Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 154

『 Translator – Divinity 』

“Ah…”

At Damian’s question, Eugene lowered the corners of his eyebrows and let out a regretful groan. He gave an awkward laugh and replied,

“I got ahead of myself.”

“Ahead of yourself…?”

“I brought up marriage.”

Damian slowly tilted his head.

“…I heard you dated in middle school academy.”

“Yes, when we were just middle schoolers,” Eugene said with a hearty laugh.

“Thinking about it now, I was crazy. What was a little kid who hadn’t even hit puberty talking about marriage for… If I were Lily, I would have been terrified.”

Eugene continued with a chuckle,

“So, what happened was… I had a firm idea of what I wanted in a wife, a fantasy about an ideal partner. So I told Lily about it, and she dumped me before even a semester passed. She said she didn’t fit those conditions, and if I was already thinking about that kind of thing, continuing the relationship would be a waste of time and emotions.”

“What was your ideal wife like?”

“I don’t know if you’re aware, but my parents are in the trading business.”

Damian nodded.

“And I’m supposed to take over the business when they retire. It’s been decided since I was young. I agreed to inherit the family business. So I thought it would be good if my wife could work with me in the trading business and help the company grow. And as you can see from the fact that I was dumped, Lily, of course, refused.”

Eugene sighed again, and Damian nodded in understanding. Eugene continued in a slightly dejected tone, “So we broke up and have remained good friends instead.”

Sensing a strange undercurrent in his words, Damian asked,

“Do you… still have feelings for her?”

“Ah, is it that obvious?”
Eugene grinned, and Damian frowned. He hadn’t expected him to admit it so readily. But his words and attitude towards Lilliana throughout the journey made his feelings quite obvious.

Moreover, if someone as oblivious as him could notice, there was no way Lilliana, with her sharp intuition, wouldn’t know about Eugene’s feelings. Damian asked, his expression suggesting he had a lot to say,

“Then Lilliana also knows… I think. She’s quite perceptive about those things.”

“Of course she knows. Like you said, Lily is perceptive.”

Eugene chuckled. He seemed to find this conversation quite amusing and continued without any sign of discomfort, “But she also knows that I have no intention of crossing the line, so we can be friends. If it were anyone else, they would have run away, feeling burdened.”

Damian’s heart ached.

Eugene, from what he had seen, was a good person, and there was no reason to stop such a person from having feelings for Lilliana.

“Well, I’m grateful that Lily treats me as a friend now, and I’m not dissatisfied with this relationship. I know that Lily’s feelings won’t change, so I have no intention of doing anything more. That’s why Lily treats me like a best friend. Because she knows I won’t cross the line.”

“…”

Damian opened his mouth to continue the conversation but couldn’t think of anything to say.

Just then, Lilliana called out to them from the beach.

“Eugene! Damian! Come in~”

“Okay, coming!”

Eugene grabbed a tube and ran towards Lilliana. She put on the tube he gave her and asked Damian, who was standing blankly by the parasol.

“Damian! Are you really not coming in?”

Damian hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.

“I’m fine. I’ll stay here, so you guys go have fun.”

Lilliana’s lips turned down slightly in disappointment. But then Eugene splashed her with water, and she giggled and splashed him back.

Damian watched them nonchalantly, then took off his outer garment and tossed it aside. When he looked up again, Lilliana had gathered Casey and Eugene and was whispering something in their ears.

They nodded as they listened, then suddenly their eyes lit up, and they approached Damian.

Damian felt a sense of foreboding and instinctively backed away. But then, the two suddenly lunged at him and lifted him up.

It would have been easy for Damian to shake them off, but he couldn’t use force in this situation. So he couldn’t resist as Casey and Eugene carried him and threw him into the ocean.

Splash!

With a refreshing sound, Damian was submerged in the water.

“Ahahaha! Hahahaha!”

He could hear Lilliana roaring with laughter from outside the water.

Lilliana, Casey, and Eugene, looking at the spot where Damian had fallen in, praised their achievement.

“Why refuse to come in when you’re not even afraid of water, just because you don’t want to be scolded by Mr. Asher? I’ll take the blame. So let’s play togeth…”

Lilliana spoke towards the spot where Damian had been submerged. But Damian didn’t reappear on the surface as they expected.

“Damian?” Lilliana called out cautiously.

But the surface of the water only rippled slightly and remained calm.

The three faces turned pale.

“D-did he drown?”

“He can’t swim? No, the water is shallow enough for him to stand!”

“Damian!”

The three rushed towards the spot where Damian had disappeared without hesitation. As they were searching for Damian, Eugene’s foot caught on something, and he lost his balance and fell into the water.

“Gah!”

Eugene disappeared underwater with a sputtering sound. The next victim was Casey. Damian, who had emerged from the water, grabbed Casey and pulled him down.

“Gulp!”

Casey also disappeared underwater with a splash.

“Eek! Don’t come near me!”

Lilliana splashed water at Damian, who was striding towards her. But Damian kept walking, even as he was being splashed, and then suddenly lifted Lilliana up.

“No way! No way?!”

Before Lilliana could resist, Damian threw her high into the air.

“Kyaaa!”

Lilliana screamed as she flew through the air, then disappeared into the ocean with a splash. Damian, with a chilling smile, said to the three who had surfaced, looking shocked,

“You should have been prepared for retaliation if you were going to play a prank on me.”

“Boo~ how petty~ Boo~”

Lilliana jeered, but Damian ignored her and brushed back his wet hair. Lilliana stared at him, mesmerized.

She hadn’t noticed while he was clothed, but now, with his wet clothes clinging to his body, she could faintly see his skin and hidden muscles.

It was much more alluring than outright exposure, and it drew her attention. His slightly furrowed handsome face completed the picture.

‘Wow, what a sight.’

Lilliana had that thought, then realized it was sexual harassment, so she quickly averted her gaze and slapped her forehead.

The three men looked at her in confusion for a moment, but Lilliana regained her composure and laughed.

“Anyway, now that we’re all wet, let’s play together.”

Damian nodded, looking resigned.

***

As soon as they filled their empty stomachs with lunch after playing in the water, they played beach volleyball. As a result, they were completely exhausted.

After swimming and running around on the sand, Lilliana, whose stamina was already low, as well as Casey and Eugene, were exhausted and returned to the villa.

Damian was the only one who was still fine.

“I’m missing a quarter of my liver, so why are you all more tired than me?”

Damian asked with genuine confusion, and the others stared at him with weary faces.

Damian had almost regained the physical condition he had during his active military days. Who among them could keep up with his stamina?

The four went up to their respective rooms and washed off the seawater in the bathrooms. Damian had to detach his prosthetic arm and scrub it with a brush to remove the salt, so he came out later than the others.