Chapter 216:

Lee-yeon’s eyelashes fluttered. There was a warning siren in her mind, telling her not to watch any longer. However, she couldn’t tear her eyes away.

The scene unfolding before her felt surreal, almost like a television screen replaying her memories. The two of them together, it was like a window into her past.

The woman pulled Kwon Chae-woo’s waist closer, closing her eyes in comfort. A soft smile graced her lips. It was a genuine smile, not an act. It revealed a primal satisfaction that emerged when melting into someone’s touch.

Suddenly, Kwon Chae-woo leaned towards the woman, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Lee-yeon’s throat went cold, and for some inexplicable reason, she felt suffocated. It was an insignificant movement, yet it felt monumental and chilling, like a thunderclap.

At that moment, as her temperature rose steadily, Lee-yeon realized the underlying strength she possessed.

We must go our separate ways, she had insisted but he stubbornly clung to her. As Lee-yeon embarked on a new life, Kwon Chae-woo was supposed to embrace a new day.

“Perhaps… he never really wished to live,” she thought.

The intense emotions she thought she had left behind still lingered, even in her dreams. Lee-yeon’s face twisted as she witnessed the sudden burst of passion.

It wasn’t a mere unrequited love; it was more perplexing, a deep-seated resentment for a life that couldn’t be saved.

She couldn’t look away as the couple on the bed grew more intimate. The man’s strong arms around the woman bothered her. Her heart raced.

Kwon Chae-woo, drawn by the familiar scent, leaned into the woman’s…

In an instant, Lee-yeon shut her eyes tight.

“Ahh!”

“Master!”

It wasn’t clear whose scream came first, but Jang Beom-hee’s cry echoed first. Lee-yeon opened her eyes to see Kwon Chae-woo, who had grabbed the woman’s hair, attacking her as if he had been waiting for the right moment.

With his half-closed eyes, he forcefully pushed the woman away. She screamed and clutched her scalp, and Kwon Chae-woo grabbed her by the neck.

In no time, she was overpowered, gasping for breath and choking. Jang Beom-hee was already trying to restrain Kwon Chae-woo, and Lee-yeon had fled.

The once-quiet bedroom had turned into a chaotic battleground.

“Master, please calm down!”

“Damn it, my… that son of a…”

Kwon Chae-woo snapped like a broken tape, his unfocused gaze unsettling. Whether it was due to sleep or the effects of some drug, his eyes seemed even more eerie as a result.

He seemed to be attempting to regain his composure, deliberately biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. His parched tongue then ran over the wound, leaving a smear of crimson on his lips.

His unsettling behavior left Lee-yeon feeling sickened. If there had been a knife in the room, she suspected she might have used it free the woman.

“Please sir, let me go!” she implored.

“Beom-hee, are you trying to boil me alive?” he chuckled maniacally as if losing his mind.

Kwon Chae-woo tightened his grip on the woman’s neck, and she cried out in terror. His eyes, devoid of sanity, darted around as if trying to focus on something.

“Where did you get these clothes? Where is the owner of these clothes?” Kwon Chae-woo muttered incoherently.

The woman, gasping for breath, could only sob in response.

“What’s the meaning of wearing these clothes, pretending to be someone you’re not?” Kwon Chae-woo continued, his face chillingly stoic. “Why do I smell this familiar scent?”

The woman continued to plead for her life, but Kwon Chae-woo was relentless in his questioning, shaking his disoriented head.

“Where is Lee-yeon? Where is the owner of these clothes? Did you steal them? Did you take what you didn’t want?”

In a sudden burst of movement, Kwon Chae-woo’s shoulders heaved, and Lee-yeon seized the opportunity to step between him and the woman.

“Calm down!” she urged.

She gripped the man’s cheeks hard, causing an audible smack. Kwon Chae-woo, as if he had snapped out of a trance, immediately released the woman and brutally shifted his attention to Lee-yeon.

The transformation was so swift and savage that Lee-yeon involuntarily flinched, her fingers twitching.

His frenzied actions came to a halt when he seemed to recognize Lee-yeon. His mania subsided, and he pressed his lips against her fair neck in a natural, inevitable movement.

“Lee-yeon, did… did I almost… get forced?” he stammered.

“What?” Lee-yeon replied, taken aback.

“Damn it, what should I do? Was I deceived? Did someone else have me?” His lips brushed against her skin with each word, tingling.

Lee-yeon’s brows furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

“That insane woman, she wanted to have me. Wearing your clothes, as if it would change anything.” His incoherent rambling mixed with sobbing breaths.

“No, no, it wasn’t her intention,” Lee-yeon began, but he cut her off.

“It was strange. I nearly… I was helpless. She wore your clothes. She smelled just like you. What did she want to happen?”

His words scattered aimlessly alongside his sobs and breaths.

“No, it wasn’t like that. Her intentions were not like that,” Lee-yeon tried to explain.

“I’ve seen you and tasted you, but I could be deceived by your scent alone…”

Kwon Chae-woo continued to rub his face against Lee-yeon’s neck, seemingly unable to control himself, and his words grew increasingly incoherent.

“It’s strange. I can’t feel anything on my body. How long, how long was I asleep?”

Lee-yeon remained silent.

“My… it feels strange. Damn it, my body feels off, Lee-yeon.”

Lee-yeon shot a furious look at Jang Beom-hee, who responded with innocence. “What the… Is that even a sleeping pill? Are you sure you used sleeping pills? What kind of medicine did you put in there?!”

Then Kwon Chae-woo abruptly reached into Lee-yeon’s clothing, trembling. He choked back a sob.

“Lee-yeon, someone else touched my… They keep forcing me, violating me… ”

Lee-yeon ordered, “Get out, all of you, right now.”

She raised her voice, pushing Jang Beom-hee and the woman out.

Until then, no one noticed that Kwon Chae-woo’s eyes were completely dry.