Tangled By Fate

After everyone had fallen asleep, Veronica's mission began. She just couldn't shut her eyes from all the problems and sleep in peace. She quietly went to the injured soldiers' camp. After coming here, seeing the injured people for the first time, her heart almost stopped. When the healers were busy healing people, she was sitting in the corner, shivering like a hysteria patient. Tears were falling from her eyes like a waterfall. The odor of blood almost made her puke.

Why do people kill each other? How could they hurt their own kind? How could humans be so merciless? – questions like these swirled in her mind. Nevertheless, there was no answer. She found no logical explanation for humans' odd behavior toward their own kind.

"Who is this?" Suddenly a man's voice came from a tent. It was a rough voice of a soldier.

Veronica flinched. Her heart skipped a beat in nervousness. She quickly wiped her tears before looking at the source of the sound.

A tall man was peeking out of his tent. There were dark circles under his eyes. He seemed tired. He peeked out of the tent to see who was crying so miserably.

Looking at her ashen face and moist eyes, his eyes then landed on the clothes she was wearing. She was wearing a white blouse, bluish green colored skirt, brown corset, and a scarf covering her head. He couldn't see her hair as the scarf was entirely covering her head.

The man asked, "…Are you a healer? Your uniform is kind of different though."

"I… I'm with them. Did I disturb you? I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone would be resting here." Veronica apologized and stood up.

The guy came out of the tent and told her, "Nah, it's fine. I wasn't resting or anything. I was just taking a break. You are new here, aren't you? I can tell. Is that why you can't stand the war camp?"

"It's… nothing…" Veronica had already calmed down. She wasn't used to crying in front of others.

"I'm the cook here. The name is Adam. Since you guys have arrived, I will cook something for you. If you are not ready to go near the soldiers yet, why don't you help me with cooking?" the man kindly suggested.

Veronica introduced herself. "My name is Veronica. I would love to assist you. Thank you."

That's how she ended up with the chef. That day, she could barely eat anything. She wanted to finish the task she was here for.

Without a problem, she went to the tent that was meant for the injured people. However, she was stopped right before she could enter the tent. Two guards were guarding that place.

One of them looked at her with suspicion and asked her, "What business do you have at this late hour?"

She answered, "I'm here to examine the conditions of the patients. I'm on night duty. Others will come back in the morning."

"But what about your uniform?" another guard asked.

"I'm still a trainee.," Veronica replied.

The guards couldn't see through the lies from her words. Thus, they allowed her to go inside. However, they kept an eye on her.

Veronica explored the seriously wounded patients. She changed their dressings if it was necessary. She fed water to some of them. Some soldiers' wounds needed to be cleaned. She cleaned their bodies too.

Veronica was best at cleaning and she did not fail this time either. After examining them, she thoroughly disinfected the place. The entire place became neat and clean in no time.

The guards got tired from keeping an eye on her. Their attention shifted to the outside since there was fear of enemy spies infiltrating.

Taking this chance, Veronica used whatever power she had to heal them. Just as Saint Ava predicted, she wasn't prepared. She hadn't trained enough. Her power couldn't heal their wounds completely. However, she was able to stop their bleeding and ease their pain.

'Why can't I do it?' she wondered. 'I remember healing Arthur and he didn't have a scratch left. What's going on? Is the power really controlling me or is it that his injury wasn't deep enough?'

While pondering deeply, she began to heal the twelfth soldier when something dropped from his hand.

'Hmm? What's this?' Feeling curious, Veronica lowered her body and picked up the object of her interest. It was a round silver locket with a chain. The silver locket had a round shape and there was a symbol of a tree etched in the middle.

'A locket. Maybe it's a family crest. The tree looks familiar. Where have I seen it?' She tried to take a trip down to her memory lane but couldn't get anything. However, she had a feeling that she had seen this locket before.

'Where have I seen this before?' She furrowed her eyebrows and shut her eyes tightly, completely devoted herself to recall. And, suddenly she remembered.

'I saw it hanging on Sister Ruth's neck. It was her necklace. How did this end up here?' Veronica covered her mouth, did her best not to make a noise. Her hands were shaking.

Sister Ruth, who died six months ago, became a memory. Veronica couldn't find a clue to her death and eventually gave up. Sometimes, while being trained, she would think about the case but what could she do inside the mountains?

Her eyes looked at the injured soldier. 'Did Sister Ruth give it to him? But why would she do that? Oh, he could be the person who she met a few times! Should I ask him about it?' She became excited and her curiosity was at its peak.

And then, another thought hit her head. 'Wait, it could be that he is her family and it's a family crest. She was from an aristocratic family, wasn't she? But then, why would he participate in a foreign war? This war has nothing to do with Utahill.'

She pondered deeply. She forgot where she was. At that time, that man groaned.