<CHAPTER 5 >

Abel Claren.

The son of a mediocre viscount with not even a single estate to his name.

At around this point in her life, Abel had been relentlessly bullying her.

The harassment only stopped after war broke out and his conscription papers arrived.

In other words, she was supposed to suffer at this bastard’s hands for the next several years.

That was how things were supposed to go.

“Hey, I heard you made a house call to the nearby count’s estate yesterday? Help out your poor older brother, would you? If I hit it big, I’ll pay you back double.”

Abel grinned foolishly as he lay sprawled on the ground, then threw his arms wide in exaggerated fashion.

Thank goodness she could only afford to rent a building tucked away in a secluded corner because she was short on money.

If she had lived in the city center, this bastard’s shameless behavior—completely unconcerned about prying ears—might have spread the fact that she was a woman throughout the entire neighborhood.

“How long are you planning to keep living such a pathetic life?”

“Oh, pathetic, you say? Your older brother has merely been a little unlucky. But now that I’ve been reunited with my little sister…”

A sharp glint appeared in Abel’s bleary eyes.

Even after seeing him again, it was remarkable how exceptionally clever this man was when it came to all the wrong things.

Abel had waited until she found employment, then appeared out of nowhere and extorted money from her.

After exploiting her house-call fees under the pretext of charging her for being a ‘famous physician,’ he had promptly blown every last coin at the racetracks and gambling houses in the port city.

Abel’s very existence was irrefutable proof that she had stolen the identity of a renowned physician, so Ibel had no choice but to pay him off.

“That’s all the money I have right now.”

Ibel pulled an envelope of cash from the drawer and tossed it at him.

Abel caught it, sniffed it, and broke into a broad grin.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s say that’s enough for now. But have more ready next time. I’ve got some bar tabs to settle soon.”

…Should I just shove a pistol into that loose mouth of his?

Ibel barely managed to rein in the reason that had almost vanished without a trace.

Leaning against the window, she watched Abel’s retreating figure as he sauntered away, chuckling to himself.

“Even if I live exactly as I did in the past, I’ll eventually be drafted and dragged off to war anyway…”

Suddenly, she remembered what the Grand Duke had said just before he died.

“It wouldn’t be so bad to get married and become a good husband. Take care of a family… and live like everyone else.”

Perhaps he had placed this advertisement because he intended to follow those words.

Or perhaps God had worked a miracle so that she could try living that way.

Not that she was particularly religious.

After pondering for a long while, Ibel finally pulled out her battered travel bag around sunset.

She carefully packed all her various tools, then took out the travel money she had hidden in a secret compartment inside the bag and counted it, coin by coin.

Having Abel extort yesterday’s house-call fee from her was painful, but she had always set aside ten percent in preparation for situations like this.

‘But the problem is, where am I supposed to go to apply for this position?’

—

Her minor problem was solved by a newspaper advertisement published the following day.

[-.- — -. .-. .- -.. / …- — -. / . -… . .-. …- . – . .. -. . / .-.. .. -.-. …. – . -. / .-.. .. -. -.. . -. … – .-. .- … … . / .—- ..— . / .–. — … – -.-. — -.. . / .—- —– —– .—- …–]

The advertisement contained nothing but a string of Morse code, with not even the slightest explanation.

It was such a quintessential move for him.

Ibel naturally deciphered the code.

“Konrad von Eberstein. Lichtern Lindenstrasse 12. Postal code 10013…”

Ibel’s gaze lingered for a moment on the name ‘Konrad.’

‘Of course. At this point in time, he should still be alive.’

Now that she knew where to go, she decided to leave before Abel came looking for her again.

After locking the door firmly behind her and taking hold of her bag, Ibel did not look back.

Just as the Grand Duke had done, she too had taken the first step toward changing her fate.

—

“Do you really think the person you’re looking for will recognize this and come here?”

Several days had passed since the bizarre advertisement placed in Bavaria had set the capital ablaze.

The Grand Duke’s private residence in the capital.

The Grand Duke himself, his most trusted aide Matthias, and Colonel Konrad von Eberstein, who had been loyal to him for many years.

Only a handful of people knew about this secret residence, which normally stood empty, without even a caretaker.

But today, the shadows of two men stretched long beneath the window.

As he gazed at the sky blazing red just before sunset, Victor quietly answered.

“She will come.”

“Couldn’t you at least tell me who she is and where you met her? I don’t understand any of this. You told everyone you were staying on your estate, but then secretly rushed to the capital…”

He had come to meet a comrade with whom he had fought his way through an abyss deeper than any nightmare.

Victor was not the sort of man who would willingly say such embarrassing things aloud, but even if he told Matthias the truth, there was no way the man would believe him.

“No.”

Victor cut off his aide’s complaints and turned his gaze toward the yarrow and dandelions growing thickly along the roadside.

A few minutes later, someone appeared beyond the grass swaying indifferently in the breeze.

Platinum-blond hair that shimmered strangely beneath the setting sun.

Long, delicate eyelashes and full lips.

And amber eyes that reminded him of the midsummer sun.

Whenever he saw her gritting her teeth as she struggled to save people amid ash falling like snow, he always had the same thought.

That if he wasn’t careful, he might be drawn into those eyes.

‘She really came.’

The moment Victor finished that brief thought, Matthias began making a fuss.

“Huh? Oh, someone really did come! But they look like a boy! And their hair is short, too!”

“Bring our guest inside with due courtesy.”

“Ah, yes, sir!”

Startled, Matthias hurried downstairs while Victor quietly waited.

An ordinary person could not read Morse code.

Only those connected to the military would know it.

There was a risk that the safe house might be exposed, but once he accomplished his purpose, he would abandon this place anyway, so it hardly mattered.

Besides, they were not in the middle of a war now.

Meeting Abel again was worth more to him than a single safe house.

And besides, the code he had published in the newspaper in the first place was not standard Morse code.

It was a system of Morse code developed separately by the Bavarian army during the war.

‘By now, they’re probably tearing their hair out trying to decipher it.’

It would not be easy.

The system had been devised by a soldier with a terrifying talent for cryptography.

“Hello. I’m here to apply for the position of contract Grand Duchess.”

The voice coming from the open doorway was calm and composed.

At that still-unfailingly indifferent way of speaking, Victor found himself letting out a faint laugh.

Despite the fact that he was not a man who laughed often.

“At this point in time, you shouldn’t be able to read Morse code. There’s no way an ordinary physician could know the code used by the Bavarian army.”

“……”

“If you failed to find your way here, I was prepared to take another approach. But apparently, that won’t be necessary.”

“It’s been a long time, Your Grace.”

Her voice resembled the cold air of winter.

The moment he heard it, it was as though someone had summoned autumn into the sweltering heat.

Victor slowly turned around and saw that she was far thinner and more delicate than the figure he remembered.

The light of dusk seeped upward from the hems of her trousers, gradually bathing her entire body in a warm reddish-brown glow.

As she took a decisive step inside, the memories he could never forget, no matter how hard he tried, came vividly back to life.

“I found it hard to believe for at least a day. Was it the same for you?”

“Yes. Seeing that Your Grace also returned safely… I suppose I’m not completely insane after all.”

They had died together, tangled in each other’s arms, and returned to the past at the same time.

This was neither a dream nor a hallucination.