Who knew how long passed.
Charlotte opened her eyes.
She sat bolt upright with a start.
"Why are you up? You've only just had the children; you must take care of yourself." A familiar voice came from beside her.
There was Zhao Chen, his face all smiles, the elder daughter Zhao Baier in one arm and the second child, the son Zhao Hu, in the other.
"You… you're back?" Charlotte looked at Zhao Chen, unable to believe it.
"Of course I'm back. What, are you angry with me, wife? Do you blame me for not being able to stay by your side while you had the children? Ha-ha-ha-ha. I'm telling you, everything outside is dealt with now. I'll stay with you and the children from morning to night. Until you're sick of me," Zhao Chen said with a laugh.
Charlotte laughed through her tears and threw Zhao Chen a roll of the eyes.
But all of a sudden,
Zhao Chen's figure began to dissolve.
Charlotte's face froze.
She hurried out of bed, but her feet slipped and she fell to the floor.
"Zhao Chen…"
"Wife, once I've dealt with the last of it. Once I'm back. We'll stay together from morning to night. Wait for me. Wait for me…"
Before Charlotte's eyes, Zhao Chen's figure dissolved entirely.
"Zhao Chen!"
A cry.
Charlotte's eyes snapped open.
Before her was a pure white ceiling, and Lilith, who had been waiting beside her all along.
"You're awake." Lilith looked at Charlotte with concern.
After she had told Charlotte the news before, Charlotte had broken down outright and fainted.
"Lilith… where's Zhao Chen? Where is Zhao Chen now? I'm going to find him! I'm going to find him!" Charlotte threw off the blanket, pulled out the tubes in her body, and walked toward the door like a madwoman.
Smack.
The sound rang through the whole room.
Charlotte stood where she was, her face turned aside.
Lilith drew back her hand, fixed her eyes on Charlotte, and said gravely, "Charlotte! Come to your senses! You are no ordinary woman. You are Charlotte! Five-star Marshal of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire. And you are a mother now besides. Would you pay no heed to the two children you have just borne!"
Lilith's words brought Charlotte somewhat to herself.
Lilith pointed to the glass room beside them, the nursery where the two children were being kept for now.
"Zhao Chen is missing. But he said it! He will come back. Every time he has promised us something. When has it ever not come true! Since he said it, I firmly believe he will come back. Come back safe and sound."
Lilith clenched her fists and said, flat and final, "And until then, we must guard what he left behind. And your two children. If… you think the two children don't matter at all. Then by all means go mad, make a scene. But a Charlotte like that. I would despise!"
Lilith pointed at Charlotte.
Charlotte stood there blankly.
She was lost a long while.
At last she simply sank down to the floor, hugging her knees, her whole face buried in them,
and wept aloud.
Who would have thought that the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's supreme Grand Marshal could weep just now like a small child?
Seeing it, Lilith crouched down too and held Charlotte.
Tears ran from her own eyes beyond her control.
"Let us wait together for him to come back, all right?"
Lilith perhaps knew that the chance was very small.
But it was the one belief that let her stand here.
If she lost that belief, she would break down more utterly than Charlotte.
So from first to last, to others and to herself,
she held firmly that Zhao Chen would come back safe and sound.
And what they had to do was only wait.
Only by stamping this into her mind again and again did Lilith feel she could hold out.
Two women, just so,
weeping in that room.
A long while later.
Perhaps worn out with weeping.
Charlotte slowly raised her head.
Like a child, she looked in bewilderment at Lilith across from her.
"Zhao Chen… will he truly come back?"
"He will surely come back!" Lilith said with unshakable firmness.
And Charlotte said then, just as firmly, "Yes, he will surely come back! What he promised us. He always does!"
That was all she said.
Charlotte stood, took a deep breath, and clenched her fists. "Until he comes back. We will hold fast to everything he left. I will take good care of our two children. We will be here. Awaiting his return!"
"Mm!" Lilith nodded hard.
In that moment, on the comfort the two women gave each other.
Their spirits and wills found a steady footing, enough not to break down entirely.
But no one knew how long this faint, far-off belief could hold.
It looked solid, but it was easily shattered too.
In the blink of an eye,
three months had passed since the Hive Nest campaign.
In these three months,
the Owl Dragon Empire's fleet groups split into two branches: one to garrison every important place in the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire.
The other to mass superior force and clear out the undead creatures one by one.
With the combat experience built up before, and with the Owl Dragon main fleet groups joining in.
Clearing out these undead creatures was not too hard.
And in these three months,
rumors about the Owl Dragon Emperor began, little by little, to spread.
Because the Owl Dragon Emperor had not shown himself for so long, it added to these rumors' credibility.
The most widespread rumors had for the most part to do with the Owl Dragon Emperor having died in the fighting with the interstellar hive-race.
News of this kind spreading naturally set undercurrents stirring beneath the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's seemingly calm lake.
But against all this,
the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's Royal Embroidered-Uniform Guard now showed what it could do.
Any interstellar power or interstellar family that dared step out of line.
Was called to account by the Royal Embroidered-Uniform Guard.
After several bloody affairs at the Royal Embroidered-Uniform Guard's hands, the ill sprouts within the Empire were more or less held down.
But it was only for a time.
And the Owl Dragon Empire's fleet-group core, seemingly solid, in truth bore tremendous pressure in this period too.
After all, before this the Emperor had always been the core.
Even though he had always left matters to others, so long as he was there.
The Owl Dragon had its banner!
But now that banner was gone, and all at once everyone had lost their backbone.
No one knew when this taut string might snap.
Fortunately, at such a time,
something delightful happened.
"Reporting, Lady Secretary. Latest news: the Reviver-class Clone-Human Starships have received several life signals from crew serving aboard T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1!"
Hearing her subordinate's words, Lilith sprang up with a start!