Salvation Equation - Chapter 21. Nursing Study

“What should I do first?”

Madeline asked with a shy smile. Isabel was laughing. Laughing out loud, she approached Madeline.

“You’re the first person to come here.”

“No way.”

“I’m not very popular in the high society.”

Madeline tilted her head.

“Honestly, I was surprised that you came. I know it didn’t end well with my brother.”

“…….”

“Well, what’s the point of that? Now that there are no men, we should do our best.”

Isabel smiled warmly and picked up one of Madeline’s luggage.

Ugh. Madeline was at a loss as she walked up the stairs with her suitcase in her hand.

“Come on, hurry and come up. Madeline’s room is already set up.”

Madeline’s room was one of the servants’ rooms.

“All the guest rooms have been converted into labs. Will it be okay even though it’s such a humble room?”

“It’s okay!”

When Madeline spoke decisively, Isabel grinned as if she liked it.

“Yes, that’s great because I’m in the next room.”

Isabel, who was watching Madeleine unwind, lightly touched her palms.

“Let’s prepare dinner together!”

* * *

—What disappeared far away was life rather than death. I fell deeper and deeper, not thinking, not feeling, not seeing.

A soldier in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, [World War I trapped in a trench]

***

The Count (Ian’s father) died and the brothers went to war. Some of the male servants, except the old butler, were also called out and disappeared. But Isabel moved briskly.

She went downstairs and tried to cook with the servants. Then the butler tried to stop her, screaming.

“Lady, please stop doing this!”

“This is a war situation. Don’t say anything about being a Lady.”

She began to trim the vegetables excitedly. The chef looked sad when he saw the carrots cut in an awkward shape.

“And don’t buy any more gourmet dishes like turtles and grouse. We need to hire more people to cook. This place is going to be a hospital soon. Do you know how many people we have to feed?”

Isabel chattered with excitement. It was an unexpected appearance for her cold-hearted usual self.

“Miss.”

Sebastian was now completely exhausted. He glanced at Madeline.

“Please stop the Lady.”

Madeline smiled shyly. She rolled up her sleeves.

“Miss Nottingham. I’ll trim the vegetables, too.”

The dinner was vegetable soup and steak. Mrs. Jennings, the cook, made the last seasoning, so it was worth eating. Cut carrots and potatoes were very uncomfortable to chew because they were of different sizes.

Isabel’s breakthrough did not stop there. She dined with the servants. The story that she had a bad reputation in society was perhaps natural.

Madeline emptied the bowl deliciously.

“There will be a ‘teacher’ who will guide us within this week.”

Isabel said with a grin.

“And supplies will arrive one after another. We need our strength to make this a usable hospital.”

Now it turned out that Isabel was not an unfortunate maiden or a woman in love, but a person of steel. Although there were many hot-tempered aspects, similar to Ian, there was a side of carrying out her will with determination.

Madeline thought that her appearance at the table looked too bright. It was fortunate that she had the courage to come here.

Of course, Isabel had already hired professionals at her own expense. But she thought that was not enough, so she even recruited volunteers.

Instead of staying at the Nottingham mansion, solving accommodations and receiving a certain salary, it was a condition to train as a nurse and run a field hospital.

Isabel affirmed that now was the right time to recruit applicants, as the nation was infested with patriotism, but no volunteers were actually recruited except Madeline.

* * *

The nurse teacher, who was invited as a teacher, was an old woman. She looked at the two people in front of her. After coughing a few times, she shouted with an extraordinary expression.

“It’s impossible to be a useful nurse in a short period of time. Don’t even dream of a Nightingale from the start! But it’s a war situation, so you should add your strength….”

She paused.

“Of course, there will be a lot of things that are hard to handle for noble ladies.”

“…….”

“Blood, organs…Like a howling young soldier. It’s a rehabilitation hospital, so you’ll have less experience with blood, but you have to be ready at any time.”

A smile emanated from the face of a strict and rigid principal. She spoke kindly to everyone.

“The door is always open to those who are willing to overcome their unfamiliarity and learn.”

Let’s start the class.

* * *

She ironed, disinfected, and made a clean hospital room. Madeline absorbed knowledge like crazy. She memorized the names of numerous organs and the condition of the affected area, and developed courage and observation.

She wanted to make her life different from her past life. And to do that, it took a lot of effort.

Two months went by like a breeze. Through radio and the newspapers, the horrors of war began to be heard.

The lukewarm situation intensified like a spark once, and soon spread to trench warfare and flowed sluggishly.

Madeline consciously emptied her brain. She emptied her mind and concentrated on immediate labor. She cleaned the laundry until her hands were swollen and studied all night. As the days went by, even Isabel was worried about Madeline, who was getting thinner.

“Madeline, you don’t have to overdo it. There are no patients yet. If you’re worried, we can recruit more people.”

“No, I have to do what I can.”

Madeline smiled broadly. But her insides were already rotten to the core. Whenever she recalled that all she had was a young woman with nothing but a family name, she felt discouraged.

“Hmm… Madeline.”

Isabel came close to her.

“I’d recommend smoking, but this is a hospital now.”

Besides, the teacher will give her a scolding. She laughed. Even after it became a rationing system, Isabel’s thick lips with red lipstick, were playfully twisted in the midst of a hectic schedule.

“If you’re so worried about my brother (Ian), why don’t you write a letter?”

“Letter?”

“Letter. It’ll be there in three days. Of course, I don’t know if he has time to write back.”

“…I appreciate the offer, but I’m not worried about Mr. Nottingham.”

To worry about him, he was nothing to Madeline.

“Well, then. That’s a relief.”

Isabel gave a sly look.

* * *

{ Winter is coming.

 Forgive me for sending you a letter like this. I don’t think you’d mind not getting enough sleep to read this. 

Everything happened so suddenly. 

Maybe one day we’ll have time to have a proper conversation about what happened with us.

But I wait until then and write because I’m afraid everything will be late.

I hope you don’t soak your feet in the cold water too long, and I hope you don’t catch a cold by wearing thick clothes. I don’t want you to light fire around the fuel tank. I read an article that the German army suffered a lot of damage due to careless mistakes in Belgium. 

Why? I’m very worried about you. I know I don’t deserve to say this. So please come back safely and laugh at me. 

Please refer to my advice carefully and stay safe. 

P.S. All of this is not out of sympathy.

On October 8th,

Madeline Loenfield.}

After much consideration, she sent the letter to Ian, but there was no reply. It was  expected.  Madeline was not heartbroken.

Fortunately, there was something. Eric said he fell into a relatively safe rear. So the shock Ian must have felt will be relieved.

Of course, it was not thought that just inspiring a will for life could change a person’s fate. Madeline wasn’t that naive.

As she wrote in the letter, it was inevitable even if Ian tore up her letter and threw it away.

‘Cause it could be unpleasant.’

She couldn’t explain to the man the change in her mind when she refused the proposal, and when he said he was going to the battlefield, she suddenly shed tears.

Fortunately, she didn’t have time for miscellaneous thoughts.

She was sweating and receiving guidance and she was full of energy. Currently, there was no nurse license system, and apprenticeship training was being conducted, but the importance of the job was negligible.

There was so much to know, so much to learn. Madeline, who returned to her room after finishing her duties, fell asleep while studying on the desk under the lamp, buried her head in her books. The unorganized study and thoughts of the day were entangled and turned into a dream.

***