Chapter 412 - 412: Words Without Regret

"Do you want to come back with me and meet Grandpa and Grandma? They probably still don't know you exist, Eren." In the corridor, Zeke stood with his hands in his pockets and looked at Eren beside him as he asked.

Leaning against the railing, Eren stared blankly at the distant city. Endless rows of tightly packed buildings stretched as far as the eye could see. Suddenly, a trace of emotion flashed through Eren's green eyes, as though he had remembered something. Hearing Zeke's question, Eren shook his head.

"No, there's no need. There's no reason to disturb the peaceful lives of two elderly people. This is fine as it is. If Father were still alive, he'd think the same way. This is good for me... and for them too."

Zeke chuckled softly and unconsciously walked over beside Eren, reaching out to ruffle his hair with a face full of satisfaction.

"What a sensible kid. If possible, I'd really like to be your older brother forever!"

Eren irritably slapped Zeke's hand away.

"Get lost. I don't want a brother like you. If possible, I'd rather you go reunite with Father right now."

Hearing that, Zeke didn't get angry. He simply stood shoulder to shoulder with Eren. Besides, Eren wasn't wrong. He only had one year left to live. Using this final year... screw Eldia's future. He might as well spend it helping his brother live a happy life. Wasn't that the promise someone had made?

"Speaking of which, when are you planning to get together with that Ackerman girl? Your brother only has one year left. Can't you at least let your older brother attend your wedding feast before I go? Then I won't have any regrets." Zeke teased.

Zeke was clearly joking around with Eren, but strangely, Eren didn't get angry. Instead, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly, as if he'd thought of something happy.

"Yeah... no regrets. Very soon. Even if it's only four years... Yago was right. Everyone is selfish after all. Mikasa... I like you. No... I love you."

Hearing Eren's words, Zeke's eyes widened.

H-He actually said it?

Zeke quickly looked around, but unfortunately, only he and Eren were there. After a long while, Zeke sighed regretfully.

"What a shame. Couldn't you have said that in front of the girl herself? She'd even cut down Titans for your sake. If you had just said those words in front of her, that Ackerman girl would've been so happy."

Eren turned his head. His green eyes were crystal clear, and he looked unusually confident as he smiled at Zeke.

"You were the only one who heard that just now, right, Zeke? I believe you definitely aren't the type to go around telling people things carelessly, right? Brother?"

Although it wasn't the "older brother" he wanted to hear, hearing Eren call him brother still made Zeke tremble involuntarily, an indescribable emotion surging within him.

"Y-Yeah, of course. I definitely am."

...

Inside the spacious office, Yago sat comfortably in a chair with his legs crossed, casually spinning a pen in his hand.

Yago's arrival had directly changed the ownership of this large office that originally belonged to Serena. After receiving a huge eye-roll from Serena, Yago successfully occupied the genuine leather executive chair.

Well, as the boss, he had to enjoy a few privileges, right?

Faint commotion could be heard from the smaller office next door. That should be Erwin's office. Recently, many New Army soldiers and officers who had once belonged to the Survey Corps had taken leave to visit their former commander, Erwin.

In this regard, their current Commander Hange was probably far inferior.

Or rather, Yago had always believed Hange wasn't suited to be the commander of the Survey Corps.

A scientific research team was perhaps the place most suitable for Hange. But Commander Hange clearly disagreed. Though technology fascinated her, she refused to give up the identity of Survey Corps commander.

According to her, only after a truly suitable successor appeared could she hand over the Survey Corps with peace of mind.

Yago would actually be pretty suitable, but going from Commander-in-Chief to regiment commander... wasn't that basically dropping from a general down to a common soldier?

Having only enjoyed his privileges for two days, Yago certainly wasn't agreeing to that.

Spread out before Yago on the desk was an exquisitely detailed world map.

The map was beautiful and highly accurate. Aside from Paradis Island being left blank, every other place was clearly marked. Nearly every city in every country had been labeled.

And on the map, many cities had already been circled in red pen.

There were many cities, from all sorts of places—Marleyan cities, Middle Eastern cities, even cities from the Far East.

Looking at the cities he had circled, Yago revealed a rather sinister smile.

War.

Cruel and merciless.

But there was no denying that sometimes, war was also an opportunity.

A voice only he could hear suddenly rang out beside his ears.

"Stop being foolish, child. You know it too. As long as we cooperate together, we can become gods! Gods who control humanity... even the world itself!"

The seductive voice continuously echoed beside his ears.

But Yago's expression remained unchanged as he continued enthusiastically drawing circles across the map.

Eventually, irritated by the endless noise, Yago directly clenched his fist and slammed it hard against his own ear.

An intense ringing instantly rushed into his brain. Aside from the pain, he finally obtained the silence he wanted.

It was at that moment that Annie pushed open the office door.

The moment she entered, she saw Yago digging around in his ear with his finger.

"What are you doing?" Annie asked with a puzzled expression as she walked over to him.

Meanwhile, Yago's head was still ringing. He could only see Annie's lips moving but couldn't hear a thing, so he shouted loudly:

"Annie, what did you say? I can't hear you! (SUPER LOUD)"

Annie frowned slightly.

Pulling a chair over from the side, she sat beside Yago, then searched around in her pocket for a moment before taking out a small box of cotton swabs.

She pulled one out, grabbed Yago's ear without any courtesy, dragged him toward her, then stuffed the cotton swab into his ear and gently rotated it.

Although Yago wore a pained expression because she was pulling his ear hard enough to hurt, the tingling sensation inside his ear felt incredibly pleasant.

After quite a while, Annie finally let go of Yago's ear.

Yago immediately looked completely satisfied and comfortable.

Throwing away the cotton swab, Annie lightly snorted.

"Can you hear now?"

Seeing that Annie seemed a little unhappy, Yago immediately stood up from his seat, happily hugged Annie, rubbed against her hair, and said with a face full of happiness:

"I can hear, I can hear. Having Annie by my side makes me so happy. Thank you, Annie."

Only then did Annie hum twice in satisfaction.

But Annie also noticed that the originally deep and beautiful black eyes of Yago were now filled with exhaustion and bloodshot veins.

Her heart suddenly trembled.

Her boy...

During this period of time...

He had really been suffering so much.

And she...

Her heart ached for him too.

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