"Arcturus and Juliana—what happened between them?"
As Augustus spoke, the servants of House ngsk began setting the dining table with silverware and dishes full of food. Lisa was busy reminding Harnack and Zander to mind their table manners, lest they embarrass the lieutenant.
"..." Ailin Pasteur was a seasoned politician, always composed and patient regardless of his emotions. But now, he was visibly struggling to contain his irritation. "No... I once swore to keep that secret."
"A secret?" Augustus fixed his gaze on Ailin’s lancholy blue eyes. "What kind of secret would make you so angry, so hostile toward Arcturus?"
"I don’t like prying into others’ secrets. But this concerns my brother. I have so guesses..."
Ailin looked at Augustus with doubt, not believing he could have guessed anything aningful.
"Ten years ago—or perhaps even longer—Juliana visited Korhal. She ca with you, as I recall," Augustus said, his tone reflective. "Ever since then, I rember Arcturus would regularly receive letters from her, sent from Umoja. And every ti, he would write a reply."
"My parents knew nothing of it. Dorothy was just a little girl back then—still innocent and oblivious. But I still rember, because Arcturus never bothered to hide anything from ."
"Their pen-pal relationship lasted until Arcturus enlisted. And I’m convinced that even after he entered the military, they didn’t stop writing to each other."
"That’s right," Ailin nodded. "After Juliana returned to Umoja from that visit, she kept writing to soone—I didn’t know who at first. Even three years later, she was still writing, even though the other party had grown distant and indifferent." Ailin took a deep breath. Back then, he had too many responsibilities. By the ti he realized Juliana had already fallen too deep, it was too late.
There were no sweet nothings, no sappy love confessions. The letters between them were composed, even ordinary.
In the beginning, Juliana only wrote to ask how Arcturus was doing. But the sharp-minded Arcturus quickly realized the girl had feelings for him—so he wrote back.
In his replies, Arcturus painted himself as a man of grand ambitions and bold ideals—a fearless hero. Through lines laced with philosophical musings and poetic turns of phrase, he conveyed a deep and piercing understanding of the world. In Juliana’s mind, these letters crafted the image of a perfect man.
Of course, that wasn’t all. Arcturus ngsk was strong, handso, and undeniably charismatic—traits that proved irresistibly dangerous to a young and inexperienced girl like Juliana.
"Juliana was beautiful—she embodied the very ideal that a Terran man might imagine when dreaming of Umojan won," Augustus continued. "I know Arcturus truly liked her. But I’m not sure he ever intended to give himself fully to a relationship."
Augustus began peeling back the layers of his elder brother.
"In my mory, Arcturus never sought to build a family. He craved the warmth of won, yes—but maybe, just like so many other things in his life, it was more about proving that he could succeed at sothing he’d never done before. And once he succeeded without much resistance, that initial passion would soon fade." Augustus noticed Ailin’s expression gradually contorting.
"Before Juliana, Arcturus had never experienced a real romance."
"That damn bastard—Arcturus ngsk..." Ailin clenched his fists, wanting to curse more, but restrained himself at the thought of his beloved grandson. "So that’s it? To him, it was just so stupid ga to prove his charm? Or was he just trying to bed a pretty, unmarried girl?"
Augustus could understand the anger. If his own precious daughter had suddenly fallen pregnant, out of wedlock, with the father nowhere to be seen for seven or eight years—he’d be furious too.
My foolish brother... don’t bla for this.
"You need to tell what really happened." Augustus knocked on the table. "A secret? If Juliana was deceived, then there’s no reason for you to keep hiding the truth for her. The longer this drags on, the deeper the hurt she’ll suffer."
Ailin was anxious and furious. If Arcturus were standing in front of him right now, he would have twisted his neck without hesitation.
"Forget it, forget it. I was already planning to tell Arcturus in a few months anyway. No matter how much Juliana begged not to, I don’t want to keep this secret any longer." Ailin sighed again, though this ti, a trace of relief appeared on his face. "Your brother never told you he has a seven-year-old son—because he doesn’t know it himself."
"...What?" Augustus looked stunned. "How could sothing like that happen?"
"I only found out when Juliana’s belly began to show." The wrinkles on Ailin’s face seed to deepen in that mont. "I asked her the sa thing—how could sothing like this happen?"
"It must’ve been late in the year 2480. Juliana took a trip to Tyrador IX—a newly popular resort planet. Damn it, I thought she just needed to clear her mind, but later her bodyguard told she had gone to et Arcturus," Ailin said.
"They happened to get caught in a rebel ambush—an attack on so vacationing Federal Marines. Arcturus ended up playing the hero who saved the damsel in distress. Damn lucky bastard."
"This is all my fault. I was a failure as a father..."
"And so, from there... one thing led to another." Augustus took a glass of fine red wine from a maid in a white dust cap and took a few sips. "What’s the child’s na?"
"Valerian. It ans ’brave’." Ailin gradually cald down. Augustus could tell he was fond of the child.
"Sounds like the na of a Roman emperor," Augustus said, gently swirling the wine in his glass. "So, Juliana gave birth to the boy and raised him—while keeping his father completely in the dark."
"What was that woman thinking?" he asked, a trace of anger surfacing. "I can already imagine how Arcturus will react when he hears about this. He’s missed his son’s entire childhood—missed the years when a boy first starts to form his worldview. And now, Arcturus isn’t even prepared to take on the role or responsibility of being a father."
"Juliana wholeheartedly believed in Arcturus’s self-aggrandizing words. She thought he was pursuing so great cause that couldn’t allow distractions. She even worried that if he learned the truth while on the battlefield, it might disturb his mind and get him killed." Ailin let out a bitter, self-deprecating laugh. "She’s still just a girl—naive, full of fantasy. Just like her mother, who passed away long ago... Juliana is willful, stubborn, and impossible to grasp—like a drifting cloud."
"But now that the Guild Wars is over, I think there’s no reason to keep this secret any longer."
At that, Augustus quickly downed the rest of his wine, as if he’d just made an important decision.
"My mother will be thrilled to learn she suddenly has a grandson," Augustus said. "She’ll definitely go to Umoja to see Valerian."
"Angus needs his family now more than ever... and Catherine leaving at a ti like this—" Ailin frowned.
"No. She must go to Umoja," Augustus cut in firmly, staring at Ailin with a tone that left no room for doubt—like a command issued in the military. "Dorothy will go as well."
"My father only needs by his side."
"I want you to make the arrangents personally. The ship and its personnel—only the most trustworthy. From boarding to takeoff to the landing on Umoja, everything must remain secret," he said.
"The ngsk family will officially announce that they’ve gone to Tyrador IX. Of course, there will be two won—surgically altered to perfectly resemble them in face and build—boarding a ship to the Tyrador system. We’ll even buy out that day’s UNN headline column."
...
When Augustus’s mother, Katherine ngsk, heard the news, she had just been about to announce the start of the banquet and declare to everyone the safe return of her youngest son.
She was utterly shocked—Augustus witnessed, for the first ti, an array of emotions flash across her face in rapid succession: blank disbelief, astonishnt, anger, and joy.
"You’re telling Arcturus has a son? When did this happen? Why didn’t he tell ? What’s the girl’s na? Where are they now? How old is the child? Show a photo!" Katherine collapsed into her chair, and after that initial shock, she suddenly fired off a barrage of questions at Augustus.
"I have a little nephew?" Dorothy, who had been sitting beside their mother, perked up. She was no longer the naive little girl she used to be.
"Big Brother, do you think he’d like the dresses you used to wear?"
Just as Augustus was opening his personal terminal, it felt as though an arrow had pierced straight through his chest. He wanted to remind his sister that he hadn’t worn dresses in years—but saying that out loud didn’t sound quite right either.
So he simply pretended not to hear it and pulled up a photo sent by Ailin, displaying it for their mother. "Rember Juliana, the daughter of the Pasteur family? This is Arcturus’s child with her—Valerian."
"That’s a good na. Valerian. And he really does look like ." Katherine was no longer angry; she looked at the photo of Valerian with joy in her eyes.
"Let see too!" Dorothy squeezed in from behind her brother.
In the image was a little blonde boy, dressed in black overalls and a shirt, playing in the creek at the Pasteur estate. Valerian had soft, milky-white skin. Like Augustus, he had prominent cheekbones, a sharp aquiline nose, and the signature cold gray eyes of the ngsk family. His shoulder-length blonde hair was neatly tied into an adorable little ponytail.
Augustus noticed that, though still a child, Valerian’s body seed frailer than most kids his age. His arms were overly slender, with barely any muscle on them. His delicate appearance lacked the sturdy, mischievous vigor that Arcturus had displayed as a boy.
He almost looked... like a little girl.
"He also resembles Angus," Katherine said. "When Valerian furrows his brows, he looks exactly like his grandfather."
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