Brie stord out of the General’s private command tent. The heavy white canvas flap fell shut behind her. The bright, hot morning sun imdiately hit her face, making her squint.
Brie walked quickly across the dusty ground of the military camp. Her leather shoes stomped hard against the dry dirt. She was clutching the cracked ceramic bowl very tightly against her chest. Her face was completely twisted into a dark, ugly scowl. Her breathing was heavy and fast.
She was completely furious. She felt deeply humiliated.
Brie mumbled angrily on her way as she walked back toward the dical tents.
"Who does she think she is?" Brie whispered harshly through her gritted teeth. She glared at the ground, kicking a small rock out of her path.
She thought about Camilla sitting so comfortably in the General’s chair. She thought about the cold, threatening look in the young woman’s dark eyes.
"Because she married the general, she feels she’s completely untouchable?" Brie continued mumbling, her voice shaking with offended pride. "She is just a spoiled, useless noble girl! I am the one who saves the lives of these soldiers. I am the one who stood by the General when he was bleeding. I am the one important here!"
Brie tightened her grip on the ceramic bowl. Her knuckles turned white.
"I will make her pay for those insults," Brie promised herself in her mind. Her internal voice was full of bitter revenge. "I will find a way to humiliate her in front of the entire army. I will show the General how useless his wife really is."
She finally reached the large, white dical tent. The red cross painted on the canvas flapped slightly in the warm wind.
Brie raised her hand and pushed the tent flap open. She stepped from the bright sunlight into the busy, crowded shade of the dical ward. The air inside slled strongly of bitter herbs, sharp alcohol, and blood.
The very mont her shoe stepped onto the floor inside the tent, Camilla’s dark curse instantly activated.
Camilla had clearly stated her hope that Brie would not experience any accident. Because of her jinx, the magic imdiately began to force the exact opposite reality to happen.
The dical tent was incredibly busy. Several injured soldiers were sitting on cots, waiting for treatnts. Young assistants were rushing back and forth carrying clean water and fresh bandages.
One of the young dical assistants was walking very fast, carrying a large stack of folded white linen cloths. She was trying to hurry to a patient. Because the stack was so high, she could not see clearly in front of her.
As Brie stepped fully into the tent, the assistant accidentally walked right into her path.
The assistant mistakenly pushed her hard on the shoulder.
The sudden, strong impact caught Brie completely off guard. She stumbled sideways. Her hands flew open in surprise.
The cracked, pale ceramic bowl slipped right out of Brie’s fingers.
The bowl fell through the air and hit the hard floor.
CRASH!
Because the bowl was already full of tiny, hidden hairline fractures, it did not just break into two pieces. It completely shattered.
Sharp, jagged pieces of pale ceramic exploded in every direction, scattering across the floor directly around Brie’s feet.
Brie quickly regained her balance. She looked down at the ruined bowl. Her anger flared up instantly. She turned to the terrified young assistant who had pushed her.
"Can’t you watch where you are..." Brie shouted loudly, raising her hand to slap the young girl.
But her angry words were entirely incomplete.
At that exact second, a heavily injured soldier was trying to walk toward the exit. He had a deep, bleeding wound on his leg and was limping badly. He was groaning in pain, keeping his eyes squeezed tightly shut.
Because he was not looking, the injured soldier bumped into Brie very hard from behind.
It was a massive, heavy impact. The large soldier’s weight completely knocked Brie off her feet.
Brie lost her balance entirely. She threw her hands out in front of her, trying desperately to catch herself and break her fall.
She fell very hard to the ground.
But she did not just land on the floor.
Both of her bare hands slamd down directly onto the sharp, broken, jagged pieces of the shattered ceramic bowl.
The heavy weight of her fall drove the sharp ceramic shards deeply into her soft flesh. The sharp edges sliced easily through her skin, cutting deeply into the palms of her hands and her fingers.
Brie scread.
It was a loud, high-pitched, absolute scream of agony. The terrible sound echoed wildly throughout the entire dical tent, stopping everyone in their tracks.
"Ahhhhh!" Brie shrieked, rolling onto her side.
She pulled her hands up to her chest. The shattered bowl pieces had pierced her hands deeply. Several sharp, bloody shards were still stuck in her flesh. She was bleeding profusely.
Dark red blood poured freely from the deep cuts, quickly soaking into the clean, white linen of her dical apron. The pain was completely blinding.
The entire dical tent erupted into sudden panic.
"Miss Brie!" the assistants shouted in horror.
They dropped their fresh bandages and their clean water buckets. All the assistants rushed to her aid imdiately. They knelt down on the wooden floor around her, frantically trying to stop the heavy bleeding and carefully pull the sharp ceramic pieces out of her ruined hands.
Brie continued to cry and scream in terrible pain, her arrogant pride completely destroyed by the sudden, brutal accident.
While the other assistants were completely busy trying to stop the head physician from bleeding to death, one specific assistant stood slightly back from the chaotic circle.
Her na was Mildred. She was a young, highly ambitious, and very sneaky woman. She also wore a white dical apron, but her heart was full of hate.
Mildred watched Brie screaming on the floor. She saw the blood soaking her superior’s apron.
Mildred knew that Brie had just returned from the General’s private tent. Mildred had heard Brie complaining about Lady Camilla earlier that morning. Mildred quickly connected the dots in her sly mind. She assud the Lady had sohow upset Brie, and now Brie was injured.
Mildred thought to herself, a greedy, dark smile forming on her thin lips.
"This is my perfect chance," Mildred planned internally. "If I can go to the General’s tent and publicly embarrass Lady Camilla, Miss Brie will be incredibly grateful to . Miss Brie is the head physician. If I curry favor with her by seeking revenge on the Lady, Brie will definitely promote to be her personal, highest-ranking assistant."
Mildred did not care about treating the injured soldiers. She only cared about her own promotion.
Mildred slowly backed away from the screaming crowd. She quietly turned around, slipped through the open tent flap, and left the busy dical tent entirely.
She walked quickly across the dusty camp. She headed directly toward the General’s large command tent.
Mildred reached the command tent. She pushed the canvas flap aside and stepped quietly inside.
She looked around the cool, quiet room.
She saw Camilla. The Lady of the Benson mansion was still sitting very comfortably in Damon’s large chair behind the desk.
Camilla had finished reading the ledger. She had pushed the book aside. She was currently resting her chin on her hand, lightly tapping her fingers against the wooden desk.
"So boring," Camilla was mumbling to herself quietly. "There is absolutely nothing fun to do in this dusty place. I should have brought a good book."
Mildred watched the Lady complaining.
She felt a strong surge of deep disrespect. She thought Camilla was just a lazy, foolish noblewoman who did not understand the hard work of the military camp.
Mildred stepped fully into the tent. She forced her face to look incredibly polite and highly welcoming.
The assistant, Mildred, ca in with a very wide, very fake smile.
"Lady Camilla," Mildred said out loud. Her voice was sweet, but it sounded slightly forced.
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