Several days passed, and the Earth Force fleet drew ever closer to the PLANT homeland. Under Siegel's leadership, PLANT had continued seeking opportunities to communicate with the Earth Force internationally, but the Earth Force gave no response at all. Yet no matter what Siegel did, Patrick remained actively preparing for battle. Even Lacus, PLANT's foremost songstress, had not been able to rest these past few days, broadcasting her songs to the ears of every person in PLANT and bringing spiritual comfort to those gripped by the fear of war.
Just like Cruze. Although he had clearly committed an act of betrayal before, Patrick had deliberately chosen to ignore it in the end, acting as though nothing had happened. He neither gave Cruze any orders nor made any move to arrest him, as if he regarded Cruze as Xiao Ran's representative. He neither interfered nor asked questions. Until the Earth Force fleet was about to reach the front lines, Siegel and Patrick once again appeared before Xiao Ran together.
Xiao Ran and the three girls had been staying at Siegel's mansion for several days. The girls were not entirely idle most of the time, almost always spending their time with Lacus. Instead, Xiao Ran and Lacus had met so few times over those days that they could be counted on one hand.
It was the garden glasshouse again. Siegel seemed to enjoy discussing matters there, but it had to be said that the glasshouse in the garden of Klein Mansion truly had a pleasant atmosphere.
The three sat down in a triangular arrangement. This time, there were no other idlers besides them. Patrick looked exceptionally solemn, yet the impatience in his eyes was still plain to see. Siegel, meanwhile, wore a bitter expression with his brows tightly furrowed.
Before Xiao Ran