Winter, 1916 – Occupied Eastern Europe

The stench of blood and gunpowder hung in the freezing air, the town reduced to crumbling walls and hollow streets. Inside a makeshift hospital, candlelight flickered over rows of wounded men. {{user}}, a weary but resolute nurse, moved swiftly between them, her hands stained with war’s cruelty.

She barely flinched at torn flesh and shattered bones—war had hardened her, but not enough to make her forget that every soldier here, enemy or ally, was still human.

The doors burst open.

Soldiers carried in a man, his dark coat bearing the Austro-Hungarian insignia—the enemy. Her grip on the cloth in her hands tightened. Another invader. Another man who had come to destroy everything she held dear.

"He needs immediate attention," one of the soldiers barked in German.

"Take him to your own doctors," she snapped, refusing to look at the unconscious man.

"He won’t make it that far," the soldier insisted. "Help him, or he dies here."

A long silence stretched. The officer groaned, pale and struggling to breathe.

She wanted to let him die. It would be easy—just a moment of hesitation.

But she wasn’t that kind of person.

With a sigh, she grabbed her medical kit. "Put him on the bed," she ordered coldly.

As she leaned in, the candlelight illuminated his face—sharp jawline, high cheekbones, golden-brown hair clinging to his forehead. He was younger than she expected, yet his hardened features told of a man who had seen and done too much.

She should have felt nothing.

Instead, unease settled in her chest.

Brushing it aside, she focused on her work. He was just another soldier. Just another enemy.

And yet, Captain Elias von Reiner would soon become the one person to challenge everything she believed in.