Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Whispers in the Deepening Night
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The night was deepening just like that.
A thick tangle of trees and bushes blocked out even the moonlight. Only the steady rhythm of their breathing and Dever's occasional low voice let them know the other was there.
Mindless questions meant to keep her awake kept coming. Favorites like desserts, seasons, scents.
After scribbling a few replies, Beth no longer had the strength. She lay limp against him like a corpse.
"I don't like carrying a dead body."
Until now, she'd been tapping lightly with her fingertips, but she clenched her fist and thumped his back instead. A soft chuckle spread through the quiet forest.
They hadn't dared light even a small campfire, fearing the Kovah Army might spot them. The winter chill piercing their skin was brutal.
But Dever, facing life and death alongside this woman right now, felt a strange sense of relief. It was a feeling he couldn't explain any other way.
"Beth."
She didn't reply, perhaps still stung by his earlier words.
"Beth."
A quiet urging followed.
"Answer me."
He leaned down a little, and her soft hair brushed his lips. Even through her slightly parted lips, her scent drifted in.
That scent made Dever feel a hazy daze. It all felt so unreal.
"Maybe we shouldn't live like this."
Beth's fingers, moving habitually, froze.
Like this... She'd only vaguely guessed at his life until today, when she'd seen it up close.
Not quite alive, not quite dead—the worst time in between.
What could she say to a man whose life was filled with that? Telling him not to live like this felt wrong, since it had kept her alive. Telling him to keep going felt cruel, since his existence was hell.
"You save people. I kill them."
He tossed it out lightly, but the inescapable weight pinned Beth down.
She unwrapped her arms from around him and pushed her limp body up. His warmth hit her from inches away.
She gripped his rough hand.
[You save them too, and you save me]
No reply came back. Thinking he hadn't understood like last time, she gripped harder and tried to repeat it.
[You]
Her hand, not even finishing the word, was caught by his. Veins bulged on the back of his large hand enveloping her small one.
"You..."
Dever swallowed dryly. He was glad for the thick darkness. No one would see him so helplessly swayed by this woman's words.
He yanked her slender arm, and her body came without resistance.
"It's cold."
Making excuses, he buried his face in her pale nape.
Even after rolling in the dirt all day, her scent hadn't faded. He liked that. It felt like she'd always be right there.
Beth's arms, flailing in confusion, tentatively wrapped around his nape.
"You made a mistake."
Her fingers tapped away, oblivious to what the words even meant. It was heartbreaking.
"You made a mistake."
Like a man possessed, Dever repeated it and buried his face deeper.
Who had made the mistake?
Her, for baring her nape to what she thought was a mere beast cub?
Or him, for clutching that fragile nape and refusing to let go?
The first light of dawn slipped through the leaves. At the rustling sound piercing the gaps, Dever's eyes snapped open.
Beth had finally dozed off as day broke. He shook her gently and pressed a finger to his lips without a word. Tension hung thick in the air.
Footsteps drew closer, step by step.
Dever shoved Beth deep into a crevice between rocks and covered her with his jacket. Then he crept silently toward the noise, muffling his steps.
"Find them quick!"
It was the shout of what sounded like their leader.
Dever flattened himself to the ground. Meeting the Kovah Army here would be a disaster.
Like a snake, he waited for the first soldier to approach. The tall grass, up to a grown man's knees, hid him perfectly.
Military boots pushed through the grass, drawing nearer.
"Urk—"
Before the soldier could yell at whatever he'd spotted, Dever lunged, clamping a hand over his mouth and snatching his rifle. The soldier's terrified eyes gleamed in Dever's merciless grip.
"Nexus?"
Dever slowly released his hand, and the soldier gasped for air. It was the soldier's first time seeing the Army Commander up close; his lips trembled.
"Commander Dever!"
Gail shouted belatedly upon spotting Dever.
His head was wrapped in bandages, evidence of his own rough yesterday. A group of Nexus soldiers followed behind him.
"We were searching for you, sir, since you went missing."
Deep guilt laced his voice.
Beth, piecing it together, cautiously emerged.
"Ah, Nurse Beth too..."
Gail trailed off.
After yesterday's crushing defeat, Beth Jens wasn't on the survivor list. Last seen at the front lines touching the Kovah Army, her death was assumed.
"What are you staring at? Get her to the rear."
At Dever's harsh order, nearby soldiers hustled Beth into a military truck.
A heavy silence filled the vehicle.
The unfamiliar road soon gave way to familiar ones. But the familiar scenery had long been twisted by yesterday's bombardment.
Charred trees, scattered tanks everywhere, bodies of the nameless strewn about.
"Don't look."
His ash-gray eyes, inscrutable, stared out the window somewhere.
The Kovah Army had pushed so hard that even the hospital was a wreck. For a retreated front line, holding it at all was impressive given the debacle.
"Bring Arthur Manor here."
The hospital fell deathly silent under Dever's menacing aura.
Arthur, supported by soldiers, limped down the stairs. His expression was calm, as if he'd expected it all.
Dever snatched the rifle from the soldier beside him and smirked. Someone gulped at the eerie twist in his smile.
"I said bring him. You fetched him like royalty."
The long barrel pointed straight at Arthur.
"You disobeyed orders and acted on your own because you trusted that?"
Arthur's sealed lips stayed shut.
"In Nexus, disobedience means summary execution."
As the trigger pulled slightly, Gail burst through the crowd.
"Sir, it's my fault. I didn't tell you about the tactics."
"Arthur Manor, you have to answer for the deaths you dragged in."
Ignoring Gail, Dever stepped closer to Arthur.
The barrel pressed against Arthur's flawless forehead.
"You know me."
Everyone did. No one escaped Dever Cliff's judgment—not even Commander Arthur.
"The Army Commander isn't the Emperor."
Arthur's chest heaved deeply.
"His Majesty ordered it, and I obeyed."
The confession, seeming impossible to voice, spilled out brazenly. Admitting the Emperor's intentions with his own mouth, revealing himself as a pawn of the Imperial Palace.
And now, the words he least wanted to say.
"Didn't the Cliff Family swear loyalty to the Nexus Emperor?"
Lame words propping up a cause named only for the prince, the imperial blood, to suppress a mere duke.
"Yes. And that's why we've been doing this dogshit until now."
It was his father Cassius's vow. Driven by ambition, it wasn't loyalty to the Emperor but a pledge to the Nexus that might one day be his.
Dever's barrel slowly lowered.
"In exchange for the vow, I became Army Commander, and you're under my command now. It's wartime."
His ash-gray eyes looked down in contempt, refusing any ground.
"In Nexus wartime, nothing trumps that. Want to play rank games with me, Commander Arthur?"
Dever's eyebrow twitched. An arrogant face.
"You'd lose."
Everyone shut up at Dever's sharp counter. With orders to confine him to quarters, the bound Arthur was dragged out of the hospital.
Madam Molly emerged from the hesitant crowd, gesturing faintly to Dever about restitching his burst back.
Meanwhile, Aines hurriedly tugged her fiancé's arm, her face full of fear that Gail might catch the Army Commander's eye and suffer.
Beth watched Dever's retreating back from the corner.
The terrifying night for everyone had passed, and morning had come.
It meant the brutal yesterday was behind them—and the vicious today was here again.
The hospital's corridors had shattered windows everywhere, and the pharmacy was all but obliterated by shells.
Everyone was clearing broken bricks and sifting rubble for salvageable supplies. Beth joined in but was soon shooed away.
"Please, Beth. Ease my guilt even a little."
At Aines's teary plea, Beth headed to the dorms. Fortunately, they had escaped the battle's damage.
She brushed off Dever's filthy jacket and washed the dirt from her body. Her exposed limbs and the torn back of her clothes were covered in wounds.
How much had that man been hurt?
The blood-soaked shirt flashed in her mind. Rolling down that steep slope while carrying her—he must be scratched up everywhere.
She pressed her knuckles hard against her heating eyes.
Leaning into the bed with her weary body, last night came back—clinging to each other through it. Fingering the ointment tin in her hand only made her miss him more.
She wanted to hear him say she was okay in his voice.
When she opened her eyes again, darkness had fallen outside. Sleep pulled her lids down once more.
Tap.
She bolted up, scanning around.
Tap.
Not a mistake. A small pebble hit the window by her head and fell.
She flung open the window, and cold night air rushed in.
"Were you sleeping?"
There he was, right under the sill like a lie.
"Alone?"
Was it a dream from lingering sleep?
Unable to ask, she nodded.
Dever glanced at the protruding bricks on the outer wall, then at Beth just above his head, alternating.
"Step back."
With that, he gripped a few bricks and vaulted onto the sill effortlessly.
Beth stared at him, dumbfounded, now right in front of her.
"You said you were alone."
It wasn't a dream.