The visiting delegation had not entered Orb in secret.
The entire world was watching to see how Orb would receive them and what assistance it might offer.
If nearly the entire delegation were killed before Orb's banquet even ended, especially when they had previously enjoyed such a benevolent reputation, the incident would plunge Orb into a devastating political storm.
Fortunately, Lacus had managed to glimpse several of Aura Maha Khyber's secrets before the woman died.
They were secrets steeped in sin. As long as Lacus could find evidence to substantiate them, she could expose Aura Maha Khyber's hypocrisy to the entire world.
For now, however, Lacus was more concerned about Aura's final words.
That single warning had left her inexplicably uneasy.
Had Aura anticipated that the operation might fail and prepared some kind of contingency plan?
Furthermore, this feeling of unease had never truly left Lacus since the night she abruptly awakened.
She had been unable to shake it.
Aura's warning had simply stirred that lingering anxiety and magnified it once again.
"Lacus, don't you think you might be worrying too much?"
Cagalli tried to reassure her. Lacus had told her about the strange unease she felt, as if some terrible event were about to occur.
"It might not be needless worry," Kain said. "It could be some kind of intuition related to her abilities as an Accord."
They still did not possess complete information about what Accords truly were.
Even the movie had not explained everything.
Furthermore, Lacus's nature as an Accord might differ from the Accords created through Aura Maha Khyber's technology.
Lacus had undergone genetic modification by her mother. Since the two scientists might have used different technology, there was no telling whether Lacus possessed additional abilities that had yet to awaken.
Kain suspected that her persistent sense of unease might be a form of precognition.
"Come to think of it, you said this feeling suddenly appeared after you woke up in the middle of the night, right?" Cagalli asked. "That could mean something happened around that time. We can start our investigation there."
As she offered the suggestion, her hands were already moving across a computer keyboard.
She began searching the internet for reports of unusual incidents anywhere in the world during that period.
Of course, not every incident could be discovered through an online search.
Cagalli therefore sent a message directly to her father, asking Orb's intelligence agencies to compile any classified or unusual events that had occurred around that time.
"Did something happen that night?" Lacus asked.
"Maybe. If we show you enough information about what happened, one of the incidents might trigger a reaction. Then we'll have somewhere to begin our investigation."
Lacus fell silent as she listened to Cagalli, who was still focused on the laptop.
During that period, she had witnessed something extremely difficult to explain.
Could her unease really be connected to that?
Lacus could not understand how the two might be related.
Mr. Kain certainly would not be the source of anything ominous...
Wait.
Could the problem have originated with Miss Murrue?
Could Murrue somehow trigger a crisis?
After all, Murrue was now an extremely important figure. She possessed the authorization required to unlock the Ho 229 fighter, the Knightmare Frame, and several types of specialized ammunition.
Of course, Lacus did not believe Murrue would betray them.
Perhaps something would happen to her instead.
Maybe Aura Maha Khyber had left another Accord behind who could seize control of Murrue and use her to take revenge.
"Miss Murrue, perhaps this is connected to you."
"What? To me?"
Murrue pointed at herself in bewilderment. She could not understand how she had suddenly become involved.
"Yes. That night, I noticed you and Mr. Kain..."
Lacus abruptly stopped speaking.
She had nearly forgotten that this was not something she could openly reveal.
"Lacus? Why did you stop?"
Cagalli looked up from the laptop and raised an eyebrow.
Her gaze shifted toward Murrue, who had suddenly started acting strangely. Her face was inexplicably turning red.
That night had been while Cagalli was asleep. Lacus had apparently awakened after midnight and seen Kain and Captain Murrue doing something together.
"Miss Murrue, what were you doing with him that night?"
Cagalli pressed her for an answer.
Murrue remained silent, but her expression grew even more unnatural. She refused to meet Cagalli's eyes and looked distinctly guilty.
Cagalli narrowed her eyes and examined her with even greater suspicion.
"Lacus, why do you think Murrue is involved?" Kain asked.
He could not understand why Lacus had decided Murrue was the source of her unease.
Unless it was that kind of unease.
For example, if a woman liked a man and then discovered that he had become more than friends with another woman, she might naturally feel insecure about losing him.
But assuming that was what Lacus felt would make Kain seem rather full of himself.
Did Lacus truly like him?
When they received Aura's delegation, Lacus had seemingly used him as a shield against that blond man's advances.
At the same time, she had sounded entirely sincere.
Afterward, however, Lacus continued treating him exactly as she always had. That made it seem as though her confession had merely been an act to deal with the situation.
Normally, after a girl sincerely confessed her feelings, there would be at least some change in how she behaved around the person she loved.
This left Kain deeply conflicted.
Of all the women he had met so far, Lacus was the one he found most difficult to understand.
Claiming that he was not attracted to a woman as beautiful as Lacus would be an outright lie.
Yet his feelings for her were somewhat different from the attraction he had felt toward other women.
On second thought, there was one woman who inspired something similar in him: Aerith from Final Fantasy VII.
With women like them, he was deeply afraid that he might hurt or taint them.
It was similar to how certain novels described a man meeting a goddess of such overwhelming purity that he could not bring himself to desire her. Instead, he felt ashamed of himself for ever entertaining such thoughts.
He did not want women so pure and immaculate to be sullied.
As for why he had ultimately crossed that line with Aerith, she had entered the deepest layers of his consciousness and deliberately provoked him, breaking apart the cage he had painstakingly constructed around the beast of his desires.
Later, when Aerith offered herself to him as a Christmas present in the real world, the beast was already free. How could he possibly have restrained it again?
Of course, Kain was not trying to excuse himself or evade responsibility by claiming Aerith shared some of the blame.
From beginning to end, he had simply been a shameless bastard.
If someone gained the power to travel into fictional worlds while also possessing enough strength to protect themselves, very few people would never entertain the same idea: building a harem.
Some might even lose control of their desires. As the morals and ethics of their former reality gradually lost their hold, they might begin using any means available to collect beautiful women.
The main reasons ordinary people did not act that way in reality were simple. They lacked power, and aside from their own morals, they were restrained by the law.
Kain's refusal to actively pursue women until now had also been deeply hypocritical.
He waited for them to approach him first.
That allowed him to feel less guilty. He could tell himself that he had not been the one who took the initiative and corrupted them.
That was how despicable he truly was.
Returning to the matter at hand, Lacus was exactly the kind of woman he secretly hoped would take the initiative, yet also feared would do so.
Yuriko Takagi, Saya Takagi's mother, had once told him that something was wrong with his outlook. He treated life like a game because he was too afraid to invest genuine emotion in it.
Aerith had already torn a massive hole through that delicate balance.
If Lacus damaged it even further, the pressure on him would only continue to grow. He would no longer be able to keep running away.
Then he would begin to fear death.
It was like someone who loved dangerous extreme sports and spent every day chasing the next thrill, only for his girlfriend to suddenly tell him she was pregnant.
That news would force him to realize he could no longer live so recklessly. He had real responsibilities now, so he would begin to fear death and stop risking his life on dangerous stunts.
Lacus might drag Kain back into the reality he had been avoiding and force him to take his relationships seriously.
That was the contradiction within him.
He did not possess the strong heart Lacus and the others imagined he had.
He was no hero.
He was merely a hypocritical coward.
"I think Murrue may be approached by another Accord who is still at large," Lacus explained. "They might take control of her and force her to carry out some unknown objective."
She paused before adding, "Of course, this is only a feeling. It may not actually happen. Still, Miss Murrue, it would be best if you stayed close to Mr. Kain for the next few days."
"Cagalli and Stella should do the same. Everyone should remain together and within sight of one another. Once Miss A2 finishes constructing the large-scale device, we should be safe."
They only needed to wait until A2 completed a device capable of covering a much wider area.
Once finished, it could envelop Orb's capital, perhaps even the entire country.
If any Accords within Orb attempted to manipulate people's minds after that, the interference would cause them excruciating headaches.
Lacus knew this because she had personally experienced the effect.
Furthermore, not everyone in Aura Maha Khyber's delegation had died. A pair of sisters had survived, though the egg-shaped device's interference had rendered both of them unconscious.
Lacus herself did not need to worry too much. The ring she wore could shield her from the disruptive waves, almost as though it had placed her on the defensive system's whitelist.
As for the ring's limited battery capacity, A2 could upgrade it.
If that was still insufficient, she could create a bracelet instead, which would remain operational for much longer.
Besides, the large-scale device did not need to remain active at all times. They could simply use it to perform irregular sweeps, much like running an antivirus scan.
Moreover, Lacus had personally used her Accord...
(End of Chapter)
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