My Beloved, Whom I Desire to Kill - 311

—Because Natalia is your real name.

Edwin confessed to a long-held worry.

—When you were young, you were having such a hard time that I changed your name, and I still ask myself if it was the right thing to do. It might have been the better choice for you then, but is it still? Now you don’t want to hide your roots.

—That’s true.

Even if she was looked down upon as a Roselian, she was no longer ashamed of who she was. She simply thought that those who pointed fingers at a lineage that was not chosen, was not a crime, and was inherent to birth, were the truly base ones who lacked shame. Had she not even used the stigma attached to her background to deceive others, carrying it with defiance?

—Every time I call you Giselle, I ask myself: Am I negating your roots right now?

—No. Absolutely not. I’ve never felt that way, and you don’t need to worry about it, Edwin.

She could understand how he had come to be tormented by this absurd worry.

—I just gave a high-class name only suited for a purebred to a mongrel dog found on the street to hide its inglorious breed, and the foolish mongrel is proud of the name? Do you believe changing your name was an act of respect? If the Duke truly loved you for who you are, he would have loved even your humble status.

The man both of them were avoiding mentioning was the hidden antagonist.

—I’ve never thought you changed my name because you were ashamed of my background. I was the one who begged for it. And I’ve never wanted to change my name back.

It wasn’t just because it was inconvenient.

—I don’t think Giselle is a fake name. Now, I’ve lived longer with the name you gave me. And while I couldn’t choose my first name, Giselle has the meaning of being a name you lovingly gave and one that I chose.

Only the silhouette carved by the pitch-black darkness was visible, but Giselle could tell what expression he was making now.

—Besides, a person can have two names. After all, once we’re married, I’ll have three names.

She could almost see his lips curling up as he imagined sharing his surname.

—Duchess Giselle Eccleston.

Pleasure was in his voice when he recited it softly, but the following sigh sounded dissatisfied.

—That name already exists.

It had to. The name Giselle had originally been taken from an Eccleston Duchess centuries ago.

—But if you were Natalia Eccleston, you would be the only one…

Edwin still seemed to regret that name.

—When we’re alone, I’ll call you Natalia. How does that sound?

—……..

Giselle held her breath, waiting for a Lorenz, furious at having his name stolen, to appear.

If he couldn’t appear because of the ability he had already lost, was he perhaps screaming inside the man’s head right now?

She wanted to ask but was afraid to know.

Meanwhile, Edwin’s uncharacteristic insistence on the name made the instinct she had felt when he called her Natalia earlier intensely return:

He is trying to erase Lorenz from me.

Just as Lorenz had once overlaid harmful actions onto Edwin’s harmless words, Edwin was now trying to paint over that man’s things with his own.

No.

She didn’t mean she didn’t want to forget Lorenz.

—Call me Naty.

She was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to erase him and would instead only make him clearer.

—Not Natalia.

Afraid she would bring up even the black emotion that Lorenz had infused into that name—a blend of so many things that its color had vanished.

It was fortunate that Edwin couldn’t see Giselle’s expression.

She was grateful for the power outage that had come just in time.

At least, she was until she understood the meaning of the power outage.

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Before leaving on the first train, Edwin was scheduled to have breakfast with the Division Commander, the overall commanding officer of the unit, but he received a dispatch canceling it as soon as the reveille bugle sounded.

The reason: An emergency situation.

Last night’s power outage was not the usual trouble with the electricity supply common in isolated regions or war zones. The power plant supplying electricity to half of the unit had been seized.

The Birkenbach Dam blocks the lower part of Swan Lake. Although originally Constanza’s property, it had been an occupied territory of Mercia since the outbreak of the war.

The front line had been pushed back beyond the upper reaches of Swan Lake. Thus, the enemy was deemed unlikely to recapture it, yet this impossible event had occurred under the cover of night.

The successful infiltration of the enemy deep into Mercia’s occupied territory meant a breach in the defense network. It was a grave crisis.

There was a separate crisis that made the recapture of the Birkenbach Dam even more urgent.

—The reconnaissance unit reported seeing the floodgates opened.

The Division Commander called Edwin to inform him of the situation.

—At the current rate, the entire Lakehurst Forest area will be submerged before sunset today.

While the base, located on higher ground behind Lakehurst, would be safe, Giselle’s childhood home and family graves would be lost.

The main road leading to Constanza, too.

—And of all things, the primary line of advance for Operation Horizon, which is only two days away, will be blocked.

Already, the operational units were stationed in and around the base, awaiting orders, with follow-up units scheduled to arrive soon. The Division Commander had a compelling reason for summoning the Chief of Intelligence and informing him of the detailed situation: they needed to recapture the dam immediately to avoid delivering the absurd bad news that the roads were submerged.

—It cannot be a coincidence.

He needed to convey another grave crisis to the intelligence department: that the enemy seemed to know the exact details of the operation, including the timing and the route.

Where on earth did the information leak?

Edwin immediately reported to the Chief of Staff and the Headquarters. He ordered the Intelligence Department to determine the leak’s path and the leaked information to prevent further damage.

While this was a precautionary measure, Edwin already sensed the answer.

It was unlikely that Constanza had secretly secured a reliable intelligence channel in such a short time. It was more plausible that the enemy had begun to rely on Giselle’s information since Nicholas Rudnick’s rescue.

The date Giselle had mentioned was next month, so it was reasonable to assume the enemy was guessing earlier than that. In particular, the recent major aerial attacks and destruction of communication facilities must have provided a significant clue.

The precise accuracy of the route was likely due to the enemy’s reconnaissance units observing the concentration of military forces at this base.

Edwin warned the Operation Horizon Headquarters to strengthen their alert status, as enemy sudden attacks or sabotage were anticipated along all lines of advance.

Directing this process—accurately grasping information, delivering it in a timely manner, and controlling it appropriately—was the very duty of the Chief of Intelligence.

The reason Edwin, despite his position, became personally involved in the recapture operation stemmed from a passing remark he made to the Division Commander.

—I was stationed at the Birkenbach Dam for about five weeks during the Swan Lake Incident.

The fate of the men who were guarding the dam during last night’s attack is unknown. The remaining members of the controlling company were deployed at dawn to retake the facility but were forced to retreat after being overwhelmed by the enemy’s fierce defense, and none of them were currently in a state to speak.

Since the controlling company had been completely decimated, Edwin was the only person at the base who had been inside that dam, even if it was more than ten years ago.

—We need your memory, Colonel, so spare us some time.

The criticism that multiple companies should have rotated shifts at duty stations, and that the entire company should not have been deployed for a recapture operation, was useless now.

—The structure and opening/closing mechanism don’t seem to have changed from back then.

Fortunately, they had basic blueprints. Using these as a guide, Edwin delved into his memory to explain the route to the sluice control room and the method for operating the floodgates to the operations commander and the combat engineers.

The combat engineers who had worked on closing the dam’s floodgates were also unavailable. Among the newly drafted personnel, some had no knowledge of the Birkenbach Dam, or even of dams in general.

—If the motorized opening is impossible, there is also an emergency manual opening/closing device…

It was a stroke of incredible luck that Edwin remembered it so vividly. As a unit commander at the time, he hadn’t needed to know the dam’s operations inside and out, but when else in life would he have had the opportunity to close a dam’s floodgates? The day had come for that long-ago, personal curiosity to prove its worth.

After several rounds of explanations and Q&A, the senior-most combat engineer asked:

—Colonel, would you be able to remain at the base until the operation is complete? We will do our utmost to prevent it, but I ask this in case we need to contact you with a question.

—Hmm…

Edwin quietly stared at the dam’s blueprint and the map spread out on the table, deep in thought, and then answered.

—I will go with you.

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The operation meeting ended, and he returned to his temporary office.

Upon opening the door, he found Giselle standing there, arms crossed and lips tightly sealed, glaring at him. His combat uniform, which the duty officer had already brought, was folded squarely on the table in front of her.

—Why do you need a combat uniform?

The moment he closed the door behind him, the interrogation began. With no time to spare, Edwin took off his dress uniform jacket as he approached her.