Chapter 202
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
“I was a captain.”
“Gasp… a captain? We’re only a year apart in age. But I’m a second lieutenant—why are you a captain?”
I asked sulkily, and he burst out laughing.
“You were commissioned late, and I started as a first lieutenant…”
So my guess that he had a higher rank than me was right.
“And I kept getting assigned to the fiercest frontlines, so my promotion was faster than others.”
“Oh… that makes sense…”
If he not only earned medals but also a knighthood, he must have achieved remarkable feats.
“But why were you always on the fiercest battlefields? As a son of a distant royal relative, wouldn’t they assign you to safer rear positions?”
“I volunteered.”
“Why?”
“Just because.”
“Who volunteers for a mission that’s basically a guaranteed death sentence?”
“Anyway, after meeting you, I stopped volunteering to go to the death zones.”
He tapped the bed, telling me to come lie down, holding out his hand. I obeyed and lay down facing him, but I had no intention of falling asleep before satisfying my curiosity.
“So how did we end up participating in the infiltration operation at the command post? The enemy base is as dangerous as the fiercest battlefields.”
He showed a clear reluctance to answer, his expression showed his unwillingness. I threatened not to share a bed with a man who wouldn’t answer honestly, and only then did he speak.
“You volunteered to go.”
“Excuse me?”
“I came to protect you and followed you.”
“Uh… no…”
I was too stunned to continue.
‘So I was the one who volunteered for such a dangerous mission?’
It was so different from what I imagined.
“Th-then…”
He closed his eyes, apparently not wanting to stand watch tonight. Growing anxious, I blurted out my lingering question.
“That guy said…”
When he heard that guy, and realized it was Major Felkner, he squeezed his eyes shut. Though just briefly, he looked anguished, and I regretted bringing up the major.
“What exactly did he say?”
But it was already too late to pretend it didn’t happen.
“He said you ordered me… to commit murder… or rather, you insisted. Ha ha… nonsense, right?”
His eyes snapped open, staring at me in surprise.
“You knew the commander…”
He stopped mid-sentence, studied me, then corrected himself.
“You knew what the commander’s job was.”
“Ah… so that guy really was the one…”
Before I finished muttering, he murmured softly alone, cursing the major. Even though I couldn’t hear the exact words, the tone was clear enough.
“Dana… don’t feel guilty. You had no choice.”
Had I been so broken back then? He tried to comfort me, but looked pained himself. Yet I felt only dazed—those emotions were no longer inside me.
Anyway, that wasn’t the question I wanted answered.
“So you didn’t order it, then?”
He hesitated, then looked at me intently—with eyes mixing surprise and disappointment.
“Dana.”
“…Yes?”
His voice was different than usual. I distinctly felt cold sweat on my neck.
“Did you think I forced you to kill someone?”
“Uh, no, not exactly a misunderstanding… I was just curious.”
“I think it was a misunderstanding.”
“No, I’m telling the truth.”
“I should warn you: if you lie again, I won’t forgive you.”
“Then what’s the punishment?”
He thought for a moment, then muttered in a hollow voice, “There isn’t one.”
He looked so defeated that I burst out laughing even though it wasn’t the time for it.
“Why not? You could just leave like I’m leaving forever.”
“That would be my punishment.”
He pulled me close and wrapped his arms firmly around me. Then his voice tickled my neck with frustration.
“Anyway, I didn’t order the assassination. That was the commander’s doing.”
So there was a separate operation commander. Makes sense… this man just joined later to protect me, so he wouldn’t have been the commander.
“He’s the one who dirtied your hands and forced you through this stupid operation, so if you want to blame anyone, blame him.”
“Stupid operation?”
The commander pushed the operation through quickly without proper preparation.
“Think about it. We didn’t even know the other country’s Christmas customs, so we got caught.”
“Ah…”
“We weren’t properly trained either. All because that guy was blinded by his own achievements. A short-sighted, greedy, and terrible commander.”
“But it succeeded in the end.”
“So, did the war end?”
“Uh… no. But after the commander died, the Falklands were swiftly overrun, and the air raids succeeded…”
When I mentioned air raids, his eyes suddenly hardened. I realized too late.
“That’s why you almost died.”
Right. I almost died because of a successful air raid by our side. There was a bitter taste in my mouth.
“That was my punishment, I guess.”
“No, Dana. That was also the commander’s fault. I tried to pull us out immediately…”
He must really hate the commander. Considering his misjudgment put me in this situation, it makes sense.
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