My Beloved Oppressor

The work continued for several hours. Everyone was getting tired. The fact that all the people they had found so far had died also played a part.

Heiner gritted his teeth and lifted the wooden post. A flurry of dust and ash rose in the air. His dirty hands were torn and scratched in places.

Where did this come from?

Suddenly, a vague question followed.

How did this happen?

Lifting up a wooden plank with a split end, a broken piano was seen through the rubble. Even in this ruin, the keys looked clean and white. Heiner looked through the place just to be sure.

What was he to do?

But no matter how much of the wreckage was lifted, the woman he so desperately sought was nowhere to be found.

For a moment, Heiner felt a destructive urge to destroy this piano.

What has ruined you, me, all of this?

To this question, in the past, Heiner had answers. The world’s fault, the fault of a corrupt monarchy, the fault of the evil and venal Marquis Dietrich, the fault of the masses who were indifferent to the powerless and the poor.

The fault of that woman who was just infinitely beautiful and innocent, deformedly constructed in his mind.

But in front of this huge ruin, they all became worthless.

Water dribbled down the back of his hand. Sweat dripped from his forehead and left round marks on the broken gray stonework. Heiner lifted the stone structure.

He thought. He made sure of it.

That he would break her and drag her down in the abyss he was in. He would make sure that no one would want her.

Not even him.

So that not even he would love her.

A laugh that bordered on sobbing broke out. Heiner roughly wiped the sweat from his eyes. 

How had I forgotten? How had I overlooked it?

How could I have overlooked what a terrifying abyss I was in?

That the only way out of this place is death………..

Sweat continued to pour down his forehead and around his eyes. He could no longer tell if this was sweat or tears. Thick veins bulged on his wet forehead.

“Annette…………..”

Now no more.

He wanted to stop questioning right and wrong.

Unresolved feelings should have remained unresolved. It was the right thing to do. He moved her all the way here and now all left was destruction.

He finally made her like this.

Heiner barely swallowed the scream that threatened to burst out. His chest felt like it was being pierced by a hot blade. He thought he was going to collapse.

I shouldn’t have been born…

Then, from deep in the rubble, he saw a gray military uniform.

Heiner’s hands stopped. He called one soldier who was working in the vicinity and together they began digging there. As they removed the debris trapped in a crevice under the piano, a white hem appeared along with the gray military uniform.

“What?”

The soldier who was working with him looked up and exclaimed.

“I found two here!”

Heiner’s eyes widened  when he saw their white hems.

“One woman and one man…….. They are a nurse and a soldier!”

There were a total of two nurses, including Annette, who joined the rescue mission. And the other nurse survived.

So this nurse……..

His heart sank in an instant, even though it was news he had been hoping for all along. The dirty nursing uniform glimpsed through the debris stung his eyes painfully.

Heiner began digging deeper, his lips quivering. The woman in the nursing uniform did not move an inch.

Annette, please, no, please, you can’t do this to me, you can’t do this to me, Annette, please, don’t do this to me. No, no, no, no.

He mumbled, not even knowing what he was saying. But those words could not make a sound, they drifted only in his mouth.

“It seems they have been trapped in the space beneath the piano! There is hope!”

“Lift in one, two! One, two!”

Heiner and the others lifted the debris. As the work progressed, bodies began to be revealed little by little.

Eventually, a pale profile came into view. Her eyes were closed, as if she were dead. Heiner felt his breathing intensify.

The woman buried in the rubble looked like a dirty rag doll. There was no life force whatsoever.

The soldier above Annette was lifted first. His face was a complete mess, and it looked like he had taken a bad beating before he collapsed.

Work began immediately to rescue Annette. The soldier who looked down gave the order.

“It looks like we need to clear this place out!”

Part of the building rubble was crushing Annette’s left arm. Heiner lifted the wooden wall and cleared it outward, then threw out a large amount of debris.

“Grab it right here! Lift up!”

Eventually, Annette was removed from the wreckage. Her face and body were covered in countless scratches.

A soldier who quickly examined their condition raised his head and said.

“They’re alive! They are both alive!”

The moment he heard the words, strength drained from his entire body. Heiner staggered for a moment, then stopped as fast as he could. He shouted at the top of his voice.

“Medical doctor! Medical doctor! There are survivors here!”

The moment he uttered the word “survivor,” he felt his heart filled up.

It was as if his whole body was burning.

Heiner touched her hair as carefully as he would a fragile piece of glass. His hands, torn and scratched from digging up the debris, were shaking with relief and thrill.

A hurried army doctor rushed over and treated them urgently. People gathered in a rustle. The military doctor, who had been examining Annette, paused for a moment.

“Oh, her hand ……”

He sighed low as he checked Annette’s left arm, which was crushed under the wreckage. Her left hand looked in serious condition at a glance.

“Bring a stretcher! Transfer her to the nearest hospital immediately!”

Quickly loaded on a stretcher, Annette and the soldier were carried toward the transport vehicle. Heiner ran alongside Annette’s stretcher.

Even the shaking of the stretcher seemed to hurt her. All sorts of nasty worries that could happen on the way to the hospital consumed his thinking.

The transport vehicle was three or four steps ahead of him. He could not take his eyes off Annette’s pale face from start to finish.

At that moment, his vision slipped.

At the same time, he felt a burning sensation from his side.

Heiner stumbled forward, breathless. Reflexively, he put his hand to his side. Blood dripped from his hand.

It was a gunshot wound.

“Your Excellency!”

“Sniper!”

“Take position and protect His Excellency!”

His gray uniform was wet with blood. Heiner raised his blurry eyes and looked at Annette again.

“Nine o’clock! On top of the bell tower!”

“Sir, get in the car!”

“Damn it, enemy troops are still here…………”

All the noise sounded distant. Only Annette’s beautiful, sublime face was as clear as if it had been imprinted on his retinas. Heiner slowly closed and opened his eyes. His lips parted slightly.

God, if you really exist, please take my life………..

Spare the woman…………

Ah…

His thoughts slowed. The soldiers pushed him into the transport vehicle. Shouts and gunshots could be heard from outside. Blood spilled from his mouth.

Two more stretchers came in. Heiner leaned back and kept his eyes on Anntte’s gurney until the end. A military doctor hurried to stop the bleeding from his gunshot wound. Heiner tried to push the doctor away with his exhausted hands.

“No, stop…….”

Blood gushed from Heiner’s mouth again. He tried to tell the military doctor to stop treating him and to look after Annette, but all that came out was breathless gasp.

Eventually the vehicle departed. A sensation like an electric shock burned his stomach. His eyes began to flash. His eyelids trembled.

“Sir, you must not lose consciousness!”

Heiner groaned, frowning and staring at Annette. Her body shook with the rattling of the car.

‘Is it safe to shake like that………….?’

She looked like she would break just by touching her. She usually looked like that, but now even more so. The fact that the wreckage of the building had landed on that little body seemed unbelievable.

Heiner strained his eyelids, which were getting heavier by the minute, and stared stubbornly at her face. The countless marks on her beautiful face and body made his heart ache.

Annette.

Annette Rosenberg.

He mumbled the name he had called countless times one more time. It was the name that had dominated his entire life. 

You were right. We were better off not seeing each other. We hurt each other just by meeting.

So when you wake up, I will let you go completely.

Go very far away.

Very far away from me.

His vision clouded over then became clear for a minute. His mind slowed its thoughts. A slow breath escaped his pale lips.

Far, far from me………… to a place where I can’t see you and you can’t see me……………

Tuk. Tuk. Tuk.

The transport vehicle pulled away from the ruined Huntingham.