<CHAPTER 2>
The Grand Duke sometimes played these silly little games, and Ibel, knowing this all too well, shook her head as though she couldn’t be bothered.
“Because I ran away to avoid conscription.”
Every word Ibel spoke was carefully calculated.
She took great care not to let her true identity be exposed, mixing half-truths with half-lies.
From what she had heard, Victor Bayern was skilled not only in psychological warfare but also in torture. Apparently, he had received such training during the previous king’s reign, when he had served as the head of the national intelligence agency.
Whatever the case, Ibel had decided from the beginning that it was better to mix in some truth than to spout a flimsy lie that wouldn’t hold up under scrutiny.
“So I came in my brother’s place. As a military physician, I figured I’d be more useful.”
“I see.”
Victor Bayern made no comment about her family circumstances.
His tight-lipped nature is one of his better qualities.
Thinking that, Ibel looked up at the night sky.
No matter that it was spring, temperatures varied from region to region.
This barren land grew chilly after sunset. So chilly that even the heavy jacket covered in medals felt precious.
“Which family did you say you belonged to?”
“I’m a commoner.”
Ibel answered without hesitation.
Doctors usually came from the gentry or lower-ranking noble families, so it was only natural for them to have a family name.
But she stubbornly kept hers hidden.
Besides, I’m better off without that damned family anyway.
Of course, if the Grand Duke truly wanted to know, it would take him no time at all to discover that her surname, Claren, belonged to a fallen noble family.
He would also learn that the family had one son and one daughter, and that there was no second son.
But she didn’t think he was interested in her to that extent.
Besides…
She had to make it home alive first before any of that would matter.
“If you return, do you intend to marry?”
At the unexpected question, Ibel’s expression twisted strangely.
Yet the Grand Duke’s face was rather peculiar as well.
He remained as indifferent and composed as ever, but the line of his jaw had tightened slightly.
Taken aback, Ibel answered somewhat defensively and sharply.
“Marriage? What marriage? It’s hard enough just taking care of myself in this world.”
“I see.”
“Although… if I do get married, would you give me a generous wedding gift?”
“I’ll consider it.”
Victor’s lips curved into a handsome smile at her half-serious, half-joking remark.
It was the sort of smile that could make someone think they were in a ballroom rather than on a battlefield.
“So survive, Abel.”
“I hope Your Grace returns safely as well.”
Ibel had used the name Abel from the very beginning.
It was the name of her twin brother.
Abel and Ibel.
They really didn’t put much thought into our names, did they?
Whenever she repeated her name in her mind, she was reminded of just how little her parents cared about her.
Well, that explains why they didn’t realize I’d run away for an entire week.
The moment Ibel had saved enough money to leave home, she cut her hair short and headed for the Royal St. Elburn College of Medicine and Pharmacy.
If she had failed the entrance exam, her life would have sunk straight into the gutter.
But astonishingly, she passed.
She even graduated at the top of her class.
Her family only realized she had run away after she entered the dormitory. They sent people after her, but they couldn’t drag her back.
The Royal St. Elburn College of Medicine and Pharmacy had plenty of applicants competing for admission, and they had no intention of letting go of Ibel—the only person in the school’s history to achieve a perfect score on the entrance examination.
So they dismissed her family’s accusations that she had stolen her brother’s identity as nothing more than nonsense.
I used to be so grateful to that greedy dean.
Though that same decision eventually dragged me onto the battlefield…
Will I be able to get out of here alive?
Lost in useless thoughts, Ibel let out a faint laugh.
She had known all along that she would die someday.
But now that death was actually staring her in the face, she realized just how frightening it was.
“If, by some chance, you return safely, what will you do, Your Grace?”
“I’m not sure. Perhaps I’ll learn carpentry. When I was young, before I knew anything about the world, I once asked my mother why I couldn’t become a carpenter.”
The image of the Grand Duke of Bayern carrying logs around and working as a carpenter was so absurdly ill-fitting that Ibel couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Becoming a good husband after getting married wouldn’t be so bad either. Taking care of a family… living like everyone else.”
“And then?”
“My nieces and nephews back in my territory come to mind. I left them entirely in my aunt’s care and never did much for them myself.”
His expression, which had been softened by a bitter smile, changed frighteningly the instant he spotted a glimmer of light above them.
“Get down!”
BOOOOM!
A deafening roar tore through the air from every direction.
And then…
Along with a blinding flash, shells rained down like a storm.
—
“Are you alive?”
The man who had shielded her with his massive body asked quietly.
Ibel answered by suddenly coughing up a mouthful of blood.
Eeeeeeeee—
A shrill ringing tore through her ears and rattled her brain.
Even breathing was agony, and blood kept pouring relentlessly from her mouth.
“Easy. It’s all right.”
Nothing was all right.
And yet, listening to his low, calm voice as always, she found herself strangely wanting to believe him.
As though everything really was going to be all right.
“Grand Duke… Your Grace…!”
“You still have enough strength to shout. That’s good.”
Finally regaining consciousness, Ibel clutched her burning throat and lifted her gaze.
She remembered the moment the bombardment began.
Without even the slightest hesitation, the man had pulled her into his arms and shielded her with his own body.
But if she was in this condition…
What state was he in?
Her ragged breaths came out harshly as her eyes fell upon his broad back, drenched in blood.
His clothes, always so immaculate, were torn to shreds.
Chunks of flesh had been ripped away.
And a jagged red fragment had pierced straight through his chest, impaling her as well.
“You… you could have avoided it if you were alone.”
“Didn’t I tell you? It would be troublesome if our only doctor died.”
His dark eyes looked at her calmly, concealing his pain.
“Stop the bleeding… We have to stop the bleeding…”
Gush.
Blood finally burst from his mouth as well.
Ibel took it full in the face and forced her trembling arms upward.
“Save your strength. It’s already too late.”
Damn that king.
Damn this ridiculous battle of pride.
This entire war had begun because the King of France had mocked the King of Richter.
Ibel pressed firmly against the man’s chest, cursing them both with every profanity she could think of—words that could have gotten her head chopped off for treason.
As though pressing down harder could somehow delay the arrival of the God of Death.
The truth was…
The truth was, she had been relying on him too.
In this place where everyone was losing themselves and descending into madness, Victor Bayern alone seemed like a man from another world.
His angular jaw, stern eyes, and quiet voice possessed an authority that could make others instinctively lower their heads.
But his appearance wasn’t what truly made him different.
He never lost his composure.
He was meticulous and restrained by nature.
A man who never spoke carelessly and never easily revealed his emotions.
Even as countless people became stained with blood and hatred, Victor Bayern never lost his dignity as a human being.
He memorized the names of even the lowest-ranking soldiers.
He never complained, not even while staying in a tent where rain leaked through the roof.
Watching him, Ibel had always thought he seemed almost unreal.
Which meant…
She had never imagined that he would die like this.
She had thought, at the very least, that he would make it home alive.
“You have to… survive. You have to live… so this never happens again…”
Another deafening explosion shook the air.
And then…
It seemed as though everything had come to an end.
—
…When he opened his eyes, he saw a familiar ceiling.
It wasn’t the dark, moldy barracks reeking of blood.
It was the estate in Bayern, where he had grown up as a child.
His gaze was caught by the painting of the Great Saintess and angels adorning the ceiling of his study.
“That can’t be…”
Victor Bayern murmured softly.
How many people had he killed in the war?
He had killed enough that he could have built a mountain from their corpses alone.
If there was anywhere he deserved to go as he died, it certainly wasn’t heaven.
And yet, the bickering voices of the old gardener and servant drifting in through the window, along with the scent of peaches lingering in the air, were all so convincing.
Convincing enough that he almost wanted to believe this was reality.
What happened to Abel?
And the other officers?
He was confused.
Raising his thick forearm to his forehead, he belatedly realized that he wasn’t wearing his military uniform.
The thin muslin shirt beneath which his skin showed faintly was one he used to favor during summer.
This is far too vivid and has lasted far too long to be a hallucination or a dying vision.
