Chapter 44 ….
“Gasp.”
Sehee, breathless, rushed out of the main gate and grabbed the muddy path, almost tumbling down.
The gate wasn’t locked, but it didn’t lead to a proper path, so she chose a more difficult route.
She took advantage of the moment when the servants’ vigilance was lowered because she had been bedridden.
She persuaded the servants by claiming she suddenly wanted to cook, even though she had been too sick to eat properly for weeks. The servants, seeing her sincere request, complied without hesitation.
Even if she had driven out, it would still take a long time to buy groceries and return.
She brushed off the mud from her palms and managed to hide herself in a mound of dirt. The porridge she had forced herself to swallow for energy only made her stomach churn, but she endured it with sheer determination.
The sun, unusually hot, already made her parched with thirst.
Of course, there were easier ways. She could exploit the sympathetic heart of the house manager or deceive the servant who was willing to help.
But she didn’t want to involve innocent people in her relationship with Chaido.
‘Call me as soon as you see the path. I’ll come immediately.’
She recalled Lawyer Choi’s words from their brief call and steadied her breathing.
She pulled the laptop she had taken from Chaido’s room out of her bag. Staring at the first screen, she bit her lip. The structure required a password to unlock it.
She clenched her trembling hands and opened it again.
On a whim, she entered their wedding date, and immediately the lock was released, transitioning to a new screen.
How romantic.
Even at this moment, Chaido was testing her again, reminding her not to forget the warm memories.
But she had no intention of going back.
Knowing the way in, she packed the laptop back into her bag.
She also brought a small amount of snacks and water just in case. Planning to walk a long distance, she needed to travel light.
She could almost picture Chaido’s furrowed brow upon realizing she had run away.
It would bruise his pride. He had to keep her close for a long time and reveal Prosecutor Yoo Hyungjin’s downfall. But if she ran away, it would ruin his image.
She slung the bag over her shoulder and tied her coat around her waist. Surrounded by trees on all sides, it was hard to get her bearings. She hoped that somehow, if she descended, she would find a path.
Steeling herself, Sehee pushed herself to walk and run with all her strength.
Half a day passed. Panting and exhausted, she finally stopped, and a familiar iron gate appeared before her.
A dead end.
Sehee stopped, stepping on a fallen branch. Despite her presence, no sound came back.
Normally, the barking of dogs would have reached here.
But the area around the iron gate was suspiciously quiet.
No guards, no gatekeepers. The forest path that had stretched out abruptly ended here—either a cliff or a massive rock blocked the way.
Without passing through the dark iron gate, there was no way forward. Any path she chose ultimately required passing this point.
“Hah.”
She let out a hollow laugh and looked up at the security camera above.
Right.
The servant had been truthful: nothing could be done in this mansion without Chaido’s permission.
No wonder the whole house had been so quiet today.
Her scratched palms throbbed from the unnecessarily rough path she had taken.
But it wouldn’t change anything. Her father wouldn’t come back to life, and Chaido wouldn’t bring Sejin here.
This was her only means of revenge.
Chaido would never meet Lee Hasu. Whether or not Hasu was important to him was irrelevant.
‘You should… forget it. We’ve searched everywhere, domestically and abroad. If she weren’t dead, there would be some trace…’
She wanted to take even the smallest thing from that arrogant man. That was all she could do.
Steeling herself, she calmed her ragged breathing. She reached toward the heavy iron gate but froze.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket.
At this timing, she somehow felt it wasn’t Lawyer Choi calling. Only one person besides Choi knew this number.
Before she could think further, the vibration abruptly stopped.
‘Maybe I should have a child.’
‘One is fine, three would be great.’
Chaido’s tender voice surfaced in her mind, and a wave of nausea rose from deep within.
In truth, she had long suspected it.
Even now, the chains Chaido had planted in her womb continued to grow.
A life settled there unbidden. It was a warning: wherever she went, she could never escape Chaido.
Maybe this, too, was part of his calculation.
‘Shortly after I was born, I heard that an unidentified woman was found dead.’
Chaido was the kind of man who could repeat that.
He must be furious by now. Just as he handled Prosecutor Yoo Hyungjin without shedding a drop of blood, her turn might come soon.
She had to hide it perfectly. She could never raise the child to be another monster like Chaido.
A son or daughter, living an ordinary, happy life. That was no longer part of her life.
Rubbing her burning eyes, she straightened the sagging bag. Her body trembled with tension, just as it had the day Chaido rescued her.
Again, her pocket vibrated.
She took a deep breath, pulled out her phone, pressed the call button, and brought it to her ear. She strained her trembling neck.
“Save Sejin. If you don’t, I’ll expose everything. This time, I mean it.”
-Sehee.
A calm voice. Perhaps tinged with disappointment or sadness. After all, he had known this ending from the start.
“The password… you saved it as our wedding date.”
In this situation, it was ridiculous enough to make her laugh.
“I used your feelings against you. Chaido, you lost. You were tricked by me.”
Or not. Did he just let himself be deceived again?
The loosely locked drawer, the empty corridor.
The door she pushed with all her strength opened without a lock.
“You loved me, right? You came to love me, didn’t you? More than that first love….”
Tears came strangely. She laughed to hide them.
“The fake won. But what now? We’ll never meet again.”
Perhaps this was her wish.
That Yusehee, not Lee Hasu, would matter to him even a little. That she could take something precious from him, even if just a little.
She wiped her cheek with her mud-stained hand. Chaido, silently listening, made no move.
-Hide well.
That was it.
Sehee ended the call and shoved her phone into her pocket. She would never return.
As long as Chaido held Haegang’s files, he couldn’t touch Sejin recklessly. Protecting Haegang was more important to him than finding her.
Creak.
The remaining iron gate slowly opened with a squeal.
Sehee hurried away from Chaido faster than when she had fled the villa.
Lawyer Choi’s car waited at the base of the mountain.
She had explained the surroundings as best she could based on her previous observations, and thankfully, he had found her. She scanned the area but saw no pursuing vehicles.
“Get in quickly, Sehee.”
She crumpled herself into the back seat and gasped for a long while. Her throat stung, and her breath came in ragged bursts. She could not utter a word.
“…What a mess….”
After wandering all day, it was already dark. She had eaten some bread she had brought, but her body was at its limit. She could not even move a finger.
She had once tumbled down a hill and almost fallen asleep from exhaustion. Even in such a crisis, sleep had overcome her. Had she not woken, she might have died there.
“Hold tight. I’m going fast.”
The car sped away from the forest along the winding road. She had no energy to look back. Her heart pounded.
Finally, she was truly escaping.
“…Already….”
Panting, she clenched her battered hands tightly.
“…They already… sent me as far away as possible….”
Sehee spoke in strained syllables, slowly drifting into unconsciousness. Her tension finally released.
‘Hide well.’
The low, deep voice briefly passed through her mind.
