BR - 1

Three years ago, in the autumn. 

“What is this?” 

Eunchae looked at her mother-in-law, Mrs. Cha Kyung-ok, with a puzzled expression. On the table in front of her sat a pristine white envelope, placed there alongside something else—though Eunchae’s attention was entirely on the envelope. 

“Mr. Park, the lawyer, has stepped out.” 

“Yes, Madam.” 

The man referred to as Mr. Park bowed deeply at a 90-degree angle before quietly leaving the study. 

“Go ahead and open it.” 

Mrs. Cha’s face was emotionless and cold, her eyebrows perfectly straight, her eyes clear and sharp—but betraying no hint of feeling. 

Eunchae gave up trying to get an answer from Mrs. Cha and picked up the envelope on the table. 

The black logo on the top of the envelope that read “Baekdo Group” weighed heavily on her vision, pressing down on her like a suffocating force. 

“This is…” 

As soon as she confirmed what the documents inside were, Eunchae turned to look at Mrs. Cha. 

Her trembling hands nearly dropped the papers, so she gripped them tightly—only to crumple them slightly in the process. 

“Mother, why are these divorce papers…? Why…?” 

For a year after marrying Seokyeong, she had lived alone in his family home without him, treated as though she didn’t exist. 

After the accident, Mrs. Cha’s attitude had grown distant compared to before their marriage, and Eunchae’s heart froze over a hundred times a day—but she endured it all. 

But divorce papers? 

“If I’ve done something wrong, please tell me. Divorce? Why?” 

“You haven’t done anything wrong.” 

Mrs. Cha lifted her teacup, steam rising gently, and moistened her lips with the tea before responding. 

“If I haven’t done anything wrong, then why…?” 

“JC Trading Company.” 

At the sudden mention of her father’s company, Eunchae swallowed hard. 

“It will go bankrupt within a few months.” 

“…What?” 

“The maturity date for JC Trading Company’s debt is approaching, but no bank will reissue the bonds or extend the deadline. Your father will have no choice but to sell the business at a rock-bottom price or declare bankruptcy.” 

“I don’t understand. Why would Father’s company…?” 

“A flower carefully nurtured in a garden wouldn’t know much about the harsh winds of the world, would it?” 

A faint smile played at the corners of Mrs. Cha’s lips as she gently set down her teacup. 

“I thought having such a delicate flower by our Seokyeong’s side might be nice, but now the situation has changed.” 

“I don’t know where you heard this information, but it can’t be true. Father’s company going bankrupt? That’s absolutely impossible…” 

“There’s no law saying it absolutely can’t happen.” 

Mrs. Cha cut off Eunchae’s words with icy precision. 

“In any case, you’ve lost your value to us.” 

Eunchae felt her breath catch in her throat. 

Even if this marriage had been arranged between families, how could they simply divorce because one side was failing? Isn’t it supposed to be harder than that to break apart a married couple? 

“How can you just demand a divorce because I’ve ‘lost my value’? Seokyeong and I are still legally married…” 

“A married couple who’ve been separated since the wedding day—what kind of marriage is that?” 

“But that was because of Seokyeong’s work…” 

“Even if you two had acted like a real married couple, perhaps I might have reconsidered.” 

This time, Mrs. Cha didn’t bother hiding her emotions, sneering openly. 

Though they were technically married, it was strictly a legal relationship. In the year since their wedding, Eunchae hadn’t even shared a bed with Seokyeong, let alone spent more than a week facing each other. 

So no matter how much Eunchae insisted they were husband and wife, it only sounded ridiculous to Mrs. Cha. 

“I know you’ve cherished our Seokyeong since you were young, but he doesn’t feel the same way, does he?” 

Eunchae had no response. It was undeniable that she had been the one who wanted this marriage the most. Even if her relationship with Seokyeong was merely nominal, she had been satisfied to marry her first love. 

“Does Seokyeong also want this divorce?” 

“What?” 

“I’m asking if Seokyeong also wants to divorce me.” 

“Eunchae Lee, listen carefully.” 

All expression drained from Mrs. Cha’s face once again. 

“Our Seokyeong is destined to become the next head of the Baekdo Group. The only reason we allowed the daughter of JC Trading Company—a company barely clinging to its place among the top 20 firms—to stand beside him was because of your reputation as a pianist.” 

Reputation as a pianist. 

Eunchae bit her lip. The fame Mrs. Cha spoke of no longer existed for her. 

“Now that you’ve lost that reputation and are about to lose your family as well, do you really think someone like you deserves to stand beside our Seokyeong?” 

“But, Mother…” 

“Do you want to hinder the man you love? You’re the only blemish on Seokyeong’s record. It would be better for him to be divorced than to stay with someone like you.” 

It was better for him to be divorced than to remain married to a woman who had nothing. 

To Eunchae, those words felt like a death sentence, but she couldn’t argue. Even she knew that, having lost everything, she was of no help to Seokyeong—in fact, she was nothing but a stain on his reputation. 

But even so… we’re still married. 

“What are you hesitating for?” 

“I understand that I might become the only blemish on Seokyeong’s record, as you say. But even so, how can we sever the bond of marriage that heaven itself has joined together…?” 

“Heaven?” 

Mrs. Cha snorted derisively. 

“The one who made this marriage possible was me. So if you’re talking about ‘heaven,’ that would be me. And I’m telling you now: this marriage ends here.” 

“But, Mother…”

“Shall I make this easier for you? If you willingly step aside, I’ll do my best to ensure at least one of your father’s businesses survives.” 

“What?” 

“You could end up completely buried in debt. And that’s not all—your father might even end up in prison.” 

Prison… 

Eunchae felt goosebumps rise all over her body. Though it wasn’t yet the dead of winter, she felt as though she were standing in the middle of a snowstorm. 

“Can you really… prevent that?” 

“Prevent it? Well, if you step aside, I’ll put in some effort to make sure things don’t get too dire.” 

Perhaps accepting this offer was the only way to save her family. 

Neither the marital bond nor her unrequited love for Seokyeong would be enough to save her household or her father. 

“Make sure you handle things properly with Seokyeong.” 

“What?” 

Eunchae’s eyes widened in shock. 

“You want me to tell Seokyeong about the divorce myself?” 

“Do you want him to feel guilty for cutting the marital bond with his own hands during such a difficult time?” 

Technically, it’s you who’s severing the marital bond, Mother. 

But Eunchae swallowed those words. What good would it do to say them? 

“Don’t stress him out while he’s working abroad. Just come up with a decent excuse. Besides, since he doesn’t have strong feelings for you, he won’t try to stop you.” 

Though Eunchae wanted to protest, Mrs. Cha’s words rang painfully true. 

Even before their marriage, Eunchae had sensed Seokyeong’s lack of interest in her. 

She had handled almost all the wedding preparations alone, and on their wedding day, Seokyeong had only visited the bridal waiting room for a single minute while busy with work. 

Their three-day honeymoon in Japan had been spent with Seokyeong holed up in the resort’s study, working nonstop, and they hadn’t shared a bed once. 

There was no way Seokyeong would try to stop her from divorcing him. 

“I see you understand.” 

Mrs. Cha rose from the sofa and looked down at Eunchae. 

“If only you’d been more charming as a woman—or if you’d had a child. Of course, in this situation, it’s fortunate you don’t have one.” 

Eunchae bit her lip hard to hold back the tears threatening to spill. 

Would things have been different if I’d had a child? Would Seokyeong have stood by my side, even just a little? 

“Let’s settle everything within a week, then.” 

With those cold words, Mrs. Cha left the study. 

Alone in the now-empty room, tears finally began streaming down Eunchae’s face. 

The tears rolled down her cheeks, lingered at the edge of her chin, and soaked into the pale yellow dress covering her knees. 

Where should she even begin? First, she needed to confirm the facts with her father… 

Reaching for her phone, which had been sitting beside the sofa, Eunchae tried to call him—but her vision blurred, making it hard to see the screen clearly. 

What should she ask? What could she even say to make sense of this mess? Nothing came to mind. 

---

Three years later, spring. 

Staring at the mountain of papers piled high on her desk, Eunchae sighed. She was sure she had cleared this much work just yesterday, yet here it was again today. 

Either Assistant Manager Yang was deliberately trying to drive her crazy, or he was utterly incompetent. 

But what could she do? Eunchae was a contract employee at the bottom of the ladder. She had no choice but to do whatever the full-time employees assigned her. Plus, her evaluation for permanent employment was coming up soon. 

Another sigh escaped her lips. 

“Is it too much?” 

Her sigh must have been loud, because Assistant Manager Yang, seated across from her, stood up and peeked over the partition. 

“What? Oh, no.” 

“Even if there’s a lot, Eunchae understands. As a full-time employee, how much work do you think I have? You can guess how much I offload to contract workers like you.” 

“Of course. I understand.” 

In truth, she didn’t understand at all, but Eunchae forced a smile and nodded anyway. 

If Assistant Manager Yang had so much work, how did he manage to avoid overtime entirely and spend every weekend camping or traveling? 

“Seriously, when does Assistant Manager Yang even work? He goes out every weekend and never stays late after hours.” 

Kang Hyunwoo, the section chief, spoke from afar without even looking up from his work. 

“Could it be that Assistant Manager Yang is dumping all his work onto Lee Eunchae?” 

“Oh, Chief, why would you say such a thing? It’s because I’m so capable that I finish everything during work hours.” 

“Is that so?” 

“Obviously.” 

Assistant Manager Yang pouted and sat back down at his desk, muttering under his breath, “What a hassle.” 

Silently thanking Hyunwoo for voicing what she couldn’t, Eunchae picked up the top document from the towering stack. 

She still couldn’t understand why they were only now uploading last year’s project files to the company server. Wouldn’t it have been better to organize them earlier?