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LOS 49
Why did he come to see me? Despite knowing I shouldn't, I couldn't hide my flustered state. Above all, I had a habit of freezing up whenever I encountered a soldier other than Giles. Once, I had been in a position where I had to avoid them at all costs.
I waited for him to speak first, but Vincent simply stared at me in silence. I had no idea why he had come here or what he wanted from me. I couldn't read his eyes.
What on earth does he want?
I was terrified. I was trapped in a room with him.
Finally, he spoke in a slow drawl.
“Please, continue.”
Vincent used the tone of a polite gentleman, but he was a man who could never truly be one. I could feel it. Cutting one's hair neatly and wearing a high-end suit does not change one's essence.
He was a man who enjoyed gripping people with fear. I could tell just by the way he was treating me now. If there were such a thing as a state-sanctioned murderer, it would be him.
“Was I disturbing you?”
“How did you find this place?”
“The station officials told me. There is nothing I cannot find out. As you know...”
“Because you're a revolutionary hero who saved the country.”
I wasn't sure if that was the answer he wanted, but at the very least, Vincent smiled.
“Hearing those words from your voice brings back a flood of emotions.”
Vincent strode toward me. I had to barely suppress the impulse to grab my things and run away immediately.
It wasn't just because he was the one who had forced a kiss on me. The man himself terrified me. He was wearing a Revolutionary Army uniform, and also...
“Anna.”
...because he was a man who naturally accepted the fact that someone was terrified because of him.
Vincent called my name, but I couldn't look at him.
“Anna?”
This time, he urged me with an even softer voice. That voice sounded eerily chilling, so I lifted my head and met his eyes. Grey pupils were watching me. It was exactly the same as before. Even when we danced at the banquet, he had looked at me with that same gaze.
Soon, his eyes narrowed with a hint of a smile.
“Don't tremble. I've already forgiven you for last time.”
“Forgiven?”
“The fact that you hit me.”
“You forced a kiss on me! Without my permission!”
“That is why I've forgiven you. You settled the rudeness I committed on your own.”
“What is it you want to say to me?”
I gave up on trying to have a proper conversation and asked.
“I'm asking why you came to see me.”
“Because I wanted to see you.”
“That's why I'm asking for the reason.”
“Must there always be a reason?”
He had a talent for driving people crazy. I swallowed the words I truly wanted to say and asked again, stubbornly.
“Then why did you want to see me?”
“Didn't I tell you last time? That I like you.”
“I'm seeing Giles.”
“Well, that might not be the case in a while.”
“What are you talking about?”
I was starting to get angry. I realized it now. Vincent wasn't trying to win my heart. If he were, he wouldn't have approached me like this. He wanted me, but he was the type who didn't believe a relationship required the other person to reciprocate their feelings.
In short, he was unilateral. To him, I was nothing more and nothing less than an object of desire.
“Do you really not know? What it means for me to like you.”
He was getting closer and closer. There was no more room for me to retreat.
If so, my only option now was to fight back.
“Do you want to hear my honest feelings?”
Vincent shrugged as if telling me to go ahead if I wanted to.
I snapped back, refusing to be intimidated.
“I hate you. Absolutely.”
“You hate me?”
“I find you loathsome.”
What happened next occurred in an instant. The chair overturned, and I fell straight to the floor. Meanwhile, Vincent pinned me beneath him, his eyes gleaming with an intense light as he blocked out the lighting.
With a face that made it hard to tell if he was smiling or enraged, he loosened his tie.
“Did Hessen say so? That I'm a loathsome piece of trash?”
I pressed my hands against the floor to escape him, but he quickly grabbed my right wrist.
“Let go!”
“People don't usually say things like that to me. That they hate me.”
“I said let go!”
“So, I'm not quite sure how to react when I hear it. I'm not used to it.”
Holding me down, he slowly scanned me from top to bottom as if admiring an object. His gaze sweeping over my body was so disgusting that I chose to close my eyes instead.
“This is difficult. What about you made Hessen change?”
Vincent muttered. He didn't sound sarcastic; he sounded genuinely curious.
“You're beautiful, but not a once-in-a-lifetime beauty that can't be found elsewhere.”
“...Please let me go.”
“If you promise to stay quiet.”
I couldn't promise that. Even now, I had a burning desire to hit his face with all my might and run away. But what other choice did I have? I had to lie. Just as I was about to open my mouth.
“The blonde hair...”
He raised his hand and touched the area around my hair.
The words that followed felt like a hammer blow to my heart.
“Did you dye it?”
In that moment, it occurred to me again that the person I was facing was a Revolutionary Army agent. Foolishly, I had almost forgotten who my opponent was, swept away by emotion. I had created a new identity, but that didn't guarantee I wouldn't be found out for who I truly was.
I hurriedly calmed myself. It's okay. Plenty of women dye their hair blonde. I just dyed it to look pretty. Like everyone else.
But Vincent was far quicker than I thought. He had to be. According to Giles, he was a man whose profession was to dig up truths buried deep within people's minds.
His eyes narrowed.
“You...”
It was then.
Click. A mechanical sound echoed behind Vincent's back. Thanks to him turning his body, I was able to see for myself who had appeared late.
Giles was holding a gun, aiming it at Vincent. At a glance, he looked indifferent, but he was angry. I knew it by his voice.
“What do you think you're doing?”
I could feel the anger simmering beneath his low, sunken voice. It wouldn't have been strange if Vincent were shot dead right then and there, but Vincent merely flashed a defiant smile, making no move to step away from me.
“I expected to see you here, Captain.”
“Back off. Now.”
“I haven't laid a finger on her. Why don't you ask this woman?”
“I told you to back off.”
Giles approached, still aiming at Vincent. Only then did Vincent reluctantly and slowly stand up.
I managed to sit up, but I was too shocked to do anything more. What was he about to say at the end? My nerves were focused entirely on that thought.
He didn't realize it, did he?
Meanwhile, Vincent stood facing Giles with both hands raised. Of course, he didn't seem frightened in the least.
“Tell me why you came here.”
“I came to see Miss Anna. I wanted to reminisce about the past.”
“Why do you keep pestering Anna?”
“You're being harsh. This is the first time I've visited her personally. Aren't you overreacting?”
Facing the muzzle of the gun, he stared intently at Giles with those characteristic snake-like eyes and spoke.
“You aren't usually a man who gets agitated so easily.”
“What did you just say?”
“What made you this way? Tell me. What is the reason this woman is so special?”
I thought Giles might shoot Vincent on the spot. However, he only glared at Vincent for a moment before sliding the pistol back into his waistband and saying,
“Leave without causing a scene.”
Giles passed by Vincent and approached me, who was still half-collapsed. Vincent watched with meaningful eyes as Giles helped me up.
Just as we were about to leave the practice room together, ignoring Vincent, he provoked Giles once more.
“Could you lend her to me for just a week? I'm so curious about her that I can't even sleep.”
“Do you see Anna as an object?”
“Can't one borrow a person?”
“That's enough.”
“Or... is there some fact that needs to be hidden?”
Hearing those words, I tightened my grip on Giles's arm. I had the feeling that he had noticed something. Because of that, I couldn't calm myself down.
Perhaps because of my unnecessary reaction, Giles couldn't just pass by Vincent and responded.
“Are you suggesting you're plotting something against me?”
“I told you, I'm curious.”
Step, step. The sound of his footsteps grew closer. Standing before Giles again, he was now looking at me, not Giles.
“A man who has no interest in anything, shows almost no emotional change, and is visibly exhausted by meeting people. For such a man to suddenly dote on one woman and even get agitated in ways he never has—how could I not be curious?”
He was looking at me. I felt as if I were trapped within his grey pupils. I wanted to look elsewhere, but I couldn't. It felt as if Vincent were looking straight into my mind through my eyes.
“Who is she? This woman.”
Giles, looking at Vincent with disgusted eyes, answered simply.
“A pianist. A musician who swept the Itswin Competition. I simply came to love her. Though, of course, you wouldn't understand that emotion.”
Giles turned and left the practice room, supporting me as if embracing me. Then he added behind his back,
“Read a newspaper, Monagan.”
I kept walking with him without looking back. From the circumstances, it seemed Vincent wasn't following us. We didn't stop walking until we were completely far from the practice room.
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