Day 20 of the Fourth Month, Year 1016

Military Base, Dustor City, Grizzle Province

DEV woke up that morning with a start.

And then he started to curse himself, continuing his self-deprecating session from a few nights ago that he still couldn’t quite get over with.

Of course, of course she was the princess. He felt rather stupid now. But it wasn’t like he could’ve guessed it or anything, right? She said nothing about it and she even tried to hide it.

Remembering that he accused her of being a traitor made him feel embarrassed. How could the Crown Princess of the Kingdom be someone from the enemy? It was the first time his overcautious nature made him so ashamed.

But life went on. He walked out of his room in the barracks to train the soldiers in the field. Today, they were all sparring with each other, fiercely too—perhaps the rumors worried them and motivated them at the same time. Dev watched his subordinates carefully. Those that were thrown to his company were mostly poor new recruits.

Usually, soldiers came from poor families, but as it was hard to pass the entry examination, so many people only got in because of connection or money. Those new trainees usually would join the company of people with much higher position that his. They were able to afford their own weapon, unlike his company that still used the equipment from the base’s storage.

Dev walked around the field, occasionally correcting recruits’ posture and giving advices. When he arrived at trainee Martin, one of the youngest recruits in his company, he stopped to give him some pointers. “Straighten up your back more. Yes, like that. Your arms should be a bit lower to defense against the attack.”

Martin nodded. “Thank you for the advice, sir.” He practiced what he had been told. In that sense, the new trainee was quite obedient.

Dev was prepared to walk away, when suddenly the soldier that was sparring with Martin fell down without warning—or even being hit, for that matter. The Major’s lifted feet hung in the air and he quickly went to check the soldier.

The soldier wasn’t dead, but…

He furrowed his eyebrows. What happened? He didn’t know any medical skills aside from treating blades wound. But there was no sign of wound anywhere…

He was about to command Martin to call for a doctor when he realized that the soldiers around them started to fall down like game of cards. He narrowed his eyes, unmoving. The new trainee Martin fell down unconscious as well, only a few soldiers and the instructor on the side didn’t. What… happened?

His second-in-command, Captain Henry Sawyer, immediately ran over to him. “Major…”

“Bring them to the infirmary and call the doctor,” he commanded with a frown on his face. “I’ll report to Lieutenant Colonel Carlton.”

“Yes, Major!” Those who didn’t fall said in a loud voice.

Satisfied, Dev walked to the Colonel’s office. This incident was really odd. Was there some kind of poisonous gas? But why was there only some that were affected?

He knocked on Lieutenant Colonel Carlton’s door. “Sir, this is Major Andres, I need to report something!”

The door suddenly opened. Torin Palmer, another Lieutenant Colonel, narrowed his eyebrows when he saw him. “What a coincidence, Major,” he said in that drawly, awful voice of his.

Dev kept his expression flat. “Colonel Palmer,” he saluted. The old guy never liked him. In fact, he really liked to overwork him and cut his vacation short despite not being his direct superior. “Is Colonel Carlton inside?”

“Yes,” Torin raised his right eyebrow. “You look like you’re in a hurry, Major.”

“I am, sir. Excuse me.” He directly walked pass the Colonel, eager to end their interaction.

“Be careful with that temper of yours, Major,” he heard Torin sneered. “Keep in mind your place is so low, you don’t even deserve your position. I am your superior!”

I would respect those who were worthy of it, he thought inwardly, but didn’t reply. Instead, Dev turned around and smiled politely. “Thank you for your advice, sir.” Dev walked in Colonel Carlton’s room and closed the door behind him without waiting for reply.

Torin, who was born a noble, disliked the commoners that entered the military and always behaved arrogantly. He didn’t let Torin affect him, though—after all, that guy had been against him ever since he became a soldier. That guy was one of the reasons he didn’t like nobility much.

Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Carlton, on the other hand, had always been his mentor, from the time when he was a child. The Colonel was old enough to be his father, and Dev thought of him as a wise old man who knew a lot of things. In fact, he thought the Colonel should have gotten his promotion a long time ago.

“Don’t trouble yourself with Palmer Junior,” Carlton commented without looking up. “He’s always been like that.”

Dev nodded. “I know,” he said, before hesitating.

Carlton finally raised his head from the paperwork on his desk. “What is it?”

“Something happened, sir,” Dev replied quietly. “The new recruits were training, but they suddenly dropped to the ground.”

Carlton frowned. “What do you mean?”

“They just fell down, unconscious. There wasn’t even a wound on them. I suspect they were poisoned by gas or something, but a few of us didn’t fall down.”

Carlton stood up. “Let’s go then,” he said. “Where did you bring them?”

“I instructed Sawyer to bring them to the infirmary,” Dev said.

They walked to the infirmary, which located in the west side of the military compound. The sun was shining brightly above them as they walked through the training field before. Dev observed the fallen training equipment on the ground and sighed. Today’s training was concluded too early, but war was already looming.

Thankfully, most of those who were affected were just new trainees that were recruited shy of two months ago, during the yearly examination. They shouldn’t have gone to war anyway, though, maybe it would change if the situation demand. The problem was it weren’t just the new trainees, the trainees from the year before that would receive promotion soon were also affected. If that was the case, then half of his company had fallen already!

They arrived in the infirmary as the thoughts swirled in his mind. Philip Wentworth, who was the military doctor and his close friend, stood up to greet them. “Colonel, Major.”

“What happened to them?” Carlton asked.

Dr. Wentworth was frowning as he observed the full infirmary. “We have no idea. We have checked everything on their body, but nothing is wrong. Their pulses were stable, there was no wounds. I have asked the doctors to withdraw their blood to conduct some tests.”

All the trainees were filling the beds, and the big room was filled with the stench of sweat. Dev looked at Dr. Wentworth again. “Could we not give them something?” he asked.

“I cannot treat something without knowing what caused them,” the doctor answered, frowningly.

There was a loud groan of pain from the other end of the room all of sudden.

Dev looked over. It came from the first soldier that fell earlier. He sighed. “They’re in pain,” he muttered. Pain was common during training, sure, but this weird phenomenon was unknown, and pain could be indication that they were dying.

“Watch over them,” His superior, Colonel Carlton, said to him. “I’m going to have to report this incident.”

“Yes, sir.”

He hoped this would be solved soon.

But it was only a few hours later, when he was busy talking with Dr. Wentworth, that Torin suddenly came to him. “You! You caused all of this, didn’t you?”

Dev looked at him in confusion. “What are you on about, Colonel…?”

“You’ve been away for a while!” Torin’s eyes were accusing. “You must’ve gotten a poison from somewhere and poisoned them all… You traitor!”

What? Dev was at loss, but before he could say anything, Torin already turned around and stormed off. “What an idiot…” He murmured, but he continued instructing the doctor without caring about it.

It turned out that his decision would cost him.

“Him! He must be the culprit! Catch him!”

Torin’s slimy voice were loud, renounced across the infirmary. Dev was completely confused when soldiers from another company started to restrain him. Beside Torin, Colonel Carlton was talking, almost begging him to let him go, but Torin raised his head arrogantly. He had a backing—the Major General of Dustor, his uncle, was there, allowing him to do what he wanted.

He was someone from the upper echelon of society. It shouldn’t allow people to pressure the people under them, but he lived in this society…

Dev could, in fact, fought them off and ran off, but what for? He would be considered a military fugitive if he did so. A fugitive, like what happened to his older brother…

His adopted brother, Aric, was innocent. Dev knew that, but because those nobles were convinced that he was guilty, they chase them viciously. They lived under the law for a while, but at the end, Aric surrendered himself because he didn’t want Dev to be involved. He didn’t want Dev to live like a fugitive.

And then his brother was executed.

When Dev came to his senses, he was already locked up in the compound’s underground prison. He breathed through gritted teeth and clenched his fists.

There was only Colonel Carlton left outside of his cell. The older gentleman looked at him in worry. “I’ll get you out here, lad,” he said. “Don’t worry. It’s just the Major General wants to sweep everything under the rug, with the General of the Army being here and all…”

“They’re accusing me as a… Traitor?” He held his fists together tightly, causing them to tremble.

“Your vacation and absence, they said, was suspicious,” Carlton sighed. “I’ll appeal to him. He’s just a bit muddled because of Palmer Junior.”

Certainly, he knew that Torin Palmer was the Major General Palmer’s nephew. That was the reason that Torin was able to act so indiscriminately. “I’ll be fine,” Dev uttered at last. “Just leave me here, sir. You have a lot of work to do.”

“I’ll get you out, lad,” Carlton vowed before walking away.

Dev looked down. The cell was small and empty, and worse, a bit dirty. But after all that happened, he could care less. He sat down on the cold stone floor with a heavy sigh.

What the hell was wrong with them? War, and they were doing something as incompetent as this? There wasn’t even an investigation being conducted! He couldn’t believe that person became the Major General of Dustor.

Dev punched the stone wall, leaving his blood to drip down. The red contrasted clearly against the bleak, grayish stone wall. []