My Beloved, Whom I Desire to Kill - 258

Ring-ring.

But unfortunately, the phone rang right at that moment, and Dawson was unable to achieve his goal. The Duke handed the knitting, along with the ball of yarn, over to Dawson and went to answer the phone.

—Don’t let anyone touch it.

The dog, who had been lying at the Duke’s feet, eyeing the yarn the whole time, quickly ran over to him. Dawson got up and quickly placed it on a high shelf.

Dawson’s mission today was to be the staunch protector of the knitting.

He wasn’t just told to protect it from the dog. He had been told to protect it from the Duke’s other personality as well, since he had to snatch it back if that personality tried to do anything strange to the socks when the Duke wasn’t there.

He didn’t know if the monster hated the woman or the Duke, but it seemed like he was trying to sabotage the relationship. It was a strange love triangle involving three people.

Did that woman know that the man she was seeing had an evil personality? Given the Duke’s character, he probably hadn’t hidden it. What would it feel like to be with one man who was also two different men?

He would never dare to ask if he met her, but meeting her was his biggest wish these days.

Since the Duke had judged her to be a woman who could handle a relationship with three people, she must not be an ordinary person.

The man, who had never shown any interest in women before, was now completely smitten, doing things he had never done before, which made not only Dawson but everyone curious to the point where they couldn’t focus on their work. However, no one in the Duke’s secretary’s office had seen the Duke’s lover yet. He was shocked when Mr. Royce told him she seemed to be a female soldier.

How did a man who treated his subordinates equally, regardless of gender, fall for one of his subordinates?

He had tried to call Major Hawkins, his former superior who was still working under him, to get some information, but he was just cussed out.

Whine. Whimper…

Dawson looked down at the dog whining as it stood on its hind legs, reaching for the socks on the bookshelf, when he suddenly realized something.

Now that I think about it, this guy’s owner also works in the military, right? Since they sometimes commute with the Duke, they must work at the same place.

Then would Miss Bishop know?

But he would never dare to ask her who the Duke’s lover was.

…Wait a minute. Could it be that Miss Bishop is the lover?

It was a truly absurd delusion. Even during the period when their relationship was strained, the Duke loved Miss Bishop enough to send him to check on her safety, but there was no doubt that it wasn’t a man’s love. It had been like that for years, so was there any reason for it to change now?

Still, I hope it’s Miss Bishop.

The person who had suffered the most from the Duke’s illness was himself, but to put it coldly, suffering was the patient’s lot. Why did the young woman who had no share of his suffering have to suffer? Dawson wanted Miss Bishop to be compensated for all that pain.

But maybe she doesn’t want love now. If so, then so be it. If she had moved on from the past without any regrets, it was a good thing for Miss Bishop.

This was, to be honest, a selfish wish for himself, who had to watch her pain up close. Dawson had once devoted himself to Edwin Eccleston, even putting his life on the line, not because of his brilliant mind, but because of his unwavering loyalty and sense of responsibility to never abandon his people.

If that man had forgotten his sense of debt to the young woman whose body and mind had been hurt because of his mistakes and had fallen for another woman, Dawson would feel a sense of betrayal. He didn’t want to be disappointed in the superior he respected.

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—Sorry. I was waiting for a call. I’ll call you back tomorrow evening. Okay.

He had picked up the phone thinking it was Giselle, but it wasn’t. He ended the call in a hurry, but the ungrateful phone never rang again no matter how long he waited.

Is she so busy she can’t even make one phone call?

He didn’t think it was that big of a deal. At this point, Edwin wasn’t just hurt; he was worried about Giselle.

However, it was Edwin’s principle not to interfere with things that his subordinates could handle themselves. If he stepped in now, he would be seen as a man who couldn’t separate his personal and professional lives.

But since when have I been a person who kept the line between my personal and professional life?

Ever since he had raised a child on a military base, that line was long gone. Edwin finally picked up the receiver. Instead of dialing as usual, he connected to the operator.

—Please connect me to the front desk of the Rose and Crown Hotel in Witcliff.

A moment later, a hotel employee answered and asked for his business.

‘Please find Giselle Bishop and transfer the call’

His mouth was instantly shut from the first words. Is it really a wise thing to do to have her name ring out in the hotel lobby when she’s on a mission in plainclothes for security reasons? After a brief moment of thought, Edwin changed his request.

—Please find the mother of Loddy and transfer the call.

A moment later, an angry voice questioned Edwin.

-Are you calling a woman who’s not even married a mother?

—Then I’ll just make her a married woman, won’t I?

A clear laugh, like summer sunlight, erupted from the other end of the phone. But it quickly died down, and a gloomy, shaded voice flowed out weakly.

-I’m still waiting.

The person Giselle had been waiting for all day was Pauline Martin, the daughter of a diplomat from a third country who, unable to resist Konstanz’s threats, had infiltrated Mercia as a spy but had immediately turned herself in and become a double agent.

In exchange for her cooperation with Mercia, Martin constantly demanded things. A visa for her lovers was, in Edwin’s opinion, at least reasonable.

However, he hadn’t agreed to her demands for a driver or a bodyguard, a lease for a townhouse in the wealthy Richmond neighborhood, and a monthly allowance equivalent to a middle-class breadwinner’s annual income—in other words, a guarantee of a life in the highest echelons of society.

If a woman whose father wasn’t the ambassador to Mercia and who didn’t have a husband or a lover from the highest echelons of society suddenly became rich, Konstanz would be suspicious and would realize that she had defected.

She had enough connections and name recognition to have been targeted as a spy by Konstanz, so he judged that she would have no problem supporting herself. The principle was that double agents would only receive a small amount of assistance in emergencies and would handle their own livelihoods.

Martine couldn’t give up her ambition to profit from her position as a double agent and continued to make unreasonable demands. She finally resorted to blackmail and then, a few days ago, disappeared after leaving a note saying she was returning to her home country.

Room 303 was in an uproar over the incident. The woman could leave the country and hand over domestic Mercian intelligence or the identity of the Army Intelligence Corps to Konstanz. If the enemy started to suspect that most of their spies were double agents for Mercia, the foundation of the double agent operation would be shaken.

However, to Edwin’s eyes, it was just an extension of her blackmail. Since she had connections but no money, it was obvious that she was hiding with her relatives. His guess was correct; Martine was found in a hotel in a city completely opposite to her home country.

That was this Sunday morning, the day Edwin had a date with Giselle.

As expected, the thief had stolen all of Edwin’s planned dates from yesterday. He was disgusted, but he tried to think of it as a good thing. That way, he could spend an intimate day with Giselle at home.

With that thought, he had waited for the time Giselle said was okay, but Giselle had come to his house first in the morning.

—They found Martine last night.

—And?

The agents who went to Witcliff knocked on the hotel room door, but she wouldn’t open it or respond. It was a situation where they could have forced the door open and arrested her, but if that became known, her life as a double agent would be over. So they had tried to coax and persuade her, but she still wouldn’t come out.

This wasn’t the kind of situation Edwin was curious about.

—You’re not in charge of that.

Everyone had to be involved in finding a missing spy, but once she was found, a small number of people in charge was enough.

—Martine said she might need a female agent she didn’t know, so they asked me to come.

That was why she had come to drop off the dog. The only joy in his life that he had been waiting for for over a week had disappeared in an instant. He was so devastated that he even said this, even though he was the one in charge of the mission.

—Why do you choose work over me?

—I’m just following the example of the uncle who chose work over me when I was thirteen.

—We’re alike, after all. I guess that’s why we love each other.

He was called a thief for stealing his own words, but since Giselle laughed, he didn’t care.

—But this isn’t a matter of choice. I don’t have a reason not to go.

—…

—A date is not a justifiable reason, Director.

He knew. But these days, he couldn’t quite find his way between what he knew and what he wanted. He followed his reason and drove Giselle to the central station, but he couldn’t shake his disappointment.

—Giselle, it’s not a mission where you’re absolutely needed. This time is unavoidable, but next time, why don’t you make up an excuse like other people?

—What kind of excuse can I make? Other people can lie and say a family member is sick.

—Why can’t you? You can say I’m sick.

Giselle let out a careless burst of laughter at his words, which he had blurted out because he was choked up by her implication that she didn’t have a family.