Chapter 223: Gate of the Moon World
"Nunnally, I'm going back to Japan."
In the study, an uncomfortable silence began to brew between the siblings. Lelouch said "I'm going back" rather than "I want to go back", which indicated that he was not asking for his sister's opinion, but was communicating a decision.
After a long time, Nunnally asked with a hint of indifference, "Reason, I need a reason."
"A school reunion, Shirley organized." Lelouch showed a rare gentle smile, "Nunnally, you are now the Queen after all, it is not convenient to attend such an occasion, but I don't care. In fact, I also mentioned holding a party in Britannia, but Shirley said that she wants to go back to the school with everyone."
"Shirley, heh, I was about to forget her." Nunnally sneered out, "Brother, you have brainwashed all your 'friends', even so, do you have to shamelessly disguise yourself as an ordinary student and go back to your 'normal life'?"
When the siblings were still in Japan, Lelouch brainwashed all his friends.
Yet two years later, Lelouch was still haunted by what he did to his friends. In retrospect, his self-proclaimed ruthlessness was like playing house in front of Nunnally's true ruthlessness.
"Yes, even so, I have to shamelessly disguise myself as an ordinary student and go back to my 'normal life'." Even though he couldn't see anymore now, Lelouch could still imagine his sister's sneer, "As the emperor of Britannia, you have the right to stop me. "
"In other words, as a sister, I don't." Nunnally smiled to herself, "Brother, don't you love me anymore?"
"What a silly question, of course I love you, I love you more than anyone, more than myself." Lelouch paused, "You are my most important sister, and I want you to be happy more than anyone else."
"Then you should know—"
"I only recently heard from the maids that you were sick a while ago, but no one was allowed to visit you." Nunnally's body suddenly became stiff, "Mr. Iron Mask said you went out for a while before, only to be returned hours later by a Lunar MS, and came back weak as hell."
"Iron Mask …!" Nunnally gritted her teeth and broke the pen in her hand, "I think he's tired of living!"
"It has nothing to do with Mr. Iron Mask, but I sensed that something was wrong, and he was forced to tell me." Lelouch hurriedly explained, "Nunnally, I am very worried about you, can you tell me the details? Also, I don't want to hear lies from my favorite person, so if you can't tell me, say no."
"… no."
"Sure enough, it's just like I predicted." Lelouch raised the corners of his mouth in relief, "I was living in a dream that I was smarter than all of them, that my sister needed my protection, and so on. Until I lost my eyes, I realized that everything was just self-deception. I don't want you to make the same mistakes that I did, living in a false dream that you have carefully constructed for yourself. As the person who loves you most, I want you to be happy."
"It's not like that, brother, you don't know anything, don't comment on it!" Nunnally slammed the table and stood up, "My happiness is … is … after I finish my great work of revenge … After that… you can … can … can …"
Lelouch sighed and summoned the maid to help him leave. Nunnally seemed to be drained of all her strength and collapsed helplessly in her chair.
After a while, the skinny girl pulled out the necklace hanging around her neck and stared at the blood-colored crystal in silence. This thing was handed over to her by Alice after she woke up that day.
"The SuperSolenoid of the Sixteenth Angel ALMISAEL…" She sighed quietly, "Don't give me the right to choose, ah, too cunning…"
A rhythmic knock on the door jolted Nunnally out of her contemplation, and she hastily sat up straight and assumed a majestic appearance. After receiving her permission, Marina, dressed as a maid, tiptoed into the study, "Your Majesty, Mr. Iron Mask requests an audience."
"He has the nerve to see me?!" Nunnally was so angry that her wrist trembled slightly, "Let him come here!"
Shortly after, the maid brought Iron Mask and bowed to leave. The latter saluted daintily, looking as spirited and graceful as ever, with no self-consciousness of being a prisoner.
"You think you can do whatever you want after you've achieved the great feat of finding EVA?" Nunnally's overwhelming cold malice spread across Iron Mask's senses, "Some things are not for you to touch, do you really think I dare not kill you?"
"Is Your Majesty talking about His Highness Lelouch? I admit that I took advantage of his love for his sister and revealed part of the truth to him." Iron Mask grinned confidently, "But I was merely trying to prove a point of mine - that those caught in the black hole will become twisted and unaware until they meet their destruction in the twist. You can certainly kill me, Your Majesty, as a way to prove the validity of my point."
Nunnally subconsciously tried to retort, but somehow she was unable to respond to Iron Mask's topic. For the first time since she had taken Iron Mask in, she was now given the upper hand in words.
"Put away your wild talk, it doesn't mean anything to me. If you dare do it again, I won't be so kind the next time." Nunnally changed the subject in a stern manner, "I recently learned an interesting thing, Bright Noa has a secret mistress and even has a son with that mistress. How can we use this?"
"That honest Bright would do such a thing?" Iron Mask was dumbfounded, "Dare I ask the identity of that mistress?"
"Noa protected her well, the intelligence department only inquired about the woman's last name, I remember it was called …" Nunnally finally found the old feeling of being in control, a teasing smile appeared on her face, "Miguel."
Iron Mask stood still for a moment, then suddenly knelt down on one knee, "I would like to serve Your Majesty."
"Don't worry, Britannia will have plenty of use for your talents in the future." Nunnally, with one hand on her chin and slightly narrowed eyes, "Tell me, what do you want from me?"
"A Federation Senator named Korozo Ronah contacted me through various means and showed great goodwill to me, hoping a deepen cooperation with Britannia in private." Iron Mask looked at the ground with fear and trepidation, "After my investigation, this person was once a member of the recalcitrant faction, then became the sole survivor of the Kilimanjaro tragedy. He is quite ambitious and capable."
"Let's try to make contact first and see how good he is." Nunnally's eyes looked cold, "Mr. Lingus is doing very important things, we must not let these curmudgeons mess up his things."
"As Your Majesty said, next week is the opening ceremony of the planetary transformation project." A sarcastic smile appeared under the mask, "By the way, Your Majesty, Queen Diana has invited dignitaries to the ceremony, and the Moon wants us to provide a list of the delegation so that they can prepare beforehand. The Chancellor asked me to ask Your Majesty's opinion."
"Let Schneizel make his own arrangements," Nunnally thought for a while, "Don't arrange too many people."
"Yes, I will convey your words." Iron Mask said, "Are you going, Your Majesty?"
"… No." Nunnally subconsciously covered the pendant, "I, no, I won't go."
"Then I'll go and report back to the Chancellor." Iron Mask got up to leave after receiving the order, and was almost at the door when he suddenly stopped, "Your Majesty, please allow me to sincerely praise you, your level of self-deception is breathtaking, just like that of Lingus."
…
On the opening day of the project, the moon was filled with dignitaries from all three countries.
In the propaganda for the general public, the satellite will be transformed into an armed fortress, as the last line of defense for humanity against aliens.
It is now the spring of U.C. 0089, and the operation is expected to be completed in U.C. 0096. During these years, the world will work together for the sake of the human race under the coordination of the chief architect Adrien Lingus.
In order to ensure that the project could be carried out safely and smoothly, Ade and Bright privately worked together to set up a new temporary independent force. Anaheim took out the new MS for its deployment, and all countries also sent their elites to join it. The unit was commanded by General Ghingham, with Lieutenant Colonel Amuro Ray as his second-in-command.
The ceremony had only just begun when Queen Diana, Prime Minister Marcenas, and Speaker Karn took the stage in turn to deliver their speeches. Backstage, Ade was chatting with Amuro and Ghingham, who would go on stage later.
Ade hadn't seen the list of people from each country beforehand, but he was pretty sure at the moment that Britannia didn't send any NT here. Since being reborn, Ade has not said a word to her, and he can't even figure out whether his current birth mother is considered Marianne or Nunnally, so Her Majesty's absence has relieved him … probably?
"It's true that warriors should die on the battlefield." Ghingham gripped the hilt of the katana hanging from his waist and lamented in a deep voice, "I wish there were terrorists every day to wreak havoc and let me kill them."
"You're old but still strong, General." Amuro looked at Ade's dumbfounded look, and felt a little strange, but in front of Ghingham, he didn't ask, "I hope that when the time comes, I will not hold you back."
"Don't be polite, you're good too." Ghingham patted Amuro's back hard, "Bright is too petty to only give you a promotion to lieutenant colonel, if you ask me, I would promote you to be a colonel."
"It's not up to him alone, the troops… well …" Amuro gave Ade a worried look, "We might have to be stationed in the universe for a long time again, Adrien, what do you think? "
"Huh? Oh, it must be the rotation, do I look like a black-hearted farmer to you?" Ade put on an exaggerated look to cover up, "I can't afford to have my sister-in-law kill me at the door."
Amuro was in a coma for a long time after entering the Twelfth Angel Leliel's field, and when he woke up, Beltorchika Irma forced him to marry her. Obviously, he didn't have the qualifications and courage to refuse.
"Still in the mood to make jokes about me? Adrien, you're the one who should be figuring out how to allocate your time." Amuro laughed wistfully, "I can't beat Villkiss if Ange comes to the engineering site and demands someone, so you're on your own."
"That, sorry to interrupt, may I ask if Dr. Lingus is here?" The three looked up, only to see a beautiful woman with a double ponytail appear in sight.
"At least don't die before the end of the project, ah, there are still eight years left, persistence is victory." Amuro held Ade's shoulders in a somber mood, "General, let's go."
Ghingham grinned gloatingly and followed Amuro away.
"That, Miss Wang? Can I help you?" Ade reflexively looked left and right.
"Okay, don't look, your fierce-eyed blonde bodyguard is guarding outside, I came in the other way." Wang Liu Mei put her hands behind her back, "I never dreamed that all three of my wishes would come true, so I wanted to come and say thanks to you in person."
"So that's how it is." Hearing that Ange was not around, Ade suddenly relaxed, and then said, "Technically speaking, I only fulfilled your last wish, the first two were completed on your own. You should not be too presumptuous."
"Forget it, and am I that stupid in your eyes?" Wang Liu Mei came close to his ear, "You will often stay in the satellite from now on and can't go home, do you have interest in developing a long-term slam piece? Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to get involved in that mess with your family, it will just be a purely physical relationship."
"Ade," Before he had time to answer, a cold, bone-chilling voice rang out behind him, "Can you introduce me to this one?"
"Your Highness Loran!" Ade panicked and stumbled backward before keeping his balance, "Ahem, Your Highness, this is Miss Wang Liu Mei, the head of the Wang family. The Wang family is one of the largest contributors to this project, and Miss Wang herself has had several personal collaborations with me before. She is a very trustworthy—"
"Oh, 'personal' collaborations." Loran interrupted him with a dimpled smile, "Do you mind telling me what kind of personal collaborations they are?"
Wang Liu Mei quickly spat out her tongue, said, "We'll talk next time" in Ade's ear, then turned around and ran away.
"It's not what you think!" Ade was instantly covered in sweat, "Listen to my explanation!"
"Why should I listen to your explanation? It's not like we have anything to do with each other." The smile dissipated in a flash, and Loran's face became expressionless, "Diana wants to see you, come to my house this weekend."
Ade went from sweating profusely to sweating like rain, "Well, can you let me know what Her Majesty wants from me?"
"Don't you know what you have done in your heart? Go and explain to her yourself." Loran looked at Ade's pitiful look and couldn't help but feel soft-hearted, "Okay, okay, we'll work together to find a way. It's your turn to go on stage, hurry up."
Ade was thus pushed and pulled by Loran to the lectern, and his mind was still in a mess. Fortunately, he memorized his lines beforehand, so he could talk as if nothing had happened in the live broadcast.
The presentation soon drew to a close, and it was finally time to announce the official name of the project, which was the exclusive privilege of Ade, who was the chief designer of the project.
"In honor of the one who gave me my soul, in honor of the one who gave me life, I call it - according to its ring-like image," Ade closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "The Wheel of Angels. "
