My Beloved, Whom I Desire to Kill - 241

—I’ll make you believe me. You know I don’t make promises I can’t keep.

The same man who once said he couldn’t lie and promise that he’d be able to love her if given time—because he didn’t make promises he couldn’t keep—was now saying that he had come to love her. This made it feel even more like a lie.

—But Giselle, I love you.

……But didn’t he once say that she was the first person he had ever confessed his love to?

Giselle, committing a terrible act, flopped onto her bed still in her outdoor clothes and even hugged her pillow, becoming a serial offender.

‘What am I going to do? I don’t believe it. But if I don’t believe it, why is my heart racing like this? At this rate, after just one meeting that I can’t even call a proper date, I’ll let that man into my heart all over again’

—No.

Giselle threw her pillow, sat straight up, and made a firm resolution.

—I won’t be an easy woman who only cares about some Ajussi anymore.

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As the clock’s hands raced toward 9 p.m., Giselle stood in front of the Eccleston family’s Richmond townhouse. She would have pressed the doorbell without a second thought on any other day, but her hand wouldn’t go to it easily.

—Hoo…

A strange feeling, as if hundreds of butterflies were fluttering in her stomach, made her take a deep breath as if to blow them out. It wasn’t her first time here, so why was she so nervous today? It was all because of that one sentence.

—Will you come and see me?

Listen, Mr. Edwin Eccleston. Why did you phrase it like that?

She had to go to the Eccleston residence to get her dog back from where she had left him, so she would have had to come here after saying goodbye to Howard anyway. But the way he said it made it look like Giselle had rushed all the way here because she missed him.

Had he calculated this? His subtle yet precise way with words, which so accurately captured her heart, was so cunning. She was beginning to suspect that his acting like a clumsy novice with no experience with women might have been an act.

Giselle Bishop, be relaxed, be graceful!

After one more deep breath, she shook her beautifully combed hair into a mess, like someone who didn’t want to look pretty at all, and then she pressed the doorbell.

—Good evening, Miss Bishop.

The butler greeted her and led her inside.

—The Duke is with the dog. Please come this way.

Instead of bringing the dog down to her, he was guiding her to the second floor. The man must have instructed him in advance.

The butler politely pointed to a door that was ajar by about a hand’s width. After a brief nod, he left, and Giselle stepped inside.

In the darkness where everything seemed black and white, only the fireplace burned with a fierce twilight glow, painting the space with warm colors. It was natural that her eyes were drawn to it first. However, all she saw was her dog sleeping on the carpet and snoring; the man

who had asked her to come and see him was not there.

—You came?

Even though he whispered more quietly than the dog’s snoring, his voice was so resonant that it tickled its way into her ears. Giselle’s gaze was drawn from the light into the darkness, toward the source of the voice. The man, who had been sitting in a lounge chair by the cold, dark window instead of the warm, bright sofa in front of the fireplace, was getting to his feet.

He waited patiently for Giselle, who walked slowly to muffle her footsteps so as not to wake Loddy, and as soon as she was within reach, he took her hand and pulled her. Had he decided to convey his request for her to sit next to him with his body rather than with words?

—It was quite chilly today; were you outside? Your hands are so cold.

—It’s from driving.

He took both of her hands in his and rubbed them together to warm them, asking exactly what she expected.

—Did you and Howard Garfield part on good terms?

When she nodded, he smiled as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. After all, Howard—or honestly, anyone he was up against—was no match for Edwin Eccleston. Was everyone equally vulnerable when it came to a one-sided love?

—He didn’t get angry with you, did he?

—No. He was mad at you, Your Grace.

—See? I was right. That barbarian tried to steal my date right in front of my eyes.

It wasn’t a wrong statement, so Giselle couldn’t take the —barbarian’s— side. A gentleman who followed courtesy, honesty, and temperance as if they were divine commandments had shamelessly stolen someone else’s date.

Had Edwin Eccleston lost his reason and discarded courtesy, honesty, and temperance because he thought he would lose Giselle to Howard? So Edwin Eccleston was indeed just a man after all.

—I deserve to be sworn at. What did he say to you?

—Well……

—So? Did you completely fall for his words?

He asked me the most difficult and awkward question first.

—The Duke and I are more deeply intertwined than it seems on the outside, and…

She brought up the —reasons I chose Edwin Eccleston over Howard Garfield,— which she had prepared in advance, but she couldn’t even finish her first sentence.

—It’s fine. You don’t have to tell me the reasons. Listening to all the details would just hurt my pride.

—I’m sorry, Howard.

Howard must have become a magnanimous man over his time in college and the military. He didn’t get angry at Giselle in the end, but…

—I’m disappointed in you. Not because you didn’t choose me, but because you chose a man like him. Giselle, I told you. The Duke is not a good man.

When she asked why he thought that, he said it was because of the attitude he had when they met in the training camp woods.

—Don’t you remember he called you a dog in heat? Are you so used to it that you can’t even feel how rude and vulgar that is?

No, I just didn’t expect that bastard to have the audacity to say something like that to me again.

She hadn’t had a chance to confront him back then because she had lost Loddy, but let him dare say that again. She would make him regret it. She wanted to sew Lorenz’s mouth shut, but it was just her luck that those words came from Edwin Eccleston’s mouth.

—Why would you want to be with a man like that? Giselle, I’m worried about you.

‘Howard, the man I want to be with isn’t a —dog in heat—……’

Of course, if you meet a gentleman, the —dog in heat— follows. Yesterday, he appeared briefly at the movie theater and called her without fail before she went to bed, but he only said —sleep well— and hung up, acting differently than usual. Giselle was finally able to clearly see what kind of plan Lorenz was harboring in his dark abyss.

Giselle also had a plan. So, she wasn’t too worried about Lorenz.

—Did he say something so bad that you can’t tell me?

She had hesitated to answer the question about what Howard had said, so he made assumptions. Of course, he had said some harsh things.

—But I’m not a good person, so I’d rather die than say I hope things work out for you with some other guy…

—He said something harsh to you, Your Grace, not to me.

—What?

—He said if you give me a hard time, I should come to him.

—That kid. How cute. And what did you say?

—I said, ‘Okay.’

—Ah…

‘Why don’t you say I’m cute, too?’

—I appreciate the thought, though I don’t think I’ll need it.

The smile on his face, which had been unshakeable, wavered for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure, confident now that Giselle wouldn’t leave him because of a difficult situation.

I wonder how much he can appreciate it.

—Howard said you would need it, though. He said that no matter how much you try to hold on, you’ll be returning to the earth as a handful of dust before he does.

Howard had asked her to be sure to deliver that message instead of arguing further. Giselle realized that he was indeed far from being a truly —good person,— and that she herself was not a good person for delivering the message.

The man in front of her roared with laughter as if Howard’s provocation was cute, but his eyes were blazing with a fierce glare. It was the same look she had seen in Lorenz.

—Don’t worry about that, either. Longevity runs in my family.

—Is that so?

‘Weren’t his ancestors, the former duke and duchess, all dead before they turned sixty? The man read the surprise in her eyes without her needing to say a word’

—My father and brother lived debaucherously, so they went early, and my mother couldn’t live long because of the heartache from a debaucherous husband and son. The Ecclestons who lived with temperance have all lived long and healthy lives.

Indeed, the Duchess of Roxworth, who was now a Crown Princess, was popular in gossip and fashion magazines because she was healthy and looked younger than her age. General Bishop, too, was still an active military officer at his age.

—So I’ll live a long time. Giselle Bishop, you’re in trouble. You can’t go to another man now. I’ll be keeping a close eye on you even when you’re a grandmother.

‘Who would need a bodyguard when they’re a grandmother?’

Giselle couldn’t hold back her laughter. The man, with her two hands still clasped in his, laughed playfully, but the look in his blazing eyes told her he was not joking.

She realized now that this man also had a fierce competitive streak, even if he rarely had an opponent he needed to fight to win.