“Why are you...?”

Even Madam Jo couldn’t help but be taken aback by the situation. Kangjoon slowly approached, knelt on one knee on the floor, and held Taeryeong in his arms.

“......”

“......”

Their eyes briefly met at some point. The dark eyes that descended like a hawk only scanned Taeryeong’s condition, asking nothing. They were the eyes of an arrogant man who trusted only himself. But the moment Taeryeong met her husband’s eyes, she finally felt a sense of relief. What is this man to me?

“I understand you’re surprised. But I’d like you to excuse us for today.”

At Madam Jo’s words, which had become calm, Kangjoon’s slowly rising gaze was fierce.

“I cannot do that.”

Her husband’s composed voice dug deep and stirred Taeryeong’s heart. Why did this man always appear at times like this? When she was at her worst, when she was thrown into the gutter, when her pride had fallen to rock bottom. He could have easily pretended not to know just once, but he always reached out his hand and offered his embrace.

“Kangjoon-gun, this is a private matter between my daughter and me.”

“Right now, it’s my wife’s matter.”

More strength went into her husband’s firm arms as he replied. It was like a message saying, I will never leave you behind, so rest assured. Strangely, her eyes stung, and Taeryeong closed them. As was her habit, she had intended to do the same today—pretend to be calm, pretend not to be scared, pretend not to be lonely. But the moment she heard her husband’s voice, the moment she was held in his arms, she realized. The truth was, she had been scared, terrified, and lonely.

“Since when have you cherished my daughter so much, you who are busy playing around with other women! You have no right to interfere right now. If you really want to, do it when you’re properly acting like a husband, then I’ll accept it.”

“Did you see it yourself?”

Excitement began to color Madam Jo’s voice, but Kangjoon remained calm.

“......What?”

“I’m asking if you saw with your own two eyes that I was playing around with other women.”

Of course, there was no reply.

“Leave now if you don’t want to face something unpleasant.”

Her husband’s voice, as he let out his final warning, sank like sediment, scraping the floor. It was also a sign that her husband’s patience had reached its limit. Madam Jo, who was as sharp as a ghost, quickly backed down.

“I’ll leave for today. But I must say this. I love my daughter very much in my own way. I can’t explain it to you, but there are circumstances why I’m doing this. Perhaps you will understand me later.”

Madam Jo left, and the office door closed. Only then did Kangjoon speak in a suppressed voice.

“Let’s go to the hospital first.”

At those words, her tightly closed eyelids fluttered open. No matter what, she couldn’t go to the hospital. Not only would it leave traces, but it was a promise she had made with Madam Jo.

“I don’t want to go to the hospital.”

Her husband’s dry eyes calmly looked down at Taeryeong, as if lost in thought. Unable to bear that gaze, Taeryeong burrowed deeper into his embrace and shrunk back. How pathetic must I look right now? But rather than shame, she felt relieved that it was her husband.

“Take me home.”

As she murmured, her body began to tremble along with her fading consciousness. His arrival, being held in his arms, had released the tension in her body that she had been holding onto with sheer willpower.

“I want to go home with you.”

Her husband’s deep sigh that brushed against her forehead was Taeryeong’s last memory.

________________________________________

She woke up to find herself in the bedroom. As soon as she confirmed it, Taeryeong called Secretary Kim. It was 6 PM, the time Judith Kids’ broadcast would have ended.

“How did Judith Kids do?”

Unlike her calmly asking voice, Taeryeong was holding her breath.

[We received orders worth 100 million won in 15 minutes, and all colors were sold out 10 minutes before the broadcast ended. I’ve sent the sales status and revenue report by time slot via email.]

Only then did the breath she had been holding escape her all at once.

“One more thing, please save the recording from my office today onto a USB and then delete it.”

[Understood.]

The video of Madam Jo assaulting her would create quite favorable conditions in the future.

“And Secretary Kim, thank you.”

For calling her husband at the right time. After ending the call with Secretary Kim, Taeryeong finally noticed the IV mark on her pale hand.

“So that’s why.”

Why she was feeling better. It was as she was looking at and touching the mark.

“The doctor came by.”

A low voice spoke. Kangjoon was entering through the open bedroom door. Approaching calmly, her husband sat beside her, not asking anything this time either. He simply looked quietly at Taeryeong’s face with a composed gaze.

“It seems the visible areas are alright.”

He seemed to be checking for injuries, but what was even funnier was Taeryeong herself. Even though she had shown him such an unsightly state, she didn’t feel anything. It was just that, in front of her husband, she felt like it was okay to be like this. It was a strange psychology she couldn’t even understand herself.

“Would you like to take off your blouse?”

At Kangjoon’s words, the pupils caught at the end of her long eyelashes trembled.

“The blouse... why?”

“There’s blood on your back. I’ll check the wound and apply medicine.”

Looking into her eyes, Kangjoon answered calmly as if explaining. But this time, Taeryeong couldn’t remain calm either.

“I’ll do it myself.”

“Suit yourself.”

Suspicious of the answer that came too easily, Taeryeong looked at him, and her husband chuckled.

“If Taeryeong-ssi had eyes in the back of her head and hands on her back.”

Taeryeong was speechless at that one sentence laced with a light joke. Her husband’s slowly descending gaze stopped at Taeryeong’s hand clutching her blouse.

“Are you perhaps embarrassed to show me your body?”

Then wouldn’t she be embarrassed? When Taeryeong replied with a look of protest, her husband flicked her forehead gently with his index finger.

“You sly thing.”

Taeryeong blinked in disbelief at the words she had never heard before. But with a soft sigh, Taeryeong slowly turned her body. He was going to apply medicine to her back, and it didn’t seem right to refuse just because she was embarrassed. That would mean she was consciously aware of Kangjoon as a man. But the fingers that unbuttoned her blouse while her back was turned to her husband trembled slightly. It was just a wound, just showing her back. When she unbuttoned it halfway and pulled it down, the blouse flowed smoothly down her shoulder line. Even though her back was turned, she could feel her husband’s persistent gaze on her. Perhaps that was why her face flushed and her breathing became uneven.

“Drink this while I apply the medicine.”

What her husband smoothly handed her from behind was yogurt, as if it were a painkiller. With a bittersweet feeling, Taeryeong took the yogurt and put it to her lips. Just then, Taeryeong’s thin shoulders flinched. His hand had touched her exposed shoulder. His warm touch gently and carefully caressed various parts of her back.

“You have a lot of bruises. There are scratches and abrasions too.”

Kangjoon’s low voice remained calm. But seeing the wounds that brought back memories of the morning, the inside of his chest churned once again. He hadn’t even realized it himself. That such a cruel wildness was hidden within him.

“Next time something like this happens, fight back no matter what.”

The moment he saw his wife collapsed on the floor, the moment he met her clear eyes that seemed to have given up. His heart ached, and it felt like the reason that had supported him until now was simultaneously breaking down. He felt like he would go crazy wanting to return twice the pain his wife had suffered to Madam Jo. That was why he had quickly sent Madam Jo away. He had no idea how he himself might change.

“Whoever the other person is. I’ll take responsibility for what happens afterwards.”

At his wife’s silence, Kangjoon smiled bitterly.

“Am I that untrustworthy? Well, I am a husband who’s worse than trash.”

Only then did his wife, startled, instinctively turn her body.

“Kangjoon-ssi, how could you...!”

Swearing to the heavens, it was instinct for Kangjoon too. His gaze drifted a little lower from his wife’s face. Unintentionally following Kangjoon’s gaze, the yogurt slipped from his wife’s hand with a thud. Her face bright red, she crossed both arms over her chest and quickly turned her body away again.

“......”

“......”

An awkward and strange silence flowed between them. His wife picked up the yogurt and silently drank again. Kangjoon felt an unknown heat rising in his head and moved his hand again. Like her white and slender fingers, his wife was all white and slender. Especially her elegant and clean neckline, it kept drawing his gaze.

“I feel like I’m always receiving help from Kangjoon-ssi. So, I’m sorry and grateful.”

It was the first time Taeryeong had carefully revealed her true feelings to her husband. She felt sorry and grateful, and today felt like she had to.

“Then repay me.”

But the voice that came from behind her back was strange. Even though there was nothing particularly different, that’s how Taeryeong felt. Was it the atmosphere?

“In my own way.”

Just then, hot lips gently touched the nape of her neck like a feather.

“Your neckline is beautiful.”

Chok-.

“I’ll remember.”

At the movement of his lips whispering against her skin, Taeryeong could only blink, unable to breathe.

“I’ll leave work on time and come home, so rest well.”

Taeryeong felt Kangjoon getting out of bed.

“Because we need to talk.”

At the sound of the bedroom door opening and closing, the breath she had been holding escaped all at once. Even as her heart pounded as if it would burst, his last words tore at her chest.

________________________________________

With an aching body, Taeryeong drove herself to a nursing hospital. The woman on the bed receiving an IV drip looked like a living corpse, unlike a few weeks ago. But without feeling any pity, Taeryeong asked directly,

“Did my sister collapse from refusing to eat because of Heo Kyung-soo?”

A woman’s intuition is frightening. Unlike their usual superficial conversations, today her husband would dig straight to the core. So, Taeryeong had to prepare. For the connection between her husband and Madam Jo’s daughter, for the hidden truth.

“Because my sister ended up like that, my aunt even stormed into the company and assaulted me.”

The woman, who had been stubbornly keeping her mouth shut, finally chuckled.

“Looks like you deserved it.”

“Even though Kangjoon-ssi saw it?”

At Taeryeong’s calm words, that smile quickly vanished.

“So tell me everything. Unless you want this marriage to fall apart today.”

“Are you threatening me right now?”

Her venomous eyes shot daggers, but Taeryeong didn’t even flinch.

“Yes, I’m threatening you.”

Trembling at the too-calm reply, the woman picked up her phone. She was probably going to tattle to Madam Jo. Taeryeong quickly approached, snatched the phone, and climbed onto the frail body.

“Are you crazy! My phone, agh!”

But Madam Jo’s daughter was subdued by Taeryeong far too easily.

“Listen to me carefully. My aunt is so desperate for this marriage that she would even take me, the one who’s dying to kill her, as her daughter. But if this marriage falls apart because of you, do you think she’ll even consider you as her daughter?”

Maternal love didn’t exist for Madam Jo. Her daughter was just another means to satisfy her greed.

“I’m enduring this marriage because it’s me. The daughter-in-law of Hanshin Group, the CEO of Inno Fashion, Seo Kangjoon’s wife, and even the mother of a devilish sister.”

Madam Jo’s daughter also had no affection for her mother. She was just a source of money and an object of fear who held her by the throat. Taeryeong had already seen through all of that.

“If this marriage breaks down right now, your aunt will cut off your money supply first. If it’s revealed to be a fraudulent marriage, no man will want to remarry you either. That’s all you’re worth to your aunt.”

Hatred filled her red, bloodshot eyes. But Taeryeong didn’t know if it was directed at her or at Madam Jo.

“Knowing your aunt’s personality, she’ll probably put all the blame on you. Ah, it would be more accurate to say she’ll abandon you at Inno.”

As if struck at her weak point, Madam Jo’s daughter began to struggle.

“So tell me everything!”

When Taeryeong shouted sharply, Madam Jo’s daughter gaped like a goldfish, startled.

“The words you can never say to your aunt, I’ll listen to everything and help you resolve it.”

Getting off the frail body, Taeryeong handed the phone back to Madam Jo’s daughter.

“Choose. Either tell me everything and keep today’s events a secret, or call your aunt right now and tattle everything. If I quit, it’ll be over for me. Of course, not for you though.”

“You’re really out of your mind. Aren’t you thinking about your grandmother?”

“Then do you think I would have endured this with a sound mind?”

Taeryeong smiled brightly with a composed face.

“They said there’s another hospital besides Gayang Hospital that’s conducting clinical trials. It’s a waste of the time I’ve endured, but I can look into treatment for my grandmother at that hospital again.”

Of course, it was a lie. But there was no way Madam Jo’s daughter, who was stuck in the hospital, would know that.

“So, worry about your sister instead of me.”

Just as she was about to turn away without any lingering feelings.

“I met Kyung-soo in Germany!”

Turning around slowly, Taeryeong saw Madam Jo’s daughter glaring at her as if to kill her. She had made her choice. To keep today’s events a secret from Madam Jo and tell her everything.

“Alicia Barton.”

Calling Madam Jo’s daughter’s name, Taeryeong pulled a chair over and sat calmly beside the bed.

“Don’t hide anything from me. Tell me everything.”