Chapter 12: Shadows of the Past, Leaps for Freedom

Deputy Director Sandria silently toyed with her pistol for a while.

Eventually, as her sweat-drenched hair cooled in the chilly air, she opened her mouth with a exhausted face.

“Adrian Blake.”

“Yes.”

“As you know, our original plan was to persuade Selena Han and resume the Solar Return Project.”

Operation Name: Return of the Sun, commonly known as ‘Solar Return’.

A phrase that had once stirred up the entire Federation echoed through the air.

Adrian’s gray eyes flashed dangerously bright before settling back down.

“Didn’t that fail?”

At that polite response, Deputy Director Sandria wore a bitter smile.

Considering what actually happened, saying it failed was rather a humble expression.

The Solar Return Project ended up consuming several planets and one-third of the Milky Way.

Even now, when observing that area from the Special Bureau’s planetarium, a black hole that had forcibly stopped after swallowing millions of lives gaped darkly.

And the collection of it all…

Deputy Director Sandria let out a hollow laugh, ignoring the chill running down her spine.

“‘Didn’t it fail?’ You speak as if you don’t know much about it. If Selena Han is the key to the project, then the lock is you, Adrian Blake.”

“……”

“Publicly, the project was halted due to opposition from anti-imperialists and civic groups, but the project itself exceeded its targets.”

Deputy Director Sandria lowered the corners of her mouth alongside those words.

“And as a result, here you are, Adrian Blake.”

Despite the Deputy Director’s non-compliment compliment, Adrian Blake maintained his place with a picture-perfect gentle expression.

Deputy Director Sandria unwittingly wetted her dry lips.

She got goosebumps.

Those gray eyes whose thoughts could not be read.

Every time she saw those eyes, she felt a chill, though she never let it show.

Intentional or not, he was a being that had devoured the lives of tens, hundreds of thousands of people.

He was a prisoner who had to serve his sentence until long after the Federation came to an end.

Why wouldn’t she be afraid?

Deputy Director Sandria composed herself, caressing the pistol she still held in her hand.

Only then did her heart rate slowly return to normal.

The Director remained secluded in his residence, and the other investigators did not know much about Adrian Blake.

Right now, she was the only one who could rescue the detained citizen from the unleashed Adrian Blake.

She interrogated him in a sharp tone.

“So when the new Solar Return Project was established, you took Selena Han away. What am I supposed to think of that?”

“Didn’t I tell you already? That I love her.”

“No, what I mean is.”

Deputy Director Sandria bit her lip.

She tasted blood from her chapped lips.

She needed a bit of courage to say the next words.

“Aren’t you and Han sworn enemies?”

The Deputy Director carefully observed Adrian Blake’s reaction.

Adrian had an expressionless face.

As if he had shed a single layer of a gentle and affectionate skin, he was cooled down that coldly.

The Deputy Director gripped her firearm with a stiffened face.

Flicker, flicker.

Flicker.

The light bulb illuminating overhead blinked slowly.

It felt as though the temperature of the interrogation room had dropped considerably.

With such a emotionless face, Adrian asked.

“Why do you think we are sworn enemies?”

The moment the overhead light flashed once more, a violent magic power seized the interrogation room, as if the previous pressure had been mere child’s play.

Deputy Director Sandria groaned softly.

First from the agony compressing her entire body, and second because of the thing in front of her that was not human.

The Deputy Director swallowed the scream leaking through her teeth and said.

“Isn’t it because of Han that you became a dog of the Special Bureau? Just as you said.”

Around the time Adrian was being interrogated in the interrogation room.

Somewhere in his mansion, afternoon sunlight cast over a cramped room.

Just as the shadow slanting through the window moved by about a knuckle’s length.

“Ah!”

A regretful exclamation flowed inside the room.

Sena failed to pull out the fountain pen and slumped onto the bed.

For a long while, she felt completely helpless due to the vibrating fountain pen.

Having reached weak climaxes several times, Sena barely succeeded in becoming numb to the pleasure.

Then she twisted her body left and right to pull the fountain pen out.

No matter how much she wriggled, the fountain pen didn’t budge, but as soon as Sena became completely exhausted and went limp, it slid out on its own.

Sena was inwardly delighted, but the ordeal was far from over.

This time, it was the handcuffs attached to the bed headboard.

Sena had to invest more time into the handcuffs than the fountain pen.

The struggle that lasted roughly an hour ended anti-climactically.

The handcuffs, which hadn’t budged no matter how much she shook them, slipped off like a lie as soon as an angry Sena struck the bed headboard.

Hairline cracks had been formed right where Adrian had gripped the bed headboard.

Overjoyed, Sena dashed down from the bed, only to tumble onto the carpet.

“Haa…”

A deep sense of skepticism filled her entire body.

Her body, overworked over the past day or two, cried out with fatigue.

As soon as she lay down, sleep began to pour in.

Sena forced her eyes open and made an effort to speak out loud.

“I can’t live like this.”

Those words were absolutely true.

She couldn’t live like this.

A life of acting cute and being doted on by Adrian Blake, whom she despised.

That was not what Sena wanted.

She didn’t even know how sincere he was being.

“I really can’t do this.”

So Sena decided to escape this place before dying of exhaustion from over-exertion.

Freedom.

What a wonderful word.

Sena took a deep breath for a moment.

Having done nothing but s*x over the past few days, she felt like she had turned into a beast, but now that the stimulation was gone, her brain finally felt like it was functioning.

She glanced at the door through which Adrian had exited.

It was definitely a summons from the Special Bureau.

He must have been called in because of the scandal involving her.

In that case, it would be difficult for him to return in a short time.

Should she escape this time?

If she escaped, how long would it take before she got dragged back?

Sena calmly weighed the time and possibility of her escape.

Adrian Blake was a famous figure in the Federation, and she herself had likely rocketed to stardom due to that confession—not that she particularly wanted to.

Her face was as good as public knowledge now.

Moreover, a man like him would have anticipated that she would run away.

Sena vaguely thought that he would find her faster than anyone else.

It was a guess remarkably close to the truth.

If so, whether the escape succeeded or not shouldn’t be considered very important.

What mattered was information.

Things like how the world was turning after Sena was confined in the safe house, how many hours it took Adrian to find her after her flight, and whose side public opinion was on.

As a competent reporter, Sena knew very well the importance of public opinion and information warfare.

Since she would end up getting caught quickly anyway after escaping, she decided to listen carefully to as much information as possible and go as far away as she could.

If she actually managed to slip out of Adrian Blake’s hands by some stroke of luck, all the better.

Sena concluded her thoughts like that and looked around the room.

At first, her only thought was that she couldn’t leave stark naked, but as a result, she ended up spending a quite useful time.

In the sense that she found out what Adrian Blake was planning to do to her in the future.

Underneath the bed, she found a heap of gels with unclear specific uses and adult toys.

Sena picked up an anal plug with a disgusted face, then buried it deep inside the box lest anyone see it.

Before long, her search came to an end.

The room, containing only a small bed and a wardrobe, was desolate.

In the bathroom attached to the room, nothing was prepared except for a single dry towel.

As a vent for her anger, Sena pounded on the door leading further into the mansion, but the room door remained steadfast.

Fortunately, there was a modest haul inside the wardrobe.

A suit that seemed to belong to Adrian, and a single slip so thin it was almost shameful.

To anyone’s eyes, the slip belonged to her, but Sena ignored it and grabbed the suit right away.

After being naked all day, seeing proper clothes filled her with overwhelming emotion.

Delighted, Sena put on the shirt and slack pants.

It was a pity there was no underwear, but she simply lacked the courage to walk down the main street in just a slip.

Sena washed up roughly with water in the bathroom and threw on Adrian’s suit.

And she didn’t forget to carefully stuff the marriage contract into the suit jacket’s pocket.

Now, the final hurdle remained.

Sena stood before the door with a tense face.

Click.

The handle turned halfway and stopped.

Damn it.

Sena spat out a curse under her breath.

“If you’re a mage, act like one and set up a barrier.”

In accordance with human tradition, the door handle required a key.

She would rather decipher and unseal a barrier magic circle, but she didn’t know how to pick a locked door.

Sena jabbed a long adult toy into the lock mechanism just as she had vaguely seen on TV shows, but when the door failed to open, she slumped down onto the floor in despair.

Sena leaned against the door for a while like that.

Before long, when the sound of people chatting and laughing outside drifted in, light returned to her eyes.

“Get a grip, Sena Han.”

Slapping both her cheeks with a loud smack, Sena stood up.

Then she approached the window she hadn’t even spared a glance at until now.

Her hands opening the window trembled slightly.

From now on was what truly mattered.

If she kept her mind sharp, she could bolt.

He wasn’t a god; he couldn’t confine her forever.

She felt hope gradually raising its head.

Once she got out of the Special Bureau’s sphere of influence, no matter how great Adrian Blake was, wouldn’t he fail to catch her?

With such thoughts, Sena leaped out of the third-floor window.

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