Joo Seunghyuk’s voice lingered in my ears, the way he kept repeating I’m sorry while holding my ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) hand so tightly.

Even though it had already been months since that incident, it was still fresh to him—like it had happened yesterday. That must mean my injury really stayed with him.

Maybe... maybe it’s okay to stay like this. Do I really have to hurt Seunghyuk just to leave?

His face, the way he examined my body so carefully without a second thought for his own injury—those images wouldn’t leave my mind.

Idiot. You’re planning to live forever locked away in some unknown country? Have you forgotten what kind of man Seunghyuk really is? Do you think you can handle him?

My rational mind screamed in protest. But my heart kept whispering the opposite. That it might not be so bad to stay by his side. That maybe it could be peaceful. That voice tried to drag me deeper into Seunghyuk’s swamp.

And it wasn’t even like I’d been swept up in pleasure today—we hadn’t done anything. Yet I still kept having these foolish thoughts.

Get it together, Lee Yeonsu.

I sat down at the desk without thinking. Then glanced at the bookshelf.

There were a lot of the same books that had been in the basement. He must’ve brought them on the plane. Among the tightly packed shelves, one oversized children’s book stood out.

I pulled it out.

“The Prince of the Forest.”

Why had Seunghyuk chosen this book?

Back in the basement, I’d been too scared to even open it. Even now, it frightened me.

Somehow, I felt like this book contained something he hadn’t been able to say out loud. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

Why was I so afraid? What was it I was dreading so much?

I ran my hand over the cover, dazed. The drawing of the prince with a tiny crow on his shoulder was so cute, it didn’t seem like something Seunghyuk would’ve picked.

But it was the first book he gave me in the basement—and he even brought it overseas. It had to mean something.

Hesitantly, I opened the book.

“Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, there lived a prince who never smiled.”

The fairytale began alongside a drawing of a prince with a blank, emotionless face.

***

The prince had never smiled, not even once since he was born.

No matter how much the king and queen tried, nothing worked.

In the end, people began to whisper that he was cursed.

It wasn’t true—but no one believed him.

All the people who had once praised his beauty, who whispered their love to him daily, suddenly turned on him. They tried to kill him.

Everyone betrayed him.

Everyone except the little crow he raised.

The prince and the crow fled, running deeper and deeper into the wilderness, until they reached a dark forest.

The crow wished desperately for the prince to be cleared of his false curse.

“If only the prince would smile, they’d all realize it was a lie!”

To make him smile, the crow worked tirelessly. It fetched gold and jewels. Brought him whatever he wanted. But the prince never smiled.

The crow began to resent itself for not being able to make the prince happy.

Then, one day, while the prince was fast asleep in a beautiful field of flowers, a great bear attacked him.

To protect the prince, the crow threw itself at the bear.

In the end, the crow managed to drive the bear away—leading it off a cliff.

But the crow was gravely wounded. It fell as well, unable to return to the prince’s side.

When the prince awoke, he looked around.

The crow, who had always been with him, was nowhere in sight.

The prince set off to find him.

Eventually, he reached the spot where the crow had fallen.

The crow wanted to call out to him. But it was too weak. Not even a whimper escaped its beak.

Just then, a bright light shone in the distance.

And the prince—forgetting all about the crow—ran toward it, completely enchanted.

There, he met a beautiful boy.

And for the first time in his life, the prince smiled.

Though he had everything in the world, the prince had always felt empty.

But the moment he met the boy, he realized—this was the destiny he’d been searching for.

“I love you.”

The prince confessed. The boy smiled, and the two of them held hands and left the dark forest together.

And the crow watched them go.

“The prince smiled...”

With a soft smile, the crow closed its eyes.

The fairytale ended with the prince and the boy, holding hands, beaming at one another.

***

...What the hell was that?

Not only did it catch me off guard, it actually made me angry.

While reading, I’d rooted for the crow the whole time.

The crow loved the prince. Devoted itself to him completely.

But the prince never smiled at him—not even once.

Even when the only one who stayed by his side disappeared, the moment he met his so-called fated partner, the prince just... forgot about the crow and left.

Why the hell did Seunghyuk want me to read this?

What was he trying to say?

I thought this story might hold some hidden message from Seunghyuk to me. But now I was just confused.

Maybe it didn’t mean anything. Maybe he just thought the art was cute.

But come to think of it, the movie we watched together was kind of similar.

In that one, too, the protagonist dumped their longtime lover the moment they met their fated partner—just like the prince.

Maybe Seunghyuk is drawn to those kinds of stories because he secretly longs for a “fated soulmate.”

Alphas are instinctively drawn to Omega pheromones. Right now, Seunghyuk says he doesn’t care about secondary gender—but if he ever meets that destined match, things might change.

And when that happens, he might start resenting me, someone he can’t sense pheromones from. He might get bored. Lose interest.

And if Seunghyuk decided to leave... I wouldn’t be able to stop him.

Just like how my aunt abandoned me in my last life—I’d be powerless again.

If I tried to cling to him or beg not to be left behind, I’d end up just like Lee Yeonsu in the original novel—with a gruesome ending.

I didn’t want that.

Once is enough. Once is already too much—to be cast aside without even being able to say don’t go.

Seunghyuk was obsessed with me. He’d even turned down a political marriage with Lexington Pharmaceuticals because of it.

He catered to my every want and need.

But even so, not once—not even once—had he said I love you.

Maybe he doesn’t even feel love.

Love fades. Even promises of eternal love break eventually. So how long can obsession and possessiveness really last?

He’d been obsessed with me for seven years—but back then, our matching rate was low. It wasn’t about guiding. He fell for me without any real reason.

Which means...

He could just as easily fall for someone else without a reason.

“I met my soulmate. Let’s break up.”

I imagined him saying it to me.

It would be my freedom. My escape from this obsessive captor.

But for some reason, I couldn’t breathe.

Even if that moment came, I wouldn’t be able to say How could you? or Give me another chance. I wouldn’t even be able to ask Were all your words lies?

I wouldn’t grab his sleeve. I’d just accept it. Powerless.

Just thinking about that made tears suddenly well up.

Why are you crying? Him leaving would be a good thing.

It should’ve been a good thing. But even thinking about it made my fingers go cold.

I stood up and walked to the window.

I flung open the curtain and pressed my palm to the glass.

I was scared. Terrified to my core.

Why was I so scared?

Was it the lingering trauma of being abandoned by my aunt in my past life?

Was that what made this so frightening?

I need to leave. If I get out of here, this strange fear will go away. I won’t think stupid things like maybe this is okay.

I want to leave. No—I have to, before I lose myself even more. I have to escape from Joo Seunghyuk.

I will leave. I’ll escape this room. I will break free from Seunghyuk.

I repeated it like a mantra, over and over in my mind, as if willing myself to believe it.

And as I clung to that resolution, the crushing fear around my heart slowly began to lift.

“What are you doing?”

Before I knew it, Seunghyuk had entered the room. He hugged me from behind.

“...Just watching the ocean.”

I forced my voice to stay calm, suppressing the storm of emotions inside me.

Now that I’d made up my mind to leave, I couldn’t afford to let anything show.

“You like the ocean?”

“Yeah. It’s pretty. Like you.”

I answered casually. But it wasn’t a lie—Seunghyuk was the most beautiful person I’d ever seen.

I thought I’d handled it naturally, but his expression didn’t relax.

Seunghyuk stared straight into my face.

“...Did you cry?”

“No. I just read a book. It was sad.”

His eyes flicked toward the book still lying on the desk—The Prince of the Forest.

“It made you sad?”

“Yeah. A little... I guess I haven’t read in a while. It hit harder than I expected.”

“Here. To cheer you up.”

He handed me a bag of snacks. Shrimp Roll-Roll and Choco Ring—the ones I’d asked for at dinner.

“...Thanks.”

He got them so quickly. Was this really a Korean town?

If it was, there might be people out there who recognized me.

That would make escaping so much easier. If I could just get out of the villa, I could ask for help...

But I couldn’t rush it.

I couldn’t do something reckless like Kim Jun from the original story.

Instead, I had to lull Seunghyuk into complacency. Convince him I was harmless.

Only then could I escape.

“Seunghyuk, let’s eat together.”

I smiled sweetly, as if I couldn’t even imagine planning to run away.

But suddenly, Seunghyuk grabbed my wrist.

“......”

...What is this?

Did he notice something?

The blood in my veins turned cold.