Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 151
『 Translator – Divinity 』

He hated that she was friendly with her ex-boyfriend, and he hated even more the promise they made to meet again.

He would rather have him be a suspicious character so he could have an excuse to remove him from Lilliana’s side.

And what bothered him even more was that… Lilliana had shown an expression he had never seen before. The smile she showed today was so bright and radiant that Damian felt an unsettling anxiety creeping in.

But Damian himself didn’t know where this anxiety stemmed from.

***

“Was Lily always this talkative?”

Casey whispered to Damian, watching Lilliana, who had been on the phone with Eugene for two hours now.

After a filling dinner, they were sprawled on the living room floor, supposedly digesting their food. They had originally planned to laze around for a bit and then go back to their rooms.

But Lilliana showed no signs of ending her phone call, and they were curious about what she was talking about. So they had been eavesdropping for two hours now.

“She’s certainly talkative today,” Damian replied nonchalantly, folding a paper airplane with a newspaper.

He was desperately trying to deny that he was jealous of Lilliana’s ex-boyfriend.

“Is it okay to leave her like that?”

“There’s no reason to stop her from meeting him if he’s not part of the ‘Lion’s Heart,’ is there?”

“That’s true, but…”

Having finished folding one paper airplane, Damian cut out another square from the newspaper and started folding a new one. Casey grumbled, seemingly dissatisfied.

“What if the informant was wrong? What if that Eugene guy was secretly bribed like last time? They said he was involved in a business venture with them, right?”

Like Damian, Casey was also experiencing the symptom of seeing everyone who approached Lilliana as a threat after the kidnapping incident.

Unlike Damian, who hid his feelings, Casey openly expressed his emotions, which had been earning him Lilliana’s disapproval lately.

Lilliana had gotten angry once, saying it wasn’t appropriate for a spirit to be so nervous, and although he seemed to be restraining himself after that, he had been tattling to Damian ever since.

“What are you going to do if he’s not involved? Is it really for Lilliana’s benefit to stop her from meeting a normal friend?”

Damian’s expression, however, seemed grumpy for someone saying such things.

“This is all to protect Lilliana’s everyday life. If we scrutinize everything like this, Lilliana won’t be able to do anything.”

“That seems right…”

Casey still felt uneasy, but Damian continued folding paper airplanes, or rather, pretended to be preoccupied with folding paper airplanes.

Damian wasn’t much different in wanting to rip the phone line out. But he was a patient person, and he was starting to realize that he was being childishly jealous.

So he wanted to put aside his jealousy for now and let Lilliana do as she pleased. If that guy was really targeting Lilliana with bad intentions, then it would be a different story.

Lilliana kept bursting into laughter as if something was incredibly funny.

Damian didn’t stop folding paper airplanes until Annette scolded him for cluttering the coffee table with them.

As Damian was cleaning up the paper airplanes with Casey’s help, Lilliana paused her phone call and approached them. But she seemed hesitant, which was a bit strange.

She looked back and forth between Casey and Damian, then spoke with difficulty, “Um… well…”

“Go ahead.”

“I want to do something…”

“Okay.”

As Damian responded, Lilliana gave a charming smile and said, “Do you want to go to the beach…?”

“The beach?”

Damian made a face that said, “In this situation?” and Lilliana quickly explained, “Well, Eugene’s parents own a private beach! It’s not far from here. It’s a three-hour drive, and no one else is allowed in. So…”

“Did Mr. Eugene Loud invite you?”

“Yes, yes. He asked if we wanted to go with him if we had time, and… well… it’s summer, so I thought it would be nice to go swimming, and I was wondering if…”

Lilliana trailed off hesitantly. Knowing what Damian and Casey were always worried about, she couldn’t insist on going to the beach.

So she was watching their reactions when Damian simply nodded and said, “Let’s go.”

“What? Is it okay to go?”

Lilliana was the one who was surprised.

“I think it’s okay if Casey and I go with you.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

A wide smile spread across Lilliana’s face.

“Okay! Thank you! I’ll go tell Eugene!”

Lilliana skipped towards the phone. Casey tugged on Damian’s sleeve and whispered,

“Are you sure it’s okay? What if something happens?”

“If something happens, I’ll take responsibility.”

In other words, he wouldn’t stop Lilliana from meeting Eugene out of jealousy. He could protect her while she met her friend normally. He was confident in his ability to protect her!

So there was no reason for Damian to object to this. At least, that’s what he thought.

Damian gathered the paper airplanes, took them to Annette, and then returned to Casey.

“I think I should ask ‘Verus’ to look into it as well.”

“Why?”

“I need to cross-check the information with a source other than Bluebird Service Center.”

“Damian, you’re thorough. Well, I guess it’s only natural considering you’re on edge because of the kidnapping incident.”

Damian gave a weak smile at Casey’s words.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted something suspicious to come up about Eugene Loud or if he wanted him to be truly safe.

***

A few days later, Eugene appeared in front of their house in his car.

Lilliana, Damian, and Casey, ready for their outing, were waiting for him.

Damian raised an eyebrow at the sight of Eugene’s car. It was a model three times more expensive than his own. He didn’t want to, but he felt a childish sense of defeat.

“Lily, how have you been? Hello to you both. Good morning.”

Eugene greeted them with a cheerful smile.

“I’ve heard a lot about Mr. Carnell. And Mr. Stern, you’re Lily’s housemate, right?”

“Just Casey is fine.”

“You can just call me Damian too.”

“Is that okay? Then you can just call me Eugene.”

Eugene smiled good-naturedly with his handsome face. He was as friendly as Lilliana, quickly addressing them by their first names and striking up a conversation.

According to the cross-checked information from Bluebird and Verus over the past few days, Eugene was clean, with no suspicious background. They said the possibility of him being bribed was also low.

So Damian wanted to relax and enjoy this outing… but…

What was this nagging feeling in his gut? It was different from anxiety or a sense of danger. Damian tried to ignore the unpleasant feeling creeping up on him.

Eugene helped Lilliana and Damian load their luggage into the trunk.

Once they were done, Eugene naturally took the driver’s seat, and Lilliana, just as naturally, sat in the passenger seat. So Damian and Casey ended up in the back seat.

Eugene started the car, looked back, and said, “It’ll take about three hours to get there. Feel free to sleep in the meantime.”

“That wouldn’t be very polite. I can take over driving if you’d like.”

Eugene smiled pleasantly at Damian’s offer.

However, after the car started, an awkward silence fell as Eugene wasn’t sure what to talk about with the two people he had just met, except for Lilliana.