Chapter 19: The Architect of Deception

“……Yes.”

Her shoulders were gripped so tightly it felt as though her blood circulation would cut off.

‘This doesn’t feel like worry.’

‘Should I tell her to leave?’

It was just as those thoughts cast their shadow.

“You two are strangers, right? You didn’t register your marriage. Right?”

Heeyoung’s eyes sparkled, as if desperately searching for even the faintest possibility.

“Pardon?”

No marriage registration?

What did that mean?

Anxiety clouded her brown eyes.

“You two have been living as strangers for five years, after all.”

‘Say yes. Say you would never do something like a marriage registration in your entire life, Seohee.’

Heeyoung bit her lip.

‘Why isn’t she showing any reaction?’

‘Say something, Jin Seohee.’

Heeyoung bit her lip in agitation.

“We are…… strangers?”

Seohee’s voice trembled.

‘Who? Leehyun and I?’

It was impossible.

She had confirmed the marriage registration form with her own eyes.

Yoon Leehyun had clearly told her he was her husband.

Her hands trembled and her breath caught.

As she closed her eyes in a wave of dizziness, Heeyoung shook her shoulders.

“Surely…… you didn’t, right, Seohee? Did you register the marriage?”

Heeyoung demanded an answer once again.

Suppressing the rising nausea, Seohee nodded.

There was no way he would lie to her.

There was no way he would fabricate such documents.

If it were a love marriage, there was no reason not to do it, and if it were an arranged marriage, wasn’t it all the more necessary?

Seohee trusted Leehyun.

“You…… registered the marriage?”

Heeyoung’s voice rose.

She shook Seohee’s shoulders roughly, as if she couldn’t believe her ears.

“Why did you do that!”

Seohee blinked blankly at the rebuking, scolding tone.

“Please stop.”

Aram intervened with a resolute voice, but Heeyoung would not let go of Seohee.

Just as Aram tried to pull Heeyoung away with a cold glare, Seohee spoke.

“CEO Jin Heeyoung.”

At the unprecedentedly cold voice, Heeyoung flinched.

“W-what?”

Pushing away Heeyoung’s hands that held her, Seohee straightened her upper body.

“You seem highly interested in my marriage registration.”

It was truly bizarre.

What reason could there be for her to rage like this just because her niece, who had been married for five years, registered her marriage?

Even if it were an arranged marriage between J International and Representative Yoon Leehyun, from the position of Jin Heeyoung, who held the interim CEO seat of J International, there was no reason to block the marriage registration.

If anything, she should have been angry if they hadn’t registered it.

Seohee could not understand Heeyoung’s reaction.

“Is there any reason why I shouldn’t register my marriage with Leehyun?”

Her weak eyelashes settled calmly.

Her wavering brown eyes stared clearly at Heeyoung.

In an instant, Heeyoung faltered and took a step back.

There it was again, that exact look.

When she had threatened to throw Dohyung into prison on charges of industrial espionage, her expression had been precisely like this.

‘Always driving people into a corner while pretending to be so elegant and innocent.’

‘More than that, she actually registered the marriage? When on earth?’

Heeyoung bit her lip, nearly losing her mind.

“Aunt.”

“Y-yes.”

“Did you really come here because you were worried about me?”

Seohee sharply called out Heeyoung’s behavior.

Her slightly trembling eyelids, her displeased, twisted lips, and above all, her narrowly slit eyes captured Seohee’s attention.

A look very similar to the one Song Yoosun used when she wanted to confirm something with her.

“Of course. You have no idea how much I worry about you, Seohee.”

After collecting her breath, Heeyoung spoke with a nonchalant expression.

“You acted as if you would live your entire life without ever registering your marriage, so you have no idea how startled I was.”

Having calmed her excitement, Heeyoung once again clasped Seohee’s hands.

“But now that you have become a real married couple, I am simply overjoyed.”

Heeyoung curved her red lips upward.

Only her mouth was smiling.

The forced smile was so awkward that Seohee couldn’t help but let out a dry, silent laugh.

Just a moment ago, she had literally shrieked, asking why she had registered the marriage.

She roughly pulled her trapped hands away.

“Then our Dohyung…….”

‘We’ll cover it up like this, right? Surely she won’t do anything to harm the Gayun Group, now that she is legally married to Yoon Leehyun.’

Even though Heeyoung thought this, she couldn’t entirely shake her anxiety.

If it were revealed that her son had tried to sell off the technology, J International’s stock price would fluctuate violently.

Not only that, but everything from a re-investigation to other complex issues would pile up.

Since things had turned out this way, even if she had to hand the company over to Jin Seohee, she had to prevent Dohyung from being arrested.

“About Dohyung’s matter, Seohee.”

Who is Dohyung?

Seohee was momentarily speechless.

As she bit her lower lip, Aram approached her with worry.

Sensing the movement, Heeyoung cleared her throat and stepped back.

“Never mind, I’ve kept a sick child here for too long.”

It was not the kind of conversation to have in front of someone Leehyun had stationed there.

Heeyoung shut her loose mouth tight.

Having finished what she wanted to say, Heeyoung left abruptly like someone who was completely done with her business.

“Our…… Dohyung?”

“Madam.”

Aram examined Seohee’s complexion.

“Do you know who the Dohyung CEO Jin Heeyoung is speaking of is?”

“Kang Dohyung, the Chief General Manager of J International and CEO Jin Heeyoung’s son.”

Aram reported without missing a detail.

“My aunt’s son…… meaning he’s my cousin?”

“Yes.”

Song Yoosun had come to speak about the art gallery materials, and Jin Heeyoung had asked about the marriage registration, along with what she planned to do about Dohyung’s matter.

What was it this time?

What was going on that she didn’t know about?

“Aram, do you happen to understand what CEO Jin Heeyoung meant?”

She was asking if Aram knew about Kang Dohyung’s matter.

“I am sorry, Madam.”

Upon Aram’s response that she didn’t know, Seohee’s face clouded over.

“Does Leehyun…… know about this?”

Please. Let him know. Let him understand what Jin Heeyoung meant better than I do.

“I am not quite sure.”

It meant that at the very least, it had never been reported to Leehyun through Aram.

‘I might be the only one who knows…….’

Just as he didn’t know about the art gallery matters, there might be something he didn’t know this time as well.

Seohee suddenly felt terrified that she might have committed some forbidden act.

Confusion blurred her vision.

Her head throbbed with dizziness.

She felt like she was trapped alone in a tiny room, unable to even move her body.

She was suffocating, and her stomach churned.

‘I miss you, Leehyun.’

The moment she stood up, her vision spun.

“Madam!”

“I’m…… okay.”

As she stood still with Aram’s support, her focus returned.

It was too suffocating.

She simply couldn’t stay in the hospital room any longer.

As Seohee stepped out toward the garden, three bodyguards, in addition to Aram, followed closely behind her.

***

“Director.”

As Secretary Park handed over the tablet, Yoosun’s expression contorted.

“I told you to make sure you didn’t miss a single thing Yoon Leehyun is spreading to the media.”

Revealing her profound displeasure, she swiped across the tablet screen with the tip of her index finger.

“What on earth is this?”

As if telling him to look if he had eyes, Yoosun threw the tablet in front of Secretary Park with a clack.

Words calculated to shatter Song Yoosun’s nerves—Gyeongam Foundation Song Yoosun, remarriage, affair, Ha Yunmi, violinist, romance of the century—were trending incessantly.

“I apologize, ma’am.”

“Apologize?”

Do you think this is something that can be resolved with a mere apology?

Yoosun roughly swept her hair back.

Tucking the stray strands tightly behind her ears, she bit her lip hard.

Yoon Leehyun, how dare you.

Trembling, Yoosun closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady herself.

It was highly problematic for Ha Yunmi to be brought up again.

Veins bulged on the back of her clenched fists.

‘To think of the lengths I went to just to cover that up.’

Fragmented memories that must never be revealed to the world, secrets that had to be buried for a lifetime, rushed back to her like an ebbing tide.

“Don’t you want to have Ha Yunmi?”

The man sitting in front of Yoosun was silent.

The man, who possessed a neat forehead, a long nose, and a handsome, striking appearance, bit back a faint smile.

His eyes, clouded with ambition, turned toward Yoosun.

“Wanting to have her… that is an interesting way to put it.”

The man curved his lips into a wide smile and toyed with his coffee cup.

She was originally mine.

His quietly murmured words were chilling.

“I don’t know how Yoon Junghwan enticed her.”

Pausing, the man calmly swallowed his coffee.

“But she is someone who will return to me soon.”

The man acted leisurely, as if it were only natural for Ha Yunmi to be with him.

There is no need for someone like you to step forward.

His gaze as he looked at Yoosun turned sharp.

“I think I might be able to help you.”

Yoosun tossed down several photographs.

They captured the man lingering in front of Yoon Junghwan’s house, sitting right behind Ha Yunmi while she drank coffee, and hovering around her in various other ways.

Among them was even a photo taken while lying down next to a sleeping Ha Yunmi.

Unlawful home intrusion.

Knowing this, Yoosun chose to threaten him instead of assigning blame.

“Aren’t you afraid? Anyone looking at this would think you’re a stalker.”

“Does your family know about this?”

Yoosun tapped the photos threateningly, tap, tap.

“Yours is a family of politicians for generations. I hear Assemblyman Jung is running for president this time.”

“What do you think will happen if these photos leak to the outside?”

Yoosun leaned her upper body forward and met the man’s gaze.

“Let’s make it look like you’re dating. A passionate relationship where the two of you can’t live without each other.”

“Instead of peeping from behind like this, do it proudly in front of everyone. Of course, only Chairman Yoon Junghwan needs to find out.”

As Yoosun recited this like a pre-written script, the man’s eyebrows rose and fell.

“What is it you want?”

The man instantly saw through Yoosun’s intention.

“I don’t have much time. I’d like you to move quickly.”

“A photo of her sleeping undressed would be good, and a photo taken together inside Yoon Junghwan’s house would be even better.”

“Can you do it?”

Breaking trust was not difficult.

Yoosun was supremely confident.

It would be perfect if that man was the son of Assemblyman Jung, whose family had aligned themselves with hers for generations.

Yoosun was absolutely certain that a furious Yoon Junghwan would cut off Ha Yunmi.

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