“Is the new daughter-in-law always this quiet?”

Haein hadn’t expected Hojin to address her so suddenly, and her eyes went wide. The surprise was plain on her face, and Jiho swallowed a rising sigh.

Just as he had expected. Jitae and Mina’s eyes lit up like predators spotting prey.

“I know. I heard there’s quite an age gap between Jiho and his sister-in-law. Seeing them together like this, their personalities seem so different. I wonder how they even hold a conversation. Jiho’s nature is so strong that most people can’t even hold eye contact with him.”

Mina, Jiho’s older sister and Hojin’s second child, turned her gaze over Haein from head to toe as she toyed with the handle of her teacup.

There was clearly some effort put into the look, but something about it felt oddly dated. The only things worth noting were the pretty face and the striking figure. After her eyes landed on Haein’s chest, Mina quietly glanced down at her own.

She had asked for the augmentation to look natural, yet today it seemed particularly lacking. The hand that set down the teacup carried an irritation she couldn’t quite hide.

“Mina, what kind of thing is that to say? The poor girl is already nervous enough, coming to the family home for the first time.”

Yeok, who had been watching the situation in silence, finally stepped in. She seemed to feel for Haein, whose face had been draining of color, and moved closer to give her rounded shoulders a gentle stroke.

“Auntie, please have dinner prepared. The children must all be hungry.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Jiho had arrived right on time, and the dinner hour had crept up on them. With Yeok’s intervention, Mina also paused her needling of Jiho and rose from her seat.

“By the way, I don’t see my sister-in-law or brother. It’s a rare occasion for all of us to be together.”

Jiho let the remark fall casually as they all moved toward the dining room. He already knew perfectly well why neither of them had come.

Jitae’s wife was currently living apart from him, and he had heard that Mina’s husband had recently gotten involved with illegal substances. Whether the situation was more serious than it appeared, Mina had been telling people he was on a business trip to the United States while keeping him locked away at a remote villa in Gangwon Province.

“I was looking forward to seeing the children too. It’s been a while.”

The blatant lie made Jitae and Mina’s faces go cold. They had certainly kept the children away for fear they might let something slip in front of Hojin.

“The children are all busy with their studies these days, apparently. Jitae and Mina brought them by separately not long ago.”

Yeok answered on behalf of Jitae and Mina, whose expressions had stiffened. A flicker of discomfort crossed her eyes as she checked Hojin’s face.

With Yeok stepping in, Jiho let the provocation go. The reason he had brought up what both of them were desperately hiding from Hojin had been to send a warning. Touch Haein, and he would expose what he knew.

Fortunately, both Jitae and Mina were sharp enough to read between the lines.

Thanks to that, the meal that followed went relatively smoothly. Haein stayed tense, never knowing when a question might be aimed at her again, but everyone except Yeok treated her as though she weren’t there.

With only the quiet clinking of cutlery in the room, conversation moved quickly through topics Haein knew nothing about.

“Father, did you see the product our side launched recently? It’s doing really well. We’ve got the top celebrities right now in the ads, and the sales figures are better than expected. If it keeps up like this, it could become one of the company’s flagship products.”

Jitae, Hojin’s eldest, had effectively inherited the food and chemical divisions, Mina had the department stores and entertainment, and the youngest, Jiho, was responsible for electronics and trade, the core affiliates of the group.

It was why Jiho was widely considered the most likely candidate to succeed Hojin as chairman of HH Group. It was a departure from most other conglomerates, where the eldest son typically took over.

“By the way, Jiho, how is the China situation coming along? Trade is practically the backbone of our group, and it keeps looking shaky. I’m also concerned about the talk that keeps coming out of the directors.”

Praising his own work and then slipping in a pointed mention of Jiho’s difficulties was not something Jitae did for the first time. Haein’s grip tightened around her chopsticks. But there was nothing she could do except watch.

“You must have only heard part of it and missed the rest. We’ve just finalized a new contract with the India side, which more than covers the losses from China. Operating profit will probably double compared to last year.”

But Jiho was not someone Haein needed to worry about. He lifted his water glass with an unhurried motion and spoke, and Jitae’s lips pressed shut.

“I was actually planning to ask you about that in detail today. You set up a breakfast meeting with the Ferti Group heir and closed the deal all on your own, without any help from me.”

Hojin cut smoothly into the exchange between the two. Jiho felt no surprise that Hojin already knew about a contract he had kept strictly confidential. He simply ran through in his mind who still held a stronger line to Hojin than to himself.

“I was lucky. He happened to want something I had.”

That was what he said, but luck could only be used when backed by ability. Jiho had placed a trusted person close to the Ferti Group heir well in advance.

Knowing the heir was obsessed with Picasso, he had arranged for word of a rare piece of art he had acquired to reach the man’s ears naturally.

Despite his reputation for being difficult, the heir had opened up more readily than expected once he had the work he wanted. The deal had gone through because it benefited both sides, but still.

“You know, sometimes I wonder if all the luck that should have come to us just went to Jiho instead. Things always seem to fall into place so easily for him. Well, except for one thing, I suppose.”

Mina had barely finished half her bowl before setting down her spoon, and now she curved her red lips into a meaningful smile. Haein swallowed dryly as the gaze landed on her. A sense of danger rose instinctively.

“Father, aren’t you eager to see grandchildren? Once Jiho has a child, all your children will have secured their lines.”

At the abrupt change of subject, Haein’s eyes trembled faintly. Every gaze at the table turned to Haein. Every single one except Jiho, who sat beside her.

Haein finally set down her spoon and clasped both hands in her lap beneath the table. Her palms were damp with cold sweat from the tension.

Haein fell short of Jiho in every condition, but in one thing, her young age was an advantage. It had also been the deciding factor that made this marriage possible.

She had expected this topic to come up eventually, but it was too sudden. The tension doubled, especially because the contents of the separate contract she had signed with Jiho could not come to light.

“I’ll look forward to good news before long.”

“……Yes.”

Haein barely managed to answer Hojin’s voice, which held not a trace of doubt. The food she had forced down sat lodged somewhere near her sternum. With every breath, a dull ache pressed against one spot in her chest, like a solid stone wedged there.

She rubbed her palm against her skirt, trying not to show it, but Jiho’s gaze caught it clearly.

“It would be better not to ask about things too personal. Besides, the two of us are still newlyweds.”

Jitae, who had been about to add something after Mina, closed his half-open mouth at the cold look. Jiho’s gaze, sharper than Hojin’s had been in his youth, pressed down on him.

He had clearly held the upper hand when they were children, but every time he met Jiho now that the man was past thirty, his legs went weak.

What he had thought would be a good opening to land a blow had only ended up elevating Jiho’s standing, and the frustration burned. If he backed down now, he would lose sleep not just tonight but for at least a week.

His predatory gaze shifted to the person beside Jiho. The young woman who looked fragile at a glance was a far easier target than Jiho, almost laughably so.

He had noticed that Jiho’s gaze toward Haein was noticeably soft, and something clicked. Come to think of it, Jiho had taken a defensive stance every time Haein was brought into the conversation.

He had silenced Jitae and Mina by going on the attack, or changed the subject entirely. He had blocked Haein from being put on the spot directly, to a degree that anyone watching might think he was acting as her advocate.

This was a man with not a shred of interest in other people. The fact that he was behaving this way meant that even in an arranged marriage, he had developed some degree of feeling for the other person.

‘So you’re not so different after all. Turns out you like them young.’

He had always gone after women around his own age, so Jitae had assumed his tastes ran older. It seemed he simply hadn’t had a taste of someone younger before.

The outwardly pleasant dinner came to an end, and the gathering moved naturally into a tea time in the drawing room.

Jitae had originally planned to leave after dinner, but he changed his mind. The thought that Haein might become Jiho’s weak point made him feel a sudden urgency.

“Good to meet you properly. This is the first time we’ve spoken just the two of us, isn’t it?”