To My Beloved Oppressor

Chapter 14

After staring at the business card for a long moment, Heiner surprisingly had no particular reaction. He just put the business card in his pants pocket, not in Annette's bag.

An uncomfortable silence fell. Annette, who had been fiddling with her teacup, hesitantly opened her mouth.

"It's Ans."

Heiner's hands stopped for a moment as he was putting the belongings back into her bag. He silently looked up, closing the bag with a natural movement.

"If I follow him..."

Closing her eyes, Annette continued to speak.

"Could that be the next best thing for me? I'm not saying I'll follow him. I just wonder."

"I don't know what kind of answers you want from me."

"Is there a Restoration faction in France?"

Heiner's eyes narrowed slightly at the straightforward question.

"Heiner, you do know?"

"Did Ansgar Stetter say something like that? That there are forces for the restoration of the monarchy in France, and that you should join them?"

"No. I came up with the idea on my own. All Ansgar wanted was for me to go with him."

"Why do you ask me if you already have that idea in mind?"

"I am informing you. That I'm not hiding anything from you, and that I'm not going to follow Ansgar secretly."

Her voice was not very desperate, though she insisted on her innocence. There was no special emotion on Heiner's face as he listened.

"...well. It could happen."

He spat out tastelessly as he was thinking about something.

"Because in the past, Ansgar Stetter liked you, and now you're single. Also, if there is a monarchy restoration force in France as you think, they will treat you quite well. However, I cannot assure you of this. Your reputation is so bad within Padania that you may think you have no use."

Heiner stopped speaking for a moment and smiled without warmth.

"You said there is nowhere for you to be happy, and yet you've found a place that accepts you. It's a useless assumption anyway."

"As I said, I won't go with Ansgar. I could be wrong in my guess, just ......"

Annette continued to speak in a cautious tone.

"Just if you don't know... so I just wanted to let you know about the possible existence of retro forces within France. Of course, you might have already known....."

"You won't gain anything by telling me that."

The gray eyes, like those of a snitch, slid slowly down her body, then back up again. The ends of his hair, against the light, looked pale yellow.

Annette laughed bitterly.

"I thought you were trying to make the world a better place."

Was the world today a better world than it was before? Annette didn't feel it. Because the changed world was too harsh to her.

But the people said, "The world is much better now and will be better in the future."

Then they must be right. Because she herself was an unwise and foolish woman.

She had never made her own judgments, and even if she did now, they would be wrong.

Her words to Annelie Engels were also sincere. Annette respected the cause of people trying to change the world. Even if that cause was infinitely cruel to her.