Chapter 59
Sophia was perplexed, but Nathan seemed to be scared of this man, for he kept hiding behind her
without speaking.
Joel stretched out his hand to pat Nathan’s head, asking, “I heard that you went picking some
watermelons in the vegetable farm just now?”
Nathan didn’t answer Joel though, for he seemed to be truly terrified of thetter. Despite his
commanding presence at home, he looked like a dog with its tail between its legs in front of Joel on this
day.
Joel was indeed very intimidating, for alldies in the military training camp probably admired and feared
him at the same time.
They wanted to get noticed by the person who was both the Fletcher Family’s eldest son and the
youngest Senior Colonel of Cethos; at the same time, however, they were afraid of the suffocating and
intimidating aura that emanated from him. Only those who had steeled themselves in actual battlefields
would have such an imposing manner.
Sophia quickly shielded Nathan with her body as she eased the tension in the air by saying, “Hello,
General. This kid is a little shy, and he doesn’t like to speak.”
Joel stopped embarrassing Nathan further; he slowly rose to his feet, standing before her and looking
like an immeasurably high mountain with his height of 190 centimeters. Then, as a probing look flickered
in his eyes, Sophia felt like she was treading on thin ice. She was so frightened that her back was
covered in sweat.
Joel looked her up and down with a stern face before he suddenly broke into a smile. “You must be
Sophia, right? I’m Michael’s cousin, Joel.”
Oh my god, so Michael really is a direct descendant of the Fletcher Family! I never expected him to
come from such an influential background as he seems so inconspicuous and unassuming. Besides,
why would Joel know my name?
Why is Nate so terrified of him? Since Michael is a Fletcher, why couldn’t his name be found among the
Fletchers? Things are soplicated in an influential family! Sophia thought to herself.
Having decided to speak less, she answered reverently, “I’m Sophia Edwards, General.”
Joel nodded as he said in a rxed tone, “I never expected Michael to marry earlier than I do. It’s too
bad that he didn’t tell me about his wedding, or I would have given you two a great present.”
Sophiained in her mind, There wasn’t a f*cking wedding at all, for we merely registered for
marriage!
N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.
She answered simple-mindedly, “I’ll make sure to tell you next time!”
Joel was dumbstruck for a moment before heughed. “You two should go back quickly, for the military
training will start officially in an hour. We’re a family, so let me know if you have any difficulties.”
Sophia replied with a nod, “Thank you, General.”
With that, Joel got back into the military vehicle and left, whereas Sophia headed off in the infirmary’s
direction with Nathan.
As she was on her way, she recalled and pondered over the conversation she had with Joel just now. It’s
so miraculous that the cool and distantmanding general spoke to me in such a mild manner, she
thought to herself.
“Hmph!” Nathan, who had clung to her thigh while huddling up in fright a while ago, was aloof again as
usual. He warned Sophia with a snort, “Joel is not an easy person to deal with. Stay away from him in
the future, but if you meet him by chance, just y the fool like what you did just now.”
“Huh? Did I look like a fool just now?”
“Yeah, you looked so silly that I can’t even bring myself to look at you.”
“You looked even sillier than I did!”
The two of them argued with each other without a pause as they headed for the infirmary…
Sophia went back to her dorm in her slippers and sat down before changing into her military shoes. As
soon as she set her feet on the ground, she screamed, “Aaah!”
Startled, thedies in the barracks looked in her direction, only to see her lying on the floor and clinging
to her foot as she screamed. Her olive-drab socks were stained red with blood, and the shoes she had
just worn had a few nails and broken bits of ss in them. Not only that, but the shoes were also soaked
in blood all over!
Everyone turned pale with fright at the sight of the scene. Who would have been so cruel as to put such
vicious things in her shoes?
She might have her leg crippled from such severe bleeding!
Thedies discussed it among themselves as they carried her to the infirmary, whereas Nathan followed
closely behind them all the way.
As she was carried away, her blood-stained shoes were left in their ce. Thedies discussed the
incident with each other, but no one knew who the person that did this to Sophia was. Since everyone
had either been discussing the military training or catching up on sleep in their beds just now, no one
actually noticed what had happened.
The incident soon startled Commander Ford, who came over and checked out the scene of the incident
before going to the infirmary to check on Sophia.
Sophia’s entire foot was bandaged with gauze. Shey on the infirmary bed with a look of agony,
whereas Nathan sat silently at her bedside.
The medical officer said that the injury in her foot was too severe. Even though her bones weren’t
affected by the injury, she would likely be unable to undergo training as normal.
If she couldn’t join the training, she would get zero credit for military training, which would widen the gap
between her and everybody else. If she wanted to graduate from university smoothly, she had to
redouble her efforts. Furthermore, she would have to win national awards every year to make up for her
zero credit for military training.
Commander Ford’s face was as ck as thunder, for he didn’t expect such an incident to happen within
the ranks of hispany on the first day of military training.
Just as he was getting all distressed, Sophia struggled out of her sickbed with her face as pale as a
sheet. She pleaded, “Please let me carry on with the training, Commander. I can do it!”
Commander Ford immediately refused her insistence, saying, “No. Your injury is too severe, so you can’t
go on with the training!”
The medical officer chimed in, “It’s only a flesh wound, so she can carry on with her training. It’s just that
she’ll be in agony.”
Sophia immediately said, “I’m not afraid of pain! Commander, please let me carry on with the training!”
With that, she slowly stood up as Juliette Sanders helped her by the arm. As she set her foot on the
ground, she hissed in pain with her face looking deathly pale, yet she gritted her teeth and managed to
hang in there. After she managed to keep her feet, she gave Commander Ford a weak, pale smile as
she said, “Look! Didn’t I manage to stand up?”
Commander Ford looked at her face—which was covered in beads of sweat because of the pain—before
shifting his gaze to her bleeding foot. In the end, however, he agreed to let her carry on with the training.
He knew how important the credits for military training were to a student. If she couldn’t get credits for
military training, she would most likely be unable to graduate. As the number one university of Cethos,
Bayside University imposed harsh requirements on its students. Batches of students couldn’t graduate
from the university every year as they failed to obtain enough credits.
I’ll let her carry on with the training as long as she can endure the pain! Commander Ford thought to
himself.
With that, Sophia hobbled out of the infirmary. Not only did she attend the military training’s opening
ceremony on time in the afternoon, but she also stood more upright than everyone else.
Commander Ford keptplimenting her since she had risen very much in his opinion.
The next day after they arrived at the military training camp, the training officially started under the
scorching hot sun.
The military training went on in the morning as usual despite the temperature approaching 35 degrees
Celsius. The group of delicatedies sweated profusely as even the best sunscreen couldn’t prevent the
sun from making their skins go sallow.
Manydies fainted on the first day of training. All the fainteddies received the same treatment in the
military training camp—they got dragged away and must rejoin their units immediately after regaining
consciousness.
The studentsined incessantly in the face of such harsh military training. However, all they could
do wasin, for they didn’t dare to stand up to Commander Ford at all. If he told them to head east,
no one would dare to head west.
As the training was in full swing at the training field, the lecturers and sophomore students in charge of
chaperoning the freshmen stayed out of the sun in a shady spot at a side.
The actual role of these lecturers and sophomore students was to prepare iced drinking water along with
other things that served to relieve the summer heat. Moreover, they had to act promptly upon noticing
someone suffering from heatstroke lest he or she was dragged away by the officers of the military
training camp in an utterly embarrassing manner. After all, these students had a sense of shame; it
would be bad if they had psychological scars after being dragged away so embarrassingly.
Since it was officially the first day of their military training, all the students learned were the most basic
drillmands, such as standing at attention, standing at ease, and crouching down.
It took only a morning before the students began feeling indescribably miserable. The case was
especially true when they stood at attention, which required them to stand for nearly an hour with their
bodies tensed up all over. Under the hot weather and high temperature, manydies fainted as they
stood. Furthermore, Commander Ford was behind them, literally kicking those who didn’t stand up to
standard out of the ranks. However, no one dared to speak up against him.
As they were standing at attention under the sun, Nathan ate iced watermelon at a shady spot at a side.
At this very moment, Sophia finally realized what a cruel thing it was when Gary said lightly back then
that Nathan would be eating watermelon at one side while they had military training.