***

“You were planning to get rid of him anyway, weren’t you?”

Ah-shin whispered into Yul-hye’s ear as she sat perched on his lap. The excitement he had initially envisioned was gone, but another kind of amusement still lingered in his eyes.

“When you tried to run away, you must have been thinking about breaking off the engagement. After all, you’re not foolish enough to keep living with a man who sold you out, are you?”

“Annulment doesn’t erase the crime of taking what belongs to someone else.”

“I’m not the type to fear things like that.”

“Then why bother ordering the annulment? You’ve taken what you wanted from others before and trampled over them. Why not just keep doing so?”

“When I take something, I take it, but I dislike having what’s in my hands still referred to as someone else’s.”

“I’m not someone’s possession.”

This woman was truly fascinating. She wasn’t in any position to show anger—one wrong word could seal her fate—yet here she was, furious.

What was it that upset her so deeply? Being treated like an object? Being spoken of as someone’s possession?

“Then become mine.”

Ah-shin whispered, gripping Yul-hye’s chin firmly and pulling her closer.

Did she even realize how unprecedented those words were?

Ah-shin had never said this to a woman before. He had never kept a woman at his side. To him, women were nothing more than fleeting pleasures – enjoyed one night and discarded the next.

Did she understand how extraordinary it was to hear those words from him, to be told that she would be his? Probably not.

“No. From this moment on, you are mine.”

“And I suppose my consent is irrelevant?”

“What need is there for consent if I say you’ll be mine? Surely you don’t think I’m inferior to that man?”

What a frustratingly stubborn woman. She could just agree and say, “Yes, sir,” but instead she always had something to say.

“If I become yours, will I live as nothing more than your plaything until the day your interest wanes? And when your amusement fades, will I finally be free?”

“Are you afraid I’ll lose interest before you even know?”

“Because I know you’ll lose interest. I know how fleeting your pleasures are.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Because things wear out. And worn objects are thrown away, aren’t they? I’m nothing but an object to you. The end is obvious.”

“You are not an object.”

“Yet you take me, sell me, barter over me and claim me as your own. Isn’t that how you treat objects?”

“You are a difficult woman. Truly difficult. I’ve never met a woman as difficult as you.”

Ah-shin meant every word.

What kind of woman was she – so difficult, so stubborn?

And yet he found himself wanting to make her submit to him. Not by threats or the use of the lives of those around her, but by her own genuine surrender. He wanted to see her surrender to him willingly, not out of fear, but because she chose to do so.

How could he achieve this?

“What do you want?”

If you had seen this scene, you wouldn’t have believed it. The infamous Ah-shin, with a woman on his lap, asking her, almost begging her, what she wants.

“What must I do for you to willingly become mine?”

Perhaps her words would later prove true. Perhaps he would lose interest in her, discard her and move on to a new source of amusement. After all, nothing lasts forever, and his fascination with her could easily fade.

But that was for the future.

Right now he wanted her. Not just her body – he wanted to possess her completely, to take her heart as well.

Like all the others, he wanted this woman to kneel before him, to submit to his will, to obey him without question, to fear him.

He wanted to hear those defiant lips say “I am yours”.

He wanted her to beg him, “Please don’t leave me”.

It unsettled him, the feeling of facing something – or someone – who wouldn’t bow to him. The knowledge that there was a person who was not afraid of him made him uneasy.

Thinking back to last night, when she had apparently cowered in fear as she had fallen into his grasp, he realised now that it had all been an act. She hadn’t really been afraid. She had only been pretending, probably planning her escape even as she trembled beneath him.

The nerve of this insolent woman, feigning fear while secretly plotting against him.

If he killed her now, she’d probably taunt him with her last breath. Death would only free her, give her the escape she sought. But to let her live? That would allow her to continue clawing at his insides, testing his patience bit by bit.

Either choice felt like defeat.

She refuses to be truly mine, yet she continues to occupy my thoughts. What a mad woman.

He wanted to see her really cling to him, beg for him, submit with her whole being.

“I will give you whatever you want. Tell me, what do I have to do to make you mine?”

Ah-shin had always had his way. There was nothing he couldn’t achieve – except for one thing. The only failure that remained was his inability to protect Kang Mu-yeol, the man whose harsh words had made him strangely curious.

With his strength and power, nothing was impossible for him. Not tigers he could tear apart with his bare hands, nor men who fell before him with ease. No man or woman had ever stood before him without trembling and submitting.

Even emperors and brothers bowed before him, their fear making them obey.

So why wouldn’t this woman fall into his grasp?

What was it about her that defied him, no matter how hard he tried to hold her?

‘Why doesn’t she just say she’s mine when I’ve promised to give her everything she wants? Even if my interest fades, wouldn’t I leave her a lifetime of wealth and comfort? So why does she continue to resist me?’

“Even if I asked you to let me go, I know you would never do it. At least not until you have found another source of amusement. So do what you want, whether it’s for a month or a year. Play with me as you wish, and when you lose interest, discard me. I’ll leave without complaint when that time comes.”

“So you refuse to become truly mine?”

“I am already yours, am I not? You’ve imprisoned me so completely that I can neither come nor go. What else could I be but yours? I have no choice in the matter.”

Her words were both true and false.

Yes, she was trapped. Yes, she was his property in every practical sense.

But no – she was not truly his. Her heart, her spirit, her defiance – they remained beyond his reach. And that was what frustrated him the most.

This isn’t what I want.

“From tomorrow, everyone will call me yours. Isn’t that enough?”

“Even if the whole world calls you mine, you won’t really believe it yourself, will you?”