Bonus Short Story
Veronica Kozlova’s Dream
Having concluded her meeting with Koichiro, Veronica fixed her gaze on Zheng Motoku’s back as he led her down the corridor to a room in the Mars Pavilion.
Nothing’s changed. He’s the same as he was that night we spent together.
At a glance, Motoku’s body looked extremely slender, but Veronica knew that beneath his butler’s uniform lay muscles as hard as steel.
There had been a point in their lives when the two of them frequently made love. There wasn’t an inch of Motoku’s body that Veronica’s pale fingers hadn’t touched, and the same could be said of Motoku and her body. Veronica’s best memory was when they stayed at an inn and watched a meteor shower from a lakeshore. Just recalling the sweet moments of that night was enough to make her flush all over.
Am I being too emotional?
Veronica felt a bit disgusted with herself. She wasn’t still a young girl drowning in romantic dreams. No one could fault her for those emotions, though. After all, she was once an operative for the SVR, and she’d worked with intelligence, often encountering all sorts of state secrets. Because of that, she’d had to be extremely cautious when entering romantic relationships.
“Honeytrap” was the word used to describe a female operative seducing a male target to draw information out of them. Seduction was by no means limited to women, however. Whether the term applied only to women, there were certainly cases where male operatives seduced female targets for information. For this reason, anyone affiliated with an intelligence agency was trained to avoid falling prey to such tactics. The training also gave one a keen eye for appraising people.
During the time Veronica worked in the SVR, she hadn’t had any lovers to speak of. Still, that wasn’t to say she’d had no relationships at all. She was a beautiful woman, and men were bound to flock to her like bees to nectar. But spending time with men and forming a relationship with one were much different. It came down to whether one wished to marry and have children with that person. When she lived in her old world, Veronica had never met a man that made her want that commitment.
But if it’s with Motoku...
Veronica would be hard pressed to detail how Zheng Motoku was different from other men, but she could say with certainty that there was definitely something about him that set him apart from any other man alive. That “something” showed Veronica a dream she’d once cast aside—a peaceful life together with a beloved husband, surrounded by their children.
Yet that dream could never come to pass.
He’s the only bit of bliss I’ve felt from being summoned to this world.
Some people never met the love of their life, so compared to them, Veronica was both lucky and privileged. Nevertheless, being pulled into this world was the same as being cast into hell, especially for Motoku and Veronica, two commanding figures in the organization that manipulated the western continent from the shadows. Given their positions, the most they could do was meet in the dead of night for a secret tryst. They could never marry.
“What’s wrong, Veronica? Something on your mind?”
Motoku, who was walking ahead, had stopped at some point and turned to look at her. They’d reached their destination—the thick oak door before them.
“It’s nothing, Motoku,” she said, shaking her head. “Let’s go, then.”
Veronica held her tongue, knowing that telling Motoku how she felt would only cause him needless trouble.
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