No Substitutes for the Bigshots' Dream Girl Anymore!-Chapter 1612: Interested

He could still feel the intense aura of death emanating from the other person.

Those who returned from the battlefield, more or less, were all like this.

Jay Brown once envied that, but now... His mind was solely occupied with the conversation between Emma and Wayne Lane just moments ago.

"So, Hannah really isn’t dead, is she?"

After asking this question, Jay Brown lifted his head.

Wayne Lane could clearly see in the eyes of the young man opposite him a different kind of emotion – was it heat or excitement?

At least it wasn’t fear like everyone else.

Wayne Lane looked up at the moonlight in the sky, the corners of his mouth rising slightly, his voice light, "It’s her."

The moment he got the answer, Jay Brown’s heart wouldn’t stop pounding, like a relentless drum.

He regarded Hannah as the goal of his life’s pursuit, the more he knew about her, the deeper he fell.

"You seem very interested in Hannah?" Wayne Lane asked.

Jay Brown regained his composure, adjusted the expression on his face, and nodded, "I’ve heard a lot about her from the academy principal..." After a glance at Wayne Lane’s gaze, he added another sentence, "And about you."

Wayne Lane was rarely intrigued, "What exactly did the principal say?"

"The principal said... you and Hannah were childhood friends, that you went out together for trials and had a deep connection, but later..."

"What happened later?" Wayne Lane asked, his face still calm, but his eyes grew heavy.

It wasn’t anger, but the recollection that automatically surfaced in his mind.

Vibrant youth, unrestrained adolescence, yet things had changed irrevocably.

Jay Brown continued, "Later, you ended up on opposite sides, with a sea of blood between you."

The words sounded awkward coming from his mouth, not so much a statement as an evaluation, and tinged with a hint of indignation.

Perhaps it was a defiance on Hannah’s behalf.

But Wayne Lane showed no reaction, only asking, "What else did the principal tell you?"

Jay Brown thought for a moment, "The principal also said that Hannah isn’t one to be merciless. He told me to take good care of the people at the academy and, when necessary, to reveal our identities to Hannah."

Reveal that they were students of the Mech Academy.

Perhaps Hannah would spare them out of the camaraderie of being from the same school.

Wayne Lane said nothing more, smiling rarely, a smile steeped in nostalgia for the past.

If back then he had been more decisive, braver, perhaps things wouldn’t have turned out like this today.

Two things happened that night.

First was Princess Emma’s attempted departure and her subsequent capture by wanderers, followed by Commander Wayne Lane, wounded, penetrating deep into the wanderer encampment in an attempt to rescue Emma.

Either of these events was enough to be discussed for days on end.

But before the news spread, an argument broke out within the empire.

"First Princess, deserting in the face of the enemy, it’s too shameful to even speak of, who knows how the wanderers must be laughing at us."

"Exactly, it used to sound so good, the First Princess, the guardian deity of the empire, with her presence, the empire was always strongest."

"The strongest? I see she’s strongest when running away. In the months before the wanderers attacked, she was throwing tantrums every day, never satisfied with this or that."

"Damn it, why the hell should I risk my life to protect such a person!"

"It was precisely because the First Princess went off on her own before that we suffered unnecessary losses!"

The resentment within the squad grew and Emma’s desertion hit a nerve for many.