I Just Needed Someone to Hate - Episode 7.3

“Why are you clinging to those outdated formalities of not calling before afternoon tea, while rolling around with the Prime Minister’s son, leaving your perfectly good fiancé in the dust? Anyway, darling, if things get too rough, why don’t you come stay at my place? I wouldn’t mind. Mother’s worried about you a lot, too.”

Cynthia moved her fountain pen over the notepad in her hand.

Time and date.

“The councilman’s doctor has arrived. …This way, please.”

At the voice from behind the door, Cynthia’s soft hand covered the mouthpiece of the phone. The notepad, with the fountain pen clipped in between, was already neatly placed next to the phone.

As the room fell silent again, Cynthia’s eyes narrowed.

She turned back and gripped the edge of the console where the phone sat. The wood protruding underneath was already a mess of Cynthia’s fingernail marks.

“You can’t rely on that agent’s house forever. I’ll help you. My father said he can pay off your mother’s friend’s family’s debt.”

Cynthia guessed why Vivianne Mergoville had followed the unfamiliar agent in that short amount of time.

“You can pay it back slowly, can’t you? Don’t you want to marry a man you love?”

The moment her father returned to the mansion at dawn, it became clear. Ludwig Rex was more than just a rumored scoundrel or womanizer. He was a dog bastard in human skin.

It was unfair and infuriating that her father had been beaten, but unlike them, who couldn’t even rely on imperial law, the Rex family supposedly had underworld forces backing them. Judging by the signs, the Mergoville family seemed to have realized the true nature of the Rex family faster, which was strange.

Why did they let the situation escalate to a catastrophe instead of choosing the moderate option of breaking off the engagement?

Among the many possible reasons, the most likely was still money.

It was clear that they hadn’t broken off the engagement because they couldn’t.

So, that agent wouldn’t be Vivianne’s lover or anything like that. He would have been a lifeline to grab, even knowing it was a trap.

Ludwig Rex.

If that beast wanted this young lady, Cynthia could throw Vivianne into its jaws a hundred, a thousand times.

Whether Vivianne got beaten to death like that cabaret singer, that man’s mistress, or whatever.

If she could build up credit for bringing Vivianne to him, wouldn’t Ludwig Rex be more merciful to her father, or even to her?

-Cynthia, I…

Say you’ll come.

Like you have any choice.

Are you the only one who’s pitiful?

-Is this Lady Eastwell?

It was the agent in question. Cynthia gritted her teeth.

-I’m sorry, but I made a deal with Miss Mergoville first, so I can’t allow that.

“You’re an intelligence agent, aren’t you?”

-Yes. And as you saw last time, protecting the young lady is part of the contract.

There was a soft grumbling behind her, as if the phone had been snatched away.

The person on the other end of the line quickly changed.

-I’ll go.

Yeah, no matter how impressive you pretend to be, you’re just another pathetic type struggling for money.

“When? I need to know the date and time so I can.”

Before Cynthia could finish her sentence, the call was abruptly cut off.

What a personality. He thinks he’s still some aristocrat from 300 years ago. Cynthia glared at the receiver, slammed it down, and turned around. She sat down at the tea table and rang a small bell, and a maid standing at a distance approached and bowed her head towards her.

“Tell Donnell to prepare to go to the bank around three this afternoon.”

“Yes, Miss Cynthia.”

Cynthia planned to have all the money corresponding to her debt prepared in cash.

She said she would give it, but she didn’t say how she would deliver it, so what Cynthia would soon see would be a spectacle that compensated for her own sorrow.

❖ ❖ ❖

Edmund confirmed that Vivianne was safely asleep in the villa, then went out again, finished the work he hadn’t been able to complete all night, and returned. It was around 6 a.m. when he returned to the villa.

It wasn’t too late to see the expression on Vivianne’s face when she realized he had held her and slept comfortably, or to have a conversation with her as soon as she opened her eyes.

As if she could find warmth even in her deep sleep, Vivianne pulled him closer as soon as he lay down next to her again, burying her face in his chest.

“You’ve become more gentle.”

That was what the organization’s torturer had said about his nature when Edmund said that there were no more bodies to clean up this morning. He had replied that he simply didn’t see the need to spill more blood, but the rare impulse to not want to share the person in his arms even with death was still valid.

At the sound of her regular breathing, Edmund closed his eyes for a moment in the pre-dawn darkness and the warmth of the bed. He missed out on the fun by falling asleep for a little while.

When he opened his eyes, faint light was seeping in, as if dawn had broken, scattering on the bed. The young lady who had woken up was wearing the princess pajamas he had bought her, with mismatched slippers, and was standing in front of the living room phone. Her black hair, almost reaching her waist, was a little disheveled.

Who was the culprit who had thwarted his efforts to return to this old villa early and see her cute appearance?

Judging by the fact that Vivianne was talking about business advice, the person on the phone must be familiar to him as well, and as he leaned his head behind her and eavesdropped on the conversation, he could see the game the other person was trying to play.

He hadn’t intended to offer advice, but he didn’t want to lose this prey, so he played the role of a righteous hero as usual, but it backfired.

“I’ll go.”

The eyes looking at him after hanging up the phone were full of wariness, meaning it wasn’t information he was supposed to know.

Where are you going? Without my permission. He suppressed the words that rose to his throat and said kindly.

“Have you had breakfast? There was some bread left on the table.”

Instinct told him. She was planning to leave this place and not come back.

“No. I’m going home to have tea and snacks in the afternoon. Are you hungry?”

And that instinct was right. He was about to lose his prey for just a few coins. Edmund looked straight into Vivianne’s eyes and replied.

“Yes.”

The feeling, more intense than hunger, had already turned into thirst.

“As you said, I’m hungry.”

He had never lost what was his. He knew that the only reason to release prey trapped in a cage was to shoot it from behind.

“Ludwig Rex is a pretty useful quasi-member. Why would you want to take away a toy that a kid who hasn’t even dried behind the ears is playing with?”

His torturer had advised him not to create any future troubles, but Edmund had no intention of following his advice.

Instead, he set a condition. If Vivianne Mergoville stayed here and came to him once more. And if she tried to use that deal as an excuse to stay by his side, he would spare her life under the guise of being his mistress.

No matter what she offered, he only intended to demand one thing from her. He thought it was a worthwhile calculation since he was already horny.

But what drove Vivianne Mergoville to her death? A few coins? Petty sympathy?

“Then Agent, you can go back to the Intelligence Bureau and eat something tastier than bread. You seem to know that Ludwig Rex is a low-level member of the organization, so I don’t think you have any more questions for me.”

“…Are you sure?”

He really wanted to keep Vivianne Mergoville alive. He could have given her a more useful townhouse than this one, or a table filled with food that was incomparably richer than that dried-up bread. He could have filled her dressing room with clothes suitable for all seasons and had several servants.

He was capable of giving her a more aristocratic life than the aristocrats she imagined. Nevertheless, Vivianne was more diligent than he thought, and she was the type to not repeat the same mistakes.

“I have something to do. You seem to have something to report too, so we don’t need a dramatic goodbye.”

She reaches out to what seems like a better opportunity. Does she only accept charity based on the amount of money?

Edmund thought of the expensive clothes he had bought Vivianne under the pretext of meeting her fiancé. The meals she had eaten at the Salenner Hotel too.

Ah. Then she should have said so.

He could have suggested an easier way, but he stopped. Did he have to be that desperate?

“Do you want to watch the sunrise together one last time?”

What extinguished his thoughts was a pure word that was so different from what he had imagined.

“I like the winter morning atmosphere by the river, that kind of thing.”

Vivianne turned around quickly with slightly reddened ears, not giving him a chance to answer, and disappeared behind her door.

Around dawn, Edmund was sitting with Vivianne on a bench overlooking the largest drawbridge in the city. It was around the time when the scattered sunlight would turn the river silver.

Vivianne didn’t say much.

She sat there watching people pass by, occasionally fidgeting with her frozen hands near her knees. She seemed to be organizing her thoughts, sitting upright in the dimly lit light.

Edmund took out a cigarette from his inside jacket pocket. He looked at the face of the young lady sitting next to him, then took out a lighter and lit the end of the cigarette. When he felt Vivianne’s gaze, he handed her one. It was the only one that looked different in the rough case. Vivianne had a wary expression, but she didn’t refuse and looked up at him.

“Why is mine pink?”

“Because it’s not a cigarette, it’s a sedative.”

“Don’t joke around.”

“It’s a type of cigarette made by rolling medicinal herbs in cigarette paper. It’s supplied to soldiers suffering from aftereffects or to our agents as needed.”

Only then did Vivianne look again at the pink cylindrical cigarette in his hand, which was a little thicker than a cigarette.

“You said you needed it at the pharmacy back then.”

“Ah.”

Vivianne took it and glanced at Edmund. She hesitated, fiddling with the cigarette as if she was embarrassed to ask something she didn’t know.

“How do I…”

Edmund handed her the lighter, but there was no way she could light it.

“Ask.”

Edmund, who had taken the lighter, leaned towards her and said. Vivianne coughed lightly at the sudden whiff of acrid cigarette smoke, but looked at him and asked again.

“Yes?”

“Ask, the cigarette.”

Vivianne didn’t even think about pointing out that he wasn’t using honorifics, and brought the cylindrical object to her lips and asked. Edmund frowned slightly as he watched her moist lips part and then close again.

I didn’t want to do it myself because I thought I would feel like this.

Edmund leaned closer and lit the end of the herbal cigarette. At that moment, his and her eyes met across the yellow flame.

The lighter’s lid was closed, and Edmund’s calloused hand slowly brushed the hair stuck to Vivianne’s cheek. Vivianne felt a sense of tension for some reason, and her lower abdomen felt hot. When the acrid scent cleared, a sweet scent was faintly mixed in, along with a heavy woody scent.

Vivianne closed her eyes involuntarily at the cold yet warm sensation and the masculine scent. She turned her head and inhaled the smoke like a male actor in a talkie film, but soon coughed and threw the sedative she had been looking for on the ground. The cigarette lay pathetically on the floor.

She wiped away the tears that had leaked out and turned her head, and Edmund was looking at her.

Raising one corner of his lips as if he was amused, and smiling very nicely.

“It was my first time smoking one.”

Vivianne said in a deliberately sullen voice, not looking properly at Edmund’s face, feeling her face getting hot. She got up from her seat as if threatening him and took a few steps forward, then turned around and met the eyes of the man who was leaning against the bench and looking at her.

“Don’t you have another one?”

“No.”

“You’re teasing me.”

Vivianne returned to Edmund’s side and glared at his pants pocket. The steel case came into view immediately. At first, she only tried to grab the visible silver corner and take it out, but when it didn’t work as she wanted, she boldly put her hand into his pocket and got what she wanted. It was when Vivianne looked at Edmund with a dejected expression after opening the lid of the trophy.

“Why are you so careless?”

It was when Vivianne was looking at Edmund questioningly. He tilted his head towards Vivianne with the cigarette in his hand.

“From the cigarette lighter to the pocket. What if the case wasn’t in your pocket?”

“……”

“Were you thinking of searching the other side? It would have been easy to find since there’s nothing on this side.”

“…What’s not…”

Vivianne’s face, which had cooled down, turned red again, as if she knew what had brushed against her hand when she put her hand in his pocket just now. Edmund cut off Vivianne’s chance to turn the topic around with useless words and counterattack.

“I know you allow other men to light your cigarette, so I know you’re generous.”

It was accurate that she was calm and dignified on the outside, but her inside was going crazy with jealousy and possessiveness. Even though it was a flirtation, even if it was made up of luxurious words, he thought she would slap him at least once, but the young lady was just putting the steel case away and returning it to him.

“No. It’s not because you’re any other man besides my fiancé, it’s just because it’s you that it’s okay.”

Edmund looked at Vivianne as he slowly accepted the case. He knew it, but it was still dazed to be hit directly.

A woman who seemed to know nothing about the dirty things in the world said it was okay because it was him. Not even knowing that the person who was saying it was okay was the one who had the dirtiest thoughts about her in his head.

His body, which hadn’t heated up even when his hand brushed against the fabric of his suit pants, reacted to those words.

“As you know, today was also the first time I’ve ever put anything similar to a cigar in my mouth.”

“Do you know what it means to light the end of it?”

“It means you’re allowing it.”

Like a young lady, she knew it without saying ‘for money’, but he didn’t feel the need to correct her.

“I know what intercourse is too.”

Vivianne spoke to him in a calm, completely aristocratic tone, but to Edmund, it read as the bravado of a beautiful blood clot. And she was pulling him into bed. Just as those words were about to flow from his lips, Vivianne’s words continued.

“My fiancé liked to show me that.”

“……”

“I know I looked pathetic. Even in front of my fiancé. And at the pharmacy too.”

Vivianne continued, looking at the toe of her shoe.

“It was around when I was twenty. I still didn’t know anything about men, but that tyrant.”

“Did he touch you?”

Edmund was already clenching the fist he had placed on his knee. His voice had lowered without him even realizing it.

“No. Ludwig Rex hates me. Another woman was his partner, not me. I don’t remember all their names, but I know they were all blonde. The last woman I saw was Janet Bell Watkins.”

‘Yes, that woman on the radio,’ Vivianne added, and continued.

“Do you remember? The birth control pills in my room. That woman gave me those birth control pills. She looked down on people with eyes that said it was admirable and commendable to have a man when the time came, and that feeling was.”

“……”

“So when you approached me, I thought it was a relief. If you were on the Prime Minister’s side, the information you wanted from me was obvious. You thought you were using me, but I was the one who wanted to use your protection.”

Vivianne continued calmly.

“My goal was to use you to draw Don Becallone’s attention, and I was going to offer a deal with the condition of breaking off the engagement with my fiancé. Only half of it was successful.”

“Can I hear more details about the deal?”

“I don’t think I owe the agent any more information.”

Vivianne made up her mind to be tough and continued without looking at his face. For some reason, the words in her heart came out so easily today.

Was it because of the sedative?

“I remember that I helped you understand enough about what you were curious about from the incident at the Salenner Hotel.”

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