Chapter 47

Confirmation

“A portrait of Lunamoon! What a wonderful gift.”

“I never knew Captain Anton could be so considerate.”

What were they talking about?

“Your Excellency, did you not know about this either?”

“No. I had no idea Captain Anton cared this much about Haydam...”

“It has already been ten years since I last saw Lunamoon’s face!”

What were all of them talking about?

How was this Lunamoon?

‘That’s my mother’s face.’

The voices of the others in the conference room sounded muffled in my ears.

Without realizing it, I approached the portrait and ran my fingers over the painted face of my mother.

Maybe it was merely someone who resembled her.

There had to be some part of her that differed from my real mother.

The people behind me seemed to interpret my actions differently, because I heard their sympathetic voices.

“Oh dear... It seems this is no longer a place where we should remain.”

“Perhaps it would be best if we gave him some privacy...”

“Your Excellency, may we adjourn the meeting?”

“...Very well. Major General Meursault will inform you of the rescheduled date later.”

As though afraid of disturbing me while I examined the portrait, they quietly filed out of the conference room.

Even Anton, who had brought this painting to ruin me, left.

But no matter how closely I examined it, it was undoubtedly my mother’s face.

Even the mole beneath her eye was exactly the same.

And they were saying this woman was Lunamoon?

An NPC from the game called Safe Zone?

The woman whose son I was pretending to be?

I suddenly realized that I had not been breathing for some time.

My head spun, and the breath I had been holding burst out all at once.

“Haaah...!”

‘Of all places.’

I never imagined I would encounter my biological mother’s face in a place like this.

No.

I had hoped never to see that woman’s face again.

Yet I was facing her once more in a place I could never have imagined.

—Dam, listen carefully.

Her voice, which I had last heard a very long time ago, passed through my mind.

—You’re a clever child, so you’ll be happy even without Mom. You can become happy.

When I asked why I had to be happy without her, she answered,

—Because if you become unhappy, it will make me sad.

So I asked whether a cold-blooded person like her even knew sadness.

Her answer had been exactly like her.

—Parents and children are programmed that way.

Right.

She really had said something that ridiculous.

I felt as though we had made some kind of promise during that conversation...

But I saw no reason to honor a promise made with such an irresponsible parent.

More importantly, the issue now was not a promise with my mother that I could not even remember.

It was the woman before me who had my mother’s face.

‘Why does Lunamoon have that woman’s face?’

What were the chances that the game company had been searching for an East Asian woman’s face and happened to use my mother as a reference?

But Lunamoon’s face had never once appeared in the actual game.

So perhaps it was more likely that the Lunamoon of this world and my mother simply happened to have the same face by coincidence.

Of course...

For a moment, the thought crossed my mind that my real mother and Lunamoon might be the same person.

That the woman who had been transported into the dating simulation and lived as Lunamoon might have been my mother.

But that was impossible.

It had to be impossible.

Because if that were true, then my mother had died in this game world ten years ago and become nothing but bones.

‘That would mean I dug up my own mother’s grave and started pretending to be her son without even knowing it!’

Someone who had transported me into this world must have maliciously placed that woman’s face on Lunamoon because they wanted to watch me suffer.

‘Yes. That has to be it.’

There was no way something so absurd could be possible.

This thing was not my mother.

‘Putting that aside, Anton probably won’t suspect me anymore.’

All thanks to Lunamoon having my mother’s face.

Even though I had known Anton was preparing a portrait of Lunamoon, deciding what expression to make when I actually saw it had been a troubling problem.

My acting ability was improving day by day, but if I had been talented enough to naturally imitate the expression of a child seeing his mother, I would have become an actor instead of a gaming addict.

Then I had been confronted with a portrait of my real mother.

There had been no need to act.

Because of this, they had likely become even more convinced that I truly was Lunamoon’s son.

When viewed objectively, it was good for me.

Even if it meant I would have to call the woman in this portrait “Mother” while carrying this indescribable discomfort from now on.

‘...Still, I should confirm it at least once.’

The face in the portrait continued to bother me.

I never thought I would ever have to ask that bastard for help, but...

Stay-at-home Wifey.

He had played the dating simulation, so he might know Lunamoon’s in-game appearance.

It would look strange if I asked Daphne whether this was really Lunamoon’s face.

But there would be nothing difficult about confirming it with Stay-at-home Wifey.

***

Meanwhile.

After the officers’ meeting was adjourned, the pro-Daphne officers gathered again around Anton.

The pro-Hayden officers had interpreted the portrait of Lunamoon as a signal of reconciliation and had even smiled at the pro-Daphne officers before leaving.

But the mood among the pro-Daphne officers had sunk heavily.

“That reaction... There’s no doubt, is there?”

At one officer’s cautious question, the others nodded.

“It seems our suspicion that Lord Haydam was an impostor was nothing more than an unfounded assumption.”

“Then why did the slum residents say they didn’t know Haydam?”

“Could they have been lying?”

“Perhaps Lunamoon raised him in hiding. As long as she concealed his name and hair color, he would have looked no different from any other child.”

“Then what about the claim that the grave was old?”

“Perhaps the elderly residents were mistaken.”

“I trust the look in Lord Haydam’s eyes when he gazed at the portrait more than the testimony of those old people.”

At those words, the other officers fell silent, as though they had nothing more to say.

The moment they had seen Haydam’s expression while looking at the portrait, they had even felt a faint sense of guilt for using a child’s mother’s portrait to test him.

That was how dramatic Haydam’s reaction had been.

“That means...”

Haydam was undoubtedly Lunamoon’s child.

And therefore, the Commander’s child as well.

After seeing that gaze, the Commander must have become even more certain that Haydam was truly his son.

“What are the chances that it was all an act?”

One officer, still unwilling to abandon hope, asked the question.

Anton gave him a cynical answer with a crooked smile.

“If that was an act, then he was never an opponent people of our caliber could defeat in the first place.”

“Hmm...”

The officers fell silent with troubled expressions.

Being told that they were incapable of defeating a mere ten-year-old child was somewhat humiliating.

But Anton had a point.

Even if Haydam had somehow learned in advance that he would be given Lunamoon’s portrait during today’s meeting and prepared accordingly...

If he was capable of instantly performing that expression in front of them...

Then no matter what trap the pro-Daphne officers prepared, would any of it matter?

Just as everyone present was thinking the same thing—

“Wait. What was that about retirement?”

Everyone else had deliberately avoided mentioning it, but Lieutenant General Max, Anton’s former military-academy classmate and one of his closest acquaintances, finally asked.

“Are you truly retiring?”

Anton gave a short nod.

The officers erupted into murmurs.

“But so suddenly...”

“I have grown old.”

Anton swept his gaze over the other officers.

“And because I have grown old, all of you have remained in your positions for too long as well. Someone must step down before the rest of you can move up, mustn’t they?”

After Anton’s retirement announcement, none of the officers had been able to completely suppress thoughts of their own promotion.

His words struck a nerve, but they tried not to show it.

Anton knew perfectly well what they were thinking.

With a faint sigh, he continued.

“And... this is not sudden. Ever since Lord Haydam appeared, I have felt that my years of experience can no longer overcome the recklessness of youth.”

He was not merely saying it for effect.

He sincerely meant it.

Recently, he had already begun to find it difficult to keep Major General Meursault, who was rapidly climbing through the ranks, in check.

And now the Commander’s viper-like son, Haydam, had joined him.

From the moment Major General Meursault had shot Lieutenant General Bartom dead in the officers’ meeting, Anton’s retirement had practically been decided.

It was obvious that this military would eventually be controlled not by Anton, but by Haydam and Meursault.

“I merely decided that stepping down gracefully and watching from behind would be better than spending my remaining years in humiliation as a puppet captain. This is something I decided long ago.”

“But if that was the case, why did you not tell us beforehand...?”

“Because if I intended to present Lord Haydam with a gift, it would have been troublesome if none of you looked surprised.”

Had Anton not announced his retirement on the spot, these fools would undoubtedly have watched him unveil the portrait with expressions that practically said, We already discussed all of this among ourselves.

Only then did the officers realize their mistake.

They looked anxiously at Anton.

“What are we supposed to do once Captain Anton is gone?”

“Now that I have stepped down, Josef will soon retire as well. Do not worry. Without Josef, the other side is full of nothing but pathetic fools too.”

“Will Captain Josef really give up his rank so easily?”

“If he remains a captain after I have already stepped down, would that not make him the perfect candidate for the next firing squad? Major General Meursault needs room to rise on that side as well.”

“Ah...”

For a moment, Anton wondered whether it was truly safe to retire and leave these idiots behind.

He soon concluded that it was no longer his concern.

In truth, although he had not told the other officers, Anton had something he could rely upon.

‘My son Plato will become Lord Haydam’s adjutant anyway...’

For now, it seemed to be merely a promise between Plato and Haydam.

But this was also why Anton had been so obsessed with confirming Haydam’s origins.

If Haydam was an impostor, Anton needed to make his foolish son come to his senses before he pledged his loyalty to the wrong person.

But after seeing Haydam’s expression earlier, Anton had felt both disappointed and relieved.

‘That child will be the future Commander.’

His son had backed the right person.

If Haydam’s lineage was that certain and his abilities were equally exceptional, then Plato, as his adjutant, would naturally stand at the center of power alongside him.

And now that even Daphne was favorably disposed toward Haydam, there was no reason for Anton to continue making an enemy of him.

That was why Anton had decided to retire.

In a sense, he was admitting defeat after watching Haydam evade even the portrait trap.

But Anton had nothing to lose.

He now had connections to both Plato, who would become Haydam’s adjutant, and Daphne, who might someday bear an heir.

At that moment, someone spoke.

“How about this?”

The officer who spoke had newly begun attending the officers’ meetings in place of the deceased Lieutenant General Bartom.

He had only recently been promoted from major general to lieutenant general, making him the most ambitious person present.

And because he had not personally witnessed Bartom’s murder, he was also the officer who underestimated Haydam the most.

“Everyone we met in the slums happened to be people who didn’t know Lord Haydam.”

“The order of events may have differed, but that was indeed the result.”

“In that case, why not bring in someone who appears to have known Lord Haydam during his time in the slums and interrogate him?”

Anton’s expression changed subtly.

“You mean there is someone who knew Lord Haydam in the slums?”

“I cannot say exactly how well he knows him, but there was one boy soldier who went around claiming to be close to Lord Haydam.”

“Who is it?”

At Anton’s question, the officer placed a prepared document before him.

In the photograph attached to the top of the document, a blond and strikingly beautiful boy—far too handsome to be wasted as a soldier—was smiling awkwardly.

“A boy named Darling Outsider.”

Anton stared silently down at the photograph.

He had already decided to take a step back.

Still, there would be no harm in confirming things one final time.

If the boy truly knew Haydam, they might hear something unexpected.

“Bring him here. Do not treat him roughly. Receive him with the utmost courtesy.”