try begging

When he reached Witheridge Station at full speed, the clock read 11:20. With just over 20 minutes left until the local train arrived, Leon called the stationmaster to discuss the operation.

It was 11:42. Even though the scheduled time had passed, the train hadn't arrived. Grace, who had been standing by the window of the train station lobby overlooking the platform, waiting anxiously, suddenly asked.

"Is this how you felt every time you chased after us and missed?"

Why would she ask something like that? Leon smiled bitterly and replied,

 "It's here."

As the sound of a railroad crossing bell came from afar, Grace tightened her grip on his arm. Soon, the train appeared, its whistle blowing long and loud.

"You stay here."

Leon put his sunglasses back on and headed towards the platform entrance where plainclothes soldiers were waiting.

As the train came to a complete stop, he nodded to the station attendant on the platform. A subordinate dressed as a station attendant started checking the compartments, starting from the first-class.

The train would only be at Witheridge Station for 5 minutes. Within that time, he had to determine the status and location of Ellie and Wilkins and decide whether to proceed with the rescue operation. If a rescue operation was not feasible, he would have to board the train to try again later.

He had to do all this without arousing Wilkins' suspicion.

Three mechanics were waiting for his instructions in a corner of the lobby. If necessary, he planned to gain time by pretending to repair the locomotive.

A subordinate, who had been naturally greeting passengers with a tip of his hat whenever their eyes met, stopped in front of one compartment.

He had told them to pass by and signal if they found Wilkins, but the subordinate stood there.

'What the hell is he doing?'

The guy passed the compartment a beat late and slowly drew his gun, looking at Leon with a bewildered expression. In that instant, his heart sank.

What was happening inside that made him do that? As a bad feeling crept in, he took off his sunglasses and ran.

Reaching the compartment, he drew his gun from the holster and leaned against the door. He looked at the subordinate dressed as a station attendant and asked with his eyes what was wrong. The guy put his hands together as if in prayer and placed them on one side of his face.

'What?'

He mouthed the question, pretending to be asleep.

'The kid?'

The subordinate shook his head.

'That can't be right?'

Leon turned and cautiously looked inside the window. When he saw the unbelievable sight in front of him, his narrow eyes widened.

Unbelievable.

Nancy Wilkins had her eyes closed. Leaning against the wall with her limbs limp, she looked as if she were fast asleep.

Ellie was sitting opposite her, munching on a muffin from a paper bag on her lap. She seemed unharmed.

Their eyes met when Ellie looked up. The child's eyes widened and her chocolate-smeared lips curled into a wide grin.

"Shh."

Before Ellie could call out to him, he raised a finger to his lips and gestured to the subordinate standing beside him. Just as the door swung open, Nancy Wilkins made a sound as if she were waking up.

Leon quickly pointed his gun at Wilkins and gestured for Ellie to come. The child jumped off her seat and ran towards him with her arms wide open.

Three short steps. Those brief moments felt like an eternity to Leon.

He snatched Ellie up in one arm as she approached. As soon as his daughter was in his arms, he turned and walked towards the platform exit. The waiting soldiers ran past him.

"You're so brave. You waited so well without crying."

"Sniff, sniff..."

As soon as he praised her for being brave and not crying, the child began to sniffle.

"Why? What's..."

Just as he was about to ask if she was hurt, a hand covered in muffin crumbs grabbed his tie.

"Ellie, sniff, won't buy candy, okay? I won't be greedy. So don't go anywhere, sniff."

Why was she saying that? Leon's eyes narrowed.

"Daddy likes it when you're greedy."

Leon put the gun he was holding in his right hand into his holster and wrapped his arms around his daughter. As he patted her back, the child smiled with teary eyes.

The woman with the sea-green eyes had a strange ability. The ability to dull his hardened heart.

"Nancy Wilkins, you're under arrest."

"Get up now!"

The noise coming from behind him seemed to grow farther and farther away. Ellie's breath and voice, which had once seemed so distant, were now close.

"Daddy smells good."

Ellie, who had been sniffling, wrapped her small hand around his neck and pressed her cheek against his. A warm sensation spread to him.

It was proof that his heart was beating. It was a natural thing, but it didn't feel natural.

Leon took a deep breath. A sweet scent filled his lungs and even reached his heart.

The meaning of life and death that he had felt from the terrible smell of blood was also carried by the pure scent of the living child.

Within the sensation that the child's life gave him, the anxiety about life and death that had tormented him all his life melted away like the perpetual snow under the summer sun.

"Ellie!" Grace, who was at the train station, ran towards her. The child turned around and leaned towards her mother, bursting into tears that seemed to shake the entire platform.

"Mommy!"

Leon handed Ellie over to Grace as he had promised the night before. The two hugged each other tightly, their faces wet with tears.

"Mommy, hic, you said you'd be back soon! Why did you take so long? Ellie was scared."

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"Ellie's super angry! No kisses for you today. Never."

The child, clinging to her mother like a baby koala, turned her head away. She seemed to have decided that the fact she had showered her mother with kisses just a moment ago was now a thing of the past.

It's okay. For now, I'm just glad I can hear her voice.

Leon and Grace smiled wryly and kissed the child's head. Their eyes met across the golden, round head, like an apple. Suddenly feeling a sense of déjà vu, they looked deeply into each other's eyes. They saw their long journey reflected in each other's gaze. When passersby began to look at them with curious eyes, Leon had to put his sunglasses back on. Ellie, who was sobbing in her mother's arms like a baby, covered herself with his trench coat.

"Muffin! My baby." As soon as they got into the sedan parked in front of the station, Ellie grabbed her bunny doll.

"That's dirty. Don't hold it."

"No, I don't want to."

Grace told her not to hold the doll that was soaked in dirty water, forgetting that she had been hugging it and crying just a moment ago. As soon as she got her daughter back, she was already acting like the perfect mother. Reassured, Leon did not get in the car.

"I need to clean up the scene, so go to the hotel first." Her mother nodded, but the child grabbed the end of his shirt.

"Where's Daddy going?" Grace tried to soothe the child who had her eyebrows furrowed.

"Daddy has to go to work." As far as Ellie knew, her father was unemployed.

"Yeah, thanks to you, I have work." Though it wasn't the kind of work you're thinking of. Leon patted the child who was grinning and was about to pull his head back into the car when he was grabbed again.

 This time, it was Grace who grabbed him. She pulled on his tie and kissed him. It was similar to the kiss they shared in the pouring rain just a few days ago, but somehow he felt it was different.

"Why not Ellie too?"

Ellie's pouty lips interrupted their kiss. Grace awkwardly chuckled and brushed the muffin crumbs off his navy blue tie, smoothing out the wrinkles she'd made before letting go.

Leon closed the car door and nodded to the driver. Inside the moving car, the child waved at him.

The scene from three hours ago overlapped with the present moment. A mix of emotions flooded him.

And that wasn't all. From the moment he held his child again, countless emotions that had accumulated along with his past memories swirled like a tempest below a cliff, rising and intertwining every moment. Instead of being confusing, it was refreshing.

For the first time, Leon was able to look back on the past with calm eyes.

The first thing he noticed was the beginning of it all. As Grace had said, the street vendor in front of the train station was still selling the same items from his memories.

It was the chocolate that Daisy from the orange tree had given him.

"Ugh..."

Nancy came to her senses with a splitting headache.

Wake up. It's dangerous.

A voice from the depths of her hazy consciousness called out. But she couldn't move her body at all.

Just as she felt cold, she smelled something like burning wood. As her consciousness gradually returned, she remembered that it was the smell of a cigar.

And then she realized that her neck was twisted to the side. She tried to lift her hand to rub the sore spot, but there was a clanging sound of metal. Her wrist was pulled and tingled.

Her hands were tied.

Nancy's eyes flew open in shock. In the middle of her dark and blurry vision, a dark figure stood like a grim reaper.

"Hello, Nancy."

A strange man called out to her in a low voice. There was a sharp hostility in his soft tone.

"I hope it's not rude to call you Nancy. Grace calls you that. Grace's friend is my friend. Or should I say, my enemy now?"

Hearing the name Grace, she realized. The man in front of her was Winston.

What was going on?

Fragments of her memory, with parts missing, came back to her. She remembered being dragged along with her arms tied. There was a moment when she thought it was the end. She was so frustrated that her body wouldn't move.

How did this happen? What on earth happened?

Amidst her confusion, Winston's face became clearer.

"Wilkins and Winston have a really terrible relationship. I have no desire to get so entangled with such lowly people. It's quite disgusting."

This was an interrogation room surrounded by gray walls. They had brought her here to torture her since there was nothing more to learn from her. Realizing her situation, Nancy didn't respond to Winston's insults.

"You tortured my father to death, sent a spy to me, and kidnapped my child. I have a serious question for you. You're the ones who harmed us while we were minding our own business, so why are you acting like the victims? Shame on you."

"......"

"I can disappear, but you have to stay. You're just the oppressed, and I'm the ruler who sucks the life out of the oppressed."

Winston chuckled, and smoke escaped from the corner of his lips. He took another drag of his cigar and looked at Nancy with a contemptuous gaze, as if he could see right through her.

"It reminds me of when I sat face-to-face with your brother, Fred."

Winston recounted how he had called Fred a coward, how he had been tortured as soon as his identity was revealed, and even how he was lured out of the hideout and 'stupidly' ended up as a corpse in a ditch. It was disgusting. She wanted to vomit, to scream obscenities.

Hold it in, Nancy. Please hold it in. 

Winston's detailed and cruel recounting of Fred's fate felt like a provocation. If she didn't want to fall into his trap and be slaughtered, she had to endure it.

"I usually don't go that far, you know. I was so blinded by excitement and anger back then that I couldn't see anything. Or so I thought." Winston emphasized the past tense.

"But when I found out that your father was the one who killed my father, I started to think. I should have kept Fred alive. I should have kept him alive until your father came and offered his own neck, so I could kill him slowly."

The cruel descriptions had ceased, but the longer the man in front of her rambled, the more anxious Nancy became. She had heard that Winston, after going on and on with seemingly irrelevant talk, would suddenly transform into the vampire of Camden, using it as a pretext for torture.

"Nancy, what do you think? Will your father sacrifice everything for his child? I'm still curious if that great family love is real."

Pausing as if waiting for an answer, Winston sneered.

"Wilkins is truly remarkable. His brother spilled the beans before the newspaper even started properly, and his sister is being manipulated by a mere 33-month-old girl."

"What?"

Nancy couldn't keep silent at that moment.

"You didn't know, but my daughter speaks Nordic."

She finally understood why that little devil had been teasing people on the train. When she heard that she had asked a Nordic woman at the pharmacy for help to call the police, Nancy was belatedly frustrated and angry.

"And she said the milk was bitter and swapped it with yours. She has a sensitive palate, just like me."

This time, she felt miserable. Even before falling asleep and after waking up, she hadn't even thought that such a young child would give her medicine.

"You're sloppy. To be defeated by a mere 33-month-old. Well, I know. It's hard to beat a genius, even at 33 months. I've been stumped too.."

As she closed her eyes tightly and bowed her head in despair, she heard a short, amused laugh.

"Now's not the time for this." Nancy steeled her resolve. "I need to get out of this situation first. Is there anything I can sell to that writer?"

She was pondering this with her head bowed when she heard a sound.

Scrape.

She heard the sound of a chair being pulled back from the table. Looking up, she saw Winston standing up. The half-smoked cigar was mockingly dumped into the milk glass in front of Nancy.

"Now, shall we discuss your crimes?"

What? Already? Nancy jerked her head up, and Winston smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

"Why the surprise? Are you surprised that I'm starting the punishment before my speech is over?" She was caught off guard again. She had assumed she could predict his behavior.

"Actually, I'm in a bit of a hurry. I want to go home before my daughter goes to sleep."

Click.

His cufflinks landed on the table. The bloodthirsty vampire, with a smile of a good father diligently working for his daughter, began to roll up his sleeves.

"C-Colonel..."

Whatever I had to say, I had to say it to avoid torture. But no matter what she said, Winston didn't even seem to hear her and just kept talking.

*Thwack.*

The end of the riding crop struck the first knuckle of her right index finger.

"For ruining our family's first Christmas."

*Thwack.*

The crop landed on the second knuckle of her right index finger.

"For turning my daughter's first circus visit into a nightmare."

For kidnapping my daughter and Grace. For pulling out Grace's nails. For beating Grace. For ordering the rape of Grace. For taking my child from Grace. For pointing a gun at my daughter. For pressing down on my daughter's head. For making both of them cry.

Winston, who had been intimidating her by endlessly listing her crimes and striking her knuckles one by one, clicked his tongue in disapproval.

"We'll be up all night at this rate. My daughter will be waiting."

He was about to start the torture. Nancy, whose hands were trembling uncontrollably, begged.

"I didn't mean to hurt Ellie. I did twisted things out of love for my father, but I never hit Ellie or starved her, and I-"

Winston's expression suddenly turned fierce, and the whip slashed through the air, striking her lip. "Who are you to call my daughter by name?"

She could taste the coppery taste of blood from her split lip. Nancy swallowed her humiliation and anger and raised her head.

"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to hurt her..."

"Campbell, what do you think? She says she didn't mean to hurt her?"

*Thwack.*

A young officer standing beside Winston placed a bottle of disinfectant in front of Nancy's eyes. The officer then took a bandage from his briefcase and placed it on the table. They were all items Nancy had bought.

"I was using this to treat my wound..."

"I'll have the medic come in."

The young officer informed Winston, who was putting on black leather gloves, and left the room. 

It was obvious without asking that he wasn't calling him to treat her wounds. Nancy's hands began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Sir, please!" As soon as she opened her mouth, a wad of bandage was stuffed inside.

"Everyone's jaw gets dislocated. They grit their teeth and endure. It might seem considerate, but the sound of a rat squeaking is just annoying. Don't get the wrong idea." Winston smiled wickedly and opened the bag the officer had left behind. When a pair of long, sharp-looking handles appeared from inside, Nancy pushed her chair back in terror.

"Don't be so scared. I'm just going to trim your nails."

"Ugh, ugh..."

"Wait, did I say nails? Sorry, I misspoke. I meant bolt cutters." Winston raised not nippers, but bolt cutters used for cutting locks.

When he reached Witheridge Station at full speed, the clock read 11:20. With just over 20 minutes left until the local train arrived, Leon called the stationmaster to discuss the operation.

It was 11:42. Even though the scheduled time had passed, the train hadn't arrived. Grace, who had been standing by the window of the train station lobby overlooking the platform, waiting anxiously, suddenly asked.

"Is this how you felt every time you chased after us and missed?"

Why would she ask something like that? Leon smiled bitterly and replied,

 "It's here."

As the sound of a railroad crossing bell came from afar, Grace tightened her grip on his arm. Soon, the train appeared, its whistle blowing long and loud.

"You stay here."

Leon put his sunglasses back on and headed towards the platform entrance where plainclothes soldiers were waiting.

As the train came to a complete stop, he nodded to the station attendant on the platform. A subordinate dressed as a station attendant started checking the compartments, starting from the first-class.

The train would only be at Witheridge Station for 5 minutes. Within that time, he had to determine the status and location of Ellie and Wilkins and decide whether to proceed with the rescue operation. If a rescue operation was not feasible, he would have to board the train to try again later.

He had to do all this without arousing Wilkins' suspicion.

Three mechanics were waiting for his instructions in a corner of the lobby. If necessary, he planned to gain time by pretending to repair the locomotive.

A subordinate, who had been naturally greeting passengers with a tip of his hat whenever their eyes met, stopped in front of one compartment.

He had told them to pass by and signal if they found Wilkins, but the subordinate stood there.

'What the hell is he doing?'

The guy passed the compartment a beat late and slowly drew his gun, looking at Leon with a bewildered expression. In that instant, his heart sank.

What was happening inside that made him do that? As a bad feeling crept in, he took off his sunglasses and ran.

Reaching the compartment, he drew his gun from the holster and leaned against the door. He looked at the subordinate dressed as a station attendant and asked with his eyes what was wrong. The guy put his hands together as if in prayer and placed them on one side of his face.

'What?'

He mouthed the question, pretending to be asleep.

'The kid?'

The subordinate shook his head.

'That can't be right?'

Leon turned and cautiously looked inside the window. When he saw the unbelievable sight in front of him, his narrow eyes widened.

Unbelievable.

Nancy Wilkins had her eyes closed. Leaning against the wall with her limbs limp, she looked as if she were fast asleep.

Ellie was sitting opposite her, munching on a muffin from a paper bag on her lap. She seemed unharmed.

Their eyes met when Ellie looked up. The child's eyes widened and her chocolate-smeared lips curled into a wide grin.

"Shh."

Before Ellie could call out to him, he raised a finger to his lips and gestured to the subordinate standing beside him. Just as the door swung open, Nancy Wilkins made a sound as if she were waking up.

Leon quickly pointed his gun at Wilkins and gestured for Ellie to come. The child jumped off her seat and ran towards him with her arms wide open.

Three short steps. Those brief moments felt like an eternity to Leon.

He snatched Ellie up in one arm as she approached. As soon as his daughter was in his arms, he turned and walked towards the platform exit. The waiting soldiers ran past him.

"You're so brave. You waited so well without crying."

"Sniff, sniff..."

As soon as he praised her for being brave and not crying, the child began to sniffle.

"Why? What's..."

Just as he was about to ask if she was hurt, a hand covered in muffin crumbs grabbed his tie.

"Ellie, sniff, won't buy candy, okay? I won't be greedy. So don't go anywhere, sniff."

Why was she saying that? Leon's eyes narrowed.

"Daddy likes it when you're greedy."

Leon put the gun he was holding in his right hand into his holster and wrapped his arms around his daughter. As he patted her back, the child smiled with teary eyes.

The woman with the sea-green eyes had a strange ability. The ability to dull his hardened heart.

"Nancy Wilkins, you're under arrest."

"Get up now!"

The noise coming from behind him seemed to grow farther and farther away. Ellie's breath and voice, which had once seemed so distant, were now close.

"Daddy smells good."

Ellie, who had been sniffling, wrapped her small hand around his neck and pressed her cheek against his. A warm sensation spread to him.

It was proof that his heart was beating. It was a natural thing, but it didn't feel natural.

Leon took a deep breath. A sweet scent filled his lungs and even reached his heart.

The meaning of life and death that he had felt from the terrible smell of blood was also carried by the pure scent of the living child.

Within the sensation that the child's life gave him, the anxiety about life and death that had tormented him all his life melted away like the perpetual snow under the summer sun.

"Ellie!" Grace, who was at the train station, ran towards her. The child turned around and leaned towards her mother, bursting into tears that seemed to shake the entire platform.

"Mommy!"

Leon handed Ellie over to Grace as he had promised the night before. The two hugged each other tightly, their faces wet with tears.

"Mommy, hic, you said you'd be back soon! Why did you take so long? Ellie was scared."

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"Ellie's super angry! No kisses for you today. Never."

The child, clinging to her mother like a baby koala, turned her head away. She seemed to have decided that the fact she had showered her mother with kisses just a moment ago was now a thing of the past.

It's okay. For now, I'm just glad I can hear her voice.

Leon and Grace smiled wryly and kissed the child's head. Their eyes met across the golden, round head, like an apple. Suddenly feeling a sense of déjà vu, they looked deeply into each other's eyes. They saw their long journey reflected in each other's gaze. When passersby began to look at them with curious eyes, Leon had to put his sunglasses back on. Ellie, who was sobbing in her mother's arms like a baby, covered herself with his trench coat.

"Muffin! My baby." As soon as they got into the sedan parked in front of the station, Ellie grabbed her bunny doll.

"That's dirty. Don't hold it."

"No, I don't want to."

Grace told her not to hold the doll that was soaked in dirty water, forgetting that she had been hugging it and crying just a moment ago. As soon as she got her daughter back, she was already acting like the perfect mother. Reassured, Leon did not get in the car.

"I need to clean up the scene, so go to the hotel first." Her mother nodded, but the child grabbed the end of his shirt.

"Where's Daddy going?" Grace tried to soothe the child who had her eyebrows furrowed.

"Daddy has to go to work." As far as Ellie knew, her father was unemployed.

"Yeah, thanks to you, I have work." Though it wasn't the kind of work you're thinking of. Leon patted the child who was grinning and was about to pull his head back into the car when he was grabbed again.

 This time, it was Grace who grabbed him. She pulled on his tie and kissed him. It was similar to the kiss they shared in the pouring rain just a few days ago, but somehow he felt it was different.

"Why not Ellie too?"

Ellie's pouty lips interrupted their kiss. Grace awkwardly chuckled and brushed the muffin crumbs off his navy blue tie, smoothing out the wrinkles she'd made before letting go.

Leon closed the car door and nodded to the driver. Inside the moving car, the child waved at him.

The scene from three hours ago overlapped with the present moment. A mix of emotions flooded him.

And that wasn't all. From the moment he held his child again, countless emotions that had accumulated along with his past memories swirled like a tempest below a cliff, rising and intertwining every moment. Instead of being confusing, it was refreshing.

For the first time, Leon was able to look back on the past with calm eyes.

The first thing he noticed was the beginning of it all. As Grace had said, the street vendor in front of the train station was still selling the same items from his memories.

It was the chocolate that Daisy from the orange tree had given him.

"Ugh..."

Nancy came to her senses with a splitting headache.

Wake up. It's dangerous.

A voice from the depths of her hazy consciousness called out. But she couldn't move her body at all.

Just as she felt cold, she smelled something like burning wood. As her consciousness gradually returned, she remembered that it was the smell of a cigar.

And then she realized that her neck was twisted to the side. She tried to lift her hand to rub the sore spot, but there was a clanging sound of metal. Her wrist was pulled and tingled.

Her hands were tied.

Nancy's eyes flew open in shock. In the middle of her dark and blurry vision, a dark figure stood like a grim reaper.

"Hello, Nancy."

A strange man called out to her in a low voice. There was a sharp hostility in his soft tone.

"I hope it's not rude to call you Nancy. Grace calls you that. Grace's friend is my friend. Or should I say, my enemy now?"

Hearing the name Grace, she realized. The man in front of her was Winston.

What was going on?

Fragments of her memory, with parts missing, came back to her. She remembered being dragged along with her arms tied. There was a moment when she thought it was the end. She was so frustrated that her body wouldn't move.

How did this happen? What on earth happened?

Amidst her confusion, Winston's face became clearer.

"Wilkins and Winston have a really terrible relationship. I have no desire to get so entangled with such lowly people. It's quite disgusting."

This was an interrogation room surrounded by gray walls. They had brought her here to torture her since there was nothing more to learn from her. Realizing her situation, Nancy didn't respond to Winston's insults.

"You tortured my father to death, sent a spy to me, and kidnapped my child. I have a serious question for you. You're the ones who harmed us while we were minding our own business, so why are you acting like the victims? Shame on you."

"......"

"I can disappear, but you have to stay. You're just the oppressed, and I'm the ruler who sucks the life out of the oppressed."

Winston chuckled, and smoke escaped from the corner of his lips. He took another drag of his cigar and looked at Nancy with a contemptuous gaze, as if he could see right through her.

"It reminds me of when I sat face-to-face with your brother, Fred."

Winston recounted how he had called Fred a coward, how he had been tortured as soon as his identity was revealed, and even how he was lured out of the hideout and 'stupidly' ended up as a corpse in a ditch. It was disgusting. She wanted to vomit, to scream obscenities.

Hold it in, Nancy. Please hold it in. 

Winston's detailed and cruel recounting of Fred's fate felt like a provocation. If she didn't want to fall into his trap and be slaughtered, she had to endure it.

"I usually don't go that far, you know. I was so blinded by excitement and anger back then that I couldn't see anything. Or so I thought." Winston emphasized the past tense.

"But when I found out that your father was the one who killed my father, I started to think. I should have kept Fred alive. I should have kept him alive until your father came and offered his own neck, so I could kill him slowly."

The cruel descriptions had ceased, but the longer the man in front of her rambled, the more anxious Nancy became. She had heard that Winston, after going on and on with seemingly irrelevant talk, would suddenly transform into the vampire of Camden, using it as a pretext for torture.

"Nancy, what do you think? Will your father sacrifice everything for his child? I'm still curious if that great family love is real."

Pausing as if waiting for an answer, Winston sneered.

"Wilkins is truly remarkable. His brother spilled the beans before the newspaper even started properly, and his sister is being manipulated by a mere 33-month-old girl."

"What?"

Nancy couldn't keep silent at that moment.

"You didn't know, but my daughter speaks Nordic."

She finally understood why that little devil had been teasing people on the train. When she heard that she had asked a Nordic woman at the pharmacy for help to call the police, Nancy was belatedly frustrated and angry.

"And she said the milk was bitter and swapped it with yours. She has a sensitive palate, just like me."

This time, she felt miserable. Even before falling asleep and after waking up, she hadn't even thought that such a young child would give her medicine.

"You're sloppy. To be defeated by a mere 33-month-old. Well, I know. It's hard to beat a genius, even at 33 months. I've been stumped too.."

As she closed her eyes tightly and bowed her head in despair, she heard a short, amused laugh.

"Now's not the time for this." Nancy steeled her resolve. "I need to get out of this situation first. Is there anything I can sell to that writer?"

She was pondering this with her head bowed when she heard a sound.

Scrape.

She heard the sound of a chair being pulled back from the table. Looking up, she saw Winston standing up. The half-smoked cigar was mockingly dumped into the milk glass in front of Nancy.

"Now, shall we discuss your crimes?"

What? Already? Nancy jerked her head up, and Winston smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

"Why the surprise? Are you surprised that I'm starting the punishment before my speech is over?" She was caught off guard again. She had assumed she could predict his behavior.

"Actually, I'm in a bit of a hurry. I want to go home before my daughter goes to sleep."

Click.

His cufflinks landed on the table. The bloodthirsty vampire, with a smile of a good father diligently working for his daughter, began to roll up his sleeves.

"C-Colonel..."

Whatever I had to say, I had to say it to avoid torture. But no matter what she said, Winston didn't even seem to hear her and just kept talking.

*Thwack.*

The end of the riding crop struck the first knuckle of her right index finger.

"For ruining our family's first Christmas."

*Thwack.*

The crop landed on the second knuckle of her right index finger.

"For turning my daughter's first circus visit into a nightmare."

For kidnapping my daughter and Grace. For pulling out Grace's nails. For beating Grace. For ordering the rape of Grace. For taking my child from Grace. For pointing a gun at my daughter. For pressing down on my daughter's head. For making both of them cry.

Winston, who had been intimidating her by endlessly listing her crimes and striking her knuckles one by one, clicked his tongue in disapproval.

"We'll be up all night at this rate. My daughter will be waiting."

He was about to start the torture. Nancy, whose hands were trembling uncontrollably, begged.

"I didn't mean to hurt Ellie. I did twisted things out of love for my father, but I never hit Ellie or starved her, and I-"

Winston's expression suddenly turned fierce, and the whip slashed through the air, striking her lip. "Who are you to call my daughter by name?"

She could taste the coppery taste of blood from her split lip. Nancy swallowed her humiliation and anger and raised her head.

"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to hurt her..."

"Campbell, what do you think? She says she didn't mean to hurt her?"

*Thwack.*

A young officer standing beside Winston placed a bottle of disinfectant in front of Nancy's eyes. The officer then took a bandage from his briefcase and placed it on the table. They were all items Nancy had bought.

"I was using this to treat my wound..."

"I'll have the medic come in."

The young officer informed Winston, who was putting on black leather gloves, and left the room. 

It was obvious without asking that he wasn't calling him to treat her wounds. Nancy's hands began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Sir, please!" As soon as she opened her mouth, a wad of bandage was stuffed inside.

"Everyone's jaw gets dislocated. They grit their teeth and endure. It might seem considerate, but the sound of a rat squeaking is just annoying. Don't get the wrong idea." Winston smiled wickedly and opened the bag the officer had left behind. When a pair of long, sharp-looking handles appeared from inside, Nancy pushed her chair back in terror.

"Don't be so scared. I'm just going to trim your nails."

"Ugh, ugh..."

"Wait, did I say nails? Sorry, I misspoke. I meant bolt cutters." Winston raised not nippers, but bolt cutters used for cutting locks.