Seeking for Your Forgiveness

atmosphere.

 

She stared silently at Maxim.
When he noticed Marianne’s gaze, he glared back.
He pushed out his torso as if threatening her, putting up an attitude that was ready to attack at any moment.

 

Nevertheless, Marianne didn’t back down a bit.
Marianne’s smile was firm, and Maxim’s anger was at stake.
Maxim let out a low groan and hit the desk.

 

Bang!

 

“Sh*t, just do whatever you want!”

 

Unable to contain his anger any longer, he ran out of the office.
The winner of this silent battle was definitely Marianne.

 

Oh, my.
Now that she survived, she had to thank Kristoff.

 

Marianne drew her attention to the other three alternately, flashing a smile by pulling the corners of her mouth.
A sweet, yet determined voice came out of her lips.

 

“Nice to meet you, I’m Marianne Haveck.
Please feel free to call me Marianne.”

 

She threw her eyes at the two men alternately.
She acted elegantly as she waited for their responses.

 

At that moment, Nicholas noticed that she wasn’t as timid as she looked.
The two men also opened their eyes wide in surprise.

 

The pale-looking man pursed his lips and turned away, while the man wearing the suspenders wondered what to do with a puzzled look on his face.

 

“Hm.”

 

Nicholas, who seemed lost in his thoughts for a moment, pointed to the mountain of piled-up documents on the desk.

 

“All right, Marianne.
You have to organize those reports by case and by time in commemoration of becoming our colleague.”

 

That’s outrageous!

 

Marianne, who was looking at a pile of documents as if she was about to faint, managed to swallow the scream on the tip of her throat.

 

Then, she nodded in a relaxed manner.
Showing an expression as if it was a piece of cake.

 

“……Yes, Inspector Nicholas.”

 

To add a little lie, the document was as tall as her body.
The pale-faced man grinned, and the man wearing suspenders showed a worried look.

 

Marianne walked bravely to the desk with her fists clenched.
It wasn’t yet the time to blow Nicholas’ head off.
The opportunity would come at any time.

 

***

 

Martin hated this moment, which has been repeated for days.
The old butler honestly felt that he wanted to avoid this if he could.

 

Swallowing nervously, he knocked on the door to the office.
Then he was granted permission to come in.
Martin took another deep breath before entering the room.

 

“……”

 

It couldn’t have been possible, but it seemed that winter only came back in there.
Outside the window, the gentle spring sunshine and the bird’s songs could be heard, and a dreary northern wind blew in the office.

 

Kristoff, who was sitting at the desk, slowly lifted his eyes.
However, Martin could read the nervousness and impatience reflected in it.

 

It was quite a refreshing sight.
His owner never showed his feelings, and even Martin couldn’t read his innermost feelings most of the times despite serving him since he was young.

 

“What happened?”

 

Kristoff, who couldn’t wait even a bit for Martin to walk to the desk, asked angrily.
It was also an unfamiliar sight.

 

Is the man in front of him really the self-restrained Kristoff?

 

It wasn’t until Lady Schneider disappeared that Martin realized she meant something to him.

 

In particular, when Kristoff, who was known to be a workaholic, said he would no longer take on any cases, Martin was flabbergasted.

 

“I’m ashamed.”

 

Martin lowered his head with a sorrowful look on his face.
Ha, Kristoff looked up at the ceiling and burst into laughter.
His pupil hardened coldly.

 

Martin continued quietly while looking at his master’s gaunt side that has lasted for days.

 

“None of the taxi drivers picked up Madam in front of the department store.
We have to extend the search through the coachmen, but it’ll take some time.
There are so many more carriages compared to taxi drivers.”

 

“Marianne disappeared, and no one saw her? She must have risen to the sky or fallen to the ground.
Is she a magician?”

 

Kristoff spoke sarcastically with a cold voice.
Martin, who had no come back, dropped his gaze as if he had nothing more to say.

 

Kristoff involuntarily gripped his armrest.
The amount of strength applied was unimaginable, his joints protruded out, and the bones on the back of his white hand even stood out.

 

“Marianne.”

 

Kristoff recited her name.
As it has been many times.

 

His eyes turned to the divorce papers on the side of the desk.
At the same time, Kristoff’s eyes shone as sharp as a razor.

 

Marianne’s escape wasn’t an accident at all.
She planned it more carefully than anyone else, and finally succeeded.

 

In other words, she greeted him as usual and talked, while thinking of running away.

 

Even at that moment Kristoff believed in her love.

 

His grip on the armrest became stronger.
At a single glance, his eyes seemed shakened.

 

“Why?”

 

Kristoff repeated the question that never left his mind at all these days.
However, he didn’t figure out the answer again this time.

 

Veronica Kloze.

 

The name of his sister-in-law suddenly came to his mind.
He also remembered Marianne’s face when she persuaded him that her sister’s death was never a suicide.

 

At that time, what did he say again?

 

He probably had a quite annoyed look on his face.
According to the case report he had skimmed through, it was obviously a suicide.

 

―It was obviously a suicide, Marianne.

―No, Kristoff.
Veronica, she’s……

―You don’t know anything about the investigation.
It was undoubtedly an incident.

 

Now, he remembered what kind of expression Marianne had back then.
The expression slowly disappeared from her face and sorrow was faintly reflected on her face, deep despair and resignation sank on it.

 

Kristoff bit his bottom lip hard.
His jaw stiffened.
The muscles were tense.

 

At that moment, a bouquet of flowers on the desk caught his eyes.
It was a bunch of arranged snapdragon flowers.

 

Pride.

 

“Sigh.”

 

Only then did he figure out the meaning of her message.