Chapter 13

Stolen Marriage

Hae-won couldn’t understand why she was sitting in this room.

She had expected that Chae-ryeong wouldn’t sit idly by until she and Seo Jeong-hoo were married.

She also knew Chae-ryeong would use whatever means necessary to sabotage it.

However, she hadn’t expected Chae-ryeong to go as far as using Jeong-hoo’s mother, Lady Kyung.

Looking at the two of them with an obedient gaze, a deep sense of alienation washed over her.

Even an unwanted, useless lump felt like it would fit in better than she did.

“Mother, I heard the camel color is extremely hard to get, so I begged Director Lee so much! As expected, it looks perfect on you. The bag has truly found its owner!”

Chae-ryeong stuck right by Lady Kyung’s side, openly putting on a sweet and affectionate act.

Pretending to be good, pretending to be gentle, pretending to be warm and attentive.

Watching Chae-ryeong put on every kind of fake front while hiding her cruel, ferocious true nature made nausea surge up in Hae-won’s throat.

As if this wasn’t their first time shopping together, the dynamic between the two even looked quite natural and harmonious.

“Mother, your skin has warm tones, so orange shades suit you so well. Your face looks so bright that you look ten years younger!”

“Oh my, Chae-ryeong, you really say the sweetest things. Thank you, even if it’s just flattery.”

“Flattery? Not at all! I can’t lie!”

“If Seong-yun were still alive, it would have been so nice for the three of us to go shopping together.”

At the sound of her mother’s name slipping from Lady Kyung’s lips, Hae-won’s shoulders flinched violently.

She didn’t even have time to dwell on the fact that she was intentionally excluded from that ‘three.’

Her memories of her mother, who passed away when she was young, were faint and distant.

Because of that, her mother was an existence she longed for all the more bitterly.

Her chest felt strangely tight with surging emotion. Perhaps it was because it had been far too long since she last heard her mother’s name through someone else’s lips.

She was simply grateful for the fact that someone hadn’t forgotten her mother and remembered her.

“Lately, I miss Seong-yun even more. The older I get, the more precious childhood friends become.”

The two women had been close friends for a very long time.

Although they couldn’t see each other often because Lady Kyung had gone to the United States to support Jeong-hoo’s studies,

she cherished her friend all the more after her mother passed away from illness.

That was why she especially doted on Chae-ryeong, firmly believing her to be the only daughter her friend had left behind in this world.

She had likely intended to ease her longing for her friend through a marriage alliance with her son.

And the one who had unintentionally disrupted that plan was Hae-won.

From Lady Kyung’s perspective, Hae-won, who had suddenly barged in, could hardly be welcome.

“Director Lee, please set up and show us all the new arrivals for this season.”

“Yes, could you please wait a brief moment?”

At Chae-ryeong’s familiar order, the director of Trinity moved with swift steps.

Only the three of them were left in the reception room. After a brief, awkward air settled over the room, it was Lady Kyung who broke the silence.

“I didn’t expect us to meet again here.”

“Ah… Chae-ryeong eonni called me, so I came. I didn’t know you would be here as well, Lady Kyung.”

“I called her because when I saw you two the other day, you and Hae-won seemed so awkward around each other, Mother.”

Smiling sweetly with her eyes creasing beautifully, Chae-ryeong clung to Lady Kyung’s arm.

It was a childlike attitude, as if begging to be praised for her thoughtful consideration.

“Chae-ryeong, you must be feeling terrible yourself…”

“Well… I’ve never thought about marrying anyone other than Jeong-hoo oppa since I was little… But since all the articles have already broken…”

With a tragic expression, Chae-ryeong’s eyes welled up with delicate tears.

Her statement that she had never considered anyone other than Seo Jeong-hoo as a marriage partner was not a lie. However, she had simply continued to date other men non-stop.

She had always drawn a strict line, claiming that dating and marriage were fundamentally different.

“You know, ever since my mother passed away, I’ve lived without anywhere to lean on. I thought Jeong-hoo oppa would fill that void for me… No, in truth, even just becoming a daughter-in-law to you, Mother, would have felt like my mother came back to life…”

“Oh, you poor thing.”

Clenching her lips tight, Hae-won’s cheeks trembled faintly.

How could someone act so brazenly and naturally?

She clearly remembered the little demon who had desired her mother’s death more than anyone else.

Chae-ryeong—who had snatched everything away from her even before her mother passed away—shook her shoulders while hiding her malice.

Hae-won clenched her fists tightly, but the familiar, stabbing sense of revulsion surging through her whole body refused to settle down.

She had run away multiple times and claimed to be Lee Seong-yun’s daughter, but no one believed her.

Although access to the medical records themselves was restricted, she had also been admitted to psychiatric hospitals a few times. The record of having a mental illness consistently shattered Hae-won’s credibility.

And each time, Stepmother Kang and her father beat her mercilessly before whispering in her ear:

Live quietly, as if you’re dead.

There’s no one anywhere who will believe your words anyway, so don’t even open your mouth and just give up on everything.

The true relationship between Chae-ryeong and Jin-sook was something that would easily be exposed with a genetic test. That was why they had kept Hae-won isolated, ensuring she couldn’t confess the truth to anyone.

And they routinely made crazy threats that if she ever revealed this to anyone, they would destroy her mother’s grave.

They also never forgot to remind her that they would dismantle the company—the only remaining trace of her mother.

‘Ha…’

Recalling those two pairs of sinister, despicable, demon-like eyes made a cold chill run through her automatically.

Of course, the situation was hardly any different now.

She didn’t even know where her mother’s real grave was, and even if she claimed to be Lee Seong-yun’s daughter with her own mouth, she had no way to prove it.

They would instead treat her like a crazy person and frame her as having a mental illness.

‘And they’ll use that as a pretext to invalidate the marriage.’

As if to prove her thoughts, Chae-ryeong, who was dabbing at her crocodile tears with the back of her hand, raised her eyes villainously and scanned Hae-won.

She was likely waiting for Hae-won to explode.

She was trying to set a trap for Hae-won—to make her fly into a rage for reasons she could never explain or reveal to Lady Kyung.

However, Hae-won had not the slightest intention of playing into Chae-ryeong’s hands.

“To be honest, I was curious as well. Does Miss Hae-won feel the same way as Jeong-hoo? It seems you two have only known each other recently…”

It meant she had conducted a background check.

Even though Hae-won knew it was only natural from Lady Kyung’s perspective, her chest ached strangely.

Strictly speaking, she was merely taking back the marriage arrangement that was rightfully hers, but the stigma of having stolen her older sister’s man would not easily vanish.

“Yes, I want to marry Seo Jeong-hoo.”

“…!”

Without the slightest hesitation, a resolute voice cut through the dry space.

The one more surprised than Lady Kyung was Chae-ryeong.

Her cheeks hardened stiffly with anger, clear as day.

It was a face that hadn’t imagined in the slightest that Hae-won would act like this.

She must have assumed that, just as always, if she pushed with a little pressure, Hae-won would give up her share and cower like a dead body.

But things were different now.

From the moment she resolved to steal Seo Jeong-hoo in the first place, she could no longer be the same as before.

This was a dead end.

If she didn’t grab Seo Jeong-hoo’s hand, the only path left was returning to hell.

She had no desire to do something so stupid as walking back into that monster-like house on her own two feet.

“Sob… Mother, I’m fine. If the two of them like each other… sob, I can’t butt in between them.”

“Chae-ryeong.”

“I should have dated more instead of only looking at oppa. Because I don’t know men well and am so inexperienced…”

It was Chae-ryeong’s specialty.

Her habit of subtly putting others down while elevating her own value revealed itself once again.

Compared to her pure self who didn’t know men well, Hae-won was framed as a skilled woman who had seduced Jeong-hoo based on extensive dating experience.

Hae-won’s eyes narrowed, and a faint, dry breath escaped her lips.

The truth of who was who had been completely flipped. The one with excessive experience with men was Chae-ryeong, not her.

“My younger sister broke off her engagement with Hanjoo Hospital… Oh my, I misspoke.”

“What? An annulled engagement? What do you mean by that?”

Yoon Chae-ryeong, you went as far as bringing that up.

It was an entirely intentional slip of the tongue.

Although she blurred the end of her sentence, the words ‘Hanjoo Hospital’ and ‘annulled engagement’ rang out with absolute clarity.

It had enough power to invite countless speculations and malicious assumptions.

The one who had ruined that marriage was none other than Chae-ryeong herself.

Hae-won watched clearly as the corners of Chae-ryeong’s lips curled up gracefully.

She was relentless, like someone testing the limits of how much Hae-won could endure.

Looking at it from another angle, it was also an expression of her determination that she would never tolerate this marriage.

“Yes, I broke off the engagement. My trust in someone who caused issues with women even before marriage was shattered, so I felt I couldn’t spend the rest of my life with him.”

Without hesitation, Hae-won looked straight at Chae-ryeong and spoke each word with firm emphasis.

Breaking off that engagement was a decision she felt was right, no matter how many times she thought about it.

This wasn’t a flaw on her part, and the person who should feel a pang of conscience over this matter was Yoon Chae-ryeong.

“After the engagement was broken off, the person who extended a hand to me when I had nowhere to lean on was Seo Jeong-hoo. There was no way I couldn’t fall for him.”

She hadn’t expected to say such romantic words as falling in love at first sight to anyone, let alone regarding Seo Jeong-hoo.

Lying to Lady Kyung weighed on her mind.

However, overcoming this situation was the priority.

‘In truth, it’s not entirely a lie…’

If she hadn’t had any favorable feelings toward Seo Jeong-hoo, setting aside the first night where she threw out a clumsy seduction, there wouldn’t have been a second night.

Having not expected Hae-won to come out so strongly like this, Chae-ryeong’s face turned pale.

That face felt strangely thrilling and satisfying.

Lady Kyung also seemed to feel a sense of pity for her, woman to woman.

“Oh my! Jeong-hoo!”

It was right then.

Seo Jeong-hoo’s name spilled from Lady Kyung’s lips like a surprised gasp.

‘Did he hear…?’

Why did it have to be at this precise timing?

Life was truly full of unpredictable things like this. Destiny never flowed smoothly according to one’s wishes even once.

Hae-won didn’t want her confession that ‘there was no way I couldn’t fall for him’ to be caught by Seo Jeong-hoo himself.

Vaguely, she felt like she shouldn’t have let that happen.

“I’ve arrived.”

“How did you know to come all the way here?”

Lady Kyung’s questions poured out, but Jeong-hoo’s gaze was pinned entirely on Hae-won. From start to finish.

Hae-won felt as though she might forget how to breathe under his intense, deep stare.

“I don’t think I’ve come somewhere I shouldn’t be.”

He smiled lightly with a cool face.

As if it were only natural for Seo Jeong-hoo to be wherever Yoon Hae-won was.