“Stolen money, have you? No matter how bad things are, you can’t just rob others. How many stabbings and incidents have you seen in a day or two?”

Maksim taunted in a mocking tone. Marianne hurried her steps, thinking that she’d rather have stolen the money. A persistent gaze tugged at the back of her head.

“Is it just my imagination? That person seems to be staring at me.”

“……”

Marianne kept looking forward, pretending not to hear Maksim’s complaints. There was something more important right now.

It was her first case. She was so nervous that her heart seemed ready to leap out of her mouth. She worried if she could do as well as she had thought.

Marianne tensed her lips, trying not to betray her trembling.

“Officer Maksim, good evening.”

The uniformed policeman guarding the front of the house recognized Maksim and saluted.

She slowly raised her head to look at the house in front of her. It was a twostory brick house with a brown entrance door, situated on top of three stone steps. It looked similar to Mrs. List’s boarding house.

Maksim casually walked past.

“You’ve worked hard.”

Marianne also greeted them with her eyes and went into the house. The uniformed policemen, wearing puzzled expressions, soon realized her identity and whispered, “It must be that female cop from the rumors.”

“The one who risked her body to catch a jewel thief?”

“A female cop, it’s the end of the world, the end.”

Ignoring their taunts, Marianne stepped into the house and stopped the next moment.

“Gasp!”

All expression vanished from her face. She barely managed to suppress a scream, covering her mouth with both hands.

There was a corpse at the bottom of the stairs, lying face down, blood oozing from the back of the head.

The moment she realized this, Marianne’s face began to turn pale. The first corpse she had encountered was much more shocking than she could have vaguely imagined.

The lifeless human looked like a wooden log. Or, perhaps, a wellcrafted doll. The eerie gap made her heart grow cold.

A foul smell pricked her nose. It was a mixture of waste and blood. Without realizing it, Marianne clenched her fists. Her stomach turned.

Maksim smiled in satisfaction, as if he had expected this reaction. Whether he was hoping that she would fall, she did not know.

She had no intention of satisfying his wish. Nevertheless, she could not suppress the rising nausea. A physiological phenomenon was not controlled by her will.

“Ugh!”

Finally, she turned and ran out of the house. Behind her, she heard Maksim’s cackling laughter, and saw the uniformed policemen shaking their heads in pity.

Marianne ran straight to the back of the house. There were shrubs planted in front of the fence. She bent over and vomited in a single breath.

“Ugh.”

After that, a deep sense of shame washed over her. She was ashamed of not being able to withstand even this.

There was a vast difference between imagination and reality. In her imagination, she had solved cases effortlessly, but in reality, she was vomiting in shock at the sight of a corpse.

Maybe she had taken the job as a police officer too lightly. Maybe, like others said, she was not fit to be a cop.

―A female cop, it’s the end of the world, the end.

The words of the uniformed policeman earlier echoed in her ears.

“……”

Her vision blurred. Whether it was from nausea or selfloathing, she couldn’t tell. But one thing was certain; she could not stand her pathetic self.

Pull yourself together, Marianne Clozé.

The moment she clenched her fist,

“!”

Thump, thump.

She felt a gentle touch patting her back. And Marianne turned even paler. Riding on the wind, a familiar fragrance brushed past her nose. A deep and refreshing scent, like the sea.

She knew who the owner of that fragrance was.

Christoph.

He was so sensitive to cleanliness that it seemed like a phobia. He couldn’t stand dust in the house and would change his clothes immediately if even a small foreign substance stuck to them.
For business reasons, he hid his dislike under an indifferent face whenever he had to shake hands with others. Then he quickly wiped his hands, avoiding the eyes of others.

He was patting Marianne’s back as she was retching. Without even furrowing his brows. Marianne’s eyes widened in disbelief at the fact.

“Are you okay, Marianne?”

Only then did Marianne realize the fact that she had shown such an unsightly appearance before him. After making a loud fuss, to be in such a state the next day.

Ugh.

Marianne just nodded with an indifferent expression, trying to hide her embarrassment. The patting hands on her back were uncharacteristically tender for Christoph. So she couldn’t bear to look back.

“Take a deep breath.”

Christoph’s touch slowed a little. The hand patting her back had gradually turned into a caress. Almost with a clear intention.

His fingers, which had been gently touching her nape, traced down each vertebra. Counting the bones, meticulously and persistently.