Chapter – 11
‘Psychological harm? You don’t even know the subject.’
Todd, barely containing his anger, closed his eyes but could not sleep. It was because Tracy’s eyes always changed when her sister was mentioned.
As a soldier or even a negotiator with minimal training, he could not recklessly confront Tracy, who carried and ran with a load about half her body weight all day. Even with male physical superiority, he couldn’t match her skills when facing assassins.
Occasionally, allied soldiers who tried to provoke her were quickly subdued. They could tolerate her swearing and spitting, but touching her triggered reflexive reactions. A sensible military dog, yes—but also a result of enduring countless abuses and violence.
Damn it.
Grinding his teeth, Todd got off the bed and headed to the door, thinking he might get a drink of water to calm himself.
Step by step.
Then, small footsteps from downstairs made him pause as he reached for the door handle. He turned it carefully and opened the door.
Creaaak… squeak…
Silent footsteps. Through the gap, Tracy’s shadow moving toward the living room was clear.
‘Hmph. Always acting tough… and yet can’t even sleep properly.’
Though they hadn’t spent much time together in the same space, Todd remembered his military life and previous observations. He knew she had never had a proper rest.
Well, that was common for soldiers. But why, after finally meeting her sister, did she act so difficult?
Every little action annoyed him. She seemed to know her place and follow orders, yet she asserted herself strongly.
Todd recalled a piece of paper deep in his drawer. He thought about how he shouldn’t have written that damn contract, yet he also acknowledged that he had been promoted comfortably because of her.
Without Tracy, he might have been discarded and left to be crushed.
‘Damn it. If only the Haskins family hadn’t fallen.’
Not even ten years had passed since his family’s decline.
He grew up in a proud minor noble family, but he saw his father’s investments fail and the family wealth gradually diminish. His father fought to recover, but before losing everything, it was still bearable.
In the end, he had to live a life worse than a merchant. Forced to a village where even servants were hard to find, his family scattered to survive.
His mother, judging his father incapable financially, put all remaining money in Todd’s hands and sent him to study abroad in the great commercial empire of Tegrin.
Though interested in business, he didn’t know how, so he first looked for a cheap house—and met Valentin, his roommate.
A troublesome guy sent to study for military school.
Todd stared at the stairs in the dark.
‘That bastard… there’s something off. He’s not changed, but something feels weird.’
His words and expressions were no different from before. Yet around his fiancée Tracy, he sensed a strange vibe—as if eyeing a well-trained military dog for his own gain.
‘Wait, what? Haskins! You had an amazing talent for negotiation! Your mental math is so fast! Maybe specialize in negotiations?’
Tsk.
Todd recalled that moment and closed the door. Valentin’s joyful face, recommending the job as if it were his own, lingered unpleasantly in his mind.
No. It was true that his career path began because of that moment. He had only shared his surveillance of Valentin to steal merchant skills.
Sure, it was no big discovery—he already knew the skill. He just hadn’t considered working solely as a negotiator.
The path of honor now was one he had paved himself. Valentin’s shiny face and words were not to be trusted.
Especially now, after meeting again after years.
‘Maintaining friendship could help, so I’ll watch for now. But if I see anything reckless…’
He couldn’t let rank or status excuse him. Especially not someone eyeing his fiancée.
‘Still… maybe I can overlook the face, but the background… no way he’d touch her. …Tsk. Maybe I’m too sensitive. Why would someone up there risk touching a fiancée?’
Thinking it through, Valentin hadn’t actually done anything. He might just genuinely like helping people and value friendship.
Even during studies abroad, he helped with difficult things, claiming hardships were meant to be faced together. Tracy had repaid him as much as she could.
Well, whatever.
Hoo.
Her thoughts cleared, and he felt better. He had been anxious about delayed negotiations and appointments.
Everyone called her an angel negotiator. Should he fret over small matters? She would face bigger challenges ahead—she needed courage.
He smiled naturally, imagining a confident future. Finally, he could close his eyes.
Todd decided he would show Tracy his true position when the time came—unaware he had been correct in his intuition.
“Sorry, Colonel.”
“You must have misunderstood.”
“She called me a pile of trash for carrying the load. It was disgusting.”
Sigh.
Valentin also could not sleep. He tossed in bed and lifted his hand. Seeing his wrist, he frowned automatically.
‘In the kitchen, I felt a flash of danger. Defensive, but still… when I confirmed it was her, I relaxed. Was the rumor true…?’
At first, he had doubted the malicious words of others, but he gradually believed them. He thought the stories—arm-breaking if touched, crow-like evil—were exaggeration.
She did not seem to intend harm. Likely, the other person’s provocation caused the reaction.
Yet the victims surely didn’t just stand by. The fact that the violent incidents were joked about and widely shared shows the harsh environment she had endured.
“I’m fine. It’s not as bad as you think.”
He trusted his comrade—her actions and words. But he needed to see it for himself.
If only he had known how empty it would feel.
“It makes no sense! I finally went there after two years! Survived bullets and knives, and yet she came home as a corpse!”
Valentin clenched his raised arm over his eyes. That day alone caused him a headache.
‘Maybe it’s my fault I couldn’t send you off properly, Tris.’
She had been just one subordinate. But Valentin did not want rank to matter even in private. Especially with peers.
On the battlefield, they were all just soldiers.
Tristan usually went unnoticed, but he stood out somehow. Amid recruits who panicked or over-enthused, he was like a lone flickering flame.
When first approached, he was so nervous he couldn’t even pronounce his name—but his eyes were strangely empty, as if he never existed.
“Are you talking about Private Baldwin? Hmm, probably because of his father. Supposedly a famous local delinquent.”
He had sent him once for a family matter. His family was just his father.
But his face was so dark, and bruises briefly seen made him ask nearby soldiers. He learned Tristan’s mother died long ago due to his father, and his sister had been sold far away.
With no one to care for his disabled father, he lived with him until conscription.
Later, after becoming closer, Tristan said everything was fine. His father had gotten angry, and now as a soldier, he could provide.
Only after his death did Valentin understand Tristan’s behavior: hiding himself, hiding expressions, throwing himself into the battlefield without hesitation.
He had grown accustomed to his father’s violence.
A soldier could have escaped his father’s abuse, but he died for one reason only:
He gave up on life.
He probably provoked his father to die.
His dead eyes were like Tracy’s.
“There’s someone just like you, man.”
Valentin clenched his teeth.
“I just can’t let it go. I know it’s selfish… let’s be a little freer.”
He asked permission without an audience and finally managed to sleep, promising to greet brightly when he woke.
