At this moment, Hesta heard a series of footsteps coming from the office on the right. The sound gradually approached. Hesta turned her head and saw a middle-aged woman wearing a dark gray uniform appearing at the door of the principal's office. outside.
When their eyes met, Hesta's first reaction was that this person looked very familiar - but who exactly this person was, she really couldn't remember for a moment.
"Long time no see." The other party greeted her first, her voice as cold as her face.
The woman's hair was gray and combed so neatly and neatly that the moment they looked at each other, Hesta seemed to have hallucinated a middle-aged version of Ava.
Suddenly, a name came to mind, and Hestad finally remembered the identity of the person in front of him.
"...Molly!"
"It's good that you still remember me." Molly turned back towards the office, "Come in."
Hesta followed quickly.
"sit."
Morley motioned for Hesta to sit on the chair opposite his desk.
"Of course I remember it," Hestad quickly took his seat. "After all, you were the first order officer after I entered the reserve base. How could I forget - it turns out that after leaving the base, you came to District 14."
"Yes, something happened at that time," Molly replied softly, "I came here later."
"What a coincidence. I didn't expect to meet you here."
Molly did not continue to respond. She folded her hands and placed them in front of her body. She looked directly at Hesta with a somewhat scrutinizing look.
Hesta noticed a change in the atmosphere - Morley was using silence to exert pressure.
…But what does pressure do?
After a moment, Hesta gave in first and moved her gaze downwards, from looking at each other to looking at Molly's fingers.
"I've heard what happened in the coffee break corridor just now," Molly finally said. "You didn't fight back or argue. You handled it very calmly... This really surprised and pleased me. .”
"...Glad?"
"Last year, I heard some news about you." Molly's tone became a little unpredictable, "At first Ava clearly identified you as a suspect, but in the end she gave up all charges and said you were innocent... To be honest, I don’t believe it, I’m almost certain that you have something to do with the assassin himself, and you can’t be completely innocent, because Ava will never arrest someone without any evidence.”
Hesta leaned back slightly and leaned on the back of her chair. She focused her eyes on the person in front of her again.
However, Molly's tone suddenly relaxed, "But, since Ava decided to let you go at the last moment of her life, I believe Ava must have her own reasons. No matter what the reason is, I am willing to trust her judgment." .”
"...That's the best. After all, I don't have the right to talk about this now." Hesta whispered, "No matter who wants to throw dirty water on me, I can't defend myself at all."
"Very good, it seems you do know how to abide by the rules better than before."
"Of course, habitable places are at the heart of civilization, and I know what it means to be here as a mercury needle."
The two looked at each other in silence again, and this time, neither one looked away first.
"So why did you call me here," Hesta asked, "to catch up on old times?"
"That's right." Molly picked up the pen at hand and continued to approve the documents on the desk. "I also want to remind you that this is not a base, and you are no longer the little girl who didn't understand anything in the past. You Take responsibility for your words and deeds.”
"...Of course I understand."
"Don't take chances," Molly continued, "because Chiba's hands can't reach here."
Hesta frowned, "...I don't quite understand these reminders of yours. You seem to have tacitly acknowledged that I will definitely do something I shouldn't do in school -"
"I do hope that you will not make the same mistake again." Molly interrupted Hesta in a low voice, "Especially, I hope that you will not betray Ava's trust. She is the person who cares most about whether fairness and justice can be reliably implemented in a livable land. .”
Hesta was silent for a moment, "...repeat the same mistakes, do you mean what happened at Tan Yi Reserve Base?"
Molly didn't answer, she didn't even raise her eyes.
"If you encounter any problems in the future, you can come here to find me," Morley said softly. "Although my responsibilities here are different from those at the base, I can still provide some help to the best of my ability."
"……Thanks."
"That's all I have to say."
Hesta stood up and said goodbye to Molly. Molly looked at her out of the corner of his eye, and before leaving, Hesta even pushed the chair back to its original position.
Soon, the door to the principal's office was closed from the outside.
Molly stopped the pen in his hand and looked at the door meaningfully.
…
After walking out of Morley's office, Hesta was really confused.
She had not had much contact with Molly. Except for a few meetings with Sean back then, they had hardly spoken to each other. But when they met today, she clearly felt some kind of disgust and distrust from Molly. .
In addition, she also has a very subtle feeling - whether it is the office layout, clothing or behavior, Hesta has noticed some traces of Ava from Molly.
Yet they are both so different. Hesta still remembers the first time she walked into Ava's manor one morning after the rain, and started a secret conversation about revenge in her study - Ava would not say those useless polite words , her language is like a scalpel, always hitting the point directly.
Hesta really couldn't understand why Molly kept mentioning Ava in today's conversation...
Returning to the second floor of Wenhui Building, Hestad did not leave in a hurry, but slowly walked around several classrooms on this floor - no one was allowed to enter the coffee break, but these were used as conference breakout rooms. The classroom is not.
In some classrooms, Hestad saw nearly two dozen students holding laptops or computers, occupying the entire aisle of the classroom.
She walked leisurely through the corridors in front of these classrooms, and her eyes swept through each window very quickly, trying to find the typical Askia face she had seen before among the crowd.
Ksenia.
Hesta repeated the name in her mind again, lest she forget it.
However, she walked back and forth four or five times and still found nothing.
The time was approaching three o'clock, and Hestad finally got hungry. She left Wenhui Building and went out to look for food. However, when she entered the canteen, Hestad discovered that there were almost no windows open at this time.
She walked around in a circle and finally had to go to the vending machine to buy some bread to satisfy her hunger.
After returning to the dormitory, Hesta fell directly on the bed and slept until eleven o'clock at night.
