Chapter 2

I raised my head and looked into those blue eyes I had once loved so deeply.

“You saw me.”

Robert looked at me helplessly.

“You’re throwing another tantrum, Catherine. I chose to save Nora first because she was weaker than you.”

“And I’ve told you many times. I promised Mark I would protect her.”

I was done.

I no longer wanted a fiancé who kept choosing to care for another woman.

I said nothing more, and the room fell silent.

Robert seemed to think I had finally accepted his explanation. He was about to sit beside me when the radio on his chest crackled with Nora’s tearful voice.

“Robert, where did you go?”

“I woke up and couldn’t find you. I was so scared.”

I stared at him in disbelief.

“Radios are already in short supply. You gave one to her?”

He ignored my question and pressed the communication button.

There was a tenderness in his eyes that even he did not seem to notice.

“I’ll be right back. Be good and wait for me.”

After releasing the button, he looked at me as though his decision were perfectly reasonable.

“Nora was badly frightened and has developed PTSD. She may need me at any time, so I gave her a radio.”

Even as he explained, he was already heading toward the entrance.

“Catherine, you’re a soldier. You can handle an injury like this yourself. I need to get back to Nora.”

“Her psychological trauma is far worse than yours. She needs me more.”

I watched him leave.

My heart felt colder than the freezing wind outside the tent.

The next day, the siege around our position was lifted, and the fighting temporarily subsided.

As soon as communication with the outside world was restored, I sent two telegrams.

The first was a request to transfer back to a rear hospital as medical support.

The second was sent to my father, asking him to end my engagement to Robert.

A reply would take several days, which would give my injuries enough time to stabilize before the journey.

My nurse, Emily, had followed me from the rear hospital all the way to the front lines.

She was also my closest friend.

As soon as I was strong enough to walk, I went looking for her.

There were so many wounded soldiers that it took me a long time to find her in a makeshift medical station set up inside an abandoned warehouse.

The moment I saw her, tears rushed into my eyes.

Emily’s left hand was gone.

The explosion had torn it away, and large patches of blood stained the bandages wrapped around the wound.

I rushed toward her, but my hands stopped halfway. I did not know where I could touch her without causing more pain.

My lips trembled, but I could not force out a single word.

Emily wiped away my tears with her right hand and smiled brightly.

“Catherine, we’re both still alive. That’s what matters.”

“I still have one hand. We can keep fighting together!”

I sobbed as I stroked her face.

I knew why Emily had followed me to the front.

She had come because she wanted to stay by my side.

She had no parents and had long regarded me as her older sister.

To me, she was family, too.

“Emily, let’s go back to the rear hospital. Let’s go home.”

Emily stared at me in surprise.

“What about Robert? You love him so much. Can you really bear to leave him?”

Everyone in the unit knew how deeply I loved Robert.

No one believed I would ever leave him.

Robert himself had always believed the same thing.

Our families had arranged our first meeting.

I fell in love with the handsome officer the moment I saw him.

I never tried to hide my feelings, but he rejected me.

He told me he had his own ideals. He wanted to devote himself to the war, defend his country, and protect civilians who could not protect themselves.

He said he did not want any weaknesses, and if he died on the battlefield, he did not want to leave me a widow.

Instead of making me give up, his rejection only made me fall more deeply in love with him.

I chose to support his ideals.

Against my family’s wishes, I left behind the safe, privileged life I had known.

I endured brutal training, joined the military, and became a military doctor.

After surviving battle after battle, I earned military honors of my own.

Gradually, I began to see admiration in Robert’s eyes.

Eventually, he accepted my love.

During one attack, Robert was buried beneath the rubble.

I dug through the debris with my bare hands for hours, refusing to stop until I found him and pulled him out.

He held my torn, bleeding hands, deeply moved, his eyes filled with love.

“A doctor’s hands are precious. You should never hurt yourself like this.”

I leaned against his chest, overwhelmed with relief at having the most precious person in my life back in my arms.

“Nothing in this world is more precious to me than you.”