Next Time We Meet, I’ll Let You Kill Me - Chapter 10

In that moment, it felt like everyone around her disappeared and only she and Aaron remained in the entire world.

She only realized she had been too nervous to say her last name after they’d taken the commemorative photo and she’d returned to her room.

Liselotte paced anxiously by the door.

She couldn’t stay still for even a second, desperate to somehow make him remember her.

‘I should’ve said my last name too, idiot!’

Liselotte was indeed a pretty name, but not a particularly unusual one. At the very least, if she had told him her uncommon last name, Botany, Aaron would’ve been able to remember her….

Her worries didn’t last long.

Since she’d always been unusually quick to act, the moment she finished thinking, she burst out of the small room.

Where would Aaron go after finishing his interview in the orphanage courtyard? The principal’s office, of course. It was obvious he would gather the staff there and exchange a few words about the overall operations.

Liselotte ran down the hallway as fast as she could and slipped into the principal’s office in one breath. She’d wait here, and when Aaron came in, she’d tell him her full name again. She didn’t think about anything else.

Knock, knock. Even with her cautious knocking, there was no response from inside. Without hesitation, she grabbed the doorknob and turned it.

No one had stepped foot in yet, and the empty office was filled only with a strange, hollow stillness. Liselotte climbed onto the long wooden desk, which was as tall as an adult, and kicked her legs in the air.

When will he come?

Just as she was starting to get bored, she faintly heard voices outside. The sound of people chatting, and the principal’s distinct, sharp voice grew clearer as they approached.

“The kids cling too much, don’t they? I’m sure you know, Senator, it’s because they haven’t been educated properly.”

“I’m fine.”

“Oh, nonsense. You already look tired. Wait a moment, is someone in here?”

“…!”

The instant the doorknob turned downward, Liselotte jumped off the desk. It was an instinctive reaction to what she’d just heard.

When the door opened, the principal’s sharp gaze swept the room. The office looked just as usual, with no one in sight.

‘No one?’ she said, glancing around playfully, then let out a light laugh as she guided Aaron toward the conference table in the center.

Liselotte, curled up under the desk, grabbed her head.

She should’ve just apologized and left. Because she’d panicked and hidden instead, the situation had become even worse.

As people filed in one after another, cold sweat trickled down her spine. Her head felt like it was going to explode, worrying about what she’d say if she got caught.

Nearly a dozen people gathered and kept talking for over an hour. At this point, stepping out would look even stranger.

“Then let’s wrap things up here for today.”

When Aaron’s aide said that, she felt like she could finally breathe again. Good. Hurry up and leave. She was so nervous she felt like she’d burst if she didn’t get to a bathroom soon.

Liselotte gnawed on her nails as she prayed desperately.

“Ah, Senator, I have something to discuss with you for a moment….”

The aide, watching the staff stand up one by one, spoke to Aaron. Maybe he meant everyone else should hear it too, because Liselotte could hear him clearly from her hiding place.

“Oh my, of course. Please, go ahead. We’ll wait outside.”

The quick-witted principal hurried the rest of the staff out of the room.

Now the only ones left in the office were Aaron, his aide, and Liselotte crouched under the desk.

She’d thought they would all leave, but with two people still lingering, she felt like she was about to lose her mind. Sweat broke out across her nose as she struggled to hold in the urgent pressure swelling inside her.

“What is it?”

When Aaron asked, adjusting his tie, the aide hesitated, then opened his mouth in an awkward tone.

“Well, um…. When you were giving your interview earlier, someone came looking for me.”

“Who?”

“Those guys. The subcontractors who took your money….”

Aaron, fixing his hair as he stared at his reflection in the glass cabinet, suddenly turned around. His aide fidgeted anxiously but eventually forced himself to speak about that incident.

“They said they wanted to meet you in person to talk about the Central Station matter.”

‘Central Station?’ Liselotte slowly lifted the eyelids she had been squeezing shut.

Step, step. The sound of shoes striking the wooden floor rang out. Judging from the long strides, the footsteps clearly belonged to tall Aaron.

“They said they wanted to meet me directly?”

Stopping in front of the aide, he repeated each word slowly, breaking them apart one by one. His voice was so chilling it made her wonder for a moment if this was really Aaron Schwartz or someone else with a similar voice.

But Central Station? What were they talking about?

Her ears pricked sharply toward the two men. Liselotte, nerves stretched razor-thin, began listening closely to their conversation.

“Well, um, they said thanks to the bomb they threw at the train station, your approval ratings shot up, so from now on, they don’t want to deal with someone like me. They want to communicate directly with you….”

“….”

“A-and they said they don’t even need the remaining payment! It seems like they want to build personal connections with you more than they want the money! They’re convinced of it too, sir. That you’ll definitely become the next Consul!”

The aide hurriedly added his explanation, but Aaron didn’t say a word for a long time.

Liselotte clamped her hands desperately over her mouth to keep any sound from escaping. She couldn’t even begin to grasp what she had just heard. No, it had to be something she misheard.

No. I’m exhausted, so I must’ve heard nonsense.

She shook her head violently, denying it with everything she had. There’s no way. She repeated it over and over inside.

Why would Aaron? He was a Western elite, a sitting Senator. The Central Station bombing had been reported on the news as an act committed by remnants of the Eastern rebels. There’s no way. Aaron Schwartz wouldn’t be insane enough to do something like that….

Then a voice sliced through her spiraling thoughts.

“After the terrorist attack, the progressive vote shifted massively to your side, so your election is practically guaranteed. But I did warn them. I told them it was too early to be certain since there are still people criticizing you for inheriting political power, and that you barely have enough time to sleep, so there’s no way you could meet them now….”

“And?”

“I told them, very clearly, to sit tight, because you’re the kind of man who knows exactly how to reward people properly….”

The aide thumped his chest as he raised his voice, then immediately lowered it when he saw Aaron’s cold eyes.

“A-and yet they said a single train station wouldn’t be enough for you to secure a decisive lead… and that for a second and third operation, they’d need to meet you alone to discuss it….”

The aide’s voice shrank again, but in the silence of the office, it couldn’t be hidden.

Drops of water fell from Liselotte’s eyes onto the purple carpet. Her hands, covering her mouth so tightly she could barely breathe, were soaked with tears.

Trying to stifle her sobs made her shoulders shake uncontrollably. A tiny, broken whimper escaped her just as Aaron was about to speak.

“….”

He stopped mid-sentence and slowly turned his head.

It was toward the direction of the wooden desk.

He raised a hand to silence his aide, then twisted his body.

The sound of his shoes tapping across the wooden floor suddenly stopped. Which meant he was now stepping onto the carpet where the desk was.

Her complexion turned as pale as if all the blood in her body had evaporated. Aaron Schwartz was approaching her.

Even the sound of the carpet fibers being crushed under his shoes stabbed into her eardrums. The footsteps, huge and unreal, drew closer and closer.

Then, when Aaron yanked the velvet chair back with a sharp scrape—

“….”

There was nothing under the desk. Only the empty carpeted floor lay in plain view.

“Ash.”

Standing in front of the desk, Aaron called his aide.

“Yes, sir!”

As soon as the swift reply shot out, Aaron rolled his black eyes upward and asked casually, “How long have you been working with me?”

“This is my fourth year, sir!”

At the smooth answer, he let out an “Ah.” Then he began walking again. The steady thumping of his steps slowly grew more distant.

“For someone who works this hard, it seems I’ve been far too neglectful.”

The hand that settled on the aide’s shoulder was very gentle. Flinching at the words of praise, the aide clenched his fist tight with tension.

Aaron let his hand slide off him lightly, then perched casually on the armrest of the sofa.

“You must’ve struggled with all the behind-the-scenes work. Why don’t you take this chance to go on a vacation? Somewhere in the provinces is fine, and abroad is even better.”