The Snake, the Flower, and the Tiger - Chapter 47

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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 47

Je Eon lowered himself and buried his face against Hee-seo’s nape, then drew her into his arms. It seemed as though he were leaning into her embrace, but his large frame made it so that she was the one holding him instead.
It was strange, truly. Her own expression reflected in Je Eon’s eyes felt as unfamiliar as watching a stranger.
Hee-seo squeezed her throat tight to muster the strength to respond with feigned composure.
“I don’t want to be protected by anyone. There’s no need to protect me. I’ve faced countless men like you on my own all this time. Didn’t I tell you clearly? I don’t break down for men like you…….”
“You said you’re not breaking,” Je Eon murmured.
His voice came from near her nape. Each time he spoke, the vibration traveled distinctly through her skin.
Hee-seo found herself biting her lip. If she listened carefully enough, she thought she might hear even the beating of his heart pressed against her.
“Not breaking doesn’t mean not being wounded.”
“……What?”
“Everyone with a soul gets hurt and lives on anyway.”
So saying you don’t need protection is a lie. His whisper tickled the inside of her ear.
The person he was speaking about was undoubtedly Hee-seo. Yet it felt to her as though the ears pressed against his body were the ones confessing her story. Was it merely her illusion?
Then came the crack—a sound like the sky itself splitting open, thunder rolling through the darkness outside the window.
Hee-seo caught sight of a flash of lightning beyond the man’s shoulder, brilliant against the black. After the lightning struck again and again until her eyes stung, a downpour came crashing down in sheets.
Rough rain drummed relentlessly against the glass. Beneath the full weight of the man collapsing entirely onto her, Hee-seo could not speak another word. It was a late summer rain.

***

Je Eon’s days ordinarily began early in the morning.
But while staying at the Villa with Hee-seo, he had not gone to work once, so every hour felt unhurried.
What he found most satisfying while with Hee-seo was feeding her dishes he had cooked himself.
Though Hee-seo still watched him as warily as a stray cat, she left not a grain of rice. He could not fathom where all that food went into her lean frame, but she was truly a voracious eater.
And Je Eon found even her appetite endearing.
“This morning I made dried pollock soup with rolled egg. How is it?”
“…….”
“I also grilled some tofu, though I’m not sure if it suits your taste. I was going to make chicken porridge, but you seemed reluctant, so I made rolled egg instead. Is egg alright for you?”
Je Eon, seated beside her at the table, asked with a smile playing at his lips.
His grinning demeanor was so unmistakably that of a newlywed that her words caught in her throat.
Rather than answer, Hee-seo picked up her spoon and took a generous scoop of rice to chew. She had concluded that responding to him would only frustrate her, so there was no point in engaging.
“I’m glad I learned to cook. Otherwise, you’d only be eating food made by others, and if I got jealous of even that, wouldn’t I be an awfully petty husband?”
“…….”
Her throat tightened on the rice, so she lifted a spoonful of the dried pollock soup. Maddening as it was, the seasoning was perfectly balanced. The broth, salted just right with a rich umami undertone suited to her preference for savory food, only irritated her further.
“I used the highest quality dried pollock. I rinsed it lightly to reduce the salt, then used perilla oil—good perilla oil at that. The broth doesn’t taste bad, does it? I considered adding a little blue chili pepper, but since it’s morning, I worried it might upset your stomach.”
Was this bastard really giving her a cooking lecture while keeping her seated there?
Without thinking, Hee-seo briefly imagined Je Eon in an apron, sleeves rolled up, wielding a kitchen knife as he taught cooking to women.
Despite the fact that Hee-seo’s imagination was not particularly rich, she was certain Je Eon would gain fame swiftly.
‘Though he’d probably become famous for something other than the taste of the food.’
Chewing the pudding-soft rolled egg like grains of sand, Hee-seo glared at him with cold eyes.
That night, after Je Eon came to her room, he continued to behave like a newlywed. Beyond cooking, his involvement in every aspect of daily life was strikingly natural.
“By the way, the therapist said today would be a good time to remove the Splint. After we eat, let me take a look. I’ve learned how to remove it, so I can do it for you.”
“As if. What haven’t you learned? What have you learned? Why? They say you do Physical Therapy and teach Pilates too?”
She had tried to hold back, but she could not bear to restrain herself any longer at the sight of him playing the dutiful husband and now attempting to act as her nurse.
Yet despite the sarcasm evident in Hee-seo’s voice, Je Eon replied cheerfully. The mere fact that Hee-seo was listening to him seemed to put him in good spirits.
“I can’t do full Physical Therapy, but if your muscles are tense, I can certainly help with that. The Splint has only been on for a few days, but your thighs and calves might feel tight. After we remove the Splint, would you like a warm Waist-deep Bath? Heat therapy or Waist-deep Baths are good for tense muscles. If I look around, there should be some nice Aroma Oil for bathing…….”
“Have you lost your mind? A Waist-deep Bath with you?”
Hee-seo’s voice rose in alarm. The rolled egg she had been eating snapped in half under her grip.
Je Eon fell silent for a moment, then his face flushed softly.
What was wrong with this bastard? Had he put something in the dried pollock soup? Had he gone mad?
A handsome man blushing was certainly pleasing to the eye, but Hee-seo felt only irritation rising in her chest.
What the hell was he eating? Why were his lips twitching like that? Why was he gazing at her with that intense look? Was he truly insane?
“I didn’t mean we’d bathe together……. But if that’s what you want, I’m fine with it. Things are moving fast, I suppose, though perhaps that’s because you’re older? Either way, I’m already prepared in both heart and body. Your room has a smaller bathtub, so I’ll fill up the one in my room for you.”
A cough. At his bashful whisper, the rice that had already gone down her throat seemed to leap back up. Hee-seo hurriedly gulped down cold water.
Only after she bullied him relentlessly to ensure he would never bring up the Waist-deep Bath again did breakfast finally end.
Displeased by how he slunk away despite his scolding, Hee-seo brushed her teeth with furious vigor.
Then she sat in the bathtub, leaning her back against the wall, and washed herself with her injured leg stretched outside the tub.
The Villa was modest compared to Je Eon’s Mansion, but its bathroom alone was twice the size of Hee-seo’s bedroom in her studio apartment. The bathtub hardly needed comment.
‘…I suppose the two of us could roll around in there just fine.’
Now that she thought about it, staying near Je Eon had resulted in an unusual number of bathroom incidents. There was the time blood had poured out, and the time she’d been caught stealing his underwear.
“Cunning bastard, that’s what he is.”
Hee-seo muttered this while shampooing her hair.
Never mind that she was the one caught red-handed as a lingerie thief—somehow it was still him who was underhanded. That dark, sinister, obscene ear, and she didn’t even know his name.
Hee-seo suddenly recalled something he’d said before.
His intent to unsettle her had been transparent enough, but the real problem lay elsewhere.
‘The problem is that I want to be unsettled.’
She’d tried denying it countless times, believing that if she refused, turned away, and buried it deep enough, it would cease to be true. But the more she tried, the more the feeling took root inside her.
Pity, perhaps. Or sympathy. And perhaps…

−Not Breaking doesn’t mean you’re not being wounded.

Who didn’t know that? How could anyone not know?
Hee-seo squeezed out more shampoo irritably, then froze when she realized it was already her third wash. A long sigh escaped her.
Since cornering Je Eon led nowhere, she might as well vent her frustration on something else.
So then, why?
After her parents vanished overnight, Hee-seo was left alone. Everyone who approached her with a smile was only eager to use her. It took bleeding before she understood that truth.
In exchange for shedding countless tears of blood, she stopped breaking. No one could shake her anymore—not human, not spirit.
“But why?”
It was a question she’d wanted to ask many times over.
The spirit occupying Je Eon’s body had clearly thrown itself out a window to save her. Perhaps it was only possible because it wasn’t his own body, but there had been no reason for him to save her in the first place. And yet—what?
“Help you, and then go back, right?”

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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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