To My First Love, With Regret - 54

—It’s the boring delivery man like me who penetrates deep into the enemy lines, through hellish crossfire, to throw a lifeline to allies isolated and dying in the heart of battle.

The boy’s mouth hung open, and he seemed unable to close it. Ethan, basking in the boy’s awe that bordered on worship, added with a swagger:

—The Silverbolts you worship like kings of the sky? They’re just my bodyguards.

To the child, he was no longer a boring delivery man. Of course, Ethan was never a boring man to anyone. He was an angel and a hero with wings of steel, and at the same time… he was a smuggler.

Ever since he had solidified his place in the organization, Ethan’s primary business had always been smuggling. He built his empire as a massive root, spreading secretly beneath the ground of the law.

But war had turned the earth upside down, ruthlessly unearthing his roots. When the air, the sea, and all paths on land fell under military control, his smuggling routes were severed overnight.

The ships and aircraft used for smuggling were requisitioned as military supplies, and the core members of his organization were conscripted to defend the nation. His empire was slowly crumbling.

However, the Ethan Fairchild of today was a man who walked into the heart of a crisis rather than despairing. Uncertain chaos was, after all, a certain opportunity.

His plan was bold and clever. He infiltrated his most loyal members into key positions in the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Tom, Becky’s husband, became a reliable ally in the Navy. Ethan donned the Air Force officer’s uniform he had briefly worn during the last war and stepped into the heart of the enemy.

If I cannot avoid the eyes of surveillance, I need only become those eyes myself.

Becoming a soldier meant he could discover the loosest gaps in the surveillance network from the inside. He could use money to slacken that network or carve out new paths that favored him.

Meanwhile, the war and the rationing system opened a new market. In addition to the luxury goods he already handled, he released essential goods that people desperately craved onto the black market. It added a hypocritical justification to Ethan’s business: helping the suffering people. Sometimes, as a hobby, he would carry desperate people who needed to cross borders for a reasonable price.

The heart that made all of this possible was the Air Force Transport Command—the place everyone deemed boring—. If fighter planes were the swords of the sky, transport planes were the veins of this great war. And he built his empire upon the nation’s veins.

This was precisely why Ethan had willingly chosen the position of commander for that boring-as-hell transport unit.

It was a world a boy raised in a greenhouse had never dared to imagine. The child, who saw Ethan only as a unique patriot who might break the law but loved his country, began to look up at him with longing.

—What does a transport plane look like?

—Well… it’s massive, beyond comparison to something like a fighter jet. It has engines on every wing. You could call it a whale that flies in the sky.

—Whoa… I can’t imagine it.

—Why not?

It was similar in size to a passenger plane, after all.

—Have you never been on a plane for a trip?

The boy pouted and shook his head. The confidence the brat had shown while talking excitedly about planes just moments ago shriveled like a leaking balloon.

—A plane isn’t that big of a deal.

Ethan crushed the cigarette he had thrown onto the field with his boot and took a step. This time, he flicked his hand toward the boy.

—Follow me.

The boy’s eyes went wide.

—Are you going to give me a ride?

—In exchange, if you annoy me again, I’ll kick you out. From the sky.

—Deal!

Excited footsteps followed Ethan like a puppy. When he opened the driver’s side door of the car parked by the road, the child climbed into the passenger seat without hesitation.

When Ethan sat behind the wheel and turned his head, the boy was already smiling at him. The arrogant little predator that had been snarling at him was gone. His smile held only pure admiration, without a single shred of doubt.

His sparkling eyes seemed to speak.

Amazing, Ethan.

In Eve’s voice. In that moment, his foolish, naive first love—the woman who, once upon a time, believed a wretched man was brilliant under the dim lights of a shabby tavern—stood before him.

Damn it, so that was it.

Because the boy looked so cursedly like Eve, Ethan had been helplessly giving away a corner of his heart. He hadn’t even realized he was being possessed until this very moment.

Anthony Sherwood is not a trace of love. He is merely the final sacrifice to complete my revenge.

Ethan turned his head away from the face that looked exactly like the young Eve, sharpening the blade of his revenge that had rusted without his knowing.

—This is Silverbolt, come in! Enemy plane down! Glory to Mercia!

As the car started, the child began playing with his toy. That innocent play made Ethan feel uneasy.

Damn it, this is the first time I’ve had to kill a child.

He tightened his grip on the cold steering wheel.

But there’s a first time for everything.

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Tony had skipped all his afternoon classes and vanished.

He was nowhere in the house, so he had clearly gone out to play—breaking his grounding—.

—Find the Duke and bring him to me.

Eve sent servants to scour the perimeter of the estate. But even after the sun had completely hidden itself behind the peaks of Cantrell Castle, there was no sign of the boy.

An invisible dread began to settle into the air within the manor. Tick, tick. The passing seconds finally gnawed through the last of Eve’s patience. She was just passing through the front entrance to head out and search for him herself when a military vehicle screeched to a halt, blocking her path.

As soon as the butler opened the door, a small figure leaped out of the passenger seat. It was Tony. The moment Eve confirmed he was safe, the tension left her body all at once—only to be replaced by a surge of white-hot fury.

—You… where on earth have you been?

—The Littlewick base!

The boy talked as if he had just returned from the greatest adventure in the world, seemingly unaware—or pretending to be—that the entire household had been turned upside down because of him.

—I got to see a Silverbolt! And a Peregrine. A Peregrine is a transport plane, and it’s.

Not only had he broken his grounding, but he had left without a word, worrying everyone, only to return with such mindless cheer.

—Major Fairchild even gave me a gift!

The moment the boy proudly showed off a unit patch pinned to his clothes and begged for an officer’s uniform of his own, Eve’s patience snapped.

—Anthony Sherwood.

She was about to order him to his room immediately when Ethan Fairchild, stepping out from the driver’s seat, cut her off.

—It is my fault, My Lady. I forgot that I should have informed you beforehand. I trust you will find it in your generous heart to forgive the Duke.

His mouth admitted fault, but his eyes—devoid of even a shred of guilt—stared at Eve defiantly.

What are you doing? Why are you with my son?

Only a few hours ago, these two had been snarling at each other as if ready to tear one another apart. Now, he was suddenly playing the role of a guardian protecting the boy’s mistakes.

And Tony, why on earth were you following this man like a shadow? Calling him Major Fairchild, no less. He was acting like a total accomplice.

—Eve, it’s not Major Fairchild’s fault. He let me ride in a plane! Let’s all go together next time. So please, don’t throw any more cake at him.

Under Eve’s piercing glare, Tony ducked behind Chantal. The woman who had taught him that very slyness took the opportunity to shield him.

—Oh, darling, we were so worried. Just tell us next time before you go. Aren’t you hungry? Let’s go have dinner.

As Chantal reached for his hand, the boy shook her off as if she were a pest and headed into the manor alone, barking an order at the butler.

—Redgrave, set a place for Major Fairchild at the table.

…What? Tony ignored Eve’s stunned expression and beckoned to Ethan.

—You’re going to finish the story about the secret mission, right? Everyone has to hear it.

—I happen to be quite hungry, so I won’t decline. It is an honor to be invited, Your Grace.

Was Tony’s audacity a paternal trait? Ethan declared he would dine at the same table as Eve and disappeared into the manor with an air of entitlement.

The bond between a father and son who did not recognize each other… To a stranger, it was a comedy; to one who knew, it was a tragedy. The sole audience member of this grotesque play remained frozen in place for a long time, unable to move.