Your Eternal Lies - Chapter 70

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The first time I met the soldier was while I did laundry.

 

Early that morning, I went to the creek with the laundry tub. Going to do the laundry was pretty much the only excuse I could use to get out of Hindley’s clutches. I took a risk that day and left the house a little earlier than usual. The purpose was revenge.

 

Joshua Gregory.

 

I really didn’t want to memorize the b*stard’s name, but I ended up memorizing it. Revenge begins with accurately identifying your opponent.

 

Gregory whistled loudly as I passed in the market, and Hindley hit me. Even though he knew that Hindley had doubts!

 

Just for fun!

 

I tried to get over it. However, after thinking about it for a few days, I decided that I would die first out of annoyance if I left him alone.

 

I knew that Joshua Gregory chain-smoked every morning perched on a rock by the stream. In the dark of dawn, if I snuck up from behind and pushed him, he wouldn’t be able to resist, and he’d end up like a wet mouse. And I would hide in the shadows and run away.

 

It was a perfect plan.

 

Well, it might not be a big deal, but… I’m a person who will explode in anger if I do not return what has been done to me.

 

I had to do something.

 

Eventually, when I reached the creek, Joshua Gregory’s back could be seen through the early light.

 

Black hair cut short.

 

I hid the washing tub behind a stone and quietly approached him.

 

“Who are you?”

 

However, after just three steps, the arm that was trying to push his back was caught. A gun was pointed at my head. I flinched in surprise. When I blinked, I realized that my plan had completely failed and I was in a predicament.

 

I pushed the soldier and was arrested on the spot before I could escape.

 

Besides, it wasn’t Gregory I was pushing. It was a strange soldier. His only resemblance to Gregory was black hair. He was much taller than Gregory, and I was trapped in his long shadow. It was dark, and I couldn’t see his face properly.

 

I stuttered excuses.

 

“Ahh, I got the wrong person.”

 

“…What were you going to do?”

 

“I was just trying to play a joke!”

 

“Do you push people from behind as a joke?”

 

It was like interrogating a suspect.

 

I felt bad.

 

I protested, pointing with my finger at the brook, which was embarrassing to even call a river.

 

“It’s not a big deal if you fall there! It just makes your whole body wet.”

 

“Who were you aiming for?”

 

“Joshua Gregory.”

 

“Why him?”

 

“He keeps whistling when I pass by! It’s annoying!”

 

“Therefore?”

 

“I was going to give him a taste of how cold the ice-covered stream is…”

 

Joshua Gregory didn’t have a very good reputation among his colleagues, so the soldier seemed to believe me.

 

He looked at my face once more and regained his ferocious spirit. He probably suspected I was a spy or an assassin.

 

You should be relieved to know that no spy in the world would walk up, unprotected, with a wash basin.

 

“If the misunderstanding is resolved, please let go.”

 

The soldier let go of my arm that had been tightly gripped. I frowned and blew on my soon-to-be-bruised wrist. Then, perhaps a bit taken aback, he politely apologized, even changing his tone.

 

“Sorry for the misunderstanding. Please go now.”

 

“…”

 

“Joshua Gregory has been in an accident and is in the clinic. He’ll come back in three days, so push him then.”

 

He also informed me of the date of Gregory’s return.

 

What? He was a soldier and had manners.

 

I raised my head and looked at him inadvertently, then hurriedly lowered my gaze again.

 

The moment our eyes met properly, my breathing stopped and my heart dropped. In an instant, my face heated up.

 

My face was dyed red then.

 

At first glance, I thought he was a handsome soldier…

 

It was a foolish idea.

 

It wasn’t a face that could be described with the word ‘clean’. I looked up at my leisure and noticed that he was a really, really handsome guy. It made me wonder why I mistook him for Gregory. No matter how much I only looked at his back, they had different silhouettes…

 

He was still staring down at me. I couldn’t even lift my head up. Even though it must have been a meaningless gaze, I felt the look in his eyes, perhaps because his face was handsome. I wondered if being possessed felt like this.

 

Hindley would kill me if he saw this, but I couldn’t help it. If a man with a face like that stares at you, anyone’s face will turn red.

 

Not just women, but men too.

 

Still, I was angry with myself.

 

To blush in front of a soldier, distracted by his good looks.

 

After one failed escape attempt with Emily, my distrust and hatred of soldiers had reached their peak.

 

‘Calm down, Rosen.’

 

‘This is just a physiological reaction of the body when you see an incredibly handsome man for the first time.’

 

I barely calmed my flushed face and turned away from him. I put the laundry tub down by the creek and brusquely snapped at him for no reason.

 

“What are you doing? I have to do laundry here. Go that way.”

 

But for some reason, he hesitated for a long time and didn’t leave.

 

Why?

 

I looked at the wrist he gripped tightly and tilted my head. It didn’t really matter.

 

“Oh, why aren’t you going? Are you waiting here to whistle at the girls?”

 

His brow furrowed at my barbed words.

 

“Do soldiers often whistle at village women?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“How often?”

 

“Every day. Every time I see them!”

 

‘You talk like you’re not a soldier. Could he be the inspector who disciplines them?’

 

I had thought about it for a while but decided it was time to move on. I didn’t know if he was listening properly, but he didn’t interrupt me.

 

When I finally finished snitching, he stared at the pile of laundry that was three times as big as him and asked a silly question.

 

“…Are you doing all this by yourself?”

 

“Yes. I have more at home. I have to do this and go get more.”

 

The women who run the treatment center can’t escape from the swamp of laundry even for a moment. We couldn’t open the clinic the next day if I didn’t diligently deal with the laundry that piled up every day.

 

He seemed a bit surprised at the amount of laundry I had brought with me. His calm expression changed slightly. He looked back and forth between me and the mountain of laundry.

 

I put the laundry tub on top of the rock he was sitting on, took out large pieces of laundry, such as a duvet and a blanket, and piled them one on top of the other. Then I pulled up my skirt to my thighs.

 

I could see out of the corner of my eye that he hurriedly turned his head as if he was embarrassed.

 

I laughed.

 

‘You pretend to be a gentleman. But you’re a soldier regardless.’

 

Anyway, I had to do my job. The stream was so cold that it numbed my legs. Winter was a really annoying season. As soon as I dipped my feet into the creek, a chill crawled up my torso. The soldier grabbed my forearm again.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

I shrugged.

 

What an overreaction.

 

‘Did you think I was going to attempt suicide in a creek that is only up to my thighs?’

 

I was dumbfounded, so I looked at him and asked.

 

“Is this your first time doing laundry? This kind of large laundry should be washed in a place with a strong current so that the dirt will come out. See the line strung there? I want to hang it over there.”

 

“It’s not the temperature to go barefoot. It has thin ice.”

 

“I know. So what? It’s something I do every day, so why are you bothering me? Go and see to your business.”

 

“Is everyone like this?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“…”

 

“Everyone lives like this. Why did you ask again?”

 

Trembling, I came out of the stream and went back in again with the laundry, over and over again. The soldier did not leave his seat, as if he had nothing to do. He kept watching me until the bluish darkness of dawn receded and the morning sun shone down.

 

I ignored him and continued doing the laundry.

 

How long had it been?

 

The sixth or seventh time I went in the water and stepped out of the creek, he grabbed me and held something out.

 

“What?”

 

It was warm when I held it. It was a hand warmer supplied by the military. I widened my eyes. It was a time when everyone was poor. As the war raged and skirmishes broke out on the supply routes to Leoarton, supplies became scarce. They were days when money became scraps of paper and flour was as precious as gold.

 

If he were a regular soldier, this would be his only way to keep warm throughout the day. Even if he was an officer, his situation was not much different as long as he stayed in Leoarton. I hesitated.

 

What was his plan for giving me this?

 

“Why are you giving me this?”

 

“Because you look cold.”

 

I raised my head and looked at him.

 

Again, my face flushed red, but I endured it and continued to stare.

 

You have to look into a person’s eyes to judge their intentions.

 

But he seemed to be good at hiding his feelings…

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