“Wow, what is all this?”
“Cliff!”
Cliff feigned admiration as he entered the room full of unopened boxes. Lise, who had returned home today with a huge pile of presents, was looking out the window blankly without even thinking about unpacking the packages.
“You look tired.”
“I guess I overworked myself a little without realizing it.”
Sitting in front of Lise, who responded with a weak smile, Cliff examined the pile of presents.
“Doesn’t Killian try hard today to court you?”
“It’s not like that. In Killian’s mind, there’s only Edith, so don’t misunderstand.”
“Okay?”
“Sure! I thought I would just go out alone today. I feel like I’ve bothered Killian for nothing…”
With a tired expression on her face, Lise turned her head again and looked out the window where darkness fell. Cliff hugged Lise from behind and patted the nape of her neck with her lips.
“Lise.”
“Yes, Cliff.”
“Do you care about Killian?”
“I always care about Killian and Cliff. Of course I can’t do anything…”
“You know that’s not the case. I mean, can’t I be the only one for you?”
It was a friendly voice. However, Lise was well aware of the hidden desire for exclusivity and passion that he was trying to suppress so that it would not boil over.
“What do you mean, Cliff? You know very well that I love you.”
“I know. I know…”
Cliff’s golden eyes grew cold like moonlight on a winter night.
“I want you to fully believe in me and only lean on me, Lise.”
“I do.”
“No. Right now, you feel a bit sad about Killian.”
Cliff whispered as he lightly bit Lise’s ear lobe with his lips. Lise shyly shrugged her shoulders, but her expression didn’t change much.
“Sorrow? Why I…”
“I mean Sabina. Aren’t you sad that Killian didn’t care even after hearing about Sabina?”
Cliff suddenly brought up the word about the maid, who had recently been telling the maids around her that Edith had tried to kill Lise.
“Sabina, she said, she must have seen it. She saw with her own two eyes that Edith was poisoning the thread of embroidery that she was giving to Lady Lise.”
“Why did you just say that now?”
“That’s it, I don’t know. The child suddenly disappeared…”
The maid who had come to report Sabina’s whereabouts wheezed that Edith must have been involved in her disappearance. But before she became suspicious of Edith, Sabina’s behavior was strange. She kept her mouth shut when she searched inside and outside her mansion to find her culprit, but she completely buried the incident and now she’s talking about it. Besides, when and where did she see it, how did Edith know that what she was wearing was poison, or no, how did she know that the thing Edith was applying was an embroidery thread meant for Lise?
“I really don’t understand the maid’s story. Why did she suddenly appear now…”
It was Lise, pretending to tell Killian the story about Sabina, but in fact, it was almost impossible for Lise to do something without Cliff’s knowledge.
“It’s not certain yet. Now she’s investigating the maids around Sabina who heard about it…”
Cliff hugged the confused Lise a little tighter.
“Cliff, I’m really fine. It’s something I’ve already covered. Of course she will have to find the maid, but she doesn’t want to break Killian’s heart by accusing Edith of being the culprit.”
Cliff thought that Lise was heartbroken over Killian. It wasn’t a very pleasant feeling to see that Lise had little lingering feelings for Killian, but it would be more than a pleasure to be able to take her heart off of him through this process.
“By the way, what did Cliff do today?”
Lise asked as if changing the topic.
“Did you ever wonder what I did today?”
“Sure. Even when I left, I always thought of you. I would have been better off going out with you.”
“Of course. Am I the same as a married man who is threatened indifferently by his wife?”
Lise laughed and shook her shoulders. Cliff kissed her on the shoulder and said.
“I drank tea with my sister-in-law who came in early.”
“With Edith?”
Lise looked back in surprise. However, Cliff continued to press his smiling lips onto Lise’s shoulder and whispered.
“In the hope that my younger brother and his wife will be happy, I gave her a few ways to win Killian’s favor…”
“So what?”
“Well. Whether or not to try, that is something I do not know.”
Because it was completely dark outside, Lise and Cliff were reflected in the window. There were shadows on their faces, but their eyes shone brightly, reflecting the candlelight.
“What did you tell her?”
“That Killian likes to go yachting on the lake. I told her that he also likes to look at art, but I think she’s already tried that.”
“A yacht on the lake…”
While Lise was pondering his words, Cliff quietly added again.
“Lise, I am the one who exists only for you. Whatever you desire, I will give you.”
Lise looked at Cliff at the meaningful tone. He was still wearing a twinkling smile. Lise looked into his eyes and said.
“Really… for me?”
“Of course. I will always adore you, my spring goddess.”
Cliff raised Lise’s hand and kissed the back of her hand. Lise did not avoid Cliff’s gaze as he persistently looked at her.
“I love you, Cliff. Please look at me too.”
“More than this? Then it would be a bit dangerous…”
Cliff, who was smiling mischievously, kissed Lise slowly. It was a kiss with unknown passion and meaning.
* * *
Killian even bought her a present, which gave her a little more courage. It was a very important change that he thought of her not only when he could see her, but also when he couldn’t see her.
‘Okay. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with following Cliff’s advice.’
Killian was trying to find out what she liked, so she felt like she would have to go to the trouble of doing what he liked too. She cautiously opened her mouth to Killian, who was eating with her, and said.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t even been to Lake Everton this summer.”
“Okay. I couldn’t go this year either.”
“I also wanted to try boating on the lake…”
As soon as she threw the bait, Killian’s eyes flashed. But basically, Killian, who tended to be a tsundere, never got over it easily from the beginning.
“You said you never went to see an opera, have you ever played on a boat?”
“Yes. I think I’ve done that a few times.”
She answered while going through Edith’s vague memories. She seemed to have boated a few times with the men she wooed, and they always tampered with Edith’s thin ankles after driving the boat to a secluded spot. Each time, after replying coquettishly, ‘I don’t like being on a boat because it’s scary,’ she took the necessary information from him and returned to the dock. To the dismay of those expecting a hot night, Edith was immediately captured by the Rigelhof family knights and forced to return to her house.
As she recalled those memories, Killian’s gaze grew cold.
“Well, it’s a popular game for lovers. Even though it’s small, only the two of us can be left in a confined space.”
‘Ooh, are you jealous again? No, thank you for being jealous, but how do I get rid of this?’
She would have to move the topic to the yacht soon.
“It’s not just for lovers. Who doesn’t like to float a boat on the lake on a nice day? Of course, the small boat was a bit scary, but…”
“Small boats with oars are dangerous. It is likely to lead to an accident. Accidents of drowning in the lake happen every year.”
“That’s right. So I was always nervous.”
As the topic of conversation gradually began to lead to ‘ship’, Killian’s expression became strangely confident.
“I have a yacht, so I have never had an accident like that before.”
“A yacht? You have a yacht?”
It seemed that Cliff wasn’t lying when he said that Killian liked yachts. Killian’s eyes twinkled and he explained the specifications of his yacht. When, where, and who made it, how high-quality materials were used, how meticulously it was finished, who rode it and what praise it received. It was a feast for pretending to be proud, but after hearing the story, she started to get excited a little bit.
“And… If it’s a yacht like that, I really want to try it.”
“What… then… Would you like to go for a ride?”
“Uh? Really?”
Killian pretended to be bothered, but he immediately suggested that they go on a yacht. She did her best to show that she was very happy, and Killian gave the order to the yacht manager by having a servant with a very satisfied expression.
“I’m going to ride tomorrow, so tell them to make sure there are no deficiencies in the maintenance of the yacht.”
“Yes, I understand.”
The servant quickly ran to the yacht manager with a quick attitude. At first, it started to win Killian’s favor, but as the work progressed, her heart pounded. She had never even been on a yacht, let alone a cruise on the Han River, in her previous life. She thought she would ride a boat across the Jordan River when she died, but she never thought she would ride a yacht here.
How do you feel?
