With a sudden click, Se Eun was startled by the unexpected light and lifted her head.

Unexpectedly, Ki Sun Woo was standing there.

For a moment, unable to grasp what had happened, she was simply dumbfounded.

He, in fact, had an expression as if his presence here was perfectly natural.

Eventually, Sun Woo approached Se Eun, who was deeply tucked under the piano bench, and extended his hand.

“Come on, get out. It’s time to eat carrots.”

“Carrots…?”

“Yes. Rabbits need to eat carrots.”

An incomprehensible remark, yet a gentle smile spread across Sun Woo’s lips.

At that smile, unseen for days, her tension suddenly melted away.

But she couldn’t readily take his hand.

Having been sniffling continuously, her face was surely a mess.

She didn’t want to show Sun Woo her swollen, unsightly face.

Amid this, Se Eun suddenly realized an important fact.

“Huh? This room… How did you get in?”

She had definitely locked it from the inside; it was strange.

Come to think of it, even on that night when she was playing the piano, hadn’t he magically appeared in this room?

Back then, he had brushed it off saying he didn’t know, but it clearly wasn’t a coincidence.

“That’s not important right now. First, come out. Crouching like that will make your legs hurt.”

“…”

“Come on, quickly.”

Before she knew it, Sun Woo was crouched in front of the piano bench, extending his hand once more.

It felt exactly like being an animal hiding in a burrow.

Come to think of it, Sun Woo had just called her a rabbit.

Puzzled, Se Eun unknowingly reached out and took his hand.

“Ah!”

In an instant, her body was pulled forward.

What happened next made her heart feel like it had dropped.

Se Eun’s body, now out from under the bench, was literally enveloped in Sun Woo’s embrace.

“K-Ki Sun Woo?”

“I’ve been looking for you for a while. Why are you hiding like this?”

“…”

“What happened? Did someone bully you?”

“…”

Why? At his words, tears burst forth as if a dam had broken.

It felt as if all the pent-up sorrow was scattering all at once in Ki Sun Woo’s arms.

“Hic… hic.”

“There, there. If you want to cry, go ahead and cry your heart out.”

Sun Woo’s hand gently patted her back.

At that gentle touch, Se Eun burst into tears like a child right there.

Her shoulders shook, her chest heaved, and her knees trembled.

And Sun Woo held her tightly through it all.

So tightly that she wanted to burrow even deeper into his embrace.

After a long while, when Se Eun finally managed to stop crying, Sun Woo lifted her effortlessly and sat her on the piano bench.

Only then did Se Eun realize her ankles were numb, and she slightly winced.

A long-standing pain without substance.

This pain always came with the ache in her heart.

It was then that Sun Woo naturally took Se Eun’s foot and placed it on his hand.

“…!”

Startled for a moment, she watched as he, sitting with his knees bent, began to slowly massage her ankle.

“This should quickly relieve the numbness.”

“…”

The sensation of his fingers brushing against her ankle bone was incredibly warm.

It felt as if spring had come only to her legs.

Se Eun gazed down at Sun Woo, who was massaging her leg.

Suddenly, she found it amazing.

The Ko San house she had lived in until recently was a mansion so grand it would leave one’s mouth agape.

Its scale, enviable to many, was nothing more than a desperate reality for Se Eun.

Aunt Ko Do Hwa would sometimes get severely drunk and lock her in remote corners of the house.

Unable to eat, unable to turn on the lights, Se Eun would tremble in fear in the darkness and cold.

Even more pitiful was the fact that no one looked for Se Eun.

Ko San was always busy, and even when he came home, he didn’t even realize Se Eun was missing.

As such, she sometimes had to be locked up alone for days.

Yet, this man before her had found her at once.

As if it were the most natural thing.

And that wasn’t all.

He turned on the lights so it wouldn’t be dark. He embraced her warmly and softly to ward off the chill.

He gently caressed her legs, which everyone else pointed fingers at, as if it were nothing.

Ki Sun Woo.

There were enough reasons to like him. No, it seemed more than enough.

“Now… my leg feels better.”

“Really? That’s good.”

At Se Eun’s words, Sun Woo neatly adjusted the hem of her skirt that had bunched up above her ankle.

Then, raising the hand that had been caressing her just moments ago, he now firmly grasped both of Se Eun’s hands.

His warmth spread fully to her cold fingertips.

Though she hadn’t taken any sedatives, her mind naturally became peaceful.

It truly was a wondrous magic.

“Now tell me. What happened? Slowly, without leaving anything out.”

At his incredibly reassuring voice, Se Eun nodded and began to pour out everything that had happened today.

From start to finish, everything.

As soon as she finished her story, Sun Woo let out a deep sigh, “Ha!”

“Openly plotting in the middle of enemy territory, I see.”

“…I’m sorry. You came all the way to pick me up, but I left first. I just… couldn’t bear to sit there any longer.”

“What are you saying? Why are you apologizing? The one who should be apologizing is Shin Mo Na.”

“But…”

Squeeze. Se Eun slightly clenched her fists, which were held in Sun Woo’s hands.

“I foolishly couldn’t say anything. Not even an excuse… or an explanation…”

“Hmm. That’s a bit of a shame. And here I thought I had taught you how to gain the upper hand.”

“I…”

Feeling foolish even to herself, Se Eun hung her head low.

If it had been him, if it had been Ki Sun Woo, he wouldn’t have just stood there dumbly without saying a word in such an unfair situation.

No, he wouldn’t have fallen for such a shallow trick in the first place.

Thinking this, Se Eun felt even more pathetic and felt like crying again.

Swish. Sun Woo’s hand moved to Se Eun’s cheek, faster than her tears could fall.

Gently wiping under her eyes, he whispered softly.

“Yeon Se Eun. You’re not foolish at all.”

“Ki Sun Woo…”

“Hmm. I should give a carrot to the startled rabbit.”

Rabbit, why did he keep calling her a rabbit?

Se Eun suddenly became curious.

But before she could ask, Sun Woo’s question came first.

“Miss Yeon Se Eun. Is there anything you want from me right now? I’ll grant you anything.”

Was this the carrot he meant to give? Se Eun mumbled softly.

“It’s… my turn to grant your wish.”

“Wish?”

“Yes. In exchange for adopting Cho Bbang… I promised to grant one of your wishes too, remember?”

As she honestly admitted her turn, a smile broke out on Sun Woo’s face.

It was the gentle breeze-like smile she loved.

Soon, he leaned in closer and looked up at Se Eun’s face intently.

At that fatal angle, her heart naturally began to beat faster.

“I’m saving that for later. What I’m offering now is just comfort. Comfort between a married couple.”

“Comfort…”

Sun Woo nodded.

The sincerity reflected in his beautiful eyes showed no trace of the dryness or walls from the past few days.

Rather, they sparkled so much that one might mistake them for being filled with passionate emotion.

That gaze brought forth courage she didn’t know she had.

So Se Eun made a somewhat bold request.

“Then… play the piano for me.”

For a moment, though very briefly, Se Eun saw Sun Woo’s eyes waver.

But those eyes soon became firm again.

Soon, he willingly uttered words of agreement.

“Alright. Sure. Anything Miss Yeon Se Eun wants.”

She was delighted. Se Eun couldn’t hide it and smiled broadly.

The sensation of joy was transmitted directly to her cells from where her dimples formed.

Shortly after, Sun Woo took his seat on the piano bench that Se Eun had vacated.

What should he play?

As Sun Woo hesitated, he suddenly remembered that night.

Soon, his hands began to play a gentle melody.

The lullaby that Se Eun’s father had composed for her.

It felt like it had been a very long time.

His fingers felt light as they pressed the piano keys, and the piano’s notes sounded clear without any sadness.

At some point, it felt as if the lullaby he was playing for Se Eun was healing him instead.

It was a lullaby as warm as the moon at night, too warm to have been left by an unnamed composer.

“…Oh.”

Perhaps that’s why.

When the piano sound stopped, Se Eun was already asleep, crouched in the corner.

Though her posture was uncomfortable, her expression looked peaceful.

Sun Woo let out a light chuckle as he looked down at his fingers that had just finished playing.

“These fingers have their use too, I suppose.”

After carefully closing the piano cover, Sun Woo turned off the lights in the room again.

Then he lifted the small, fragile rabbit from the corner and headed to the bedroom.

It seemed his carrot had succeeded in comforting the rabbit.

“Sleeping so soundly.”

After laying Se Eun on the bed and tucking her in tightly, Sun Woo playfully poked her cheek.

It looked so soft, just like a tempting jelly.

Suddenly, dried tear tracks entered his view.

Having fallen asleep so quickly without washing up, those marks struck Sun Woo’s heart even more vividly.

He wanted to wipe them away.

He didn’t want to make her cry.

Even though he too was going to make her cry, he couldn’t bear the thought of another person making his rabbit cry.

“…Yeon Se Eun.”

Sun Woo softly called her name.

No matter how much he wanted to deny it, those three syllables were already deeply embedded in his heart.

There was no helping it now.

More than stealing some jewel called the Queen’s Tear or whatever, he desperately wanted to steal this woman’s heart.

But there was something he had to do first.

Very carefully, Sun Woo brought his lips to Se Eun’s flushed cheek.

As he wiped away the dried tear tracks with his moist lips, he firmly resolved.

Yeon Se Eun, everything she had endured, every hurt she had suffered.

He would repay it all.

And everything that was originally hers,

He would take it all back and lay it before Se Eun.