Kilger Harbor, No. 6-66, Lower District.
Hayes sat on a solid wooden stool and began questioning his life.
Since when had my luck been this good?
Why had I spent so long painstakingly laying plans, only for none of them to be needed?
And yet everything worked out anyway?
Why?
Hayes asked himself.
Pfft!
Beside him, the disguised Manta burst out laughing.
She had never seen Hayes like this.
He was just so...
Cute!
Sorry, Manta knew it was rude to describe a gentleman as cute, but Hayes's bewildered, incredulous expression, tinged with just a little joy at his success, was simply too adorable.
If Miss West Berlin hadn't been there, she would have hugged Hayes and kissed him right then.
Anne Otto von West Berlin, however, sighed helplessly.
As Jimte's fiancée, Annie had volunteered to take part in this operation-without Jimte's knowledge, she had left her hiding place and sought out Hayes herself.
Why?
To prove her worth, of course.
Jimte loved her.
She knew that.
But precisely because of that, she wanted all the more to make herself worthy of his love.
Although the books she had read said love was selfless.
But,
Love wasn't about endlessly taking.
Selflessness came from both sides giving together. If one side only took, then that love had long since been twisted into... a slave contract.
At the time, Annie had recalled a scene she had witnessed long ago-
A man had married for the sake of so-called love, pouring out his entire family's savings across three generations to "build a nest" for love, to "show off" for love, and to "throw a banquet" for love.
Then, after accepting everything, the woman had left him to "pursue true love" because she had discovered they weren't compatible.
In the end, the man had