About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

Tallulah pinched the tip of Orson's nose.

"Eh, ehhhh? T-Tallulah-sister!?"

Realizing that the Tallulah in front of him was not an illusion, Orson wanted to get up from the bed in confusion, but was pushed back onto the bed by Tallulah.

"Um...what's going on, Sister Tazi?"

Orson was still a little confused about the situation.

"What do you mean, Orson?"

Tallulah gently stroked Orson's bangs, her tone calm and gentle.

"Everything—why are you here, Sister Tazi? What happened to me? How much time has passed? Where is this…"

"Calm down, Orson, you've been so tense."

"—"

Tallulah held Orson's cheeks with both hands and gently pressed their foreheads together.

"Have you calmed down?"

After a while, Tallulah let go of her hand and raised her head, asking Orson with some warmth on her cheeks.

"……Uh-huh."

Orson was vague in his words. He couldn't say that he was more panicked now, although it was a panic of another level.

"Anyway, I arrived in Che City with Alina after receiving your communication. Considering the old aristocratic forces' spies, I went directly to the Rostov family. Thanks to the help of the head of the family, my identity and information have not been exposed yet."

"Alina too?"

"Well, it's just that she has other things to do... Don't look at me like that, I tried to persuade her, but..."

"Instead, you were persuaded by Alina?"

When Orson saw Tallulah's appearance, he had a rough idea of what was going on.

"Well... Alina said she couldn't stay hidden in the shelter forever. She chose to follow me, not because she wanted to be protected."

Tallulah sighed. Although she had the ability to inspire people, she was always easily controlled by Alina.

"After all, she is Alina..." Orson said to Sister Li.

"As for you, Orson. You were unconscious for about ten hours due to extreme mental fatigue. Someone who called himself Azazel brought you back to the Rostov family. This is the medical room."

"Azazel... Um, I'm sorry, Sister Talulah, I couldn't convince Mr. Hellagur, and I—"

"Orson!"

"Alas!?"

Tallulah suddenly called out Orson's name seriously, which scared the latter.

"Promise me you won't push yourself anymore—no, I know you definitely won't do that...then at least take a good rest once in a while, okay?"

"……Ok, I know."

Tallulah stared at Orson with her eyes, which forced Orson to become serious and respond to Tallulah seriously.

"I understand that you've been overdrawing your body in order to make my dream come true - but this is not what I want, Orson. No matter what obstacles we encounter, we must overcome them together, so don't force yourself anymore."

"Sister Tallulah..."

Orson looked at Tallulah, feeling a little guilty and a little touched.

"Okay, then, let's talk about [engagement], [confession], and [going to school together], okay?"

After receiving a satisfactory reply, Tallulah smiled and approached Orson.

The air suddenly became extremely tense - this is a statement.

“Ah… ahahaha, um--well… there are various reasons… Anyway, on my side—”

"Orson! Are you awake?!"

Before Orson could explain, the person involved, Zaolu, appeared in front of the infirmary door.

“——” “——”

Because Tallulah had been hidden by the head of the Rostov family, this was the first time Zaolu and Tallulah met.

"You must be Miss Natalia, right? I'm Tallulah, the leader of the Reunion Movement, and also Orson's—older sister."

Tallulah was stunned for a moment when she saw Zaolu, but she quickly recognized the noble lady, stood up and greeted her with a smile.

"Huh?" Orson was stunned. How come he unlocked Tallulah's new nickname just after being on a business trip for a few days?

"My dear elder sister——"

This self-proclaimed title made both Orson and Zaolu blink, but Zaolu quickly adjusted her mood and responded with a smile.

"Nice to meet you. I am Natalia, the heiress of the Rostov family. I am also the guardian promised by Orson."

"Eh?"

Orson once again sounded completely confused about the situation. He was just a security guard, so why did the title become so fancy?

"I see. You're still underage, so you don't understand the power of the word 'promise'. It's best not to use it with others casually—especially in matters like marriage."

Although Tallulah still had a smile on her face, her overall demeanor was as serious as if she was about to go to war.

"Marriage—ahem, please don't worry about it. I know very well the burden these words carry, and I don't need your instruction, Auntie."

"Ah, Auntie...? You're so bold."

Tallulah, who was indeed the oldest among those present, took two steps back at the address, but she shook her head and pushed forward again, confronting Zaolu head-on to start round 2.

"Oh my, this is youth."

When Zaolu's father, the culprit, saw this scene, he leaned against the door of the infirmary and sighed.

----

After the farce of Orson's awakening and Tallulah's early encounter ended, everyone sat at the table in the conference room and began to discuss the next steps.

"I've already spread the only trump card I have—Duke Baikal's bill and evidence of several political assassinations. This information can probably hold him back for another three or four days, but his revenge after that will be absolutely devastating."

The head of the Rostov family released some shameful evidence about Duke Baikal a few days ago. Although this allowed him to temporarily not worry about the entry of the army, once Baikal completed the blockade of the information, the other party would definitely lose patience completely.

"So the outcome will be decided within these few days?"

Tallulah lowered her head in thought, while Orson, who had bear claw marks and fire marks on his body, raised his hand and asked.

"Master Andre, can you use your authority to allow residents of the northern border to migrate here unhindered? While their numbers may not be large, they are still a considerable force. As for the infected people in Qie City... Honestly, I don't want to mobilize that general again."

"General Hellagur... Even I was a little surprised to hear his name here, but if he no longer has the will to fight, then he shouldn't be counted as a fighting force."

Tallulah frowned and said, then looked at the head of the Rostov family.

"The Reunion Movement can help you, Marquis Rostov, but only if you swear by your bloodline and family that you will provide shelter and assistance to those in the North, both ordinary people and those infected."

"I swear, I've actually found a way to deal with the infected and the civilians of the North. If we survive, you'll know then."

Zaolu's father stood up very formally and walked to Tallulah, knelt on one knee and bowed his head to swear to her.

An adult was kneeling in front of a young girl. Although the scene was a bit strange, no one, including Zaolu, felt anything was "strange".

Draco, who had "unrealistic dreams", now has the power to let people glimpse her leadership aura.

"Then, the Reunion Movement officially joins the Rostov family's camp—oh, there's one more thing."

Tallulah nodded to the Rostov family head, and then thought of something.

"Cancel that weird engagement for me!"

Tallulah, who had just been acting like a leader, lost her composure in an instant. She was a little embarrassed but still firmly proposed this additional condition.

As for Zaolu, although she also agreed to cancel the engagement that was inexplicably forced upon her by her cheap father, when she really heard these words, she felt an inexplicable feeling in her heart.

After the meeting, Orson and Tallulah left the meeting room early, while Zaolu looked at the sky outside the window in silence.

——Even though my family has already officially come to a showdown with Duke Baikal, why am I... thinking about such strange things at this moment?

After hesitating for a while, Zaolu shook her head fiercely, stood up and walked towards Orson's room.

"Orson? There's something I want to—eh?"

Zaolu was about to knock on the door, but it opened by itself because it wasn't locked. Behind the door, Zaolu opened her eyes wide at the scene before her:

The leader of the Reunion Movement named Tallulah lay on the bed with her eyes slightly closed, while Orson lay beside her, also breathing shallowly.

"Stupid, stupid idiot Orson! This is too indecent!"

Zaolu rushed out with a red face.

"Hmm...huh?"

After Zaolu left, Orson got up from the bed in a daze, staring at the open door in front of him with some confusion and bewilderment.

"Didn't I close the door... Well, anyway, Sister Tazi, how did it turn out?"

Orson looked at Tallulah, who had also woken up. The latter got up from the bed and nodded while combing her hair to indicate that it was okay.

At the same time, within the consciousness field of the "Immortal Black Snake".

Kosice sat alone on the throne, playing with the "Queen" chess piece in his hand.

"What a surprising proposal, Tallulah. Have you really changed so much just because of that half-developed, brainless idiot, a single cell covered in human skin, whose every word is meaningless nonsense and whose behavior lacks a single iota of logic?"

Koschei became more and more angry as he thought about it, so he threw the queen chess piece in his hand aside and calmed himself down by looking up prime numbers.

"Then let me see, my daughter. If you insist on continuing on this unacceptable, Ikaros-like, self-destructive path—at least, let me witness the moment you and your dreams completely fall."

Kosice stood up from the throne and walked to the table where Tallulah had just sat, and suddenly found an envelope left on it.

[Although I want to smash your face into pieces every time we meet, you and Sister Tazi will probably be bound together for a long time. In that case, you should get along well with each other. This envelope contains a gift from me. Perhaps it will allow you to experience the sealed emotions of being a "father."]

"Fools sometimes behave this way."

Kosice raised his eyebrows and cut open the envelope that Orson had left in his consciousness, then took out from it the manifestation of the object that Orson had extracted from his consciousness - it was a strange carrier called a "CD".

It says [American Volkswagen Golf 2]

"...?"

Kosice held the CD in his hand. Although he didn't understand it very well, he always felt that he was being bullied by that little brat Orson again.

47. Picking up a cockroach while walking

In a remote residential area somewhere in Chernobyl, a Sarkaz mercenary, a cockroach-haired girl codenamed W, sat on a table with a pile of weapons and explosives, silently looking at a photo in her hand that had obvious signs of wear and tear and seemed to be a selfie.

If Orson were here, he would definitely be shocked by the scene in front of him, because W, who almost always had a smirk on his face, was silent and expressionless at this moment.

After carefully putting away the faded photo, W assembled the fuse for the explosive while reading today's mission briefing.

Duke Baikal has been troubled by the sudden scandal recently, and the army stationed in Che City has no energy to deploy or divert resources. But instead, Duke Baikal has issued several tasks to the Sarkaz mercenaries. It seems that the other party has finally decided to completely eradicate the Rostov family.

The mercenary captain, Garson, will be responsible for the decapitation of the head of the Rostov family, while W and her team's mission is to seize control of the port of Che.

W himself received a stealth sabotage mission with only 4 people.

It was a very common act to stop the leakage of information, but W always felt that something was wrong.

"W, action will begin in 25 minutes."

The door of the safe house was pushed open, and a Sarkaz walked into the room. At the same time, W's usual relaxed smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, as if he was planning some sinister trick.

"I see. So, how do you feel about wreaking havoc in a strange city?"

W asked the mercenary with a smile.

"It's nothing, we're just carrying out our mission."

"...Haha, that's right, I should have known this would be the answer."

The opponent's cold and mechanical response made W show an impatient expression.

"W, you're too idealistic. I know you hope to see the Sarkaz die not as expendable war products, but as 'named people.' But the whole world thinks we are the face of war and oripathy. How do you plan to change that?"

The mercenary's words made W's pupils widen.

"Idealism? Hahaha! I'll be called that someday too. That's so funny."