Please Kill Me - Chapter 73
“Lenny, do you think I’d ask you twice if it wasn’t important?”
“So, what then?”
“I don’t get why someone as smart as you is acting clueless. Stop beating around the bush and tell me what’s going on with Yekaterina Offenbach.”
“We encountered a high-grade monster and—”
“I’m not asking about the forest! Are you playing dumb on purpose? What’s going on with Yekaterina Offenbach—”
“I’ve told you, nothing happened with Yekaterina Offenbach! How many times do I need to say it? Whether in the forest or elsewhere, nothing noteworthy occurred.”
Despite having shared the same bed, being together almost all day, and purchasing various items for Yekaterina!
Absolutely nothing happened.
Leonid could swear on his heart.
‘Yekaterina and I are not involved in anything.’
Sharing the same bed and spending the day together were merely parts of surveillance. There were no ‘events’ to note between them.
Yet Yuri still looked at Leonid as if he was trying to pass off a deer as a horse.
“Leonid, I remember when you first talked to me about Yekaterina Offenbach. Do you remember how you were back then?”
“I must’ve looked exhausted from lack of sleep.”
“Yes, exactly! You were so tense just because of that woman. Don’t deny it. I still vividly remember how you looked desperate when you said you had no intention of harming Yekaterina Offenbach.”
“Yes, that’s right. So what about it?”
At Leonid’s retort, Yuri looked genuinely surprised.
‘Is he really asking because he doesn’t know?’
Until now, it seemed like he was just pretending not to know, but judging by his expression, it appeared his cousin really didn’t understand.
Yuri was shocked when he had met Leonid and Yekaterina in the forest earlier. Even Olga, who had rushed to the palace after hearing the news, grabbed the back of her neck in shock at their appearance, but Yuri’s surprise was different.
It was because of the atmosphere between the two.
The fact that Yekaterina was covered in blood didn’t catch his eye. Instead, he noticed their clasped hands.
Then Leonid’s empty shoulder, and after that, Yekaterina, engulfed in an oversized robe.
But what surprised Yuri the most was their demeanor.
– “Lenny, that hand…”
– “The hand? Ah, I held onto her to prevent her from escaping. I should’ve brought a rope.”
– “I’ve got a rope in my saddle.”
– “Very cooperative of you. We can’t go that far. I’m not about to announce to the search party that she’s here.”
Leonid, looking annoyed, thought he might need to ask Yuri or Olga to fetch a horse. In that moment, taken alone, there wasn’t much to stir any sentiment.
Yuri knew Leonid found Yekaterina bothersome.
‘However…’
If that had been all, Yuri wouldn’t have probed this much.
Yuri Oleg, as good at reading the unspoken as he was at hiding his own feelings, knew things could be understood without words or expressions. Especially when looking at someone familiar, the angle of their toes could give away much of their inner thoughts.
And to Yuri, the atmosphere between the two was clearly not one of ‘nothing happened’.
Yekaterina was practically a stranger with an unreadable expression, but Leonid was a different story.
Yuri would stake his two decades of knowing him on it because he had seen how desperately Leonid was pining for Yekaterina.
– “Why mention announcing? Weren’t you trying to conceal my identity with the robe?”
– “Of course. Who knows who we might run into with you looking like that?”
– “Then that settles it.”
– “….Are you really into confinement that you act this way?”
– “I was just asking a question, and you’re already making threats?”
– “No, that’s not what I mean…”
– “I’m at your mercy anyway. I have no plans to complain. Do as you please.”
At Yekaterina’s words, Leonid’s face looked as if his tongue had been cut off.
That very Leonid.
Yuri knew Leonid as a good person. He was generous despite the burdensome name he carried, humane and quite down-to-earth.
It was remarkable considering he had been thrust into the bloody fields of battle to earn his knighthood as soon as he became an adult.
Most people with long military careers become unmerciful in handling matters, accustomed to doing everything by the book.
So this was Leonid’s nature, his inherent flaw, if you will.
Not many would consider generosity or simplicity flaws, but in Yuri’s eyes, they were.
Leonid’s generosity and simplicity stemmed from his carelessness.
That characteristic carelessness.
Leonid did not give his all in most endeavors.
He never bristled with anxiety, nor did he ever fret obsessively over anything.
‘Although by temperament alone, he can be hot-tempered, but…’
