Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 73

[Translated By Divinity]

Damian eagerly laid out various pistols before Lilliana and urged her to choose one. Feeling indifferent, she fiddled with a few of them. But when Damian noticed her hesitation, he asked her a few questions, narrowed down the choices, consulted with the store clerk, and finally picked one out and paid for it.

Lilliana, whose mind was now filled with complex thoughts despite having just bought a single pistol, looked at Damian curiously as he headed in a different direction than their home.

“Where are we going?”

“Huh? To the police station, of course, to get a gun license. We don’t want any trouble for carrying it around without a permit. You brought your ID, right?”

Lilliana still wasn’t thrilled about it but followed Damian as he walked. However, she still seemed troubled and grumbled in a low voice,

“I hired a bodyguard, do I really need to carry this around too…? With Damian here…”

Damian turned around. Their eyes met, and Lilliana pouted and complained,

“You’re supposed to protect me, why do I need to carry this thing around?”

“Yes, you do.”

Damian’s voice was unexpectedly firm.

“First of all, my arm isn’t fully functional yet. I can bend and extend it a few days after getting the prosthetic, but I don’t know when or to what extent its functionality will improve. So if you encounter a dangerous situation in the meantime, I might not be able to protect you. Like when we met that Ray person yesterday.”

Damian raised his second finger and continued,

“And even if my arm regains full function, I can’t be with you 24/7. You wouldn’t want to have no personal time at all, would you?”

Lilliana imagined Damian following her even to the bathroom and shuddered.

“I don’t know about when I’m with you, but please carry it with you when I’m not around.”

Lilliana couldn’t refute Damian’s words, as they made perfect sense.

But whether she could actually shoot someone with the gun was a different matter. She frowned deeply and said,

“But I don’t have the confidence to shoot anyone with this, Damian. I’ve never hurt anyone before.”

Damian paused, his face contemplative. Lilliana looked up at him, and his blue-gray eyes met hers.

“Lilliana.”

“Yes?”

“I can’t imagine you shooting someone either. It doesn’t suit you.”

His inner thoughts, faintly reflected in his blue-gray eyes, seemed a bit complex.

“So I’ll try my best to prevent situations where you have to use a gun. It’s just… insurance. It’s not that I don’t trust you. I don’t trust myself. So, Lilliana…”

Damian looked back and forth between Lilliana, who was hugging the boxed pistol, and the box itself, then said,

“Could you please accept it as a gift from a friend? It doesn’t have any special meaning. Just keep it with you.”

Damian’s voice was filled with apology and guilt. Lilliana wondered why he felt that way. Then she realized it was because of her childish complaints and felt ashamed.

She and Pascal were the ones who had asked him to be her bodyguard. So Damian was just doing his job to the best of his ability.

Not everyone had the guts to pull a trigger. Damian knew that better than anyone. Still, he had given her the gun because he wasn’t confident in himself, and the guilt was probably all his.

Lilliana lowered her head, her face flushed.

“…Okay.”

Damian, perhaps misunderstanding her reaction, bent down to her eye level and asked cautiously,

“Lilliana, are you upset?”

“What? No, not at all!”

She raised her head, and Damian looked flustered, as if worried that she was angry at him. So Lilliana quickly waved her hands and hugged the box containing the pistol tightly.

“I understand what you meant, Damian! You’re absolutely right! I was just scared. I’ll keep it with me since you chose it for me.”

“I see.”

Damian’s face brightened in relief, but Lilliana was still trying to hide her mixed feelings. As Damian started walking again, Lilliana walked beside him. He remained silent for a while, then asked awkwardly,

“If we have some more time, there’s a place I’d like to go after visiting the police station… It might be a bit far, though. Is that okay with you?”

It was surprising that Damian was the one suggesting a place to go. But since he had suddenly asked for her time and taken her to a gun shop, she had a feeling this wouldn’t be a romantic outing either.

Lilliana asked him suspiciously,

“Where do you want to go?”

“There’s a place on the outskirts of the capital with a beautiful field. It’s far from the bustling city and undeveloped, so there aren’t many people around. If we go there, it’ll probably just be the two of us.”

Just from his description, it sounded like he was suggesting a picnic. And a beautiful field, no less. It was truly surprising for Damian to suggest such a place. Lilliana’s lips curled up in excitement.

“Okay! Where is it?”

Seeing Lilliana smile, Damian also smiled. They got their gun permits and boarded the tram heading to the place Damian had mentioned.

***

“You trickster! I thought we were going on a fun outing!”

Lilliana grumbled as the muzzle flash from the newly purchased pistol lit up. She pouted and aimed at a target drawn on a tree some distance away.

“Oh…”

Lilliana couldn’t help but sigh when she saw that she hadn’t even hit the center of the target, let alone leave a bullet mark. Damian nodded beside her, encouraging her.

“Right now, it’s better to focus on your posture than hitting the target! Once you develop bad habits, they’re hard to fix!”

The gunshot was quite loud, so Damian had to practically shout to be heard over the ringing in Lilliana’s ears.

“And I have one question. Why am I a trickster?! I never said we were going on a fun outing!”

Lilliana said, her cheeks flushed.

“You said it was a beautiful field, so of course I thought it was a picnic!”

Damian looked around. Blooming wildflowers, lush green grass, and young trees with delicate leaves. It was a picturesque meadow, straight out of a painting, leaving Damian dumbfounded.

“Isn’t it beautiful?!”

“Yes, it’s beautiful! It’s beautiful, but!”

Lilliana’s voice was filled with frustration.

“I didn’t expect to practice shooting a gun in a place like this!”

“I chose this field because there’s no one around, so even if there’s an accidental discharge, no one will get hurt!”

“Forget it.”

She reluctantly held the revolver Damian had given her, turning it over in her hands, and then grumbled, looking at the intact target.

“Besides, I don’t even know if I’m holding it correctly.”

At her words, Damian took out his gun from his holster and casually held it in his right hand. Lilliana’s eyes widened.

“You can move your fingers?”

Damian shook his head and bent each finger of his right hand with his left.

“It’s just a slight twitch. I can’t bend and straighten them yet. But it’s not difficult to make a fist, so…”

Damian looked at his right hand holding the gun with his left and nodded in satisfaction.

“I can’t actually shoot yet because I don’t have enough strength in my right hand, but I can at least show you the proper posture.”