My Beloved Oppressor

Annette looked up at the soldier with her eyes wide open. He was the one who had been here all along to keep an eye on the captives.

Nicolo said irritably, slapping his hand.

“What is it? Suddenly.”

“In the morning, sir, you’ll make a scene.”

“But first, let’s get…”

They struggled for a while. After another soldier interrupted and together they stopped Nicolo, Nicolo angrily left the church.

The first soldier looked at Annette, seemingly a little distraught, and sighed briefly. The second soldier shook his head and returned to his original position.

In a daze, Annette came to her senses and stopped the soldier.

“The child.”

Annette’s lips paused. It had been too long since she had learned to speak French, and she was not used to speaking it.

“The child.”

She pointed to the sleeping child and the door in turn. The soldier looked troubled, as if her meaning was understood.

He said, “I’m sorry, I can’t …… I can’t ……… Elliot …… If you tell him…..”

He waved his hand and explained at considerable length. Appropriately, he seemed to mean that he had no authority. But Annette hung on, not giving up.

“Please, he is too young.”

“I’m sorry.”

The soldier forcibly removed Annette. Annette staggered to her feet and sat down with devastation.

Was there really, really no way?

“Give it up.”

At that moment, a broken voice came from the side. Annette quickly turned her head. It was the friendly sniper she had just treated.

He leaned against the wall with a bruised face and spoke slowly.

“We’re all going to die. They’re not going to help us.”

Annette was vaguely aware of this fact. But she couldn’t bring herself to tell people, so she didn’t say it out loud.

Before Annette could respond, people began to murmur.

“What………? They’re not going to spare us?”

“What does that mean? They’re going to kill us?”

“That, that, what then?”

“Quiet down there!”

The French soldier shouted, but the people were already gripped by the fear of death.

The commotion woke a child who rubbed his eyes. He looked around sleepily with a face that had not yet fully awakened.

“Everyone, we have to leave immediately!”

“If you move like that… !”

“What are you doing……… sit down!”

A man jumped up and started running frantically toward the entrance. A French soldier with a rifle stopped him.

“Sit back right now!”

“Let me out, please.”

“Go back and sit down!”

“You’ll kill us all, damn it! Get out of the way ……!”

The man pushed the French soldier unnecessarily, as if he were invisible. A couple more soldiers rushed to the commotion. The scuffle continued for a while.

Bang!

A gunshot echoed through the chapel.

For a moment, it was as if time had stopped. Not even the smallest breath could be heard.

The body of the man who had been standing motionless for some time dropped. His body flopped down on the cold floor. There was a hissing sound somewhere. Blood flowed from under the fallen man’s body. 

Annette hurriedly covered the child’s eyes to prevent him from seeing the scene.

“This man …… suddenly ……”

“…anyway—it doesn’t matter.”

The French soldier who shot the man scratched his head and left the building. The other soldiers turned and went back to their positions.

The chapel was empty and desolate.

Trembling, the nurse who had come with Annette approached and checked the fallen man’s pulse. She turned around and slowly shook her head.

***

Before dawn, the concern began.

The line of movement of the French soldiers, which had been constant throughout, changed.nOutside, it felt like more military vehicles were coming and going than usual.

One by one, they, who were in charge of monitoring the prisoners, were also exiting the church building. People watched them with half doubt and half fear.

Finally, the two remaining soldiers in the chapel pointed their guns at the prisoners. Everyone gasped and crouched down.

But they did not pull the trigger and retreated. Just before they did, one of the soldiers met Annette’s eyes.

The soldier, who looked quite young, looked as if he was frightened. They took their last steps out of the building.

Bang!

The chapel door was slammed shut. There was a rattling sound from outside for a while, and then it was completely quiet.

“Huh?”

“What, what?”

The people murmured. But after waiting for a while, the French soldiers did not come in again.

Someone cautiously got up and approached the door. He turned the doorknob and pulled. But there was only a clatter, and the door would not open.

Clank.

Clank.

He tried pulling on the door a few more times, but to no avail. After a moment of silence, a shaky voice drifted out.

“Is it……… locked………?”

“It’s locked?”

“Did they lock the door?”

“What the hell does that mean?”

The people who were sitting in a corner got up one by one. A few more tried to open the door, but all failed.

Outside it was as quiet as ever.

Annette’s pupils shook as she sensed something was wrong. She scanned the entrance, the walls, and the ceiling in turn.

“There is a strange smell.”

Annette slowly opened her mouth.

“It smells funny.”

People looked back at her at once. Annette could speak no more, only her lips shook. The shape of her mouth said quietly.

“I smell burnt……”

For a brief moment, there was a deathly silence.

The smell was getting thicker. Only then did people finally realize this and the faces were filled with astonishment. Someone mumbled dumbfoundedly.

“The bastards…”

The French soldiers were going to burn this place down.

Along with the prisoners of war.

Annette jumped up. The child sitting next to her with the old woman  looked up at her with a worried look on his face.

Annette ran toward the door. Then she screamed, banging on the door madly with both hands.

“Open this door!”

She shouted urgently to the French soldiers still outside.

“Open this door! Or let the child out at least! Can’t you hear me? Wait a minute! Please!”

Bang! Bang!

“Elliot Sidow! Captain Sidow! Please open the door!”

Bang!!!!!!

“This is what humans do! Please open this door now!”

Bang!!!!!!!

“You are all insane!”

Annette kept banging on the door. But no answer was heard from outside. Slam. A reddened fist slammed the door one last time, then hung limply.

She sobbed with her forehead against the door.

“You are all mad.”

***

The church door rattled constantly. From inside, the cries of the prisoners and all kinds of screams were pouring out. The fire was slowly engulfing the building from one end to the other. The sound of the flames meshed with the noise of the battlefield.

“Is this …… right?”

One of the French soldiers staggered and leaned against a tree, then slipped down. It was the young soldier who had locked eyes with Annette at the last minute.

“Is this, is this right?……… There is a child inside.”

The soldier scratched his head in agony. His shoulders were shaking like they had been doused with cold water.

“There are some who are not soldiers…….. No, even if they are soldiers…………”

“Max, get a hold of yourself.”

His superior officer spat out. The young soldier looked up at his superior with tear-filled eyes.

“It can’t be helped. Have you forgotten how many of your colleagues died? They were certainly involved, and even if not, there are so many who saw what we did. We don’t have time to weed out every single one of them.”

“Ha, but ……”

“Get up and move. We have to move fast.”

The young soldier gasped for breath and let out a pained groan. He closed his eyes, but the afterimage did not disappear. It was as if the melody of the piano the woman had just played was mingling with the sound of crackling flames.

That melody was so beautiful.

A suppressed tear leaked from under the soldier’s bowed head. He wiped the tears away roughly and then took off, grabbing his gun.

But soon he broke down again. He cupped his face in one hand and groaned in pain.

A hard wind blew from the edge of the city.

Elliot was smoking a cigar as he watched the church building begin to be consumed by flames. A soldier carrying luggage asked him,

“Captain, aren’t you going?”

“Go ahead. I will organize and go last.”

“Oh, yes, I understand.”

Elliot sucked in the smoke until his cheeks grew hollowed, then exhaled. His brow furrowed as he repeated the process over and over.

He put out a cigar he hadn’t even finished smoking and mumbled, 

“……It doesn’t taste good.”

***

At dawn the next day, reinforcements arrived in Huntingham via the Husson River. The goal was to retake the city.

The enemy forces were trapped in the front and back by the Padanians, who were resisting on the internal defensive line, and reinforcements that entered the outer wall through the river.

One of France’s generals had excellent mobility. But in a city where every building was as good as a trench, it could not be properly exploited.

Allied forces continued hand-to-hand combat, using city structures and the remains of collapsed buildings. They retook one-third of the occupied area in just two days.

Bombing and gunfire continued throughout the day in the city. To minimize civilian casualties, Padania launched an evacuation order to retake the city and save lives.

The recapture operation was proceeding successfully. As the front moved again, the general command barracks were moved closer to the central front.

In the meantime, news reached the commander-in-chief’s barracks.

“…not on the list?” (H)

The news was about the whereabouts of Annette Rosenberg, who had reportedly joined the evacuation procession from the Huntingham Field Hospital.

***

*TL: For comments about how Heiner kept spying on Annette and didn’t leave her alone but failed to protect her this time. Come on, seriously you guys, I know you don’t like Heiner, but realistically he is at all time high concentration with many lives on his shoulders, and not just him who is busy but others as well as they are fighting against the enemy, so of course communication delays or gets lost. He also thought she had made it with the evacuation group. So stop sitting there and bashing him for not being able to do everything at once.