The Military Doctor Excels at Being a Contracted Duchess - Chapter 5

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Episode 5】

Abel Claren.

The son of an insignificant viscount family with no estate to speak of.

Around this time, she had been suffering all kinds of harassment from Abel. The harassment only stopped after war broke out and conscription papers arrived.

In other words, she was scheduled to be tormented by this bastard for several years to come.

Originally, that is.

“I heard you made a house call to a nearby count’s mansion yesterday? Help out this poor brother of yours. If you win big, I’ll pay you back double.”

Abel, who had been grinning foolishly while sprawled on the floor, spread both arms dramatically and shouted.

It was fortunate that she rented a building in a secluded location due to lack of money.

If it had been in the city center, this bastard’s tyranny—caring nothing for listening ears—would have nearly spread rumors throughout the neighborhood that she was a woman.

“How long are you planning to live so pathetically?”

“Oh, pathetic? This brother of yours was just a bit unlucky. But now that I’ve met my sibling again… is that good luck?”

A cunning gleam flickered in Abel’s bleary eyes.

Looking at him again, he really was brilliantly sharp when it came to bad things.

Abel had waited until she got a job, then appeared triumphantly to extort money from her.

After exploiting her house call fees under the name of ‘reputation costs,’ he blew it all at the port city’s racetracks and gambling halls.

Since Abel’s very existence was solid proof that she had stolen his identity, Ebel had no choice but to give him money.

“That’s all the money I have right now.”

Ebel pulled out a money pouch from the drawer and threw it.

Abel caught it, sniffed it, then grinned broadly.

“Yes, yes. Let’s go with that. But prepare more next time. I need to start paying off my bar tab too.”

…Should I just shove a pistol into that flippant mouth of his?

Barely managing to catch her sanity that had almost vanished without a trace, she leaned against the window and watched Abel’s back as he left, giggling foolishly.

“Anyway, even if I live exactly like the past, he’ll get conscripted and dragged away…”

Suddenly, she remembered what the Grand Duke had said just before dying.

“Getting married and becoming a good husband wouldn’t be bad either. Taking care of a family… living like everyone else.”

Maybe he posted such an announcement to do just that.

Or perhaps God performed a miracle for her to live that way. Though she wasn’t particularly religious.

After pondering for a long time, Ebel took out an old travel bag around sunset. After neatly packing various tools, she retrieved travel money hidden in a secret pocket inside the bag and counted it coin by coin.

It was heartbreaking to have yesterday’s house call fee extorted, but she always set aside 10% separately for situations like this.

‘But the problem is, where do I go to apply for the announcement?’

* * *

The slight problem was solved by a newspaper advertisement published the next day.

[-.- — -. .-. .- -.. / …- — -. / . -… . .-. … – . .. -. . / .-.. .. -.-. …. – . -. / .-.. .. -. -.. . -. … – .-. .- … … . / .—- ..— . / .–. — … – -.-. — -.. . / .—- —– —– .—- …–]

The advertisement section had nothing but Morse code posted without any explanation. Truly behavior befitting that person.

Ebel naturally interpreted the code.

“Konrad von Eberstain. Lichtenstein Lindenstrasse 12. Postal code 10013…”

Ebel’s gaze lingered briefly on the name ‘Konrad.’

‘Of course. He would still be alive at this time.’

Having figured out where to go, she decided to leave before Abel came looking for her again.

Ebel locked the door firmly, grabbed her bag, and didn’t look back.

Just as the Grand Duke had done, she too took a step toward changing her own fate.

* * *

“Do you really think the person you’re looking for will recognize this and come here?”

Several days after Bayern’s bizarre announcement had heated up the Capital, at the Duke’s Secret Residence.

The Grand Duke, along with Matthias, his most cherished aide, and Colonel Konrad von Eberstain, who had been loyal for a long time.

This secret dwelling, known only to a handful of people, was usually empty with no one to manage it.

But today, two shadows stretched long beneath the window.

Just before sunset, gazing at the blazing red sky, Victor quietly replied.

“She will come.”

“Couldn’t you at least tell me who this person is, where you met them? I don’t understand any of this. You said you were going to the Estate publicly, but actually rushed to the Capital…”

He had come to meet a comrade who had struggled through an abyss worse than nightmares together.

He wasn’t the type to voice such embarrassing words, and even if he told the truth, it wouldn’t be believable anyway.

“No.”

Victor cut off his aide’s complaints and turned his attention to the saw grass and dandelions growing thickly around the road.

It was several minutes later when someone appeared beyond the grass swaying carelessly in the breeze.

Platinum hair with a mysterious glow as the sunset descended. Long, thin eyelashes and full lips.

And amber eyes that brought to mind the midsummer sun.

Watching her grit her teeth and try to save lives amid the ash falling like snow, he always had the same thought.

That he might get drawn in if he wasn’t careful.

‘She really came.’

As soon as Victor’s brief thought ended, Matthias made a fuss.

“Huh? Oh, someone really came! But they look like a boy? Their hair is short too!”

“Escort them inside courteously.”

“Ah, understood!”

The flustered Matthias hurried downstairs, and Victor waited quietly.

Ordinary people cannot read Morse code. Only those connected to the military would know it.

There was a risk of the secret residence being exposed, but once the objective was achieved, this place would be abandoned anyway, so it didn’t matter.

They weren’t even at war now.

Meeting Abel again was more precious than a mere residence.

Besides, what he had put in the newspaper wasn’t standard Morse code anyway.

It was a Morse code system created separately by the Bavarian Army during the war.

‘They’re probably frantically trying to decode it everywhere right about now.’

It wouldn’t be easy.

It was a method devised by a soldier with terrifyingly exceptional talent for codes.

“Hello. I came to apply for the contract position of Grand Duchess.”

The voice from the open doorway was calm and steady. Victor somehow found himself smiling at that still indifferent tone.

Even though he wasn’t someone who smiled often.

“At this point in time, you shouldn’t be able to read Morse code. A mere doctor couldn’t possibly know the code used by the Bavarian Army.”

“…”

“If you hadn’t been able to find your way here, I would have taken other measures, but that won’t be necessary.”

“It’s been a long time, Your Excellency.”

It was a voice resembling the cool air. A person who brought autumn in this heat the moment you heard her.

Victor turned slowly and took in the sight of someone much thinner and more delicate than in his memories.

Light from the approaching dusk seeped in from the hem of her pants upward, dyeing her entire body a warm reddish-brown.

As she took a bold step inside, memories that refused to be forgotten despite his attempts came vividly to life.

“I couldn’t believe it for about a day, but did you feel the same?”

“Yes. Seeing that Your Excellency also returned safely, it seems… I’m not completely insane after all.”

They had died tangled together and returned to the past simultaneously.

This was neither a dream nor a hallucination.

What more certain proof could there be than each other?

“Autonomous Corps of the Duchy of Bayern, Medical Corps Second Lieutenant Abel Claren. Reporting safe return.”

The salute with her right hand in a fist placed over her left chest was unique to the Autonomous Duchy of Bavaria Army.

Twelve people who survived to the end in a grand corps of 50,000.

She was one of the survivors who endured to the very end on The Front.

* * *

This works.

Ebel muttered to herself and lifted her glass.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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