After that, Seo Yeon walked around inside the building. She greeted all the elders of her husband’s family. Naturally, no one welcomed her.

However, perhaps thinking that ignoring or harassing Seo Yeon would tarnish their own image, they at least returned her greetings, even if with reluctant faces and looking her up and down.

This situation wasn’t bad. When Jung Hyuk had interviewed with the press and targeted the Han Kyung Group for investigation, she had felt like a criminal standing before dozens of judges.

Having experienced it once before, she had clearly become tougher. She could see that she wasn’t greatly hurt even by the criticism heard right behind her.

“Even though no one welcomes her, she still insists on participating today.”

“Leave her be. She’s always been insensitive.”

“I wonder if she’s really insensitive, or if she knows everything and is just brazenly showing her face.”

“Anyway, be careful what you say. She might report chaebol corruption or something to her elder brother again and get innocent people in trouble.”

Rather, Hwa Young, who was standing next to Seo Yeon, was extremely embarrassed by the whispering.

“Um… I can hear everything. And you call yourselves adults. Just gossiping behind people’s backs, really. Don’t mind them, Seo Yeon. You haven’t done anything wrong.” Seo Yeon, who had been looking at Hwa Young in surprise at her words, slowly nodded.

Of course. If she was going to be discouraged by such criticism like before, she wouldn’t have even thought of coming to the main house.

Since returning to the past, Seo Yeon had thought long and hard every single day. And she pondered.

The situations after giving birth to a healthy child. Would it be enough if she alone cherished and loved the child? Wouldn’t the child naturally need the recognition and love of other family members too?

Reaching that conclusion, Seo Yeon felt a sense of competitiveness for no reason.

*

A moment later.

The large dining table was set with an array of neatly arranged dishes.

The people who had been waiting briefly all stood up as they saw Seok Hyun entering the dining room. Seo Yeon’s gaze also naturally turned to him.

His upright gait belied the fact that he was a white-haired old man, with piercing eyes. Despite his advanced age, he even exuded a unique sense of intimidation. He looked exactly as Seo Yeon remembered. Longing settled in Seo Yeon’s eyes.

‘Grandfather…’

Seo Yeon still remembered Seok Hyun’s face, beaming with joy when she told him the news of her pregnancy. She hadn’t known because he never showed it in front of her, but it seemed he had been secretly waiting for a great-grandchild.

Afterwards, he even made unprecedented moves like visiting Seo Yeon’s house first to give gifts or calling to check on her, making other relatives jealous.

In stark contrast to those memories, Seo Yeon was now just a troublesome granddaughter-in-law whose face Seok Hyun could barely remember.

“Sit down.”

The people who had been standing with their hands folded respectfully all sat down at once at Seok Hyun’s single word.

Shortly after, the meal began, and the first to speak was Seok Hyun’s second daughter-in-law.

“Father, the abalone tastes very good. Please try it quickly.”

Seeing this, Hwa Young pursed her lips. And she grumbled in a voice so low that no one else could hear.

“…The chef made the food, but she’s taking all the credit.”

The second daughter-in-law was actually the power behind the scenes in this family.

In terms of rank, Hwa Young, the first daughter-in-law, was above her, but she was the youngest among the daughters-in-law, came from a not-so-good family, and was ignored by the entire family for pushing out the legal wife and stubbornly taking the position of mistress of the house.

Moreover, now that she wasn’t on good terms with her husband and didn’t have a great family of her own to back her up, she couldn’t even show her displeasure when she was ignored.

She was in a situation where she didn’t know when her philandering husband might bring in a new woman and tell her to give up her position.

Only one person. Only Seong Jun didn’t ignore Hwa Young, but rather treated her like an adult and accommodated all her conveniences.

All the rights and luxuries Hwa Young enjoyed were virtually all coming from Seong Jun.

Although he was a son, he was more like a superior who was difficult to approach and whose feelings she had to consider carefully.

Hwa Young glanced at Seo Yeon, who was eating calmly with her eyes lowered.

Until now, she had been reassured that Seong Jun and Seo Yeon had no connection and might divorce at any time, and had used her like a servant.

But when she suddenly said she had to leave early because she had an appointment with Seong Jun, how surprised she was. Cold sweat even ran down her back.

‘What’s this all of a sudden. It’s giving me a headache.’

It might just be Seo Yeon’s bluff or they might have met for an official gathering, but there was no harm in being careful.

At that moment, Seo Yeon happened to look up and their eyes met. Hwa Young smiled awkwardly first, and Seo Yeon bowed her head in greeting.

Seo Yeon, after taking her eyes off Hwa Young, stared at Seok Hyun again. And she carefully observed every detail of his chewing speed, expression, and complexion.

‘Should I say it?’

In fact, this was a problem she had been pondering even before arriving at Kyeongwonjae. The clear fact was that if not today, Seo Yeon would not have a chance to talk to Seok Hyun, let alone see his face.

Seo Yeon closed her eyes tightly and then opened them. And after slowly exhaling, she met Seok Hyun’s gaze and slowly opened her mouth.

“Um, Grandfather.”

At the voice breaking the silence, people’s chopsticks stopped moving.

And when they realized that the owner of the voice was none other than Seo Yeon, their expressions twisted as if they had seen a ghost. Hwa Young was the same. Has she gone crazy? How does she know when the old man will lose his temper? Why is she doing something she’s never done before? It’s scary.

“What is it?”

It was a terrifyingly low voice.

“I’m worried if you’re feeling unwell these days. Your complexion doesn’t look good today.”

A year from now, Seok Hyun would collapse from an acute brain tumor, undergo surgery, and pass away shortly after due to complications.

“Are you getting enough rest? What about health checkups? When was the last time you had one?”

At Seo Yeon’s continued questions, Seok Hyun put down his chopsticks. And he looked at Seo Yeon with cold eyes.

“Do I look so idle to you that I have time to go to the hospital?”

“…”

“Or are you indirectly saying that I’ve lived long enough and should quietly retire from the front lines and just sit around recuperating?”

Seok Hyun considered the Han Kyung Group to be his very life itself.

Everyone except Seo Yeon and Seok Hyun looked at the two with tense expressions. They had no doubt that words of apology would soon come out of Seo Yeon’s mouth. The same was true for Seok Hyun.

“No. I’m saying this because I think Grandfather himself is a huge pillar of the Han Kyung Group, so you should take care of your health first. I think resting when you’re tired or getting regular health checkups is actually for the benefit of the Han Kyung Group.”

But far from admitting her mistake, Seo Yeon rather stared into Seok Hyun’s eyes and raised her voice. Children, daughters-in-law, and granddaughters-in-law alike stared at Seo Yeon with wide eyes. Hwa Young was about to fall over in shock.

One of Seok Hyun’s eyebrows rose as he stared at Seo Yeon. It was an expression of seeing something strange. Hwa Young jumped up from her seat.

“Ah, Father. It seems Seo Yeon is thinking a lot about you. Please don’t be angry. I’ll reprimand her properly. Get up, Seo Yeon.”

And she grabbed Seo Yeon’s arm and pulled her up. Then Hwa Young, who had taken Seo Yeon outside the building, asked with a worried face.

“Why on earth did you do that? Don’t you know the Chairman hates it most when someone interrupts him? What were you thinking, talking back like that, really. And Min Ji’s mother, that woman thinks it’s her special privilege to speak to Father, so how could you speak up there? What are you trying to do?”

The atmosphere was certainly ominous. Her heart still seemed to be pounding at the memory of Seok Hyun’s cold eyes.

‘Still, I’m glad I said it.’

A person who usually never showed a smile had smiled broadly with joy at the news of her pregnancy.

This time, she wanted to show Grandfather the safe birth of his great-grandchild. If there was even a slight possibility created by today’s conversation with him, what was there to fear about being treated as a strange person?

Moreover. Seo Yeon remembered. The appearance of her husband, who had seemed almost robotic for hardly ever expressing emotions, struggling particularly hard at Seok Hyun’s funeral.

“She’s definitely crazy.”

Just then, a woman’s voice, full of venom, was heard from behind. She turned her head to identify the owner of the voice. It was Min Ji.

“There’s no other explanation unless she’s gone mad.”

Min Ji, who had quickly closed the distance with Seo Yeon, glared at her up and down with unpleasant eyes.

“Why did you suddenly come with your hair all loose and messy, so irritating to look at.”

And raising her index finger, she pushed Seo Yeon’s shoulder and said,

“Why are you suddenly doing things you’ve never done before and pissing people off? Do you want to stand out that badly?”

“…”

“Do you think you’re something special because people outside treat you well as the Han Kyung Group’s granddaughter-in-law? Is that why you suddenly got greedy and thought you might get something from our grandfather?”

In the past, such a big confrontation had never occurred. She had always been careful with her words and actions, worried about catching someone’s eye.

If it had been before, she might have accepted such insults. But now she didn’t want to. Seo Yeon stared into Min Ji’s eyes. And in a calm voice, she said,

“You seem to have misunderstood something. I really just said that because I was worried, seeing that Grandfather’s complexion seemed worse than before.”

“…”

“Ah. Is that how you are, Min Ji? Do you meet Grandfather thinking about what you can get from him?”

Min Ji’s pupils dilated. Her face quickly turned bright red as if she had been insulted.

“You’ve gone crazy!”

It was when Min Ji, unable to contain her anger, raised her hand high. Someone grabbed her arm from behind.

“What are you doing now?”

A chillingly low voice was heard behind her.