Try Begging

“Should I have let you shoot?”

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Leon put the revolver back into the drawer and closed it.
He didn’t lock it with a key.

Stealing would be a slightly bigger sin.
Besides, disobeying the master might be a felony within the walls of this mansion.
Could it be an excuse to break the rules and drag her to the torture chamber…?

Thinking that, he twisted his lips and narrowed his eyes sharply.

Bloodstains that were fading caught his gaze.

Perhaps, it was not the eyes.
Maybe… it was just the smell of blood.
So, even if she was another woman, would he be so lustful if she smelled of blood…?

That was a hell of a taste.

He smiled bitterly and stood up.
The carpet was a mess of shards and ashes from the shattered ashtray.
Tomorrow morning the maid would clean up this mess with grumbles towards him.

Leon unrolled a ‘message’ of encouragement to the maid and dropped it on the carpet.

 

 

º º º

 

 

The sun shone softly through the wooly clouds.
Her dark brown hair fluttered in the wind, gleaming in the shattering sunlight.

It was a perfect day to go out.

April’s weather was as unpredictable as the Winston’s though, although she didn’t know what kind of whimsical it would bring.
It was a ten-minute bike ride from the Winston Mansion to Halewood, the nearest town.

Sally parked her bike in front of a three-story brick building past the general store with a large discount sign.

Just when the lunch break was over, she met the post office manager who was turning the “closed” sign hanging on the window to ‘open.’ A middle-aged man raised his glasses with his index finger and gave her a glance before opening the door right away.

“Good afternoon, Miss Bristol.”

“Hello.”

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Sally stopped as she stepped inside.

The post office in this small town had four employees, including the director, but today, for some reason, there were only three.

“Is it Mister Peter’s have a day off?”

“The postal train is late today, so he’s at the station.”

Peter spent the whole day in the village disguised as a postman, although he always eats lunch here.
Because of that, she purposely came on time but apparently not today.

Then, she brought the money she got from Winston yesterday to send to headquarters for military funds.
She entrusted the remittance to Peter, and he made it untraceable.
For other employees, it was risky to disclose the addressee, even with disguised information.

“If you wait a minute, he’ll be there soon, haha.”

As Sally gripped the straps of her old bag and sighed, the postmaster grinned as he rubbed his long mustache with his fingertips.
The people at the post office thought Sally had a rosy crush on Peter.

…No way.

Even though she behaved modestly because of her duties, her eyes on men were not that simple either.

‘Shall we spend some time, then?’

Two buildings from here, she would find Madame Benoa’s Cafe.
It had been a long time since she wanted to indulge in a little luxury.

As a middle-aged woman dragged three of her young children into the cramped post office, it soon became noisy with the voices of the woman and the children.
Sally was about the leave, but she went into the corner phone booth.

She closed the door tightly and squinted out the small window in the door.
They were all busy with their business, so they didn’t even look at her this way.
Draping her butt on the chair in her corner, she found the purse in her bag and opened it.

She didn’t just take one, two, or three biggest coins.

She sighed as she was about to pick up the four.
Normally, Sally didn’t make long-distance calls because it was expensive.
Still, this was important, so she couldn’t help it.

She picked up the earpiece that seemed like the bottom of a candlestick, put it to her ear, and put money into the coin slot.
As soon as she turned one of the dials, the chirping voice of a young woman resounded in her ears.

[ This is a long-distance call.
]

“Hello.
This is Halewood’s Blackburn.”

Sally leaned over to the speaker on the phone.

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Blackburn… The name the operator would pass on to the other person meant a withdrawal request.

“Please, call Crawford 1499 in Brayton.”

Subsequently, she gave the name of the area and the name of the exchange company of the other party.

[ Please wait a moment.
]

After the operator’s voice, there was only a mechanical clicking sound that continued for a long time.

At the same time, she sneaked out of the booth nervously.

The woman who had brought her children started chatting with the woman behind the desk as if she would not leave even after all her parcels had been sent.
Seeing that, Sally hoped that she would keep the place noise for the next ten minutes.

‘Yes, it’s worth kicking her ass.’

Although she spent an hour alone arguing with the chatter that faintly leaked into the booth, she couldn’t hear her partner’s voice.
Rubbing her hand on the bag strap that had faded due to scratches here and there, someone came into the post office door.

Just as she raised her head, thinking it was Peter, she heard a familiar voice.

[ Halewood’s Blackburn? ]

Without asking who it was, Sally’s fiancée recited the code for the withdrawal request.

“That’s right.”

[ …What? You? ]

He was a bit surprised since he was expecting Peter or Fred’s voice in Halewood.

[ What’s going on? ]

He went to the point without saying a greeting to his fiancée, whom he had not heard from in a long time.
Since the operator may still be listening to the call, a conversation that obscured everything without calling a name followed.

“I want to go home.”

Jimmy would know.
He would know that sarcastic tone was just a disguise because Sally never acted like a child.

[ What’s the matter? What about mother’s hospital bills? ]

The phrase ‘mother’s hospital bills’ had to be changed to ‘your mission.’

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“The employer is weird.”

[ Weird…? What are you talking about? ]

“Did you forget what I said before I came here?”

She couldn’t have forgotten that she warned that Winston would pierce her ear for her encounter with Winston at Abbington Beach as a child.

A long sigh was heard over the receiver.

[ But, you haven’t been cut yet.
]

He meant she was not cut yet because she wasn’t arrested.

“I might be cut soon.”

[ No.
You’re good.
There would be no evidence anyway.
Is it not so? ]

This time Sally let out a long sigh on the speaker.

[ I need you.
]

Jimmy knew very well what his fiancée was weakest to in words.
After all, they grew up together from when she was a baby, so she was like his real sibling.

“Still…”

Sally took a deep breath before stopping.
She didn’t want to tell anyone—no, she didn’t want to tell her fiancé more than anyone else… Nonetheless, she had to.

After a momentary hesitation, she shut her eyes tightly and let a breath out.

“Yesterday, he tried to attack me.”

A silence continued on the other side of the receiver.
What thoughts were going through his mind right now, five hours away by train…?

Worried about his lover who almost got r*ped? A determination to get her out of Winston’s filthy grasp right away? Anger at the filthy beast who tried to assault his fiancé…?

…Perhaps, disappointment for a comrade who ruined the operation by being impure in the eyes of the target?

[ Really? ]

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It was all wrong.
Sally burst into anger.

“Would I lie about this?”

[ No, you know that’s not what I meant.
With the person I know… it doesn’t fit.
]

There was no way Jimmy, the leader of the Revolutionary Army, was unaware of Winston, a first-class state figure’s characteristics.
The consistent information was that even though he was a man of filthy manners, his lower body was clean.

That was why he put his fiancé into Winston’s stronghold safely.

However, it was the first time a statement that contradicted the consistent information came out of Sally’s mouth.
Aside from disappointment, she knew well that it was something that was hard to believe at once.

She added some more to Jimmy to add to a sense of urgency.

“I lost what I hid under my skirt.”

[ …But, you’re not cut off? ]

“That’s why it’s even more dangerous.”

Only Winston treated her differently.
She couldn’t quite predict what was going to happen next.

Sally pondered, waiting silently for Jimmy’s answer.

Should she tell him something else…? It wasn’t enough that Winston had sucked her blood yesterday, so he left on the office floor evidence of him pleasuring himself with a handkerchief that had wiped her blood.

Even though he was a fiancé who was like her family, this story was too humiliating for her.

“I don’t have time.”

It was because the phone bill would run out soon.

A heavy sigh was heard over the receiver, and Jimmy gave the order in a voice calling for his lover.

[ I’m going to my friend’s house.
I’ll talk to some adults and call you.
]

It meant he had to discuss it with the executives, so he told her to wait in a safe house in Winsford which was an hour by tram from here.

Sally immediately hung up the phone and walked out of the booth.
Should she send the money next time? Peter hadn’t come back yet, anyway.

In the end, she greeted the postmaster and headed out of the post office.