The Snake, the Flower, and the Tiger - Chapter 48

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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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Episode 48

Or rather, to be precise, that man had said he would protect Hui-seo.
So then, what on earth was he doing?
Unable to contain her frustration, Hui-seo was reaching up to grab her wet hair when she heard a presence outside the bathroom. It was deliberate—a noise made on purpose.
Then came three sharp knocks. Je-eon.
“What is it? Don’t come in. I’m still washing up.”
“I know. It seems there are no towels.”
“What are you talking about? Of course there are towels.”
“I meant to stock them while you were sleeping, but I was a bit distracted this morning and forgot. I’ll just leave a towel for you.”
“No, so why are you even the one—”
Hui-seo sprang up and opened the storage cabinet where the towels were usually kept. Just as Je-eon had said, there wasn’t a single towel in sight.
What? Her mind went blank for a moment, astounded.
Now that she thought about it, unlike at Je-eon’s Mansion, she had never encountered anyone managing this place. Aside from when Je-eon bothered her, he seemed to be doing things here and there, but all this time—for days now—had that man really been taking care of this entire Villa alone by himself?
“Hui-seo, take the robe first and put it on. You can’t stay wet like this.”
Hui-seo ran her fingers roughly through her damp hair and glared at the closed bathroom door. No matter how she glared, Je-eon’s words held no fault.
She gripped the doorknob firmly and opened the door just a crack. Then, extending her hand, she found Je-eon quickly passing her a Shower Robe.
Bang! She shut the door hard deliberately and hurriedly threw on the robe. Once she’d tied the sash snugly around her waist, she felt oddly reassured. It was embarrassing to think she’d been so oversensitive.
“……You could’ve just left it and I would’ve put it away myself. Why wait around to put it in?”
So when she opened the door, her words came out with a petulant edge.
Despite her glare, Je-eon entered with an unbothered expression and began stocking the cabinet with towels. What he said next only made Hui-seo more flustered.
“Getting to see Hui-seo’s face one more time under this pretext—waiting by the door is nothing. Now that you’ve finished washing, shall we take off the splint? I’ll do it here.”
“Hey, you. You always have this habit of leaving out the important parts when you speak, and it makes people misunderstand. Say things more carefully, would you?”
“Why? Did you…?”
Je-eon, who had turned his back to put away the towels, suddenly turned around with a smile on his face and approached her.
Without meaning to, Hui-seo stepped backward until her back hit the bathroom door. As he drew close enough that she could see his face clearly, she felt his scent intensely.
His lowered lips whispered softly against her ear.
“Did you imagine me taking something else from you?”
This wretched, cunning man—what was he saying?
Even beneath the thick Shower Robe, Hui-seo’s skin flushed crimson.
Seeing her like that, Je-eon’s lips curled into a smile. The way she glared at him, her skin glistening with moisture, was so endearing he could barely hold himself back.
Je-eon’s long, firm fingers traced slowly down Hui-seo’s lower abdomen. Then his hand, stopping at the spot where her navel would be, pressed gently against the robe.
Je-eon swallowed hard, fighting the impulse to lick her damp skin, and murmured.
“If I were to go this far inside you, I don’t think I’d want to come back out.”
“What are you even saying?”
“Your body won’t open easily, but……. So don’t show me any weakness, Hui-seo.”
At last. His parched lips touched the pulse point beneath her skin, then withdrew. Hui-seo trembled at even that brief contact.
His words seemed part obscenity, part something that sounded as if he were laying claim to her body with his very words.
What was certain was that either way, Hui-seo needed to be careful.
“……What if I do show you weakness?”
But the more dangerous one here was herself. The moment Hui-seo’s words ended, she met the gaze of his eyes looking up at her.
Though his eyes held the same light as always, suddenly she thought he might swallow her whole.
Je-eon’s face, once upright again, held no trace of a smile. His pale lips quivered briefly, then fell silent.
Hui-seo understood that he was restraining himself. At the same time, she knew he desired her.

It was the same Bed from when she’d woken, yet everything felt unreal, as though she were enchanted. Hui-seo sat at the foot of the Bed, her disheveled robe not bothered to be closed, her back leaning against the headboard as she looked down at the man seated before her.
“Tell me if it hurts at all.”
The man’s voice was heavier than usual, tinged with moisture. Even that alone made her body tingle—as though she were paralyzed, she couldn’t bring herself to move a single finger. With each word he spoke, her limbs felt numbed.
Je-eon placed her right foot on his lap. Then, with extraordinarily delicate movements, he began to unwind the Bandage wrapped around her calf.
The way Je-eon focused on her wound was both devoted and strangely obscene.
‘It’s burning.’
Though her foot rested atop his trousers, she could feel his body heat through her sole. Where his fingers brushed, it was the same. And his warmth transferred to her everywhere he touched.
Like someone who has stopped after a run, her throat burned and her heart raced. When the splint and Bandage were finally completely removed and Je-eon held her calf in one hand to examine it, she had to swallow the dry saliva that gathered in her throat.
Only after Je-eon carefully inspected the wound—where new skin had formed over the tear and the swelling had subsided—did his fingers begin to move.
His firm fingertips brushed the back of her knee and then gently wrapped around her thigh. Then he lowered his large frame and pressed his cheek against her thigh.
Like a beautiful believer approaching faith itself, his obedient eyes held an undisguised hunger.
“When you tell me to stop, I will.”
Je-eon traced his lips across the prominent ridge of her kneecap, murmuring softly. Each word that escaped him seemed to reverberate through her skin, melting it away.
He was right. Hui-seo knew she should stop here.
No matter how much he shook her, he remained nothing more than a vessel—a being who borrowed another’s body to sustain a false existence. To let their bodies intertwine was to invite consequences no one could predict.
“But if you don’t stop me…….”
The large hand that had gripped her thigh wrapped around her calf, where muscle lay taut and defined, kneading it with deliberate slowness.
His touch seemed to unwind the tension he had mentioned that morning, yet it stirred something else entirely within her.
If she could believe he was being considerate enough to let her escape even now, was she truly under his spell?
“You may come to regret this moment.”
Je-eon spoke matter-of-factly, yet Hui-seo sensed his suffering in every word.
His hand on her thigh hovered as though it had struck an invisible barrier, circling in place. He could have reached further, could have explored her depths, and yet he waited for her consent.
“There’s something you’ve misunderstood.”
Hui-seo thought her voice might tremble, but to her relief, it emerged as cold as ever.
She shifted her injured foot slowly, letting it brush against the man’s thigh. The dark intensity of his gaze wavering with each movement of hers was deeply satisfying.
“I’ve regretted every moment I’ve spent facing you. That hasn’t changed.”
It would wound him. Her words would certainly wound him.
Until now, she had hurt him and brought him joy—and yet he remained at her side, wanting only to support and protect her. Even knowing that Hui-seo, now alone, would never truly break.
“And that regret belongs to me.”
…….
The man gazed at her through Je-eon’s eyes. That unnamed soul hungered for her as if it would swallow her whole. And the desire she felt in that gaze wetted her skin.
“So don’t stop.”
Hui-seo.
“Even if I tell you to stop.”
…….
“Don’t stop.”
In a moment as fleeting as an instant, their gazes tangled and their lips met. As their breath entwined, Hui-seo exhaled.
Perhaps she would come to regret this moment truly and deeply. And that regret would torment her terribly.
But now, she held no thoughts at all. There was only him, filling her completely.
When Je-eon’s body settled over hers, she felt no weight at all. Even in this, his consideration for her kindled a hunger in Hui-seo instead.
She wound her arms around his neck and drew him close, while simultaneously wrapping her hands around his waist.

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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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