Anne tried to get up from the bed immediately, but his arm blocked her. Evan pulled the blanket over her again and patted it gently.

“Do I need to sing you a lullaby?”

“No! I’ll sleep!”

Anne tightly shut her eyes, thinking that if she didn’t look at Evan, who was continually trying to tempt her, it would be fine.

‘I only spent one night with him…’

It was surprising how Evan, with his progressive mindset, didn’t mind if she couldn’t bear children as his duchess.

Even so, she had become assimilated as a person of the Terossa Empire rather than from Korea.

In this world, Evan was willing to give up something so natural. As Anne’s consciousness faded, she muttered a small wish.

“I want to go back without knowing, Evan.”

Evan didn’t miss her words.

Originally, he had intended to lay Anne here and gaze at her face, which he hadn’t seen in a long time.

Perhaps her unconscious thoughts had slipped out…

He clearly heard her say she wanted to go back.

There was only one place Anne could return to.

Evan pushed her hair back and answered.

“Alright. Anne, let’s go back.”

***

The unexpected commotion happened in the middle of the night, when everyone was asleep.

“Ahhh!!!! Save me!!!!”

The irregular sound of gunfire and screams echoed in Anne’s ears. This was followed by the continuous sound of things falling, and soon the staff were efficiently evacuating the patients.

“Everyone, please come out. Raise your hand if you have difficulty moving!”

“Exit in an orderly manner! Slowly.”

Anne was still in her room. She looked at Evan with anxious eyes.

“Evan, something serious is happening.”

“I’ll go check it out.”

“Me too. Let’s go together. We need to find out what’s going on.”

Evan nodded. Judging by the evacuation of patients, it was highly likely that something had happened inside the hospital.

“Get ready.”

Anne woke Blue, who was sleeping by the window. Opening the window wide, she looked at Blue.

“Blue, stay up high for a while.”

Even though he wouldn’t understand, she muttered, hoping he wouldn’t get hurt.

“Screech! (What’s happening!)”

Blue hesitated on the window sill, so Anne had to push him out forcibly.

Meanwhile, Evan was inspecting the firearms he had secretly brought. He walked over and handed Anne a gun.

“Use it only when your life is in danger.”

“…Okay.”

The cold touch of the gun, which she had only held during basic training in her military service, made Anne feel as if her blood was running cold.

She was scared.

“Stay behind me.”

“I will.”

Taking a deep breath, Anne opened the door to see the evacuation process in progress.

People with mobility issues.

People are breathing heavily.

Elderly people are looking very sick.

A child with no hair is likely due to medication side effects.

And the staff is guiding them.

As Anne stared blankly at this scene, a staff member approached her.

He whispered urgently to Anne.

“We need to evacuate the patients quickly; there’s been a terrorist attack inside the hospital.”

Anne, shocked, helped guide people towards the exit. Supporting an elderly man, she spoke to Evan.

“Evan, you should evacuate too. I’ll handle this…!”

Who was telling who to evacuate?

Evan chuckled slightly in disbelief.

“Help with the evacuation. I’ll head over there.”

Evan moved against the flow of people, heading further into the hospital.

“H, Huff.”

Outside the building, people were packed tightly. They were slowly making their way out through the narrow main gate. Anne listened closely to the conversations of the nearby staff.

“There are still many people inside who haven’t made it out. The shooter is going wild with a gun. I hope everyone is okay…”

“…The director hasn’t come out yet!”

“The director? Oh no, this is bad.”

Anne approached the staff and asked,

“What’s happening?”

“Well, the suspect took a patient hostage in front of the director, demanding they save his mother.”

“…His mother?”

“Yes, someone who’s already dead. We tried to reason with him, but it didn’t work, and the director told us to run while she held him off. We’ve been getting patients out as quickly as we can.”

“And did you hear the gunshots? The terrorists seem to have gotten hold of military-grade firearms.”

Hearing the firsthand accounts of the staff who had seen the terror unfold, Anne’s face turned pale.

‘Terrorists.’

That meant there was more than one.

Feeling a chill down to her bones, Anne ran towards where Evan had gone.

***

“Did you hear the gunshots?”

Carly, rushing into Kyle’s room, woke him from his sleep.

“…I thought it was a dream.”

Having spent years on the battlefield, Kyle had assumed the gunshots were part of a dream. Seeing Carly trembling with fear, he asked,

“What’s wrong?”

“Look outside.”

Kyle got up and opened the window near the head of the bed. There, he saw a raging fire. It was clearly the hospital.

“…Anne, if Anne is in this city, or worse, in that hospital, what do we do?”

Carly’s face was a mess of tears and snot. Kyle, trying to stay calm, spoke gently.

“We don’t know anything for sure yet, so don’t jump to conclusions. Stay inside the room. I’ll go and check.”

“Kyle!”

“If the fire reaches here, leave the city with the coachman. I’ll tell him too.”

“No, no! Kyle, don’t go.”

Ignoring Carly’s desperate plea, Kyle grabbed a handgun he had brought for self-defense and headed out.

Though it was still early dawn, the flames were visible from afar, drawing people out into the streets. They watched the burning hospital with fearful eyes, worrying that war had broken out again.

Kyle arrived in front of the hospital quickly, feeling the intense heat and smelling the acrid smoke.

He began checking on each person who had escaped from the hospital.

“Is there a young woman named Anne here?”

“What?”

Kyle swiftly scanned the faces of the many people, asking repeatedly.

At that moment, a blue feather landed on his shoulder.

“Blue?”

“Bleep! Bleep! (Anne went in there! It’s dangerous!)”

Seeing Blue flying in circles in one direction, Kyle bit his lip.

He knew instinctively.

Anne was inside.

Kyle pushed through the people still exiting and entered the hospital’s main entrance.

“…Anne!”

A staff member grabbed Kyle’s shoulder at his shout.

“Why are you looking for Miss Anne? Is something wrong?”

“I’m here to find Anne. Where is she?”

The staff member, Garnet’s secretary, hesitated at the unfamiliar face. Growing desperate, Kyle grabbed the secretary by the collar and shook him.

“Tell me now.”

“She’s inside. But who are you?”

Ignoring the question, Kyle headed inside.

The interior wasn’t yet filled with smoke, but it wouldn’t be long before it was dangerous.

As he moved further in, the gunshots grew louder.

Fear that he might be too late made his hands tremble.

‘Anne, you’re alive, right?’

Kyle followed the sound of gunfire to the central lobby on the first floor. There, people who hadn’t managed to evacuate were gathered.

They were staring anxiously at something.

Kyle joined the back of the group and looked at what they were staring at.

There were armed terrorists.

‘At least two of them.’

And facing them was a small figure.

‘Anne!’

It was Anne, the person Kyle had been desperately searching for.

For a moment, relief washed over him, but it quickly turned to anxiety as he saw the perilous situation she was in.

Anne was holding a gun, facing off with a terrorist. Her gun was aimed at the head of the terrorist who had subdued Evan.

But another terrorist had a gun pressed against Anne’s temple. No matter how one looked at it, Anne was at a disadvantage.

Evan, on his knees, muttered urgently,

“Let her go. You can kill me, I don’t care.”

“You’re quite the hero, aren’t you?”

“Evan, stop saying nonsense!”

The terrorist pressed the gun harder against Anne’s temple.

“Anne, why did you come here? I told you to evacuate.”

“Nobody move! Or these three will lose their heads.”

One of the terrorists fired a shot into the air.

Bang!

Kyle realized there was another terrorist he hadn’t seen, holding another hostage.

‘This is a real mess.’

Anne’s hands began to tremble. Seeing this, the terrorists chuckled.

“Even if she’s acting tough, she’s scared, isn’t she? If a bullet hits here, well, if you’re lucky, you’ll die instantly. But if not, you’ll suffer in agony for a long time.”

Though Evan was kneeling, he resisted as much as he could with his shoulders and spat out,

“I’ll kill you.”

“Whoa, whoa, calm down. You don’t want me to put a hole in her head, do you?”

“……”

“That’s right.”

Anne, her voice shaking with tension, asked,

“What do you want? If the fire gets bigger, you’ll die too.”

“…Ah, we set the fire far enough away. It won’t reach here. But since the director isn’t waking up, we have to stay like this. Why did you hit her so hard?”

“You told me to knock him out.”

As Anne listened to the terrorists’ conversation, she made eye contact with Evan. The steadiness in his blue eyes helped her calm down.

“Tell me what you want. If it’s something I can do, I will.”

TL NOTE: Visit dusk blossoms for more advanced chapters and stories