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“Is that so? I guess it’s because we’re a married couple.”
I-ryeong smiled faintly, trying to humor him.
“Huh? Not quite all the way, though?”
“Huh?”
She looked at him quizzically as he smirked and spoke in jest.
“I just like holding your hand tightly.”
“…!”
She was flustered by his subtle attempt to interlock their fingers. Her face grew hot, and she didn’t know where to look.
“Move only the Styrofoam boxes and fabric-wrapped items to the main kitchen in the main house. Send everything else to the annex.”
At I-jun’s command, the chauffeur and security team sprang into action with precision.
The couple walked affectionately through the gate and up toward the garden. Unlike the busy employees bustling past, their steps were leisurely.
I-ryeong found this fleeting moment not unpleasant. It was exactly the time she needed to clear away the unnecessary thoughts cluttering her mind.
“Why did you do that earlier?”
His damp whisper invaded her ear.
“…Huh?”
“Why were you staring so intently at Team Leader Han earlier?”
Startled by his sudden switch to formal speech, I-ryeong blinked in surprise.
“I wasn’t staring at anyone intently.”
“Really?”
He pressed her relentlessly, clearly not believing her denial, and she couldn’t bring herself to meet his gaze directly.
“Look at me. Look at me and say it, I-ryeong.”
“What misunderstanding is this? This behavior of yours makes me uncomfortable.”
She covered her ear, which was still buzzing from his whispers, with her palm.
But he didn’t give up, pulling her hand away from her ear.
“I-ryeong.”
Despite his blazing eyes, I-jun’s voice remained soft.
“If you don’t like feeling uncomfortable, you shouldn’t have done something uncomfortable in the first place.”
Could he really be jealous?
“This Seo I-jun is right here in front of you!”
The way he emphasized his own name made her feel a strange sense of certainty.
“Are you acting like this because I looked at Team Leader Han?”
She deliberately brought up Han’s name, hoping for a reaction.
The fiery glint in his eyes disappeared, replaced by a look of frustration. He pursed his lips into a thin line and fell silent.
That brief moment felt like an eternity to her.
“You’ve already memorized his name?”
I-jun asked as he brushed her wind-tousled hair back with his hand.
“He caught my eye, so I looked.”
“He caught your eye?”
Then his hand suddenly froze.
“When someone greets you, are you saying you ignored him?”
“I ignore men who aren’t you.”
Her continued provocation finally brought him back to his usual self.
“It’s not happening because I hate you.”
He said it with deliberate monotony.
As her heart raced wildly, threatening to burst, she forced herself to suppress it and focused solely on his intense gaze.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“How could another man catch your eye when your husband is standing right beside you?”
I-ryeong tilted her head upward, utterly baffled.
“Why are you twisting my words? That’s not what I meant!”
“That’s how it sounded to me.”
He leaned in close, lowering his head toward her.
“W-What did you say?”
“Did you look at Han Yusung because he’s cooler than Seo I-jun?”
So close that their lips almost touched.
As they entered the main house, Lee Jung-ae’s executive secretary guided the couple to the reception room.
“Senior Managing Director and his spouse have arrived.”
The secretary announced their arrival with a knock, and movement could be heard from inside.
“Please come in.”
“Yes.”
I-jun nodded and signaled that the secretary could leave.
Only the couple remained in front of the door.
Before entering, I-ryeong checked her appearance, smoothing her neatly tied hair and adjusting the tassel on her vest.
“Why do you keep fiddling with that?”
He paused mid-turn of the doorknob and stared at her.
“Oh, this—”
“It feels like you’re asking me to untie it.”
“…What?”
What kind of shameless remark was that, right before entering?
I-ryeong felt her face flush red and bit down hard on her lips to suppress her reaction.
“Did you mishear me?”
She desperately needed to pretend she had misunderstood, so she nodded vigorously.
Pfft. He let out a short laugh, as if dismissing the matter.
“You heard me correctly, so stop looking at me like a startled rabbit.”
With an elongated finger, he brushed against the corner of her eye, as if trying to erase the heat spreading across her face.
Unable to keep up with his ever-changing behavior, she could only gape like a fish out of water.
“And stop biting your lips.”
His touch, which had been brushing her eyelids, now rested gently on her lips.
“Stop being so tense.”
“…!”
And yet, he kept making her nervous.
Unable to hold back, I-ryeong exhaled a heated breath at his lingering touch.
His faint scent enveloped her, making her feel lightheaded. She quietly released shallow breaths, trying to steady herself.
“If you keep this up, I’ll have no choice but to carry you inside. Shall I?”
His eyes sparkled mischievously, as if hoping she’d agree.
“That would put you in quite the predicament too, wouldn’t it?”
Barely managing to suppress the urge to nod, she turned her gaze away from him.
She moistened her tightly clenched lips with her tongue, reminding herself how he teased her whenever she showed signs of tension.
“We’re here.”
As I-jun spoke, the doorknob turned.
The reception room was different from last time; the sofas had been removed, and the elders, dressed in hanbok, were seated on golden-hued cushions, ready to receive their greetings.
“Pull yourself together. The elders are here.”
I-ryeong pressed her lips shut and bit down hard on her tongue.
Reminding herself that this was a place where unnecessary emotions had no place, she followed I-jun in bowing deeply to the elders and then sat down on a pink silk cushion.
“It’s good to see you’ve returned safely.”
Kyung-soo, I-jun’s father who oversaw the household affairs, spoke first.
“Seeing you fully become part of our family feels different from just seeing you at the wedding venue.”
He smiled warmly with his eyes, melting away some of I-ryeong’s tension.
“As a new member of the family, there will be much for you to learn. But don’t worry too much.”
With her hands neatly folded, I-ryeong mirrored his smile. She felt a small sense of relief wash over her, easing the tension she had carried all along.
“Our family traditions can be learned gradually. Dear, don’t you have any words of encouragement for the newlyweds?”
He took his wife Jung-ae’s hand, who had been quiet until now, and overlapped their gazes with a smile.
Watching them, I-ryeong felt a sharp pang in her chest. It was an unfamiliar sight—something she had never seen growing up with her own parents—and it left her feeling both estranged and envious.
Holding onto these strange, conflicting feelings, she gazed at CEO Lee Jung-ae.
“A married couple stands on equal ground. At work, I-jun may be your superior, but as a married couple, there is no hierarchy between you.”
Jung-ae began speaking, making eye contact with both her son and daughter-in-law in turn.
“Especially you, I-jun. You need to take extra care of her. She came into this family solely for you, so you must look after her a hundred times more.”
Today, as I-ryeong took her first steps into her in-laws’ home as a daughter-in-law, Jung-ae extended her consideration even further.
“And both of you, don’t neglect your work just because you’re newlyweds.”
She added the same advice she had given when her eldest son got married and paid respects like today. She hoped her younger daughter-in-law would differ from the elder one.
“The meal preparations must be underway. You can either wait in the annex or in the room I-jun used to use. We’ll call you when it’s ready.”
Jung-ae instructed the couple to leave for now.
Even this felt like an act of consideration from the elders. I-ryeong’s previously tangled emotions began to settle.
As she rose from the silk cushion to leave the reception room—
“…Ah!”
The slippery fabric caused her to lose balance, and she collapsed back onto the cushion.
“It’s fine, just grab my hand and get up.”
I-jun, who had already risen, approached her and extended his hand.
“Your skirt must be making it difficult for you.”
He urged her impatiently, as if asking why she wasn’t taking his hand already.
But I-ryeong hesitated, stubbornly trying to get up on her own with great effort.
“We’re married. Why are you being so self-conscious? It’s fine, right?”
I-jun turned halfway toward his parents to confirm.
“It’s your marital matter. Why are you asking us?”
Their casual response left I-ryeong feeling awkward. Her worry and hesitation had been unnecessary.
“…Thank you.”
She finally took his hand, steadying herself. Thanks to him, she was able to rise without much effort.
They exited the reception room together.
“I’ll go check the kitchen. There’s the ibaji food set, so I should probably head there instead of the annex. What about you, I-jun?”
I-ryeong decided to head to the kitchen, worried about the food.
“I’ll go up to the second floor, grab something, and come back down.”
“Alright.”
The couple, who had been walking side by side, parted ways temporarily to attend to their respective tasks.
After confirming that he had ascended to the second floor, I-ryeong quickened her pace toward the kitchen. She had noticed its location during her previous visit, so it wasn’t hard to find.
She had heard beforehand that meals were prepared under her father-in-law’s supervision by the staff. But today, she felt the need to lend a hand.
“This place really is spacious…”
The kitchen, located deep within the main house, was quite a distance away.
“Wow, isn’t this the artwork that was featured in a magazine?”
Along the way, she couldn’t help but marvel at the paintings and objets d’art placed throughout the house.
Until now, she hadn’t fully grasped the reality of marrying into a chaebol family. But seeing the artworks used as mere decorations hit her hard.
She had married Seo I-jun, a chaebol heir and prominent successor.
Why did this obvious fact suddenly feel suffocating, as if her chest was tightening? Her steps gradually slowed.
“Oh my, what is all this mess?”
A sharp voice pierced I-ryeong’s ears.
Mess? Her feet felt glued to the floor, as if stuck with adhesive.
“Clean it all up immediately.”
What exactly was she supposed to clean up? Her heart raced at the commanding tone of Yoojin, her elder sister-in-law.
Pressing down on her pounding chest with her hand, I-ryeong forced herself to move forward and entered the kitchen.
“Clean it up before Father sees it. Do you want flies swarming around in this spring weather?”
“Madam. These are the ibaji dishes prepared by the younger Madam.”
At the employee’s explanation, I-ryeong froze.
Though she hadn’t formed an attachment to them, they were still the dishes her stepmother Ji-hyun had carefully prepared. To think they would be treated like trash—it was beyond what she had expected.
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