Ivlik instinctively knew that Cedine didn’t have much time left. Even if he had come straight to Cedine instead of shooting at those bastards, the result wouldn’t have been different. This was in front of a deserted church in a vacation area. The nearest hospital capable of surgery was at least 40 minutes away by car.

And Cedine wouldn’t last 40 minutes, let alone 4 minutes. She would close her eyes before he could even lay her down in the back seat of the car. Maybe she would stop breathing the moment he picked her up.

“You killed them.”

There was no strength in Cedine’s voice.

“Yes.”

“Every single one of them.”

“Yes, I killed them all.”

“You should have… left one for interrogation. Should have shot… their legs…”

“Don’t speak anymore. The blood…”

Cedine moved her lips with difficulty. Ivlik instinctively knew this would be her last words.

“I… brother-in-law… I, Ivli…”

The convulsions stopped. Cedine’s head slumped into Ivlik’s arms. Ivlik realized that the last word she couldn’t finish was his name.

‘No. No. Cedine, this can’t be. You can’t be like this.’

For the past 7 years, she had never called Ivlik by his name, not even by mistake. How stubborn she was. It was as if someone had held a gun to Cedine’s head and threatened her. As if they would pull the trigger the moment she called Ivlik by his name.

But of all things, the last thing she tried to say as she closed her eyes was his name?

‘This can’t be.’

Cedine looked as if she was in a deep sleep rather than dead. If it weren’t for her pale complexion, if it weren’t for the fact that he could no longer feel her breath, if he could just ignore the blood-stained clothes, couldn’t he pretend she was just sleeping? Ivlik wanted to keep Cedine by his side even if it meant pretending like that.

‘We shouldn’t have come here today.’

Once the regret started, it was endless.

‘We chose the wrong vacation spot. We should have gone to a private island that requires a boat ride, not a resort where anyone can come and go. A place with only employees who have passed background checks. If there had been armed security patrolling…’

His eyelids grew hot. Ivlik didn’t know what it meant. Only when he saw the droplets falling on Cedine’s face did he realize he was crying.

“I’m sorry, Cedine. It’s my fault. This happened because of my greed.”

From the moment I first saw you, I wanted to embrace you. I thought if I could touch you to my heart’s content, kiss you, defile you inside and out, I would be filled with a joy I had never experienced before.

Yes, I know it’s not a particularly nice thing to hear. That it started with lust. It wouldn’t be strange if you frowned and said, “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, Lieutenant Colonel.” I sincerely wish you would. I wish you would come back to life even if it means you’ll call me Lieutenant Colonel for the rest of your life, Cedine.

Ivlik hugged the limp Cedine. Her hair, which had been shoulder-length when she was twenty, was now long enough to reach her waist. Her light brown hair, tied with a satin ribbon, smelled of sunshine. And the body in his arms was warm.

“You’re not really dead, are you?”

Ivlik mumbled.

“A dead person couldn’t be as warm as you.”

Seven years ago, Ivlik didn’t want to admit it. That the first person he was ever attracted to was a woman seven years younger than him. Until then, he had never held a woman, nor even thought about wanting to. He didn’t know he would fall for Cedine, who had just come of age.

Was his taste actually young, inexperienced women?

But if it was just the young age he was attracted to, it shouldn’t have had to be Cedine specifically. There were many women the same age as Cedine but looking much younger than her. The problem was that they weren’t Cedine Liere.

In other words, Ivlik didn’t want any woman who wasn’t Cedine.

That was the reason Ivlik Wintermore was confused. Because throughout his life, there had never been an irreplaceable existence for him. Not only that, the word ‘uncontrollable’ was also far from Ivlik. He was used to situations where everything was under his control.

But whenever he stood in front of Cedine, he could only think of all sorts of obscene fantasies. Just like a beast in heat, his mind was filled with thoughts of doing that.

Should he just embrace her to his heart’s content? It’s not like he hadn’t thought about it. Whether her body breaks or not. No, maybe if he had s*x with her until she broke, he wouldn’t be obsessed with Cedine anymore. After all, a twenty-year-old could be dismissed with a few words after satisfying uncontrollable carnal desires.

But strangely, he couldn’t do it.

The more time he spent with Cedine, the more his longing for her grew. It grew and grew until eventually, he reached a state where he couldn’t even dare to take a light taste.

The moment I touch her, I’ll be the one who can’t escape.

That’s exactly the kind of ‘weakness’ that Lieutenant Colonel Wintermore usually tries to extract from his subjects in the interrogation room. After falling for Cedine, Ivlik’s sense of crisis became extreme. He first thought that he must never let anyone else find out about this.

“I don’t want anyone to find out. But I don’t want to forget you even more.”

Contradictory emotions led him to Cedine’s sister. That’s why Karen Liere was the first person he thought of when he felt the need for a fake marriage.

It was well-known even within the Army Ministry that the Liere sisters cared deeply for each other. He was certain that Karen wouldn’t leave her sister in a small two-room monthly rental while she alone moved into a mansion.

Fortunately, it wasn’t difficult at all to meet the conditions Karen put forward. New rooms for the Liere sisters were prepared in the fortress-like Wintermore viscounty residence. Ivlik entered the room Cedine would use and locked the door.

While Cedine lived in the mansion, he would never enter this room. The moment he crossed the threshold, everything would be over. The twisted lust he had barely been suppressing would make him throw Cedine to the floor and violate her.

Therefore, that day was the first and last time Ivlik left his trace in this beautiful room.

“…Thinking about it now, it was all in vain.”

Ivlik tightly gripped Cedine’s soft hair.

“It’s been seven long years, Cedine.”

I wanted to hold you so badly. Only after your death can I hold you like this. This isn’t what I wanted.

After despair sank lower and lower, all that remained for Ivlik was razor-sharp anger. The bastards he had shot dead had specifically targeted Cedine. They had been watching her throughout their stay at the vacation spot, waiting for the moment Cedine was separated from Ivlik.

Then wouldn’t it have been better when Cedine entered the cathedral alone earlier? If they had aimed for that moment, Cedine would have died with a single shot, and Ivlik, waiting in the car, would have only rushed over after hearing the gunshot. It would take about 10 seconds for Ivlik to reach the scene with his stride. A highly trained agent would have had enough time to escape before Ivlik burst onto the scene.

But they didn’t do that. They deliberately waited for Cedine to come out of the cathedral before opening fire. Inefficient and noisy. As far as Ivlik knew, there was only one case where a target had to be killed in such a manner.

A ‘demonstrative’ execution.

‘Is this a warning to me?’

Ivlik kissed Cedine’s forehead. At the moment of the first kiss, only possible after the other person had breathed their last, he glared at the vehicle the men he had shot had arrived in.

‘No. None of my political opponents are this stupid. Why would they do something as useless as warning Ivlik Wintermore? If they could kill, they should kill right away.’

The goal of the person who sent the snipers wasn’t Ivlik. It wasn’t the dead Cedine either. Then who on earth were they trying to show this act worthy of the front page of daily newspapers to?

It was when he looked down at Cedine again. Suddenly, the thin gold cross necklace around her neck caught his eye. Cedine didn’t usually go to church. He had never seen her pray either. The reason there was a small milky white statue of the Virgin Mary, candles, and a rosary bracelet in Cedine’s room was solely out of remembrance for one person.

St. Agnes Cathedral.

On these steps of a place that was also someone’s baptismal name, Cedine Liere had closed her eyes after being shot. Ivlik turned his head to look up at the cross on the cathedral spire.

Karen Agnes Liere.

At that moment, Ivlik realized who had caused Cedine’s death. A hostility greater than the scorching southern afternoon sun spread within Ivlik.