Seeking for Your Forgiveness

br>The brush of his skin on hers for the first time in a while awakened the hair on her skin stiffly and her toes felt tense.

 

The image of Kristoff casually holding her came to mind.
He hugged her with unimaginable warmth that was the opposite of his cold-headed appearance.
It was unlike him, who valued efficiency, to spend a very long time caressing her.

 

The skin that was brushing against each other seemed to recall the warmth of that time.

 

Kristoff looked at her with subdued eyes.
There was a glint of blatant desire in his eyes.

 

He suddenly thought about the last time he touched her.
He was thirsty.
He had an unbearable thirst.
He felt her hot body through the tip of her hand.

 

“Marianne.”

 

His voice was as rough as sandpaper when they slipped out through his lips.

 

“!”

 

Marianne’s shoulders trembled.
She didn’t know if it was fear, tension, or another emotion.
She snatched her hat from him hastily.
Then, she began to walk towards the lighthouse.

 

“……”

 

Kristoff clenched his fist quietly as though regretting the warmth that had slipped away from his fingertips.
After staring at her back for a moment, he followed slowly.

 

He walked along the stretch of embankment with Marianne.
Seagulls flew over them, and angry waves hit the seawall roughly.
However, the silence between them didn’t end.

 

***

 

Marianne was proud to recognize other people’s feelings quite quickly and quite accurately.
It was a survival strategy that she arranged on her own as Lady Schneider when she belatedly became a member of the upper class society.

 

She had already noticed Ian’s attitude was somehow awkward toward her.
The problem was that she didn’t know what it was for or the reason for it.

 

Eventually, she sighed and turned her upper body around while sitting in her chair.
Ian pouted his lower lip.

 

“Ian sunbaenim.”

 

“……Yes.”

 

His response to when she addressed him with the word ‘senior’ felt halfhearted.
He didn’t even call her ‘rookie’ either.
Something must have really happened.

 

“What happened?”

 

“……What? Huh.”

 

And his awkward formal way of talking to her.

 

Marianne stared straight at him.
The basis of her social life is to get people on her side.
No matter how weak or how much power they have, it was better than nothing.

 

There was no reason to sway the count.
At this moment, even if there was only one person who would agree with her opinion, the circumstances could be reversed.
She was certain in saying that, as Lady Schneider, who had been living in isolation for a long time.

 

Marianne stared at him instead of coming up with an answer.
She knew that sometimes silence could be more overwhelming than any sort of reminder.

 

There was a brooding voice.
Sure enough, Ian contemplated when he couldn’t stand the prolonged silence and spoke up.

 

“Rook…… No, Marianne, it’s only been about a week since you joined the National Police Agency…… You caught a jewelry robber and found out that the case that was assumed to be an accident was  actually murder.”

 

Marianne eventually caught up to Ian’s intentions.
He was afraid that his position as the senior would waver.

 

She was an outsider everywhere.
The National Police Agency didn’t welcome Marianne just because she was a woman.
Maxim thought she was shaking the system of the National Police Agency, and Nicholas thought she was incompetent.

 

So was Ian.
He didn’t welcome her as Marianne.
He did welcome her as his junior.
A wry smile drawn across her mouth.

 

It was a familiar feeling to be an outsider who was thrown into a group.
As if a commoner was thrown amongst noble women who have been born as nobles.

 

Swallowing the bitter feeling from within, she still managed to draw up the corners of her mouth.

 

“I was lucky.”

 

“Lucky?”

 

Ian asked back with a doubtful look upon Marianne’s calm reply.

 

“Yes, I’m lucky.
How could I do such a thing being a rookie who doesn’t know anything if it wasn’t because of luck?”

 

“Rookie?”

 

“Of course.
I’m a rookie.
Therefore, please continue to teach me about a lot of things, Ian.”

 

“Of course, Marianne! Trust me!”

 

Shouting loudly with a triumphant look, Ian tilted his upper body toward her and spoke lowly.

 

“But, why don’t I see him today?”

 

“Him?”

 

Marianne, who also lowered her voice along with Ian, whispered with Ian, whose face was above her forehead.
Ian glanced around and swept through their surroundings.

 

“There’s a legal consultant in the National Police Agency who follows you around.
Mr.
Kristoff.
However, do you know what his last name is? Inspector Nicholas and Inspector seem to know him, but regardless of how much I ask, they won’t tell me.
I’m left out here.
They left me out again.”

 

“Oh, I don’t know about that.”

 

Marianne casted her eyes to his chair in the waiting room.
Kristoff couldn’t be seen anywhere, only a few citizens sat on the chairs while waiting for their turn.

 

Did he give up already?

 

“!”

 

Marianne bit her lips out of embarrassment when she realized that she was disappointed.
She decided to get him off her mind, but she was worried that Kristoff might have given up on this.
There was a contradiction in that.

 

“By the way, Marianne.”

 

“Yes, Ian Sunbae.”

 

“What’s your relationship with him?”

 

“What relationship are you talking about?”

 

Marianne acted innocent.
However, Ian looked at her thoughtfully, his eyes squinted as they focused on her.

 

“When I saw you two that day, I didn’t think you were in a normal relationship.
Don’t you remember it? Marianne……”

 

Ian, who had been talking the entire time, stopped quietly.
Kristoff’s warning slipped through his mind, telling him to keep his mouth shut about that day.

 

Although his voice was soft, his gaze was cold.
It was instantly enough to make his heart shrink.