It was an instinctive resistance, a rebellion, to delay as much as possible the moments of violence that could happen anytime and anyhow.
Meanwhile, the footsteps that had been continuing faintly approached menacingly.
Su-yeon closed her eyes tightly in fear.
At that moment, an unexpected voice echoed.
“You were awake. I was wondering how to wake you up.”
Instinctively, Su-yeon slowly raised her head when she opened her eyes. Then, Soo-jin, holding a tray, came into view.
As their eyes met, Su-jin twisted her face as if she couldn’t stand it and roughly put the tray down.
The force caused the dish on top to sway, and the liquid inside the container, which was shaken by the force, rippled violently. At the same time, rice grains jumped above Su-yeon’s face.
The sticky sensation flowing down was unpleasant, but Su-yeon didn’t even think about wiping it away.
She didn’t have the strength to do more than that.
Soo-jin, who had silently observed all of it, let out a heavy sigh.
“If you had discreetly helped Dong-hoon and me to get married, none of this would have happened.”
“…….”
“If you hadn’t talked nonsense in Dong-hoon’s place, this wouldn’t have happened. You wouldn’t be forced into divorce either.”
Her blunt voice carried an unexpected concern. As much as she hated it, the pitiful appearance made her look more pitiful.
Su-yeon let out a bitter laugh, which was cut short due to her torn lips.
It only added to the frustration of Soo-jin.
Soo-jin, with furrowed eyebrows, bent her legs and sat down, facing Su-yeon.
“You keep enduring like this and you’ll die. Don’t you know Mom and Dad’s personalities? Now that things have come to this, you know you can’t do anything as you wish. But why are you persistently enduring like this? Do you think you can avoid divorce by enduring like this? Just say you’ll do everything you used to do. Why are you doing things you never did and ending up like this?”
Soo-jin’s words, not missing a single point, sharply stabbed Su-yeon’s eardrums.
It was true. Honestly, it was so accurate that you couldn’t find any mistakes even if you tried.
Even knowing that, Su-yeon couldn’t give up.
In Su-jin’s eyes, she might look like a fool, but this was the best she could do.
Even if the moment comes when she can’t win against Dae-ho and Hye-kyung and has to do things their way, she wanted to endure until she could.
Even if it seemed foolish, it might not be a show of respect for In-ho.
Even enduring such severe violence, this was everything she could do. Whether it looked pathetic or not, she wanted to hold onto his hand until the end.
Even if it seemed that way, even if it wasn’t a gesture of respect for In-ho, she wanted to do her best for her feelings.
Su-yeon stared at Soo-jin with a vacant gaze.
More precisely, she faced the miserable image of herself reflected in Soo-jin’s eyes.
She thought that enduring like this was the best she could do for him and her feelings, even though it might seem regrettable.
Looking at her pitifully ruined figure, unbearable sorrow surged.
She took a deep breath to suppress the overflowing emotions.
Her shoulders trembled, and her chest moved up and down.
It was just a too ordinary movement, but even that was too painful.
After briefly stopping her breath, she repeated the careful exhalation.
Unable to hold back the tears, she finally let them flow.
“You, had, just, one, wish……”
While uttering the short words, Su-yeon had to choose her breath several times.
Listening to the words that sounded so clear as they escaped, Soo-jin scrunched her forehead as if she couldn’t understand.
“If you wanted it that badly, you should have sobered up and grabbed the chance Mom gave you.”
“…….”
“You kept bothering Mom, and that’s why it turned out like this. You kept crawling up to Mom’s head, saying you would step on her again.”
Through Soo-jin’s voice, Su-yeon’s harsh reality was revealed without a hint of falsehood.
Because of her marriage, Su-yeon felt uneasy too. However, she knew that there was nothing she could do about Mom’s decision that she couldn’t stop.
“…….”
“So stop resisting and just do as you’re told. That’s the path you have to take.”
Soo-jin advised firmly. The words were so cutting that the sorrow became unbearable.
Su-yeon let out a mournful cry.
She had only wanted In-ho.
She had dreamed of a happy future with him.
Having endured a long and endless path of misfortune without complaining, she just wanted to spend the remaining time happily with In-ho.
But in the end, it was another standstill.
Why can’t I succeed?
It’s not like I wanted everything, just to live happily with In-ho, dreaming of that future.
Just to be by his side.
Why is it that I can’t tolerate even that one thing?
Each breath felt like a punch to the chest.
Unable to bear the pain, she closed her eyes tightly and bit down on her lower lip.
In the darkness that filled her vision, In-ho’s bright smiling face appeared as if waiting.
Simultaneously, a sigh of frustration escaped her.
“Yes, I was so happy. Because you’re such a shining person, unlike me…”
Once again, she silently repeated the words she had never spoken aloud.
Su-yeon’s life had always been in the dark since birth.
She despised the damp and humid places, struggling every day to escape, but it was always a futile effort.
In that unfortunate life, In-ho was a light.
His light was so warm that she wanted to get closer. It was an unreasonable desire, so she struggled hard to get closer.
She put so much effort into it that she even took steps back at times, resolved to give up. But in the end, she longed for him again and endured until she finally believed she reached him.
But it seemed it wasn’t the case.
The life with In-ho, which was so happy, so miraculous.
She didn’t want to let it go…
But when she came to her senses, it was still dark, and there was a pit under her feet.
A damp and humid energy rose from her toes and spread throughout her body in an instant.
Su-yeon breathed out despairingly.
Just like Su-jin said, she didn’t know if her marriage would end helplessly, bowing to the violence of Chairman Choi and his wife. If it was going to be like that, it would be wise to say that she would just get a divorce and not be trampled any further.
But she just couldn’t bring herself to do that.
Every time she breathed, In-ho vividly came to mind, and the longing for him deepened.
Whenever the thought of giving up crossed her mind, it felt like her heart would burst, and it seemed impossible to live without Seo In-ho.
“How can I… how can I let go of Seo In-ho… He told me he loves me. I also really like him. I don’t want to let him go…”
The desire that she had held in her heart, the only one in her life, poured out unorganized and raw.
“Ha… I really miss him so much.”
A more desperate wish than ever before heated up the cold room.
Listening to the tearful confession, Soo-jin, who had been silently present, let out a heavy sigh.
At that moment, the tightly closed door of the cold room opened once again with a chilling sound.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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