A War Hero With No Regrets – Chapter 12

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Why was she here?

Before Werner could even question it, his body moved first.

He quickly turned back the way he had come.

The steps that had been just a quick walk soon turned into a run.

Thump thump, his heart raced like crazy.

His stomach churned. His vision was blurry and dizzy.

He reached his accommodation like that, flung the door open, entered, and locked the door.

“Eek!?”

“Gasp, gasp… Ha, huff… Ugh…”

Karin, who had been changing into more comfortable clothes, screamed in surprise.

Werner approached her, gasping for breath.

The moment Karin, who couldn’t judge the situation, was at a loss for what to do, another warning sounded in her head.

Half-undressed state.

Locked door.

He had just said it was a misunderstanding, but what was this situation?

In the moment Karin was frozen stiff from being too startled, Werner, who had quickly approached her, grabbed her shoulders.

“Gasp, huff, huff…”

“Di-Director? Don’t, don’t do this… What are you doing…?”

She tried to resist, but Werner didn’t stop.

His face was getting closer.

His roughly exhaled breath brushed over her cheek, giving her goosebumps.

Werner’s face, which had always shown either no expression or minimal emotion, was painfully distorted with all sorts of turbulent emotions mixed together.

The sense of incongruity felt from that sight.

The pressure felt from the hands grasping her shoulders, fear engulfed Karin Maven’s mind.

“Ugh, ugh… Don’t do this…”

The moment she finally couldn’t hold back and burst into tears, closing her eyes tightly.

Thud!

The hand holding her shoulder limply fell, and Werner collapsed to the floor.

“Huh…? Di-Director? Director!? Please, come to your senses! Director…!!”

His body was trembling as if having a seizure.

“What, what should I do…!!”

Karin, who belatedly realized the seriousness of the situation, urgently called for the staff.

===

“It’s a neurogenic syncope. Has he been under excessive stress lately or lacked sleep?”

“Ah…”

Karin nodded carefully.

Since joining the bizarre organization called the National Security Strategy Agency, Karin had never seen Werner not awake.

Even late at night and early in the morning when she thought no one would be around, he was silently smoking.

It was also because she didn’t wander around much, but it could be easily inferred from what others, including John, had said.

Even the helicopter today, didn’t Werner stay awake the entire time they were moving?

“Rest is absolutely necessary. If you’re here for the banquet, he should get plenty of rest at least tomorrow.”

“When, when will he be able to wake up…?”

“He’ll probably wake up within a few hours. Until then, please stay by his side as his guardian.”

With those words, the doctor and nurse left the hospital room.

Only then could Karin calm her startled heart.

It was a great relief that she didn’t fall into a panic along with him when a person collapsed in front of her eyes.

“…Ah.”

As she was sitting quietly next to the hospital bed, looking at Werner, he suddenly began to tremble violently.

Was he having another seizure?

The moment Karin was about to call the doctor and nurse, she heard a voice from Werner that she had never heard before.

“…Don’t, leave me.”

At first, she doubted her ears.

Because it was so fragile.

It also sounded like her own voice when she had locked herself in her room for a while.

But when the next words followed, Karin unknowingly grabbed Werner’s hand.

“I… made a mistake… Don’t, leave me behind…”

It was a familiar phrase.

The words Karin had constantly cried out whenever a bad memory came to mind.

Why was that?

The man who had looked infinitely large, blunt, sharp, and cold seemed weaker than anyone else.

Werner Grimm.

No, they said Luthers Edan was the Empire’s war hero.

She had heard that he had not caused a single death in dozens of battles and had blocked all the attacks of the Titans that had been rushing in with all sorts of cunning strategies.

The Lion of Defense, the Empire’s Watchman.

The nicknames that sounded dignified just by hearing them were not granted to just anyone.

It was different from the derogatory nickname “Reaper” given to her for taking people’s lives.

In fact, it was true.

Werner had treated Karin better than she deserved, but she had rather pushed away his kindness.

She couldn’t approach him.

She thought she couldn’t be with someone like Werner because she was an ominous being who brought death with her.

One never knew when or in what form the terrible curse that took the lives of others would manifest again.

-Don’t do that! I’m telling you to value your body!

Ah.

At that moment, Karin recalled the memories of those brilliant days again.
Marin.
It was the name of her older sister who had sky-blue hair.

-Don’t do this anymore in the future. Instead, let’s take a walk by the lake with me. Until the bad thoughts go away.

Marin said, looking at Karin’s arm covered in scars.

It was the first time she had received such a kind touch.

Reaper, the derogatory nickname that had followed her like a tag since training camp.

Karin thought it wasn’t really a wrong thing to say.

Her father had died in the war, and her mother had been caught up in a widespread epidemic.

Karin and her younger brother, who had lost their parents in an instant, were entrusted to an orphanage.

But even that orphanage had been reduced to ashes, caught up in a Titan invasion.

All she could find in the collapsed concrete debris was her younger brother’s arm, roughly severed.

In the end, the only place she could entrust her body to was the military.

It was the beginning of the nickname “Reaper Karin Maven”.

She had survived while her training camp colleagues were annihilated.

She had survived even in an explosion that left not even the building of the replacement unit standing.

Even at the “Emerald Lake” fortress she had arrived at like that, there was not a single person to welcome her.

It was only natural.

Who could possibly like a person who brought death with them?

It was fortunate if they didn’t spit curses or throw punches.

Even the fortress commander refused to meet her, saying she brought bad luck.

Except for Marin, who had been her roommate.

-Despite your grim nickname, you’re so pretty! I thought a gloomy person would come!

-Are you scared? Then do you want to come sleep in my bed together?

-You sleep really deeply. Almost like my little sister! Come to think of it, both of your names end in “rin”. Just be my little sister!

Don’t do this, you’ll get hurt too if you do that.

Karin had desperately pushed her away, but every time, Marin defiantly came closer.

She even tried requesting the commander to change rooms, but there was no way anyone other than Marin would want to be with Karin.

Karin Maven had no choice but to accept her in the end.

The everyday life she experienced like that was dazzlingly brilliant.

Sometimes she would go out to the city with her and eat delicious things.

-…It’s delicious.

-Right? This is my favorite aglio e olio place. It’s a pasta restaurant where a chef from the Republic of Romaria cooks directly.

During vacation, they would also buy clothes at a large shopping mall.

-That looks good on you. You look like the bassist of a really popular band!

-What’s that…?

-It’s a good thing, a good thing!

Marin’s positive energy was enough to completely change Karin’s life.

-Karin, what? You’ve changed so much I can’t recognize you.

-Is she a new recruit? No… what? That was you?!

The compliments increased.

Her confidence rose along with it.

A ray of light that had descended upon Karin’s life, which had been filled with darkness, misery, and death.

Anything was good if she was with Marin.

It was a feeling of having an older sister that she had never had before.

She even harbored the hope that perhaps she wasn’t such an unpleasant being.

That maybe she could protect people, not harm them.

And it didn’t take long for that hope to turn into immense despair.

It was a regular patrol mission.

While on patrol with senior soldiers she had befriended through Marin, a huge explosion occurred.

Titans poured down from the sky following it.

Assault-type Titans.

The frontline fortress Emerald Lake was annihilated from that day on.

After that, Karin locked herself in her room and didn’t come out.

Now she couldn’t deny it.

It was because of her. Innocent people had been sacrificed because she had presumptuously hoped for happiness.

Her very existence was a nuisance.

The Reaper who took people’s lives.

She imprisoned herself.

The stronger a person was, the faster they left.

The kinder a person was, the greater the disappointment when they were lost.

She thought it would definitely be no different this time.

“…Don’t go.”

Karin could feel a deeper sadness than anything else in that voice.

The man in front of her was not a war hero who had saved humanity or anything like that.

He was just a wounded person like herself.

A person who was desperately suppressing and bandaging his wounds.

Because he was such a person, Karin could fully understand those emotions.

“Lea.”

Who was he calling for?

Perhaps it was Werner’s Marin.

“Lea, Lea…”

But there was only one thing Karin could do right now.

She didn’t know who Lea was.

She herself wasn’t very proud either.

No matter what she did, she couldn’t heal the director’s wounds.

She interlocked her fingers with the hand she was holding.

And she carefully uttered a word to Werner, who was groaning.

“It’s… okay. I’m here by your side…”

Perhaps those were the words Karin herself most wanted to hear.

The words Marin had said to her every time she trembled in fear before falling asleep.

Karin felt the strength slowly draining from the fingers touching hers.

The pain and hurt that had settled on his expression were gradually washed away, and his rough breathing calmed down.

“…”

She had already gently wiped away the tears that had welled up in Werner’s eyes.

Drip, drop.

She didn’t know why she was crying, though.

===

Werner opened his eyes.

As he turned his blurry vision and looked out the window, it had already become night.

It’s ruined.

Werner muttered.

Judging by the hospital room, it seemed he had another seizure.

He thought it had naturally healed after going through several cycles, but he had only been suppressing it.

Sighing deeply, he was about to raise his hand when Werner discovered Karin Maven, who had fallen asleep while tightly holding his hand.

“…”

“Mmm, mm… It’s okay…”

He silently looked at Karin, then lay back down again.

It seemed he would have to sleep here tonight.

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