Battle Divorce! - Chapter 11
‘Does he already know who I am? How? When did he investigate me?’
A thousand thoughts spun in Daisy’s mind, making her feel dizzy.
‘So… is this it for me? Is he going to shoot me on the spot?’
Should she elbow him in the jaw and make a run for it? No, no. She still doesn’t know what’s going on.
If she moves rashly, things could go south fast.
The hand around her shoulders felt like a noose, tightening with every second. One wrong move and he might crush her skin right there and then.
“……”
Daisy opened her mouth but her mind was blank. She couldn’t speak at all. Then, with a soft tug, one strap of her slip slipped off her shoulder.
Maxim hooked a finger under the other strap, and whispered.
“Issy, are you afraid of me?”
She couldn’t run, not like this.
“Why are you trembling so much?”
“……”
“Are you scared I’ll eat you up, Issy?”
That ‘Easy’ again. Daisy froze, silent as a stone. He had definitely said ‘Easy’—not ‘Daisy.’
But for someone who might have uncovered her identity, he sounded oddly… casual.
‘I don’t care, I’ll just play dumb.’
With a strange sense of unease, Daisy carefully opened her mouth.
“What’s ‘Easy’? Why do you keep calling me that…?”
“It’s a nickname. Don’t you like it?”
A nickname?
Maxim’s answer was so unexpected that Daisy’s eyes widened a little.
“Your name is Daisy, so I thought ‘Issy’ would make a good nickname. I just tried it out.”
Oh, Daisy… Issy…
‘So he’s not calling me by my codename? It’s just a nickname?’
Damn, she panicked for nothing.
If she’d actually freaked out and elbowed him in the jaw, she’d be in deep trouble right now. Daisy clutched her chest, relieved.
“A nickname?”
“Yes, a nickname. Why are you so startled?”
“It’s just… so sudden.”
Honestly, she couldn’t really be blamed for the misunderstanding. Maxim was the weird one here.
How could anyone not get the wrong idea, given the circumstances?
Not to mention, this was only their second time meeting. Who in their right mind would start using pet names on the second encounter?
Just being in the same room with him was draining enough. His energy overwhelmed her. For someone as introverted as Daisy, it was too much.
She’d only been ‘Daisy’ for a year, and now this ‘nickname’ just happened to match her codename. Anyone would be confused.
Not that Maxim von Waldeck seemed to care whether he’d done something odd.
He simply watched Daisy’s pale, trembling face with amusement, his thick brows slightly raised.
“I told you before. I think names and titles are the most important things in the world.”
“R-Right, I see…”
“You looked uncomfortable when I called you ‘Wife’, so I thought I’d try something friendlier. Unless you don’t like it?”
“It’s not that I dislike it, it just… it feels strange. This is only the second time we’ve met in person, after all.”
“That’s true. But I’ve seen you several times a day.”
What was he talking about? Daisy stared at him in disbelief.
“How?”
“Well, how did I…”
He unfastened the pendant at his neck and opened it, revealing a tiny portrait. Sure enough, it was Daisy.
When did he even get that painted? She couldn’t remember ever posing for a portrait in her life.
“I kept you in here and looked at you all the time while I was away.”
“……”
Where did he even get that? Did that bastard Therese arrange it? Daisy was bewildered.
“I wore this around my neck, and whenever I missed you, I’d take a look. If you count it by meetings, I’ve probably seen you more times than the number of enemy heads I shot off during the war.”
And that was not all, it was absolutely terrifying.
Maxim von Waldeck had a knack for turning even normal words into something chilling.
