TKEP 09

Chapter 09

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Seo-jun’s mouth slowly closed.
His deep black eyes trembled slightly.

“Tell me. If you didn’t find evidence to press down the Dongjeon Group’s third son, you wouldn’t have come, right?”

Yeon, frustrated, urged him for an answer.
Normally, Seo-jun would never make a move without solid evidence.
Back then, he hadn’t even decided to marry Yeon, and moving without a weapon to counter the enemy could backfire badly.

Seo-jun slowly replayed her question in his mind.
His brow furrowed as his thoughts deepened.

“…I would’ve come anyway.”

Just imagining himself doing something against his values made him tired. He ran a hand through his hair.
Come to think of it, his hair was slightly messy.

‘Did he run here?’

Feeling oddly pleased, Yeon smiled faintly.

“I don’t even need to hear the reason. You must’ve been worried about me. Or, to put it more positively, maybe you like me?”
“Being too positive isn’t good. It clouds rational thinking.”

When Seo-jun firmly drew the line, Yeon leaned back in her chair.

“So, I guess that’s a yes to my proposal? You’ll marry me, right?”

If he didn’t want to, he wouldn’t have shown up at the meeting.
If he refused now, he’d be the bad guy—raising her hopes only to crush them.

Seo-jun crossed his arms and looked at her with a heavy expression.

“Why are you in such a hurry? Is someone chasing you?”
“Yes. They are.”

The corner of Seo-jun’s eye twitched.

“Don’t joke.”
“I’m not joking. I’m running out of time. I’ll explain everything later—if you promise to marry me.”

Seo-jun looked at her in silence.

“I’ve thought about it a lot.”

He tapped the table with his finger before speaking.
After Yeon had left that day, he’d been restless, losing sleep over the decision.
No matter how hard he tried not to think about her, her voice kept replaying in his head—asking him to marry her, to help her.

Eventually, he made his decision.
No, the truth was—the decision had been made from the start.
What kept him up was figuring out a way for their marriage not to end in disaster.

“Marriage… I’ll do it.”

Yeon’s smile lit up the space like a light being switched on.

“But there’s a condition.”
“Of course. We’ll write a contract. I’ll match it to you as much as possible, but I can’t promise to agree to everything.”

Though they were talking about “marriage,” the conversation sounded more like “negotiating a deal.”

“Fine. Here’s my condition: One, we find Ahn Ji-young. I want your help.”

Ji-young was Seo-jun’s half-sister.
While Seo-jun grew up in a warm home and got the best education, Ji-young was unacknowledged by their father and struggled in a basement apartment.

She had finally been chosen as a royal court lady, and it seemed like her life might improve—until she suddenly disappeared.
They said she died, even held a funeral, but neither Seo-jun nor Yeon believed it. They had never seen her body.

“I want that too. If you didn’t ask, I would have. I’ll agree.”
“Don’t decide so easily. My investigation might make the royal family see you as an enemy.”

Her last known location was the palace—meaning someone in the royal family was likely involved.
Only a handful of people in the Empire could make an adult vanish and block even the top police investigators from accessing the case files.

Seo-jun was convinced a royal was responsible, and he already had a prime suspect.
But he couldn’t act recklessly. Investigating the royal family was outside his authority—both as a police officer in the past and as a lawmaker now.

The royal family was shielded from the law just for having royal blood.
To bypass that shield, there was only one way.

Becoming part of the royal family.

“Sounds like you should’ve been the one to propose to me.”

The only suitable match had always been Yeon—
but she had been too young and pure, so he had given up the idea.
Now, she was the one offering it herself.

“Do whatever you want. If you want to aim a sword at the royals or throw a bomb, go ahead. I can’t protect you completely, but I won’t stand in your way. In return, you help me.”
“Trading one thing for another, I like that. But before that—how long are you going to call me ‘Assemblyman’? I’ll be giving up my seat after we marry.”
“Oh… Did you not like it? You should’ve said so earlier. What should I call you then?”
“Just call me by my name.”
“Seo-jun-ah?”

His brows tightened at that.
Yeon chuckled.

“I’ll call you Seo-jun-ssi, then. ‘Oppa’ doesn’t suit my mouth.”

She had called him that easily when they were younger.
He thought this quietly and nodded.

“Now, tell me what you want, Your Highness.”

Yeon took a breath, her expression suddenly serious.

“I need to become the Empress.”

Seo-jun’s eyes widened.

“No matter what happens around me, I need you to stand by me and use all the power you can gather to push me to the top. Can you do that?”
“So you don’t want me—you want my supporters?”
“That’s not enough. Bring me more. I’ve already prepared the house, so think of it as the dowry. You know what I’m asking for, right?”
“The information—or person—that can take down the Crown Prince?”
“I don’t know which it will be. Can you do it?”

Yeon countered his question with another.
Her boldness made Seo-jun smile in interest.
Different goals, but the same target—the Crown Prince was already on his radar.

“And one more thing—if we want to succeed, we have to fool the royal elders. Half-hearted acting won’t work. So…”

Yeon moved her coffee cup aside and leaned forward.
The distance between them shrank instantly.
Their eyes, their breath—everything overlapped.

At a distance where even a small movement could close the gap completely, she whispered:

“We’ll live like a real married couple. For now, we’ll date like real lovers.”

For the first time, Seo-jun’s calm expression cracked.
Did she even know what she was implying?

Up close, she felt different—her smile sharp in his vision, her scent brushing his nose.
She wasn’t just a cute younger sister anymore—she had the scent of a woman.
A strange, dangerous feeling stirred inside him.

“How far?”

Yeon lowered her gaze, her long lashes casting a shadow.
Her eyes dropped to his lips. Of course Seo-jun noticed.

‘Oh? Is she saying we should kiss now?’

He gave a short laugh.
At that, Yeon looked back up—her eyes filled with tension.

He grabbed her chin suddenly. She pulled back, startled, but he didn’t let go.
The more she leaned away, the more he leaned closer—until their noses brushed.
Tilting his head slightly, Seo-jun decided to push a little harder.

“Just a kiss? That’s not how you make a marriage real. I can do more than that—if you want.”

Yeon’s shoulders twitched. Silence fell.
She looked surprised, even flustered, but still met his eyes stubbornly.

But Seo-jun—once a master interrogator—was impossible to read.

“So? Should we go that far? Do you want to?”

Inside, he hoped she would take back her words, so he could be the “good adult” and set an example.
He believed she would listen—Ji-young had always said Yeon was a girl who obeyed her elders.

 

But the words that came out of her mouth were completely unexpected.