“Mr. Ki Sun Woo. Did you really have many women?”

With an infinitely anxious feeling, Se Eun waited for Sun Woo to say no.

However, her expectation was miserably shattered.

Shrugging his shoulders, Sun Woo made an incredulous expression.

“Huh? Is that even a question? Miss Yeon Se Eun. If you have eyes, you’d know. Would women leave a charming man like me alone?”

“…Then did you really date a lot too?”

“Of course. Even King Sejong the Great had many concubines, and going further back, King Uija had as many as three thousand court ladies. I’m quite modest in comparison.”

At this point, Se Eun started to breathe heavily through her nose.

She was supposed to be his wife, yet he was speaking so nonchalantly about such things. It was infuriating.

Trying hard to suppress her anger, Se Eun continued her interrogation.

“Specifically… how many?”

“Wait. I’ll have to count that seriously. Let’s see. So Hee, Mal Hee, Yang Hee, Ho Rang Hee, Ya Ong Hee…”

“Stop, stoooop!”

Bang! She jolted up so violently that her head crashed loudly against the bed’s headboard.

In the moment of unexpected impact and pain, she saw Sun Woo’s face looking at her with wide, surprised eyes.

“Yeon Se Eun. Are you okay? Did you have a nightmare? You screamed so loudly… Did you perhaps dream about the past?”

“Ah, no. It’s not that dream!”

Faced with his overly worried gaze, Se Eun, unable to reveal the nature of her dream, waved her hands frantically.

“…Really? That’s a relief then, but it must hurt. Come here.”

Supporting her head that had collided with the headboard with his palm, Sun Woo drew her into his arms.

Glancing at the clock, it was still five in the morning.

To have such a vivid bad dream… Se Eun, embarrassed, buried her face in his chest as if hiding.

Then a soft sigh flowed over her forehead.

“…Our little rabbit is testing her husband from the crack of dawn.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all. Go back to sleep. You were tired yesterday.”

“The one who was tired…”

Se Eun swallowed the words ‘was you, Mr. Ki Sun Woo’ deep in her mouth.

It was nice that the champagne stream had flown refreshingly, but she just couldn’t get that So Hee woman’s impressive cleavage out of her mind.

Glancing down, Se Eun once again looked at her own body.

But buried in the fluffy fur pajamas, she couldn’t find any curves.

Of course, even if she took this off, she didn’t think there would be that much of a curve anyway.

Sun Woo gently stroked her back as she became slightly dejected.

“Go back to sleep. I’ll pat you to sleep.”

“…Mr. Ki Sun Woo.”

“Hmm? Do you need something? Should I bring you some water?”

“No. It’s not that… Um… Since I’m awake, can I ask just one thing?”

Feeling that curiosity would keep her from falling asleep, Se Eun gathered her courage.

Hadn’t Sun Woo told her to express her honest feelings whenever they arose?

“Of course. What is it?”

At his ready agreement, Se Eun swallowed hard once, then voiced the curiosity that had followed her even into her dream.

“By any chance, women…”

“Women?”

At the word that came out of Se Eun’s mouth, Sun Woo slightly pulled away and lowered his gaze to meet her eyes.

Seeing that particularly serious expression, Se Eun suddenly came to her senses.

“Have you ever been told… that you look like a woman?”

“What?”

“I mean… Mr. Ki Sun Woo, you have such fine facial features, and red lips… and pretty, mysterious eye color…”

“Miss Yeon Se Eun. It’s nice that you’re complimenting your husband in your sleep talk after waking up, but unfortunately, I’ve never been told I look like a woman. Hmm. Do I look like a male gisaeng?”

“That’s not what I meant…”

Mumbling and stammering, Se Eun just blinked her eyes in vain.

Right, this wasn’t what she meant to say, but she ended up blurting out something completely different.

A light chuckle escaped from his lips.

“Go back to sleep. We’ll discuss your taste in appearances when the sun rises.”

However, even after the sun rose, she couldn’t shake off her distracting thoughts.

As the smell of breakfast gently tickled her nose, Se Eun hurriedly put on some clothes and went downstairs.

Cho Ppang had woken up early too and was energetically circling around Sun Woo’s feet.

“Woof woof!”

When Cho Ppang discovered her and wagged its tail happily as it ran over, Se Eun quickly picked up this adorable baby Shih Tzu.

Sun Woo turned around and gazed at her affectionately.

“You’re up? Wait a bit while playing with Cho Ppang. I’ll be done after frying the eggs.”

“Okay.”

Se Eun went to the sofa and put Cho Ppang down on the soft spot.

Then she picked up one of the toys placed on the table and started to play with it herself.

“Our Yeon Cho Ppang. Did you sleep well?”

“Woof!”

“Cho Ppang, you’ve already had breakfast? Daddy is so considerate, isn’t he? And handsome…”

“Woof!”

“If he’s handsome, he must have many women after him, right? You’d know since you’re a girl too, Cho Ppang. Even dogs like handsome people, don’t they?”

“Woof woof!”

“I see, so it is like that… Even if three thousand court ladies is too much, surely three hundred would be easy…”

“What are you muttering about?”

“Oh my goodness!”

Once again startled, Se Eun fell back on her bottom with a thud.

Equally surprised, Sun Woo quickly reached out his hand to help her up.

“What’s wrong? I called you several times to eat, but you didn’t answer… You keep spacing out? You’re not feeling unwell, are you? Don’t push yourself, take a day off work if you’re sick.”

“Ah, no. I can go to work. I will go!”

“Hmm… What were you chatting about so intimately with Cho Ppang?”

“Um… Well… Nothing.”

“…?”

Sun Woo tilted his head suspiciously, then took Se Eun’s hand and led her to the kitchen.

It was fortunate that today was a weekday.

If it were a weekend and they had to be together all day, she would have surely made some strange slip of the tongue.

Love was such a curious thing.

When he had been a stranger, she hadn’t even been curious about his existence, but now she wanted to know every single thing about him.

Seeing how jealousy welled up even for a past she didn’t know about.

Se Eun was determined to find out the answer.

*

That evening, unexpected guests visited their home.

Yes, guests.

By some coincidence, two people came to Sun Woo and Se Eun’s house at the same time.

“My, what wind blew you here, elder brother, to personally visit your unworthy younger brother’s house?”

“I came because you weren’t answering my calls.”

“Ah. You called? I didn’t know.”

One person was Sun Woo’s half-brother, Ki In Hyeok.

Still wearing an expressionless face, he was holding what looked like a gift basket of fruit.

“And Sang Hyun senior, what brings you here without notice?”

The other person was someone Se Eun had never seen before, Sun Woo’s senior Kim Sang Hyun.

While In Hyeok stood silently, Sang Hyun spoke up first with a glib reason.

“I was passing by after an interview and dropped in for a moment. Come to think of it, you haven’t had a housewarming party since getting married, have you?”

“For someone who came for a housewarming, you’re empty-handed.”

“Well, the great Ki Sun Woo wouldn’t want rolls of toilet paper, would he?”

“Ah… Hello. Elder brother. And… Mr. Sang Hyun? Nice to meet you.”

While Sun Woo was bickering, Se Eun quickly offered an awkward greeting first.

Glancing around, for some reason, it seemed like this Sang Hyun person was uncomfortable with In Hyeok.

Should I invite them both in? As she was pondering, Sun Woo walked towards In Hyeok.

“If I send you back like this, it’ll reach Father’s ears too, right? Senior Sang Hyun. Would you like to stay and chat with our little rabbit at home for a bit? I’ll go talk with my brother nearby for a moment.”

“Oh. Alright. Come back quickly.”

“Got it. Let’s go, elder brother.”

“…?”

She thought it would be awkward, but Sang Hyun agreed nonchalantly and entered the house.

On the other hand, In Hyeok also accepted being half-driven out without any reaction, and moved outside with Sun Woo.

With an impassive expression, he didn’t forget to hand the fruit basket to Se Eun.

Before leaving through the front gate, Sun Woo threw a casual smile and a request.

“He’s not a difficult or uncomfortable person, so just hang out for a bit. If you’re bored, you can even investigate my background. Senior Sang Hyun specializes in background checks.”

“Background checks…”

“Stop talking nonsense and just come back quickly.”

At Sang Hyun’s rebuke, Sun Woo waved his hand and soon disappeared with In Hyeok.

What remained in that place was this unexpected visitor and the lingering echo of the word ‘background check’ that Sun Woo had just mentioned.

Perhaps this guest might be a godsend who could resolve Se Eun’s indigestion that wouldn’t go down.

About Ki Sun Woo’s ‘woman problem’.

*

“So. What’s the real reason my busy elder brother came all the way here?”

As soon as they sat down in a nearby cafe, Sun Woo opened the conversation.

They weren’t in a position to exchange friendly greetings anyway.

Could it be that he had noticed that Sun Woo had been digging into his and Im Ryu Ryeong’s background in earnest recently?

But no such sign was felt from In Hyeok.

“The piano, take it.”

“…Piano?”

“Yes. You have a new home now. I didn’t throw away your mother’s piano. I’ve hidden it secretly in the basement, so set a date and take it.”

Sun Woo hesitated on how to respond to these unexpected words from his mouth.

Even when he always treated him with a sharp attitude, this half-brother had never expressed any particular displeasure.

Rather, he always acted maturely.

“I know that Mother pretending to have a good relationship with you isn’t sincere. But Ki Sun Woo. I sincerely wanted to be good brothers with you.”

He didn’t want to hear this. These words.

It would have been better if he was just greedy and tried to take things away like Im Ryu Ryeong.

That would have been easier for Sun Woo to handle.

What use was it, whatever the true feelings were?

As long as Ki In Hyeok’s mother was Im Ryu Ryeong, such things had no meaning at all.

So Sun Woo responded with a dry laugh, as he always had.

“Elder brother. You like history, don’t you? Haven’t you seen the Joseon Dynasty princes? In the end, it’s fate that one of them dies.”