Chapter 176.2

Chapter 176.2

The son of the Sakhalin governor, a chief researcher who had elevated Russia’s espionage methods with his exceptional abilities. And, a bug who had approached Darya.

“If it were up to me, I would never let the Sakhalin children go. They are incredibly valuable. We raised them, so why would the Russian government easily give them up?”

“Th-that’s…”

Weak justice was nothing more than whining. Contempt filled Maxim’s eyes.

“The world never comes to help the weak. The reason is simple: they risk their own safety.”

“…!”

“Such fights yield no benefits, and in the end, they only lead to a dog’s death, like Ivan and Yani.”

Maxim pressed his throbbing temples as he spoke. He had tried to send Darya into exile early on, but key figures were purged in various ways.

Especially Darya, the wife of the Russian Prime Minister and a patron of Chechnya, was not only significant but also dangerous. The fact that she was the ‘Prime Minister’s’ wife was the problem.

If she were to seek asylum, internal unrest and suspicion would grow, so Russia was determined to prevent her escape and significantly increased surveillance.

In that case, it was better to keep her locked up in the Winter Castle. And so, six years passed like that.

Fortunately, she had remained quiet. Although she often seemed lost in thought, treated her husband like a transparent person, and wouldn’t speak a word as if her tongue had stiffened at the sight of her own face, at least she hadn’t done anything to draw the government’s ire.

But in reality, she was preparing to leave.

“Darya has a history.”

“….”

“If she turns against Russia again, she will surely die. Do you think only Darya Solzhenitsyn will die? My grandson. Surely they won’t let my grandson live in the Kremlin!”

She would be executed without a sound. The tendons in Maxim’s jaw bulged. Living as a reckless fool who relied solely on his family and had his pride crushed was all because of a woman everyone had shunned back then.

“P-please, just pretend you don’t know!”

Rigay knelt and pressed his forehead to the ground. Seeing him like that reminded Maxim of Darya from last night, holding the gun that had shot his daughter-in-law and son, crying as she begged him to kill her.

Maxim gritted his teeth once more. If you’re not going to kill me, then help me. Help me.

“If you’re not going to pull the trigger, then help me!”

The voice that had cried out echoed in his ears like a hallucination.

“Prime Minister, just this once, please, just this once!”

“….”

“My child is here. I don’t know the name or face. I am a cruel father who has abandoned my child, and no matter what I do, I cannot be forgiven…”

“Because of you, my wife is in danger!”

“I need Darya’s help! Please, just this once, I beg you. I would sacrifice my life to repay this kindness…”

“Do you think that plea will reach me?”

Maxim sneered. Darya had also knelt and begged like this. ‘Better to kill me! If you truly love me, pull the trigger! End this pain!’ Maxim coldly scoffed.

He had taught his grandson not to be swayed by the notion of choice, yet it was he who had frozen.

Only the voice directed at him was joyful, throbbing, and desperate. Darya… my dear Darya…

“No, I absolutely cannot turn a blind eye.”

Disappointment filled Rigay’s eyes.

“It doesn’t matter whether I turn a blind eye or not. The moment you smuggle the Sakhalin children out of Russia, everyone will die. The best elite agents will be chasing you.”

“….”

“Unless God helps you, you will never be safe or able to escape.”

Maxim coldly dismissed him. Rigay tightly shut his eyes and lowered his head in despair.

All of them are weaklings. Maxim looked at the photo of Ivan and Yani on his desk. Those damn fools. What do those Sakhalin rats mean? What’s so painful and bothersome that they would sacrifice their lives?

Even the Pharaoh of Egypt threw children under three years old into the Nile for his country. It was said they were cruelly shoved into the mouths of crocodiles. Maxim closed his bloodshot eyes tightly.

But the child who survived there parted the Red Sea and drowned Pharaoh’s army.

The enemy’s wheels suddenly fell off, and a pillar of cloud obscured their view. The children walked without their soles blistering, and at night, the fire guided them. It was the hand of God.

“But you didn’t come to find God; you came to find me.”

Maxim lit a cigar.

“Darya called me a devil the day I killed our son and daughter-in-law.”

There was no pillar of cloud against Russia.

Then it must be something bigger and more powerful.

Smoke rose from the cigar.

“Can you live your whole life with the label of a terrorist in a place where sunlight doesn’t reach?”

“…!”

Rigay, who had turned pale, suddenly lifted his head.

It was Maxim Solzhenitsyn’s final scenario.