— Epilogue: Cause and Effect —
1.
Declan's betrayal was both simple and complex.
Simply put, when his first child was born, he suddenly felt that if he died on the battlefield, his wife and child would be left destitute and alone.
He wanted to leave something behind for his child.
In more complex terms, everything from his first encounter with his wife, down to the smallest everyday conversations and the timing of their child's conception, had been carefully orchestrated. The insidious, continuous brainwashing by those closest to him naturally warped his thinking until he became the fuse that split the Vane family apart.
Declan began secret dealings with the Green Gang—growing opium, running gambling houses, cultivating loyalists within the military, and squeezing the people like a bandit.
Oliver discovered his secret and reported it to the Elder General. Out of regard for past loyalty, the Elder General threw him in prison, ordering him to reform.
Victor returned from abroad just as they were clashing with the Su Army.
With no capable men available, Declan was released to assist Victor in fighting the Su Army.
Victor had been born and raised in the military. When he first returned from Germany, he was full of idealistic fervor. Declan was like an older brother, even a father figure.
No matter what rumors swirled about Declan, Victor trusted only him. He believed that no one was without faults, and not all the rumors were true.
He didn't know that Declan had long since resolved to follow his treacherous path to the bitter end.
After the Elder General fell gravely ill, Declan decided that if he could just eliminate Victor, Sungate would still be his Sungate.
He was reluctant, but power could turn even kin against each other—let alone a man with no blood ties.
He had tableware used by cholera patients brought to Victor.
Then found an excuse to stay away for a few days.
Victor contracted cholera, grew critically ill, and died...
Victor was utterly baffled by his illness.
He had never come into contact with a cholera patient, yet he'd fallen severely ill.
He suspected many things but could make no sense of it.
At death's door, he followed a beam of light and arrived in the 21st century.
In a modern girl's living room.
His agony and weakness gradually faded, replaced by a hunger unlike anything he'd known.
Without asking, he ate the noodles she'd just cooked.
The seasoning was heavy, and there were no fine ingredients.
But a man brought back from the brink of death couldn't afford to be picky.
After eating, he saw the girl's face clearly.
He paused slightly.
This girl—where had he seen her before? And yet she looked different from his memory.
The girl was warm and open, not the least bit afraid of his arrival.
She was, in fact, intensely curious about him.
But he was like a startled animal, cautious of every modern appliance.
The phonograph, barely larger than a fist, had decent sound quality.
The glass screen with colored figures cracking jokes.
Someone knocked at the door—a fully armed white warrior.
Victor hid behind the door, ready to fight.
Only to be teased by the girl.
Her life was so effortless compared to his.
"This is the year 2022, in China."
That was how the girl named Rose explained it. Victor understood everything.
So this was what the world looked like a century later.
...
When a drone the size of a plate flew past, Victor saw the girl's door turn white.
He couldn't resist opening it.
He returned to his world.
The apartment in 2022 vanished, as if it had never existed.
Only, his near-death body had indeed recovered.
He wanted to share the good news with his big brother, but what he saw in his brother's eyes was something else.
Fear. Guardedness. Revulsion...
He felt that his brother didn't seem to want him to recover—but how could that be? This was the man who had raised him!
The strange feeling lasted a day.
On a dark, wind-swept night, the brother he revered shot him six times in the back.
If there had been only one shot, he might have tried to excuse it as an accidental discharge.
But six shots...
He no longer wanted to look back. He heard Declan snarl: "Even cholera couldn't kill you."
So his big brother had long since ceased to be the man he once knew.
Since when had he changed?
If even Declan had turned traitor, what else in this world was worth hoping for?
He fell from a cliff, carrying six bullet wounds and a heart full of fury, and dropped onto a soft bed.
He grabbed a slender wrist and saw the girl from 2022.
He smiled.
Declan thought him dead, but didn't know he had a guardian charm.
He could regenerate in this other time and space.
"It seems I come here every time I'm near death."
Arriving beside the girl, he smiled with satisfaction and lost consciousness.
When he recovered, he would make them pay, one by one.
The girl's era seemed to be experiencing some upheaval.
Supplies weren't especially abundant.
But she still brought out all her food to host him.
He had just endured a devastating betrayal, seeing potential enemies in everyone.
Only this woman from another world was absolutely neutral and objective.
He wanted to ask her: "Why are you so kind to a strange man?"
But the words wouldn't come.
Gazing into the girl's eyes, he left his watch with her:
"I'm sorry I soiled your sheets. This watch should be worth some money in your time."
She was a girl from a hundred years later. She possessed a perspective he could never attain in his entire lifetime.
And he, having survived life and death, had nothing of value but this watch and a gun.
Between the two, perhaps the watch was the more appropriate gift.
The moment he opened the door, an impulse surged through him.
He kissed the girl.
He didn't know if they'd ever meet again. He found he couldn't bear to let her go.
He watched her face flush, and felt his own ears burn.
Without lingering, he returned to his world.
2.
The person he trusted most in this world had betrayed him.
His father was unconscious, his sister a frail young woman.
And then there was the troublesome matter of his brother-in-law—that man with cold, calculating eyes.
Oliver was someone Grace had met while studying abroad in Europe.
He was the eldest son of a tobacco dynasty, yet he had given up the family business to join the military. He was meticulous in planning, adept at logistics, and had persuaded the tobacco company to fund the army with a substantial annual sum. He'd earned the approval of the Elder General and successfully married into the General's Estate.
After the wedding, he and Grace lived at the General's Estate. Victor's father spoke highly of him, but Victor didn't much care for the man.
In retrospect, Victor's dislike had largely been Declan's influence.
Conversely, because Victor was closer to Declan, Oliver hadn't liked him either.
Oliver had once warned Victor to strip Declan of his military rank after the war: "The tobacco company won't fund a traitor."
Victor had thought Oliver was making trouble out of nothing: "Declan can fight on the battlefield. What can you do, Young Master Oliver? Spreading rumors behind the scenes and currying favor with the General?"
Now that Declan had turned traitor, Oliver's words had proven true.
He'd heard that Oliver had turned Sungate inside out looking for him.
Victor didn't have omniscience. After being betrayed, his instinct was to assume the worst of everyone.
If even Declan could betray him, how could Oliver have good intentions?
The first thing Victor did upon returning was sneak back into the General's Estate and take the city defense maps.
His sister and father were in Oliver's hands—he needed leverage.
But Oliver assumed Victor was hiding and taking the defense maps because he'd lost his mind and was plotting a coup with Declan.
Only Grace repeatedly insisted that her brother was not a traitor, and that if they could just bring him back, everything could be explained.
...
Victor had narrowly escaped death twice. He'd been shot six times by Declan, fallen from a cliff, made his way back to Sungate, and sneaked into the General's Estate to hide the defense maps.
His next step was to rally the old Chesterfield forces, then sit down for a three-party negotiation from a position of strength.
But he hesitated.
Of the three parties, Declan was beyond redemption. If Oliver also harbored dark motives, what was his next move?
He felt utterly alone.
Passing a pastry shop, he remembered the girl from 2022 for some reason.
He'd heard her mumbling something about craving sweets.
But the fresh pastries at the shop were sold out, leaving only butter cookies.
He bought a tin as a consolation.
And that was when a gang of Green Gang thugs found him.
The Green Gang had long since reached an agreement with Declan. In this territory, Declan and the Green Gang were in bed together.
So when Declan ordered the Green Gang to kill Victor on sight, over a dozen men with knives surrounded him.
No matter how capable Victor was, if they wanted him dead, he wouldn't survive.
If they wanted him alive, he would rather die than suffer the indignity.
So he didn't fight back much.
He turned his back to the thugs.
After taking several slashes, he threw himself into the river.