She Outshines Them All (Athena and Matthew) novel Chapter 422

Just as Brandon was wondering what Nicolette might want, she gave him a firm reply. "That won't be necessary. I'm a soldier, and it's my duty to protect the people. You don't have to think about repaying me."

Brandon knew that Nicolette would answer something along that line. He thought for a moment before offering another alternative. "I run an artificial intelligence company. Our company has a lot of products. Why don't you go to our company and pick some?"

Nicolette shook her head. "It's okay. We can't take things from the people."

Brandon didn't know how else to persuade her. He guessed that'd be the end of their conversation. Suddenly, his gaze focused on Nicolette's face. "You've got scratches on your face, and they're bleeding."

"I'm fine." Nicolette wiped her face with the back of her hand casually. "This bit of blood is nothing."

"There's no woman I know who doesn't give two hoots to her face. Not to mention being scratched or bleeding, even a small bump caused by the bite of a mosquito or a few pimples could make a woman nervous and she'd be looking for something to relieve them."

"It's not that I don't care about my face," Nicolette said. "It's just that there are too many things in my life that are more important than my face. Honestly, whatever happens to my face is relatively trivial."

After a moment of silence, Brandon asked speculatively, "How about the burn on your face? Does it annoy you?"

"Well, I can't say that I don't care about it at all." Nicolette raised her hand to touch the burn scar and smiled. "But I did it to myself. Since it was my choice, I don't regret it."

Brandon was shocked. "Y-You did it to yourself?"

He started imagining some callous scenes in his head. He imagined Nicolette had encountered some tragic or helpless situations when she was younger, where she had no choice but to disfigure herself and fight her way up to become a major general.

Nicolette continued to chat casually. She seemed to not find Brandon's question offensive. "When I was fourteen years old, I burned my face, starved myself, tanned myself, and injected myself with an infectious disease.

"I disguised myself as a sick child living in the mountains, so I could enter a terrorist-controlled village to go undercover."

Brandon was flummoxed.

Nicolette said nonchalantly, "I lived in the village for half a year. The terrorists never suspected my identity and asked me to cook, wash their clothes, and pick herbs for them.

"Eventually, I successfully sent out information about the terrorists. It was just that I stayed in the village for a little too long and delayed treatment. That's why this burn scar on my face can't be fully removed.

"I recovered from the infectious disease I injected into my body later on, and the aftereffect was the red marks on my skin."

What Nicolette shared wasn't a secret. Everyone in the military knew about it.

At this point, she added, "It's impossible to say that I don't have any regrets. However, compared to the victory over the terrorists, this sacrifice I made was nothing."

Thousands of men and women had lost their lives in wars and battles. Compared to them, Nicolette was considered very lucky.

Brandon's eyes almost popped out of his socket after hearing the story behind the burn.

After a while, he said, "Wait a minute, but according to the rules, a 14-year-old like you back then shouldn't be allowed to be a spy in such a dangerous place, right?"

"That's right. According to the rules, we can't," Nicolette said. "But I'm from an eminent military family, and all the spies we sent over were caught and killed. Only a sick and feeble little girl could make the terrorists let down their guard.

"Too many civilians and soldiers have died under the hands of those terrorists. As long as the terrorists aren't wiped out, the civilians will suffer. That was why the military made me an exception to the rule."

Brandon had always taken pride in his talent to talk about anything and was always confident, but in front of this female major general, he felt very insignificant. Just as he wanted to say something, they saw some lights in the distance.

Nicolette stood up. "That's our ride."