Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 132

As Lilliana was about to swing her leg again, Damian slipped his arms under her armpits and lifted her off the ground.

“That’s enough. It seems like Casey understands to some extent…”

“Eek!”

Lilliana struggled in the air, then, realizing she couldn’t win against Damian, went limp. Instead, she stuck her tongue out at Casey.

“Hmph!”

Once Lilliana calmed down, Damian put her down. He helped Casey up and brushed the dirt off his clothes.

Lilliana glared at Casey once, then turned to Damian.

“Ah, and I want to add a few things to the request I made to you… I’ll even give you an extra fee if you want.”

At the mention of an extra fee, Damian tensed up, wondering what kind of extraordinary task it could be.

Lilliana held up her index finger towards Damian with a serious expression, adding a finger with each number as she counted,

“One, don’t die. Two, get my permission before doing anything dangerous. Three, cherish yourself as much as you do me.”

Damian blinked in confusion at Lilliana’s strange orders. She put her hands on her hips.

“You need to be more careful. I know everything. You’re doing a lot of dangerous things with brother Casey because of me, aren’t you?”

Casey and Damian feigned ignorance, but Lilliana knew they were experts at playing dumb. She sighed and continued, “I’m fine with you doing shady things. Those guys are doing shady things first. But I won’t tolerate you putting yourselves in danger.”

“Lilliana, I’m hired to…”

“That’s why! The client is saying she wants to change the terms of the contract! I don’t want anyone, whether it’s Damian or brother Casey, to get hurt or be in danger because of me! I didn’t hire you to put yourself at risk!

If you keep insisting on doing those things, I’ll fire you. Don’t worry about the money. I’ll give you a hefty severance pay.”

“Lilliana, that’s not what’s important right now.”

“Shut up. Will you follow what I said, or not?”

Damian reluctantly answered Lilliana’s grumpy question, “…I will.”

He didn’t want to upset Lilliana any further. He understood her intentions. He also wanted to follow her words if he could.

That’s why he agreed to follow her order, or rather, her non-order. Of course, he wisely didn’t mention that he couldn’t guarantee anything.

***

“When do I have to finish writing?”

Casey asked Lilliana on their way back home after getting off the tram near their house. Lilliana thought for a moment and replied casually,

“Whenever you have free time, I guess? Ah, of course, I’m not saying you shouldn’t rest at all. Write whenever you feel like it.”

“Then I don’t think I’ll feel like it for a while.”

Lilliana, who had already fallen for a similar wordplay tactic once, lightly grabbed his collar and shook him back and forth.

“Let me rephrase that. Since you seem to have nothing to do after this, when we get home, write for about three hours and then have me check it.”

“You want me to start today? That’s annoying,” Casey said with a rather aggrieved look.

“Then when will it stop being annoying? Tomorrow? The day after tomorrow? Three days from now?”

“I don’t know that either.”

Casey played dumb and stubbornly refused.

Lilliana ignored him for a while, then instead of heading towards the shared entrance of the building, she walked a few steps towards the entrance of the Rabbit’s Garden cafe next door.

Damian found it a bit strange that Lilliana was entering the cafe right after having tea with Soliel, but he quietly followed her. Lilliana pointed to the most secluded spot.

“Sit.”

It was a table for two, unsuitable for the three of them.

Lilliana didn’t sit down but pulled out a chair for Casey and had him sit. She pointed at him and said, “Write. Here. Now.”

“Why do I have to start today? I need some mental preparation!”

Casey made a feeble protest, but Lilliana waved her hand dismissively.

“You were fine with telling me the kraken story. It seems like you can just write down exactly what you told me, word for word. That shouldn’t be difficult, right?”

Lilliana chuckled, but Casey still had a sullen expression. Sighing at his reaction, Lilliana softened her voice and coaxed him.

“I want to draw pictures to go with your stories. Wouldn’t it be fun to have my drawings added to your amazing stories?”

Lilliana patted Casey’s back.

“I want to draw pictures like Mom…”

At those words, Casey’s expression suddenly changed. He looked at Lilliana with newfound motivation in his eyes and took out a notebook and pen from his bag.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier if that’s what you wanted to do?!”

He patted Lilliana’s shoulder a few times.

“Don’t worry, Lily. You’ll be able to draw even better than Mom!”

“Really? Thank you, brother.”

Lilliana looked touched. Casey nodded vigorously and got ready to write in earnest.

“I’ll be writing, so you rest in the meantime! The pictures you draw will be beautiful!”

“Okay, good luck, brother~”

Lilliana left the cafe with Damian, leaving Casey behind. Damian could hear the diligent scratching of a pencil behind him.

And as Lilliana intended, he offered his condolences to Casey, who was now at her mercy.

***

While waiting for the elevator after entering the apartment building, Lilliana sighed and asked Damian, “What do you think of brother now?”

“What do you mean?”

“About him constantly clinging to me. Isn’t it dangerous or difficult?”

Damian thought of Casey, who went out and came back injured every few days, and replied,

“To be honest, he’s overexerting himself because of you. He’s excessively focused on this matter. But I don’t think you need to worry too much. Casey probably won’t get caught. Even if that were to happen, there aren’t many who can harm him. It would be a different story if it were the wizard Seidel, but he can’t recklessly attack Casey. The fact that Casey has been fine so far despite going around alone is proof of that.”

Damian paused for a moment and then frowned slightly.

“I don’t know how this will sound to you, but Casey will be safe if he doesn’t get involved with you. If you’re worried about Casey, the best way is to separate him from you. Let him live his own life.”

“So brother is in danger because of me. Not just brother, but Annette and Mr. Asher too…”

Seeing Lilliana’s gloomy expression, Damian replied calmly, “I wasn’t blaming you. And it’s not because of you.”

He continued without changing his expression, “This situation isn’t your fault, and Casey doesn’t have to sacrifice himself to resolve it. I can handle it on my own.”

“What? You don’t have to sacrifice yourself either!”

Lilliana’s eyes widened, but Damian said nonchalantly, “But I was hired to do this.”

Lilliana was starting to get annoyed by this conversational pattern. Damian was mostly like this.

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