My Beloved, Whom I Desire to Kill - 260

Has he decided that she isn’t the type of person who can be handled with a gentle conversation? Giselle remained outwardly stoic, but inwardly, she clicked her tongue in admiration. To treat an ambassador’s daughter so brazenly like a spoiled brat, one must indeed be on the level of an Eccleston. As a child, she was ignorant and simply adored her strongest ‘Ajussi’, but now, as an adult clashing with society, she feels a pang of envy, wishing that power were hers.

—What did you just say?

Martine, who had received an utterly ungentlemanly treatment from the gentlemanly-looking man, couldn’t hide her shock. Her face twisted into a scowl as she revealed her true nature.

—I will tell my father about your insolent behavior.

She threatened him, implying it would escalate into an international diplomatic incident and that he was now in big trouble. But telling on someone to her daddy is a child’s tantrum, so it was only natural that she would be treated like one. The director, on Giselle’s behalf, let out the snort she had been holding back.

—What are you going to tell him? That I’m a spy in another country, and some unknown military commander told me to stop throwing a tantrum?

Only then did the woman realize how ridiculous her words were. Her face flushed a mottled red and blue.

—I won’t stop you from exercising your freedom of expression to tattle. However, please remember that this is an act equivalent to leaking state secrets and you will lose your personal freedom.

He delivered the grave warning with a gentle smile. Giselle, who had seen countless times what happens when that smile disappears, swallowed hard.

—Miss Martine, you seem to have forgotten your place. It appears we have given you too much freedom. Let me remind you again. You are a criminal punishable for espionage, and therefore, we can imprison you at any time.

Perhaps thinking this was a trap to arrest her, Martine jumped up and headed for the door. Giselle quickly got up as well. She moved ahead to block the doorway, and the woman’s eyes went wide as she commanded through gritted teeth, —Get out of my way.

—The conversation isn’t over yet. Please sit back down.

When Giselle repeated the same words dryly and didn’t move, the woman raised her hand. It was clear she was used to slapping her maids, as there was no hesitation.

She must have forgotten that Giselle was not her maid but a soldier trained in hand-to-hand combat. As Martine’s arm rose to grab Giselle’s wrist, a dangerously low voice cut in, sending a chill down Giselle’s spine.

—The moment you lay a hand on my subordinate, you’ll be dragged out of this hotel lobby like an animal in handcuffs.

The man’s relaxed smile had vanished. Martine immediately lowered her hand at the brutal warning, but her pride was wounded. Her bloodshot eyes glared at Giselle, a harmless subordinate, as if to devour her. Then, she suddenly burst into tears and began to argue with the man in charge, sounding wronged.

—This is different from what you promised! You said you’d pardon my crime in exchange for me becoming a double agent, but you’re all liars!

—That’s the reward for when you act as a double agent. Miss Martine, have you ever fulfilled your promise?

The woman opened her mouth, perhaps to justify her lackluster performance, but the director gave her no chance to spout nonsense.

—You have consistently proven to be a liability rather than an asset. It’s actually more beneficial for my agents and me to just lock up this nuisance that only gives us headaches. I’m already losing a lot by being dragged all the way out here on a weekend when I should be enjoying a date.

Why bring up a date all of a sudden? Giselle looked away, struggling to keep her expression in check.

—Miss Martine, there is a safe house in a remote mountain village far from Richmond, completely cut off from the outside world. It’s where we confine spies who refuse to defect.

—…….

—Until the war is over.

The voice grew even colder, and a shiver ran down Giselle’s spine, as if she had been plunged into freezing water. What must the person facing an indefinite imprisonment be feeling? Martine’s voice began to tremble noticeably.

—I’m different from those worthless people. Do you think you’ll get away with confining me?

Despite her trembling, she had the gall to scream. But to use a diplomatic dispute as her weapon… If she knew that the man in front of her was the same person who, with a single phone call, secured the residency permits for her lovers—something even her high-and-mighty father couldn’t manage—she would never be so certain of her victory.

—Ah, so you want to be deported. Happily.

The director smiled as if he couldn’t be more relieved, and Martine’s face hardened even more. Deportation? Giselle was also taken aback, as it went against protocol for protecting state secrets. But the man, far more experienced in this field, must have thought it through.

—We’ll publicly announce that you were a spy.

—You despicable…

—How is that despicable? Did you cooperate with us? Mercia is simply legally deporting a spy who entered the country to surveil for an enemy nation.

Thus, it was not this country that would lose its honor but the woman herself. She would surely understand the future that awaited her: being ostracized and falling from grace even in her homeland, which she used as a shield.

—I hope Constanz will protect a citizen of another country who has been of no help to them.

The woman, who had never truly been loyal to either side as she weighed her options, turned completely pale. At this point, the director’s voice softened again, but the woman did not relax.

—Miss Martine, if you don’t want to be confined or deported, there is only one option.

Cooperate quietly.

—I’ll give you one last chance. Think carefully until the meal is finished.

Having delivered his warning, the director gestured to the seat next to him.

—Lieutenant, sit down and finish your meal.

Standing by the door, Martine was still frozen, but Giselle sat back down and picked up her cutlery. The other agents who had been holding their breath also resumed their meal at the director’s reassuring gesture.

The woman, who knew she wasn’t in a position to be making demands but had tried to test and take advantage of the Mercian military, finally returned to her seat quietly. However, she was so frozen that she couldn’t eat or even drink water.

Giselle felt like she wanted to click her tongue in disapproval. —Why did she have to provoke him? she thought. —This man is generous, but he can be so cold to those who cross the line.

—Should we get dessert, too?

Of course, Giselle was always the exception.

Her appetite was back, and after neatly finishing dessert, the meal was over. In the end, Martine chose to cooperate and said she would return to Richmond on her own.

They were waiting in the lobby for her maid to bring her luggage down from the room, but the woman didn’t sit in the lounge and headed for the powder room instead. As Martine applied her lipstick, she glanced at Giselle, who was following her as her supervisor, through the mirror and spoke.

—Do you see that face every day?

—Every day,

Giselle thought.

—Even on weekends. She maintained her bored expression and nodded.

—I’m so jealous.

Oh my god. To have been so cruelly rebuffed just moments ago and still be so smitten… Giselle didn’t know whether this woman was just naturally obsessed with men or if the man had a way of making women lose their reason and pride.

—Aren’t you scared?

—You don’t know men, do you? A man that frightening, but so gentle only to his woman—that makes your heart pound, doesn’t it?

—That’s true.

To be empathizing with this woman… The man must really be something else.

—You’re not married, are you?

She knew the answer but asked anyway. Giselle had watched her eyes immediately scan his left hand and then smile triumphantly. It was a relief, yet annoying, that Martine hadn’t noticed the relationship between the youngest female officer and the commanding officer.

—I’m not married, yet,

Giselle added meaningfully.

The woman, who was fixing her makeup, stared at her blankly. Giselle shamelessly lied without a moment’s hesitation.

—He has a long-term fiancée and they’re getting married soon.

—Oh, really?

Martine looked disappointed but soon snorted. —What kind of family is she from?

—That’s information that would reveal my superior’s identity, so I can’t disclose it.

Martine’s eyes widened at the implication that she was a woman whose name everyone would know. It was surprisingly fun to blatantly check another woman. Giselle just realized that.

—She’s much younger, and even for another woman, she’s beautiful and capable, so he’s completely smitten with her. This is just between us, but he dotes on her so much that her personality is a bit…

—…venomous?

—It’s more than venomous. She’s the type of woman who punches men. What do you think she’d do to a woman who gets close to her man? She’s completely insane. Oh, please keep this a secret.

Giselle watched the woman’s mouth hang open and her eyes blink stupidly, holding back the laughter bubbling inside her.

First the Crown Princess, and now some ambassador’s daughter. Why do crazy women keep clinging to Edwin Eccleston?

Of course, the craziest woman of them all was now Giselle Bishop, who wouldn’t let any woman who clung to her man get away with it.