To My Brother’s Friend - Chapter 31

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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 31
Startled, I found myself momentarily at a loss for words.
Hee-jo slowly lifted her head and asked with a worried expression.
“Is that really okay?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Well, you’re a busy person, so….”
Kwon Yeol cut off her words and spoke.
“There’s nothing more important than my wife being unwell.”
Wife. She called me wife.
The heat that had been subsiding surged back up, flushing both of Hee-jo’s cheeks a vivid crimson.
Sensing it, Kwon Yeol loosened the arm that had been holding her and looked down at her.
“Yoon Hee-jo.”
“….”
“If you’re in pain, tell me. Don’t hold it in.”
It wasn’t pain—it was embarrassment….
But Kwon Yeol seemed to interpret it entirely differently.
His large hand pressed against her forehead, then wrapped around her cheek.
“Your fever seems to have gone down.”
“Ah, I’m not in pain. It’s just….”
“But—”
The hand cradling her face moved downward, slowly covering the space above her chest.
“Why is your heart racing so fast?”
As Hee-jo drew in a sharp breath, Kwon Yeol’s hand rose and fell in rhythm with her breathing.
“Should I call a doctor?”
Frozen, Hee-jo quickly shook her head.
“No, I’m not in pain. I’m not lying—really….”
“Then that’s a relief.”
Kwon Yeol still looked skeptical, his eyes narrowing as he examined every corner of her small face before slowly withdrawing his hand.
“Don’t hold back if you’re hurting.”
“Yes.”
“…And when you miss Hee-jae too.”
In that instant, Hee-jo’s breath caught.
Kwon Yeol carefully traced the now-fading scar on her cheek with his thumb.
“Don’t force yourself to swallow it down. Spill it all out. You’re allowed to, and you should.”
“….”
“I’m sorry.”
For making you lonely.
The words he couldn’t quite voice seeped into the space above her heart.
“I’ve always wanted to tell you I’m sorry, but words alone aren’t enough.”
“….”
“So I wanted to do something else for you… but you didn’t need me at all.”
Kwon Yeol’s lips curved into a self-deprecating smile.
Well, it was only natural.
If it weren’t for me, Hee-jae wouldn’t have lost his life.
“Still, at least for this one year, allow me to fulfill my role as your guardian.”
It will be difficult, he added, and at the sound of Kwon Yeol’s voice, Hee-jo bit down gently on the soft flesh inside her lip.
Every time moments like this arose—
whenever she realized that all his feelings toward her were nothing but guilt, it felt as though someone was driving an ice pick deep into her chest.
Bound by that terrible guilt and the profound sense of responsibility it created, Kwon Yeol had chosen to marry me, wasting an entire year in the process.
And yet…
I allow myself one final, selfish wish.
This moment that will never come again.
After all, the moment our contract ends, you’ll forget every memory of me without hesitation.
“I want that too. Just as you said, to fulfill my role as your guardian—”
Hee-jo met his gaze.
“To fulfill my role as your wife.”
“…”
“That’s what I’m asking for.”
Silently, she begged Hee-jae’s forgiveness.
Just one year. Exactly one year.
I would live as Kwon Yeol’s wife by his side.
So please, forgive me.
“For the next year, I’m asking you to see me not as your friend’s sister, but as your wife.”
Kwon Yeol drew in a deep breath.
Wife.
The moment that word embedded itself deep within his lungs, the emotions he’d been suppressing spread like wildfire.
“After we break up, let’s never see each other again.”
“What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said. Once we divorce, we’ll live as strangers for the rest of our lives.”
Hee-jo was making her point clear.
When she’d asked him to see her as his wife, it wasn’t because she wanted a tender marriage.
During our year together, she needed him to be a solid shield.
One that would allow her to completely escape from her mother, Jin Seo-ryeong, and the Beom Ho Group.
At Hee-jo’s request, Kwon Yeol felt a dull ache bloom in his chest.
And simultaneously… he was relieved.
He could hide that ugly, incomprehensible desire rising within him behind this excuse, the one he himself didn’t fully understand.
That holding you isn’t my selfishness, but merely my duty as your husband.
That way, he could deceive himself.
“Now that we’ve finished practicing, we need to move into the real thing.”
Yoon Hee-jo’s awareness of this marriage as purely contractual should have been admirable.
Why did this inexplicable ache keep brushing against my solar plexus, rising unbidden?
“…Yes.”
Kwon Yeol suppressed the throbbing sensation and nodded.
“Let’s call it a day with practice.”
At Kwon Yeol’s words, Hee-jo closed her eyes and nestled into his embrace.
Only a moment’s hesitation passed before Kwon Yeol drew her deeply into his arms with his large hands.
It was the moment when the curtain truly rose on their performance as a fake married couple.
* * *
Approximately one week later.
As Hee-jo’s birthday approached, the world turned upside down.
[Beomho Group Successor Marries Ordinary Woman… Childhood Acquaintances]
[Beomho’s Managing Director Beom Gwon-yeol’s Unprecedented Move… Bride from Non-Conglomerate Family]
[‘Top Groom Prospect’ Managing Director Beom Gwon-yeol Weds Beautiful Ordinary Woman… Bride is Former Beomho Scholarship Foundation Scholar]
[Cinderella Story of the Century… From Scholar to Beomho Group Mistress]
The marriage task force for Managing Director Beom Gwon-yeol—eldest grandson of Chairman Beom Hun-young, eldest son of Chairman Beom Seok-jun, and designated successor—was mobilized immediately.
The public relations department released press materials in unison, and portal site homepages were instantly flooded with Beomho’s name.
Articles emphasizing ‘destiny’ rather than ‘strategy’ and ‘ability’ rather than ‘background’ became an invaluable tool for revitalizing the Beomho Group’s image.
Public attention converged entirely on the woman who would become Managing Director Beom Gwon-yeol’s wife.
The exceptional speed of holding the ceremony within three months of the official announcement sparked suspicions of ‘rushing,’ but the group firmly drew the line, insisting otherwise.
Except for Jin Seo-ryeong, who burst into tears at the slightest provocation, the wedding preparations for Kwon Yeol and Hee-jo were proceeding smoothly.
“Are you really going to let Kwon Yeol marry her like this, honey? You need to talk him out of it!”
Beom Seok-jun wrapped his arm around his wife’s shoulders in a soothing gesture and met her eyes.
“You know as well as I do. Father and Kwon Yeol never change a decision once they’ve made it. Besides, I actually think it’s fortunate.”
His voice was tender, yet it carried no warmth. As if her pitiful sobbing moments ago had been a lie, Jin Seo-ryeong’s head snapped toward her husband with a terrifying glare.
Fortunate?
My son entangled with that girl, and he calls it fortunate?
“When did Kwon Yeol ever smile with genuine joy? Have you already forgotten?”
“That’s…!”
“I still vividly remember when we were so grateful to that friend Hee-jae, saying how fortunate we were to have such a friend by his side.”
As her husband’s calm words continued, Jin Seo-ryeong bit her lip hard.
She could not deny it.
It was Hee-jae, his friend, and his sister Hee-jo who had transformed Kwon Yeol from an emotionless machine.
Kwon Yeol, who desired nothing and wanted nothing, who simply processed the tasks assigned to him with quiet diligence, had never once smiled brightly.
Even in the presence of family, he stood unmoved, bearing the heavy crown he was born with, wearing an invisible mask.
But at twenty, when Kwon Yeol entered university and met Yoon Hee-jae, he began to change gradually.
The Kwon Yeol who once skimmed reports out of obligation to understand his younger siblings’ circumstances began, at some point, to initiate conversations directly.
Whether they were doing well in school. Whether they faced any difficulties. Whether they got along with their friends.
He would watch his younger siblings struggle with assignments and offer brief advice before leaving.
His demeanor toward the household staff shifted as well.
Though he still maintained proper courtesy and distance, whenever he heard that someone on staff was raising children or grandchildren, he would send character toys or snacks that the children enjoyed.
One day, I discovered a child who had followed their grandmother while she worked in the kitchen, and I gently stroked their head with a faint smile.
“You’re waiting so patiently by yourself. You’re such a brave little one—here’s a gift for you.”
“Wow, it’s so shiny! Can I really have it?”
“Only if you promise your brother that you’ll listen well to grandmother from now on.”
Jin Seo-ryeong, who happened to witness this scene with her husband, grabbed Beom Seok-jun that day and wept tears of overwhelming joy.
“Our Kwon Yeol isn’t a strange child after all, dear.”
“Indeed. He’s capable of smiling so warmly.”
“We must tell Father-in-law right away. Our Kwon Yeol has no problems whatsoever—he’s perfectly capable of leading the Group without any hindrance.”
Though Beom Hun-young valued cold judgment and ruthless decisiveness, he tolerated no flaws of any kind.
The logic was simple: one must live as though devoid of emotion, but must never actually become twisted or broken by such deprivation.
Beom Hun-young, who had harbored doubts about whether Kwon Yeol could lead the Group well, finally recognized his grandson as a complete successor upon witnessing his transformation.
Yet gratitude and relinquishing the position of lady of the house were entirely separate matters.
Her husband urged her to trust and observe, but Jin Seo-ryeong had no intention of backing down.
The men of the Beom Family possessed a peculiar weakness in certain respects.
So it fell to me to keep them in line.
Thus, the following day, Jin Seo-ryeong summoned Hee-jo to Jeoksanwon and issued her a stern warning.
“When you marry, you’ll move into the Family Home.”

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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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