Hearing the familiar footsteps beside his ear, the smile that had been on Eren's face disappeared. Connie, who was beside him, looked at Eren with confusion as his face suddenly turned cold.
"Eren, what's wrong?"
Eren shook his head, signaling Connie to go back first.
"It's nothing. I just suddenly remembered there are still some things I haven't done. Connie, you go back first."
Connie scratched his head before returning to the dormitory. Only after Connie had walked far away did Eren turn around and look toward the dark corner by the wall.
"Come out."
As soon as Eren finished speaking, a tall figure walked out from the shadows while lightly applauding.
Seeing Yelena's face, Eren's brows twisted into a knot.
"You again? I remember I already made it very clear to you before. I have absolutely no interest in the Imperial Faction. Stop wasting your breath."
Although Eren rejected her decisively, Yelena did not seem flustered at all. She simply raised one finger and slowly waved it, then stared into Eren's eyes and said with a smile,
"Eren, don't be so quick to refuse. Let's not talk about whether you join the Imperial Faction or not for now. But there shouldn't be any problem with learning about the Imperial Faction's ideology, right?"
Eren replied coldly,
"No interest. Goodbye."
Seeing that Eren was about to leave, Yelena immediately raised her voice.
"Did you know that your father, Mr. Grisha, was once a member of the Eldian Restorationists?!"
Hearing Yelena mention his father, Eren's body stiffened.
Seeing this, Yelena pressed further.
"The ideology of the Imperial Faction is essentially the same as the Restorationists' ideology. Eren, are you denying your father's beliefs? Do you know how many humans in the world outside Paradis Island hate Eldians? Do you know why your father seized the power of the Founder on this island?"
Each of Yelena's words slowly eroded Eren's heart like poison.
Finally, Eren could no longer endure it and shouted angrily,
"Enough! What exactly are you trying to say?!"
Yelena suddenly stepped in front of Eren and stared straight at him. Then she grabbed his arm tightly and said word by word,
"The power of the Founder is inside you! Do you know what that means? Eren! The only one who can save the Eldians is you! And Zeke. You should trust your brother. You are brothers. Eldia should be saved by the two of you!"
When Eren heard Zeke's name, his heart skipped a beat.
Zeke Yeager.
This name frequently appeared in the notes his father Grisha left behind.
The same surname.
Zeke.
His half-brother who shared the same father.
Even his mother Carla probably didn't know about this.
Eren remained silent.
In the end, he still chose not to tell his mother about it. He didn't want the glorious image of his father in his mother's heart to be destroyed.
Likewise, his companions and the higher-ups of Paradis Island had collectively kept this secret from Eren's mother.
Yelena watched as Eren struggled internally. But in the end, Eren forcefully pulled his arm free from her grip and turned to leave.
Unwilling to give up, Yelena continued speaking while looking at his back.
"Eren! You will have to face all of this sooner or later. Carrying the power of the Founder means you must bear this responsibility."
"The entire world will never sit by and watch Paradis Island develop peacefully. The power of the Titans only lasts thirteen years. If you miss this chance, you will regret it for the rest of your life!"
"Eren! You should really see the malice the people of the outside world have toward Eldians. Even if you think about it selfishly—Eren, don't you care about your family and companions?"
"That girl... her name is Mikasa, right? She seems to care about you very much. Can you really bear it?"
The red scarf suddenly flashed into Eren's mind.
His vision darkened for a moment, and his body paused.
Titan power.
Thirteen years of lifespan.
His mother.
Mikasa.
Armin.
Yago.
Jean Kirstein.
Connie.
Sasha...
The faces of former companions flooded wildly into Eren's mind.
Faintly, Eren felt his body becoming heavy.
Eren naturally understood the ideology of the Imperial Faction very well, because they had repeatedly tried to recruit him.
But Eren had always strongly resisted it.
The world.
Marley.
Eldians.
The relationships between them were simply too complicated.
Thinking about it now, even facing Titans in the Survey Corps had been easier than dealing with this.
But the things recorded in his father's notebook had always lingered in Eren's heart.
To be honest, Eren didn't want to face all of this.
He even wanted to escape it.
Eren suddenly remembered what Yago had told him before leaving.
"Eren, don't feel pressured just because the Founder is inside you. Remember this—you are you. Don't overthink everything, and don't try to play the hero alone. Behind you, you still have companions like us."
Yelena said,
"Eren, you should trust us. Trust Zeke. Trust the bond between brothers. You Yeager brothers are destined to become the messengers who will liberate the Eldians."
"Even an outsider like Yago Norman chose to trust Zeke. He was the first person to cooperate with Zeke."
"Eren, why are you unwilling to trust Zeke?"
Eren's pupils suddenly shrank.
He turned his head and asked,
"What did you say? Yago?"
...
Inside a slightly shaking train, the Marleyan warrior unit had gathered in one of the carriages.
Zeke flipped through the Marley newspaper in his hands.
A large portion of the newspaper covered the battle at Grayle Fortress on the Middle Eastern front between Marley and the Middle Eastern forces.
After roughly scanning it, Zeke discovered that most of the articles reported by Marley were just padding.
They used all kinds of magnificent rhetoric to describe how grand the battle scene was and how powerful the Marley army was.
But from beginning to end, Zeke did not see any substantial achievements made by Marley.
Only in the middle section did it mention that the Marley army had removed the dense fortress clusters of the Middle Eastern strongholds with almost no losses.
It also praised the bravery and calm command of Marley commander Lieutenant Colonel Loya with endless flattering words.
A small black-and-white photograph was also attached to the newspaper.
However, due to the printing quality, the face of Lieutenant Colonel Loya in the photo was extremely blurry.
Zeke only glanced at it once and immediately lost interest.
Just a Marley commander.
It had no impact on him at all.
At this moment, the warrior unit captain Magath walked into the carriage with a dark expression.
Several Marley warriors immediately stood up straight and saluted.
Magath suppressed his anger and motioned for everyone to sit down. Then he walked to Zeke's side and slammed a report in front of him.
Gritting his teeth, he growled,
"That bastard Koslow! What the hell did he do? How dare he?! The warrior unit has completely lost repautation this time!"
Zeke was somewhat surprised.
He had never seen Captain Magath so furious before.
Picking up the report that had been slammed onto the table, Zeke began reading it carefully.
Soon, he understood why Captain Magath was so angry.
"Marley cadets? Those little guys seem to have gone a bit too far."
Zeke murmured while looking at the report.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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