By August, the summer heat had intensified, and the temperature in Constantinople, under the Mediterranean climate, had risen a few degrees compared to before. The scorched earth felt like stepping on a blazing furnace wall, and there were few pedestrians on the street. Only the porters at the port, under the scorching sun, tirelessly transported supplies onto the transport ships.

It was in this sweltering weather that a warship bearing the British flag slowly approached the port of Constantinople and docked at the pier.

A British officer, clad in a bright red uniform, alongside a group of ladies wearing simple gray dresses and hair buns, descended the steps to the dock.

Once everyone was on the dock, the British officer respectfully addressed a lady, "Miss Nightingale, I’ve brought you here!"

"Thank you for the trouble, sir!" The lady, referred to as Nightingale by the British officer, bowed to him and said.

"No trouble at all!" The British officer quickly responded and then continued, "It’s my honor to serve such a noble lady like you!"

"You’re too kind!" Nightingale said humbly, "I’m just doing my duty!"

"That’s what makes you noble! Noble people never ask for a reward!" the British officer continued to praise Nightingale.

At the end of the British officer’s words, Nightingale showed a shy smile. She waved her hand to the British officer and replied, "Alright! Sir, I should be on my way! If you keep praising me, neither of us might leave here today!"

Afterwards, Nightingale bid farewell to the British officer with a wave, watching as the British warship sailed away from the port.

Watching the British warship gradually disappearing over the horizon, Nightingale turned to her friends and said, "Alright, friends, let’s head to the hospital where Lady Vierania is!"

"Shouldn’t we report to the embassy first? After drifting at sea for so long, we should let London know we’re safe!" a nurse suggested to Nightingale.

Nightingale also realized that her team had been drifting at sea for more than two months and indeed needed to assure London of their safety.

"Alright!" Nightingale nodded and said, "We’ll first report to the embassy, then head to the hospital!"

Thus, Nightingale and her group set off in great numbers towards the British Embassy.

...

Just as Nightingale decided to go to the embassy first and then to the hospital where Vierania was located, Vierania was called to the office by the director of the military hospital just after completing a ward inspection.

"What happened?" Vierania asked in confusion, looking at the director before her.

The director, knowing Vierania’s identity, had already become a loyal lapdog, and he fawningly said to Vierania, "Lady Vierania, a British volunteer team is about to arrive at our hospital. The leader of this volunteer team claims to be your devoted admirer. Would you like to meet them?"

"Volunteer team?" Vierania thought for a moment and immediately realized that the volunteer team mentioned by the director was probably Miss Nightingale, who had written to her recently: "Is she named Nightingale?"

"That’s right!" The director showed a momentary shock on his face and then nodded to Vierania, "The leader of this volunteer team is indeed named Nightingale! Lady Vierania, do you know her?"

"I invited Nightingale here!" Vierania replied calmly, "Originally, she intended to go directly to Crimea!"

The director nodded and, in a subordinate tone, asked Vierania, "I understand! Do you need the hospital to make any arrangements for them?"

"That won’t be necessary!" Vierania shook her head in response to the director.

Then, Vierania returned to her office. Sitting in her office, she felt a bit tired and dozed off on her desk.

When Vierania lifted her head again, she found that, at some point, an extra person had appeared in her office.

"You’re awake!" Jerome Bonaparte, who had spread a newspaper on his lap, raised his head upon hearing the commotion from the desk and addressed Vierania.

"How long have I been asleep?" Vierania asked Jerome Bonaparte in a slightly languid tone.

"Let me check!" Jerome Bonaparte pulled out a pocket watch and glanced at the time, "From the moment I entered the room until now, only twenty minutes have passed.

And the time from when you finished your ward inspection to when I entered the room is about twenty minutes as well, which means you haven’t been asleep for more than forty minutes!"

"So I’ve been asleep for half an hour!" Vierania said to Jerome Bonaparte.

"Yes!" Jerome Bonaparte stood up and came behind Vierania, gently pressing on her temples.

Lady Vilnius closed her eyes, enjoying the long-lost service of Jerome Bonaparte.

"Didn’t I tell you! Don’t wear yourself out, look at you now, you’re almost like a machine! Resting at 2 AM, getting up at 6:30, aren’t you afraid of dropping dead?" Jerome Bonaparte said to Vilnius in a reproachful tone.

"That’s all your fault!" Vilnius replied in a coquettish voice, "If it weren’t for you calling me every day... that... (Vilnius’s voice got quieter and quieter)... I wouldn’t be resting so late!"

"That was your doing!" Jerome Bonaparte immediately retorted, "If you didn’t start it, none of this would happen!"

With that, the embarrassed and angry Vilnius didn’t care about any social hierarchy, using a woman’s usual tricks, she pinched Jerome Bonaparte’s waist hard.

"Ouch!" Jerome Bonaparte shouted softly, then moved his hands away from Vilnius’s temples.

Hearing Jerome Bonaparte’s scream, Vilnius panicked and quickly turned around to check on Jerome Bonaparte’s condition.

Unexpectedly, as soon as she turned around, she was hugged by Jerome Bonaparte.

Feeling refreshed, Jerome Bonaparte tidied his clothes and then opened the curtains and windows to ventilate the room.

With a blush on her face, Vilnius took a tissue from the drawer, then squatted down to wipe the liquid spilled on the floor.

After Vilnius finished cleaning, a doctor entered the room and announced, "Your Majesty, Lady Vilnius, Miss Nightingale has arrived!"

"Let her in, please!" Jerome Bonaparte said to the doctor.

The doctor glanced at Jerome Bonaparte and said, "As you command, Your Majesty!"

A while later, Nightingale entered the office.

Sitting on the sofa, Jerome Bonaparte sized up Nightingale.

Brown hair evenly spread out on both sides was fixed by a white embroidered bun, she was not tall, her face was fair, and her gray long dress appeared particularly simple, overall she could be considered a standard Middle Class woman, not as stunningly beautiful as later generations praised.

"Lady Vilnius!" Nightingale gracefully curtsied with a smile, "I’m sorry to disturb you at this time!"

(After Nightingale finished speaking, she caught a whiff of the leftover "Heather" and hormonal scent in the room.)

"It’s nothing!" Vilnius extended her hand, inviting Nightingale, "Miss Nightingale, please have a seat!"

Only then did Nightingale notice there was another person sitting on the sofa.

"Who is this... gentleman?" Nightingale asked Jerome Bonaparte in confusion.

Jerome Bonaparte deliberately made a disappointed face and sighed to Nightingale, "Oh! Just consider me a nobody!"

"Pfft!" Jerome Bonaparte’s self-mockery brought a hint of a smile to the corners of both Nightingale and Vilnius’s mouths.

Meanwhile, Nightingale also recalled what the Minister of War, Sydney Herbert, had told her before she left, "The Miss Vilnius you wish to visit is not a simple person! Behind her might stand the Emperor of the French Empire! If you can really connect with her, it will certainly help your career!"

"Your Majesty!" Nightingale immediately realized that the person sitting on the sofa should be the Emperor of the French Empire, and she quickly saluted Jerome Bonaparte.

"You figured it out so soon!" Jerome Bonaparte showed a hint of surprise, he thought Nightingale would need some time to guess his identity.

"Before I came here, my friend had told me some things about Miss Vilnius and you..." Nightingale explained to Jerome Bonaparte.

"Your friend is indeed quite resourceful!" Jerome Bonaparte said to Nightingale with a half-smile, he certainly understood that the friend Nightingale referred to was a minister in the British Cabinet.

Nightingale smiled slightly without speaking.

"Miss Nightingale, Vilnius has already told me the purpose of your visit!" Jerome Bonaparte exclaimed, "I really didn’t expect someone would be willing to come from the safe rear to the front lines to care for the wounded! Miss Nightingale, I admire your actions very much!"

"You overpraise me!" Nightingale said humbly to Jerome Bonaparte, praising Vilnius, "Isn’t Lady Vilnius also like me, leaving the Parisian social scene to come here to care for the wounded?"

"No, you two are different!"