TMBE 08

CHAPTER 08

Unable to keep pretending she didn’t know anymore, she finally looked up at him silently.

Hey. This isn’t really the time to be bringing up soft, fluffy topics like this, is it?

“Alvin. Are you interrogating me?”

Chloe looked at him as if to caution him slightly. A few people were already glancing between Alvin and her, and attracting attention like this wasn’t good for anyone.

But he didn’t seem particularly concerned. His calm expression made Chloe wonder if she was just being overly sensitive.

After thinking for a moment, she answered.

“I thought there was one….”

…But there wasn’t?

Having inferred the ending from the lingering tone of her words, Alvin nodded immediately.

“Yeah. If there had been one, you wouldn’t have come this far.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“What kind of man would just stand by and watch his woman go off to die? Does Edelinne have a lot of men like that?”

He casually brought Edelinne into the conversation. But Chloe didn’t react sharply.

Among her acquaintances, there was someone famous for keeping a highly lethal poisoned needle hidden in their mouth. Chloe wasn’t quite that extreme, but among the quadruplets, she was the only one who could go toe-to-toe with Benjamin.

They didn’t usually fight much. They both knew each other’s capabilities too well—once they started, both sides would end up badly wounded.

On the rare occasions an argument did break out, everyone in the salon would gather around them. People who frequented the salon often thought:

“Pen really is mightier than the sword. You can literally kill someone with words.”

It was just one of the only unresolved ironies in the literary world that one of them was a poet who wrote only love poems, while the other was a children’s author who only used soft, harmless words.

“You’ve got a more conservative view on relationships than I expected.”

“Is that so?”

“Of course you’d be worried. But in the end, the decision has to be made by the person themselves. Even a lover has no right to stop that decision.”

“If that defines conservatism, then I guess I am conservative.”

Chloe nodded quietly. He was indeed a strong opponent—someone who made her heart race for the first time since Benjamin. There weren’t many ways to win against someone who didn’t even feel the impact of a verbal strike and just calmly accepted everything.

“So you came here to get over a breakup or something?”

Chloe frowned slightly. She was so used to hearing that kind of nagging from friends that it was starting to give her a headache.

“I’m not the type to be so passionate that I’d risk my life over love. And I’ve never been hurt badly enough to need to get over anything.”

“Then why are you here?”

“……”

That was the part Alvin was genuinely curious about. But as their conversation had circled around to reach that question, he realized the process mattered more than the answer—and that her responses themselves were interesting. He also realized he still had many things he was curious about her.

Chloe scratched her chin with an awkward smile. There was no grand reason to begin with. It wasn’t exactly a topic she could comfortably lay out in detail either—it was rather messy and embarrassing. And just as Chloe began to put up her defensive wall again, he muttered:

“For the record, I don’t have one.”

“What?”

“No lover, no wife, no kids. I’m completely clean on paper.”

“……”

“So stop pinning random womanizer accusations on me.”

At his sudden confession, she ended up laughing out loud.

So that’s what was bothering you that day. But…

“Sorry, but I didn’t ask, and I’m not interested.”

“…That’s a defense worthy of going down in military history.”

Alvin let out a feigned sigh. Chloe, resting her left cheek on her knee while smiling, looked up at him and said:

“But Alvin. I think I might actually be the aggressive type.”

“Sometimes offense really is the best defense.”

“Yeah, I think so too.”

The representatives of both nations laughed out loud. Listening to the low sound of his throat moving as he laughed, Chloe belatedly became aware of the people around them.

She quickly composed her expression and signaled him to stop laughing as well. Laughing at a funeral would’ve been unforgivable. At this point, there were too many deaths on both sides to grieve over each one individually.

Alvin shrugged in response to her look, and meanwhile Pitzmark soldiers were carrying bodies into a pit. As people began shoveling dirt over them, a young priest who had come from the temple began reciting prayers.

“O Ederlaina, who watches over the continent and Edelinne. Please forgive the sins they have committed here….”

Chloe, not being a believer, only lowered her eyes and looked at the priest. The prayer was always the same. She could practically recite the next lines by now.

The priest prayed that the sins committed in war would be forgiven, whether the dead were Edelinne soldiers or Pitzmark soldiers.

Chloe felt a deep sense of doubt. If both sides were sinners, then what was the point of this war? What were their righteous young people from Edelinne even doing here?

Was this base’s sense of security and friend-or-foe identification really something that could be left like this?

While thinking somewhat irritably, she slowly scanned the people around her. No one seemed particularly bothered; they all looked resigned. When she glanced sideways, Alvin also seemed lost in thought.

Although she had dodged his question, she herself was also curious about him.

How did you end up in a place like this? And were we even allowed to have that kind of conversation?

Meanwhile, Alvin was scanning the mood inside the base with detached eyes. He was calculating the guards’ patrol schedules. If he couldn’t leave with the soldiers, he might have to escape alone.

Then he noticed Chloe talking with armed personnel. Alvin’s gaze toward her was so blatant that even Ducrein had started to notice.

“Cap—”

When Ducrein tried to use his rank, Alvin narrowed his eyes and glared at him. Both of them simultaneously surveyed the soldiers, and fortunately no one was paying attention to them.

Scratching his head, Ducrein looked troubled. After hesitating about whether he should even say this, he lowered his voice and asked:

“Uh… then, can I at least drop the formalities and just speak casually while calling your name?”

“Ducrein.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t call me, and don’t talk to me.”

“……”

Alvin’s subordinate fell silent with a sullen expression. But unable to suppress his curiosity, he spoke again anyway.

“Do you… have interest in that person?”

Alvin gave a short nod.

“That woman isn’t a doctor, and she doesn’t even carry a bayonet around much. She’s not even from the temple.”

Ducrein, who already knew her identity, looked puzzled, as if wondering what the problem was. Alvin clicked his tongue and continued:

“How many non-combat roles do you think exist in a unit? And she doesn’t fit into any of them.”

In war, the moment you’re on the battlefield, a person is judged by their combat ability. If not that, then at least medical ability.

“Of course, this isn’t exactly a military unit, but she’s not an essential personnel. Not when the front line is this close.”

And that wasn’t even the main point. There was something else entirely.

“Ducrein, that person is the real power behind this base.”

“…You think so?”

Alvin had easily deduced that she was a “falling-in” noble-type figure handling miscellaneous tasks. Anyone could have noticed it with a little observation. Younger, inexperienced soldiers wanted to befriend her and casually hang around her.

But the base personnel treated Chloe differently. They regarded her as a colleague, yet were subtly cautious around her. They often even seemed to seek her opinion.

“Is she a noble? No… that doesn’t seem right.”

“……”

Listening to Alvin, Ducrein nodded several times, looking somewhat relieved.

The base had its own order, and things were generally running peacefully. But Alvin and Ducrein’s situation was far from safe. It was a situation where they had to lie low and avoid being exposed. Neither Edelinne nor Pitzmark could be trusted. Very few in Pitzmark even knew Alvin’s face, but the danger could not be ruled out completely.

And yet Alvin was suddenly showing interest in a single woman. A man who never acted like this even outside of war. A bold commander was now even casually starting conversations with her.

But it turned out it was all for official reasons.

Ducrein nodded again.

Then something caught Alvin’s eye. Chloe, who had been explaining something, suddenly frowned. Whatever was being discussed, the people around her smiled awkwardly.

Among them, the most irritating was a man named Matthew, also smiling. He massaged Chloe’s shoulders as if giving a massage, then patted her back a couple of times. Chloe didn’t seem to mind.

Alvin narrowed his eyes and tilted his head.

“That bastard… the way he’s touching her is kind of filthy.”

Ducrein, who had just been relieved, stared at Alvin. This kind of interest and that kind of interest were clearly different. And from Ducrein’s perspective, there was nothing remotely “dirty” about it—it just looked like friendly encouragement.

But the next moment, Alvin’s expression darkened further. Chloe was handed a bayonet. Soon after, the tightly shut base gate opened, and she, with the bayonet slung over her shoulder, dashed out with the others.

Alvin instinctively stood up. He walked to the window, but all he could do was watch until her figure disappeared from sight.