[If we reach 100 Power Stones this week, I'll release 10 bonus chapters as a thank-you to everyone's support!]
....
"So… what you said before," Annie began slowly, her tone flat but her eyes searching, "about my father dying in the process of resisting the government… You mean the government was conducting experiments in the internment zone, and he was discovered? My father resisted… and they beat him to death?"
Her voice trembled on the last words.
Zeke nodded gravely, without hesitation. "Yeah. That's what happened."
Inwardly, he smirked. No matter what you imagine now, Annie, it doesn't matter.
As long as it drives despair deeper into your heart, it's true enough.
Annie bit her lip, turning away, but she said nothing more.
Beside her, Bertolt let out a shaky breath. "Then… I'm the only one who died early? I didn't even live to see the Rumbling?" His voice was high and thin, almost childish. "I died here, on the island, because we failed our mission… right?"
"Yeah." Zeke's reply was the same, calm and certain.
Bertolt's lips quivered. For a long moment he sat silent, then his brows knit together. "…Wait. If our mission failed, then how could the Founding Titan ever have been brought back to Marley?"
His eyes widened. "Isn't that impossible?!"
Zeke coughed into his hand, forcing composure. "Ahem. That's because you failed, yes. But later, the government sent Pieck and me to the island. We succeeded in taking the Founder back. That's how I know where it's hidden this time." His face stayed smooth, his tone steady, his eyes full of sincerity. "Because we visited it in our previous life."
"Oh…" Bertolt's voice trailed into relief. His anxiety seemed to lift, replaced by an almost naïve smile. "Then… if my father also turned into a Titan, he wouldn't need treatment anymore, right?
He wouldn't be sick. He could live forever, right?"
Zeke froze. His golden eyes flicked toward the boy.
This guy… really? Even in despair, he finds a way to twist it into optimism?
But he couldn't allow such delusions.
"No," Zeke said sharply, his tone slicing through Bertolt's fragile hope. "You think too much. You failed your mission, so the government stopped paying your father's medical fees. That's why he died of illness—not long after you."
Bertolt's face collapsed.
His eyes glassed over, his jaw fell slack, and all color drained away. He stared down at the floorboards as if the earth itself had betrayed him.
Of course, Zeke knew the truth: in the previous life, Bertolt's father had continued to receive government subsidies until the end of his days.
But the truth was irrelevant. What mattered was control.
After all, Zeke thought with a wry curl of his lips, what is truth compared to despair?
Silence weighed heavy in the carriage until Zeke leaned forward, curiosity flickering. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask—when did you start doubting me? I thought I had treated you well all this time. Why betray me, act on your own?"
None of the three answered immediately. The shame of betrayal hung between them, suffocating. Finally, Annie exhaled slowly and said,
"You told us your parents were undercover agents sent by Marley. That should mean both were human. But the woman we met here was clearly not your mother. When I asked you privately, I called her your father's 'new wife.' You didn't deny it. And… How could undercover agents risk marrying and having children here? It didn't add up. So we thought the whole story about Grisha was made up."
Zeke blinked, genuinely surprised. "That's it? That's the reason?"
He had expected his slip-ups, his strange knowledge, to have exposed him. Instead, it was something so trivial. So I really overestimated myself, huh?
He sighed, shoulders sagging as if finally yielding.
"Grisha's story was true. But my mother wasn't spared. She was injected with spinal fluid, turned into a Pure Titan. That's the fate she met."
The words slipped from him as casually as one might comment on the weather.
"In order to conceal his identity as an outsider, my father married again, had children here, and blended into local society."
"Oh…" Annie and Bertolt exchanged glances. Their expressions softened, and they seemed to accept his explanation without further question.
Naïve brats, Zeke thought, though his face showed only weariness.
He sighed again, heavier this time. "I've been honest with you from the start. Aside from hiding my identity as a 'reborn,' I've told no lies. If you had only listened to me—if you had just waited until dawn—everything could have been avoided. We would have proceeded to the next step safely."
Annie lowered her head, guilt flooding her pale face. "Yes… I'm sorry, Captain."
Bertolt swallowed hard. "The Survey Corps was set to arrive at dawn. We were afraid their arrival would ruin our plans. That's why we carried out the wall-breaking early."
Zeke chuckled under his breath, shaking his head. "So that's it, huh?"
Bertolt looked uneasy. "Captain… what's wrong? Why are you smiling like that?"
"Nothing." Zeke leaned back, folding his arms.
Just that you don't realize what your decision cost. In the last life, breaching the wall during the day gave people a chance to run. This time, you attacked at night. Families were devoured in their sleep. Twice the corpses, twice the screams. If you knew this truth, guilt would eat you alive.
But we're on the same team. No point breaking you further. Not yet.
His dark musings were cut short when Reiner suddenly slammed his fist onto the carriage floor.
His eyes blazed, and his voice shook with fury.
"I don't believe it!" he roared. "I don't believe the people on this island are just… ordinary! How can they live so happily, so ignorantly, while we suffer?! They're guilty! They forced the world to bear their sins, to bear us! That's why pitiful wretches like us were even born!"
His body shook, rage pouring out of every word.
"If it weren't for them, this world could be beautiful! We wouldn't have to live under hatred, under chains! On the other side of the sea, we're called devils every day, treated like dirt, cursed for sins we didn't commit! And yet here—" He pointed wildly, spittle flying. "Here, they laugh. They smile. They live innocent lives as if they did nothing wrong! Tell me, Captain! How can I look at them and not call them demons?!"
His chest heaved.
His voice cracked on the last shout.
"Captain!" Reiner's eyes burned into Zeke's. "I'm disappointed—to see them living happily like this!"
The carriage fell silent again, the only sound the rattling of wheels and Reiner's ragged breathing.
And Zeke… only smiled faintly, as if this was the answer he had been waiting for.