If You Claim the Fallen Heiress - Chapter 59

Mu-yeong’s figure was visible through the half-open door. His cold gaze was touching the shoes Yuseol had taken off.

She stepped back without even having time to calm her explosively beating heart. Her frightened back hit the bedroom door with a bang.

Mu-yeong’s water-colored eyes turned toward her as if pouncing.

In the landscape that seemed to have stopped, life returned to his eyes. It was like that of a beast pleased by an unplanned dawn hunt.

“It seems like a late time for a walk.”

Flustered, Yuseol lowered her gaze to the floor. Because his body blocked the moonlight, she couldn’t even see the wood grain on the floor.

As her vision dulled, she could smell a clean fragrance as if freshly washed. The moment her head spun, the man’s cold low voice rushed in.

“This is a restricted area. How did you get in?”

He opened the door and made an incredulous face.

Yuseol, reddened with bewilderment, stammered.

“I, I followed a boy named Haneul.”

Water droplets fell from the ends of Mu-yeong’s hair, which wasn’t wearing a gat, and flowed down toward his collarbone. In the time that felt particularly slow, the voice that came was very slow and low.

“A boy?”

“Do you know him…?”

“No.”

Silence came. Only the sound of oil burning with crackling sounds from the ceiling lamp echoed. Heavy quietness began pressing down on Yuseol’s shoulders. What if he thought she was making strange excuses? Her hesitating lips moved.

“A boy really came this way.”

Mu-yeong made a cold expression as if he didn’t particularly want to hear her excuses. Perhaps he seemed annoyed.

“Fine, I understand, so go back now.”

Was this what it felt like to become a toy that was good to play with only when wanted…. Resentment appeared in Yuseol’s eyes.

“What’s inside the gate up there?”

“What you can see.”

“Is the person called Sahwa sleeping inside?”

“…….”

“If not, please tell me it’s not.”

A calm low voice spread as if mocking the flushed Yuseol.

“Why should I do that?”

“Do you need payment even for such an easy answer?”

“Such questions seem meaningful only when you have something to offer.”

His way seemed to be to see through where the other person hurt and casually stab that place. He was truly coldhearted, but thanks to that, Yuseol was in a state where her sense of pain had dulled.

“If you answer, I have enough to give in payment.”

He chuckled and swept back his damp hair.

“As if you know what I want.”

The subtly washed, wet fragrance spread gently. It was like a silent signal to leave before his presence became stronger.

Yuseol looked at the wide-open door.

It would be good to leave now. It was deep dawn, and this man seemed particularly sensitive.

…Should I go back?

But if she left like this, the unsolved questions would remain.

Then if someday she suddenly experienced another bad thing without knowing why….

Yuseol bit her lower lip and recalled the day she received the poison. The moment of resenting her complacent self was utterly terrible. Could there be sadness greater than falling into such despairing death?

Yuseol’s entire body, tinged with anxiety, trembled. Her shadow on the floor also shook like someone sobbing, but her voice was bold.

“Do as you wish.”

“As I wish?”

“Yes. Do whatever you want.”

Creak creak. The sound of insects filled the silent space.

At that moment, his hand slowly moved to close the door of the quarters. Soon the sound became distant and the view darkened. Clear light appeared in the eyes of the man standing in front of Yuseol.

“Do whatever I want.”

Yuseol didn’t have the confidence to look up at his face, so she was only staring at his collarbone area.

He lifted her chin with his index finger to make her look up. His horizontally extended eye shape took on a fierce light.

“I don’t even know what my heart might do.”

Yuseol looked away, not knowing what to do. If she didn’t leave now, she felt like she would really become this man’s plaything for the night.

When an exit appeared in her eyes soaked with anxiety, he slightly stepped aside as if telling her to run away quickly. His face was ascetic like a scholar with deep cultivation.

But Yuseol knew his other face that had roughly pressed lips together. That was an alluring beast that had tasted blood for the first time while struggling with hunger.

Yuseol’s feet instinctively lifted slightly from the floor. The moment she was about to run away, as always happened when she did so, a dark light appeared in his eyes. The water-colored eyes revealed in the darkness only shone mysteriously. They were solid as if holding secrets that would never be revealed until they were confronted and dug out.