I! Cleaner!

At this point, the elderly blue-haired man in the mirror hesitated slightly, then looked at his niece, whose expression was somewhat bewildered, and spoke gently:

"Melly, your 'battlefield' is not at the banquet, nor at the negotiation table or in the conference room. Like your mother, the front lines of humanity are where you truly belong."

Like my mother...

After murmuring this twice in her heart, the female Cleaner slightly opened her mouth, then closed it again, speaking in almost a whisper:

"But my mother in the end also..."

"Melly, although your mother didn't come back, her departure allowed many others to return alive. Her sacrifice was worthwhile."

The Aquarius Director in the mirror sighed, his expression a bit lonely:

"I understand, you and Harvey have always had some resentment towards our decision. Harvey even didn't speak to me for seven or eight years, but Melly, there are many things in this world that someone must do.

Moreover, you're not the only ones who've lost family. That future Aquarius Director, like you, lost their parents at a young age.

At the very least, you still have your father and me to take care of you. He didn't even have the right to grieve and had to immediately work hard to support his younger siblings. The reason he joined the Clean-up Bureau was that his sister was critically ill, and he had to volunteer himself..."

"What?"

After hearing about Leon's past from her great-uncle, the female Cleaner couldn't help but widen her eyes, saying with a sigh:

"Leon... did he really have such a tough life? He usually seems quite happy!"

"Real pain is not something that is spoken of."

The elderly blue-haired man in the mirror sighed.

"In any case, the reason he is more mature than you is that he had no choice but to mature. Although you have had some unfortunate experiences, you still have the right to innocence and even willfulness. If given a choice, he would probably want a complete family more than the maturity and talent you envy... Oh, right."

As he said this, the Aquarius Director seemed to think of something and instructed quite seriously:

"Melly, these things I've just told you, just keep it to yourself, don't mention it to anyone else, especially not in front of that future Aquarius Director."

"I won't."

The female Cleaner shook her head upon hearing this, then said with a face full of sympathy:

"It must have been difficult for Leon to escape his pain on his own. If I bring it up in front of him, it would definitely cause him discomfort."

"Not just discomfort..."

The Aquarius Director, hearing this, said somewhat helplessly:

"The reason I told you not to bring it up is because of the cause of his parents' death... the investigation report mentioned that his parents, both engineers, died in that war six years ago."

Six years ago, in the war?

Hearing what the Aquarius Director said, the female Cleaner couldn't help but be slightly stunned, then her eyes widened suddenly.

"Six years... wasn't that..."

"That was the last battle your father personally commanded before he could no longer move."

"..."

"So strictly speaking, the reason he lost his parents is closely related to what your father did back then."

Seeing the female Cleaner suddenly fall silent, her expression becoming extremely complex, the Aquarius Director in the mirror sighed again, offering gentle solace:

"Melly, you don't need to bear any psychological burden. Your father was not a bad person. Particularly for the Northern Kingdom, he might be the best King in nearly three hundred years.

However, like your brother Harvey, his goodness was only meaningful to the citizens of the Northern Kingdom. To the people of other countries, your father was the most ambitious and ruthless King of the Northern Kingdom."

The female Cleaner involuntarily clenched her palm upon hearing this, then bit her lip and asked:

"Then my father... was he right or wrong?"

"It's hard to say."

The elderly blue-haired man in the mirror shook his head, then opened his mouth to ask in return:

"Melly, what do you think is right? And what is wrong?"

"I..."

The female Cleaner thought for a moment, then said somewhat dejectedly:

"That war six years ago was an invasion, then a lot of people on both sides died, even Leon's parents, so... my father..."

"You think your father was wrong?"

"Uh-huh..."

"But did you know? In that war six years ago, although he was the aggressor, before that, the entire Northern Kingdom had been suffering from implicit extortion all along."

Recalling the situation back then, the Aquarius Director explained:

"Before your father fought that battle, the other side would use their geographic choke points and ice-free ports to periodically block the coal and food supplies to the Northern Kingdom, both of which are vital resources.

Remember, one of the most excessive years saw coal prices in Rehe City rise almost twentyfold, causing countless people in various tribes to freeze or starve to death. Do you still think that battle shouldn't have been fought?"

"I..."

"In your father's own words, the safety of any country cannot be built on another country's insecurity. And as the King of the Northern Kingdom, when faced with such a good opportunity, he had no choice but to resolve this grave threat to his nation."

After recounting a line from the female Cleaner's father, the elderly blue-haired man in the mirror continued:

"At that time, your father became ill from overwork, to the point where he could hardly eat anything, and as a fellow Glutton bloodline inheritor, you should know what that means for you."