"Then, I'll go down first, General." Koujo Shizuka stood beside Kaede and said.
"Eh?" Kaede, as if waking from a dream, looked at Koujo Shizuka. Thinking about it, she realized it was time for Koujo Shizuka to go cook for everyone. She nodded and smiled at Koujo Shizuka, "Go ahead, thank you for your hard work."
Although her mind didn't know where it had flown off to, Kaede also knew that Koujo Shizuka had been by her side throughout this process.
"Yes." Koujo Shizuka nodded. Looking at the smile on Kaede's face, was that still the smile with the General's unique style from before? It was a forced smile, and one could tell at a glance.
Heartbreaking, painful.
At first, Koujo Shizuka thought that encountering such an incident wasn't bad; at least the General wouldn't want to participate in those dangerous missions anymore, and her mood would recover as time passed.
However, Koujo Shizuka now realized she was wrong; Kaede had not recovered with the passage of time at all, but instead, was sinking deeper and deeper.
Pushing the door open, Koujo Shizuka looked back and saw Kaede staring blankly again, lost in thought. Koujo Shizuka sighed and walked out.
What was Kaede thinking about? In truth, she wasn't thinking about anything; she was simply zoning out. She didn't want to think about anything. Even though she wasn't doing anything, she still felt incredibly exhausted. She just wanted to rest, to drift into a long sleep and never wake up again.
Since that incident, it wasn't just them who noticed something was wrong with Kaede; Kaede herself also knew that she had likely fallen into a mental trap.
However, there was no helping it. At that moment, every thought Kaede had held since arriving in this world had been almost completely shattered.
Now, Kaede didn't know what she should do or what she wanted to do; it seemed as though doing anything was meaningless.
Furthermore, the exhaustion emanating from her body—no, it should be said, the exhaustion emanating from her mind—made Kaede not want to do anything. She just stayed there, dazed and zoning out.
During this period, Kurome and Esdeath had both visited.
Kurome had tried to comfort her sister, but in the end, she hadn't succeeded. However, seeing her sister like this, Kurome had made a resolution in her heart.
She would become stronger to protect her sister as she was now, because Kurome felt that her sister was truly fragile, almost vulnerable to a single blow. Kurome understood that it was time for her to step up and protect her sister!
Esdeath had also come by, but she only visited once at the beginning and never returned.
At the time, she had looked at Kaede, observing her state and the fake smile on her face. She frowned, left behind the words 'You have truly disappointed me,' and then left. She had not stepped foot through that door since.
Regarding Esdeath's words, Kaede just smiled self-deprecatingly. She wasn't doing anything to keep Esdeath from being disappointed; she was tired and wanted to rest.
'Is the General still like that?' Watching Koujo Shizuka walk out, Nahash frowned and asked. Looking at Koujo Shizuka's expression, Nahash didn't need to guess to know the answer.
'It's all Akame's fault!' Koujo Shizuka gritted her teeth and said. She knew the General very well; there was likely no one else in the world who understood Kaede better than she did.
However, the time Koujo Shizuka had spent with Kaede was ultimately too short. Koujo Shizuka didn't understand why Kaede had fallen into this state; she could only vaguely sense that the culprit behind it all must be Akame.
Therefore, the hatred in Koujo Shizuka's heart toward Akame rose once again.
Nahash was silent. He didn't know how to refute Koujo Shizuka's words; even if there were other reasons, Akame likely played a part.
'I never expected the General, usually so strong, to have such a weak moment...' Nahash couldn't help but lament. Mindset was truly important. Although Nahash knew that even now he was absolutely no match for Kaede, Kaede was no longer as impregnable as she had been before.
'And General Esdeath's mission actually failed,' Nahash added. 'This failure led to General Esdeath being sent away. It really is a case of it never rains but it pours.'
Given the relationship between Esdeath and Kaede, even if Esdeath hadn't visited again, they could have asked for her help if there was a problem. But now, the Jaegers themselves were barely able to protect themselves.
'You can't blame General Esdeath for that. It's because that spy, despite knowing he was a target of Night Raid, didn't restrain his lecherous nature at all. In the end, Night Raid took advantage of this, mobilizing everyone to divert the attention of the combatants. Then, the person with Gaia Foundation disguised themselves as the woman by the spy's side and killed the spy in the night,' Tatsumi said, sounding a bit indignant. He often went over there, so he naturally knew more about the incident.
'But a failure is a failure. Because of this failure, General Esdeath was sent outside the Empire to complete a mission. And recently, the Prime Minister's Wild Hunt has started acting up. It's really troublesome.' Speaking of Wild Hunt, Nahash frowned. The actions of Wild Hunt were simply wasting all their efforts.
But what could they do? The captain of Wild Hunt, Syura, was the Prime Minister's son. They could only choose to avoid them. If Kaede were fine, they might be able to put up a fight and not be so passive, but Kaede's current state made Nahash give up on telling her about this matter.
After all, Kaede's current state was truly not suitable for handling these matters, and they didn't want to cause trouble for her now, so they avoided them whenever possible.
'Those guys!' Hearing Nahash's words, Tatsumi couldn't help but clench his fists and grit his teeth, the anger in his eyes erupting. Tatsumi could see the evil deeds of that group clearly. Every time, he wanted to strike, but every time, he had to suppress his anger so as not to cause trouble for his companions, especially during this critical period.
'Now we can only hope for the General to recover, or for General Esdeath to return from her mission,' Nahash sighed. 'Haven't you noticed how the members of the Jaegers have been running over here lately?'
It wasn't for any other reason, but because after that failed mission of the Jaegers, Syura frequently mocked them. Due to Syura's status, they couldn't easily take action and could only hide over here.
Although the General on their side was currently in a somewhat strange state, she was still the empires strongest, so Syura still didn't dare to run wild here.
And look, as they were speaking, Kurome, Run, and Wave walked in again.
'Sorry to bother you again today.'
'It's fine,' Nahash could only say. The current situation was truly troublesome!
Mine, standing nearby, looked at Kaede's room. She knew that this was likely the weakest moment for Kaede. She had even imagined launching a final attack at this time, but then... she couldn't continue.
Because right now, Mine couldn't bear to think about it anymore; she couldn't accept the image of the people around her dying one by one before her eyes.
At this moment, Mine sighed. She understood that no matter the outcome, she was out of options. Even if the Revolutionary Army won, would they accept her, a prisoner who had lived for so long?
Mine didn't think too highly of the Revolutionary Army either.
What on earth was she supposed to do?
On the other side, Boros felt the gaze behind him. He walked into his house as if nothing was wrong, but a bitter expression appeared on his face; he had been exposed after all.
'Dear, you're back.' Boros's beloved smiled upon seeing Boros return. She could also sense that a crisis was coming, but regardless, it was enough that Boros had returned safely.
She was immensely grateful to the young girl she had met earlier. If it weren't for her...
'Yeah, I'm back.' Boros forced the bitterness off his face and put on a smile. Without his Teigu, he had already taken off his mask.
He looked a bit rough as imagined, but not too unsightly, and his golden hair was quite dazzling.
'Well, let's eat then.' Mio continued to smile. How could she not see that Boros had something on his mind? However, she didn't say anything; after all, there must be a reason why Boros didn't want to tell her.
'No... I'm going out for a bit.' Boros looked at Mio, then looked at his daughter nearby. A look of determination appeared in Boros's eyes. He absolutely could not let anything happen to them!
Although he didn't want to trouble Kaede, at this time, only Kaede could help them!
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