Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: The Secret Letter
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“Beth!”
Aines’s shrill scream instantly shattered the peaceful atmosphere in the hospital room.
“Oh my God.”
Madam Molly, who had been deep in conversation with Dever, clapped a hand over her mouth. Before she could even take a step, Dever whirled around.
His gaze fixed on the madam as he scooped the collapsed Beth into his arms in one fluid motion.
“Th-the operating room. Over there.”
Her trembling fingertip pointed toward the end of the shabby hallway.
Dever raced down the corridor, the limp woman’s weight barely registering. He kicked open the door to the operating room and laid her out straight on the cold bed.
This was the second time. The second time he’d seen this woman’s eyes closed like this.
Why now?
She must have hit the floor on her way down—blood beaded on her small lips. The overly red stain against her bloodless face made her look even paler.
Dever’s thumb brushed gently against those lips.
“What happened?!”
He pulled his hand back naturally as a crowd rushed in. But unnoticed by anyone, the blood from her lips had already been wiped away in his palm.
As everyone fussed noisily over Beth’s condition, Dever stepped back a pace, feigning nonchalance. His eyes sharpened.
Even unconscious, her hand was clenched white-knuckled. And something clutched inside it.
No one paid any mind to Dever standing by the bed. He took her small, cold hand as if to soothe it. Beth had no idea whose hand her precious secret had fallen into—she was lost in a horrific nightmare.
“She just collapsed out of nowhere. While she was handing me the letter.”
A letter. Dever fiddled with the rough paper already tucked in his pocket.
“We’ll need to check her thoroughly again once she wakes up. For now, I can’t say what caused it…”
The doctor gave his assessment after listening here and there with the stethoscope.
Madam Molly nodded in agreement and stroked Beth’s forehead, slick with cold sweat. She should have stopped her more firmly. Regret weighed heavily on the madam’s heart, too late to change anything.
It hadn’t been long since that whole ordeal, yet she’d pushed through and kept working. Beth was tough like that—fragile but resilient. It was a careless judgment that now filled her with remorse.
“Let’s get her some rest first. She hasn’t slept properly in days.”
Madam Molly composed her crumbling expression and glanced around.
“Commander Dever, could you take Beth back to the barracks?”
The hospital’s only empty room was the isolation ward. She didn’t want to put Beth there again—a selfish wish that led to an unreasonable request.
“I know it’s an imposition—”
“Understood.”
Dever shrugged off his uniform jacket. He draped it roughly over the woman who showed no sign of waking, then lifted her into his arms. Her round head settled against his chest, the sensation vivid.
“Aines, show him the way to the barracks.”
“I know the barracks. Just tell me which room.”
“Ah, second floor, left end, right under the window—that’s Beth’s spot.”
No sooner had she answered than Dever’s steps headed out without hesitation. A brisk wind blew, drawing his arm tighter around the woman.
The same path they’d walked last night.
The same road, the same person. But the feeling was far from pleasant this time. Her faint breaths rising and falling in his arms seemed like they could snuff out if the wind picked up even once.
The rickety barracks door gave way after a few shoulder nudges. What a joke of a lock. Irritation surged, but Dever’s steps remained more careful than usual.
Even as he laid her on the shabby bed in the cramped room, Beth didn’t open her eyes. Her furrowed brows suggested a rough dream.
He’d spotted her the moment he’d entered the room after his call. That faded sky blue caught his eye wherever she went—like a hook pulling her into his view.
A worn note dangled from Dever’s fingers.
“Beth, it’s your uncle.”
Uncle. It suited Beth—family, connection.
“Kopel 432-19”
He hadn’t heard her hometown was Kopel. Dever let out a scoff. What did he really know about her anyway?
Flipping the paper front and back yielded nothing else. Fainting over this?
Maybe not the letter, as the onlookers had whispered. Perhaps the shock from the isolation ward hadn’t worn off.
“Huff, huff. Your Grace.”
Aines entered, catching her breath, bags in hand.
“Thank you so much. You can go now.”
Aines dragged a rickety wooden chair to the bedside.
“Um… Your Grace. I’ll watch over her here.”
Noting Dever showed no sign of leaving even after she arrived, Aines added cautiously.
“Yes. Then.”
Dever forced his dragging feet to move, as if glued down.
The creaking stairs had grated on him since carrying her up.
“Beth, are you awake?”
Aines slammed her book shut and hurried to support her.
“You scared me half to death fainting the second you saw that letter. Do you have any idea?”
Through Beth’s hazy vision, her friend’s tearful face swam into view. The word “letter” buzzed in her ears, a beat delayed.
Beth’s hand, clutching her head, suddenly patted down her body.
“What, looking for something?”
Her parched hands roughly swept the bed, under the pillow, the nightstand. Notebooks and pens clattered to the floor, but she had no time to care—she scratched her nails painfully into her palm.
[Letter]
Aines recognized the letters on her palm right away and glanced around.
“Letter? Huh? Where’d it go?”
She’d been too shocked by her friend’s collapse to think of grabbing it. Had it even fallen to the floor? Her fuzzy memory offered no clarity.
Beth’s heart began to pound.
What if someone saw it?
The frantic thumping rose to her throat, choking her breath.
“Did Duke Dever take it? He carried you here.”
Before Aines finished, Beth bolted from the bed like a spring. Aines couldn’t catch her—where did that strength come from in such a frail body?
She chased after, but Beth was already sprinting toward the barracks on the opposite side of the hospital.
“Beth! I’ll check the hospital! Hurry back!”
Beth didn’t feel the knife-like wind whipping past. Like she was possessed, she dashed down a path she’d never taken.
How far had she run? Past a neatly trimmed forest path, familiar uniforms appeared. Soldiers’ eyes locked on the woman charging toward camp, but she had no attention for them.
The darkening sky made her more frantic. Everyone just glanced from afar—no one to ask for the commander’s location.
Was that man even here?
Her exhales trembled with anxiety.
“Beth… Nurse?”
A familiar voice made her whip around.
Arthur approached with a bewildered face. Blue eyes under his angular cap brimmed with questions about the nurse in the wrong place.
“How did you—”
Beth thrust her palm up quickly. Fingers clenched hard, carving across it lest the growing dark hide it.
Beyond Arthur’s shoulder, far off—sharp gray eyes watching her.
It was him.
Maybe because she’d always seen him at dusk.
The deeper the shadows fell, the clearer he became.
Arthur stared blankly as Beth brushed past, her gaze fixed somewhere. It didn’t take long to realize it was his friend.
Through the haze of cigar smoke, Dever watched the woman approach. How long had it been since she’d collapsed like the dead? Now she stood before him, disheveled and pale, but far better than that corpse-like state.
Beth extended her hand to the man who flicked an oblique glance through the cigar clenched in his teeth.
“What?”
Her eyes were different—more desperate, angrier.
[Letter]
He couldn’t miss the handwriting on her delicate palm.
But still.
“Too dark to see.”
This.
Panting in frustration, Beth grabbed his free hand. Bold as if she’d cast aside all decorum as a Nexus woman.
Her white fingers settled on his callused palm.
[Letter]
She looked up at the man. He’d see it now.
But he just shook his head, as if clueless. So sharp and quick-witted usually. Frustrated, she scribbled the same word again.
Arthur watched from afar as Beth kept drawing on Dever’s palm. Not sure if he should be seeing this.
“Ah, this?”
Only after she’d scrawled “letter” about five times did Dever hand over what she wanted. Beth snatched the letter, glancing up at his face briefly.
“Didn’t read it.”
As if reading her mind, he gave the answer she craved.
Letter retrieved—she needed Madam Molly’s permission to go out before it got too late. Beth retraced her weary steps.
By then, night had fallen over the outpost, heralding winter’s early chill.
The fierce energy from before gone, her slumped shoulders were draped with a coat as she walked.
“Wear it just to the hospital. No one on the way.”
Everything felt exhausting. The letter’s contents. The man who’d made her run to unfamiliar barracks. The endless day.
She wanted to ask Dever walking beside her why he was following, to please leave. But how to say it? Even “letter” had taken forever.
Beth could only keep moving as best she could.
Madam Molly couldn’t hide her surprise at the unexpected pair.
“You two, what’s—”
Too drained to explain the pointless companionship, Beth just held out the yellowed paper.
The madam’s face hardened as she took it. Now it all made sense. What had felled this girl who’d endured life-and-death moments.
“Right, you want to go out. As you know, things are tense lately. Too dangerous for the market alone.”
In wartime, who among the soldiers could she trust with Beth?
Two faces flashed in her mind. And just yesterday morning’s little commotion with Arthur and Raphaelle—rumors that had twisted her guts.
Arthur wasn’t bad. But if something happened with Beth, heaven forbid…
Then only one remained.
“Dever, will you accompany Beth tomorrow morning?”
From barracks to hospital, then to the front of the lodging—Dever hadn’t said a word. The woman lost in thought seemed oblivious to his presence.
“Beth.”
Her vacant eyes finally turned to him as she reached for the door.
“I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning. Wait for me.”
Tomorrow morning. Beth mulled it over, nodding vaguely.
Dever didn’t leave right away. He looked up at the small, dark window he’d seen last night. Soon, yellow light would glow there.
Now he knew for sure—the shadow flickering was Beth.
Under that light, he spread his hand. Covered in scratches and scars, no trace of her writing remained.
Dever stood there long after the light went out. He didn’t know why.
He just… wanted to.