CH 80

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France’s soldiers collected the bodies scattered throughout the church and burned them outside. They were the corpses of allies who had come here with Annette.

The only survivor among the allies was a sniper in the attic. Despite his surrender, he was not being treated as a proper prisoner of war.

France’s soldiers made him carry the bodies of his colleagues and burned them himself. All through the operation, swearing, assaults, and taunts followed.

This, too, was also against international agreements. But who cared about such agreements in this situation?

War was like that.

Annette looked out the window at the red flames. She was a little dazed. She had no idea what was going to happen or what she should do.

‘He would be furious if he knew that I had done something dangerous again.’

In the midst of all this, she had a feeling. Somehow the fear seemed to disappear a little when she thought about Heiner getting angry with a blue vein on his neck with a horribly hardened expression on his face.

Come to think of it, he had been angry a lot since they met again. He had never once raised his voice from their first meeting until their divorce, but she had seen him angry more recently than she had seen in six years.

‘…was he always like that, or  he had become that anxious and impatient?’

Annette swept the child’s hair with thoughts that were no longer meaningful. The child, who had been shivering  the whole time, was tired and fell asleep.

She rubbed the child’s pale cheeks and wiped away the soot. Come to think of it, she had never heard the child’s voice.

It was natural for children to cry and scream, but he didn’t. Perhaps noticing Annette’s stare, the old man sitting quietly beside her suddenly opened his mouth.

“He can’t speak.”

“…Ah.”

“That’s what happens when you go through a war.”

“His parents are ……”

“I don’t know if they’re dead or alive.”

“Aren’t you his grandmother?”

“I picked him up because it looks like he lost his parents. If I had known this was going to happen, I wouldn’t have brought him in….”

“I see….”

“Hey! Don’t talk there!”

One of the French soldiers shouted furiously. Annette and the old man hurriedly closed their mouths. The child, who had turned over with a furrowed brow, opened his eyes fuzzily.

The child rolled his eyes anxiously, probably from the screams he had just heard. Annette patted his cheek again and gave a small whisper.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. ……”

It was a phrase she had spoken countless times to wounded soldiers, and had failed to keep. And countless times they had failed to protect her. At that moment, someone approached Annette.

She looked up. There was a deep look of alarm on her face as she identified the curly haired soldier. It was Nicolo.

“Annette.”

He called Annette’s name. He had an accent peculiar to the French, who often omitted pronunciations.

“Your real name is prettier. Why did you lie?”

“…”

“…Are you hungry?”

Annette avoided his gaze, shaking her head. Nicolo squatted next to her, not caring. He had an alarming smile.

“I can give you food.”

“…”

“Ah, you’re amazing….madam…”

“….”

“Why are you in the war? A woman like you.”

“Just.”

“When did you do it? When did your marriage end?”

“…”

Annette turned her back to him, her mouth clamped shut. As was the case from the first impression, she had a bad feeling about this man.

Nicolo, who had been staring at Annette’s profile, let out a chuckle.

“You’re too cute.”

The words he murmured gave her a chill. The way his gaze swept her face and body over and over again earlier made her feel dirty.

Despite Annette’s continued neglect, Nicolo kept talking to her. He also casually touched her shoulder and hand.

When they had met earlier, he seemed to show minimal respect for her as a nurse, but as soon as she became a prisoner of war, he treated her like this.

The other nurses and civilians glanced at Annette, but could not step forward. Annette understood them. It was hard to know what would happen if they interfered.

Annette imagined several worst-case scenarios that could happen in a time of war, where law and morality had disappeared, so murder, assault, torture, and rape —— the same thing.

“Hey, Miss Rosenberg. You better watch out for that guy.”

Suddenly someone said in a  calm voice. Annette looked at him, startled.

Elliott was sitting cross-legged on a chair in the chapel, leisurely smoking a cigar. A small red light crackled and burned in the dim darkness.

“He’s a pretty bad guy.”

For a moment, Annette barely swallowed a mocking laughter that was about to break out.

Who was he to talk? He was just sitting there and taking no action.

But there was something more important than that. It was what the man called her.

Miss Rosenberg.

Ordinary foreigners may not even know the face or name, let alone the identity, of the Commander-in-Chief’s ex-wife.

This was because the news media was not that developed. However, that man knew her face and name, as well as her maiden name. Needless to say, the curiosity was natural.

“What, what did you say?” (A)

“That you …… be careful …….”

The French soldiers thunderingly laughed at what Elliot had said. Nicolo was mischievously angry.

Elliott laughed for a long time, then spoke to Annette again.

“Miss Rosenberg, the thoughts that run through the heads of filthy bastards like these guys are a bit similar. They think if they sleep with powerful women their level of power is similar to that powerful person.”

“….”

“You have a pretty face and a powerful ex-husband, so how dangerous for you right now? You see that man’s eyes are sweeping? Be careful. I’m giving you good advice. Wouldn’t that help? Ha ha.”

“…… ha…”

“Still, Miss Rosenberg is a good hostage, so take good care of her and treat her well.”

“Is this your use for blackmailing the Commander-in-Chief?” (A)

“Well, it would be something similar. And I can get a hefty price.”

A sneer was drawn on Annette’s lips. She replied as if she had been told a very funny joke.

“You are mistaken. I am not worth a hostage at all.” (A)

“Hm?” Elliot cocked his head. “What does that mean?”

“Well, you apparently know a lot about the Padania situation, but then you must also know about my ex-husband’s past with me. My ex-husband had already broken up the family business and we were divorced due to acrimony. The whole nation knows this fact. Do you think the Commander-in-Chief will save me?”

“Ah …… hmm?”

Elliot nodded his head without any response. His expression was unreadable. Annette had no idea what that ambiguous response meant.

“Well, I know roughly about Heiner’s relationship with you…. ”

Elliot murmured, touching his chin. The way he called Heiner’s name was strangely natural and familiar.

‘There’s something there.’

This made it impossible to see the man’s true identity as simply an enemy officer who knew a lot about Padania. Annette asked in a trembling voice.

“—Who are you?”

“Well, let’s just say I was your ex-husband’s classmate at the training camp. We were colleagues, too.”

“What in the world is that…….?”

The training camp Elliott mentioned was probably on Sutherlane Island. Because that was the only place that could be called Heiner’s training camp.

But it didn’t add up. It didn’t make sense that a French soldier, a captain at that, would come from a camp under the royal Padanian military.

She wanted to question him, but she could not. Everyone in the building was listening to their conversation.

The French soldiers could not understand Padanian, but even so, there were too many listening ears.

It was an external secret that Heiner was a trainee on Sutherlane Island. The list of trainees in question was kept private. She didn’t want to expose his past here.

However, Elliott continued to talk carefree as if he did not care about such things in the slightest.

“Heiner and I carried out a few operations together. We were pretty good friends. Oh, and we visited Marquis Dietrich’s residence many times………….. you don’t remember, do you? Miss Rosenberg didn’t care for the likes of us. Even though there were many soldiers who adored you, haha.”

Annette’s face turned slightly pale.

Her father’s men and soldiers often came and went at the Rosenberg residence. Heiner was one of them.

Then it meant that this man was really her father’s subordinate or a soldier. With him being a captain of the enemy forces meant two things.

He could have defected after the revolution and become a collaborator of the enemy country.

“The name I used at the time was……..”

Or he was France’s spy from the beginning.

“Jackson, it was Jackson.”

***