“Kang Tae Seo, what’s with you really? You’ve been rejecting all sorts of gatherings since the last welcome party.”
“Well, indeed. Even while coming to Kang Sun Art Center, I didn’t expect to see Kang Tae Seo. Maybe he showed up because it’s an event hosted by Kang Sun?”
Tae Seo, who was standing in the midst of people trying to start a conversation, just nodded briefly. It had already been 30 minutes past the agreed time.
Being a charity event held at the art center, most people were dressed elegantly and splendidly in monochrome colors.
Among them, there were some who highlighted their brightness with light pink, watercolor, or coral hues, but to Tae Seo’s eyes, they all looked the same. Because Yoon Jae In was nowhere to be found.
With his dispassionate eyes scanning the gallery, Tae Seo threw his gaze back towards the entrance. His constantly parching throat could not be quenched with nonalcoholic champagne.
“Do you know how many glasses of that you’ve had?”
“Bring me some sparkling water. This is too sweet; I can’t drink it anymore.”
“Do you have a headache again?”
“Yes.”
At Tae Seo’s affirmative, Jun Kyung raised his hand towards the server. Tae Seo rubbed his throbbing temples and checked the time once again.
Would Yoon Jae In not come after all? Did I push it too hard? After all, a person hiding from their own father needed a great bait to risk revealing themselves.
But the best thing Kang Tae Seo had was himself. So Tae Seo hoped that Jae In would desire him and threw himself as bait.
“Tae Seo has been looking at his watch since earlier. Do you have someone to wait for?”
“Are you waiting for Jo Yu Ri by any chance? She’s your fiancée, right? Why didn’t she come with you?”
He didn’t bother to answer a question he deemed unworthy. He was only annoyed by those who clung to him pretending to be close.
Tae Seo gave his seat to Jun Kyung, who brought the sparkling water, and took a few steps back from the group. His eyes reached every corner of the exhibition hall as he took a few sips of the carbonated water.
“…She’s not here.”
The passing time was only cruel. At that moment, he was unable to erase his disappointment as he scanned the same places numerous times and swept his gaze over similarly looking women.
“……”
Tae Seo felt silence swelling like a wave, beginning from the entrance of the main exhibition hall of the art center.
Click. Click. Click.
Along with that silence, he saw the crowd parting following the sound of high heels. People stepped aside, creating a commotion.
Everyone in the space seemed to be under a spell, standing still. Only the faintly audible classical music confirmed that time was still passing.
Strength filled Tae Seo’s deep eyebrows. With his eyes slightly open, he focused on the thrill that was drawing near.
The time that had been flowing swiftly just a moment ago was now stretching out like a thin strip of bamboo. The person Tae Seo was waiting for seemed to be visible yet not, and she tantalized him first with people’s silence and surprised eyes.
When Tae Seo, who was forcing himself not to blink for some reason, discreetly licked his dry lips.
“Sigh…”
A sigh slipped from Tae Seo’s lips as he confirmed the figure that finally appeared.
People dressed in splendid attire had somehow become the blackandwhite background. In Tae Seo’s eyes, only one person stood out against that backdrop.
Yoon Jae In, the real fiancée of Kang Tae Seo.
Tae Seo, who had been staring blankly at Jae In who met his gaze clearly, eventually chuckled. He laughed while subtly lowering his head and stroking the end of his welldrawn eyebrows with his little finger, he was slightly stunned at the moment.
“…I must be losing it.”
Lifting his head again to face Yoon Jae In, she looked like a heroine from a classic foreign movie. The slightly loose updo of her jetblack hair was elegant and dignified.
But looking at a few strands of hair that had slipped down her white, slender neck made his throat dry.
He wanted to feel that texture with his fingertips and let it slip through his fingers. In the end, he had a restless urge to mess up her hair.
A simple golden earring and necklace adorned with bright green sapphires made her pale skin shine even brighter.
The bright green satin silk dress, revealing her shoulders, collarbone, and upper chest, had a design that accentuated freshness and elegance.
The skirt part of the kneelength dress spread out widely and fluttered, rising and falling as she walked.
The small clutch in her hand sparkled gold under the lights, and the green shoes of the same material as the dress subtly boasted their fine texture under the light.
She was dressed glamorously, but it didn’t feel excessive at all. That’s because the most shining of them all was Yoon Jae In.
“Ha.”
That oldfashioned bell sound rang again, audible only to his ears.
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
