Chapter 14

On the way to the tram stop, Sally stopped by Madame Benoît’s café.

“Wrap these two up, please.”

With a tight budget, two pieces of cake from a high-end café were out of the question. However, she wanted to indulge her sister Nancy, who worked at the inn and was also her childhood friend, in a small luxury.

She tied her bicycle to a post at the tram stop and boarded the tram heading to Winsford. Sitting by the window, she gazed outside, where the pastoral scene of sheep grazing soon turned into a vast industrial zone spewing black smoke.

This place was once an apple orchard. The landowner cut down all the apple trees over a decade ago and sold the land to an automobile parts company.

As technology advanced, those who owned the land became richer, while those who farmed it became poorer. Forced off the farms, they worked in factories for dozens of hours without seeing the sun, earning meager wages that were often spent on medicine.

The buildings in front of her gradually grew taller. The disparity between the rich and the poor, barely noticeable in the small rural village, became more pronounced as she approached the big city.

Sally got off the tram when she saw the grand opera house. Pushing through the bustling crowd, she soon came across a large department store.

A young woman, wearing a luxurious mink fur despite the mild weather, was walking with a boy of about ten years old toward a taxi waiting by the roadside. The boy was holding a train set that had recently become famous after the youngest prince received it as a gift from a foreign royal family.

A boy of the same age, with coal soot on his face and a cardboard sign around his neck that read "Looking for work," was staring at the train set with unfocused eyes.

Sally took a few banknotes from the money she intended to send as a military fund and offered them to the boy. The boy, wide-eyed, hesitated to take the money.

“…What do you want me to do?”

He thought she was offering a large sum of money without negotiation, implying some dangerous task.

“Just take it.”

The boy, like a frightened puppy, slowly extended his hand, which was black under the fingernails, blinking nervously. The kindness without expectation was more frightening to him.

Swish. The money was snatched from Sally’s hand. The boy, clutching the money, ran away without a word of thanks, fearing the strange woman might change her mind and demand the money back or accuse him of theft.

Distrust was not just in the boy’s heart.

Sally also needed to leave quickly. If the boy had ill intentions and brought some rough men to rob her, she would be in trouble, especially since she didn’t have a gun.

She decided to use the department store as a detour. The department store, decorated for Easter, was as charming and splendid as a fairy tale world.

‘I need to buy some stockings…’

The stockings that Winston had torn the day before were now unusable. She approached the display of stockings. A clerk, who was doing some calculations, glanced at her with her long-lined eyes and then looked back at her ledger.

The clerk’s judgment was correct. The high-end stockings in the department store were not for Sally.

Pretending to be unimpressed with the stockings she had picked up, Sally naturally put them back and turned to leave. She should check if the Hailwood general store had any discounted rayon stockings on her way back to the mansion.

As soon as she turned the corner, she suddenly stopped. Her plain reflection in the glass caught her attention.

A worn gray cardigan, a white blouse with a round collar and no embroidery, a navy pleated skirt that reached her knees, and an old brown leather bag.

Standing next to a mannequin in a dress that cost ten times her weekly salary, she looked not just plain but shabby.

“Don’t grow up to be pretty. Don’t dress up. Don’t draw attention.”

Sally’s mother’s voice echoed softly in her mind as she inadvertently imagined herself in the fancy dress.

‘I’m not like my mother, who could make every man on the street turn and look at her.’

Her mother was often away on missions, so Sally was raised by the revolutionary community. When her mother occasionally returned home, Sally would pretend to be asleep in her bed. Her mother always acted stiffly in front of others, including when Sally was awake.

When Sally was asleep, her mother would sit on the bed and stroke her hair, a tender touch she rarely showed.

“Don’t grow up to be pretty. Don’t dress up. Don’t draw attention.”

Her mother would repeat these words like a mantra. Sally wondered if they were just meaningless ramblings when drunk, but her mother would even throw away cosmetics or pretty accessories given to Sally.

When her father bought Sally a red lipstick for her fifteenth birthday, her mother was so angry that she threw a wine glass at him.

As a child, Sally felt hurt. Her mother’s vanity drawer was filled with colorful cosmetics, and her wardrobe was full of expensive dresses and shoes, the source of which was unknown.

‘Why did she treat me differently?’

She wanted to ask, but her mother was no longer in this world. Regardless of the reason, her mother was an excellent revolutionary.

‘You are also an excellent revolutionary.’

Sally gazed at her reflection in the glass and smiled faintly. She smoothed her slightly tousled hair, which was messed up from riding the bicycle, and repeated to herself:

This is the path I have chosen.

***

The sedan, having left the Western Command in Winsford and heading toward Geffen, was filled with a heavy silence. It was broken by a low, amused voice.

“We’ll be left with just bones.”

Leon turned his gaze from the window to his superior, Major Humphrey.

There was no need to ask who he was referring to. In Leon’s mind, the Western Commander was already at the scene of the Geffen attack, shouting at the top of his lungs with a gaunt face.

“Moderate weight loss is good for health.”

“Only if you live long enough.”

The commander’s future was already on a cliff with the discovery that his driver and bodyguard were rebel spies.

Worse, one of the spies was lost during a rebel attack while being transported to a detention center, and the escort unit suffered casualties. If the commander was summoned to the capital, the punishment would be doubled.

The commander had lost all his dignity and decorum as a soldier, leaving only greed. Leon, who had always found him repulsive, now felt a degree of pity.

“Harris will have a good show too.”

The major laughed, mentioning the commander of the escort unit. The Intelligence Bureau, which the major headed, had no responsibility in this matter, so he could laugh about it as if it were someone else’s problem.

But could it really be someone else’s problem?

Leon cast a sharp glance at the back of Lieutenant Campbell’s head in the passenger seat.

How did they know the destination was Geffen?

The rebels didn’t just rush reinforcements to follow the escort vehicle. They waited in the outskirts of Geffen and then attacked. The attack was organized and meticulous, which meant they knew in advance when the escort would take place.

The information had leaked.

This might not be the first time. A few months ago, a double agent they had released was eliminated in just two days. His suspicions were turning into certainty.

Of course, the information could have leaked from the escort unit or another department in the command.

‘But what if it didn’t?’

If someone under Leon’s command had leaked the information, his future would also be on a cliff.

‘It can’t be.’

He wasn’t naive enough to hope it wasn’t true. He needed to find out before his superiors did. That meant he had to find out if one of his subordinates had leaked the information and bury the body somewhere.

‘Campbell?’

Leon’s gaze softened as he looked at the back of Campbell’s head.

He wouldn’t do it.

The Campbell family had been vassals of the Winston family for hundreds of years. Now, with the vassal system gone, they were running a military supply business with the help of the Winston family. So, Lieutenant Campbell was a dog sent by the Campbell family for Leon to use as he pleased.

‘I need to give an order.’

He planned to give a subtle order after they arrived in Geffen and the major left. He would instruct his subordinates to thoroughly investigate the recent activities of the domestic intelligence unit and the soldiers stationed at the Winston estate.

‘And…’

Leon’s pupils dilated as he turned his head absentmindedly to the window.

‘Why is that woman there…’