Eun Soo turned her head.
The view outside the window was filled with such dense darkness that one couldn’t discern even an inch ahead.
So much so that no one would know whatever happened.
“Mom, I’m really sorry.”
Eun Soo wiped the tears seeping out from under her eyes with her hand.
Her vision kept blurring because of the tears.
“Mom, you’re suffering too…….”
The stifled sobbing burst all at once.
Pouring out her tears with a wail, Eun Soo knelt right there on the floor. Still, one hand was holding onto the respirator covering her mother’s face.
Eun Soo, who had been leaning her forehead on the bed, raised her head to look at her mother.
Although her face was pallid without a trace of blood, it was her mother.
If this place wasn’t a hospital but some other space, her mother looked so peaceful that one could mistake her for just a person who had fallen asleep, not a patient.
Suddenly, Eun Soo recalled the time when her mother had briefly stayed in the intensive care unit due to pneumonia.
Patients in the ICU were either those facing imminent death or those needing aggressive treatment.
Her mother was a patient on that boundary line.
If she recovered from the pneumonia, she could leave the ICU, and if not, she could meet her end there.
During the two visiting times a day, Eun Soo wished for her mother to leave the ICU.
That day too, she was thinking the same while on her way to meet her mother.
Suddenly, the image of an old man lying across her mother’s bed caught her eye.
Connected to several tubes, his body was as thin as a tree branch. Marks from the needles that were inserted for the IV dripped were visible in several spots on his gaunt arm.
His face was swollen from continuously receiving fluids.
During her mother’s visiting hours, Eun Soo had seen the old man go into shock twice.
During the short visiting hours, she had witnessed it twice, so she didn’t know how many times he had gone into shock outside of those times.
Due to the vasopressors used to raise his blood pressure when he went into shock, the tips of the old man’s toes were rotting away.
Eun Soo could not forget the shock from then.
“Mom…….”
Eun Soo called her mother while sobbing.
She had seen numerous patients who were nearing death. She denied that her mother would be the same. However, perhaps it was due to her own difficult circumstances.
She had a fear that maybe in a few days, a few months, or a few years, her mother might also become like that.
“…….”
Eun Soo calculated which floor this was.
Even within the VIP ward, it was the highestlevel room, located on a high floor.
“We’ll meet soon.”
Eun Soo put a lot of strength into the hand holding the respirator. But it stopped there. No more strength could be exerted beyond that.
Her rationality, which had been fading faintly into the distance, came back instantly.
The moment she recognized what she was about to do, Eun Soo couldn’t breathe properly.
“Mom, mom…….”
Eun Soo held her mother’s hand and pressed it against her own cheek.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”
She couldn’t see her mother’s face properly.
Her mother had tried so hard to save her, and yet she was about to break down over just this…
Filled with guilt about almost doing something she shouldn’t have, Eun Soo felt as if her whole body was shaking.
Unable to lift her head, she just clung tightly to her mother’s hand and cried. She cried so much that she felt as if she had angina from the heaviness in her chest.
Then, someone tapped her shoulder.
Startled, Eun Soo raised her head.
“Eun Soo?”
It was Hwang In Woo.
He was looking at her with eyes as surprised as hers.
“……What happened?”
“…….”
Eun Soo wiped her wet face with her hand, then got up from her knees that were on the floor.
“Why are you like this?”
“……No, nothing. Just a moment.”
Eun Soo hurriedly went into the bathroom. Seeing her own reflection in the mirror, she thought it was no wonder that In Woo was surprised.
Her cheeks were covered with tear streaks, her eyes were swollen, her nose was red, and even her pupils were empty.
At her face, which looked like a crazy woman’s, Eun Soo gave a hollow laugh.
She turned on the water to wash her face and combed her messy hair with her fingers before tying it back. When she came out of the bathroom, In Woo was still standing there as before.
Eun Soo spoke with a smile as if nothing was wrong.
“I had a hard day today, and on top of that, I’m under the weather, so my emotions exploded without me realizing it. You know, when you see your mom’s face, don’t you want to act like a spoiled child?”
“……Let’s talk for a moment.”
“Okay.”
Eun Soo nodded her head.
Seeing In Woo’s somewhat stiff face, Eun Soo suddenly felt uneasy. Was the result of the blood test bad?
There was nothing wrong in the health checkup she had a few months ago……
“Let’s go to the outdoor lounge.”
“Alright.”
In Woo walked out of the hospital room first.
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
