Chapter 8 – Part 3

Carly noticed Anne’s silhouette and tried to greet her.

But seeing her crying, she stopped in her tracks.

From a distance, Evan watched with a hardened expression. Carly approached him quietly.

“Seeing it in person is shocking, isn’t it? Imagine yourself in her place.”

Evan paused and responded coldly.

“I just hope someone who can truly protect Anne is beside her, not some novice.”

“Hmm? Like who?”

“…….”

Evan pretended to adjust his collar but was actually feeling quite uneasy.

He considered a few people of at least baronial rank, but they were mostly insignificant, so he couldn’t answer Carly’s question.

“Would even an extraordinary man who falls in love with Anne meet your standards?”

“…….”

“Why not reconsider? Find a way to keep Anne Riley safe while staying by her side?”

Evan felt a sharp pain in his heart, as if pierced by a needle. He genuinely wanted to do that.

After witnessing Anne Riley’s death and desperately searching for her traces, he felt a slight fracture in his handsome face.

“Anne Riley will soon be leaving for another place.”

“What?”

“You’ll still be able to see her, so don’t worry.”

Evan finished his words and entered his tent. He looked at the documents on his desk before starting to change into a clean uniform.

As Carly stood there in disbelief, her sharp voice echoed inside the tent.

“What is it? What are you planning?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“At least, don’t I deserve to worry since I’ve been by your side until the end?”

Evan nodded and smirked.

“Who asked you to?”

“Ha.”

Carly’s eyes widened. She thought it was too much to say such things and shouted loudly.

“She wanted it! Not anyone else, but Anne! She desperately begged me to stay by your side if she died and you returned. How can you ignore that? Do you think I’m sticking around for your sake? I’m doing it for Anne!”

Tears flowed at the end of her rapid-fire words. Amid the countless incidents, the most sorrowful thing for Carly was someone’s death.

“You’re wasting your time.”

“Ha, I’m so sorry for wasting my time then!”

With those words, Carly strode off into the empty forest.

Her tears and snot mixed together, but she didn’t care.

Covering her face, stained with anger, with both hands, Carly thought.

Even when they left Calohass, she had clearly hoped the two of them would not get hurt and that their love would be realized.

In this life, she had arrived with the dream of Anne Riley becoming the Duchess, but as soon as she arrived, the situation was even worse than before… not good at all.

“That foolish duke!”

* * *

Anne was busy as usual, tending to patients. There were always many with external injuries, but today, someone particularly stood out.

A middle-aged couple, dressed in luxurious clothes, sat on one of the beds. The man had piercing eyes, and the woman, wearing an elegant dress, had a gentle face.

Anne approached them with a puzzled expression to check for any injuries.

“It must have been difficult for civilians to get here….”

“Yes, it was not easy. It was quite challenging.”

“Get us some water. My wife is very tired.”

Anne, realizing that they appeared to be of high status, nodded and said, “Please wait a moment.”

As she poured water into a dented metal cup, Anne thought.

Lately, strange things had been happening more frequently, but there was no reason for nobles to come all the way here.

“Anne, what’s going on?”

Seeing Anne standing still in the break room, which was unusual given how she was always running around until she lost feeling in her feet, Kyle asked curiously.

Anne snapped back to reality and replied, “Oh, there are two civilians here.”

“Here? Commoner?”

“No. They seem quite proper.”

“That’s strange.”

Agreeing with Kyle’s words, Anne picked up the tray and slowly walked back to the middle-aged couple.

The couple, who had been chatting, looked Anne up and down and were shocked to see the cups on the tray.

“Why, with cups like these!”

“We only have these kinds of cups here. As you know, it’s wartime….”

“Ahem, I see.”

Anne asked them with a concerned look, “Are you here because you’re hurt?”

“No. That’s not it, so please carry on with your work.”

Anne wondered if it was okay to leave them like that, but she couldn’t say more as a rush of patients suddenly arrived.

The patients being carried on stretchers were all in serious condition. Seeing one patient’s state, Anne couldn’t help but return to the middle-aged couple.

“We need the bed, so if you don’t mind, could you please sit on the chairs in our break room?”

“Sure.”

The middle-aged man escorted the woman, who glanced at Anne’s blood-stained hands before nodding.

As soon as they stood up, Anne hurriedly picked up the stretcher with the patient. She had to move them herself due to the shortage of hands, as usual.

The couple stood a little away from the bed, watching.

Anne didn’t notice them as she started chest compressions.

Hans prepared an injection beside her as Anne’s sweat slowly dripped down her forehead.

Her face turned red as she performed chest compressions repeatedly, looking on the verge of exhaustion.

The middle-aged man, watching Anne intently, tried to step towards her.

But the woman grabbed his hand and shook her head.”That’s her job.”

“She looks extremely tired. I might be able to help.”

“No, dear. Look carefully. They already have a system in place.”

As Hans found the injection site, Anne stepped aside. Hans quickly took over the chest compressions.

Anne checked the pulse and consciousness, then administered epinephrine again. Fortunately, this world also had medications for cardiac arrest.

“Hans, I think he’s regaining consciousness.”

“Yes!”

“Take off his clothes and check for other injuries. I’ll look after the others.”

“Yes, Lieutenant.”

Watching this, the middle-aged couple approached a medic and asked.

“Where is Commander Evan Davis?”

“Pardon?”

Kyle, noticing that the couple Anne had found unusual were looking for Commander Evan Davis, tilted his head and asked.

“What business do you have with the commander?”

“I’m Baron Vanessa. We urgently need to speak with him.”

“Ah, yes. Unfortunately, there’s no one available to guide you right now, so please wait a moment….”

“No need. Just tell us where he is. We don’t want to take up your busy time.”

Kyle felt uneasy but couldn’t leave such distinguished people unattended, as Anne had pointed out.

“If you go out that door and walk straight, you’ll see a campsite. You’ll find his tent there.”

“Understood. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

After watching the hurried medic leave, Baron Vanessa spoke with a troubled look.

“Are we doing the right thing?”

“Yes, dear. We thought what we’re doing was for everyone’s benefit, but it doesn’t seem so.”

“So you feel the same way.”

He was a blunt man. Evelyn’s thoughts on her husband, Edwin, were just that.

But even such a blunt man felt that this wasn’t right after witnessing what had just happened.

It might have been a good decision to meet Anne Riley first before heading straight to Evan Davis.

The Baron Vanessa stood in front of the relatively ornate tent among the disciplined soldiers and cleared his throat.

“Do as you wish.”

“…Of course.”

With those words, Evelyn spoke to the soldier guarding the entrance of the tent.

Soon, as if permission had been granted from inside, the flap of the entrance was pulled aside, and the two entered the tent.

Evan was sitting at a desk, dressed in relatively simple combat attire compared to how he looked at the banquet.

Seeing him like this, Evelyn couldn’t hide her surprise.

The Baron Vanessa family had received great help from Evan after the death of the previous Duke Davis.

Having always seen the perfect side of Evan, they couldn’t help but be surprised at his disheveled appearance.

“It’s been a while.”

“You seem to have been through a lot, Your Grace.”

Evan nodded in agreement with Baron Vanessa’s remark.

More frightening and worrying than the never-ending war and the fear of possibly dying was the safety of Anne.

Even now, Evan was suppressing the urge to go and check on her immediately.

“I wanted to thank you for accepting my proposal positively.”

At those words, Evelyn, standing next to Baron Vanessa, couldn’t hide her surprise. She hadn’t expected to receive such a polite thank you.

The couple had thought of it as a way to repay Duke Davis for his kindness and as a joy to their childless life, but they couldn’t help but look troubled.

“Before we came here, we saw the child.”

“Did you?”

Baron Vanessa asked, seeing Evan’s face harden as soon as Anne Riley was mentioned.

“It’s difficult to say, but I can see that taking Anne Riley as our daughter would be a great loss here. Is the hospital prepared for that?”

“The field hospital will function well enough without her.”

Evelyn, who had harbored doubts, spoke in a trembling voice.

“Your Grace, we found it terrifying and exhausting to come here from a safe place. It’s more devastating than we thought, yet it’s well managed. All the medical staff were working under Anne Riley’s direction.”

“…….”

“Commander, do you really think it’s okay for us to take Anne Riley?”

Evan couldn’t deny that. Evelyn had accurately grasped the situation.

He knew that if she left, more people would die, but he couldn’t bear to leave her in the war zone.

Seeing the shadow on the commander’s face, Evelyn couldn’t help but confirm her suspicions.

“Oh my. You don’t just care about Miss Riley; you love her, don’t you?”

“No.”

Evelyn, holding onto Edwin’s coat, looked into his eyes.

The Duke, who had fallen in love, looked pitiable rather than happy. Finding this strange, Baroness Vanessa laughed and said,

“Are you perhaps trying to secure her legitimacy as a duchess?”

“No, Anne will never be my wife, My Lady.”

“My goodness.”

Evelyn felt distressed by his cold response. In the position of the Duke of Davis, there was no need to worry about who his wife would be.

Moreover, from the Emperor’s perspective, having a child without any ties would be preferable.

Unable to stop the flowing emotions, Evelyn continued, worried that this decision might lead to great regret in the future.

“Is it just my imagination, or will you regret this later?”

“I know.”

Evelyn sighed several times, watching Evan reluctantly answer with trembling lips.

She was surprised to see that even a man as cold-blooded as him could fall in love.

Seeing Evelyn’s pity, Baron Vanessa hurriedly spoke.

“Let’s wrap up the situation. We’ve purchased a relatively close mansion for this purpose. It’s too dangerous to move far in wartime. Of course, we won’t stay there forever.”

Realizing he hadn’t considered that, Evan nodded.

He was relieved that Anne would be closer to him, even if only a little.

“A wise choice.”

“We’ll send a carriage in a week, by which time Miss Riley should be done with her work here. We’ll handle the adoption procedures afterward.”

Evan nodded, handing over a prepared envelope of documents.