Haejin got out of the taxi and surveyed the alley inside. She was a bit worried because loan sharks looking for Intae might still be around today, although she had raised her voice, the truth was she was scared. Dealing with rough and fierce men was indeed challenging.
“Maybe I should learn self-defense.”
Pushing her not easily yielding feet forward, Yeo-eun once again walked through the alley. The dimly lit alley, courtesy of the old lamppost, was eerily quiet today as well.
“Seems like there’s no one here?”
Yeo-eun cautiously stepped into the alley after double-checking for any signs of danger. It had been a tough day. For her, living the same twenty-four hours as everyone else felt like a day that somehow passed slowly.
How sharp her sense of reality was, especially on days that seemed to drag on for her, became painfully clear.
It was a bit…
No, it was quite painful.
When she had taken a few steps, her heart dropped with a thud beneath her foot. Despite thoroughly checking, she saw a red brake light on a car at the end of the alley.
Then, the car’s back door opened slowly.
She needed to find the self-defense spray in her bag, but she was too flustered to move her hands properly.
While rummaging through her bag, Yeo-eun stopped moving.
Of all things, it was a broken lamppost.
And of all things, it was an intermittently flickering lamppost that had reached the end of its life.
Beneath it, a black car had a long leg descending.
The elongated shadow allowed her to barely confirm the silhouette. Unconsciously, Yeo-eun held her breath.
“No way…”
It was a familiar silhouette.
Even the shadow, large and elongated under the lamppost, was familiar.
Then, the car door closed slowly, and a commanding voice echoed through the alley.
“…Send me one, too.”
In slow-moving steps, the illuminated leg revealed the face.
Chadoha?
How could Chadoha be here?
Frozen stiff, Yeo-eun just silently gazed at Chadoha approaching.
He was on a call with someone, and with his gaze fixed on her, he spoke.
“Not Itaewon. I came to catch the escaped toy.”
The escaped toy.
With his words, a soreness settled in the middle of her chest.
Was he checking on the welfare of her escaped toy?
Chadoha, who had stopped in front of her, hung up the phone and casually glanced at her face.
From eyes to lips, cheeks and earlobes, lips to throat, and even below the collarbone.
As if savoring a taste, Chadoha slowly shifted his gaze and finally opened his mouth.
“The sixth axing.”
She had guessed that he came to catch the escaped toy.
Once he set his mind to it, there was no way to escape Chadoha, the nuisance of Hanju Group.
“Let’s begin.”
For some reason, tears seemed to burst forth with a clatter.
Haejin’s shoulders trembled as she tightly sealed her lips.
It was a thoroughly miserable day, and she detested the deity that insisted on concluding it this way.
Yeo-eun, who barely suppressed the welling tears, opened her lips.
“Do I have the right to refuse?”
From her first encounter with Chadoha until now.
Her heart clung to Chadoha as if pulled by a powerful force.
Without even attempting to push him away from her heart, she swayed towards him without reservation.
But at this very moment, she wanted to push him away.
Because only then did it seem like she could breathe properly.
“I’ve had a tough day today.”
Kim Hae-ri and Jin Yoo-hee.
Chadoha’s current lover and future wife.
Facing these two, Yeo-eun realized something.
And the punctuation mark that ended such realization was the envelope offered by Chairman Chae Jisub.
“I don’t have the strength to wield the ax today, Director.”
If she didn’t push him away, it felt like today would be impossible to endure.
Chadoha stared intently at her.
There was not a trace of warmth in the gaze directed at her.
Even if she peered into his jet-black eyes, there was no mercy to be found.
He just looked at her unfeelingly.
For quite a while. Chadoha reached out.
Surprised, Yeo-eun tried to step back, but it was after Chadoha grabbed her hand.
“A hundred times, I’ll yield.”
Lifting her hand, Chadoha observed the half-removed bandage.
“Let’s call it the fifth round.”
The exposed bandage was soaked with blood.
Perhaps that’s why Chadoha’s brow subtly furrowed.
What could he be thinking?
Narrowing his forehead as if scrutinizing her wounds wouldn’t add any value to her injuries.
It wasn’t even a worried feeling.
“Director, I…”
Whether it was the fifth round or the sixth, it seemed impossible to say that any encounter would happen.
She didn’t want to waver today.
But Chadoha, who didn’t even consider listening to her words, dropped her hand carelessly and spoke.
“Give me a cup of coffee.”
The flickering lamppost light made Chadoha’s face appear colder than usual.
When the distinct contours of his facial features created shadows, his cruelty seemed to be subtly revealed.
Yet, at the same time, his appearance was so beautiful that it took her breath away again.
“Or give me a drink.”
Even in his bitter laughter, the tip of her heart trembled.
The Male lead Always Seduces Her with His Beauty (Matriarchy)
Xin Jiao Zhou is the leader of the world’s premier sect. She has just experienced betrayal from all sides, was poisoned in an assassination attempt, and faced death squad attacks while the poison was taking effect. After finally clearing out the scum from her sect, she was drugged again while trying to detoxify.
After waking up from a night of unconsciousness, she gained a “beautiful and kind-hearted” husband.
Xin Jiao Zhou: “???”
He fell ill.
She came to see him, bringing breakfast.
As she put down the breakfast and was about to leave, his hand slipped while holding the spoon. “Clank!”
She turned around upon hearing the noise.
He looked up at her, his eyebrows drooping: “My hand… has no strength.”
“Shall I… feed you?” she asked tentatively.
He opened his mouth cheerfully: “Ah—”
Thinking she was drowning, he jumped in without hesitation to save her, but nearly drowned himself. In the end, it was she who swam over to rescue him, giving him air underwater.
After emerging from the water, his ear tips turned red. He lightly brushed his cheek, tucking his sideburns behind his ear, revealing delicate, pink-tinged ear tips. He lowered his gaze, too embarrassed to look at her.
Xin Jiao Zhou: He’s truly beautiful, kind-hearted, and adorable.
A certain someone when disciplining subordinates behind the scenes: “If they don’t obey, just kill them.”
What’s that? She might already have someone she cares about in her heart? A certain someone: Find out who it is, kill them, and then there won’t be anyone.
What? She met a man by the riverside? What? That man even hurt her? A certain someone: Whichever hand hurt her, chop off his entire arm.
Love at first sight without realizing it, gradually falling in love, slowly getting closer…
Family and national grudges, schemes and desires, good and evil, crime and punishment, she and he face the future together, seeking justice with passion!
A naturally dark female lead who could accidentally destroy the world but is actually an honest person VS a weak, pitiful, and helpless but skilled fighter, beautiful white-cut black male lead
My heart is not of stone, how steadfast is your love? — Tao Yuanming “Imitating the Ancients (No. 3)”
— Reading Guide —
Cold female lead & dramatic black lotus with hidden yandere traits male lead
