Tae Hyuk held Na Young’s hands in his, gazing intently into her eyes, revealing that he knew about her past.
“Cha Hyun asked me to buy a teddy bear with a heart necklace. But after searching in several stores, I couldn’t find one. So, I took a heart-patterned T-shirt from a pig plushie and dressed this teddy bear with it.”
Hearing this, Na Young felt a surge of emotion.
“So, the tiger who came to the hospital back then was you?” she asked.
Tae Hyuk nodded affirmatively.
“The bear I was with was Hong Sik.”
Realizing she had already met the person Tae Hyuk often mentioned, Na Young laughed despite her tears.
Tae Hyuk, observing her mixed emotions, reassured her, “Back then, you were just a small, helpless child. It’s not your fault for being unable to protect yourself. The fault lies more with those who couldn’t protect you.”
Gripping his hand tightly, Na Young said, “But you saved me.”
Surprised, Tae Hyuk asked, “How did you know that?”
He had assumed she wouldn’t know.
“Did Detective Park Jae Soo tell you?”
Na Young shook her head. She had discovered it on her own.
“Your voice,” she explained. Though she had aphasia and couldn’t speak, her hearing was intact. She recognized the voice of the man in the tiger mask who had saved her from the car trunk.
17 years ago.
Bound hand and foot, blindfolded and gagged, Na Young endured hours in hell, trapped in darkness. No matter how much she cried for her parents, they were unaware of her whereabouts. Her father prioritized work over family, and her mother was increasingly irritable, suspecting infidelity.
She had gone out to buy a gift to reconcile her estranged parents when her nightmare began, trusting someone who claimed to be sent by her father.
She pleaded for someone to rescue her as she writhed in the trunk.
“Let’s check the trunk.”
Someone had stopped the car, but she couldn’t tell if they were friend or foe, shivering in darkness, feeling utterly helpless and useless.
When the trunk opened and hands pulled her out, Na Young was still paralyzed with fear. The blindfold was removed, and light overwhelmed her.
“Don’t be scared. I’m not a scary person,” a voice reassured her, bringing her relief for the first time.
When she regained consciousness, she was in a hospital, surrounded by police, her crying mother, and angry father. The person who saved her was nowhere to be found, and she couldn’t speak.
“Na Young, I’m sorry. It’s all my fault,” her mother said, but Na Young couldn’t tell her it wasn’t her fault.
Seung Hee was confused by Tae Hyuk’s words, rolling her eyes in bewilderment.
‘Why do I feel upset?’ she wondered, unable to pinpoint the reason for her discomfort.
When Tae Hyuk opened the door, Na Young was sitting on the bed, clutching a teddy bear. He approached her cautiously, aware that she might not want to talk yet.
“Na Young,” he called out gently.
As she looked up at him, her expression, calm compared to the day before, made him more anxious.
“Are you still angry with me?” he inquired, observing her face.
Tae Hyuk knelt in front of her, lowering himself to her level.
“You met Professor Yoon Ina today,” she mentioned.
Hearing Yoon Ina’s name, Tae Hyuk’s eyes narrowed.
“If Yoon Ina troubled you, I’ll make sure to repay her several times over,” he asserted.
Na Young shook her head, denying it.
“She asked about what I was doing 14 years ago when you first met her.”
The mention of 14 years ago made Tae Hyuk’s heart race anxiously, knowing Na Young must have been struggling then.
“I was in psychiatric counseling back then,” she confessed, her forehead creasing with the pain of the memory.
“I received it for four years.”
Tae Hyuk reached out and held her hand tightly, but she wasn’t looking at him.
“Am I really a suitable partner for you? Maybe you chose wrong,” she expressed her doubts, her confidence shattered by the thought that people might pity or feel uncomfortable about her prolonged counseling sessions.
She wanted to keep it a secret from him, struggling with the guilt of deceiving him.
Trapped in her own world again, she felt as powerless as the young girl she had once been.
Tae Hyuk couldn’t just watch her struggle. He was determined to rescue her as many times as needed.
Pointing to the bear’s heart-patterned shirt, he asked, “Do you know why this bear is wearing this shirt?”
Na Young, puzzled by the sudden question, just stared at him.
Tae Hyuk smiled and revealed, “It was originally on a pig plushie. I switched it to this bear.”
Her eyes sparkled with recognition.
“How did you know that?” she asked.
17 years earlier, Na Young had spent hours in hell, bound and blindfolded in a car trunk. She desperately prayed for rescue as her parents, unaware of her plight, were caught up in their own troubles.
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
