episode_0364

***

When I opened the tent and entered, I saw a man sitting on an improvised bed.

A pale, untired face. A man with a large knife wound on his cheek slowly turned his head and looked at Anna.

“How are you feeling?”

Seeing the blinking eyes calms my mind.

Phew – Anna’s hardened anxiety melted little by little and flowed away with a sigh.

“…….”

“Captain?”

Perhaps due to the aftereffects of his injury, the captain looked blank and just looked up at Anna.

Anna made eye contact and looked at the captain.

‘eye….’

The captain’s hazel eyes were unfamiliar.

Eyes like a deep lake. The solitude that made one feel calm and strong-willed was nowhere to be seen.

Doubt, confusion, fear, frustration. Emotions that are usually hard to see seeped into his eyes, and they took on that subtle color.

‘This is my first time seeing a captain who shows his emotions so clearly.’

She thought. Her gaze gradually lowered.

A man’s hand was seen holding a blanket that was embarrassing to call a blanket.

The sharp cavalry commander did not miss the subtle tremors of his hands.

“Captain. Are you okay?”

Anna bent her knees and brought them to eye level. And he folded his hands over the captain’s hands.

Anna was secretly surprised that she did not avoid even that contact, but she gave the captain a weak smile.

Generously sharing the warmth of her hands warmed by the campfire, Anna looked intently into the captain’s eyes.

Purring, I heard the sound of a horse purring somewhere.

So we share silence and warmth for a while. Anna brushed the back of his hand with her thumb and closed her eyes.

Because old memories suddenly came to mind.

‘Did I know it would end up like this?’

Peek – She let out a shaky laugh.

***

Children left behind on the battlefield are not given many options.

The only options given to them were either to end their lives in their own unoccupied houses, or to obtain food by robbing empty houses with scrap metal tools obtained from searching empty houses.

In Anna’s case, it was the latter. The clever woman put a suitable blade on the end of a long stick and tied it tightly with string.

The improvised spear was perfect for fighting at a distance, allowing her to keep her loot safe.

I killed to survive, and deceived to avoid being deceived. She was exposed to blood at a young age and had no hesitation in wielding a spear.

Now it was time to think that the spear would fit the body so well that even adults could easily get what they wanted.

That day, as usual, he hid in the bushes and waited for passers-by.

With the sound of a horse’s hooves, a young man was passing along the road.

As the man passed by, he would have been easily killed if he had thrown his spear at him.

Anna took a deep breath and grabbed the spear.

As the words passed by, the man’s profile appeared. A tightly closed mouth, a blunt expression, and deep-set eyes.

It was a luxury to have any appreciation of the sight, so Anna leapt forward and threw out her spear.

“Ah!”

Unfortunately, the spear stretched out through the air failed to pierce the man.

The man, who avoided the window by pulling his head back, made eye contact with Anna by moving only his eyes.

hazel eyes. Emptiness, emptiness, fatigue.

Eyes similar to his own, which he had once seen through a broken mirror, looked at Anna as if dissecting them.

“Profit!”

I tried to retrieve the spear I had grabbed, but it didn’t budge.

“Is it a robbery?”

This is probably not a question you asked hoping for an answer.

As soon as the man finished speaking, he jumped off the horse and hit Anna on the back of the neck.

Unable to scream even a single word, Anna fell forward like a fallen leaf.

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

She stood up, still rubbing the back of her head, which was still numb.

A bonfire lit nearby was maintaining body temperature.

“…Where is this?”

Saying the standard lines of someone who has lost consciousness and regained consciousness, Anna traced her memories.

Forest, spear, evasion, counterattack.

When her thoughts reached that point, Anna was startled and looked around.

“Did you wake up?”

The man who appeared behind her handed her some porridge that looked like dog food.

As Anna stayed still, the man once again waved the bowl containing the porridge in front of her. It was a gesture to receive a bowl.

As she took the bowl with a confused look on her face, the man flopped down opposite her.

With the campfire in the center, the man and Anna formed a straight line.

The man seemed not very interested in Anna’s presence and began eating porridge.

The porridge was made by boiling various things in a lumpy wooden bowl, but he ate it with reverence and moderation.

The man’s meal continued for a while, and Anna could not take any action until the porridge in her hand cooled.

“……Did you give me this to eat?”

After thinking for a while, the words I finally managed to say were quite aggressive.

The man who had already emptied his porridge nodded.

“…….”

Anna looked at the man.

Only now did the man’s face come into view.

The man’s face was youthful. I thought Anna was about 4 to 6 years older than me.

There were many wounds here and there, and the clothes were shabby, as if they had come from a battlefield.

What stood out were the hazel eyes.

Her eyes, as if they had experienced many hardships in the world, captivated her.

‘I don’t think there’s much of an age difference between me and you.’

What has he experienced that makes him have eyes like that?

Growling – My stomach was crying because I hadn’t eaten all day.

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

The highly viscous porridge dripped into the bowl.

“Ugh….”

Anna didn’t hide her dislike and shoved the porridge into her mouth.

“…not tasty.”

Anna recalled that it was her first meal with the captain, and that the taste was terrible.