Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 1

[Translation By Divinity]

Damian Stern stood before his superior officer, Major Paul Jeska, their eyes locked.

Paul’s temples throbbed as he looked into Damian’s light blue eyes, feigning ignorance. He let out a deep sigh and spoke.

“Second Lieutenant Damian Stern.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You know this battle was crucial… I told you so myself. You thought so too, didn’t you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you knew it was a dangerous operation.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Even doing your job could get you killed.”

“Yes, sir.”

“So, following orders from above was even more important.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Right… Right?”

Damian replied in the same monotonous tone.

“Yes, sir.”

That answer shattered Paul’s already fragile composure.

“You. Know. That. And. Yet!”

He pointed at Damian.

“A second lieutenant like you, recklessly charging alone and causing chaos!”

Unfazed by Paul’s outburst, Damian replied calmly.

“I judged it to be more efficient. Disrupting the enemy from within creates an opening for us to attack. Doing it alone makes me less noticeable, and there’s no need to sacrifice others. I’m the most skilled.”

“If you get your head blown off, who will the platoon listen to?!”

“Someone else can take over as platoon leader. I got promoted to second lieutenant and platoon leader because all my superiors died. It’s the same. If I die, someone else will fill the spot.”

“That’s not the point!”

“It’s the same. It’s wartime, and all lives are equal in the face of death.”

Paul wanted to sew Damian’s mouth shut.

His blood pressure spiked, and his head throbbed. Even he, who remained calm with bombs exploding nearby, was losing his cool in front of Damian.

Paul rubbed his face, composed himself, and looked at Damian.

“Damian.”

“Yes, sir.”

“If you keep this up, I won’t be able to face your uncle.”

Damian flinched slightly and lowered his eyes. A dark shadow fell over his light blue irises.

He felt sorry for Paul, who treated him like a cousin, but such words didn’t sway his heart.

“That’s none of your business. You’ll be the happiest when my death notice arrives.”

“Sigh…”

Paul couldn’t help but sigh deeply.

Damian had been like this ever since he joined the war. Brave at best, reckless at worst.

But it wasn’t true bravery. Damian was merely engaging in self-destructive behavior, denying everything that made him who he was.

There was no reason for someone who wasn’t even a professional soldier to volunteer for a foreign war.

Damian had no reason to be in this war, so he could have just done his part. His current dedication was excessive.

To understand why, we need to go back to his childhood.

☆

Damian Stern grew up in an orphanage.

He’d heard his mother abandoned him before he could even walk properly, leaving only his name.

Damian didn’t know his mother’s real name, but he didn’t think her last name was Stern.

Stern was the name of a knight from an old fairy tale—the knight who embarked on an adventure to find the princess who disappeared one day. It was an ancient, extinct family name, no longer used today.

Knowing this, Damian felt empty. He realized his mother had created him haphazardly.

Then, around the age of five, he was incredibly lucky to find a kind sponsor. Marquis Jeska chose Damian out of many children at the orphanage to sponsor.

Although noble titles became meaningless when the Kingdom of Istarica turned into a republic, Jeska was still from a family that once ruled this country. How impressive it must have seemed to young Damian.

Damian felt special, bearing the surname his mother carelessly gave him.

If he worked hard to please the Marquis, he would be even happier. He wanted to be someone meaningful to someone, not an orphan abandoned by a mother who didn’t need a child.

So Damian tried his best to meet the Marquis’ expectations.

But Damian didn’t want to acknowledge him as his biological father.

Marquis Jeska wasn’t just a kind and benevolent sponsor. He had sought out Damian because it was awkward to leave him unattended after hearing that his mother had abandoned him at the orphanage.

To avoid tarnishing the ‘hollow noble name’ and prevent Damian from causing trouble that would stain the family’s reputation, he kept Damian under his watch, distrusting the child born out of wedlock. In truth, he wanted to abandon him more than anyone else.

Damian had thought he had become useful, but he was useless again.

This thought solidified when he entered boarding school at fifteen. The other students had dreams, but Damian couldn’t envision his future.

He became an outcast, drifting through school and losing all motivation.

After completing the regular boarding school curriculum at nineteen, Damian had nowhere to go. He had to leave the orphanage as an adult.

He could live a modest life with Marquis Jeska’s support, but he didn’t want that. He wanted to escape from the Marquis.

Then he noticed a recruitment notice for the war. The neighboring Kingdom of Lebe was at war with the Suvelz Empire.

The Kingdom of Lebe requested aid from neighboring countries.

The Republic of Istarica, once a colony of the Suvelz Empire, decided to send troops to the front lines as a gesture of gratitude for Lebe’s support during their independence.

Damian thought the Marquis’ reach wouldn’t extend to a foreign war. So, with nothing else to do, he enlisted and joined the war.

Yes, Damian didn’t join this war for some grand cause.

People would laugh it off at first, then call him crazy when they realized he was serious, but Damian truly enlisted because he had nothing else to do.

On the train to Lebe, Damian thought things were going smoothly.

Until one day, he received a sudden transfer order, and the commander of his new unit introduced himself:

“Hello, you must be Damian. I’m Paul Jeska. Marquis Jeska’s younger brother is my father, so I’m your cousin. I heard about you from my uncle. I’ll help you out in many ways, so let’s do our best.”

☆

Knowing all this, Paul got a headache every time Damian caused trouble.

Marquis Jeska wouldn’t bat an eye even if something happened to Damian. But trouble outside his sight was inconvenient, so he entrusted Damian to Paul, who was a career soldier headed to Lebe.

That’s how Paul started looking after Damian—initially reluctantly, but now exasperated by his death-seeking behavior.

Even though war was unpredictable, Damian acted like there was no tomorrow.

It was a miracle he was still alive, and a year and a half had passed in this precarious state. It was enough time for Damian, who had enlisted before shedding his boyhood, to grow into a fine young man.

Paul ran his hand through his hair and waved it dismissively.

“Anyway, next time you’re about to do something, could you at least tell me? You’re giving me a heart attack.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You don’t respond with ‘I’ll keep that in mind’ to a superior’s order. This is the military, where you follow orders. The only acceptable answer is ‘Yes, sir.'”

“Ah, was that just now a statement from you as a superior, not as my brother? Then, yes, sir.”

‘I really want to smack him…’

Paul buried his face in his hands. Damian cautiously observed his mood and spoke.

“Is there anything else you’d like to say?”

“No, no. That’s all. You can go now.”

As Damian was about to salute, Paul spoke again.

“Oh, right. Second Lieutenant.”

With a playful grin, Paul fanned out five or six envelopes like cards and held them out to Damian.

“Pick one.”

Damian looked at Paul, puzzled, and he shrugged.

“The higher-ups came up with an interesting idea. They want to set up pen pals for the soldiers.”

“Pen pals… Are you talking about the pen pals I know?”

To Damian, pen pals were nothing more than a pastime, exchanging letters with an anonymous person.

“The higher-ups think that emotional connections will improve the soldiers’ morale and boost their spirits. So they recruited civilians for pen pal exchanges, and now that a few letters have arrived at the base…”

Damian’s expression grew even more perplexed. He thought he had no time for leisurely letter exchanges amidst the constant danger and workload.

“You’re lucky, you know. You met me while there were still letters left. Some people want to do this but can’t.”

Damian scoffed inwardly at Paul’s words.

‘What a foolish idea. Would this really boost morale? They should focus on improving supplies instead. How long do we have to survive on hard bread and crackers?’

“So, aren’t you going to pick one?”

At Paul’s urging, Damian reluctantly picked a random envelope. Paul grinned, gathered the remaining envelopes, and put them in his pocket.

“Make sure to write back. If there’s no reply, they’ll think you died before you could even write, so don’t let anyone down.”

Damian sighed softly. ‘I don’t have time for this…’