Eyes

Opening the tent, Anna saw the figure of a man sitting on a makeshift bed.

Pale, with fatigue still clinging to his face. The man, bearing a large scar on his cheek, slowly turned his head to look at Anna.

“How are you feeling?”

Seeing his blinking eyes, she felt a sense of calm.

Hoo— Anna slowly released the anxiety that had been hardening within her, letting it flow away with a sigh.

“……..”

“Captain?”

Whether it was a sequela of his injuries or not, the Captain simply stared blankly up at Anna.

Anna met his gaze, examining the Captain.

‘His eyes…’

The Captain’s hazel eyes felt foreign.

Eyes like a deep lake. She couldn’t see the serenity and the resolute will in his solitude.

Doubt, confusion, fear, irritation. Emotions she rarely saw were seeping into his eyes, subtly tinting their color.

‘It’s the first time I’ve seen the Captain so expressive.’

She thought. Her gaze gradually lowered.

She saw the man’s hands, clutching a tattered blanket that barely deserved the name.

The keen vice-captain of the cavalry didn’t miss the subtle trembling in his hands.

“Captain, are you alright?”

Anna bent her knees, matching his eye level. And she placed her hand over the Captain’s.

She was inwardly surprised that he didn’t even flinch at the contact, and she gave the Captain a weak smile.

Sharing the warmth of her hands, warmed by the bonfire, Anna looked into the Captain’s eyes as if searching them.

A horse neighed somewhere.

They shared silence and warmth for a while. Anna stroked the back of his hand with her thumb and closed her eyes.

Suddenly, old memories came to mind.

‘Did I know it would turn out like this?’

Pfft— She let out a deflated laugh.

Children left on the battlefield are not given many choices.

They were only given the option of clutching their empty stomachs and ending their lives in their empty homes, or scavenging the empty houses and using crude, makeshift weapons to steal food.

Anna’s case was the latter. Clever, she attached a suitable blade to the end of a long stick and tied it securely with string.

The makeshift spear was perfect for fighting at a distance, so she was able to safely protect the spoils she obtained.

She killed to survive, and deceived to avoid being deceived. Having tasted blood early in her young life, she wielded her spear without hesitation.

She thought the spear fit her perfectly, to the point where she could easily get what she wanted even against adults.

That day, as always, she was hiding in the bushes, waiting for a passerby.

Clatter, clatter— A young man was passing by on horseback.

If she thrust her spear out as he passed, it would easily kill him.

Anna took a deep breath and gripped her spear tightly.

Clatter, clatter— As the horse passed, she saw the man’s profile. A tightly closed mouth, a stern expression, deep eyes.

It was a luxury to have any feelings about his appearance, so Anna jumped out and thrust her spear.

“Ah!”

The spear, cutting through the air, unfortunately failed to pierce the man.

The man, who had dodged the spear by pulling his head back, only moved his eyes to meet Anna’s.

Hazel eyes. Emptiness, futility, fatigue.

Eyes similar to her own, which she had once seen in a broken mirror, seemed to dissect Anna.

“Eek!”

She tried to retrieve the spear she had thrust out, but the shaft, already seized, wouldn’t budge.

“A robber, are you?”

It wasn’t a question he expected an answer to.

Because as soon as he finished speaking, the man jumped off his horse and struck Anna on the back of the neck.

Without even uttering a scream, Anna collapsed forward like a falling leaf.

When Anna opened her eyes again, night had already fallen in the forest.

She rubbed the back of her still-numb head and sat up.

A bonfire lit nearby was keeping her warm.

“…Where am I?”

Uttering the stock phrase of someone who had just regained consciousness, Anna tried to recall her memories.

Forest, spear, evasion, counterattack.

As soon as she reached that point, Anna was startled and looked around.

“You’re awake.”

The man appeared from behind her, offering her a gruel that looked like dog food.

When Anna remained still, the man shook the bowl of gruel in front of her again. It was a gesture to receive the bowl.

With a dazed expression, she accepted the bowl, and the man plopped down on the opposite side of her.

With the bonfire in the middle, the man and Anna formed a straight line.

The man didn’t seem to care much about Anna’s presence, and began to eat the gruel.

It was a gruel made by mixing various things in a rough wooden bowl, but he ate it with a reverent attitude and in a disciplined manner.

The man’s meal continued for a while, and Anna couldn’t take any action until the gruel in her hands cooled.

“…Are you giving this to me to eat?”

The words she finally managed to utter after a long time of thinking were quite aggressive.

The man, who had already emptied the gruel, nodded.

“……..”

Anna stared at the man.

Only now did she get a good look at the man’s face.

The man’s face was on the youthful side. Anna thought he was probably only four to six years older than her.

He had many scars here and there, and his clothes were shabby, as if he had been rolling around on the battlefield.

What stood out were his hazel eyes.

Eyes that seemed to have experienced a lot of the world captivated her.

‘He doesn’t seem to be that much older than me.’

What kind of things had he experienced to have such eyes?

Grumble— Her stomach rumbled because she hadn’t eaten all day.

Anna scooped up a spoonful of gruel with a wooden spoon.

The viscous gruel dripped back into the bowl.

“Ugh….”

Anna didn’t hide her dislike as she pushed the gruel into her mouth.

“…It’s not good.”

It was her first meal with the Divine Doctor, and Anna recalled that the taste was terrible.