Chapter 144: There Was No Choice [R-18]

It was morning.

The curtains were half-drawn, and a dim light filtered into the room.

Only Seojin remained on the bed, still lying there.

The marks on her skin, her wrists bound with soft fabric—the intensity of the previous night lingered in its entirety.

The sleeves of a silk shirt were knotted around her wrists. The soft, expensive material was tied tightly enough to prevent escape, yet it didn’t chafe her skin.

Bound lightly to the headboard, unable to even lift her arms, she lay in a strange position, her parted legs drawn slightly together as she tried to even her breathing.

Damp hair, swollen lips, and the lingering red marks.

She seemed to be asleep, but through those slivered eyelids, she could sense the morning’s presence.

“Kang Seojin.”

Rio’s low, calm voice reached her.

He was neatly buttoning his shirt. Unlike the destroyer from the night before, today he was immaculate and refined.

His hands fastened his cufflinks. Standing before the mirror, he knotted a tie he didn’t even like, his gaze turning toward her.

“Be a good girl.”

He gave a little wave. A smiling face.

“When you’re alone, I think I can rest a little easier.”

Seojin said nothing.

She couldn’t. The moment she made a sound, she felt the shame, the misery, and the strange sense of relief simmering within her would erupt.

Rio looked down at her for a long moment before picking up her torn robe from a chair.

I want to do more.

Rio pressed his lips to the fabric, his gaze fixed straight ahead for a moment. Not at Seojin, but toward the living room.

I want to break her. Strangle her, leave my footprint on that sobbing bitch’s chest.

His eyes grew cold.

But if he acted solely on his desires, he felt he might actually kill her. Strangle her like he did yesterday, or break a bone or two.

…That would be a problem.

Leaving her side to go out into the goddamn world was an act of self-control. It was the only time the insatiably greedy man ever reined in his instincts.

With a smile on his face, Rio opened the door with unnerving nonchalance and left.

Click—

The door closed, and the room was once again submerged in silence.

Seojin’s body began to tremble slowly. She tried to move her arms, but his knots were strong and elegant.

It was intentional.

He bound her with a soft fabric, ensuring she couldn’t escape, yet so gentle it wouldn’t leave a single bruise, as if worried she might try to break free.

He imprisoned Seojin and cherished her at the same time.

That was Rio’s way.

“……”

The room, now empty but for her, was quiet. As long as she kept her mouth shut, it was as if nothing had happened.

Several wristwatches ticked nearby, but none were close enough for Seojin to see clearly.

Her body ached, her mind was a haze. Having lost all sense of time except for the sunlight filtering through the curtains, she closed her eyes again.

She had fallen into an exhausted sleep without knowing the time, and when she awoke, the tracks of undried tears still stained her face. Her swollen, crimson eyelids were a testament to how long she had cried.

Her wrists were immobile. The bedsheets were a mess, evidence of her futile struggle.

When she woke again, she instinctively tried to lift her wrists, only to close her eyes once more at the sensation of being bound.

Flinch.

As she shifted her body slightly, the post of an earring pricked the skin behind her ear.

“…Ngh…!”

A sharp sting of pain.

Her tear ducts reacted instantly.

That one trivial pain was enough to resurrect the terror of the previous night.

With the same hands that had always caressed and cherished her, he had pressed down on her throat.

His fingers, tightening around the necklace, had squeezed as if to kill her. The heavy, suffocating force.

I really could have died…

Her chin trembled.

Blinking at the ceiling, Seojin’s gaze froze in mid-air. Her lips began to quiver, and tears welled distinctly between her lashes.

Her neck throbbed.

The sensation of suffocating still followed her.

When she recalled it, she could almost feel his hand tightening, the thin, small piece of metal pressing into the center of her throat.

How did it come to this…?

She had truly thought it was fine at first.

A world of desire, of carnal needs. Living as a tool within it.

She thought that was all there was to it.

The desire and neglect he gave her, and her own deepening craving. Even within that, she had been able to feel a sense of existence.

But not anymore.

Recently, for the first time, she had harbored the vain hope that she ‘might be a person after all.’ It was something she didn’t need if she wanted to stay by his side.

Seojin hated her own state.

Her throat stung, her ears hurt. Everything hurt.

She had already forgotten how to hold back her tears. She couldn’t tell where the fear ended and the despair began.

She was scared.

Scared that he might actually kill her.

But what was even more terrifying was the thought that he might not come back.

Seojin let her head fall, her vision blurring. Then, a moment later, she mumbled through dry lips.

“…Rio…”

Her throat closed up, and the rest of the name wouldn’t come out. Tears began to pour down her face again.

Saying his name made it impossible to hold back.

The earrings, the watch, the ring, the necklace she had received from Woo-chan. All of it was far too expensive to be a simple gift of goodwill, offered without affection. But it wasn’t for luxury or vanity, either.

The earrings had been a way for her to hold her head high. But beyond that, they were a lifeline from Woo-chan—a form of support for her to use when she finally decided to leave Rio, ensuring she wouldn’t be left with nothing.

Enough for her to maintain a daily life until she could get back on her feet, however long it took after all the damage he had inflicted.

They were things she thought even Rio would permit, as long as she didn’t cross his line, as long as she didn’t go against his wishes. Without realizing it, Seojin had been swayed by the sweet, idealistic proposal to become independent from him.

But she had been a fool.

The one beside her now was not Woo-chan, and what she wore was not a simple gift.

The moment Rio saw it as a ‘leash from a new man,’ he had tried to kill her.

I disappointed him.

But Seojin, lost in an indistinguishable darkness, had reached for hope, taken a step, and collapsed.

I deceived Rio. I made him angry.

Her mind went blank.

…If he leaves, what will become of me?

The only sounds in the silence were the ticking of several watch hands and her own rapidly beating heart.

For a long time, she couldn’t say anything. She bit her lip until she tasted blood.

He had left her here, tied up. That must have meant, ‘Think about what you’ve done.’

The punishment had begun, and she had no idea how to endure it.

The thought that he might not come back for days, that she might starve or die of thirst—none of that even crossed her mind.

All she could think was that if she still seemed like an ‘unfaithful woman’ to him when he returned, he might really kill her.

That this was natural, that this was a truth she understood to her very bones—that was the man she had come to know as Rio.

It was probably impossible to become his dog again.

The face he liked, the habits he favored, the life of barking and sitting to his tune… waiting for his permission.

That was a time she could never return to, now that she was no longer willing to offer him her entirety.

After fear came self-mockery, then regret.

The final stage was resignation.

“…I wanted to be your lover.”

The confession, never once properly spoken, drifted into the empty air.

“I just wanted to stay by your side… and when I realized how difficult that was, I wanted to become someone who would be okay, even when you weren’t around…”

…Was that such a terrible crime?

She couldn’t voice the last part, because she knew there would be no answer in this empty house.

Instead, what answered her were the ribbon knots tightening around her wrists, the stinging of the earring post, and the heavy absence of the man pressing down on her chest.

With an expression caught somewhere between a laugh and a sob, Seojin tilted her head to the side. The deliberate pressure and pain felt different this time, not entirely unpleasant.

“…I want to be loved.”

She was no longer his property, his toy, or his woman. She was just someone who, even after being broken by him, still loved him.

—

It was late in the evening when Rio returned, quietly opening the front door.

Not a sound could be heard in the silent house.

He strode down the hallway and into the unlit bedroom. There, in the darkness, was Seojin.

Asleep, her arms tied high above her head.

Her wrists, secured with the soft fabric, were tied neatly like a ribbon. And beneath them, Kang Seojin was as still and beautiful as the most perfect ornament he had ever created.

A woman breathing silently, as if she were a taxidermy specimen.

Perhaps this was the complete form of possession. Turning on the bedside lamp to a dim glow, Rio’s gaze slowly swept over her body.

Lying there with nothing on, her body was strewn with the various sparkling trinkets he had scattered over her.

The necklace chain was broken, but something even more expensive lay carelessly beside her breast. The black pearl earrings, resembling her hair, gleamed faintly beside her cheek.

He sat beside her and gazed endlessly at her face.

“When I was on my way back, I honestly thought about just abandoning you…”

Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

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