Chapter 250: Consolation

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After sending Student out of his office, Akado looked at his own blood-stained palms. Does this count as having hands stained with the blood of the people? Does this count as being monstrously evil? Is this a sin that will send me to hell?

Leaning back on the sofa, Akado suddenly felt very tired. He closed his eyes, and countless thoughts surged in his mind.

In another timeline, could Hitler have led this nation down an irredeemable evil path by relying on his own deception alone? It was clearly impossible. Hitler had only guided and exploited this nation’s spirit of self-improvement, exploited this nation’s desire for strength.

In the era before Hitler, the soldiers of this country were already searching for a path to turn defeat into victory. They had secretly developed machine guns, built cannons, hidden submarines, and even trained pilots in other countries. These people were not Nazis, not extreme nationalists. They were simply exhausting themselves for the strength of their country.

Now Hitler was dead, and his Nazi party had left the stage of history. The German people’s extreme patriotic enthusiasm had been led by Akado down the same path of war, but this time the method of war they chose was a bit more “people-friendly”—they no longer mutilated Jews and other ethnic groups, but only plundered a limited portion of their resources.

“Anna… I’m so tired…” Akado whispered, his hand covering his eyes as he leaned back on the sofa, and fell asleep. This was the first time he had closed his eyes to sleep in two days. The tension brought by the war had stimulated his adrenaline, making him stare at the map all night.

There were still some red stains on his palms, and some dark red dried marks on his clothes. Akado fell into a deep sleep on the sofa, as if the wars in those distant places had finally settled.

Anna sat quietly beside him, looking at this man who had worked for several days and was so tired he had fallen asleep. A trace of sadness was in her heart, and suddenly she felt a sense of helplessness, that there was nothing she could do to help.

The door to Akado’s office was pushed open. Mercedes, wearing a man’s shirt, breeches, and riding boots, had just gotten off the plane and had rushed over without stopping. She had cleaned up a pile of messes in Munich, put the light industry there back on track, and had also inspected the heavy industry, increasing the output of the Bofors anti-aircraft guns there by seventeen percent.

She put her finger to her sexy red lips, made a hushing gesture to Anna, then beckoned to her and backed out of the door.

She turned her head and said with a smile to the butler who had followed her, “The Führer is asleep. Go and get a blanket to cover him.”

The old butler nodded and turned to find a blanket. At this moment, Anna came out and closed the office door.

“What’s with the blood on Akado’s hands?” Mercedes asked with a frown.

“General Student brought back the dog tags of the fallen soldiers from the front. The Führer was very sad, so he personally wiped the bloodstains off,” Anna explained the whole story from the beginning.

Mercedes nodded after listening and didn’t ask any more questions. After a while, she came to her senses. “He did the right thing.”

“Thank you for your hard work, Anna,” Mercedes said. It was clear she hadn’t had much rest these past few days either; her eyes were full of fatigue. She walked slowly to the end of the corridor, stretched lazily in front of the large floor-to-ceiling window, and spoke.

“You are too kind. It is what I should do,” Anna said, bowing her head. For some reason, she was very happy that Mercedes could say that.

Mercedes gently flicked her hair with her hand, and her beautiful long hair trembled. The snow-white shirt she was wearing made her look very curvaceous. As the Führer’s wife, her attire was enough to lead a fashion trend. It was likely that in a few days, this kind of mannish style of dress would become popular throughout Germany. On her beautiful face, a pair of charming large eyes looked at Anna, breathtakingly beautiful.

Mercedes’s beauty was a contradictory whole. You could never use a single word to describe her. If you said she had the nobility of someone who held great power, she could at times be so beautiful as to be enchanting. And if you said she was enchanting, she sometimes had the kind of commanding power similar to a successful man. But if you were to say she was that kind of strong woman, she could also exude the unique charm of a mature woman.

Mercedes, or rather, women, were originally changeable. Not just their hearts, but also their faces. With every gesture, every smile or word, they could exude a different temperament. To try to constrain and fix them was a very foolish act.

“I know it’s not easy for you,” Mercedes said suddenly, looking at the scenery outside the window. “I understand that it is my good fortune that the Führer can be with me forever… You are all very outstanding women, I understand.”

Her voice was very pleasant to listen to, and one could hear a hint of hesitation and deliberation in it. This was Mercedes, the Mercedes who could chat and laugh in front of the German industrial giants with tens of billions in assets. This small detail alone made Anna sigh endlessly in her heart.

In this world, very, very few people had the good fortune to stand beside Mercedes. And even fewer people were fortunate enough to make her speak so deliberately. That was a rarity of rarities. She had lowered her status so much for that man, for the man who was worthy of it!

In the room, Anna had been leaning on Akado’s shoulder, and Mercedes had seen it. Anna had originally thought that there would be a vicious battle between them now, but it seemed that Mercedes was not going to be consumed by jealousy and start a war. Yes, there had been enough war, hadn’t there?

It was truly a wonderful Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Anna with her strong military background; the shrewd and capable Propaganda Minister Fanny; and the backer of the commercial and financial magnates, Mercedes. If they were to really have a falling out, it would be enough to make Akado depressed for a while.

Fanny had not yet arrived, and this place was already making Anna feel suffocated. Mercedes’s aura of a queen instantly made Anna feel that she should retreat. That fear from the bottom of her heart, if it weren’t for Mercedes trying hard to put on a kind expression, she would have wanted to turn and flee.

“I’ve told you before, Akado is so outstanding, it’s only natural that you would like him. He is not a man that one woman can take care of, so I have no intention of making things difficult for you,” Mercedes said with a sigh. For her, comforting her own husband’s other women was a new and challenging job. She didn’t feel very comfortable in her heart, but it was not as unbearable as she had imagined.

“I have already arranged a room in the Felsennest…” Anna said in a small voice. “If you didn’t bring a change of clothes, some have been prepared here as well.”

“I hear we have invaded the Netherlands? Akado has been in a bad way recently. Is he too tired?” Hearing that Anna wanted to change the subject, Mercedes didn’t say much more and asked.

Anna was taken aback for a moment, then replied with a helpless expression, “He has been resting very poorly recently, not resting all night.”

Mercedes nodded. “It has been hard on you too. Help me make a phone call to Prime Minister August. Ask him to take over some of the domestic affairs. If possible, have him take over the mess in Poland as well.”

“Prime Minister August has made such arrangements, but the Führer is always worried and insists on personally reviewing and checking everything,” Anna said helplessly. “He is very sensitive to nationalism and racism and is trying hard to suppress the seeds of these problems.”

“I’ve heard. He is a great leader with foresight,” Mercedes said after a moment’s thought. “This is the only way for long-term rule. If it is too drastic, the banner of a just war that Fanny’s side has worked so hard to raise will no longer exist.”

“Was your trip to Munich smooth? The Führer seems to be very concerned about the problems there,” Anna asked.

“It’s been resolved. It’s not like he had a choice but to be concerned. Two big rats appeared over there. Fortunately, with the cooperation of the Waffen-SS transferred from Berlin, otherwise there really would have been no way to deal with those colluding parasites,” Mercedes said with a shrug.

“It has also been hard on you, running around for the Führer,” Anna said with a nod of approval.

“He’s busy enough now. Let’s not add to his troubles,” Mercedes said, looking at the apprehensive Anna. She smiled and took her hand. “Don’t wake Akado tonight. The two of us will have a good chat. Tomorrow morning, we will have breakfast together… Consider it, a formal surprise for Akado.”

When Akado opened his eyes again, it was the next morning. He found that he was covered with a blanket. The bloodstains on his hands had long since dried, and it was uncomfortable on his skin. He shook his head and stood up.

Only then did he discover that Mercedes was sitting at his desk, watching him sweetly without speaking. Akado gave an embarrassed smile. “You’re back?”

“I’m back,” Mercedes nodded in reply.

“I’ll go wash my hands and change my clothes. I’ll be right back,” Akado said, gesturing apologetically at the bloodstains on his palms, and then hurried out of the room.

When he returned to his office, the butler was pouring milk for Anna, who was sitting at the table. Mercedes herself was cutting a fried egg with a knife and fork. The two of them were chatting and laughing. It was clear that after a night of close contact, they had become quite familiar with each other. Akado walked to the table in disbelief, staring at the two of them in a daze.

“Good morning, Akado,” the two beautiful women said with sweet smiles, greeting Akado together.

Akado was taken aback, then the corners of his mouth also turned up. He knew that this was the comfort that the women who loved him were giving him. Apart from thanks, he really didn’t know what else to say.

“Thank you… Today, the weather is really nice, isn’t it?” Akado said with a smile, sitting down to have a hearty breakfast with his women.

Outside the window of the Felsennest, although it was still cold, the snow had begun to melt.