BTAD 3

Chapter 3

“You.”

Junhyuk cut off Seohah’s words sharply.

“Did you plan to say that to whoever showed up—even if it had been Han Juntae instead of me?”

With a puzzled look, Seohah nodded.

It wasn’t because of the question itself, but because of his tone of casually tossing around his older brother’s name.

“Ha…………….”

Seohah belatedly regretted that she should have somehow made an opportunity to wash her eyes out earlier.

She didn’t want to arouse her adoptive mother’s suspicion, but she couldn’t help wondering what kind of expression Han Junhyuk was wearing right now.

Was he making that face because this marriage didn’t appeal to him, or because he thought she was a bit strange in the head?

Right now, she had to appeal to him more than anyone else that she was perfectly sane.

“Neither of you and I have any room for choice when it comes to this marriage. If you were going to reject it, you wouldn’t have even shown up here.”

It was a marriage that simply had to happen for everyone’s sake. However, she was slightly concerned by the rumor she had casually heard a while ago that both of H Bio’s sons were “peculiar.”

As someone with zero information about them, she had to prepare for the possibility of a rejection from her prospective marriage partner.

“It’s not because I’m a sick person—ah, well, it is true that I’m sick, but anyway—I’m trying to talk about the realistic side of things. If it’s a marriage we have to go through with anyway, wouldn’t it be nice to have a tacit agreement to discuss mutual benefits behind our parents’ backs?”

Even as she said that, Seohah knew.

No matter how hard their families pushed, things that wouldn’t work simply wouldn’t work.

Since Yoon Junghwan and Cha Miyeon knew that as well, they must have warned her that mistakes would not be tolerated.

“Does that tacit agreement mean you’ll go die, so please marry me?”

“Whew, I told you beforehand, that would be the cleanest way without leaving a single blemish for Han Junhyuk-ssi……………….”

Cutting off Seohah’s words in an instant, Junhyuk muttered as if talking to himself.

“What am I supposed to call something like this?”

“Call what……………….”

“Can’t tell if my luck is fucking amazing, or if it sucks to high heaven.”

“To speak honestly, it’s terrifyingly good..……………?”

Seohah blinked her fatigued eyes and replied slowly.

The unwanted person quietly vanishes, leaving behind only the practical gains of a political match and the romantic facade of a pure love story.

It was a picture so perfectly terrifying, just like she said.

However, contrary to Seohah’s expectations, a sigh of disbelief burst straight from the opposite side.

“I wasn’t talking about myself. I just said that because I have a hunch that your life from now on is going to get thoroughly twisted.”

The blunt tone sounded to Seohah almost like concern.

“I don’t think so at all. This is good enough to be called lucky.

You’re humoring me like this, after all. Can I take this as you being interested in my proposal?”

When Seohah refused to back down, Junhyuk spoke in a low, sunken voice.

“Let me ask you just one thing. Did you happen to catch some terminal illness besides what’s publicly known?”

At the direct question, Seohah shook her head.

“Ah, I didn’t expect you to worry about that……………….”

True, hearing someone say they’ll die, Han Junhyuk naturally had no choice but to imagine that possibility first.

Thinking a misunderstanding had arisen, Seohah explained clearly.

“The bereavement I mentioned isn’t one where I drag out a long battle with illness and make Han Junhyuk-ssi suffer. It’s short, and ends in a single blow……………”

She couldn’t continue any further. Just as a fresh citrus scent rushed in, a large hand blocked Seohah’s mouth completely.

“There are unusually a lot of people today whose mouths I wish would just stay shut.”

Junhyuk muttered low.

The strange thing was that even though Dodam should have been startled by the stranger’s actions, the dog merely stood up and remained quiet.

Normally, it would have barked.

The thought that something was strange lasted only a moment before she could feel Han Junhyuk gazing at her in absolute silence, even though she couldn’t see him.

Gradually, Seohah’s breathing grew hurried.

Even though the warmth of the calloused, large hand felt purely cool, she strangely felt heat rising all over her body.

Just as a sensation like the flow of time coming to a stop washed over her, Junhyuk’s voice created a crack in the silence.

“Remember this. Today, you hooked yourself on the bait you threw.”

Because of the rough breath falling directly onto her sensitive skin, Seohah closed her wide eyes tightly.

She could no longer hear Junhyuk’s words.

Seohah snapped her eyes wide open.

Judging by the quietness of the surroundings, it was still early dawn.

A cool wind signaling the arrival of autumn drifted in through the crack of the slightly opened window.

“It’s funny that I’m hungry in the middle of all this……………”

Seohah self-deprecatingly thought. It seemed to be because she had thrown up everything in her stomach before falling asleep due to being so tense.

Instincts were truly terrifying.

Well, she had managed to survive by reading the room and relying on that animalistic instinct, so it wasn’t something she could entirely blame.

She briefly reflected on whether the events of yesterday had just been a dream. It lacked that much sense of reality.

“Dodam-ah.”

Even though it was a small voice, barely audible, the sound of Dodam walking across the floor with soft pads could be heard.

It was right then that the approaching footsteps suddenly came to a dead stop.

Seohah closed her eyes without realizing it.

“………………Whew, you startled me. Doesn’t this kid even sleep through the night? Why is it wandering around instead of sleeping?”

Even though she hadn’t heard the sound of the bedroom door opening, Cha Miyeon’s small mutter echoed.

Seohah, who almost unconsciously tensed her eyelids, forced every muscle in her body to relax.

The mattress dipped slightly as if someone had stepped onto it.

Between her slightly parted eyelids, a cool liquid slipped past.

It was a terror devoid even of a scent.

“Your master is unusually cute for eating so well just because I gave it to her, but of course, she’s fast asleep without a care in the world. You go on and sleep, too.”

She could tell the bedroom door was closing not by sound, but by the brushing wind.

I definitely locked it.

Though she thought it was a pretty useless gesture, actually experiencing this kind of thing all over again felt utterly futile.

A moment later, when the surroundings grew quiet once more, Seohah sprang up from her seat and frantically used the bottle of water she kept nearby to rinse her eyes out.

Her face grew wet, and her pajamas were soaked by the dripping water, revealing her clear skin.

The blanket she had been covering herself with got damp too, but she didn’t care.

She had let her guard down because there hadn’t been an incident like this lately. The thing she had eaten in the evening must have been spiked with a heavy sleeping drug.

The fact that she had vomited it all out so it didn’t take effect was a stroke of luck if anything.

Hearing a whining sound from beside her, Seohah waved a weak hand to find Dodam.

“Thanks to you, I noticed quickly.”

Seohah whispered, stroking the top of Dodam’s head.

When she slowly opened her eyes, Dodam’s silhouette hovered before her vision.

“I’m okay. Really.”

Seohah reassured Dodam.

She wasn’t okay in the slightest, but speaking like this was the only way to calm her racing heart.

At that moment, Han Junhyuk’s taunting voice echoed in her ears.

As long as Cha Miyeon kept pulling stunts like this, escaping from this house as quickly as possible was her absolute top priority.

As long as she stayed by her adoptive mother’s side, carrying out any plan she set her mind to was outright impossible.

“You definitely said you’d give me at least half a prize……………….”

Anxiety took over. Yesterday’s reaction had clearly been “hesitation” rather than dismissal, so had she been mistaken?

Seohah once again earnestly hoped that the proposal she had made would spark that man’s interest.

When Seohah stepped into the kitchen, Cha Miyeon’s sweet, charming voice greeted her.

“Oh my, you’re up early. You looked so exhausted yesterday that I deliberately didn’t wake you so you could sleep in a bit.”

“I slept soundly without any dreams, so I feel refreshed.”

“That’s good, your complexion looks nice. Your father is still here today, so go say hello.”

“Ah……………… Good morning.”

“Yes, take a seat.”

After exchanging greetings with her adoptive parents, Seohah took her usual seat with Dodam’s guidance.

“Ma’am, make some soft soft-tofu and egg steam here and give it to Seohah.”

“No, it’s fine. I can just eat whatever’s prepared……………”

“No, your father is here, so today there are only things that are hard for you to eat. Have something you can easily scoop up and swallow.”

Cha Miyeon gave instructions in a well-drilled manner, as if she already knew that Seohah’s eye condition had worsened.

“By the way, what was going on with the police at the event venue yesterday………………?”

Before Seohah’s question could even finish, Assemblyman Yoon replied in a displeased tone.

“Some bastard got arrested on the spot for possessing hallucinogens.”

“Who knows who reported it, but on such a good day, what a disgraceful thing to happen. Ecstasy, of all things—you get all sorts of crazy incidents, really.”

Cha Miyeon chimed in with an annoyed expression.

Seohah, who had been listening quietly, recalled someone’s voice.

By the way, do you like star candy?

However, that thought couldn’t linger for long because of Assemblyman Yoon’s words, which were usually so stingy with praise.

“You did well yesterday.”

Seohah’s hand, which was about to scoop a spoonful of the soft-tofu egg steam placed before her, came to an abrupt halt.

“The second son of that household seems to have taken an interest in you.”

Seohah moved her stiffened hand and put the egg steam into her mouth. It was hot enough to burn the roof of her mouth, but she could neither feel its temperature nor its taste.

“How was it for you?”

Not expecting her adoptive father to ask for her opinion, Seohah felt a brief wave of inner panic, but she didn’t let it show on the outside as she replied.

“Does that matter?”

Following a light silence came Yoon Junghwan’s laughter.

“No, not at all.”

Her throat felt raw and stinging from the boiling-hot soft tofu. But that heat set a fire blazing inside Seohah’s chest.

Half of it worked.

Han Junhyuk had kept his promise.