Please Forget Me - Chapter 188

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

I tried to tell him that I love him, but ironically, I didn’t even know the name of the man I loved.

“I don’t even know your name.”

Just as the man was about to speak, the car reached the checkpoint, and his mouth closed again. I had no time to regret that my blunt accusation might be the last thing I’d say.

It was time to act. I began to pretend to cry, wiping my eyes with the damp handkerchief.

When the car stopped in front of the barricade blocking the road, a sentry carrying a rifle walked over to the driver’s side. He shined the lantern at the driver’s seat first, and after seeing the epaulettes on the jacket, he immediately saluted as he stood in front of the seat.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

The man casually spoke, and the sentry lowered his hand and politely asked for his name.

“Thank you Major. Excuse me, may I please have your name?”

“Heinrich Goetz.”

The man gave the name of one of Hildebrandt’s aides. It was late at night. The lantern lit up, but the face was hidden behind a mask, leaving only his eyes visible.

I wasn’t sure about the aide’s eye color, but his hair color at least resembled the man’s. I hoped the sentry hadn’t seen the aide before. And I prayed he wouldn’t notice that I was trembling from fear.

As I anxiously waited for the next words, the sentry tilted his head and then shone the light on me.

“The person in the back is General Hildebrandt’s wife.”

“Ah, I see.”

The sentry lifted his hat slightly and greeted me, then tilted his head again.

‘Why is he doing that?’

Mrs. Hildebrant was blonde like me, and the dress I was wearing had been given to me by her after it no longer fit her. In this remote mountain area, only the families of the high-ranking officials from the bunker could afford such expensive clothes.

So, I thought this would be enough to deceive them, but I hadn’t expected…

“But why is Madam…”

Thankfully, the sentry was confused because I was crying.

“She received word that her mother has fallen seriously ill with the flu, so please hurry and open the path.”

“Ah, so you’re in a hurry. My condolences, Madam.”

Mrs. Hildebrandt’s mother lives in the southern border region. I knew well about her family, so there was no problem answering questions, but the sentry didn’t inquire about that. Instead, he asked something else.

“Did you receive your travel permit?”

…Travel permit?

Mrs. Hildebrandt had said no permit was necessary, so what was this about? I had trusted that and was attempting this based on it, but if it wasn’t true, we’d be running straight into the execution grounds.

I felt like my fake sobs could soon give way to the pounding of my heart.

“Ha…”

I didn’t know what to do and kept pretending to cry when the man rested his arm on the doorframe and sighed. What was he planning to do?

“Hey. Hasn’t it been a while since you were assigned here? Why would the general’s wife need a travel permit?”

“That’s true, but we still should have received prior notification.”

It seemed that although no permit was required, they couldn’t just come and go freely at any time.

“Ugh… did that guy forget again?”

The man tried to deflect the situation by implying that his subordinate had missed the order, but the sentry wasn’t an easy obstacle to overcome.

“He’ll be here soon. If you haven’t received a message by the time I get back, I’ll make sure to hold my subordinate accountable. Now open the gate.”

“But… Major, I’m really sorry, but we can only let people through who have been on the list after prior notice. If the order was given recently, we’ll have to wait for the message…”

“So you’re telling me that the general’s wife should wait in the middle of the street for some message that may or may not arrive? A minute could mean her mother’s life, and you’re telling her to wait for a message? Private, you have no idea what should be prioritized.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

The man, sounding every bit like a high-ranking officer, scolded the sentry harshly, causing him to flinch and retreat. However, the officer headed not for the barricade but for the checkpoint.

“Then I’ll call the headquarters myself.”

That would leave us with no chance of escaping.

“You, what’s your name?”

In my desperate state, I stopped pretending to cry and called out to the soldier.

“Armin Vogel, Madam.”

“Private Vogel, don’t you have a mother?”

I raised my voice as though I was a general, taking on a tone that befit the general’s wife.

“…Of course, I do.”

“Then how can you act so cold-heartedly? Are you telling me that it doesn’t matter if someone’s mother dies without seeing her child one last time?”

“That’s not…!”

“You’re wasting time, and because of you, I might miss my mother’s final moments. I’ll hold you accountable for this!”

Mrs. Hildebrandt was generally a rational person, but when things didn’t go as planned, she struggled to control her emotions. So, even though I was being overly sensitive and arrogant, it likely wouldn’t seem too out of character for her.

But no matter how perfectly I impersonated the general’s wife, the soldier wouldn’t know the real Mrs. Hildebrandt, so it would be a futile act. Thinking about that made everything feel even more hopeless.

‘Please, please just let him be deceived.’

I wasn’t good at these kinds of situations in the past, and now I was doing something unexpected, making my heart feel like it was shrinking.

I wanted to run away from here, but I had to hold myself together. Imagining the bullets flying at my back as I ran, I found myself muttering whatever came to my mind.