Seeking for Your Forgiveness - Chapter 20

While he was lost in thought, Marianne’s brow twisted even more. The more she thought about it, the more she was displeased by what he said.

 

Kristoff, who was glaring at Maxim’s back in the distance with sharply narrowed eyes, clicked his tongue.

 

Maxim turned his head and stared at Marianne before his eyes met Kristoff. He, whose shoulders seemingly stiffened, whiffed his head away.

 

“Isn’t he messing around with you because he’s interested in you?”

 

“What?”

 

Marianne glared at him bewilderingly, as if she were wondering what kind of theory it was. Kristoff was quite confident with his question.

 

“Don’t you remember about Michael Hindenburg?”

 

“Oh.”

 

A vague sigh slipped out through her lips. Michael Hindenburg, the name she hadn’t heard in a long time, and the face of a rude man crept up to her mind.

 

When she entered law school, he was the one who harassed her like a thorn because of the mere reason that she was a woman. He was also a fickle man like the weather in the summer.

 

On some days, he got mad just by making eye contact, and on some days, he was as cold as a chilly breeze. He suddenly made an entrance and brought useless gifts, looked at her with a tenaciously uncomfortable gaze, and readily gave up his seat in the library where the competitiveness was at its peak.

 

In a word, he was a completely unpredictable person.

 

“You’ve been popular amongst weirdos for a long time.”

 

Marianne looked at Kristoff as if telling him to realize.

 

Obviously.

 

For a very long time.

 

Did he know he also was a part of those weirdos?

 

She passed her question to him without a word, and Kristoff pulled up his straight eyebrows. As if asking, why are you looking at me like that?

 

It turned out that her question didn’t reach him at all. Marianne shook her head and turned away her gaze, “Never mind.” she answered.

 

However, Kristoff was serious about it. One of the reasons he proposed to Marianne after graduation was that man, Michael Hindenburg.

 

Michael’ behavior was so obvious that even the neighborhood dog would notice it. The rumor that he liked Marianne has been known to everyone except the two parties involved.

 

When his grade was settled, Kristoff felt somewhat impatient. He was nervous about what would happen to them in his absence, and what if Michael admitted his feelings to her?

 

Michael was the third son of the Count of Hindenburg, although he was a man unworthy to get involved with. The son of the influential Hindenburg Family.

 

It was a quite decent promise of marriage, and there were a few women he knew who set their eyes on Michael. Marriage was a family contract anyway.

 

Therefore, Kristoff proposed to Marianne. No one expected that proposal. Even Kristoff himself.

 

However, Kristoff never regretted his decision on that day. Even more after seeing Michael’s face, who seemed shocked when he learned about their marriage.

 

Would Marianne regret her decision on that day? Did she leave his side after throwing the divorce papers because she regretted the day he promised for a lifelong union?

 

Unanswered questions crashed his mind one after another. At the time when Kristoff’s thoughts were growing a longer line, Nicholas approached them.

 

“Inspector.”

 

Nicholas caught the brief glimpse of Marianne and gave Kristoff a look before offering one of his hands. Kristoff responded to the handshake, pulled up his dark eyebrows and they were down in the next second.

 

Marianne was terrified that he would behave abruptly as he did to Maxim earlier, but in the end, it turned out to be mere overthinking. Kristoff treated Nicholas in an impeccably polite manner.

 

Marianne whispered in his ear quietly yet promptly.

 

“Don’t forget. I’m not Marianne Schneider or Marianne Kloze. I’m Marianne Haveck.”

 

As soon as she finished her words, Nicholas greeted him.

 

“I’m Inspector Nicholas Stefan. I was told by the Commissioner. You’re going to be the legal consultant of our police agency from today, Sir Schneider?”

 

‘Sir’ was not a title that was supposed to be given to a lawyer. However, considering that Kristoff already inherited the title of Viscount, the title ‘Sir’ wasn’t particularly wrong either.

 

Kristoff nodded in a straight movement that often appeared in the textbook. His eyes were filled with the arrogance trait of the noble.

 

“Sir Kristoff will do. As I have also told Commissioner Simon, I’m not here as the successor to Marquis Schneider. It’s for a personal reason. Therefore, I don’t want Schneider’s surname to be mentioned. Being the legal consultant of the National Police Agency is an informal position.”

 

“Informal…… All right, Sir Kristoff, but.”

 

Nicholas paused in his words for a moment, gazes bouncing between Marianne and Kristoff.

 

“May I ask what your relationship is with our new recruit? Your conversation seemed to have gone on quite intimately.”

 

Nicholas didn’t really like the current situation. In a few days, two personnel landed on his team through the commissioner’s influence. He suddenly felt like a babysitter.

 

Just as Kristoff parted his lips, Marianne quickly intercepted his answer.

 

“He’s my senior in college in the past.”

 

“……”

 

“……”

 

There was a brief silence in the space. The silence no one had ever agreed on.

 

Kristoff slowly turned his gaze and stared straight at Marianne. Marianne looked at him with a pricking gaze. It was a stern look, as if clamped him down from spitting nonsense.

 

At the same time, NIcholas also shifted his gaze at Marianne, due to the nature of his profession, he was quite savvy with the high-class gossip and even got acquainted with the majority of it.

 

Nicholas, who was lost in thought with taut eyebrows, remembered that Lady Schneider’s first name was Marianne.

 

Her last name wasn’t Haveck, but her name was definitely Marianne. If he remembered correctly, it was something like Marianne Klein or Marianne Cleber, if that made sense. Though the title ‘Lady Schneider’ is much more well-known than her original name.

 

Nicholas stared at her a little longer before turning back to Kristoff.

 

“Royal College……?”

 

Kristoff nodded a second later. He wanted to disclose the fact that he was Marianne’s husband. He wanted to claim his ownership of her so that no one could covet her.

 

However, he didn’t want to get out of Marianne’s eyes anymore. He was like a defendant waiting for his disposition. Perhaps, the verdict was one of these two things.

 

Divorce or reunion.

 

Dear Honorable Judge, he kindly asked for your leniency.

 

“I heard that Sir Kristoff is apparently the best lawyer in the capital, so is there any reason why you become the consultant to the Blauberg Police Agency?”

 

“There’s no impossible thing I can’t do, isn’t that so?”

 

“……”

 

Nicholas was utterly speechless upon the confident reply. Nothing was impossible. This was his territory after all.

 

The Schneider Family was like a reigning king in Blauberg, no one could disobey them. At that moment, Kristoff added in a whisper as if he were talking to himself.

 

“There are things I need to gain back here.”

 

He had to gain it back.

 

Nicholas, who threw a sideways glance at Marianne, turned to Kristoff again.

 

Commissioner’s instructions, the first name ‘Marianne’, white traces of the ring on her finger and Kristoff’s appearance.

 

Nicholas, who was a competent investigator, matched the quite convincing truth with just several pieces of clues. He added casually.

 

“Then why did you pressure the judge to dismiss Timon’s bail?”

 

“!”

 

Marianne’s eyes opened widely at the unexpected news. Timon, if it was not the name of a jeweler robber. She casted Kristoff a questioning look.

 

Timon.

 

He looked at Nicholas with a cold, stiff gaze. Kristoff’s expression changed by the mere mention of his name.

 

Even Nicholas, who met all kinds of criminals while working as a detective for fifteen years, was intimidated.

 

“I don’t know. I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

 

However, Kristoff’s voice was languidly indifferent as it slipped out through his teeth. At the same time, Marianne released a faint exclamation.

 

“Oh.”

 

Kristoff’s voice, who threatened that he would kill the son of a b*tch, resonated in her ears.

 

Perhaps, that was the reason? Because Timon hurt her? Was that why he pressured the judge to not accept the man’s bail?

 

Marianne looked at him, eyes sparked uncertainty. Kristoff slowly turned his gaze at her. The eyes of the two eyes met.

 

As though the night sky and the universe, extremely vast and deep that the ends couldn’t be discovered, black and blue eyes were tangled together.

 

“……”

 

Just as Marianne’s eyes were shaking.

 

“Mr. Lawyer!”

 

Someone hurriedly entered the police station with a scream. An uninvited guest who was looking around with a pool of sweat and made a beeline right upon spotting Kristoff.

 

All eyes were on Kristoff. Marianne immediately recognized who the owner of the voice was without even having to turn her head.

 

Oliver Engel.

 

Kristoff’s aide, his hands and feet. He strode closer with a mixture of resentment, joy, and relief on his face.

 

Kristoff’s eyebrows twitched. Subtle enough that only Marianne was able to notice it.

 

There have been such things happening from time to time. Kristoff was generally aloof and expressionless. In other words, he wasn’t the type of person who showed their feelings through their face.

 

He was probably educated that way from a young age. She also trained not to show her feelings after becoming Lady Schneider.

 

However, she noticed subtle ripples in his emotions sometimes. From his wiggling eyebrows, twitching eyes, and the way he tried to keep his lips still.

 

And what he just felt was annoyance. Marianne’s lips twitched in one moment. As though eyeing a naughty child.

 

“Mr. Lawyer.”

 

Oliver’s breathing could be heard when she stood close to him. Compared to the last time I saw him, his face had become thinner, he must have suffered a lot of trouble.

 

Marianne seemed guilty towards him as she assumed it was her fault. Oliver, who spotted her, opened his eyes wide.

 

“Lady Sch……!”

 

“Let’s go out and talk.”

 

Preventing Oliver’s mouth from speaking any further and screaming, “Please excuse us first.” Kristoff spoke to Nicholas.

 

Did he help her by cutting off Oliver who was about to call her?

 

Marianne sighed as she stared at Kristoff’s back as he left the office. She couldn’t figure out what was in his mind.

 

“All right, then.”

 

Nicholas returned his gaze to Marianne and pointed to the desk piled up with papers. Marianne, who guessed the words waiting in his throat, took a deep breath with a determined face.

 

It seemed that she had to organize the documents for the rest of the day.

 

“I want you to write a case report, Marianne. It’s your case after all, so wouldn’t it be better for you to finish it?”