Seeking for Your Forgiveness

Chapter 16. Doctor Fluke

“……”

Maybe she would be happy.

Maybe she will get to meet someone whom she truly loves and live happily together……

“!”

Kristoff, who had been thinking that far, gritted his rear teeth hard. His eyes glistened furiously as if they belonged to a beast.

The mere thought of her with another man made his blood boil. If the man was in front of him, he could snap his neck off at any moment because he was so furious and powerful.

At least he couldn’t see them as long as he kept his eyes wide open.

Kristoff didn’t believe in love. He thought there was no emotion in the world that could change as easily. Rather, hatred or hate would last longer than that.

He thought his parents’ words, who swore for eternal love, were very ugly. He knew how horrible the truth of that day was.

Kristoff suddenly clenched his lower jaw as if to shake off the thought that crept up to his mind.

Then, what was the name of the emotion he felt toward Marianne? A desire to monopolize or possess? If not, can it be an obsession?

No one could answer the question. Kristoff didn’t know the answer either. It was the first time he experienced such an emotion in his life. No one else was able to throw him into this sort of mess.

Would it be better to drag her forcefully?

Kristoff, who had been thinking for a while, shook his head slowly. Marianne generally followed Kristoff’s advice, but she was not a pushover at all.

If he were to drag her against her will, Marianne would escape from his grip with all her might. Just like Gunter and Karin, whom she deceived and headed to the Blauberg by herself.

This time, he thought she was going to hide in a place he couldn’t find. And Kristoff would miss her forever.

That was not what he wanted. He didn’t want to experience the same thing again. Feeling the blood all over his body dry up, because he didn’t know where Marianne was. It was enough to happen to him once.

Kristoff clenched his fists as if he had finally made up his mind. Then, there was only one way left.

“I’ll make you love me again, Marianne.”

So that her blue eyes would look at him again with the same subtle warmth as they used to. Kristoff intended to seduce her wholeheartedly.

***

“I’ll be back!”

Marianne bowed and left the front door brightly. Today would be a good day…… When she thought today would go well, she quickly stiffened.

Kristoff was standing there. In the same place as yesterday, with the same expression.

“!”

Marianne, who thought he had been standing there all night, breathed out in relief. His clothes were changed. He didn’t seem to have remained in front of the house all night.

Suddenly, her eyes grew bigger. Kristoff, who had been staring at the front door for a while, couldn’t easily take his eyes off her when she came out of the house.

Her short hair was hanging on her shoulders.

“Marianne.”

Her name came out of Kristoff’s mouth.

Knowing it was the time Marianne went to work, he stood there early in the morning to wait for her. He was frustrated at his thoughts while staring at the closed door. He couldn’t sleep anyway, so he had time to do all of this.

And she finally showed up.

Marianne, who noticed that his eyes lingered on her newly-cut hair, looked embarrassed. She shook her head as soon as the thought that it didn’t suit her crept up to her mind.

Who cares if it didn’t suit her? Kristoff’s opinion didn’t matter anymore.

However, Kristoff’s eyes were distorted right at that moment. Turning his eyes at Marianne’s forehead, he swore in a low voice.

“That son of a b*tch, I’m going to kill him.”

“Oh.”

Marianne swallowed involuntarily. Only then did she think about her bruised forehead.

Madam Liszt, who was enraged at the sight of Marianne’s bruise, forced the umbrella into her hand before she left the house.

―I don’t know who did that to you, but go and blow his head off with this!

Marianne embarrassingly fiddled with the old umbrella that seemed to be used by an old lady.

Kristoff, who took a slow and deep breath, stared at Marianne as if swallowing the rising emotions inside. Suddenly, his lips opened up.

“However, no wound can mask your beauty.”

“!”

The low and heavy voice made her fingers numb.

Marianne opened her eyes wide as if she didn’t understand what she just heard. Her shameless heart beat fast, but she pretended to be indifferent on the outside.

She didn’t think hiding her feelings as Lady Schneider would help at times like this. It was a relief.

“It reminds me of the day when we met for the first time. Even then, you had short hair like now. That’s why you stood out among others.”

Marianne was surprised that he remembered that day. She thought it was a memory that she only kept to herself. She thought she was the only one who treated those memories preciously.

By the way……

Kristoff said he remembered it. Their first meeting……

Marianne deliberately spoke in a curt voice so that he wouldn’t catch her agitation.

“I’m sorry. I’m not masquerading as Lady Schneider. I am Marianne Kloze.”

Kristoff looked uncharacteristically bewildered, as if he had heard something unexpected. He took a step closer to her with a nervous look.

“That’s not it, Marianne. You are……”

Marianne stopped staring at him and walked off. She didn’t want to talk to him. He would surely make his way into her mind effortlessly. Just like he always had.

He would force her down completely.

Kristoff, who was about to say something, closed his mouth quietly and followed her. His quiet footsteps scratched her nerves.

“Aish!”

She suddenly got angry. He didn’t even spare her a glance when she gave him endless opportunities, but now he came and irritated her.

Swing.

Turning her back, she glared fiercely at Kristoff. Facing Marianne, who wore an angry expression, he looked embarrassed like a child who didn’t know what to do.

A feeble and pitiful face.

“……”

Marianne eventually turned her back to him again without saying anything. She took steps forward angrily while shaking her shoulders wildly, such a manner was so unlike Lady Schneider.

The persistent footsteps haunted her.

***

“Good morning.”

Marianne, who greeted everyone brightly as she entered the office, felt a strange atmosphere and slowly stopped her footsteps. Nicholas, Maxim Florian, and Ian. all the team members were already in the office.

Is she late? That can’t be.

She threw a brief glance out of the window and returned her gaze back into the office. The atmosphere was heavy.

For some reason, Marianne couldn’t get through them easily because she felt like she was under some sort of mysterious pressure and just stood there while looking at the four men.

Maxim stared at her with his big and sharp eyes, Florian just turned away from her with a cold expression. Ian, just like her, watched the three men. And there was Nicholas.

“Marianne Haveck.”

“Yes, Inspector Nicholas.”

Marianne replied more enthusiastically than before. Nicholas, who sat at the desk, folded his arms and stared at her.

Just as his blue eyes seemed to become more mysterious.

“How did you figure it out?”

“What? What?”

Nicholas frowned slightly at her question. Ian, who was beside her, spoke in a small voice, “About the jewelry robber she caught yesterday.”

“A stolen gem was found in his house. We only found about half of it. The other half seems to have already been squandered.”

Only then did Marianne, who nodded, scratch her cheek indifferently. It was a flippant act that Lady Schneider would never do, but it was natural for Marianne.

“It was easy to recognize him after looking at the montage.”

There was another brief silence in her calm reply. The silence felt uncomfortable, as if it pricked her. Prick, her cheeks hurt.

Nicholas remembered the face of a jewelry robber who had been locked up in the prison cell. Regardless of how many times he saw the montage, it was difficult to recognize the culprit at a single glance.

It wouldn’t have been easy unless it were Maxim and Florian, who have an old hand in this kind of stuff. He had to admit that she had special eyes. She might be more than he expected.

―Let’s see what Marianne can do here.

Commissioner Simon’s words came to his mind when she came here for the first time.

There’s something she can do. Perhaps.

“D*mn it.”

Maxim, who couldn’t stand it, leaped up from his seat and left the office after releasing profanities through his teeth. Florian still stared coldly at the window.

Nicholas spoke in a softer voice.

“Your appearance has changed a lot, but I still managed to recognize you. Good job.”

Good job.

There was a hint of warmth in his words. Marianne looked at him with an embarrassed gaze, and she muttered, “Thank you” after a long while and entwined her lips. Her cheeks flushed brightly.

Nicholas, who nodded, brought his butt off the desk and looked at the team members.

“Well, let’s work hard today, too. Florian, I have to look at the current progress of the investigation, and Ian, go and get Maxim. And Marianne.”

“……”

Marianne stared at him with so much expectations in the air. Her sparkling, indigo-colored eyes blazed like a star.

Nicholas raised his hand and pointed to the desk where the documents were piled up.

“I’ll ask for those papers today.”

“……Yes.”

With slumping shoulders, she trudged and moved weakly. “Oh, before that,” she heard Nicholas call her again. Marianne turned her head sullenly.

“See the doctor first.”

“Doctor? Oh.”

She brought her hand to her forehead. Although she felt a throbbing pain, she could still endure it.

“It’s nothing, Inspector.”

“It’s not going to be the only place where you got hurt anyway.”

Marianne opened her eyes wide at Nicholas’ words that seemed to know everything.

Could the inspector see through the scars under her clothes?

“Ian said so. I mean, you hit the killer while flying. I heard there was a suspicious noise during the fight. Is your bone alright?”

“……Yes.”

Marianne nodded while avoiding his gaze. After a moment passed, she thought she didn’t have to do that.

However, she couldn’t think of any other way at that moment.

“In order to keep doing this job for a long time, you need to know how to save yourself. There’s a small clinic one block away from here. It’s a place that many police officers visit, so if you tell them you’re from the Police Agency, they’ll take good care of you. The doctor is a great guy.”

“Yes.”

Marianne nodded. She looked away from Nicholas’ back and quietly repeated what he had just said.

“In order to keep doing this job for a long time,”

A faint smile suddenly hung around her lips.

***

“Ms. Marianne Haveck, please come in.”

Following the nurse’s guidance, she opened the door of the doctor’s office and entered. The small and cozy clinic gave off a clean atmosphere, as if it had just been built. Instead of the smell of disinfectant, it smelled a bit like dry paint.

“Ms…… Marianne Haveck?”

The doctor across the desk casted her a favorable look. Marianne couldn’t hide her surprised expression and opened her eyes widely.

He had a friendly impression with that attractive smile on his face. The mild atmosphere surrounding him was able to relieve the patient’s anxiousness. He was quite different from the overbearing doctors she had met until now.

Especially with Schneider’s unfriendly doctor.

“My name is Liam Fluke. You can call me Doctor Fluke. Are you sick anywhere?”

Marianne casually fiddled with her forehead.

“Oh, dear.”