It was frustrating.

This was surely a bad sign for Sun Woo, who had always done things his own way.

“After saying I’d play the role of husband, here I am just doing housework.”

After running the vacuum cleaner for a change of mood, Sun Woo stood still in place and chuckled wryly.

Of course, only about ten days had passed, but things didn’t seem to be working out as easily as expected.

Though Se Eun’s hedgehog-like wariness had lessened somewhat, she wasn’t in a state where she could be seduced in the first place.

Rather than capturing her heart, it seemed more important to soothe it first.

Moreover, seeing her come down the stairs every morning wrapped in a white fur coat, the first thought that came to mind was that she needed to be well-fed, before any seduction.

It was truly an exasperating situation.

“Ah~ Maybe I have a hidden talent as a nanny?”

Sun Woo picked up a white hair rolling on the floor and glared at it with narrowed eyes.

It was a fluffy hair that must have fallen from her coat.

The fact that even a top-of-the-line vacuum cleaner couldn’t suck it up, wasn’t it just like the current Ki Sun Woo and Yeon Se Eun?

But a rabbit is still a rabbit, after all.

No matter how much it tried to hide, it was only a matter of time before a pouncing leopard caught it by the neck.

Especially if that leopard had been starving for days.

“Well then, shall we begin in earnest?”

Sun Woo’s lips curved into a meaningful smile.

On the second day of Se Eun’s hospital visit, today was none other than the ‘D-day’ to ransack her room.

Last week, he had thoroughly searched this house once more to check.

And last night, he had even opened the locked door.

Although the sudden appearance of Se Eun had left the search of her father’s room unfinished, Sun Woo instinctively sensed.

That there was nothing in that room except an old piano and sheet music.

If so, there was only one place left in this house.

Yeon Se Eun’s room.

The room she used as a child, which she had moved to, refusing the newlywed room to avoid him, was today’s final target.

Stealthily, even though Se Eun wasn’t home, Sun Woo approached the room, habitually reducing his footsteps.

Like yesterday, the door wasn’t locked, so infiltration was easy.

Seeing the room in daylight, he thought it was truly befitting of Yeon Se Eun.

Naturally, Ko San had only prepared minimal furnishings when putting the two of them in this house, but her room seemed to have received even less of that benefit.

A modest bed, a desk, and a small wardrobe were all there was.

There wasn’t even a common dressing table.

It looked more like a servant’s room than that of a chaebol family’s granddaughter.

But that was of no concern to him.

If anything, it would save time in searching, which wasn’t bad.

“Hmm. Shall I start here?”

Sun Woo’s fingertips instinctively moved towards the most intriguing place.

None other than the wardrobe.

He felt a strong curiosity about how many fluffy fur coats there were, and if all the skirts were that length.

Creak, the sound of the wooden wardrobe opening echoed through the empty house.

At last, Yeon Se Eun’s private domain revealed itself before his eyes.

As expected, there was nothing surprising.

Thick clothes that seemed fit only for winter occupied most of the wardrobe, and indeed, all the bottoms were long skirts.

Probably because wearing pants would make her limp more noticeable.

But what really bothered Sun Woo was something else.

“……”

Even the padding he had recently spun off Se Eun’s body had quite worn elbows.

All the coats in here were also old.

The strangely loose fit was because the sizes were larger than hers.

Indeed, most of the clothes hanging here weren’t Se Eun’s.

Judging by their outdated style, they were probably old clothes that Shin Mo Na had worn and discarded.

Only the skirts seemed to be Se Eun’s, but they too were just as worn out.

“That old miser is so stingy.”

Appalled, Sun Woo slammed the wardrobe door shut.

Seeing the row of shabby clothes hanging there, he judged it wasn’t a place likely to contain jewels.

Next was the desk.

With several drawers, it held as much potential.

However, soon after, Sun Woo helplessly dropped his hands, his expectations dashed.

It seemed there was a reason the door had been left open.

The desk contained nothing but rice paper, inkstones, and ink sticks.

A woman without even a single common cosmetic or accessory, it was incredible.

Of course, being confined to the house, she might not have needed them, but it was pitiful to this extent.

It was then. As he roughly closed the drawer, Sun Woo’s fingertips felt something catch.

“…!”

With a premonition of finally discovering something, Sun Woo hastily bent his knees and sat down.

He noticed a small box tucked deep in the drawer containing calligraphy tools.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he quickly pulled out the box.

Upon taking it out, the box was just the size of his palm.

Seeing it, his heart began to beat rapidly.

A small box. What could be more appropriate for containing jewels?

Carefully, with rising expectations, Sun Woo opened the box.

Soon after, seeing its contents, a deflated sigh escaped his lips.

Unfortunately, what was inside wasn’t the longed-for ‘Queen’s Tear’.

“A photo?”

What came out of the box was an old photograph.

Sun Woo stared intently at the photo.

It contained faces that had become somewhat familiar to him by now.

Ko Yeon Hwa, her husband who was Se Eun’s father, and Se Eun at about six or seven years old.

It was a family photo of the Ko San family when they were once happy.

That even such a photo couldn’t be openly displayed, Yeon Se Eun was truly a pitiful woman.

However, feeling pity while stealing was nothing but worthless hypocrisy.

Sun Woo quickly closed the box, returned it to its original place, and stood up.

There were only a few places left.

Sun Woo perfunctorily scanned the bookshelf.

No matter how small the Queen’s Tear might be, it wasn’t something to be tucked between books.

“Oh?”

As Sun Woo was skimming the bookshelf without much interest, something interesting suddenly caught his eye.

It was a thick art sketchbook.

Naturally, he took it out and opened it.

The sketchbook was filled with various drawings.

Things that looked like sparkling candy, stars, or moons.

Looking closely, these drawings were sketches of various types of jewels.

Judging by the unskilled hand, they were probably drawn by Se Eun when she was young.

However, the drawings themselves could be considered quite good jewelry designs.

It seemed she had been influenced by her mother, Ko Yeon Hwa.

According to Sang Hyun’s investigation, Ko Yeon Hwa was a skilled designer who had received offers from famous overseas brands.

In fact, there had been great expectations for the brand she was about to launch.

Everyone said it would become a representative jewelry brand of Korea.

And at this moment, Sun Woo was realizing an important fact.

Yeon Se Eun. The only daughter carrying Ko Yeon Hwa’s blood.

That she too had an amazing talent.

At last, a satisfied smile spread across Sun Woo’s face.

Today, he wasn’t empty-handed. He had made quite an interesting harvest.

*

“What… what do you mean, Ki Sun Woo?”

As soon as she returned from the hospital, Se Eun was met with an absurd announcement.

“It means exactly what I said, Yeon Se Eun. You need to leave this house for a while.”

“Leave?”

At these preposterous words, Se Eun unconsciously took a step closer to him.

He smiled as if amused.

“After you went to the hospital, I thought about my wife’s future.”

“Thought…?”

“Yes. We can’t live like the old days forever, can we?”

“…What do you mean?”

Unable to grasp his intentions, Se Eun fidgeted with her fingers under her thick fur sleeves.

Was her image of just writing calligraphy at home looking pathetic to him?

However, what flowed from Sun Woo’s mouth was something completely unexpected.

Something Se Eun had never once considered.

“Yeon Se Eun, how about working at a company?”

“…Pardon?”

“You know, a company? Like Ko San, Ju Ha. These kinds of companies. Ah, of course, I’m not saying you should get a job at such a big corporation.”

Feeling increasingly puzzled, Se Eun unconsciously became anxious.

She couldn’t understand what this unfamiliar and boundary-pushing man was saying.

Perhaps her feelings were clearly visible on her face, as he elaborated in more detail.

“If what you want is to be trapped in the house forever, then I have nothing to say, but you don’t seem that way. With the calligraphy and all… Don’t you have things you want to learn or do?”

“…Things I want to do?”

“Yes. Like studying. You know, things like that.”

“Ah……”

Suddenly, Se Eun felt embarrassed.

Although Sun Woo didn’t say it directly, it reminded her of her situation of not having graduated from university.

To others, it was packaged as having studied abroad, but in reality, it wasn’t like that at all.

The only learning she had access to was years of homeschooling.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Se Eun was trapped in a cage called Ko San.

Even so, there was no way she could get a job overnight.

Just as Se Eun was about to shake her head, Sun Woo cut off her firm resolve first.

“Don’t worry about the job. It might be a bit lacking in form, but there’s a chance people like us can use.”

“A chance…?”

“Yes. A very good chance.”

A winner’s smile spread across Sun Woo’s lips.

It was a relaxed smile full of suspicious schemes.

Then, the identity of the ‘good chance’ flowed from his lips.

“You must have heard of it a lot too, Yeon Se Eun. It’s called parachuting.”