Chapter 1

I woke to the bright white glare of a penlight in my eyes.

Dr. John Hughes was checking my vital signs.

When he saw that I was awake, he let out a sigh of relief.

“You’re finally awake. You’ve been unconscious for an entire day and night. Thank God.”

“Aside from a concussion and the wound on your head, there doesn’t appear to be anything seriously wrong. You were extremely lucky.”

My eyes instinctively turned toward the entrance of the tent.

John immediately knew who I was looking for.

He stood up. “Don’t worry. I’ll get Lieutenant Robert right away.”

I shook my head to stop him.

“Don’t go looking for him.”

John looked at me in confusion.

Everyone in our unit knew how much I relied on Robert.

Normally, I was the doctor responsible for caring for the wounded.

But whenever I was injured, I allowed myself to ask Robert to take care of me.

I had always cherished those opportunities to be close to him.

But this time, even though the pain had drained the color from my face and left my entire body trembling, I refused to see him.

John tried to explain.

“Actually, Lieutenant Robert stayed by your side all morning. It was only a moment ago that Nora sent a guard to call for him…”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” I interrupted.

At that moment, the tent flap was thrown open, and Robert rushed inside.

A faint scent of rose essential oil clung to him.

It was Nora’s most precious possession.

Even with John standing there, Robert came straight to me and cupped my face in both hands.

“Catherine, can you see me clearly? Does your head hurt?”

“Don’t worry. The wound is hidden beneath your hair. Your face wasn’t injured.”

My eyes stung.

Once, this was exactly what I had wanted from him.

I had wanted him to show me this kind of concern.

But most of the time, he lectured me like a rigid traditionalist who valued rules above everything else.

“Catherine, you are a soldier. Other people need my help more than you do.”

“And you are my fiancée. If I give you special treatment, people will think I’m being unfair.”

“You are a doctor. You can handle a minor injury like this yourself.”

I had always believed he was right.

That was why I handled everything on my own and rarely asked him for help.

Only when I was injured did I allow myself to be a little selfish and ask for some tenderness from my fiancé.

I thought that was simply who Robert was—a man who strictly followed his principles.

Until Nora appeared six months ago.

She was the younger sister of our comrade Mark.

Mark had died saving Robert.

Before he died, he left Robert with one final request.

“Find my sister and take her somewhere safe.”

Because of that promise, we came to this town, found Nora, and brought her with us.

Robert originally planned to send her to a relief station behind the front lines.

At the time, it was the only place that could still be considered safe.

But Nora refused.

She clutched Robert’s sleeve and cried.

“Lieutenant Robert, the safest place for me is by your side. I don’t trust anyone else to protect me.”

“Wherever you are is the safest place. You promised my brother.”

Seeing how helpless she looked, Robert finally gave in.

“Then stay with us until your injuries heal. After that, you can remain in the local safe zone.”

A month later, Nora had recovered.

I suggested that she leave the military unit.

But she wrapped both arms around Robert’s and started crying again.

She said she had studied psychology and could help soldiers suffering from combat-related trauma. She wanted to stay and continue fighting alongside us.

Robert spent the entire night thinking it over.

Nora spent the entire night crying.

In the end, Robert agreed to something that clearly violated the rules.

He said our unit truly needed a psychological counselor.

When I objected to allowing an untrained civilian to remain with us on the battlefield, he said:

“Catherine, you are a soldier. You cannot understand Nora’s state of mind. She only feels safe when she is by my side.”

“I need to take care of her.”

So that was his idea of principle.

Rules he refused to break for me could be broken without hesitation for Nora.

When she said she was afraid of the dark, he ignored the risk of enemy detection and allowed her to keep a lamp burning throughout the night.

When she said she was cold, he disregarded our marching speed, stopped the entire unit, and personally built a sled for her. Then he pulled her himself so that her feet would not have to sink into the knee-deep snow.

No matter how many times I questioned him in private, he insisted that he was not giving her special treatment.

He said Nora was simply too fragile.

Everyone else was stronger than she was, so it only appeared as though she was receiving more care.

Every time, he gave me the same explanation.

“I promised Mark that I would keep Nora safe.”

I clutched the engagement ring hidden beneath my collar and forced myself to believe him.

I comforted myself with the promise Robert had made when he proposed.

Once the war ended, we would return home, get married, have children, and live an ordinary but happy life together.

But this time, when faced with a choice between life and death, he chose Nora without the slightest hesitation.

That was when I finally realized that his heart had long since turned toward another woman.