The path leading to the annex was monotonous, unlike the mansion where he resided. Even in the same space, the annex used by the employed was unfamiliar to Seung Ho.

Before Ji Hyun came, he had never been curious about this place or visited it even once in his life.

His steady steps halted at the entrance of the annex.

In this narrow place he had impulsively walked to, Ji Hyun was still nowhere to be seen.

Just as he was getting unbearably irritated by the fact that he had no means to contact her, there was a sign of presence.

“Cough, cough.”

It was a small coughing sound. Seung Ho turned his head towards the direction of the sound.

Ji Hyun was there. Wearing a faded gray hoodie and carrying a cardboard box, her face was noticeably gaunt.

As Seung Ho’s gaze examining her complexion reached her wrist, he saw that her slender wrist barely holding the box was so thin it seemed it would break if held.

‘Tsk, to come out looking like that…’

Seung Ho’s eyes were displeased as he looked at her, wearing just a thin layer in such cold wind.

The reason she hadn’t been seen for days was probably due to a cold. Her continuous coughing and reddened eyes spoke of Ji Hyun’s health condition.

“What are you trying to do, coming out looking like that?”

Startled by the sudden voice, Ji Hyun was shocked to see Seung Ho.

“Wh-what brings you here?”

Ji Hyun’s hoarse voice grated on his nerves. Instead of answering, he snatched the box from her hands and threw it into the recycling bin.

“This isn’t a path for taking a walk…”

Mumbling, Ji Hyun seemed to think that he had come here while taking a walk.

Seung Ho remained silent, examining her with narrowly opened eyes. Seeing her small hands rubbing together busily, it seemed her body temperature was dropping in the low, chilly temperature.

‘She came out not even knowing what the weather was like outside.’

“You really need a lot of looking after.”

Muttering lowly, he took off his wool cardigan and draped it over Ji Hyun’s shoulders. Her light brown eyes widened even more. The lifeless look in her eyes due to illness was not pleasant to see.

“I-I’m fine. I just need to go back to my room and rest quickly.”

Staring blankly at Seung Ho, Ji Hyun hurriedly tried to take off the cardigan draped over her shoulders.

‘You’re really too bothersome.’

Seung Ho stretched out both hands and gently pressed down on her thin, small shoulders to prevent her from taking off the cardigan.

“You keep it. I don’t need it.”

“The weather is cold.”

“Take care of your own mindset for coming out dressed like that while knowing it’s cold.”

Realizing he had blurted out a brusque remark unintentionally, Seung Ho looked at Ji Hyun.

“Cough, cough.”

She was coughing with her lips buried in her sleeve.

Her long downcast eyelashes trembled slightly. The sight resembled a butterfly’s wing flutter, and Seung Ho couldn’t take his eyes off Ji Hyun.

Her lips, just parted from her sleeve after the cough finally subsided, were terribly red. It was difficult to ignore the red color that caught the eye in the gray world.

“Um, since I have a terrible cold, I should probably go now…”

Seung Ho, who had been staring intently, reached out and brushed Ji Hyun’s lips. Her lips, slightly chapped from the bitter winter wind, were rough and hot.

Flustered by the gentle touch wandering over her lips, Ji Hyun looked at Seung Ho, but he was still looking down, staring at her chapped lips.

“I told you not to disappear from my sight…”

His muttering voice somehow sounded affectionate, and instead of asking what he was doing, Ji Hyun took a step back.

However, with the soft touch of his hand still seemingly lingering, Ji Hyun bit her lip tightly. His hand, now lost for a place to go, remained in the air as his gaze finally met Ji Hyun’s eyes.

The deep eyes that looked sorrowful on his arrogant and proud face were unfamiliar, and Ji Hyun couldn’t easily look away from him.

Perhaps she had let her guard down too much; this time, instead of his hand, his face suddenly came into view.

Startled by his strong woody scent, Ji Hyun’s body stiffened. Just as their lips were about to meet, with no chance to avoid it, Seung Ho’s lips moved slowly.

“Don’t make people go crazy by disappearing as you please.”

It was strange. Clearly, all the words he was saying were intimidating, but somehow, she wasn’t scared at all.

His black pupils, closely facing her, just felt like beautiful stars in the night sky. That’s when it happened. A cold piece of ice touched her cheek. Snow had started falling between them again.

Ji Hyun faced the lady of the house again the very next day after their first meeting.

“You said your name was Ji Hyun, right?”

“Yes.”

Her attitude of asking for her name now, after thoroughly berating her with harsh words, showed how little interest she had in Ji Hyun.

The lady’s interest was solely on her son, Seung Ho.

“At first, I was going to treat you well too. Manager Kim said your circumstances were so pitiful. But you see, our son is a bit naive and innocent.”

Ji Hyun almost laughed right in the lady’s face.

To think that of all people, Shin Seung Ho would be called naive…

Shin Seung Ho was the apex predator who controlled the world at the top of the pyramid with his exceptionally sharp mind. Ji Hyun bit her tongue hard to suppress the laughter that was about to burst out.

“He’s been so disinterested in girls that I was actually worried, but now I see he just didn’t know much about women.”

The lady sighed openly and muttered as if grinding her teeth.

“But to think it would be a girl like you…”

It wasn’t a conversation. It was a monologue. With Ji Hyun right in front of her, the lady didn’t hesitate to criticize.

“Well, our Seung Ho does have an innocent side. He still likes butterflies like a child.”

She equated his hobby of delicately handling and mounting butterflies with the common insect collecting of young boys.

“He’s destined for great things, but with such a tender heart, how will he handle big tasks? So he must have been swayed by you with your puppy dog eyes.”

The sharp eyes of Do Su Rin, the wife of Chairman Shin and Seung Ho’s mother, scanned Ji Hyun from head to toe.

“I told him I can’t stand cheap things, and yet…”

Ji Hyun bit her lip hard. Su Rin was very skilled at wounding people’s hearts without using a single vulgar word. She turned her gaze away as if brushing off dust.

“You said you work here with your aunt, right?”

“…Yes.”

“It would be best for both of you to prepare to leave this place soon.”

Ji Hyun, who had been trying to let the lady’s heart-cutting words slide, was shaken for the first time. Even if not for herself, for Hyun Sook, this place was a workplace that guaranteed livelihood and a shelter where she could rest.

“I’m not in any kind of relationship with the young master. So please don’t fire us.”

She used the term ‘young master’ to put distance between herself and Seung Ho. Su Rin smirked as if finding this desperate Ji Hyun amusing.

“Where do you learn such repertoire? It’s a line I’ve often heard in dramas or movies. Child.”

“It’s true. Or at least let my aunt keep working. I’ll leave alone.”

Su Rin’s eyes, which had been staring intently at Ji Hyun as she pleaded earnestly, curved gently. It was a face reminiscent of Shin Seung Ho.

Whenever he smiled like this, something unpleasant always happened. The lady approached Ji Hyun with slow steps.

“I don’t like to bring even an ant of uncertain breed into my house. I’ve already told Manager Kim. Your aunt should have been told to find a new job within two weeks, so know that.”

At this bolt from the blue, Ji Hyun felt her vision go dark. The lady gestured to the seemingly dazed Ji Hyun as if telling her to leave now.

“Please, I beg you.”

Faced with a desperate expression as if she might fall to her knees, the lady turned her back with a bored look. A heavy sense of guilt that everything was because of her weighed down on Ji Hyun’s entire body.

Her legs wobbled all the way from the mansion to the annex. Hyun Sook rushed out in surprise when she saw Ji Hyun, who could barely walk, at the annex.

“Aunt, I’m sorry. Really, really sorry.”

Facing Hyun Sook with tears streaming down her face, Ji Hyun only repeated that she was sorry even when asked what had happened. After that day, Ji Hyun fell severely ill for several days.

The blue Morpho butterfly, said to be Seung Ho’s most treasured, was mounted alone in a large frame, unlike the other butterflies.

As she leisurely admired the beautiful and vivid wings that seemed about to fly away at any moment, Manager Kim quietly approached her.

“I’ve conveyed the message as you instructed, madam. Hyun Sook also accepted without much protest.”

“That’s nice and clean.”

Unlike Su Rin, who was humming a tune, Manager Kim felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

He had tried several times to change the lady’s mind about firing them, but for some reason, she maintained an adamant attitude. Although never explicitly expressed, Hyun Sook was considered one of the better employees in the mansion. The same was true for Ji Hyun.

Unlike the lady who could end things with a single word, for Manager Kim who had to directly oversee the mansion’s affairs, it was a painful loss.

Thinking he should at least clear their names as they were being unjustly driven out, he courageously opened his mouth.

“I’m sorry, madam, but I think you should know this. Ji Hyun isn’t really that kind of person.”

At the words Manager Kim had mustered up the courage to say, the lady burst out laughing.

“Manager Kim, unlike your appearance, you’re too sentimental for your own good.”

Keeping her gaze on the Morpho butterfly, she continued speaking.

“You know, I like butterflies, but I hate moths. Do you know the difference between the two?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Butterflies suck nectar, but moths don’t. They just rummage through scraps to live.”

Su Rin shuddered as if the mere thought disgusted her.

“I got that feeling from her. A moth pretending to be a butterfly. Strangely gloomy, an unpleasant child.”

Listening to the contemptuous verbal abuse, Manager Kim swallowed a sigh rising from his lungs. It was her son Seung Ho who had turned Ji Hyun, who had no interest in anything in the house, into something like a moth.

‘You really don’t know your son at all.’

It was fortunate that Young Master Seung Ho was briefly in America at his father’s call. Manager Kim earnestly hoped that he would stay in America for a long time before returning.

It started snowing again. It was heavy snow falling as if pouring down all at once. Hyun Sook stood next to Ji Hyun, who was blankly staring at the sky, holding two suitcases.

“The snow is piling up. We should move quickly before the roads get blocked.”

Ji Hyun’s eyes stung as she looked at her.

“I’m sorry, aunt. Because of me…”

Seeing the eyes that looked about to burst into tears, Hyun Sook became serious.

“What are you sorry for? Don’t ever say that. Why are you blaming yourself for the Shin family being terrible?”

On the day she received the dismissal notice through Manager Kim, Hyun Sook had accepted it calmly. She had been annoyed by Manager Kim’s clingy surveillance of Ji Hyun anyway, so she thought it was for the best.

She had received ample incentives and severance pay for her work up to now. That was enough.

“The taxi should be here soon. Let’s wait out on the road.”

Ji Hyun, who had been blankly staring at the mansion, slowly nodded at Hyun Sook’s words. She would never have reason to come here again. She brushed her fingers over her own lips. They were dry and chapped.

Ji Hyun followed Hyun Sook, who had started moving first. Snow fell endlessly on the white space left by Hyun Sook and Ji Hyun’s departure, covering the footprints left in the lightly accumulated snow.