchief was handed over from the spaceship, Marcus and Miyazawa simultaneously remembered the invitation text message they sent to Jiang Yun after Colonel Lu's [last words] spread throughout the military and political system.
In an instant, the faces of those high-ranking military and political officials who had mistakenly believed that an opportunity had come because of Lu Huai's [last words] became more and more exciting.
Among these Alphas, there are many who still firmly believe that Jiang Yun and Lu Huai are just a political marriage.
Unfortunately, their belief only goes so far.
Agatha laughed out loud: "You kid..." Perhaps the entire trial was just waiting to answer Rachel's last two questions.
Lu Huai stirred up the storm with the word "last words", and then used the two words "last words" to make the storm shrink back into the deep sea in inferiority.
There was not a single personal word in his answer.
He wouldn't even repeat his [last words].
Because he knew that every Alpha in the Tribunal had memorized that sentence by heart.
Seventeen years ago, Lu Huai left a message for his newlywed wife at the end of his report.
Seventeen years later, Lu Huai told everyone in the most unromantic, yet most thrilling way—
That sentence was the only lie he told before he died, in extreme reluctance and helplessness.
…
The first confrontation in the name of trial ended. On the surface, Lu Huai and the Presidential Office could be said to have gained something.
The Presidential Office thought it had discovered Lu Huai's weakness seventeen years ago and found a legitimate reason not to promote Lu Huai's military rank.
But everyone can see that as long as Osvid is in the lead, the sixteen senior officers saved by Lu Huai will still regard Lu Huai as their superior; as long as Lu Huai is still the legal husband of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, military rank will no longer have any practical significance to Lu Huai's status.
After the trial, except for Osvid, Gu Xingzhou and others, the Alphas walked away quickly, as if they were afraid that Lu Huai would say something to them one-on-one.
Lu Huai found Jiang Yun who had left early in the parking lot.
Jiang Yun sat in the passenger seat and looked at Lu Huai through the car window for a long time before saying, "Get in the car and go home."
Lu Huai consciously acted as Jiang Yun's driver. He first glanced at Jiang Yun's watch. Jiang Yun's hormone level was still a little short of the critical value.
Lu Huai breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Is there anything that makes you feel uncomfortable?"
Jiang Yun glanced at Lu Huai and said calmly, "Don't you want to chat?"
Lu Huai smiled and said, "Okay."
Jiang Yun said, "Is it worth it to temporarily be a colonel just to explain [the last words]?"
Lu Huai looked indifferent: "Haven't you already analyzed it for me? Even if I'm found not guilty, the Presidential Office will not let me get promoted."
Jiang Yun was silent for a moment, then said, "You never mentioned [the last words], so I thought you had forgotten them."
Lu Huai sighed: "What are you thinking about? How could I possibly forget something like that?"
Jiang Yun asked: "Since you haven't forgotten, why don't you mention this to me?"
Lu Huai said helplessly, "Didn't you tell me not to mention our seventeen years before? Moreover, after knowing that you had done something stupid because of my death, how could I mention my last moments before you let it go? I... I don't dare."
Jiang Yun looked uncomfortable. "That's not a stupid thing. The day I heard the news of your death, I just stood by the swimming pool for a little too long. I hadn't even decided whether to jump in before I passed out."
After realizing what he had said, Jiang Yun was stunned.
He said it? He actually just casually told me what happened that night.
He also thought that he would never talk about January 13th seventeen years ago with anyone again in his life.
His heart didn't even ripple much because of this.
When did his memories become less unbearable?
"Yes, yes, our Foreign Minister Jiang would never do anything irrational." Lu Huai gripped the steering wheel with one hand and stroked Jiang Yun's hair with the other. "But even putting these two factors aside, I don't want to explain my [last words] to just you."
Jiang Yun came back to his senses from his surprise: "Huh? Why?"
"Because my [last words] were spoken in public, if I can't explain it in public, then I'm really incompetent."
Lu Huai spoke, his tone filled with the arrogance of a favored son of heaven: "I can't accept myself like that, and I can't accept that after I came back, there are still people who use my [last words] to question my feelings for you. But it's impossible for me to find everyone who knows my [last words] and explain it to them one by one..."
Jiang Yun said expressionlessly: "You can issue a statement and tell everyone directly that you love Jiang Yun."
"But that's not cool at all." Lu Huai said without thinking, "My wife likes handsome Alphas, so I have to look cool in front of him."
"..." Jiang Yun had to admit that Lu Huai had a firm grasp of his sexual quirks.
If Lu Huai had retracted his last words by issuing a statement as he said, he would definitely be moved, but he might not have been as... moved as he was in the courtroom.
Jiang Yun shook his head and smiled: "Colonel Lu really has his own style."
"But even so, every time I said 'I love you' after I came back, I was explaining it to you alone, baby." Lu Huai smiled, and his tone, which had been full of arrogance just now, suddenly became a little unstable. "I think, even if I don't explain, you will definitely understand. Otherwise, why didn't you take the initiative to ask me about the 'last words'?"
"Because I understand. How could I not understand?" Jiang Yun said softly, "In the two months since we got married, you told me you loved me thousands of times. I wasn't stupid enough to believe the only time you told me you didn't love me, as you left it in your last words."
Lu Huai looked at Jiang Yun and asked nervously: "But you are still angry because of that sentence, right?"
Jiang Yun nodded and said with a smile: "When I think of your last wish before you died, which was for me to forget you and start a new life, I just..." Jiang Yun took a deep breath and sneered: "I don't want to kiss you again."
Jiang Yun thought his threat was insignificant and harmless, but Lu Huai's face froze in fear.
The blood color faded from Lu Huai's face like a tide, like a seriously injured beast. Usually he was relaxed and casual, but now he was so tense and uneasy, as if his heart was collapsing.
Jiang Yun suspected that even if Lu Huai was facing the enemy's gun, he would not be so nervous.
Jiang Yun thought he had said something too much and couldn't help but said, "I was just saying it casually, you..."
"Jiang Yun," Lu Huai's voice remained short and powerful despite his efforts to control it, without any hesitation, but his breath trembled uncontrollably from the first word. "From the moment I first met you, every day, every minute, every second for seventeen years, I have never stopped loving you."
The trembling deep in Jiang Yun's pupils and his heart suddenly became hot.
"So, please, don't be angry with me because of that lie." Lu Huai's voice became lower and lower, and the last sentence seemed to be spoken only to himself. "When you get angry, I really... really get scared."
Jiang Yun was silent for a long time, then changed the subject: "Turn on the automatic driving."
Lu Huai was startled: "Huh?"
Lu Huai did as he was told, not knowing why.
As soon as he turned on the automatic driving, Jiang Yun grabbed his collar and pulled his upper body towards the passenger seat.
Lu Huai instinctively lowered his head.
Jiang Yun closed her eyes and, after seventeen years, she once again took the initiative to kiss her husband's lips.
The hormone curve suddenly climbed to its peak, and with the permission of the owner's own will, it broke through the threshold without hesitation.
——Jiang Yun’s mating season has arrived.
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