Slowly her frozen body began to warm, the frost in her limbs melting into a faint heat. Life flickered faintly beneath the surface.

Ah-shin held her tight, his resolve unyielding. He waited – for minutes, for hours, for as long as it would take.

By the time Yul-hye’s eyelids opened, dawn was breaking.

“Kyahhh!”

Her piercing scream shattered the early morning silence.

As soon as her eyes landed on him, Yul-hye let out a scream, causing Ah-shin to frown deeply as he pulled her into his arms.

“If you scream again, I’ll rip your tongue out.”

Women’s screams irritated him, something he could hardly tolerate.

Whether it was the threat or pure shock, Yul-hye widened her eyes, her lips trembling, but she kept her mouth firmly shut.

“I should’ve left you to be eaten by the tiger. I saved you out of the goodness of my heart, and this is how you repay me? Screaming in my face? Insolent little thing.”

She didn’t respond, her wide eyes darting around nervously.

It was easy to tell what was going through her mind as her gaze flickered here and there.

“What? Planning to run away again?”

It didn’t take much to figure it out—she was clearly calculating her next escape.

“Let me be clear: if you try to escape, from this day on, others will bear the punishment in your place. Every evening at sunset, someone will pay the price for your defiance”.

Ah-shin had a talent for making his threats painfully effective.

“First, I’ll set fire to the whole town. Then I’ll take one man from each household and have him beheaded. Then I’ll drag the women out, strip them n*ked and leave them to freeze to death. And if you still don’t come back, I’ll start killing a hundred children a day. You’ve heard my nickname, haven’t you? The Butcher of Men?”

As he spoke, he watched Yul-hye’s face grow paler with each word. He knew that his threats hit where it hurt.

Using others as leverage was always the most effective way to exert pressure. It wouldn’t work on someone like him, but for someone like her, it was utterly devastating.

“I won’t tie you up and I won’t lock you up. If you want to run away, go ahead and try. But you’ll hear the rumours. Rumours that everyone in Gangseo Province was slaughtered because of you.”

At that moment, Yul-hye’s lips moved slightly.

She was clearly saying something, but it was too quiet to hear.

“Speak up. Don’t mumble.”

Was she begging for forgiveness? If so, he might have been willing to grant it graciously.

“I said, you’re a man who acts like a dog.”

Ah-shin blinked, doubting his ears. What had this woman just called him? A what?

“A man who acts like a dog. No, worse than a dog – that’s an insult to dogs. You’re cowardly, petty, greedy and unworthy of what’s between your legs. How can you talk so casually about killing people? For a man who values human life less than that of an ant, to call you a dog is far too kind. You… you’re nothing more than a worthless speck of an ant…!”

Her voice trembled, but her defiance remained unwavering as she hurled the words at him without hesitation.

How should he deal with such an insolent woman?

“Should I rip out your tongue?”

“Go ahead. Do it. Rip it out. I’m going to die anyway.”

“What did you just say?”

“You’re going to kill me anyway, aren’t you? You have no intention of letting me live, so just get it over with instead of torturing me bit by bit. Tear out my tongue, gouge out my eyes – do whatever you want, but end it all at once. And just kill me. Leave everyone else out of it. The most cowardly thing a man can do is to drag others into his own affairs. Do you understand?”

Did this woman even realise her position? Did she understand that he could crush her skull with a flick of his hand? And yet she spoke so carelessly.

“It is not as if my life has any value if I survive, so I have nothing to fear in death. It would have been better to be eaten by a tiger.”

What audacity this woman had.

“Just kill me here and now, but leave the innocent out of it. Aren’t you the Governor? Do you not understand the role of a Governor? A Governor is supposed to protect and ensure the welfare of the people under his care, yet all you can think of is to kill them. This is exactly why someone without mercy should never hold such a position.”

The words sounded familiar—something he had heard before.

“Is that so? Are you saying I was never fit to be governor?”

Though he could easily kill her if he wanted to, Ah-shin found himself unwilling to do so. To hear such words again – it was unexpected.

“The former governor was a compassionate man. Why not follow at least half of his example? Then perhaps you’d become a governor worthy of respect.”

“What good is respect to me? I have no desire for it. Fear is far more valuable than respect – to be someone everyone fears.”

“Your end will not be good. You will inevitably be betrayed, abandoned, and die full of regret.”

“Are you cursing me now?”

“They say you reap what you sow.”

“What is your father’s name?”

Ah-shin was suddenly curious to know who her father was. If she didn’t say “My father is Kang Mu-yeol” at this point, he thought he might feel strangely disappointed.

She sounded so much like him – if she wasn’t Kang Mu-yeol’s daughter, then Kang Mu-yeol must have been reincarnated in her.

“Why do you want to know my father’s name?”

“What? Are you unwilling to share even that much?”

Her eyes rolled again, avoiding his gaze.

“What trick is she up to this time?

“Jeong…”

“Jeong?”

“That’s… someone with the surname Jeong…”

“Lying, obviously.”

It was obvious. She tried to come up with a lie on the spot, but couldn’t think of a convincing name fast enough.

“Jeong who?”

“Jeong, a man with the first name Woo-ja and the courtesy name Dae-ja.”

“Is he still alive?”

“He died a long time ago.”

“Then why did your husband say your surname was Kang?”

At Ah-shin’s words, Yul-hye’s face flushed deeply, obviously upset that her lie had been caught.

“Answer me. Is it Kang or Jeong?”

“Well… that is…”

“Shall I bring your husband here and ask him? To confirm whether you are a Kang or a Jeong?”

“I am a Kang.”

Finally, as if resigned, she began to speak more freely.

“Kang, what? What is your father’s name?”

‘Kang Mu-yeol.’

Ah-shin’s eyes sparkled with anticipation, eagerly awaiting her response.

He wanted—no, hoped with all his heart—that this woman’s father was Kang Mu-yeol.

If it were true, he would see it as fate. He was even willing to take her under his protection. After all, he had sent her father to such a brutal end—he could, at the very least, atone by safeguarding the daughter he had left behind.