"Where are you taking me? I've been following the rules, haven't I? Why are you taking me out of the cell?" Zeke shouted loudly in the hallway, slightly panicked because he had no idea what fate awaited him.
Shortly after waking up in the morning, a group of people had barged into his cell and told him they were taking him away.
At first, he thought the prisoners of war were being investigated for some suspicious activity, so he allowed himself to be searched. But after coming out, he discovered that everyone else was moving around freely.
As another Marleyan prisoner of war, it was clearly abnormal that only he had been taken away in custody.
Recalling what the young man had said before, that they had used the power of the Founding Titans to execute Marley's warriors, a terrible thought came to his mind.
He felt that those people were taking him to the execution site to strip him of the Beast Titan's power.
"Where is your commander? I need to see him; I have something important to tell him!"
As Zeke was dragged away, he became anxious. His "plan to end the hatred toward his people" was still unfinished, and he did not want to die.
"I have extremely important information! I want to see your commander immediately!"
However, the soldiers completely ignored him.
"Shut your mouth, you damned traitor!"
Crack!
A soldier responsible for escorting Zeke struck him several times until he finally stopped talking.
'This is bad, this is really bad!' Zeke thought regretfully.
He was completely powerless to resist.
His immense power had been sealed away, and both his hands and feet were chained.
Surrounded by Paradis soldiers, he had absolutely no chance of escaping.
Unable to use the power of the Titans, he was nothing more than a mortal.
Zeke thought that if he obeyed, he could at least buy himself some time.
Is his life going to end here?
Zeke clenched his teeth and struggled violently. "I'm royalty! Royal blood flows through my veins!"
"I want to see your commander immediately! I am a descendant of the legitimate King Fritz!"
To gain even the slightest chance of survival and negotiation, he was willing to reveal his greatest trump card.
The soldiers stopped, though not because of his words; they had simply arrived at their destination.
"Wait here!"
It was a sealed room without windows. Through the steel door, Zeke was tied to a specially made stool.
Steel restraints secured Zeke's wrists, ankles, and waist, leaving him completely unable to move.
A bright light illuminated the sealed room, and in front of Zeke stood a transparent glass door.
At each of the two corners of the wall, guards stood on duty, while a clerk holding paper and pen remained silently beside Zeke.
Zeke stared blankly at the face on the other side of the glass.
He stared at that familiar face in a daze, then fell silent.
"M-Mom... Mom..." Zeke hesitated for a moment before speaking.
There was no doubt about it, that was his mother's face.
Zeke's biological mother, Dina Fritz.
She looked exactly as Zeke remembered her. With her ear-length blonde hair and elegant, feminine posture, she sat in front of the glass wearing a long beige dress.
Unlike Zeke, she was not restrained by shackles; she sat there like an honored guest.
"Zeke, don't be afraid." Dina spoke to Zeke through the perforated glass. They were very close; if not for the glass between them, they would have been speaking face to face.
"They only brought you here so you could see me. They won't hurt you."
"Mom... what are you doing here?"
"There are things I can't explain to you very clearly..." Dina said, reaching her hand toward the glass as if she wanted to caress her son's face. "But you've grown up, Zeke."
His mother's face was no longer as stern and rigid as Zeke remembered; she wore a gentle smile, and tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.
"I'm glad you're alive. I'm sorry, it's my fault for not being able to take proper care of you."
Dina seemed unable to contain her emotions; her eyes reddened as she wiped away her tears with her sleeve.
"Your father is dead, but I believe that, just like me, he would not blame you."
"You were so young back then. It must have been very painful and exhausting. Before we were subjected, we were able to understand why you hated your parents."
Zeke stared blankly at Dina as she cried, then slumped back into his seat as though all the strength had left his body.
…
After the brief reunion, Zeke was taken back to the prisoner-of-war camp.
He never imagined he would see his mother again.
No matter what happened, she was still his biological mother.
Although Dina, just like Grisha, constantly pressured him from childhood, he had grown up in his mother's arms.
Unlike his father, his mother was not strict. She hugged him, kissed his forehead, and held his hand.
His mother loved him, and he could feel it.
At that time, Zeke learned from his mentor that his parents had been detained by the government for hiding something related to the Restorationists.
He had no choice but to report his parents, or his entire family would be captured by Marley and sent away to be turned into Titans.
He did not want his mother to be exiled and wished at least to keep her alive, so he revealed his mother's royal lineage to the government.
But his mother was still exiled, and from that day onward, his family consisted only of his grandparents and his mentor.
His mind was in complete chaos, and Zeke had no idea what to do.
Before he could even process it, that very same day, he and his fellow prisoners of war were forced to board a steam train.
Today's visit was to the airport.
The people of Paradis Island showed them fighter aircraft equipped with machine guns, which was essentially a display of military power directed at these prisoners of war.
The technology behind these weapons was at least five to ten years ahead of the rest of the world.
The visit lasted several days, during which they fully understood what kind of weaponry Paradis Island's fighter aircraft possessed and just how formidable Paradis Island's aerospace weapons could be in battle against both the army and the navy.
On the night the visit ended, Zeke was summoned once again.
Accompanying him was Pieck, one of the two Titans who possessed Titan powers and one of the only two Eldians participating in this operation.
After dinner, they were called to Gale's office, who until now had been thinking about what to do.
Gale sat behind the desk with his hands clasped together. "It has been a week since you arrived on Paradis Island. Have your impressions of Paradis Island changed in any way, Miss Pieck and Mr. Zeke?"
Pieck, looking somewhat less worried, said, "I have deeply reflected on my actions over the past week."
"Marley's invasion of Paradis Island was complete foolishness. When I return, I will certainly explain the situation to Marley's commanders."
Gale smiled and replied in a serious tone, "I'm very sorry, Miss Pieck, but as you can understand, you are not on the list of people who will be returned to Marley."
"After all, the two of you are holders of Titan powers, so we cannot send you back so easily."
"Haha, I was only joking. Seriously, sir, you're taking things too seriously." Pieck brushed a strand of hair away from her face and tried to win the favor of the young man before her with her pretty appearance.
At first glance, it was obvious that this man occupied a high-ranking position.
Now that she had lost her powers, if she managed to get close to Gale, she might still have a chance to return home alive.
To achieve this goal, Pieck was willing to use her physical charm.
However, while she was thinking about her clever strategies, Gale was thinking about whether to kill Pieck so someone else could inherit her power.