Twisting his eyebrows and distorting his expression, he briefly buried his face on Eun-chae’s shoulder, then lifted it.

“When I was born, my name was Kwon Kijoo.”

“…….”.

“After adoption, it became Kwon Eun-ho.”

As if breath had stopped, the silent Eun-chae’s eyelids trembled.

“And for revenge, I who sought my old name again.”

“…….”.

“Should it be Kwon Eun-ho, or Kwon Kijoo.”

Asking that, the man’s back was covered with lightly falling white snowflakes.

Even though it’s spring now, it’s snowing.

A man who was absent from the end of Eun-chae’s winter brought winter with him.

“… How can people be like this.”

“…….”.

“How… Why is everything so nonchalant.”

In the end, tears flowed from her cold eye area. The lips that tried to hold back the bursting cry trembled pitifully.

“… Sigh, why are you making me a sinner.”

“I was wrong.”

“…….”.

“Don’t pay attention to my revenge-like thing. Please.”

The voice, forcefully coming out as if in pain, eventually made Eun-chae crumble.

Eun-chae raised her head and shouted.
“Leave someone like me alone…! Just go and leave me alone…!”

If you had cowardly run away, you should have gone without looking back.

Looking back, there was only Song Eun-chae. What did she spend such miserable time on? How to put on a mask, again and again. Suppressing emotions, again and again.

“I shouldn’t have cared about what happens to me or what I say… What’s wrong with that…”

Eun-chae covered her face with both hands. Afraid that exhaling her stifled feelings might cause hyperventilation, she suppressed her cry, but Kijoo removed her hands from her face.

“If you wanted that, you shouldn’t have been noticeable to me.”

“…….”.

“I’m already in love, what should I do.”

He gently responded and once again buried his face in Eun-chae’s shoulder.

After wiping the tears flowing down her cheeks with the back of her hand, Eun-chae covered his face with both hands, as if barely able to breathe.

When their eyes, now open, entwined confusingly, Eun-chae kissed his lips, tinged with the word “love.”

As if unable to accept it anymore, ardently.

The lips that met hesitated for a moment, then the lower and upper lips of Eun-chae were gently grazed, and the intertwined lips, breathing together, also parted slowly.

“…….”.

Exhaling a hot breath, Kijoo narrowed his eyes, then buried his face in Eun-chae’s again. Feeling something strange, Eun-chae placed her hand on his chest.

“Mr. Kijoo?”

In a hurry, Eun-chae wrapped his neck and lips.

The lips that kissed felt hotter than usual, and his body was like a burning rock.

With the help of the villagers, Eun-chae moved Kwon Kijoo to a room.

He was now sweating like a waterfall to the point that he didn’t know how he got here. When he barely lay down his burning body on the bedding, he lost consciousness.

“To the altar, to the altar. How did I get here with this body?”

Holding a washbasin filled with cold water and ice, Geum-bun came in panting. Eun-chae quickly took the basin and placed it on the floor.

“I have to cool down first! I have to clean every nook and cranny because I’ll be here! ”

Even though she hadn’t thought of that. Eun-chae looked puzzled and embarrassed. Then, as if Geum-bun felt stuffy, he added.

“It’s embarrassing to undress men’s clothes in broad daylight. But, you sick person! Pull yourself together!”

Eun-chae nodded. She seemed unable to understand what was so urgent, and then Geum-bun added as if frustrated.

“It’s awkward to take off men’s clothes in broad daylight. But, you sick person! Pull yourself together!”

Eun-chae nodded. Somehow, Kijoo seemed to have wrung a towel soaked in ice water, and handed it over.

When she accepted the towel, Geum-bun went out of the room and closed the sliding door. Eun-chae looked down at Kijoo’s pale face. His lips were dry and white.

It was strange enough not to notice it when she first saw this face. She sighed once, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and handed him a towel again after wringing it out in ice water.
Then she took off the clothes covering the firm body one by one.

Being a man about two or three times the size of her own body and unconscious, it took some time to undress him. After struggling and finally getting him undressed, Eun-chae’s anger surged for a moment.

There were marks of binding on his abdomen. Without carefully examining the precise condition, it was something recent.

Did he have the presence of mind to bring this body here?

Unconsciously, Eun-chae looked down at the unconscious man. It must be painful. How could he not make a sound of pain?

It’s really toxic. Poisonous.

Eun-chae sighed once again and lifted his arm.

To properly clean the body, she held his shoulder with one hand, and the hand holding the towel was placed on his chest. She wiped his firm and elastic skin with the towel.

When she reached the abdominal muscles after passing various scars, she stopped moving as if tears were about to fall. She fanned her eyes with her hand and cooled her warm eyelids.

After that, she held the towel with both hands and wiped her body. As she repeated it several times, the ice in the washbasin melted, and the water became lukewarm.

Eun-chae came out of the room with a towel and a washbasin. Because she tried not to cry, she looked at Geum-bun with a worried face, who was looking at her with red eyes.

“Are you okay, sir?”

Eun-chae, who bowed her head to avoid showing her reddened eyes, replied.

“Yes. Fortunately, it seems that the fever has gone down a bit.”

“Why did he come like that if he was so worried? He should have at least called.”

That remark hit deep. He was a man who always appeared as if it were natural whenever she stood on the edge of a cliff.

It could have been the same this time. Suppressing her feelings was purely because she regarded his words that he would return as a sign. For a moment, her heart sank, and Eun-chae swallowed her breath.

“Are you getting married?”

Eun-chae doubted her ears at the unexpected question.

“Huh?”

“No, I mean, coming here like this, it’s not an ordinary relationship, is it?”

“Oh, it’s not like that…”

It’s not any relationship.

He’s a bodyguard.

Neither the former nor the latter was absurd to explain the current situation.

“Uh, grandma. I’m sorry. I’ll take him to Seoul tomorrow, so I won’t bring more guests…”

Eun-chae felt uneasy. It seemed that she had disturbed the quiet daily life of her grandmother, who had raised all her children. Reading that sentiment, Geum-bun, who never seemed to be angry no matter what, said as if scolding.

“What nonsense is this? Carrying someone who is dying like that and going where? Let him rest for a few days.”

“But still…”

When she was about to say something more, Geum-bun raised her hand sharply.

“Oh, stop talking nonsense. I’ll go to the restaurant for a while. You rest a little too.”

Perhaps afraid of being detained, Geum-bun quickly put on rubber shoes and went out. Staring at her vague figure, tears streamed down Eun-chae’s cheeks.

Ah, why is this happening?

Even though no one was watching, Eun-chae hastily wiped away her tears, wetting her cheeks.