My Beloved, Whom I Desire to Kill - 252

So she wouldn’t have to recall that last kiss.

Because of this, even as she brought her lips to his, she felt no discomfort. Even now, having just recalled it, she flinched for a moment, but it didn’t last long. Was it because this man was treating it so differently from back then? A touching emotion was evident in the gentle touch of his hand stroking her back. Joy overflowed in the kisses he showered on Giselle’s cheek.

Maybe kissing won’t be so bad after all. Only yesterday, she had thought that kissing wouldn’t feel good at all. Just one word had changed, but deep in Giselle’s heart, her fear had been replaced by courage.

This man also had a remarkable talent for melting a frozen heart. The power of a single, quiet act of consideration was so great that a belief welled up in her that even if she surrendered her heart to Edwin Eccleston, she would no longer be hurt. Giselle wrapped her arms, which had been resting awkwardly on his broad shoulders, around his neck and looked up to face him.

—You know, you don’t have to worry about Lorenz tearing us apart. He’s actually already bringing us together.

Edwin tilted his head as if to ask, ‘How?’

—I believe you when you say you love me now.

He seemed unable to believe her words and opened his eyes wide, his lips, which had been lightly closed, parting. However, soon his eyes and mouth formed a gentle arc. The man, who was as cunning as a fox, was showing his overwhelmed joy as naively as a boy who was new to this. It was a smile that made even the person watching feel happy.

I wonder how he’ll smile someday when I tell him I love him. She began to wonder.

—Alright. Have a good time at dinner with the other man.

She had only acknowledged his love, but Edwin was acting as if he was invincible, showing a certain composure as if it didn’t matter what his love rival had to say that night.

—But you have to have lunch with me.

Two dates in one day. Giselle Bishop had truly become a femme fatale.

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—Change out of your uniform and come back.

He’s a truly ridiculous man.

He was telling her to go home and get all dressed up. Giselle returned home without a word, and about 30 minutes later, Lorenz, who had driven over to pick her up, rang the doorbell.

—Hello, beautiful.

—What is this?

Giselle, who opened the door, couldn’t suppress a snicker. He was holding flowers, as if he intended to go through all the motions of a date, but oddly enough, it wasn’t a bouquet.

What kind of man brings a potted plant? Doesn’t he know the first thing about dating? He could peek into the knowledge of the master, so why was he like this?

The man, holding a potted plant with blooming purple aster chrysanthemums, looked confident, as if he didn’t know what was wrong.

—Natalia, my love will never wither.

Only then did Giselle realize that Lorenz had intentionally given her a whole plant instead of a flower. It was an insinuation that Edwin Eccleston’s love, like the flowers he gave her, would one day wither. She told him not to tear down his love rival, but now he was subtly putting down another man’s love by expressing his own. He was incorrigible.

Giselle grudgingly accepted the potted plant and didn’t say thank you.

—If I don’t water it, it’ll wither and die forever.

—Water it. That’s not hard, is it?

He acted as if Giselle had threatened to kill him by letting him wither. He was quick-witted, as expected, and understood her perfectly. She didn’t give him any reaction.

She roughly placed the potted plant on the cabinet next to the front door and grabbed her keys, and only then did he ask.

—But why are you still in uniform? What were you doing at home?

—I called Elena to say hello. I was organizing letters. Choosing stationery for replies, and so on. I was very busy.

—You could have just said you didn’t want to change in the first place. Your personality is truly twisted.

Typical crazy person. He was begging for love, and now he was starting a fight. Is it my turn to become a crazy person in return? Giselle grabbed his tie like a dog leash and smiled with her eyes.

—Are you curious to see just how twisted my nasty personality can get?

—No, there’s no one who knows it better than me, is there? That’s why I love you. See, we even have the same twisted nature.

She shot him a glare with narrowed eyes, pushed his chest, and went outside. He was so happy that she hadn’t canceled their plans, that he stood behind Giselle, humming as she closed and locked the door.

She ignored his elbow, which he offered like a gentleman, and walked to the car first. The man, who overtook Giselle in a single step, opened the passenger door for her. As she got in the car as if it were a given, not even offering a smile of thanks and treating him like a servant, Giselle noticed something strange.

…What’s wrong with him?

Giselle didn’t take her eyes off him the entire time Lorenz closed the door, went around to the other side, and got into the driver’s seat. The man put both hands on the steering wheel. She hadn’t seen wrong.

—What happened to your fingernails?

Three of his right fingernails were black and reddish, as if they were bruised underneath. They had been perfectly fine before he left work, so what kind of accident had happened in such a short amount of time?

—The door slammed on them.

—Oh my, be careful.

—How can I be careful? That crazy bastard Edwin Eccleston did it on purpose.

—…What?

—Because I touched you yesterday.

He told her to have a good time with another man, but as soon as he turned around, he warned that «other man» not to touch his woman again. In the most extreme way possible—by damaging his own hands right before Lorenz was about to take over his body.

My God, that man is not sane either.

Now that she thought about it, wasn’t he utterly ruthless once he set his mind on something, to the point where Lorenz was sick and disgusted? The Edwin Eccleston from the days when he tried to erase that maniac from the world—the one who had defiled Giselle by killing himself and had driven Professor Fletcher to suicide—suddenly came to mind, and a chill ran down her neck.

I need to be careful.

Even if it wasn’t his intention, Giselle felt as if she had been given a chilling warning. So, throughout dinner at the Eccleston townhouse, she didn’t let Lorenz lay a single finger on her. She was ruthless, thinking that a single hit to the solar plexus would hurt less than him harming himself, but the other party wouldn’t give up, even as he complained that his fingers were in pain.

—Were you happy to hear about your brother?

She nodded, not knowing his intentions, and Lorenz, who had been resting his chin on his hand, smiled contentedly. It was unbelievable. The person who had actually obtained the news from an enemy country hadn’t boasted like that.

—Did you find him?

—It’s as good as me finding him.

He meant that this was all thanks to him getting the spy. It was annoying how he tried to take credit at every opportunity, but it wasn’t entirely wrong.

—Yeah, it’s thanks to you too. Thank you.

—Say my name?

—Thank you, Lorenz.

—Hug me and whisper it in my ear, too.

He finally revealed that his real goal was to touch her body in some way.

—»I want her to do the same thing for me, boo-hoo.» Are you a child?

—I’m a child if I’m six years old.

—Little boy, go get permission from an adult.

—Please give me permission.

—……

Why is he begging me and not the owner of the body?

—If you give me permission, would he dare to object? How childish and stupid would he be to smash his own hand if you touched him first?

He had a point. If Giselle gave her permission, that man, even if his feelings were hurt, wouldn’t harm his own body.

—So Natalia, hug me.

—I don’t want to.

Right or wrong, if she didn’t want to, that was the end of it.

—You like Edwin Eccleston, but you don’t like me?

—Yeah. The reason is something you know better than anyone, so I’m thankful I don’t have to waste my breath explaining it.

—Then why did you hang out with a guy you didn’t like all this time? You should have pushed me away. Why did you meet me every night and answer my calls? You even hugged me and said thank you before. You said I was the only one.

—…

—But you suddenly don’t like me? You used me conveniently and now you’re going to throw me away because you have another man?

—No, I’ve come to hate you, too.

She hadn’t intended to reveal why she gave him a chance, but why was she spilling everything herself?

—Yeah, there was a time I was tearfully grateful to you. I was so touched that I even said harsh things to the man who has looked at me my whole life and has made me who I am today, telling him to learn from you. But I hate you so much that I can’t forgive you. I don’t have to explain why I hate you, do I?

Lorenz pressed his lips together and said nothing.

—If you don’t want to be hated, then make an effort like that man and change my mind. Can’t you do that? Then shut up and have the decency to quietly take my revenge.

Giselle even went as far as to say that this was just an opportunity for retribution, a chance to pay him back for what she had received. He seemed discouraged, but as expected, he wasn’t the type to give up easily.