Rebirth: The Universe's Hidden Heiress-Chapter 127: Do You Want It?

The commander of the Seventh Legion shouted, "Impossible, don’t even think about it!"

"If you don’t become the General Fleet Admiral, then Kenji will be the next General Fleet Admiral," the General Fleet Admiral signaled the leader of the Seventh Legion to sit down and calm down.

Then he turned to Yuka and said, "We can’t let Kenji follow you, but we will provide supplies matching the number of your troops. How about that?"

Actually, the General Fleet Admiral was quite uneasy because he knew what kind of person Kenji was: a hot-headed youngster in romantic matters. If Yuka really wanted to coax Kenji over, it would be easy. So, he had to compromise first, stabilizing Yuka with supplies. Now, it all depended on whether she would agree.

However, Yuka never intended to bring Kenji over. She didn’t want to put Kenji in a difficult position between her and the Alliance Army, nor let him give up the achievements and status he had earned in the Alliance Army over more than a decade. Her earlier statement was just to force the Alliance Army to compromise.

Seeing that Yuka was not at a disadvantage, Hideki calmed down a bit and sat up straight again.

Having achieved her desired result, Yuka’s smile became more genuine, "Do you have any other conditions? Let’s hear them now."

The commander of the Fourth Legion said, "Besides keeping the contents of the agreement and other secrets confidential, you can’t reveal the existence of the Queen to the people of the Alliance."

Yuka raised an eyebrow. She formed her army to deal with the Queen. Now, the Alliance Army was stopping her from revealing the Queen’s existence. ’What am I going to tell people then? Should I say my army was formed to fight space pirates?’

The Alliance people might indeed hate space pirates more than insectoids at the moment, which could help her gather more people. However, insectoids were far more dangerous than space pirates. She didn’t want to deceive these people into joining her to face a greater threat to life.

Seeing Yuka silent, General Fleet Admiral added, "These are our main demands. We can still talk about some minor details."

While Yuka was pondering, Hideki was also deep in thought. He knew that the Alliance Army had already made significant concessions.

The current negotiation atmosphere was much better than when they were drafting the agreement: At that time, everyone was in chaos. Nori had pinned down the commander of the Seventh Legion and beaten him. If it wasn’t for his threat to blow up the building and kill everyone if they didn’t agree, the agreement might not have been so easily settled, nor could they have secured the right to raise Yuka.

It was for this reason that the Alliance Army was afraid of history repeating itself, and it was also why Nori couldn’t attend the negotiation today.

Hideki, for the first time, found himself missing that temperamental, self-centered troublemaker. Just as he contemplated whether to call Nori for support, Yuka spoke up.

"Okay," Yuka said, "Let’s discuss the details now."

Hearing Yuka’s agreement, everyone from the Alliance Army quietly sighed in relief.

Kenji and Hideki looked at Yuka with some concern, but they both remained silent, choosing to trust Yuka’s decision.

After another hour of tough negotiations, the agreement was finally drafted. Everyone present, now somewhat weary, signed their names and left their fingerprints on the document before leaving the meeting room.

Yuka was fairly satisfied with the outcome. She turned to leave with Hideki, but he smiled gently at her and said, "Yuko, you go ahead. I have a few words to say to Admiral Kuba."

Kenji instantly tensed up.

Yuka obediently left the room, leaving only Hideki and Kenji. This high-security meeting room left no visual records and was soundproof, ensuring their conversation remained private.

Kenji, aware that Hideki might have seen the video of him embracing Yuka on the interstellarnet, felt the nervousness of meeting his father-in-law prematurely. He stood awkwardly, bowing subconsciously as Hideki approached.

"Please be assured, I will take good care of Yuka," he said, trying to maintain composure.

Hideki, amused by Kenji’s sudden formality, said, "Why so serious? I just want to talk to you about Yuko."

Kenji straightened up, listening intently as Hideki continued, "You must know that Yuko wasn’t originally from this world, right?"

Kenji nodded. Although he had limited information from the previous day, he had figured out that Yuka was a time-space traveler and had died in her previous life while fighting the Queen.

This knowledge did not repel him; instead, it solidified his resolve to protect this life’s Yuka even more.

If the Queen really invaded the Alliance, the Alliance Army couldn’t ignore it. At that time, he would lead the Alliance Army to support Yuka, regardless of any opposition. He was determined to be there for her.

Seeing Kenji’s unchanged expression, Hideki smiled. He knew Yuka’s choice would be right.

He didn’t keep Kenji here to threaten his relationship with Yuka or to lecture him.

"When Yuko was little, she lost her memories before the age of one. She didn’t remember me or Nori, so she was very cautious about everything around her," Hideki said. "That’s why I often went out for business, to give her space to be happy at home. But Yuko might have misunderstood something. She thought I’d prefer a ladylike child and always pretended to be one when meeting me."

"It was only after she became an adult that I had an honest talk with her, encouraging her to be her true self." Hideki looked at Kenji. "The real her is actually very soft-hearted, habitually wanting to protect others. She has her own principles, firm and unyielding like a knife."

"Having her own beliefs is good," Hideki sighed lightly. "But being like a knife, people might use her kindness and softness, her sharp edge, against others, achieving their own goals."

Hideki raised his hand, gently resting it on Kenji’s shoulder with a weight like a thousand pounds. "I know you wouldn’t use her now, and I hope you never will. But I must warn you, if you think of using Yuka, Nori and I will never forgive you."

Kenji’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he earnestly promised Hideki, "I won’t. I never will."

"I really like her," Kenji confessed for the first time, his voice dry and trembling. "I love her, want to marry her, protect her for life... I won’t let her down, nor hurt her. Don’t worry, I..."

"That’s enough," Hideki smiled, patting Kenji’s shoulder, stopping him. "I understand, don’t be nervous. This is a man-to-man talk, don’t mention it to Yuko. Go now, she’s probably waiting for you."

Confusion crossed Kenji’s face, but he didn’t ask anything, just hurried out. A subordinate in the hallway, seeing Kenji, quickly said, "Sir, Miss Taira went to your office."

On the other side, Yuka had just left the meeting room. She leaned against the door, trying to overhear what Hideki and Kenji were discussing. But the soundproofing was too good; she heard nothing.

Yuka could only walk outside.

On the way, she met the subordinate who had followed them earlier.

After a moment’s thought, she asked the subordinate to take her to Kenji’s office, planning to ask him about their conversation when he returned.

After hearing his subordinate, Kenji immediately rushed to his office. As he opened the door, he saw Yuka, who had been standing in front of a wooden cabinet for long.

Yuka was holding a packaging bag that once contained cookie bears. Hearing the door open, she turned around, playfully shaking the bag in her hand. She teasingly said to Kenji, who was walking towards her, "So, Admiral Kuba, you love me so much that you can’t even throw away a packaging bag, keeping it treasured in your cabinet?"

Normally, Kenji would have blushed at such a remark. But having just confessed his feelings for Yuka to Hideki, he wasn’t as easily embarrassed. He walked up to Yuka and said softly, "Yes."

Yuka, surprised by Kenji’s straightforward admission, leaned against the cabinet and looked up at him.

Kenji took the cookie bear bag from Yuka, opened another cabinet door, and placed it back inside.

Yuka stood up from the cabinet and asked him, "What did my dad talk to you about just now?"

Kenji, gripping the cabinet door, tightened his hold. Remembering Hideki’s request not to tell Yuka, he vaguely mentioned, "It was about... marriage in the future."

Yuka, skeptical, crossed her arms and walked around the office. Then, sitting on Kenji’s desk with her legs crossed, she asked, "Are you not telling the truth?"

Before Kenji could answer, Yuka accidentally knocked over a stack of files on the desk. A small file box on top fell to the floor with a "snap." She quickly bent down to pick it up.

Kenji, recognizing the familiar file box, hurried to grab it, but Yuka beat him to it. She saw the contents of the slightly opened box – a pink butterfly hair clip.

Yuka blinked and took out the hair clip, looking at Kenji, whose ears turned red again.

She laughed softly, not planning to let him off easily this time.

Yuka slid off the desk and took a step towards Kenji, who, feeling guilty, instinctively stepped back against the cabinet.

"Admiral Kuba, this seems to be my hair clip," Yuka suddenly grabbed Kenji’s wrist, pulling him away from the cabinet. In his moment of surprise, she gently pushed him onto the office chair.

Yuka leaned forward, one knee on Kenji’s thigh, the other foot on the ground stabilizing the chair. She then bent down, holding the pink hair clip close to Kenji’s face. With a teasing tone, barely holding back laughter, she asked, "Do you want it?"