After the explosion, the young soldier whom Ted had entrusted with a heavy responsibility removed his hat and saluted in the direction Ted had left. Among the nine people present, this young soldier was the youngest, yet he was also the quickest to suppress his grief and pull himself together.
The young soldier helped Jin and Emily up from the ground one after another. When he noticed that Emily’s legs were shaking and she had no strength to stand, he immediately squatted down in front of her and let her climb onto his back.
“I’m going to run.”
He softly reminded Emily to hold onto his neck properly. Then, looking back, the young soldier said, “Hedelin’s Angels, please follow me!”
The young soldier had rallied himself so quickly that Emily found it somewhat unbelievable.
Judging by his build and height, he should have been about the same age as her younger brother at home. But her brother was a boy made of water, especially prone to crying. When she practiced horseback riding with her brother, she wouldn’t shed a single tear even if the insides of her thighs were chafed raw, but her brother would sob uncontrollably at the slightest reddening of his skin.
‘…Could this be the difference between soldiers and nobles?’
Carried on the young soldier’s back as they charged out of the forest, Emily saw the young soldier’s profile clearly for the first time under the dim dawn light.
Had the young soldier truly calmed his emotions? There were clearly still teardrops glistening at the corners of his red eyes. He could charge forward so resolutely only because he had placed Ted’s orders above his personal emotional fluctuations.
—For Duke Wilson, the Hedelin Medical Team was his lifesaving straw. For the people of Tarafa Port, the very existence of the Hedelin Angels was hope itself.
In the instant Ted burst out of the forest, the young soldier understood: Ted and the other soldiers were willing to sacrifice their lives for one reason alone.
To bring hope to Tarafa Port.
To protect the light of hope that could illuminate all of Osnabrock.
Ted and the others had stayed in the forest… His superiors and seniors must have watched him, who had inherited their will, carry on Osnabrock’s hope forward with bold and open smiles.
Run.
Run even faster.
Even if his legs broke because of it.
Even if it burned up his life.
Run, keep running.
Until hope was delivered.
The sky had fully brightened, and the shadow of the town was already visible ahead. Ye Tang, who could vaguely hear gunshots from pursuing forces behind them, pulled a cylindrical object from her bosom.
She uncapped the cylindrical object and twisted it tight into a flagpole. While running, Ye Tang took out the flag she carried with her and fixed it to the flagpole.
The white flag bore golden ears of wheat and a black microscope fluttering in the wind. The sentries at Tarafa Port spotted the flag symbolizing the Hedelin Medical Team at a glance.
“It’s… it’s the Hedelin Medical Team!! It’s Hedelin’s Angels!!”
“Hedelin’s Angels have come to save us!!”
“Hedelin’s Angels have finally arrived—”
The cheers roused the soldiers exhausted from prolonged fighting and awakened the civilians who had cowered in their homes out of fear day after day.
“We haven’t been abandoned by the god of fate! Hedelin’s Angels haven’t given up on us!!”
“Duke Wilson is saved!!”
“Long live Osnabrock!! Long live Hedelin’s Angels!!”
The soldiers’ morale soared, and the civilians poured out of their homes. To welcome the Hedelin Medical Team, countless people swarmed out, volunteering to Adrian and Jack, who served as Duke Wilson’s right-hand men.
Adrian ordered the gates opened, and Jack led men to rendezvous with Ye Tang’s group.
The Crown Prince’s troops pursuing Ye Tang’s group were on the verge of gunning them down, but just as Ye Tang’s group entered smoothbore musket range, they came under fire from Tarafa Port’s forces.
Gunfire erupted chaotically, interspersed with screams. Gloria brushed past Jack.
Gloria didn’t look back, and Jack, leading the soldiers, pressed forward without hesitation. In that instant, the two had never felt so reassured—she wasn’t dead, he wasn’t dead. They had met again, alive.
“Welcome, everyone from the Hedelin Medical Team.”
Adrian was the one who greeted Ye Tang’s group at Tarafa Port’s gates. Compared to a year ago, he had grown much thinner and sloppier, but also taller, appearing more mature. The once dapper playboy was now a senior officer with an eyepatch over his right eye.
Adrian’s gaze met Claudia’s for only a moment. The next second, he turned naturally toward Ye Tang, introducing Duke Wilson’s condition and the situation at Tarafa Port to her group while leading them to the camp.
The situation was urgent, and Ye Tang couldn’t bring most of the medical supplies. But she had kept the Hedelin Medical Team’s flag on her at all times and preserved the newly obtained broad-spectrum antibiotics close to her body.
Though these broad-spectrum antibiotics, shipped across the seas, were still in the experimental stage with doubts about safety and stability, for Duke Wilson to survive now, they had no choice but to treat a dead horse like a live one.
“Dia, Lia, Rela, Emily, Jin, Emma, May—you all know what to do, right?”
“Yes, Mother…”
“Yes, Madam…”
The battle still raged outside the city, and the Hedelin Medical Team, having just escaped danger, hadn’t fully shaken off the influence of being pursued. Not only were Jin, Emma, and the others still dazed, but even the three Hedelin sisters seemed distracted.
In this state, they might fail to save someone who could have been easily saved.
Ye Tang took a deep breath and shouted loudly, “Then go do it! Give it your all! Create the conditions if there are none!!”
Having lived a long time, emotional fluctuations had mellowed for her as well. Ye Tang rarely spoke so loudly, but her words weren’t just loud—they brimmed with power and resolve, like an invisible slap across Claudia and the others’ faces, jolting them awake.
“Mother…”
“Madam…”
One hand on her chest, Cinderella closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them wide and declared in unison with her sisters, “Yes!! Mother!!”
“Yes! Madam!!”
Emily, Jin, and the others’ responses were no less fervent than those of the three Hedelin sisters.
The eight-person team quickly dispersed, each knowing their tasks and roles clearly.
Not enough medical supplies?
Then turn every available resource at hand into medical supplies!
Not enough medical personnel?
Then mobilize everyone who could still move! Teach those who could move how to do it!
…
After administering the antibiotics to Duke Wilson, Ye Tang stayed by his side, closely observing his reaction to the medicine.
Duke Wilson’s condition was far from optimistic. Adrian didn’t pin too much hope on the medicine Ye Tang had brought—placing all hope on the Hedelin Medical Team was unfair and irresponsible. If the Hedelin Medical Team failed to save His Grace the Duke or turn the tide at Tarafa Port, could that be blamed on them?
He wouldn’t let that happen.
Failing to protect their nation was the fault of the royals and nobles.
Failing to protect their soldiers was the fault of generals and officers.
Failing to protect their people was the fault of the entire nation.
As a volunteer nonprofit medical team fighting the plague, the Hedelin Medical Team shouldn’t bear the responsibility of saving everyone.
…Angels weren’t omnipotent gods, were they?
Recalling Jack, who had eliminated the pursuers outside the city, Adrian began a meeting with Duke Wilson’s advisors. Only when the moon was high in the sky did he finally convince the other advisors to accept the reality that Duke Wilson might recover—or he might not.
After the meeting, instead of returning to his assigned quarters, Adrian headed toward the camp. As far as he knew, the Hedelin Medical Team always worked through the night saving people upon arriving at a city, arranging most matters before resting.
Tarafa Port wasn’t like other places, and Adrian didn’t want the Hedelin Medical Team to pull all-nighters here too. So he went toward the lit areas in the camp.
Coincidentally, Claudia emerged from one of the lit spots.
The two met face-to-face.
“…”
“…………”
You don’t speak, so I won’t first. Claudia stared at Adrian like that. Adrian soon felt awkward.
During the days the royals were still concealing Tartafu’s declaration of war, he had visited Hedelin House once. His purpose was simple: to persuade Claudia to tell her family not to do anything foolish—before Hedelin Medical Academy disbanded, Ye Tang had told the students: war was coming. And she gave them choices.
Students could drop out, and the academy wouldn’t interfere afterward. They could stay and follow different mentors out of Osnabrock to stable, peaceful countries to continue research and study.
Finally, they could join the Hedelin Medical Team and head to epidemic areas as members.
Instructors Jane and Petty also wanted to join the Hedelin Medical Team but were refused by Ye Tang—their expertise wasn’t something ordinary ladies could fully master after a year or two. Until successors were trained, Ye Tang wasn’t willing to lose these two talents who could nurture more.
Ye Tang’s open statement that Osnabrock would go to war with another nation naturally stirred up a storm in Vitlil’s social circles.
When Adrian heard Ye Tang was organizing people for epidemic areas, he immediately thought of the little leopard.
“You family are all smart people—why wade into this mess?”
With his usual frivolity and superiority, suppressing the inexplicable unease in his heart, Adrian smiled at Claudia. “You women aren’t soldiers anyway; no need to deliberately go to dangerous places, right?”
At that time, Claudia slammed her teacup into the saucer forcefully in public for the first time. Her anger even spilled some tea from the cup.
“Mr. Benaken, we women may not be soldiers, but please remember—we women are also warriors.”
“Soldiers obey orders to the front lines; we women choose as warriors to our battlefields. You have no right to judge who’s smart or foolish, what muddy waters shouldn’t be stirred, or what places shouldn’t be gone to.”
With that, Claudia stood up. “Please leave today. We apologize for the poor hospitality.”
Being asked to leave a residence by a lady—and a commoner at that—didn’t feel humiliating to Adrian. But Claudia’s words kept circling in his mind, slapping him across the face from both sides every time he recalled them.
With such an awkward farewell as their last meeting before reuniting, of course Adrian felt awkward facing Claudia now.
He mulled it over for half a day before feigning casualness and greeting, “Hello there, Little Treasure. Could it be you’re here for me?”
The moment Adrian said it, he inwardly mocked himself: What are you saying? Little Treasure would come for you unless the sun rose from the west tomorrow.
“Yes, Mr. Benaken.”
“Mm-hmm, I knew it wasn’t… Huh?”
Adrian felt as if his heart had been forcefully rammed by deer antlers.
“I said I came to find you, Mr. Benaken.”
Claudia stepped forward two paces and dragged Adrian away without another word. By the time Adrian came back to his senses, he was already sitting inside a hastily erected tent.
This was a tent with absolutely no feminine touch. There were no fresh flowers like those Adrian had often seen in ladies’ homes, nor any artworks that noble families always displayed. All there was a kerosene lamp, a relatively clean military blanket, and a pungent smell he couldn’t quite identify and had never encountered before.
“Sit properly.”
Claudia’s command made cold sweat break out on the back of Adrian’s head as he straightened up rigidly. He couldn’t claim there were no improper thoughts in his mind, after all, he was a normal man with physical needs who had been forced into near a year of abstinence. And…
When Claudia leaned closer, Adrian squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He began to fantasize about how soft Little Treasure’s lips were, only to feel someone lift the eyepatch off his face.
Adrian abruptly opened his intact left eye.
“Mm… it doesn’t look infected. The wound has healed perfectly.”
Though the eyeball itself had necrotized, rendering his right eye unusable.
After examining Adrian’s right eye, Claudia relaxed slightly. Seeing the motion of her shoulders, Adrian realized that Claudia had been worried about him.
“Little Treasure… didn’t you hate me?”
“I do hate you.”
Claudia was straightforward: “I hate your frivolity, hate your fickleness, hate your self-righteousness, hate your arrogance.”
“—”
Her words stabbed at his heart like knives, tearing Adrian’s heart to shreds.
“But I’m a doctor. I won’t abandon a potential patient.”
As she spoke, Claudia looked away.
The Adrian from a year ago had indeed been utterly detestable; every word he’d said had made her want to kick his ass.
But this year on the front lines had suddenly made her realize that Adrian might have been trying to protect her, attempting to persuade her to go somewhere safe.
Claudia didn’t like having her choices taken away, nor being looked down upon. But she accepted Adrian’s concern. She had thought that if she ever got the chance to see the living Adrian again, she would tell him this:
“Also, I’ve never hated you as a person.”
“Little Treasure!”
Adrian pulled Claudia into a tight embrace, rubbing his face against the hollow of her shoulder before asking, “Can I hug you?”
“Haven’t you already hugged me!? Let go! And I am not ‘Little Treasure’!”
“Claudia.”
Adrian corrected himself immediately. He gazed earnestly into Claudia’s eyes: “…Dia.”
Her face flushed bright red in an instant. She punched Adrian in the chest, but Claudia didn’t understand why her hand felt so light, without any force behind it.