The Snake, the Flower, and the Tiger - Chapter 45

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 45

Long strips of medical tape ran along her collarbone, and the sharp smell of antiseptic hung near her nostrils. The work down her legs bore a professional touch, but the bandages and tape near her chest showed clumsy, hurried placement.
That Je-eon had seen her body didn’t strike her as particularly shameful or embarrassing. What nagged at her instead was the memory of lips that had brushed against hers.
Hui-seo worried her roughened lower lip between her teeth and turned her gaze toward the window.
‘Past midnight already?’
Beyond the large pane, a modest garden bathed in pale moonlight came into view. Though not sprawling, it was tended with obvious care. The room itself carried the same sense of order—yet bore no mark of habitation.
Hui-seo steadied her breathing and planted both feet on the floor.
Whether the treatment had been skillful or the injury wasn’t as severe as it felt, walking proved easier than the pain suggested it should be.
She was still gripping the door handle when—
“Ah!”
The door swung outward. Hui-seo, thrown off balance, pitched forward.
Desperate to catch herself, her hand seized upon whatever lay within reach—only to discover that whatever it was gave far more than she’d bargained for.
“Oof!”
Her body stopped mere inches from hitting the floor.
‘What did I even grab?’
Eyes flying open, Hui-seo realized she’d seized the front of Je-eon’s knit sweater.
“This is—well, I mean—”
“You could’ve just asked if you wanted to see my chest,” Je-eon said, his tone mild.
“……”
She released the knit, which had stretched loose across his sternum under her weight. Yet Je-eon’s hand, curved around her waist, didn’t withdraw.
As Hui-seo straightened, she grew acutely aware of the solid frame drawing steadily closer, and her breath caught.
“Maybe—”
“Maybe?”
“—put your chest away or take your hand off, would you?”
“Ah.”
He’d nearly drowned and lived, yet the flower-like man still curved his lips beautifully and smiled. The carelessness of his undone sweater did nothing to diminish his polish.
‘If anything, it just makes him look more dangerous.’
And she was the one who’d undressed him. Hui-seo fought the urge to bury her face in her hands.
Without the least sign of shame, the man wearing that scandalous state whispered toward her.
“When you blush like that, I want to keep holding you.”
His teasing tone was unmistakable. Hui-seo’s lips pressed into a line and her eyes narrowed at him.
She knew her own face well enough. Her features were sharp and her expression naturally cool—so when she clamped her jaw and glared, most people instinctively deferred to her, whether she wanted that knowledge or not.
But Kim Je-eon, unfortunately, only looked amused.
“Don’t look at me so intensely. I might get the wrong idea.”
“I don’t care what you think. Chests are chests—we’ve both seen each other’s, so call it even.”
She shot a look at the sweater still hanging loose around him as she spoke, Je-eon’s hand finally released.
The knit probably wasn’t cheap—how could it stretch like that from just a brief grip? If it was going to stretch anyway, why not make it a halter-top plunging to the navel? Why make something like this at all? She swallowed the words before they could escape.
“Even, you say? Our situations aren’t quite the same. I was treating your wounds.”
“You’re not saying you didn’t see anything?”
Je-eon’s eyes widened and he laughed—a full, genuine laugh that erupted the moment she fired back.
Hui-seo’s frown only deepened at the sight.
“I couldn’t help it. The injury just happened to be on that side, and the doctor insisted I disinfect it properly. I listen well to people wearing white coats.”
“Of course you do. I don’t suppose that cryptic sweater came with a doctor’s prescription as well?”
“Unfortunately, it’s my taste. Though they might have a women’s size—shall we get matching couple sets?”
“I don’t have a hobby of walking around half-naked with someone else.”
Even as Hui-seo drew the line firmly, Je-eon’s smile never wavered. He curved his arm gently around her waist, giving her something to lean against.
Had he noticed her legs weakening by degrees? Or was the timing simply too perfect to be coincidence?
“It’s still late. You should be resting more. Why did you get up?”
“I needed to know where I was lying down before I could sleep.”
“You slept soundly for two days straight.”
Je-eon caught the half-open door handle and guided her back inside, supporting her weight as they moved.
Hui-seo settled obediently onto the edge of the bed and found herself murmuring without thought.
“……Two days?”
“If you hadn’t woken by tomorrow, I was going to move you to a hospital. The doctor said it was exhaustion, but losing consciousness for three days straight isn’t normal.”
Coming from someone who’d once lost consciousness for over a week, the observation carried an odd weight of credibility. Yet after just a few steps, exhaustion crashed over her.
Hui-seo pressed her palm to her forehead and sighed.
“This is my place. The villa.”
Je-eon spoke to Hui-seo, whose exhaustion was plain to see, his words slower than usual. But Hui-seo, noticing nothing amiss, lifted her gaze to meet his.
The man standing by the window in disheveled clothes was watching her intently.
“No one can easily get in here, so you can rest easy and relax.”
“You’d need to have set snake traps to be that confident.”
“Snake traps?”
Je-eon tilted his head at the sudden remark.
Even while being chased by the red serpent, Je-eon had never seen it. Then what had he been seeing and remembering?
“Do you remember what we were being chased by? Actually, let’s start from the beginning. Why did you call me?”
If that call hadn’t come through to Je-eon, she would have been attacked by those men before ever encountering the red serpent. Then how had he known to warn her in advance? That was what needed to be questioned first.
“A call? What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb. You called me.”
Though Hui-seo pressed him with a cold expression, Je-eon showed no displeasure. He paused briefly before nodding.
“I was trying to call from the base of the mountain. I thought you were in danger. So starting a day before I climbed the mountain—four days ago—I kept calling you. It never connected, though.”
“……Four days ago?”
Four days ago would have been after Hui-seo had already entered Baek Song Am. And Baek Song Am, perched at the mountain’s peak, was a place where cell phones had no signal. At least, Je-eon’s claim that he’d called four days ago with no connection seemed plausible enough.
“But still.”
Hui-seo began to speak, then stopped, pressing her lips together at something that didn’t quite add up.
Now that she thought about it, the place where she’d answered Je-eon’s call was also somewhere her phone usually had no reception. Then had she truly been possessed by something from that moment on?
‘But even if I was possessed, why was it his voice?’
Swallowing the unanswerable question, Hui-seo fixed Je-eon with a sharp look. There was still more she needed to confirm with him.
“Why did you think I was in danger?”
“……That’s…”
This time Je-eon’s words trailed off. He hesitated briefly, then responded with measured composure.
“I had people searching for you. While they were doing that, I found out there were others trailing you too.”
“What?”
“I realized they were looking for you with the intention of doing you harm—unlike me. I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing about that.”
Je-eon answered readily, but it was not something she could easily accept. Watching Hui-seo’s expression grow increasingly rigid, Je-eon continued.
“I tried to find out who wanted to hurt you, but I ran out of time. My calls to you never went through. So I came looking for you myself. My timing seems to have been good.”
“Yes. Really…… fortunate.”
Hui-seo turned his words over in her mind. Whether the intention was good or ill, the way people pursue someone is much the same. If, as Je-eon claimed, someone had been tracking her first, their paths overlapping was entirely plausible.
Keeping her head down as she collected her thoughts, Hui-seo suddenly looked at Je-eon’s sleeve.
Unlike the collar she’d gripped and shaken—slack and stretched—his sleeves were rolled up with their cuffs precisely folded and aligned as they always were by habit, a neat arrangement that showcased the well-defined muscles of his wrist.
After a moment of silence, Hui-seo lifted her gaze to meet his. At the penetrating look in her eyes, Je-eon’s mouth curved into an oblique smile.

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