~Chapter 53~
“Can I ask you just one thing?”
“No.”
“Okay. Then how did you find this place?”
“I said no.”
“Why do you even like it here? Honestly, the Winters estate isn’t a bad place to live. No, it’s actually an amazing place.”
“Didn’t you say only one question?”
“I was just curious. We’re not so distant that I can’t even ask this much, right?”
“So, if I answer… are you planning to put it in Sunday’s Exposé again?”
“Maybe. I’ll think about it.”
“I already knew, but still… You really don’t have even a speck of conscience, do you?”
“I’m used to people saying that.”
…Hmm?
Killian narrowed his eyes at Aisha and turned to look at her.
“I’ve heard worse things, you know. Like it was nothing. A long time ago though.”
Before she became Aisha Ashton.
Before she ended up inside the story of The Emperor Can’t Live Without Prisoners.
When she was still living as Song Seungyeon, a political reporter.
Her life back then was nothing like people imagined—neither smooth nor peaceful.
She wasn’t known as a political reporter from the start. As a rookie, she was barely noticed.
But what set her apart was her strong sense of justice.
What caught her attention most was corruption among politicians—
specifically how they wasted taxes like candy, and how ordinary people suffered for it.
She thought it would be fine. This was exactly why she had become a reporter, why she had joined the politics department.
But…
“Song Seungyeon, you again? Why is it always you? Don’t you know when to stop?”
Her bosses thought differently. Because of their connections to politicians, it was common for them to throw away articles she had worked on for days.
And that wasn’t all—she was often dragged away like a dog by bodyguards while chasing stories. Sometimes, she was even hit.
“Then why did you keep doing it?” Killian asked.
“No… I mean, why did you start writing articles at all? Aisha Ashton.”
How should she explain? Aisha paused for a moment.
Seungyeon only had her grandmother. Her parents had died in an accident when she was young. So, her grandmother was her whole world.
“There was someone I was really close to. Someone I loved so much.”
A faint laugh slipped out.
“But she died unfairly.”
“…Unfairly?”
“Yes. Very unfairly.”
She could still remember it clearly.
Her grandmother shouting, ‘Seungyeon, my baby!’ as she ran across the crosswalk.
And then—she was hit by a car.
Instant death.
The driver was the only son of a powerful congressman. Drunk, he hit Seungyeon’s grandmother and ran.
But he was never punished.
They called it a sudden acceleration accident.
The drunk driving, the hit-and-run—they erased it all, as if it never happened.
“I tried everything I could. I really fought with all my strength. But nothing changed.”
She held one-man protests, visited the congressman’s office, even wrote online. But nothing worked.
“I felt so miserable. So angry. That’s when I realized… ah, no one listens to nobodies.”
“….”
“So I decided—I’d become somebody.”
She entered one of the top three universities in Korea. Graduated without ever losing first place. Became a reporter.
And by then… the congressman who had buried her grandmother’s death was already running for president.
“You should have stopped digging, Reporter Song.”
And while chasing his dirty secrets, she was killed. They staged it as an accidental fall.
“I guess I did become someone, in the end. I wrote the stories of people who suffered like me. I think… I was obsessed with justice.”
“Justice?”
“If not for that, I wouldn’t have had any reason to live.”
Aisha let out a small, bitter laugh, then quickly erased the smile and spoke again quietly.
“I do feel sorry toward you, Duke. For writing so recklessly about you in Sunday’s Exposé. Even though I know you won’t believe me.”
She really did regret it a little.
The real Killian Winters wasn’t as terrible as the villain she had read about in the original story.
If he had truly been that rotten, they wouldn’t be here together now. After all, Aisha valued her pride above all else.
Thinking of that, she felt… just a little guilty.
“When I first wrote for Sunday’s Exposé, it was fun. A lighthearted magazine where I didn’t have to carry heavy responsibility.”
“…”
“But in the end, it was writing about Roselia that excited me the most. That’s what led to this mess, but… even if I could turn back time, I’d still write the same article. Because that’s just the kind of person I am.”
That isn’t too bad, is it? she muttered softly.
“Anyway, though it’s late… I’ll say it again. I truly apologize.”
In her eyes, Killian’s face appeared clearly—he was lying on his side, staring straight at her.
“I’m sorry, Duke.”
“…”
“But thanks to it, I did gain something—”
“Are you apologizing, or trying to annoy me? I honestly can’t tell.”
Killian looked baffled, but not angry. That was enough for Aisha to chuckle. Apologizing made her heart feel strangely lighter.
“Well, that’s the end of my story—”
And then—
“You asked me.”
Killian suddenly spoke.
“You asked how I found this place, and why I like it.”
“…Duke?”
Aisha froze, staring at him.
Killian tilted his head slightly, eyes fixed on the sky. But in them, she saw emotions she had never seen before—
Regret. Sadness. And loneliness.
Aisha’s eyes widened at the unfamiliar expression.
“This place…” Killian continued.
“Every time I was beaten like a dog… this is where I ran to.”
