The Snake, the Flower, and the Tiger - Chapter 2

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 2

The mere frost of cold air crystallizing in her large eyes transformed Hee-seo’s presence in an instant. The ordinary woman in sneakers and a loose t-shirt had become something entirely different—sharp as a sniper drawing a bead.
The old man did not flinch at the sudden shift in Hee-seo’s intensity. His expressionless face tilted upward to meet hers.
Their gazes collided in the space between them, yet neither looked away.
“Marry my grandson. And kill the thing that parasites his body.”
At the repetition of his words, Hee-seo clenched her fists against the heat of her rising fury.
The old man paid her insolence no mind. And the moment he named his price, her bag tumbled to the floor with a soft thud.
“If you remove it—if you let my grandson possess that body completely—I will find your parents. The ones you’ve been searching for so desperately. That is my condition.”
He asked whether she would accept the commission.
Unfortunately, the moment the old man invoked her parents, Hee-seo had ceased to have a choice.
In the end, her pale lips parted, and her voice trembled behind them.
“You’ll have to keep that promise.”
Otherwise I can’t be held responsible for what I might do.
Hee-seo caught the words on her lip and swallowed them whole. The taste of marriage undertaken in a single night was bitter and astringent on her tongue.

***

The wedding preparations unfolded with uncanny speed. It felt as though Chairman Kim had been orchestrating this long before.
First, Hee-seo received a false identity.
Only her name and gender matched; from her age to her birthplace, there was nothing—not a single detail—that resembled the original Hee-seo.
‘Even this would be hard to fabricate.’
Hee-seo scrolled through the tablet without enthusiasm. A hollow laugh escaped her.
“Contemporary dance major, horseback riding as a hobby, born in Paris? The chairman doesn’t seem like he has time for this sort of thing. Or is this the secretary’s idea?”
Hee-seo directed the question at the woman standing in one corner of the fitting room. She appeared to be in her mid-thirties—Kim Jong-hyup’s secretary, and simultaneously her keeper.
The secretary adjusted her transparent glasses and let her words trail off.
“A young lady befitting the young master should lack for nothing of the upper class…”
“Of course.”
The secretary’s reasoning was not flawed.
The man Hee-seo was to marry would become the heir to GM Group once Kim Jong-hyup died. A marriage arranged by a grandfather’s will rather than the groom’s own choice would naturally invite suspicion if the bride bore any flaw.
“All the more reason we must shield the young master from suspicion.”
“Well, I’ll do my best.”
According to Kim Jong-hyup, the spirit possessing his grandson’s body was exceptionally keen—and also seamless, he’d said. When Hee-seo asked what he meant by seamless, he answered.
“A possession so perfect that no one suspects a thing… Don’t you agree, ma’am?”
The secretary chose silence in response to Hee-seo’s sudden question.
Hee-seo had not truly expected an answer from the start. She was merely curious how the secretary would react.
Hee-seo’s mind drifted to a call with Hae-jeong. Hae-jeong was as a sworn sister to her, and had since undergone Divine Possession Initiation to become a shaman.
‘If Hae-jeong is right, if it’s not just some ghost… then the old man really might be senile.’
Among those who sought shamans claiming spirit possession, a surprisingly large number suffered from mental illness. Sometimes the person labeled as possessed had the psychiatric condition; sometimes it was reversed.
For instance, a parent with an unsound mind might drag in a perfectly healthy child, insisting the child was possessed.
Kim Jong-hyup’s mind had seemed intact when they met in person, but that alone was no proof.
‘I wish I could have brought Hae-jeong to see him directly.’
Even if Hae-jeong’s spiritual power was weak and capricious, she too was a shaman who’d received a Spirit Guardian as her tutelary deity. At minimum, she would have sensed if Kim Jong-hyup harbored any illness.
If Kim Jong-hyup had not been the chairman of GM Group, the situation would have been far more manageable.
“The quickest way would be to meet the person who claims the spirit is possessing him, but that’s not an option.”
“Pardon?”
The secretary echoed the words of Hee-seo’s murmur, and Hee-seo shook her head.
“Nothing. If bodily movement counts as dance, then dance it is. I’ll manage somehow.”
Either way, muscle memory endures. Hee-seo answered offhandedly and removed her shirt.
Confronted with her near-naked form, the secretary—who had stood like a silent mannequin all this while—let out a short sigh.
“Your physique is… quite remarkable.”
The helper who had followed in late pressed the undergarment for the dress into Hee-seo’s hands, her voice thick with admiration.
Unabashed before her two observers, Hee-seo changed into the dress undergarment and straightened her posture before the mirror. Her discipline as a dancer showed far more plainly when she was unclothed than when dressed.
“Yes. From dedicated practice.”
At Hee-seo’s brazen answer, the secretary cleared her throat awkwardly. The helper wordlessly began producing dresses suitable for her.
The secretary selected the most modest and least revealing of the bunch. Before tailoring to fit, the dress was fastened at the back with laces, corseted tight.
With a veil that covered her entire face, she began to look like a model. Long sleeves and veil meant that only the backs of her hands and the line of her jaw were visible.
The look wasn’t bad in itself. Yet Hee-seo found herself studying the skin hidden beneath the sleeves with careful attention.
“The dress suits you quite well. It’s a difficult style to pull off,” someone said.
Hee-seo answered without much enthusiasm.
“Well, at least the groom won’t run away at the venue.”
“That sounds like you’re hoping he will.”
The dress fabric was so thin and soft that when she ran her fingers along the inside of her arm, she could feel every irregularity. Hee-seo smoothed the cuff and found herself thinking of other people’s weddings.
‘The bride and groom always walk with their arms linked—wouldn’t fabric this thin be risky?’
There was no need to give anyone reason to suspect anything at the venue. After all, she was a ballerina born in France.
Hee-seo let out a soft laugh and reached behind her to undo the corset-like ties that held the dress in place. The smooth fabric slipped down gently along her body.
“Let’s look for something thicker instead of this material….”
That was when large hands appeared from behind, catching the loosening dress as they wrapped around her waist and lower chest.
“My, you work fast,” a voice said.
Hee-seo blinked her wide eyes and looked down at the hands resting on her chest.
‘…These hands seem bigger than when someone was helping me dress.’
Unlike the helper’s small, delicate hands, these were large and solid enough to cover her entire ribcage, with prominent veins. In other words, they were a man’s hands.
Hee-seo quickly grabbed the neckline of the dress, covering her half-exposed upper body.
……
“Pleasure to meet you, Hee-seo. I figured showing yourself undressed at our first meeting wouldn’t be very proper. I’m Kim Je-eon.”
The man’s reflection in the mirror smiled as if he’d drawn it there himself, visible over her shoulder.
Tall and lean, with smooth skin and a well-defined frame evident even through his clothes, his features flawlessly handsome and striking.
Hee-seo recognized him at once. He was Kim Je-eon, the man she was scheduled to marry.
What on earth was Kim Je-eon doing here, now?
Hee-seo’s eyes flickered between the man’s seemingly painted-on smile and his thick hands. In the next moment, anger mixed with shock, and the back of her neck went rigid.
It was more than fortunate that Hee-seo was wearing a veil. Without it, Kim Je-eon would have been facing a bride with a far more sinister expression than the one he saw.
“Your hands seem to be in a rather inappropriate position for someone concerned with propriety, Kim Je-eon.”
Simply by not finishing the honorific that would have followed his name, Hee-seo sensed she was reaching the limit of her patience.
Under normal circumstances, she would have twisted that wrist and thrown him down without hesitation, but unfortunately, she was now a refined ballerina who’d only just arrived in South Korea.
‘No matter that I came from France, am I really supposed to tolerate him just touching me like this?’
Yet she couldn’t very well punch him either, true to her nature as she might want to.
As Hee-seo wrestled with her false identity, the man drew closer to her back, smiling like a flower blooming. His solid frame came through clearly beneath the thin silk.
He placed a soft kiss on her shoulder, which stretched straight and true beneath the veil. It was the kind of gentle greeting one might give to a child.
Had his hands not still been gripping her waist, she might have easily mistaken him for a very affectionate person.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————