Chapter 380: A Turbulent World (3)
Tolle immediately took out his usual emergency rations from his storage space—a pouch of jelly-like liquid nutrition that could be sucked through a straw—and handed it to Lacus.
"Have a little. Just use the straw that comes with it. It's like milk pudding—really tasty."
Lacus took the still slightly warm emergency ration and cautiously took a small sip. Sure enough, it was rich and creamy, very delicious.
She then took several bigger sips, and after finishing it, said with a flushed face and some embarrassment, "Sorry for letting you see that."
"No, no. The way you eat is really beautiful—really cute. Being able to share breakfast with you like this is a kind of happiness in itself."
"Thank you for the compliment." Lacus covered her mouth and laughed softly at Tolle's slick words.
But she didn't laugh for long. She lowered her head, her expression darkening, and said, "My father… is dead."
Sensing that Lacus was about to make a serious move, Tolle could only steel himself and comfort her. "Please accept my condolences. Your father wouldn't want you to stay trapped in sorrow forever. Being able to live happily is the greatest comfort you could give him."
"Thank you, Tolle." Lacus then looked at him seriously and asked, "I want to know—did you already know that my father would be assassinated, and did you hide this fact when you showed Nicol the future?"
"Yes." Faced with Lacus's blunt question, Tolle could only nod helplessly and give her a clear answer.
"Why? Why would you do that?" Tears filled Lacus's eyes as she questioned him in anguish.
"Because…" Tolle said, controlling his tear ducts and forcing himself to cry like Kira, "…I was selfish. I wanted to live too. I wanted to live in a peaceful, beautiful world."
Seeing Tolle suddenly break into tears, Lacus felt a surge of shared sorrow and began crying as well.
She threw herself into his arms, pounding his chest with her small fists as she sobbed, "Why? Why did it have to be like this to me?"
Tolle followed the momentum and held Lacus tightly, crying along with her as their cheeks brushed, repeatedly apologizing, "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"
Outside the door, Liza heard the crying and apologies from inside and unconsciously opened the door a crack. Seeing the two of them locked in an embrace, sobbing uncontrollably, she sighed helplessly, quietly closed the door again, and shot Tolle a deeply disdainful look.
Through the neo DG cell monitoring system, Tolle saw Liza's actions and sighed inwardly. As expected, not every woman liked a man who cried—Lacus was just a rare case of overflowing maternal instinct.
He wondered whether this move would actually fool Lacus and reduce her hostility toward him.
After a long while, both Lacus and Tolle stopped crying. Lacus shyly eased herself out of his embrace.
She gently wiped away her tears and said, "I'm sorry, Tolle."
Tolle also wiped his eyes. Looking at the pitiful Lacus, he replied with reddened cheeks, "I'm the one who should be apologizing. It was because of my selfishness that you lost—"
Lacus gently placed her soft hand over Tolle's mouth, shook her head, and said, "I understand. I forgive you."
She then lowered her hand and asked again, "But can you tell me the reason you did this? I want to understand."
Blushing, Tolle felt this hurdle wouldn't be easy to clear. If he handled the deception poorly, he would probably be schemed against by Lacus in the future. All he could do was push the lie as far as it would go.
"Because your future, Lacus… is the hope of this world."
"My future… is hope?"
"Yes. Your future is the hope of this world.
"If your father were still alive, the Clyne faction wouldn't be able to directly use you to restrain the Zala faction.
"And you wouldn't have a future where, within just a few years, you'd grow into the Supreme Council Chair of P.L.A.N.T.
"But you were very smart. You didn't allow the Clyne faction to use you. After this war ended, you left P.L.A.N.T and lived in seclusion in Orb.
"You also took the Eternal with you, along with a group of like-minded people, quietly developing your own MS and forces.
"Those Clyne faction members, having run out of options, removed your father's loyal follower Eileen Canaver from the position of Acting Supreme Council Chair after the Battle of Jachin Due.
"Then they installed Gilbert Durandal—whom they had cultivated—as the Supreme Council Chair of P.L.A.N.T.
"Unfortunately for them, no matter how much they calculated, they failed to realize that Durandal was also a white-eyed wolf. For the sake of his Destiny Plan, he personally eliminated the very Clyne faction members who had supported his rise.
"Indirectly, this cleared the obstacles on your future path.
"After Durandal's death, the peace faction and neutral faction unanimously pushed you—who had twice stopped war and brought peace—to become the new Supreme Council Chair of P.L.A.N.T.
"At the very least… I saw the hope of this world in that future. So…"
"Is that really how it turns out?" Lacus lowered her head, thinking over Tolle's words. After a moment, she said with a determined expression, "Then… can you show me the future as well, like you did for Nicol? I want to confirm whether my future is truly right or wrong."
"Alright. But those memories may make you unconscious for a while. Don't be nervous—just lie down and relax."
"Mm. Thank you."
Lacus lay back on the bed, adjusted her posture slightly, and said, "Go ahead. I'm ready."
"Okay. I'll begin."
Tolle gently placed his hand on Lacus's forehead, letting Nami control the transfer—using neo DG cell assimilation—of the edited future memories he had previously shown Nicol into Lacus's mind.
Lacus broke out in a cold sweat, her expression twisting briefly, and then she fell unconscious.
Tolle gently wiped the sweat from her forehead and sighed inwardly. Lacus was officially transforming from a naïve, airheaded girl into a pink-cut-black Lacus. He could only hope everything went smoothly—and that the Lacus who emerged wouldn't be hostile toward him.
Exhausted from crying, Tolle slumped down at the edge of Lacus's bed and fell asleep, breathing in the faint, girlish fragrance surrounding her.
Much later, Lacus woke up. Staring at the ceiling, she quietly began to cry, murmuring to herself, "I never thought my future would turn out like that… I even became so… goal-oriented. For the sake of the strongest…"
She wiped away her tears, gently turned her head, and looked at Tolle sleeping by her bedside. In a soft voice, she whispered to herself, "If I think about it… perhaps the strongest person in this world right now is you."
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