My Beloved, Whom I Desire to Kill - 257

Edwin stopped in his tracks as he was about to point to a pendant that was the same color as Giselle’s eyes. The back of his neck instantly flushed. He wiped his hand across his face, which was full of undisguised embarrassment, and let out a faint groan.

—Hit me, but control your strength. You’ll kill me if you hit me too hard.

—If you die from this, it’ll be suicide.

—……..

The eloquent man, who had been parrying Giselle’s every attack with wit and confidence, was now completely speechless. Giselle finally felt a sense of relief, as if a weight had been lifted from her chest. She laughed to herself and enjoyed looking at the jewelry in place of the man who couldn’t bring himself to smile. The manager returned with two small, unfamiliar boxes in his hands.

—You asked me last time if we had any earrings with the same pearls as that necklace.

He had a sharp eye to notice that the necklace around Giselle’s neck was from this store, even in the midst of their greeting.

—As it happens, we recently received two pearls of the same tone. They are a highly sought-after type of pearl, but I have kept them hidden from everyone just for Your Grace.

The manager exuded the aura of an experienced salesman and opened the boxes to reveal two round pearls the size of chickpeas, showing off their luxurious luster.

—I had them made in the same style as the necklace.

The gold settings holding the pearls and the arrangement of the diamonds were exactly the same as the necklace’s clasp. Giselle, pushed by the enthusiasm of the two men, tried them on.

—Seeing them on your elegant figure, my lady, I’m glad I saved them. What do you two think?

They’re pretty and they match the necklace, but aren’t they too big?

She hesitated while looking in the mirror, when a large hand came and cupped her cheek, brushing her hair aside and toying with the pearl hanging from the end of her earlobe. Her cheeks instantly flushed. It wasn’t because of the touch to her earlobe, but because the emotion shining in his blue eyes was so intense. It was nothing but love.

—I think they’re beautiful, but what about you?

—I like them.

Giselle answered as if she were under a spell. She liked the look in his eyes more than the earrings.

The manager told her to wear them as she was, put the earrings she had taken off back in the box, and handed her another box.

—The item you ordered is here.

There’s more? No, it might not be for me. Edwin opened the box in front of Giselle, who was standing still.

…A necklace?

A green pendant hung from a chain. The green stone, enclosed in a gold setting of the same color as the chain, looked like an emerald. The four pieces were crafted into a heart shape, their ends meeting to form a very ornate four-leaf clover.

Edwin looked at it with a faint smile, then gently lifted it. Letters engraved on the side of the setting caught her eye.

Edwin.

Giselle was sure that this was a gift he had ordered for her.

When Edwin nodded, as if to say there was nothing wrong with the necklace, the quick-witted manager backed away, giving them some time to themselves. Edwin put the necklace around Giselle’s neck from behind and explained its meaning.

—No matter what kind of relationship we have, you will always be my good luck charm. I hope I can be your good luck charm, too.

Giselle stared blankly at the four-leaf clover shimmering on her chest, then turned around and hugged him as soon as he let go.

—You’ve always been my good luck charm.

It was a truth that would remain unchanged in any future.

She had resolved to ask for every single thing that caught her eye, but after that, no other piece of jewelry came into her sight.

When they got the checked watch back, Edwin put it on Giselle’s wrist himself. An identical watch peeked out from the cuff of his own sleeve. The misunderstanding that Giselle had been ashamed of when she first received the gift had, after a long time, become the truth.

Tick-tock.

The two watches ran in unison, keeping pace. It was a signal that the two had become a couple who shared time together again.

But sharing time didn’t mean they had to share all 24 hours.

That day, they came out of the jewelry store, continued to help the economy with more shopping, had dinner at a restaurant with a nice atmosphere, and watched a performance at a jazz bar. As they had one drink after another, they became a little tipsy and went out onto the floor to dance a slow dance. It was only when she dozed off while leaning on Edwin’s shoulder that Giselle finally came to her senses.

When they returned to her house after picking up Rody at the Eccleston manor, it was well past 11 p.m. There were only three steps left to the front door, but Edwin didn’t see her the rest of the way. He stopped in the yard, looked around, and started offering random unsolicited advice.

Are you going to plant flowers here, too? The gate on the fence is squeaking, you need to oil it. The mailbox needs a new coat of paint.

He kept finding things to fix in the dead of night when he could barely see his own feet, and then finally…

—Don’t you want to have a cigarette before you go to bed?

He was even suggesting she do something he didn’t even like.

—Stop trying to find excuses not to leave.

—That’s harsh, isn’t it? Do you want me to just leave?

—No. Because after midnight, the noble Duke disappears and a rude libertine appears.

Giselle scared the disappointed man and sent him on his way.

I don’t want to leave. We used to live together. I shouldn’t have given you back your house. Why did I do that? Oh, are you looking for a lodger, by any chance?

The complaints he made as he left were so ridiculous that Giselle couldn’t stop laughing even after she got inside the house.

He’s really not Ajussi I used to know.

She had thought that since he was generous with his affection when he was her guardian, he wouldn’t be much different as a man, but he had changed into a completely different person, like night and day.

I was always the one begging to play more. But he would always gently but firmly soothe Giselle and send her to her room, saying that he had things to do or that they each needed their own time.

It’s the other way around now. Is this how he is with every woman?

Giselle retraced her steps back to the old days. She remembered it vividly because whenever Ajussi went to meet a woman, she would wait for him endlessly, holding a sadness that she couldn’t show anyone. If he met them during the day, he would return before dinner and eat with Giselle; if he met them in the evening, he would never be out past nine o’clock.

He’s only like this with me.

The meaning of the smile that refused to leave Giselle’s face changed. The faint warmth remaining in the hand he was so reluctant to let go of seeped into her heart. Her heart was about to burst with emotion and flutter, all thanks to a simple dream from her childhood coming true.

He wants to see me and doesn’t want to leave because it’s me.

After falling in love for the first time, all Giselle had ever wanted from him was this. She knew that Edwin wanted more than this, but Giselle had no intention of rushing. People tend to get lazy when their bellies are full.

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It was Dawson’s turn for the secretary’s office duty on Sunday at the Duke Eccleston’s residence.

He accompanied the Duke if he had a Sunday schedule, but lately, the Duke’s only outings were dates he didn’t take anyone on. So, it was supposed to be a day of just hanging around the office and answering the occasional phone call, but today, he was called up to the second floor, the Duke’s private quarters, and was given a bizarre task.

It was a simple job of just sitting and watching the Duke’s new hobby, but the more he watched, the more his mind felt like it was going blank.

A new hobby, knitting?

The man who had once been called the «executioner» for his cold and daring command of an assassination squad was holding a pair of needles that would usually only be found in the hands of grandmothers knitting Christmas presents for their grandchildren, and his hands were moving without rest.

It really doesn’t suit him. Am I dreaming right now?

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. If he told his old comrades from the Talon Battalion, no one would believe him, and Dawson would clearly be called a liar.

—Um… Your Grace.

The handsome, dignified man raised one eyebrow without taking his eyes off the needles and yarn.

—Did you always know how to do this?

—No, I learned from Mrs. Wheeler a little while ago.

As expected, the Duke’s family wouldn’t teach their son something like knitting. In this completely absurd situation, this at least made sense.

Dawson stared blankly at the thing hanging between the needles. By its size and color, it was for a woman. He didn’t have to ask why he had learned to knit from a maid; he already knew.

The lady’s taste is a bit unique.

He was a man who could buy her the best socks in the country, no, in the world, enough for her to wear for a lifetime if she asked, but she was making the Duke knit them himself… Ah.

Dawson understood.

The socks the Duke Eccleston had knitted for his lover were the rarest socks in the world.

Now Dawson wanted those socks himself. If he didn’t wear them, kept them safe in a safe, and then put them up for auction when his family’s fortunes declined, he could get a price worthy of a celebrity’s secret love letter.

Well, if the Duke was putting so much effort into something so trivial, that woman’s family’s fortunes would never decline.

Thus, Dawson, who knew everything, pretended not to know and asked.

—Are you knitting these as a gift for the person you’re seeing?

He wanted to find out who the woman was.