Chapter 8
“How dare you?”
The words, spat out with contempt, were followed by the scissors being violently snatched from Beth’s hand and raised high into the air.
“Debert!!”
Arthur, who had quickly followed, grabbed Debert’s arm just as he was about to strike. But Debert paid no attention to Arthur holding his arm, focusing only on the lieutenant whose neck he held in his grasp and who was groaning.
Just a moment ago, this man was the wounded soldier Beth had been tending to.
Debert’s head tilted slightly. He had entered the ward like a ferocious beast, but now he resembled a viper, coldly calculating how to finish off his prey.
His menacing aura was so intense that no one, except Arthur, dared to approach him.
Without giving Arthur a chance to say anything more, Debert hurled the lieutenant to the ground. The man’s painful groan echoed through the room as he hit the floor.
“I was debating whether to gouge out that one remaining eye of yours.”
Debert shook off Arthur’s grip on his arm. Beth quickly retrieved the scissors that had fallen to the floor.
“Why… why are you doing this?”
Debert didn’t respond. Instead, he pulled a dagger from his back pocket and stabbed the man straight in the right shoulder.
“Aaaargh!!”
The man screamed, clutching his shoulder as he writhed on the floor.
Sticky, dark red blood spread across the white floor of the hospital like a map. Debert knelt on one knee, levelling with the man’s gaze, his uniform now stained with the man’s blood.
Debert’s face, once filled with murderous intent, returned to its usual calm expression as he stood up. Everyone who witnessed this held their breath. Even Mrs. Molly, the only one in the hospital who could stand up to Debert, remained silent.
“Duke Arthur. If you wanted to raise cuckoo chicks, you should have at least protected your own chicks.”
From the injured soldiers lying in the ward to the soldiers who had followed Debert in, and even those who had limped towards the central ward to see what the commotion was about, everyone immediately understood Debert’s words.
So that man is…
Arthur asked in a low, steady voice, “Are you talking about a spy?”
Debert, still gripping the soldier’s jaw, turned his head to look at him. The man, dazed from pain, was drooling profusely from the pain.
“Who is your handler?”
“Ugh… uh….”
“I need an answer.”
Debert picked up the dagger from the pool of blood at his feet. The man muttered something, but Devert mercilessly cut the tendon in his calf. He skilfully avoided the vital points while causing maximum pain.
“Aaaargh!!!”
“Can we trust the word of a traitor?”
The ward was now a tense, icy silence. Debert’s dagger rose once more into the air, his gaze fixed on the man’s one remaining eye.
Thud.
A much weaker hand than Arthur’s grabbed Debert’s wrist.
Debert’s head turned slowly.
Once again. Beth Jane.
Her hands trembled, but her dark eyes remained steady, almost as if she were reproaching him.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
A mere nurse to stop Duke Debert, whom even Arthur couldn’t restrain. Mrs. Molly, who had been watching silently, finally stepped forward.
Blood dripped from Beth’s hand, which had been cut by the dagger she failed to catch in time. Debert, noticing this, signalled to the doctor.
“Please, treat her.”
The doctor, caught off guard by Debert’s sudden attention, nodded repeatedly with a dazed expression.
The man lying at Debert’s feet seemed barely conscious. Debert nudged the man’s head lightly with his boot, causing it to sway lifelessly.
“You need to live. You must show us the fate of a traitor to the Nexus.”
Debert then walked out of the ward. As soon as he left, whispers began to rise like a heat haze.
The blood had spread to Arthur’s feet. He looked down blankly at the unwanted sea of blood.
* * *
Beth sat in a daze, letting Ines tend to her hand. The disinfectant should have stung, but right now, Beth couldn’t even feel that much pain. Ines opened her mouth as if to say something but then closed it again.
Having joined the front-line hospital early on, Ines was no stranger to such scenes.
It was only after coming to the battlefield that Ines understood why Debert Cliff’s name was so infamous and why so many feared him. As the head nurse, she had seen things that the other nurses hadn’t.
War is a battle of tactics and information. No matter how many spies and traitors were weeded out, they always emerged because armies and empires are made up of people.
Debert was exceptionally skilled at instilling fear in proportion to his capabilities. His method of commanding the army was to mercilessly eradicate traitors, to the point where he couldn’t bear to see one alive.
Just before Beth arrived, Debert had repeatedly stabbed, healed, and stabbed again a soldier who had leaked the supply routes, until the man finally died of shock after ten days. Today, the man would likely meet the same fate.
But Ines didn’t want to tell Beth that, at least not now.
“Beth, this is what war is. For Nexus to survive, there can be no traitors.”
Beth understood as well. War is about killing more of the enemy to survive. Traitors couldn’t be allowed to live.
But does it have to be done so cruelly?
Beth could hear the sounds of surgery behind the curtain next to her chair, where the man was being treated. Even if he survived, he would never lead a normal life again.
Beth thought it would be better if the man simply died in his sleep while under anaesthesia. Otherwise, Debert would just come back to finish him off the moment he woke up.
Beth squeezed her eyes shut. Her faintly trembling eyelashes looked pitiful.
* * *
“Beth, this is what war is. For Nexus to survive, there can be no traitors.”
A voice floated in through the open window.
The cigar in Debert’s hand was stained with someone else’s dried blood.
Beth’s face, drained of all colour, was white as a sheet, almost ghostly. Whether from fear or shock, she seemed oblivious to the cut on her hand.
He had wondered if she had any spirit in her, but it was just as he had expected.
She was a woman as weak as Debert had imagined.
How could someone like her work as a nurse in the midst of war? She looked like she belonged back in Nexus, tending to elderly ladies’ needs.
As he watched her, Debert took a deep drag on his cigar, his sharp jawline becoming even more pronounced. His face had grown gaunt over the past few days.
“Debert.”
Arthur appeared at the end of the corridor.
Devert took a few steps forward, not wanting Beth to see him.
He just wanted to keep that woman’s frightened face for himself. It was a feeling he couldn’t quite explain.
“How did you find out?”
“The Emperor’s personal guard.”
Unlike Debert’s unit, Arthur’s men included many from the Imperial Guard.
For the safety of the royal family, only those who have passed the selection process since childhood can receive the Royal Guard Medal. That is why those who came from the Royal Guard were relatively more trustworthy than other soldiers. Not many people would think that someone who grew up with Nexus since childhood is the seed of a spy.
Moreover, because the guards were directly under the Emperor’s command, it was difficult to investigate them without raising suspicions of disloyalty towards the Emperor. However, as soon as the Dawn Operation failed, Debert began probing into the Guards within Arthur’s unit.
It was a well-prepared operation, as it was the end of this tiresome battle. It was not an operation that would be easily thrown out. Unless Devert himself or Arthur were the masterminds.
In the end, someone closely associated with Arthur had caused this mess, so perhaps the blame lay with him.
“Give me one too.”
Debert handed over the remaining cigar and lighter from his pocket. Arthur sighed at the bloodstains clinging to Debert’s hand.
“For heaven’s sake, wash your hands. Everyone’s trembling in fear.”
A thin, grey smoke filled the space between them.
“It’s my fault. I misjudged the man.”
Arthur’s voice was heavy with defeat.
“Debert, I’m getting a bit tired of all this.”
“Is that so?”
‘Tired… Am I tired right now?’ Debert couldn’t decide. He had always lived this way and would continue to do so. He couldn’t distinguish whether this thought was resignation or acceptance of his fate.
‘I don’t take in useless children.’
His father’s voice echoed in his ears. Debert covered one ear with his hand. The relentless sound of the whip would soon start buzzing again.
* * *
The hospital was quiet, yet undeniably chaotic. Everyone was still in shock over the revelation that a spy had been found within the Imperial Guard.
“Everyone, keep your mouths shut. Our job is to treat the wounded, nothing more.”
Mrs. Molly gathered the medical staff and gave them strict instructions.
They all nodded, their faces tense with anxiety. The matron’s gaze shifted to Beth, who was sitting with her head buried in her hands in a corner of the room.
“The spy will be in the isolation ward. He hasn’t woken up yet, so Sophia, Ines, and Beth will take turns monitoring his condition.”
At the mention of her name, Beth quickly lifted her head. She never wanted to relive today’s nightmare.
But Mrs. Molly had different thoughts. This was the battlefield, after all. And not just any battlefield—this was the front line, where the army commander and the general were present. It was a far cry from the more orderly rear areas.
If they were sent to a field hospital, they’d witness arms being blown off and heads rolling like balls right in front of them. As a beloved pupil, Mrs. Molly didn’t want to coddle her.
“The war isn’t over yet. Stay alert. Dismissed.”
As the others dispersed, Dixie put her arm around Beth’s shoulders.
“I’ll handle it for now. You take this to the laundry.”
Ines sent Beth to the outdoor laundry area at the back door, allowing her a moment to catch some fresh air.
Inside the hospital, the stench of blood was overwhelming, but outside, a refreshing breeze seemed to mock the tragedy within.
Beth adjusted the basket full of bloodstained clothes. She had known it wouldn’t be easy, but it was far harder than she had anticipated. From the moment the unexpected happened, everything had been difficult.
But there was no going back. Perhaps the hell here was preferable.
As Beth walked absentmindedly, a now familiar face appeared before her.
It was him.
The water dripping from his fingertips, as if he had washed his hands in the water, stained the sandy ground. His cheek still bore a faint bloodstain, and the dark blue sleeve of his uniform was tinged with a deep, reddish-brown.
Debert, who had stopped for a moment when he saw Beth, started walking again.
“Beth.”
Beth quickly lowered her head. Hearing her name from his mouth felt strange.
Last time he said it was an arrogant salvation, so what should he say this time? Would he be angry for her interference?
“Debert.”
A sultry female voice called out from behind Beth, who was about to turn back.
There stood a woman with golden hair that seemed to capture the sunlight, smiling brightly. Her blue eyes were fixed on Debert.
Debert’s mouth, which had been about to call Beth again, clamped shut.
“It’s been a while, Debert.”
A fragrance that didn’t belong in this place wafted through the air on the breeze. In a season when all the flowers had withered, the scent of blooming roses lingered.
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TRANSLATOR:
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