The stem cut by the pruning shears fell to the floor.
Looking at the pathetically broken stem, which seemed to mirror her own fate, Yeon Ji watched it with a pitiful gaze.
“I should have just left back then.”
She regretted leaving Hyuk Joo.
She was young back then. And she thought that no matter what she did, Hyuk Joo would find her again once she left.
However, Hyuk Joo lived as if he had forgotten her, even getting married to another woman.
Yeon Ji knew why.
He had never loved her, not even once.
Sympathy, compassion, regret, guilt, remorse these emotions might have been abundant, but love was not present at all among them.
To Hyuk Joo, she was like a will left by his deceased mother. Something he had to strive to keep.
“I’m so annoyed.”
Yeon Ji threw the pruning shears on the floor.
A crack appeared on the delicate tile, but she didn’t care. If it broke, she could simply replace it.
Lifting her head, Yeon Ji was surprised to see a white wall suddenly blocking her shop front and stood up.
“There was no mention of construction…”
She tilted her head.
As she walked towards the door to find out what was going on, Yeon Ji’s steps came to a halt.
She had seen Young Ran’s face entering her shop.
“What could have happened for it to come to this?”
The face of Young Ran, who was scoffing, was hardened.
Looking at the flowing coldness, Yeon Ji quietly brought her hands together and bowed her head.
“A trivial thing has made Mun Young Ran look very ridiculous, hasn’t it?”
“….”
“I don’t think I spoke in a complicated way. Are you lacking in comprehension?”
Young Ran raised her index finger and lightly tapped Yeon Ji’s forehead. She let out a short sigh and continued.
“If you decided to leave, you should have withstood whatever came at you there. Sigh…”
Young Ran sat down, brushing her hair back with her hand. Her gaze intensely scanned Yeon Ji’s face.
Thickfaced, isn’t she.
Young Ran crossed her arms in front of her chest and shook her head.
She wanted to grab her by the hair and slap her. But that wouldn’t solve anything.
To deal with someone who had no pride or shame, she had to thoroughly crush her spirit.
Young Ran pointed to the seat in front of her with her chin.
“Sit.”
“….Yes.”
Yeon Ji sat down, her body tense.
“You promised me. That you wouldn’t come back to Korea.”
“….”
“You would live as if you didn’t exist. That you wouldn’t come anywhere near Hyuk Joo. Don’t you remember saying that to me?”
“I’m sorry….”
“Do you think I’ve made time to come here to hear that?”
Young Ran looked down at the flowers on the table with a cold gaze.
Seeing the flowers clumsily trimmed, she curled her lips into a smirk and let out a scoff.
“You really have no talent for handling flowers. You feel it, don’t you?”
“….”
“If you don’t have the talent, you should move on and find another. You can’t gain a talent that isn’t there just by sticking to it, tsk tsk.”
Young Ran crushed a petal at the end of a flower stem with her hand.
After carelessly tossing the crushed petal on the floor, she stared at Yeon Ji sitting in front of her.
“Hyuk Joo, he’s been over you for a long time.”
“….President.”
“Why are you trying to disrupt a happily married man’s life? Hmm?”
“….”
“If you ran out of money, you should have come to me. Why did you seek out Hyuk Joo?”
Young Ran, steadying her increasingly agitated voice, pulled out an envelope from her bag.
Yeon Ji bit her lip at the sight of the envelope placed in front of her.
Could it be money again?
But the envelope was too thick to contain just money.
“Open it.”
“That’s alright.”
Yeon Ji declined.
It wasn’t solely because of the money she had lost due to fraud that she returned to Korea.
Sure, as a child, she was dazzled by the immediate sight of a large sum of money, but not now. She wanted to regain Hyuk Joo, who she could have had then but lost due to her poor judgment.
“Just open it.”
At the end of Young Ran’s gentle tone, there was a sharp edge.
When Yeon Ji’s hand showed no sign of moving, Young Ran urged her again.
“You have to look at it first to talk. Check it quickly.”
Prompted further, Yeon Ji picked up the envelope. Upon opening it, she saw a thick bundle of crisp photos.
What could these pictures be?
Tilting her head, Yeon Ji pulled out the photos.
“….”
Her hands trembled as she looked at the photos.
Long ago, before she met Hyuk Joo, Yeon Ji had worked as a hostess.
She had changed her name and was confident she had completely erased her past.
But now….
The color drained from Yeon Ji’s face in an instant. With a gaunt expression, she took in rough breaths as she put the photos back in the envelope.
As if she never wanted to pull them out again, she folded the opening of the envelope several times and completely sealed it.
“I intentionally didn’t tell Hyuk Joo.”
“….”
“Can you imagine how hurt Hyuk Joo would be if he found out that the person he first loved had such a past?”
Young Ran pushed the envelope, which Yeon Ji was avoiding, back towards her.
“It’s yours. You should take it.”
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
