My Beloved Oppressor - Chapter 110
After the Continental War, the international order underwent a major wave of change.
A peace conference was held in Lancaster, the capital of Padania, to resolve the postwar problems. The main purpose of the peace conference was to announce the beginning of a full-scale peace exchange.
However, the foreign ministries of the victorious countries participating in the conference devoted all their energies to territorial cessions, reparations issues, and other conflicts of interest.
In response, Heiner Valdemar, Commander-in-Chief of the Padania Military Department, submitted a peace petition to the Consolidation Conference. The petition urged efforts to prevent the recurrence of such a war and to achieve the main objective of world peace. The petition was published in national and international newspapers and gained the support of people all over the world.
Meanwhile, the discussions on a plan for cooperation between the negotiating countries led by Heiner Valdemar came to a successful conclusion. The League of Nations was founded and Padania language was recognized as an official language at this meeting.
Despite the chaos, times passed.
Military trials for war criminals still continued. The French soldiers involved in the Huntingham massacre were all sentenced to life in prison for mass murder.
They were transferred to a prison camp on the island, where they had to labor for the rest of their lives. They were not eligible for parole or special pardons. The citizens demanded the death penalty as this was not enough.
The anger was not limited to soldiers who had directly participated in the fighting. After the revolution, the forces of the restoration of the Padania monarchy, which had been exiled to France and installed in enemy territory, also collapsed completely.
The retro forces, including the Ansgar Stetter, were called national traitors and were greatly criticized. Strictly speaking, since they were exiles, their actions were not acts of treason, and therefore they were not legally punished.
However, they had completely fallen socially to the extent that recovery was impossible. Comparing only the current atmosphere, it was comparable to the hostility directed at Annette Valdemar right after the revolution.
Ansgar Stetter retired to the small provincial town of France with a small fortune. If only he differed from Annette in one respect, he did not have the shelter of the Commander-in-Chief’s official residence.
Harassed by the press, Ansgar Stetter eventually moved again. And when people’s attention waned, he ended his life by shooting himself.
Everything was gone. He had nothing to live for. All that was left was to make way for the future.
***
“Ansgar Stetter.”
Annette straightened the business card, which was crumpled at the edges. In one corner of the card was his contact information and the address of his hotel.
It was the business card she had received when she met Ansgar at the official residence. Heiner had taken it with him and returned it to her when she left the residence after the divorce.
She had simply accepted the business card, kept it, and never contacted Ansgar again. With downcast eyes, Annette peered at the name on the business card.
She thought he would live a rich life somewhere else. They would leave the past in their memories and go their separate ways.
If she had known it was going that way, he would have contacted him as a friend at least once.
She should have asked him once if he was safe.
[………… Annette?]
She heard a worried voice over the receiver. Annette finally came to her senses and answered, placing the business card on the table.
“Ah, yes. I’m listening.”
[His estate will be returned to the former retro faction, I was told. Also, Ansgar Stetter left you a letter. I was asked to convey it to you…”
“A letter for me from Ansgar?”
[Yes. I’ll read it as it is.]
His distinctive low, insensitive voice continued quietly through the telephone line.
[Dear my old friend Annette. I write now in the hope that the person who delivers these words is not your only salvation. I’m sorry. For many things. But I was not lying when I said I wanted you to be happier.]
“Take my hand, Annette.” (Ansgar in the past)
[Did my missteps still remain in the past? Ours was a time of chaos and upheaval, so my descendants will judge if my life was ultimately a mistake].
“You will be happier.” (Ansgar in the past)
[Annette, you’ve come a long way. I hope that the world you will see in the end is beautiful…..Ansgar Stetter.]
The dry but neat voice ended.
Annette remained motionless for a moment, holding the phone.
Her close friend’s suggestion to go with him to France seemed so old. Annette looked out the window quietly, chewing on Heiner’s voice that lingered in her ears like a lingering aftertaste.
She still wasn’t sure if the world she would see at the end would be as beautiful as Ansgar had hoped. Perhaps she would never see it in her lifetime.
Whether that world would be beautiful or better than before would be for their descendants to judge, as he had said.
[—What are you thinking?]
Heiner asked cautiously, perhaps the long silence made him feel nervous. To which Annette lightly joked.
“Nothing.”
[Lie.]
“Yes, it is a lie.”
[Why don’t you admit it right now?]
“Should I have gone to Ansgar’s funeral?”
At the sudden question, a short silence crossed the phone line. Eventually, Heiner responded calmly.
“No need to give the reporters extra fodder.”
“…… yeah?”
Annette smiled bitterly. It wasn’t comforting, but it was a practical answer. She changed the subject in the heavy atmosphere.
“By the way, what is Joseph doing?”
[He should be in his room.]
“Put the child on for me.”
[No, I can’t. He’s doing his homework.]
“Homework? What homework?”
[The teacher told him to write some sort of analysis of his favorite book.]
“Why analysis…?”
What’s the point of analyzing something when you can just read it for fun? Annette, worried that the child would be needlessly stressed by the study, said with concern.
“Go and help him with his homework. Tell him to ask if he has any difficulties, and check his grammar.”
[Homework is to be done alone.]
“Don’t you remember my language homework, which you did for me?”
Heiner used to help Annette with her foreign language homework from time to time during their dating days. Sometimes it was at the level of dedication to the sun, rather than help.
While Heiner, who had nothing more to say, kept his mouth shut, Annette urged him again.
“Go quickly.”
[………… okay…]
“…”
[…]
“You’re not going?”
[…I’m going.]
“But why don’t you hang up?”
[You are not hanging up either.]
“You hang up first.”
[No.]
“…”
[I miss you.]
Annette blinked quickly at the sudden outburst of confession and burst into low laughter. She said with a laugh.
“Heiner, spring is coming. What do you mean?”
[My scarf is coming.]
“By the way, do you have time to come to Santa Molly?”
[Even if I can’t go, I have to go.]
“What are you talking about? If you don’t have time, don’t come.”
[But the scarf…………]
“Why do you insist on coming when you should be in the capital? Look at your schedule and come if you have time, okay? Or I will kick you out. Then hurry up and check Joseph’s homework.”
Annette, who had said everything before he had time to say anything, added briefly.
“I miss you too….”
Then she immediately hung up after that. After hanging up, Annette touched her cheek, feeling somewhat embarrassed. Her face was slightly flushed.
She took a sip of coffee and then went out the front door. Opening the door, she saw a gate surrounded by white hedges.
Heiner had sent someone to build it. Annette took out the newspaper and letters from the mailbox and went back inside the house. She sat at the dining table and read the newspaper while drinking the rest of her coffee.
On the front page of the newspaper was an article on the progress of the peace agreement and the official recognition of Padania language as an official language.
She read the article carefully, then turned to the next page. Annette’s eyes, which had been looking at the second page in its entirety, were fixed on the right. It was because she spotted Heiner’s name in the title of the article.
Annette checked the title and lifted her coffee cup. And at that moment, the hand holding the glass stopped.
Her eyes widened as she checked the title again. The misplaced coffee cup hit the coaster and made a loud clunk.
A large splash of coffee spilled onto the table. Annette grabbed the newspaper with both hands and began to read the article.
The newspaper crumpled in her straining hands. When she had read the last word, she raised her head absentmindedly and looked at the title again.
{Commander-in-Chief Valdemar was spotted at Hearing Rehabilitation Center.}
***
Heiner knocked twice on the child’s room door, waited a moment, and then opened the door.
Joseph, who was slumped over on the bed doing his homework, looked up. Heiner said as he sat down on the edge of the bed.
“You have to sit up to do homework.”
Joseph shook his head. He didn’t know what the problem was.
Heiner tilted his neck to check Joseph’s homework. There was something written in large letters all over the notebook.
“What was the homework, exactly?”
Joseph held the notebook out to him. Heiner read it over.
- Who is the main character?
William.
- What does the flower of happiness mean?
Happiness.
- What hardships did the protagonist go through to find the flower?
Climbing a mountain, swimming in a river, being cold, being hot—.
Some of the answers were strange, but Heiner didn’t bother to point it out and passed on. Except for the last question, all the others were answered. He read the tenth question.
- Why did the protagonist return home without taking the flower of happiness?
***
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