At the soft-spoken plea, Seoryeong suddenly halted.

“...Korea?”

“Or do you want another country?”

“What....”

“We’re putting the household back together. Are you just going to let me go like this?”

“......”

“I will never—ever—live apart from you.”

Even at his confession, her mouth wouldn’t open easily.

Would a third reunion really go well?

Distrust and worry filled her head first. In the first marriage, the husband disappeared—there were reasons, but still. In the second marriage, the husband was shot—there were reasons, but still.

Thinking of what the two of them had done all this time—even if there had been grounds for it—she couldn’t picture peace. If they were peaceful, that brought its own fear; if they fought, that too. The wariness of “what if again...” felt like it would rise every morning like hives. Traces of wounds not yet healed.

Failures piled in layers had made her a coward. She had the courage to recognize and accept this man as her one and only, but it wasn’t easy to trust the unseen side of him as she once had.

When she kept her mouth shut like that for a while, a peculiar gaze struck down. So as not to raise needless suspicion, Seoryeong quickly hoisted a practical difficulty like a shield.

“As you know, I’m wanted by Interpol, so—”

“That’s handled.”

Wooshin brushed her stray hair aside and tickled her brow.

“I sent the request to have you removed from the list quite a while ago.”

“...How?”

“I set out that the shooting incident was plainly my mistake. And Interpol strictly forbids involvement in political, military, or religious matters. The funny thing is, Russia is an ‘Interpol abuser.’”

He kissed her forehead—smack—and continued in a low, easy voice.

“The Russian president has been relentlessly abusing Red Notices to eliminate political opponents, so Interpol has restricted access. Since I happen to be a Solzhenitsyn, they focused on the likelihood of abuse this time too, and the request to withdraw it was accepted relatively easily.”

“......”

Ah—there goes the shield. Nodding, Seoryeong felt at a loss.

But if he says he’s stepping out to the convenience store at midnight, can I not suspect it?

If he says he’s going to the office, can I believe that?

If I bear Solzhenitsyn’s child, will I feel safe then? Two? Three? Four? I don’t know.

Cold sweat seemed to break on her over how serious her state looked. Unable to bear the pounding in her chest, she lowered her eyes first and asked, feigning calm:

“...Then are you going to keep working as an operative?”

As he was smoothing her brows with the grain, his hand suddenly paused.

“So then you’ll go to work and come home again... You’ll have more secrets.”

“......”

“You’ll be traveling here and there a lot.”

“Seoryeong.”

“And living will make the lies multiply.”

Given all that—would she have the sound mind to wait? She couldn’t exactly keep a lie detector at home and interrogate him every night.

Or she’d feel like snooping his phone while he slept. If that didn’t clear the itch, she’d probably check the glove box to see if he had a hidden second phone. If even that didn’t satisfy...

Clone the phone— From here on, it’s a crime.

Suddenly an ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) old lesson snagged her ankle: you can’t protect anything by extreme means.

Isn’t this paranoia? No—do I already have it? Maybe I had it all along.

While her thoughts tilted ever more extreme, the duvet rustled and Wooshin sat up. One palm braced on the pillow, inadvertently caging her, he knit his brows.

“You don’t trust me.”

He said it like a certainty, seeing straight through her. The voice was utterly plain and even. His gaze fell straight without a ripple, and she flinched instead.

Even if their hearts had joined again, maybe there was no such thing in this world as a wound that fully sealed.

“...I probably won’t even trust your commute. Even if you send photos or texts, I’ll think that much can be faked easily. And the truth is, if you put your mind to it, you’re someone who can fool me anytime. That’s what I’m most afraid of, and I can’t get past it.”

For once, Seoryeong didn’t swallow her anxiety; she confessed it as-is. Wooshin screwed his eyes shut. On this topic, of all things, he had no face to show; he lowered his head in silence. Sure enough, as if taking punishment, he pressed his forehead to her neck and even held his breath.

“Even if it was all for me. What I went through—that kind of deceit... I never want to go through it again. Not twice. Absolutely not, Instructor.”

Bearing his weight, Seoryeong stared only at the ceiling. As a child, she had vowed that if something precious left, she would go fetch it back, again and again, and keep it by her side—but the problem was after that.

The daily life that would spread out after—that was a road she hadn’t traveled either. As before, she couldn’t keep swallowing her rough insides and pretending to be a demure wife.

But if she monitored his every move and smothered him, one day she would become a real patient. In bleakness, Seoryeong knit her brows.

“I have no reason to stay in the NIS anymore.”

Then Wooshin raised his forearm and lifted his head.

“There’s nothing left to chase or find except Han Seoryeong. What I wanted so badly is right in front of me—why would I go to work? I’m too busy looking at you. I don’t notice time passing.”

“......”

“I just need to get this bandage off in one piece.”

“That’s... good....”

Don’t smile, Han Seoryeong. She firmed her lips.

Even so, seeing him dispirited, she thought maybe she could keep him by her side for life. His lingering guilt showed clearly and satisfied her. Seoryeong deliberately set her face more stern. Don’t let it show...

“If you can’t trust me, you can stalk me in secret and bug me. Smell my coat every evening, grill me with questions, interrogate me. Should I just clone my phone for you?”

“I don’t do cheap stuff like that.”

“Better to do everything and find peace.”

“No!”

“You can attach a cam to my button and watch from the bedroom.”

“Tha—no!”

“In the end everything will go your way anyway. So—”

He cupped her cheek that was trembling at the eyelids and met her eyes.

“Just don’t give up on me to the end. Promise me that one thing.”

“......”

“Don’t stew alone, don’t pull away, don’t shut your mouth. Everyone knows Han Seoryeong has a temper, and among them I know it best. Don’t assume I’ll be scared off. If you pick up a gun, the bastard pulling that trigger is me.”

What do you mean everyone knows—! She flared and widened her eyes.

“Don’t hold back. Be mean.”

Wooshin pinched her cute little nose and let it go.

“It means love me till I can’t breathe.”

Her face went red like a sweet potato. With even the shabby bottom she had wanted to hide laid bare, all the strength went out of her.

Could you really call this love? The question rose, but kisses rained across her face and left her no mind to think.

“U—u, stop it!”

Still, one thing became certain. If she couldn’t change parents and couldn’t escape this fate either, then—she almost felt grateful for Ju Seolheon’s decision.

For picking out none other than Lee Wooshin and sending him to her side. For letting her enjoy a normal daily life as his wife...

Thank you for letting me live as Kim Hyun’s wife rather than being dragged off somewhere without knowing why. Thank you. For letting me meet oppa again... No, that line—I need to practice more before I say it....

Then she felt something hard between her legs. Seoryeong asked, looking cowed:

“The drug’s worn off by now...”

“So?”

“Pardon?”

“What’s the drug wearing off got to do with me getting hard in the morning looking at Han Seoryeong.”

“......”

“I don’t know what it was, but your face just now was filthy sexy.”

Wooshin pressed his lips to her temple again and closed his eyes. Even though his cock stood tight, the way he stroked Seoryeong and drew her into his arms wasn’t sexual in feel.

Lying together, bodies aligned and facing the same direction, the two of them chatted on and on in low voices. Ah, at the lake, Grandfather caught us. Her heart kept racing at his warm, gentle scent.

She cried at parts of his life story, and their lips overlapped several times. When her sniffling suddenly swelled into sobbing, her nose rubbed against his solid chest again. At choices of Ju Seolheon and Riegai she hadn’t known, strength filled her whole body.

So she wouldn’t be lonely, Wooshin kept whispering I love you between everything. Han Seoryeong, I love you. I can’t be without you. You’re my only family.

Then Seoryeong opened eyes she had squeezed shut and clung to that tender gaze watching her so keenly. His love, now as before, had the power to lift her up to stand on a firm trunk.

Thank you.... 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

A brief thanks, not even knowing to whom it was addressed.