"With wounds from his own demons, he loved her with something that was much more than love."
Pretending was his only weapon against Gilbert's relentless presence, but how could he think of weapons in front of Violet, how could either of them even imagine that her heart was the object of a war, Dietfried fought night after night against his conscience, being the heir to the Bouganvillea house, to his father's and brother's military lineage, he no longer wished to fight anymore, least of all for Violet, for she was anything but a war, and her heart was not worth a battle at the cost of one Bouganvillea's life or another, and as long as she continued to choose to sit and read beside him in front of the fireplace in his study, as long as she continued to give him smiles that in his life he would have expected, yielding his love was more valuable than ever.
And while his whole system was in constant alarm, he wanted to give Violet some credit, all her life she waited for Gilbert, went through countless events and knew how love could exist even in such adverse situations.
Dietfried had already decided, he loved Violet with an overwhelming force, every time she sat near him his body was electrified, his skin bristled, there was no one in that world that could achieve that effect on him other than her, the memory of her lips on his, the softness of her skin against his, no one knew how he felt with her near.
"...And I would choose you, in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I would keep finding you, over and over again."
for Gilbert the situation was clearly like a divine punishment that he made himself inflict, as if by sheer will he had let himself bleed out from the deepness of his heart, an invisible color of blood. He could only continue to hide his feelings in that corral between the bales of grass and his animals.
From there he could see them, from afar, how the one who once hated her so much was now the one who gave her smiles the size of the universe itself, who could rightfully take her by the hand. he turned his reflection against the bucket of water under his knees and placed his palm on the stump of his lost arm, maybe he could not get it back, not like this.
Claudia arrived one day accompanied by a group of people, Gilbert saw them leaving his brother's office, Dietfried and Claudia shook hands before saying goodbye, "brother, Claudia needs you to accompany him", he said before going back to his office, when Gilbert went down the stairs and out the door a high ranking navy squad entered, he didn't want to give it much importance, because they were still at war.
Gilbert arrived at the hospital where Violet was treated years ago when she was given her prosthesis, he heard Claudia and the doctors talking to him about this new technology to recover his arm and his eye, they showed him pictures, but all he heard were the voices of the memory of how he let Violet go that day.
He didn't hear anything else, he shook his head, Claudia frowned and grabbed his shoulder squeezing him to make him react, but Gilbert with a racing heart simply panicked, he got up from that place and ran until he bumped into someone, his eyes opened wide, it was a boy who just like him had lost part of his body one day, he stretched out his hand and smiled at him, claudia came out from behind with the doctors and they found the scene, the doctor then said "his name is ryan, he was also a soldier, discharged for the same injuries as yours" Gilbert squeezed his hand, he could not believe it, he could not see the wounds, the skin on his arm felt real..
The boy smiled at him, and lifted his shirt up to his shoulder where there was a crease "it looks like real skin and it covers the entire prosthesis, it's the same with my eye". Gilbert turned to Claudia "this is what we wanted to show you, Gilbert, you can take them back, if that's what you decide".
"And again I find you, looking for a new longing."
Claudia explained to Gillbert that in order to undergo this operation they had to travel to the capital, since this part of the country was only for recovery and physical conditioning after the operation, once again they had to go far away, not knowing if it would be successful or not, Gilbert did not think twice and after a few minutes everything was decided.
"Let's go" said Gilbert to Claudia, they got into the vehicle and disappeared.