Chapter 122

At this point, Claudine hardly cared if she would turn out to be just as terrible as the man she was willing to call husband. She knew from the beginning that her fate would be tied to this man, no matter how much it tried to change, one way or another, her fate would always be entwined with him.

Moreover, that’s why she refused to let him go. She’ll drag them both through the ground, and tie them together to hell if need be. 

“So you see, you’re never getting her back.” Claudine sighed out, leaning back into her seat, “She won’t ever want to go back to a monster like you.”

Matthias chuckled softly, and amusedly at her, giving her a big grin.

“I don’t mind her not returning.” He told Claudine, a genuine smile on his lips with a mad glint in his eye, “She can’t return if she’s dead after all,” He elaborated, his eyes staring hopefully into space…

“If she’s dead she won’t be able to leave me and run away from me.”

A cold chill ran through Claudine’s spine as she narrowed her eyes over to Matthias. Her lips pursed in observation as she continued to eye him warily. 

“So you’re saying you’re going to kill her?”

Matthias met her eyes with a manic grin.

“Absolutely.” 

Claudine scoffed in disbelief, before looking back at him incredulously.

“Have you finally gone insane?” Matthias only shrugged in reply.

“Who knows? Maybe?” He hummed delightfully, “Probably.”

“So you threaten her life,” Claudine asked him dryly, “That she’ll have to do as you say, or else you will kill her?”

Matthias frowned at the word. He did not like how she saw it as threatening. 

“I don’t see it like that.” He answered softly, before going back to the topic at hand. “Besides, breaking off the engagement on your part will not have any negative effects on your family. In fact, it would seem as though it had been my failing. Isn’t this the best solution to both our concerns?”

He then resumed smiling pleasantly at Claudine once more.

“After all, I would end up bearing all the blame and shame for why the engagement didn’t push through. Take it as a compensation for all the trouble it will bring you and your family.”

Claudine breathed out, biting her lower lip in deep thought, before she narrowed her gaze towards Matthias. 

“And if I don’t want to? If I decide to keep the engagement even after you bear all the shame and embarrassment, what would you do then? Kill me?” 

Matthias chuckled amusingly at her. 

“Why would I need to?” He asked her incredulously in amusement. Matthias shook his head lightly and finally stood up to his full height. “I don’t need to kill you to make you suffer a fate worse than death.” 

He politely straightened himself up, before smiling pleasantly towards Claudine once more.

“Though I’m quite certain I won’t have to result in those means,” He stared at her knowingly, “You’re intelligence is beyond your usual counterparts after all.”

“Don’t speak as though you know me.” Claudine snapped at him in a harsh whisper, her mind already running a trip down memory lane on the events of her younger days.

The harsh lessons, intensive grooming to be a Duchess. The incessant reminders that she’ll never compare to her father’s bastard sons who will inherit everything, while she will become another man’s responsibility, but still bear the responsibility to her birth family.

She’d cried endlessly before, trying her best to endure everything. The only reprieve she ever got was whenever she’d go to Riette, who had distanced himself forever from her. He had been the only place she could feel herself momentarily breathe in relief once more before going back to her real life. 

And the internal embarrassment and knowing that despite everything she did to be the perfect lady, no one, not even her fiance, found her worthy enough. He’ll always covet a lowly orphan, with no manners and influence, compared to her. 

Streaks of tears spilled out of her eyes, before she gracefully dabbed them away with her handkerchief.

“You don’t know anything about what I could do.” Claudine told him blankly, eyes staring into space, “You don’t know how much I can do.”

Claudine began to sob, as tears flowed seamlessly out of her eyes. Her cry was echoing even through the doors of her home. Anyone who’d be listening in could only assume it was tears of distress at the knowledge of her fiance heading off into war. 

Matthias stood there, looking at Claudine’s wracking form, before he decided to leave. 

Once Matthias left the street leading to Brandt’s residence, he couldn’t help but look up at the sky. He laughed to himself as he gazed at the dazzling, bright and beautiful sky overhead. He breathed in deeply and felt his whole body relax with an undertone of giddiness.

And so the days began to roll by, and on the day that was supposed to be his wedding, Duke Matthias von Herhardt reported to duty, and began to serve as commanding officer in the Berg’s Sixth Army.

As his men and companions around him hardened up and braced themselves to face enemy lines, he couldn’t help but feel so excited.

Any moment now, he’ll be going to Sienna. 

Any day now, he’ll reach the city of southern beaches and beautiful waves to find his true goal.

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

Kyle staggered to his feet as soon as the extreme nausea finally subsided. He groaned in pain, his throat and stomach throbbing in the excessive hurling he’d just done. He took a few more steps, before hobbling beneath a tree and sat beneath it with another groan. 

He could still smell the disinfectant and antiseptic even if he was a distance away from the field infirmaries set up. There was also a hint of iron in the air, reminding him of just how much blood was being spilled and the ongoing field surgery in one of the tents.

He could see the military doctors flapping the tents open as they rushed in, out and around the barracks. Kyle took a shaky breath as he saw some wounded soldiers walk in and patted his stomach lightly, wordlessly willing it to settle down again. 

He was so tired, and it seemed like his stomach had finally tired out as well from all the hurling he did.

“Hey,” a light tap made its way to his shoulders, making Kyle jump a bit as he looked up and saw another military doctor crouching down over at him. “Are you feeling okay?” the doctor asked.

Kyle hoped he hadn’t spaced out long, and began to clamber back to his feet, when the doctor prompted him to stay down.

“No, keep sitting.” the doctor lightly ordered him, and promptly took a seat beside him. Then, wordlessly, the doctor brought over and gave him the bucket he had been holding. 

As one of Kyle’s direct supervisors for field experience in their school, the doctor was also responsible for ensuring Kyle and the rest of his classmates would be fine while they were rendering service.

Kyle wasted no time in giving him a heartfelt gratitude and began to rinse his mouth free of the remnants of his vomit, and promptly took a huge swig from his bottled water once he was finished. 

Unfortunately their reprieve had been short-lived, when all of a sudden shouts and calls of panicked ‘medic’ were soaring through the air. Some of them had come from the tent.

Some of the patients out of surgery were now waking up. 

Immediately, Kyle and his supervisor rose to their feet and quickly resumed their duties. 

“How long do you think this will continue?” Kyle asked, a mix of worry and exhaustion could be heard in his voice. His senior-only pursed his lips grimly, their hands quickly working between themselves absentmindedly as they did their work swiftly and efficiently.

“If the current progress continues,” the doctor grunted, eyes quickly scanning their current patient before preparing the things they needed, “We should be able to break into the country in no time. It’s any day now.”

Kyle efficiently assisted in the process, his eyes scanning their surroundings from time to time until his assistance was once more required. 

The lush green forests they once arrived in, were now beginning to turn red. But the trees by the borders in Lovita were still of greenish-blue. 

“We must keep on persevering, at least we’re not actively engaging enemy forces.” The doctor continued, and patted Kyle on the shoulders in a comforting manner, “If we’re lucky, the war will soon be over, and we can go back home in time for winter.”

Where the doctor marched, Kyle promptly followed, his eyes, ears and hands quick to aid whatever was requested of him. Yet, with every passing day, the more Kyle believed an end could not possibly be achieved despite the encouraging words from his superiors.

Not when everywhere he looked was only pain, destruction, and even death. Even if the war finally ended, everyone’s lives had already been irrevocably changed. If he was already witnessing this much destruction, on a side his betters believed to be winning the war, he dreads to see what the other side’s camp looked like. And his heart hurt at the thought of it.

No one, especially the innocent, ever survived unscathed in wars. 

When the declaration of the war came to their university, he was astonished to realize that even the medical students were conscripted to serve in the war effort as well. Even other courses, like engineering and the like, were made to serve through their respective skills. 

Quickly the sudden arrival of war was buried in the urgency of serving their empire. 

The school systems all over the region were quickly revised to accommodate the war. And in no time, a large number of convening troops and armed forces were being transported to their respective posts. 

Kyle had been so scared at the prospect of being in a war. His entire senses were heightened, his anxiety spiking up with every task they were being given. In no time, Kyle quickly realized how soon he needed to adjust to serve in the war.

He had no choice but to do so, lives were on the line.

When he and his group had been deployed to their respective stations, it had already been a battlefield. Kyle was immediately shaken out of his frightened shell, and forced to swallow down his fears to save the lives of those defending their country. 

Half of the time he dreaded failing. This was no longer just all theoretical, no longer a certain number on a test saying he failed. If he fails here, someone will die. He only finished one year in medical school, and while it was spent most of the time assisting operations, it hadn’t been this urgent.

And especially not on a massive scale, like the continuous influx of wounded soldiers.

“Both of you, head to the commanding barracks!” Barked a random officer that Kyle vaguely recognized.

“How many officers were injured?” quickly asked by his supervisor as he immediately grabbed a first aid kit. 

“I heard the army captain had been shot. Most of the other injuries were minor as well, hence he hadn’t been rushed into the infirmary as the others were.” they quickly grunted in response, “Go on! Make haste!”

Immediately Kyle was quickly led back outside and followed quickly after his supervisor. 

Something in Kyle’s eyes immediately changed, and hardened at the mention of heading towards the commander’s tents. He knew it was poor of him to think so, but he hoped deep in his heart…

That whoever had been shot was a familiar face.

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

Leyla watched as one after another, the large trucks went in and out of the museum’s storage facility. She couldn’t help but watch the entire process with a frown of confusion. She hadn’t really been working in the place for so long, but she couldn’t help but hold on tightly on the strap of her bag anxiously.

This process had been going on for days in the museum. The storage facilities housed many of the museum’s precious specimens and national jewels. The director had made an announcement that they were being relocated, and they had ample measures to secure every priceless artifact in those trucks.

Still, she couldn’t help but feel it was an unusual thing to do. 

Once the trucks were gone, the dead silence in the roads resumed and Leyla stopped walking. She paused and observed the roads with a somber expression. The trucks had been the only vehicles to pass through these roads in days. 

She remembered hearing the mayor of Sienna give an announcement that the Confederacy had everything under control, and that the tides of war would soon be in their favor. But every day, more and more refugees kept spilling into their borders that Leyla found it to be hardly encouraging when the otherwise was evidently true.

From the refugees she managed to talk to, they had tales of the Berg’s empire fiercely advancing south. Lovita had all but abandoned the northeastern fronts and reappropriated most of their forces down west.

There simply weren’t enough men to defend the capital, and they had little doubt Sienna would soon be forfeited to Berg as well. 

Protests had been vocally made by the people in defense of their king, declaring they would not be abandoned. Sienna was a key region in Lovita’s army after all, it was in this city that most supplies for their navy and military were coming from. 

Still, everyone had grown weary and a single thing going wrong could trigger everyone into panic quickly. Bill and Leyla were in the same boat as them as well. 

She quickly did the groceries, and promptly made her way back home. Unfortunately, everyday the prices hiked more and more, while the supplies became less and less. 

Most of the supplies were also being diverted towards the military front in the guise of defending their country. As a result, even some items in the market that used to be everyday items were now becoming scarce to see in stock.

Leyla found herself lying in exhaustion on her bed as soon as she arrived. She would prepare dinner later, but for now, she needed to rest her sore feet. Her back was beginning to hurt lately, and she couldn’t help but feel bloated.

The elation she felt upon releasing the constriction around her abdomen was simply immaculate. Upon further thought, she entertained the idea of wearing looser clothes. 

As she kept thinking about one thing after another, Leyla eventually found herself drifting off to sleep without meaning to. She only woke up when a glaring thumping sound had suddenly begun. She quickly awoke with a start, grunting in the suddenness of her awakening and groaning as she sat up.

Had something fallen off the table again?

She rubbed her eyes, yawning off the sleep and blinked the drowsiness away. She let out another quiet sigh, when another blaring sound rang. She frowned and tilted her head in thought.

That sounded like it came from the streets. And followed shortly, were panicked calls of her name.

“Leyla! Leyla!” 

She quickly gasped and shot up immediately to her feet! It was uncle Bill!

She rushed out of her room, just in time to see her muddied uncle burst through their front door in a blind panic!

“Leyla!” He immediately sighed in absolute relief, before he quickly urged her to pack some essentials, “We need to go dear, quickly now!” He grabbed a random bag and filled it with whatever they needed, and, “Come on, Leyla!” Bill snapped at her urgently once more when she remained frozen.

Leyla snapped back into action, also gathering things she thought they might need before they rushed out of the small apartment. By the time they reached the streets, another sound had rung all over the streets once again!

And then it clicked to Leyla. They had been oriented about many different alarm sounds. 

This one indicated an air strike from the enemy!

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

Kyle stifled in a groan of distaste upon assisting in treating the injuries of the commanding cavalry officer. In his opinion, while multiple fragments of shrapnel were embedded in his shins, most of his injuries were wildly exaggerated from the prior report.

He couldn’t help but wonder how such a weak willed man ended up commanding a unit of the Emperor’s vital army. 

As soon as he was dismissed from assisting, Kyle respectfully turned away and released a quiet sigh, before his eyes landed on a familiar face. Immediately, his eyes hardened into a glare once more and bore holes into the man he wanted to see killed before the enemy.

Unfortunately for Kyle, the bastard was unscathed as ever.

Kyle glanced back and saw the doctor finally disinfecting the area around the wound, and beginning to wrap it up. Kyle could feel eyes on him, and when he turned back around, he saw the Matthias, sitting crossed-legged on his cot, and smoking.

He was watching them with an interested glint in his eyes. 

“You medic!” a random soldier shouted at him once he saw Kyle simply standing, “Don’t just stand there! Treat the Major!” he yelled at him and Kyle looked at him and back at the Duke.

The Duke was the major, how wonderful. He thought sarcastically.

Begrudgingly though, Kyle made his way over to him and stopped a foot away from the Duke. They stared at each other for a while, before Kyle decided to break the silence and get it over with as soon as possible.

“Are you injured anywhere, Major?” he asked dryly. Wordlessly, Matthias let out a low puff of smoke before straightening up. He flexed his arm and stretched it, before rolling up the left sleeve of his combat suit. 

Kyle’s eyes were immediately drawn to the bloodied spot of the uniform, before a bloodied makeshift bandage was revealed to him.

Kyle could immediately see it wasn’t a minor wound, and couldn’t help the small thought of satisfaction at realizing the Duke won’t be coming out unscathed, even just physically, either. Immediately, he shook the terrible thoughts away and knelt down to prepare for work.

“I need to take a look.” He said, snapping gloves on quickly, and looking for affirmation from the Duke, “This might be a little tender.” He lightly warned, and Matthias nodded at him, before Kyle began to assess the injury. 

Still indifferent as ever, Kyle thought dryly. At least his antipathy was always consistent. 

They weren’t in the same unit, that much Kyle knew. Still, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of fury and amazement at the Duke’s complete ignorance of his presence, even as he’s being treated by someone he knew hated his guts. 

Kyle wished he could be as apathetic as he was, but he could not. While the war may have taught Kyle to be more tolerable of things he did not agree with, he could not stop the ill wishes he had of the man. 

But that doesn’t mean he’ll compromise his morals and work ethic. He knew he was chosen immediately as the Duke’s medic because of the tag in his uniform. Everyone knew that the Etmans were the doctors for Herhardts.

With calm, and practiced motions, Kyle eventually found himself frowning as he assessed the injury. 

So the man with the shrapnels wasn’t the commanding officer they were reported about, but the Duke then. This was a gunshot wound, and the other one was just another noisy commander wailing about skin wounds from shrapnel of a grenade.

With complete concentration, and steady hands, Kyle managed to remove the bullet from the hole. 

“It’s time to suture it.” Kyle sighed out, before frowning, thinking about the treatment carefully, “I think.” He murmured quietly to himself, reviewing quickly in his mind if it was the correct process in dealing with a gunshot wound.

Despite his obvious hesitation, Matthias seemed to have no qualms in trusting Kyle to do his job, and only had one thing to say to him.

“Do as you want.” Matthias told him with an encouraging nod.