Try Begging

Chapter 86

“Oh, I didn’t tell you there was a hound in the room.”

The inspector’s face immediately turned bad at Leon’s excuse. He looked like a bulldog himself, and he was afraid of dogs? Leon had accidentally found an excuse to kick out the uninvited guest.

“Who has a hound in the office?”

His tone was pretty upset as he seemed to think the dog had been set loose to chase him.

“Don’t worry. I’ll hold on tight.”

The inspector, whose pride was hurt by being treated as a coward, stood with his hands behind his back at the door and glared at him. In the meanwhile, Leon smiled and walked past him to the desk.

“Bella, be quiet.”

As soon as Winston sat down in the chair, he thrust his hands under his desk. She thought he was trying to cover her mouth, but what he grabbed was not Grace’s face, but the collar of her blouse.

Tak, tak, tak.

The blouse split open, and the few remaining buttons were ripped off. It was a warning to dare her to go out in front of another man naked.

While staring at the invisible face, the blouse was roughly removed and shoved into Grace’s mouth.

Leon grasped the woman’s mouth firmly, preventing her from making any noise, and pulled on the leash, which resembled the kind used for a fierce dog. The inspector’s expression grew even darker as he surveyed the room with his eyes, taking note of the sturdy chain that lay on the desk.

“Sit down.”

Though he offered a chair for the inspector to sit in, the inspector declined and instead roamed slowly through the office, eventually opening the adjacent door. This sniffing dog that deserved to be retired… his actions appeared rather foolish as he checked the bathroom, unaware that the woman he sought was concealed behind a mere wooden barrier.

The inspector displayed a stubborn determination, seemingly intent on thoroughly searching every nook and cranny of the office, despite the limited possibilities for hiding.

The man, meticulously scanning the bookshelves as if seeking a hidden compartment, gradually made his way into the office itself.

Just a couple more steps, and he would discover the woman hidden beneath the desk.

With a deliberate jingle, Leon kicked the chain hanging from the woman’s ankle, creating a loud clanking sound. He crouched down beneath the desk and soothingly stroked the partially unclothed woman, assuming the guise of a caretaker calming a struggling dog.

“Bella, no. You shouldn’t bite people.”

The inspector approaching this way hesitated.

“Not too long ago, it tried to kill an intruder who entered the annex. Of course, I killed the intruder first.”

Leon’s smile widened as he raised his head, satisfied with the outcome. The inspector, though still retaining a fragment of his pride, pretended to continue searching without explicitly instructing Leon to release the dog. Gradually, he retreated quietly.

In the end, he failed to locate the hidden woman.

His defeated countenance was evident as he took a seat across from the desk. On the contrary, Leon proudly held the leash in his hand, reveling in his successful deception. However, the inspector’s gaze was fixed on something other than him.

It was a woman’s button placed in front of a cigar box.

What evidence would that be? The smile disappeared from Leon’s face, which was about to laugh lightly. It was because he was crazy about what was in the cigar box where the button had been.

That box.

The letter ordering the woman to die, and capsules with cyanide.

…D*mn it.

“Would you like to smoke?”

With a composed demeanor, Leon extended the opened cigar box towards the inspector, feigning an offer. However, beneath his calm exterior, a whirlwind of emotions stirred within him.

The box from Little Jimmy was in there, but Leon’s relief was premature. He retrieved a cigar from the box and extended it to the inspector, who declined the offer.

Placing the cigar back inside, Leon retrieved a small box instead. When he concealed the box within his palm to shield it from prying eyes, he deftly opened it with his thumb. The letter inside was meticulously folded as he had arranged, and the poison capsule was in its rightful place.

As he slipped the box into the pocket of his jacket, he adorned his countenance with a faint smile, masking the tumultuous thoughts racing through his mind.

“I am not saying we should have small talk. Since you don’t hide that you have a purpose beyond simple inspection, I can’t help but wonder what business you’re here for.”

Even though he already knew the inspector’s business, Leon pretended to seriously feel threatened and trembled. The inspector rested his chin on his hand, staring at him tenaciously before opening his mouth without hesitation.

“A report came in.”

“A report… Please tell me.”

Even Grace, who had no idea what was going on, was choking at the tension that permeated under the desk. Her hands were not tied. She could have pulled the cloth off her mouth, but she had no reason to do it unless she wanted to provoke Winston—

—Until he heard the words of that strange man.

“The captain is hiding a rebel in the torture chamber. It was a woman.”

Pfft. A sneer came from the desk.

“It is used privately without reporting to the military, that kind of report.”

Grace’s heart thumped.

‘…The inspector came looking for me.’

Grace made a quick decision about whether she should go out naked or not. It was the surest and perhaps the only chance to escape Winston’s clutches.

“So, do you think the report is correct?”

“If you hand over the rebels now, the punishment will be light.”

“It was neither a suggestion I desired nor, unfortunately, are there rebels to hand over.”

The two men engaged in a war of nerves with the rebels between them.

“A competent person has a swarm of flies in his stomach full of black jealousy. The stench of jealousy is as deadly as the stench of a rotting corpse. It’s surprising that the competent inspector general couldn’t smell it in such a baseless report.”

What did he mean by baseless? It was not even funny.

Listening to the conversation, Grace slowly and quietly spat out the blouse from her mouth—o scream, run out, or at least hit the desk with her hand—it would be enough to cause a commotion that couldn’t be said to have been caused by a dog.

Had he already figured it out? The jagged soles of the boots lightly stepped on Grace’s ankles.

‘I’ll break it. If you have the confidence to do so without getting caught, do it.’

However, after ruining her chances several times, Grace decided to be cautious.

“Well, the stench… I smelled the stench from the captain’s attitude towards me today.”

Leon nodded his head in approval.

“I apologize if my attitude was rude. I’ve heard rumors that you’re going around so that made me a little nervous.”

“If there’s nothing to worry about, there’s no reason to get nervous.”

“It’s because it’s a world that makes things up for you if you don’t keep your eyes open.”

…Like that person’s employer.

“Tell the esteemed guest that the report will be submitted soon, so please wait a few more days.”

The inspector’s eyes twisted.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

He genuinely didn’t know. Leon pretended to turn over the report and held up the first page with the name Sinclair written in large letters though the inspector’s eyes did not change.

It was funny.

This person was pressuring him without knowing the King’s true intentions. Acting as if he knew everything when he had no idea how rotten the oppression of civilians behind the scenes by the royal family.

It was ridiculous.

Leon smiled and moved his hand hidden under his desk.

‘Huhk…’

Grace held her breath as the black hole in the middle of the square iron stared at her.

…It was a hole where bullets were shot out.

Her body stiffened as her eyes locked onto the gun leveled directly at her.

As nervousness consumed her during their conversation, prompting her to contemplate a desperate escape, Grace’s voice was on the verge of piercing screams as the pressure on her ankles lessened. She made a swift attempt to reach out, but her hand found nothing to grasp, nor did it emit a single sound.

Yet, the moment she started moving, Winston tightened his grip on the leash. In one seamless motion, he swiftly retrieved his concealed pistol from under the chair, pointing it at her with sudden and unforeseen precision without any warning.

His thumb, poised upon the pistol’s exposed hammer, methodically drew it back. The disquieting truth dawned upon Grace as her complexion drained of color.

…It was not mere intimidation.

“Bella. Still. Sit down.”

As his bloody voice covered the clatter of the pistol’s hammer, she couldn’t take her eyes off the pistol, which would put a bullet in her head if he pulled the trigger.

Would he kill her rather than let her be taken away?

Her belief that that man would never kill her got shattered in an instant.

Another hand soon came under the desk.

His hands gripped the back of her hair, which was drenched with cold sweat, and pulled it between his legs. Leon covered the woman’s mouth with the palm of his hand as she leaned her head on his thigh. As he stroked the nape of her neck where her carotid artery was with the muzzle, the woman shivered through her whole body.

He felt joy.

How long had it been since this cheeky woman was so frightened?

Suddenly, the woman started groping between his legs.

How vulgar.

Leon relaxed and enjoyed her unspoken begging not to kill her, his lips curling up.

‘Grace, honey. It’s an empty gun.’

Leon smiled at the inspector, easily subduing the woman with a pistol that was no different from a toy.

It was like killing two dogs with one empty gun.

The crackling sound from under the desk and the movement of Leon’s hands seemed to be misunderstood by the inspector as soothing the struggling dog. When the fierce dog moved, he couldn’t hide his uncomfortable feeling and even unfolded his legs as if he was going to run away if necessary.

Both the lousy sniffing dog in front of him and the mongrel fox-like dog in his hand were all amusing.

“Do you like dogs?”

“….”

“I like it. Especially hounds, the fiercer, the better. It is fun to tame them.”

Leon laughed. If he unbuttoned his pants right now, he could take out his flesh and put them in the woman’s mouth.