After finishing the call, Tae-ryeong quietly touched the ring. The exquisitely crafted 5-carat pink diamond glowed brilliantly. A ring her husband had given to Joo Se-hee, not Yoo Tae-ryeong. Yet, it was something she couldn’t take with her. Tae-ryeong smiled faintly.

“There’s really nothing to pack.”

Everything was not hers. The only thing Tae-ryeong would take was the briefcase gifted by Kang-joon. Perhaps because she had barely slept for two days, her body felt heavy like waterlogged cotton. It wasn’t that she hadn’t slept, but that she couldn’t. Her mind was complex, but it was also due to the absence of the comforting embrace and warmth that always enveloped her. Everything about that man had become her routine and habit. Tae-ryeong pressed her hand to her aching eyes and closed them for a moment.

‘Congratulations on becoming my wife.’

‘As a man, can you handle me?’

‘I’m saying we will never divorce.’

‘From this moment on, you are my woman.’

‘Will you believe me if I say I love you?’

‘Joo Se-hee, it’s love.’

‘It’s so strange. Why do I hate leaving so much?’

From the moment she first saw Kang-joon at the wedding hall until before she left. Everything that had happened with her husband played out like a movie. And then, the approaching ending. It was time to put everything in order and leave without lingering regrets. Tae-ryeong rose from the sofa, carrying only her briefcase, and walked through the house with a serene expression. As if trying to recall and remember each memory in this house. She finally reached the front door. If she put on her shoes and walked out, it would be over. Why couldn’t her feet move? Tae-ryeong bit her lips hard, eventually unable to bear it, and looked back. She gazed with a distant look and bid farewell.

“Goodbye, three years of Yoo Tae-ryeong.”

Turning back around, Tae-ryeong opened the front door without hesitation and walked out. It was time to return to being Joo Se-hee.

________________________________________

Upon arriving in Germany, Se-hee and Alicia stayed at the Hilton Hotel in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. It was Se-hee who stopped Alicia, who was trying to enjoy her former freedom like a fish released into water. Alicia wanted to argue, “Who are you to interfere?” but she couldn’t. Ms. Jo had handed over financial control to Se-hee while in Germany. A faint resolve also bloomed in her due to the 5-carat pink diamond ring Se-hee had given her. Mother, whom I can’t escape anyway. A perfect husband candidate that any woman would envy, and an in-laws’ background from the top 1%. Maybe seducing Seo Kang-joon and becoming a minor lady of the Hanseon family wouldn’t be so bad after all. Of course, the simple-minded Alicia didn’t know that Se-hee saw right through all her thoughts. After arriving in Germany, Se-hee deliberately pushed Alicia relentlessly, giving her no time to rest. Under the pretext that Ms. Jo had instructed her to properly educate Alicia for a month. Because only when stress reached its peak and she was driven into a corner would a proper conversation be possible. Alicia, who had been imitating her, exploded in the second week.

“I can’t do this anymore! Why am I memorizing this stuff?! You said you’d support him, so why do I have to learn management?!”

Alicia threw the printouts, scattering them in the air. Se-hee watched them silently and only slowly spoke after the papers fell to the floor.

“Pick them up.”

“No! I won’t! Who are you to dare teach me?!”

Her large eyes, glaring as if to kill, were fierce, yet Se-hee didn’t budge.

“What are you going to do if you don’t learn? You have no guts to escape from Aunt, no ability, nothing whatsoever.”

She deliberately chose harsh words. To make the fiery Alicia explode.

“If you get divorced and abandoned by Aunt, do you have the ability to live on your own, or any money saved up? Do you even have any?”

“Even without learning that nonsense, I’ll seduce Seo Kang-joon my way. I know all his secrets, so it’ll be ridiculously easy if he falls for a stubborn person like you.”

Tae-ryeong looked at Alicia, who answered arrogantly despite trembling, with disdain.

“He was kind and affectionate to me after he learned the secret. Before that, even I said I wanted to quit the contract and everything, you remember that, don’t you, unnie?”

She had roughly told Alicia what had happened with Kang-joon, but she hadn’t mentioned love. She had explained that Kang-joon had been kind and affectionate to persuade her for another revenge.

“Like you said, even I, a stubborn person, had a hard time enduring him.”

Alicia seemed to have finally remembered what she had forgotten, mesmerized by the diamond ring. What kind of man Seo Kang-joon was.

“In my opinion. If he finds out the real Alicia is back, he won’t stay still with that personality of his.”

Se-hee asked teasingly, looking at the noticeably pale Alicia.

“I’ll ask again. Are you really confident you can win over Seo Kang-joon?”

Alicia sprang up from her chair, glaring at Se-hee as if to kill her, panting.

“That’s why I gave Seo Kang-joon to you! So you could get pregnant with a child and live as Yoo Tae-ryeong forever! If only you had succeeded, I would be living freely with my share of the money! It’s all your fault!”

“...”

“Why do I have to imitate you now?! Give me back my money, give it back! Argh!”

Se-hee quietly watched Alicia’s tantrum. Ms. Jo was cunning. Before handing over the two documents, she demanded a final signature as Yoo Tae-ryeong. It was the document to dispose of Inno Fashion shares. To cut off her only financial lifeline, which was also her last hope, so she could manipulate her daughter as she pleased. It was the same for Se-hee. It was easier to bring Alicia to her side when she was driven to the brink. Because she absolutely needed Alicia to properly get revenge on Ms. Jo. Alicia, exhausted from throwing and breaking things around her, eventually collapsed, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Ugh, I just want to live as Alicia. I just want to live freely now, as I please... Ugh! Why won’t you let me go?”

Se-hee silently watched the utterly broken Alicia.

“I hate everything! I wish everyone would just die! You! Grandfather! Mother! Father! That man! Everyone! What did I do wrong to deserve this?”

Se-hee sighed deeply and decided to accept it. That Alicia in front of her was another victim of Ms. Jo. She had survived like a weed because of Ms. Jo, becoming tough and strong. But Alicia was the opposite. From the moment she was born until now, she had grown up with permission even to breathe under Ms. Jo’s thumb. Even now, as an adult, she was as helpless and incapable as a young child left by the water’s edge.

“You wicked bitch, does it make you feel better now that you see my misery? Does it feel good to take out your revenge on me, since you couldn’t do it to Mother?!”

Alicia was completely wrong. Revenge? It hasn’t even begun. When she was young, she couldn’t understand Ms. Jo’s hatred towards her. Even though we’re family, why is she doing this to me and Grandmother, who are struggling just to survive? But as time passed and she grew into an adult, she realized. That understanding wasn’t necessary, that it was a cursed relationship that would only end when one of them was completely destroyed. In fact, Se-hee didn’t want to get revenge on Ms. Jo. It was for her own comfort and safety. Her desperate struggle for survival had simply become more elaborate and planned. Because only by shattering everything Ms. Jo possessed would she leave her alone. That was the reason for her revenge. Tae-ryeong approached the sobbing Alicia, knelt down, and met her eyes.

“Do I still look like I’m afraid of Aunt in your eyes, unnie?”

This was the moment Alicia’s last shred of pride crumbled. The perfect timing to exploit the vulnerability and persuade her.

“Have you ever considered that I’m keeping my head down, waiting for the right moment to get revenge?”

A tough nut who solves everything on her own, handles everything herself. To Alicia, Se-hee was such an image, and that’s why she was scared. Because she thought Se-hee was capable of that and more.

“Is 2 billion won enough?”

At Se-hee’s question, Alicia’s expression was blank.

“The price for betraying Aunt and siding with me. If you add one more thing, it’s the freedom you can enjoy by escaping from Aunt.”

“Are you kidding me? Where would you even get that kind of money?”

“I have a lot of money. I can keep earning money. I have more than enough ability for that.”

Alicia, who had stopped crying, rolled her eyes. She seemed to be finally recalling what Se-hee had said at the nail salon. Who the real owner of Doramol was.

“Why are you trying to help me? Se-hee, don’t you hate me?”

Alicia’s face, asking cautiously, was full of suspicion. But it was understandable. No one had ever managed to strip away the neat facade Se-hee wore. Like unpredictable, volatile weather, her hidden true feelings were unreadable. Only Seo Kang-joon was the exception.

“I’m not helping you, I’m helping myself. There were times I hated you, but I didn’t always hate you. I think you felt the same, didn’t you? You didn’t particularly hate me. Your innate personality is just a pain in the ass.”

“Hey! How good do you think your personality is? You’re no better than me...”

With a hint of weariness in her expression, Se-hee cut Alicia off.

“Revenge that spirals just gets tiring. It’s a problem that should end with Aunt and me, and it needs to be cut off there.”

If it weren’t for Ms. Jo, she and Alicia would have remained strangers forever, never meeting. That’s how Se-hee decided to conclude her relationship with Alicia. If she took revenge on Alicia, and then if Alicia, filled with hatred and revenge, perhaps bore a child. And if there was a gift from Kang-joon, her baby, in her own belly. She didn’t want to pass down this vengefulness, this hatred, and these desolate emotions to her children. I want it to end with me. Even if she couldn’t forgive Ms. Jo and the UK, she had to forgive Alicia. For her own peace of mind. Se-hee looked at Alicia with calm eyes and asked,

“Decide now. Will you side with me, get money, and live a free life, or will you be Aunt’s puppet for the rest of your life?”

As if there would be no second chances. *** He completed his two-week schedule in the US. After that, it took another two weeks to travel from Mexico, France, Spain, and finally to his last destination, Germany. This was only possible because Chairman Seo lent him his private jet, freeing him from commercial flight schedules. Now, all that was left was to go and meet his wife. To avoid crossing paths with his wife, who spontaneously planned her daily schedule in the morning, he sent Secretary Yoon to the hotel first. He could have told her by email that he was coming to see her today, but he wanted to surprise her. Because it was always a pleasure to watch emotions spread across her usually composed face. After finishing his last appointment, Kang-joon drove himself to the hotel and called Secretary Yoon.

“I’ll be there in 20 minutes.”

It was a command to ascertain his wife’s location and to detain her if she tried to go out. Hanging up the phone, he carefully recalled his plan. First, he would spend a relaxed and enjoyable time with his wife. At night, he planned to have a serious conversation over drinks. First, he needed to find out if his wife’s intention to quit work was voluntary or involuntary. If it was voluntary, he had no intention of swaying her decision. But if it was involuntary, he would tell her not to quit. After that, he planned to persuade her. To leave the remaining work to the employees and return to Korea with him. Upon arriving at the Hilton Hotel, Secretary Yoon was waiting for him at the lobby entrance. After giving the staff a tip and the valet parking card, Secretary Yoon, who had followed Kang-joon, reported.

“Madam is in her room. I told her you were coming and held her back when she was about to go out.”

Secretary Yoon’s report continued as they rode the elevator.

“Madam has lost quite a bit of weight and her style has changed drastically, so I almost didn’t recognize her. She is still as beautiful as ever, though.”

Stepping out of the elevator and walking down the long corridor, Kang-joon recalled his wife’s words.

‘I might even surprise you with an amazing transformation. So even if you’re disappointed, just bear with it for a month.’

What kind of transformation was she planning to surprise him with? Reaching the door, Secretary Yoon knocked once, then opened it for him.

“I guarantee, sir, you’ll be surprised too. Please enjoy your time with Madam.”

Stepping into the room, Kang-joon’s gaze casually swept across the spacious living room as he walked. His wife stood gracefully in front of the panoramic window, through which dazzling sunlight streamed. But that was all. Kang-joon stopped in his tracks, his eyes narrowed, and observed his wife. As Secretary Yoon had said, her weight loss was evident even from her back. What most caught his eye was her hairstyle. Her hair, which had been raven black with a bluish tint, was now a soft brown. Seeing her formerly long, luscious hair now swaying at her neckline, Kang-joon’s brows subtly furrowed. The hair color is one thing, but she cut her hair without asking. He didn’t say it, but he liked his wife’s long hair. It suited her, but he also liked the soft sensation of it tickling his face and hair in bed. Short hair might be pretty too, but he couldn’t help but feel a sense of regret. When she showed no sign of approaching despite his presence, his wife finally turned around. Their gazes, standing at opposite ends of the large living room, tangled in the air.

“...”

“...”

His dark eyes, cast downwards, landed on the ring on her slender finger. Slowly, his eyes rose again, fixed on the woman’s face, and he strode forward. He stopped in front of her, took a deep breath, and slowly closed and opened his eyes. He wished the absurd reality before him was just a dream.

Kang-joon slowly opened his mouth.

“Where is my wife?”

He didn’t want to accept this terrible reality.

“Joo Se-hee, where are you?”

That his wife had disappeared. That his Joo Se-hee... had left, wearing the fairy’s winged dress.