Chapter 153: Relena's Secret (Part 2)
When the shuttle arrived at the colony satellite port, Tolle deliberately bumped into Lady Une as he disembarked, causing her to nearly fall.
Fortunately, Tolle's eyes and hands were quick; he hooked an arm around her waist and steadied her. He also implanted a neo DG cell on her, preparing to use it for brainwashing if necessary.
At first, Lady Une showed no other reaction, but once she regained her footing she forcefully slapped Tolle's hand away. She glared at him angrily, then silently left.
Tolle shrugged, and under Darlian's arrangements his party also checked into the same hotel.
Relena planned to take Coco and Miranda out shopping, and Tolle said he was willing to accompany them.
He wanted to protect Relena on the side as well—just in case a bomb appeared unexpectedly. If Relena were blown up, that would be a real problem.
The Gundam world could be very unreasonable at times; after all, there were branches where Amuro died in 0079.
With a butterfly like Tolle around, Relena suffering an accidental death wouldn't be surprising.
As she was about to notify her father that she was going out, she discovered the miniature timed bomb hidden inside the makeup mirror that Lady Une had deliberately left behind.
Tolle had the neo DG cell on Relena invade the timed bomb to inspect it; there were still a few minutes left. Controlling it, he let it return to Lady Une's hand—leaving at least ten seconds to spare.
Relena took it and hurried downstairs to find Lady Une. She handed the makeup-mirror timed bomb back to her, smiling and putting on a look that begged for praise as she asked,
"Excuse me, is this something you dropped?"
Lady Une looked shocked at the makeup-mirror timed bomb in Relena's hand, snatched it away, and bolted to the front of the hotel, tossing the timed bomb into Darlian's room.
The timed bomb exploded instantly; many officials were killed by Lady Une's bomb.
Relena, who had watched the explosion with her own eyes, could not believe what she was seeing. She struggled desperately out of the OZ soldiers' grasp and ran back to the hotel to check on her father.
Lady Une, watching Relena run into the hotel, said sternly,
"I was way too careless. Bring that little girl back to me; if she resists, kill her."
Then she pointed at Tolle and his group of six and continued,
"And bring those people to a secluded place for me; deal with them."
Tolle was speechless—this woman was ruthless. He hadn't provoked her; he'd only brushed her waist when he steadied her. Once she was stable he'd let go—how could that justify trying to kill him? This woman was vicious.
But he didn't want to reveal too much, so he exchanged a glance with Ange and the others.
They understood and each took care of an OZ soldier, knocking them down. Tolle grabbed Lady Une by the throat and was about to say something.
Numerous OZ soldiers hidden nearby then trained their assault rifles on Tolle's group of six.
With no choice, he held Lady Une in front of him as a human shield and shouted at the OZ soldiers,
"Let us go, now, or I'll kill her."
Lady Une laughed loudly in Tolle's arms and shouted at the OZ soldiers,
"Hahaha, you're dead for sure. OZ soldiers, don't bother with me—kill them and join her in death."
Tolle thought this woman was merciless, showing no mercy even to him; fortunately, the soldiers still hesitated.
Tolle signaled Ange and the others again; while forcefully throwing Lady Une toward the OZ soldiers, they scattered and fled.
As they ran, Tolle thought to himself, Brother Darlian, it's not that I didn't want to save you—it's just that I missed the vehicle that was going to rescue you to the resistance base.
If I had suddenly appeared at the resistance base with you resurrected, there would have been many things I couldn't explain.
There was nothing else he could do; he too had been captured and had to prioritize his own safety.
Meanwhile, members of the colony resistance appeared in the destroyed conference room and rescued Darlian and Relena.
On the way, Darlian told Relena before dying that she was not his biological daughter.
Her real name was Relena Peacecraft; she was actually the princess of the Sanc Kingdom, which had been destroyed long ago and had always advocated pacifism.
Darlian had only been one of the elders loyal to the Sanc Kingdom. Later, the kingdom was exterminated by the Earth Sphere Unified Nation.
He had fled with the young Relena and publicly declared her his daughter. After admonishing Relena not to trust OZ's people, he passed away.
Grieving, Relena was knocked unconscious by the resistance and taken to their base. When she woke and saw her father's corpse, her pain was unbearable.
At that moment, a television beside her broadcast an interview statement released by OZ's forces; shamelessly, Lady Une pinned the entire assassination on the resistance.
They even hung Tolle's image on the screen, declaring him the mastermind and executor of the series of incidents and accusing him of abducting Foreign Affairs Officer Darlian and Miss Relena.
The special forces issued a large reward for information leading to the capture of the six of them, asking the public to provide any leads and intelligence to assist in the arrest.
The resistance members were furious at OZ's slander, but Relena angrily turned on them and said,
"Don't be so full of yourselves. If you hadn't taken my father to the hospital, you're the ones who killed him. Even my friends are suffering because of you, being framed as murderers."
Faced with Relena's condemnation, the resistance members could only bow their heads and apologize helplessly.
While they were apologizing, Relena seized one of their pistols. Blinded by rage, she finally dropped any saintly pretense; she raised the gun and said to the resistance members,
"I want revenge. I know who did it—those OZ people killed my father, right?"
The resistance tried to dissuade her.
"Don't be stupid. If you go for revenge you'll be hunted. They'll kill you."
"So what? I'm not afraid to die!" Her mind filled with memories of being with Heero, and she couldn't help but call out, "Heero."
At that moment, Dr. J—the creator of the Wing Gundam and Heero's guardian—appeared behind Relena, walking with a cane, and said,
"Are you speaking of Heero? Is the Heero you mean the young pilot Heero Yuy?"
Hearing Heero's name, Relena was drawn in and immediately relaxed; the resistance members took the opportunity to restrain her.
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