ooking at Raphael.
"I''m not allowed to come?" Raphael retorted.
Sensing the tense atmosphere in the room, Edith hurriedly spoke up to the newcomer. "Thank you for coming to see me, Raphael. Is Charlene better now?"
"Uh, she''s much better now. And you, Edith? Are you feeling better today?" Raphael walked closer to her with a gentle voice.
Raphael had always borne a striking resemblance to Andre. Since joining the republican cause following Danton, he had donned the new fashion, plus his added air of calm and composure, making the resemblance even more uncanny. So much so, at this moment, Edith could scarcely tell the two young men standing before her apart.
She exchanged some awkward pleasantries with Raphael. He seemed to deliberately ignore Andre Quenet''s presence.
"You should leave us alone for a while," Andre suddenly spoke up, his face darkening.
"Is that so? It seems to me that I''d better take your place. You have dark circles under your eyes, Quenet. Why not go rest for a while, and let me watch over her?" Raphael glanced at him, speaking intentionally in a light tone, pretending not to understand the meaning behind his words.
"Humph, I don''t trust her being alone with someone of your blood!" Andre sneered contemptuously.
"Andre!" Edith immediately upbraided him.
"What''s wrong with my blood?!" Raphael was clearly provoked by these words. He leaned forward, his fists clenched white, his fiery blue eyes locked onto his love rival''s, "I dare say the danger my blood poses to her is far less than your tyranny!"
Andre almost laughed in his exasperation, "Yes, how easy it is to be an indulgent! When liberty is at risk, you wise ones hide silently; till the time is right, you jump out to boast about your clemency and blame others for being tyrants!"
"You just want to evoke terror so that everyone follows your will. You don''t allow others to have affections, Citizen Quenet!"
Andre coldly asserted, "Your affections are just as incomplete as you are, Saint-Clemont."
"Andre!" Edith called out again in dissatisfaction.
"Incomplete! Yes, incomplete!" Saint-Clemont gritted his teeth and repeated in a whisper, his body recoiling as if struck by