Chapter 06

A long sigh escaped through Eunjo’s parted lips.

“When I wanted to see you so badly, I couldn’t.”

Just then, the window appeared again.

I have obtained approval for one year’s worth of Na Eunjo’s memories.

Only one year of memories.

Still, it was better than having none at all.

“Fine. I’ll take a look at the one year you can give me.”

You may refuse. Depending on the circumstances, the experience could be quite unpleasant.

Of course it would be unpleasant.

I’m peeking into someone else’s life—someone who even went so far as to take her own life.

And yet, she was a little excited, too. She had a feeling that somewhere in those memories, Juheon would appear.

Thinking back to the Juheon she had encountered a little while ago, Eunjo steeled herself to accept another person’s memories.

Would you like to view the memories?

“Yes. I will.”

Whatever those memories might contain, whatever they might be—

If they could help her take revenge on the people who had driven her father to his death, stolen his company, and murdered her as well, then this was the least she could do.

She finally released her tightly clenched lips, and the taste of blood filled her mouth.

She remembered the bloodstained blouse she had seen early that morning. Nausea rose in her throat.

Beginning synchronization.

In an instant, unfamiliar memories invaded her mind.

Tears streamed endlessly down her face.

After tossing and turning all night, Juheon got up at dawn and put on a black suit. He intended to see Eunjo off on her final journey.

Lee Eunjo.

Lee Won-gyu’s daughter and a fairly well-known painter.

And Juheon’s first love.

Three years older than him, she was someone he had loved with extraordinary tenderness.

At first, he had fallen for her voice.

Then he had fallen for her paintings, the clear sound of her laughter, and her distinctive, graceful footsteps.

He had fallen for the fingers with which she lifted her coffee cup and the lips that nibbled on lemon shortcake.

To twenty-one-year-old Juheon, who had first met her at that age, Lee Eunjo was almost impossibly beautiful.

Her face was lovely, but more than anything, her soul was beautiful.

To twenty-three-year-old Juheon, who had no choice but to part with her, Eunjo had become even more precious because he could never have her. She was far too noble to be trampled upon. Her soul had been beautiful in every moment.

Would that soul now be departing for the heavens?

With a black tie around his neck, Juheon left the house.

8:00 a.m.

After arriving at the crematorium, Juheon watched from a distance as the limousine carrying Eunjo pulled in.

Someone stepped out of the front passenger seat, holding Eunjo’s memorial portrait. Kang Jinwoo got out next.

The moment Juheon laid eyes on Jinwoo, his fists tightened involuntarily. Once, Jinwoo had been a mountain Juheon could never hope to climb. Now, he seemed nothing more than pathetic.

A pathetic man who had possessed Eunjo but failed to protect her.

No. He was even worse than that—a vile human being who had driven her to her death.

Juheon clenched his jaw.

It did not take long for Eunjo, who had arrived at the crematorium, to emerge as a handful of ashes.

When she came out in a small urn, she was cradled in Kang Jinwoo’s arms.

Unable to bear the sight, Juheon turned away. But soon, his eyes narrowed as something out of place caught his attention.

“…Na Eunjo?”

Na Eunjo was there.

She looked quite different from the woman he had seen outside the funeral hall the day before yesterday.

Dressed neatly in a black dress, she gazed at Eunjo with a bare face, free of makeup.

Her blond hair was tied back in a single ponytail, leaving her face fully exposed. With a resolute gaze, she watched Eunjo’s final moments.

Her lips were pressed tightly together, the tension so intense that a deep dimple formed in her left cheek.

She was the person who had been so devastated by Eunjo’s death that she had shown up wearing mismatched shoes.

The person whose feelings for Eunjo seemed so profound that she had come not only to the funeral hall but also to the crematorium.

“What on earth is going on?”

Why was she acting like this?

Just as Juheon’s eyebrows tilted into a skeptical frown, a woman following behind Kang Jinwoo began to wail.

“Unnie! Eunjo unnie…!”

She had behaved the same way at the funeral hall. Apparently, she had been close to Eunjo while she was alive.

“Oh, poor Eunjo unnie… What are we going to do?”

Even so, Juheon disliked seeing Eunjo’s final journey tainted by pity. He frowned.

But the look Na Eunjo gave the woman was anything but ordinary.

Her eyes were lowered coldly, filled with contempt. She did not look away until Kang Jinwoo and the woman got into the car.

After the limousine carrying Eunjo drove away, Na Eunjo bowed respectfully toward it. If anything could be said to be memorable about the scene, it was that.

She remained standing still until the limousine had completely disappeared. Then she let out a soft sigh and started walking away.

A vein bulged on one side of Juheon’s forehead as he watched her.

Light, swaying steps, as though she carried no weight at all.

For just a fleeting moment, Na Eunjo’s figure had overlapped with Eunjo’s.

Lee Eunjo was gone. Only Na Eunjo remained.

She had realized it the moment Lee Eunjo’s shattered body emerged as ashes.

There was no turning back now.

There was no body left for her to return to. From this point onward, she was no longer Lee Eunjo. She was Na Eunjo.

After paying her respects to the body of Lee Eunjo, who had lived for thirty-four years before passing away like a single peony, she watched the limousine disappear into the distance and fell into thought for a moment.

It had happened earlier, in the crematorium’s restroom.

Apparently believing herself to be alone, Kim Nain had spent quite some time talking to someone on the phone.

“That’s right. I’m telling you, all of Lee Eunjo’s assets now belong to my darling!”

Until she had entered the restroom, Nain had been sobbing her eyes out. But she had apparently been unable to keep the happiness out of her voice.

“The wedding? Of course we’ll have one. But not just yet. We should keep crying over the dead woman a little longer, then comfort each other and gradually fall in love. Something along those lines.”

It seemed the person on the other end had asked whether people would criticize them.

But Nain was already prepared to be cursed at, and she sounded positively thrilled.

“CX is going to be mine. What do I care if people curse me? I’d put up with every curse imaginable!”

Nain’s light, tinkling laughter rang out with an almost coquettish sweetness.

“Yeah. I was going to suggest we register our marriage first anyway. I need a safety net, too. If someone has betrayed you once, what’s to stop them from doing it twice?”

After thoroughly washing her hands, Nain left the restroom.

Only then did Eunjo reveal herself from where she had been hiding and slowly follow behind Nain.

When Nain turned the corner and reached a place where people could see her, she began to cry.

Unnie, unnie. Anyone listening would think your own sister had died.

Eunjo had to endure the pain of her fingernails digging into her palms as she struggled to resist the urge to slap that loathsome face.

In the end, Nain practically collapsed into the limousine as though she had fainted. Once she and Jinwoo had disappeared, peace settled over Eunjo’s heart as well.

“So, you’re planning to register your marriage first?”

A laugh escaped through her parted lips.

“Not a chance.”

Then she slowly began to walk.

She had taken a taxi to get here, but on the way back, she wanted to walk for a while before taking the bus.

It was a little embarrassing to realize that she had lived like a pampered princess her entire life without ever riding a bus.

And so, after leaving the crematorium, Eunjo walked slowly, enjoying the autumn sky in mid-September.

That was when it happened.

A car horn sounded lightly, and a black sedan glided up beside her.

Its heavily tinted window rolled down, revealing the face of Park Juheon.