Chapter 1

The pregnancy test showed two clear lines.  

Biting her lip, Yein placed it beside the other four pregnancy tests she had taken. A total of five. All positive.  

Her expression twisted as she stared at the vivid lines on each test. As she retraced the dates, one particularly desperate night came to mind. That night… It was a mistake. She had forgotten. A fleeting image of her husband’s furrowed brow as he pulled off the torn condom flashed through her mind. They had talked about birth control pills, but she had completely forgotten.  

*Thud.*  

A sudden, sharp sound made Yein’s shoulders flinch.  

Her phone, resting on the marble sink, vibrated.  

[Has Taeheon come home yet?]

A new message appeared on the screen. It was from her mother-in-law.  

She quickly checked the time.  

The minute hand was moving toward twelve. He would be home soon.  

In a hurry, Yein gathered the pregnancy tests, wrapped them in a black plastic bag, and hastily cleaned up the bathroom.  

‘What should I do?’

She clenched and unclenched her bloodless fingers before gripping the bag tightly.  

Why had she thrown them all in here? She could have shown them to him.

‘I Have to Tell Him.’

It was his child too.  

Of course, that was the natural thing to do. But…  

Memories crashed into her. The scent of blood and the sterile stench of the hospital. The overwhelming sorrow and loss. Yein, completely shattered, while her husband stood beside her, devoid of emotion, his face eerily blank. That image was still vivid, as if it had just happened.  

Yein tied the plastic bag shut. Tightly, so it wouldn’t come undone easily.  

She paced anxiously, searching for a place to hide it, stealing glances toward the front door. Her nerves were on high alert, listening for any sign of movement.  

The bathroom, the master bedroom, the study, the storage room… She wandered around before finally settling on the guest bedroom. It was the only place that seemed far enough from his watchful eyes.  

Slipping the plastic bag under the mattress, she wiped her clammy hands on her skirt and stepped out of the room.  

The moment she turned the doorknob, a strange tension gripped the back of her neck.  

Ignoring the ominous feeling, she opened the door—  

And there he was.  

A tailored suit, the tie she had carefully chosen and knotted for him each week, a tall frame that forced her to lift her gaze just to meet his eyes.  

Kwon Taeheon.  

Her husband, who had just arrived home.  

Yein’s heart pounded violently. She licked her dry lips.  

“Why are you here?”

Taeheon asked.  

A chill ran down Yein’s spine. If voices had a temperature and texture, her husband’s would be like a perfectly cut block of ice—cold, smooth, with dangerously sharp edges.  

This was her last chance to confess. *I’m pregnant. It’s your child. Ours.*

Her stiff tongue moved, her lips already dry again, feeling as though they might crack open.  

“I was just cleaning the guest room.”  

“You could’ve asked someone else to do it. Why do it yourself?”  

“…I just… my mind felt cluttered. I wanted to move around.”  

The weak excuse made Taeheon’s brows knit together.  

“Did something happen to my mother?”  

“No.”  

“Did she come by?”  

Even her faint denial was useless. Taeheon never missed a thing. He pressed further.  

“While I wasn’t home?”  

There was a flicker of anger in his voice now. Yein swallowed dryly.  

That was the kind of person Kwon Taeheon was. A man who did not tolerate anything deviating from his expectations.  

Her conversation with his mother had been clear. The same conversation she had heard countless times since their wedding.  

Or more accurately, since his family realized the *truth* behind this marriage.  

Taeheon’s family wanted her gone. They had always pressured her to divorce him. And Yein had endured it all.  

If it weren’t for the pregnancy test hidden under the mattress, she would have kept enduring it.  

But her mind kept drifting back to it, making her more conscious of the door she was unconsciously trying to block.  

“She just dropped off some food and left.”  

Taeheon frowned. Then, without warning, he pushed past her and opened the guest room door.  

Off guard and startled, Yein stumbled as he stepped inside.  

Taeheon had an uncanny instinct, almost like a wild animal. Sometimes, she feared that no matter how well she hid something, he would always find it.  

He had no reason to suspect anything was there.  

And yet, Yein was struck with the terrifying certainty that he was about to lift the mattress.  

She reached out and grabbed his arm.  

“Taeheon.”

Yein was dragged into the guest room as she desperately tried to stop Taeheon. With her much smaller frame, attempting to halt a man over 190 cm tall only resulted in her clinging onto him as she was pulled along.  

Her feet tangled, and she nearly fell. Clicking his tongue, Taeheon caught her, his strong arms supporting her with ease. The moment she felt his large hand pressing against her back, a contradictory sense of relief washed over her. She feared Kwon Taeheon. Yet, his embrace reassured her.  

She could feel his breath near her forehead. Because of how close they were, if she lifted her head even slightly, she would see his face.  

“What’s wrong with you today? You’re acting really strange.”  

His gaze, sharp enough to cut, scrutinized her with a furrowed brow. Her heartbeat pounded violently in her chest.  

She couldn’t let him find out.  

If he learned she was carrying his child, everything would only get worse.  

She couldn’t let this child grow up unloved.  

“Let’s get a divorce.”  

The words fell from her lips.  

Hearing her own voice utter them, Yein felt a faint shock. *It was this easy?*  

She had imagined Taeheon’s reaction to this moment countless times. Would he get angry? Demand an explanation? But he did neither.  

Instead, his lips curled up ever so slightly.  

The sight of his smirk made her stomach burn.  

“Say that again. I think I misheard you.”  

The flat, emotionless command sparked her defiance. Yein tried to pull away from his arms.  

“We should get a divorce. Even your family—ah!”  

She didn’t even manage to take a single step before he grabbed her, wrapping an arm around her waist as if trapping her. His face was now dangerously close to hers.  

“What did she say to make you act like this?”  

“Your mother has a point. You and I… we deceived them. This marriage is as good as invalid—”  

“Right. That’s the same nonsense she’s been spewing for the past year. So why the sudden change of heart today?”  

His final words sounded less like a question and more like a muttered observation.  

Yein tried to lower her head to hide her expression, but Taeheon anticipated the movement and grasped her chin, tilting it back up.  

“Did she lay a hand on you again?”  

His rough, burning palm slid down the back of her neck.  

With an abrupt motion, he yanked open her shirt, causing the buttons to strain and pop.  

Her collar was pulled aside, exposing the strap of her bra.  

“If she hit you, tell me now.”

His scorching gaze traced over her exposed skin. Yein hastily shook her head. She had lived with this man, shared a bed with him for years, and yet, every time he touched her, she still tensed.

“I already told you. It’s not like that. I just… finally made up my mind that this needs to end.”

“And I’m asking—why today?”  

*Because I’m carrying your child.*  

*Because I only found out today.*  

She murmured the words silently in her heart.  

“What are you hiding?”  

As if he had read her mind, Taeheon pressed forward. His gaze was sharp enough to strip her bare and burn through her defenses.  

If he found out…  

Memories from the past stabbed through her like needles.  

This child was not her first with Taeheon.  

She still felt as if her heart was being pierced with an iron blade whenever she thought of the child she had lost—without even knowing it had existed.  

In that hospital room, as she wept on the bed, her husband’s voice had cut through the air like cold steel.  

*”It’s better this way.”*  

His murmured words had embedded themselves deep in her memory, sharp and unyielding.  

The baby had only just begun to grow inside her. If fate had been kinder, she might have been able to hold that child in her arms.  

Would the baby have had Taeheon’s eyes? She had wondered, even in her grief.  

But Taeheon had not wanted the child.  

That realization had brought a deeper, more hollow sorrow than the loss itself.  

More than the heartbreak of an early miscarriage, it was her husband’s cold indifference that had devastated her.  

Even in this precarious marriage, she had hoped that *at least* their child—any child—would be welcomed.  

But Taeheon had considered it a relief.  

That was when he had begun obsessively ensuring birth control.  

“Did you meet someone else?”  

His question snapped her out of her thoughts.  

For a moment, Yein stood frozen, her lips slightly parted in disbelief.  

Had she misheard him?  

The absurdity of it almost made her laugh.  

This was a man who could find out anything if he wanted to, and yet, *he* was asking *that*?  

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she scoffed.  

“We’ll see.”  

The grip on her shirt tightened.  

With a sharp tug, the buttons popped off, scattering across the floor.  

Her peach-colored bra was fully exposed.  

As she hastily reached up to pull her shirt closed, Taeheon easily swatted her hands away, one by one.  

“Let’s find out whether it’s ridiculous or not,” he murmured. “With my own eyes.”

The way his fingers tore off the flimsy silk shirt was incredibly skillful. Yein was flustered as she was shoved onto the bed. They had s*x frequently despite their loveless arranged marriage—often so much that it sometimes seemed excessive.

“Stop…”

As he thrust his hand inside her skirt, Yein moaned and struggled to push it away. Yet, it only managed to briefly grasp her wrist, which was much thicker than hers.

His hand then gripped her g*nitals. The sensation of her soft skin being pressed made Yein tremble. Taeheon’s eyes narrowed.

As he pressed his substantial bulge against her through her underwear, rapid breaths escaped between his lips. Unlike his rough, forceful actions earlier, his caresses below were unnervingly gentle. Her husband knew how to handle a woman—and he certainly knew how to handle Yein.

Whenever Taeheon touched her, she became aroused far more quickly than expected. Just as her husband had said, Yein’s body responded eagerly, and soon moisture began to flow inside her.

The feeling of her l*bia growing wet and the flesh between her legs becoming completely damp was always strange, no matter how many times she experienced it. As Taeheon toyed with her prominent cl*toris, he shifted his damp underwear to the side.

His fingers directly touched her v*lva. When he parted her closed l*bia, the fluid that had accumulated inside began to trickle out. Taeheon clicked his tongue.

“Hmm…”

“You’re so well lubricated that I can’t even tell whether another man has been touching you or not.”

Taeheon’s words made Yein blush. He was the kind of person who rarely swore in everyday life, yet the moment he was in bed, he would speak in brazenly explicit ways. If Yein showed even the slightest hint of embarrassment, Taeheon found it entertaining.

“You’re acting really strange today. You’re not even whining at me to stop talking dirty.”

“Whining? When did I ever…? I didn’t do that.”

“You’re always like that.”

A finger forces its way into the cramped v*ginal entrance. The thick, calloused finger already fills the hole completely. Each time her tender mucous membrane is rubbed, Yaein lets out a small gasp.

“You always test my patience.”

She can even feel the fluid leaking out from inside, wetting the finger. As a second finger slips in and out of the slick opening, her thighs tremble with excitement. Unable to steady her legs, Yaein presses her toes against the sheets, swallowing the sounds that threaten to escape.

Taeheon, who pulled out his p*nis more quickly than usual and rubbed it, looked as rushed as he said he was. In a way, she felt relieved. If he was in the mood, her husband would force her to climax just by using his hands and torment her for quite a while.

“Slowly, slowly… please.”

Even so, she couldn’t help but beg. Her husband’s *rection was so large it was intimidating. She knew exactly how it felt when that thing churned her insides. She was already wet down below again.