Prologue

Eunseol’s eyes wavered at her husband’s lustful eyes. Everything about him—his intense look, dizzying scent, and erotic silence—overwhelmed her. Heat rushed to her forehead and her back became covered in sweat instantly.

Her dry lips finally managed to speak in a fainthearted plea. “P…please stop staring.”

“But I must make sure to remember tonight since this is our wedding night.” His steady answer squeezed her body tightly. When she tried to look up, his desire-filled eyes darkened brightly.

The husband and wife kissed each other at that moment.

“...!”

It was the same shocking kiss as the first one. His tongue invaded Eunseol’s mouth and rubbed the tender spots mercilessly. She tried to hide her tongue from the shock of it, but it was easily caught by his own and sucked on roughly.

Wet heat grew inside her stomach, and at the same time, it felt like her controllably pounding heart was about to burst. She began to pant and her eyes filled with tears.

“W-wait…”

“Keep your mouth open.” The thick growl from him held the power she couldn’t refuse. Eunseol was the one who initiated this, yet things were taking a course that was out of her control. All she could do was tremble like a helpless leaf caught in a storm. She buried her face in his hard chest and closed her eyes. His thick scent engulfed her, making her become even more alert and all of her senses sharp. She could feel every strand of her hair.

“Haa…”

“Are you scared?” Jeonghyeok asked as he wiped away the tears she didn’t even know she had shed. His voice was so terribly low that she couldn’t read him at all. She was indeed scared, but she prayed that he wouldn’t leave. Hugging his neck tightly, she begged him in a whisper not to stop.

As if to accommodate her request, he bit her breast.

“Ngh…!”

Muscle twitching angrily, his arm moved lower past her flat stomach. Eunseol trembled as if she was about to die, but she opened her knees and looked up at Jeonghyeok who looked troubled and sighed.

With her eyes, she told him she was okay. As if he heard her, his large arms bulged even more. This was the first time her body was being invaded like this. Her intermittent moans became higher and more desperate. “Hng, ah, ahh…!”

The contradictory thoughts of wanting to stop yet wanting it deeper crashed in her head. The stimulating sensation reached from her center to her toes before it hit her head hard again. The pain-like pleasure was so intense that it inundated her entire body.

“I-I think you need to stop…” Eunseol begged, but Jeonghyeok silenced her with a kiss. His meticulous and exquisite lust awakened her, and finally, her body flexed backward as she sobbed, “T-Teacher…!”

Eunseol spasmed as if she was electrocuted. Her erogenous zone exploded, making her feel breathless. Covered in hazy shock, her body floated in the air before falling down. When her legs shook, too weak to support her, Jeonghyeok covered her lips with his own again. His insistent kisses began to relax her muscles, and Eunseol was able to think again.

“Haa… Haa…” To her, it felt like the deed was done. She experienced a shocking orgasm, and her stamina was drained by now.

But positioning himself between her legs, Jeonghyeok whispered, “I’m… about to do things I’m not supposed to do to a student.”

“Teacher…”

He was sick of being called this. “Stop calling me teacher.”

He then pulled down his pants and boxer together. Eunseol’s eyes lowered naturally to look, and she paled immediately.

“Th-that’s not going to work. I can’t do it.” Eunseol gaped in shock. This wasn’t a plea or a comment but a simple fact.

But it was clear Jeonghyeok had no intention of letting her go. He lowered his body and opened her thighs. He whispered, “You’re soaking wet, so it will work.”

Their wedding night was just about to begin.

Chapter 1

It was already midday, but the room in the basement was dark and humid. Eunseol didn’t care, however, as she finished her makeup.

Today was the day she was going to propose. This was why there was a determined look in her youthful reflection.

“I can do this,” she mumbled quietly. Just the thought of what she was about to do made her heart pound wildly, but she had nowhere else to go now. This was her last chance, and she needed to make it work.

“...I have to do this.” After mumbling to herself again, she stood up when the door burst open. Entering without a word, Minseo Mok looked up and down at her coldly. Minseo was Eunseol’s cousin and the same age as her. In addition, she was the eldest daughter of this family.

“Are you going on a blind date or something?” asked Minseo.

Looking wary, Eunseol retorted, “...What do you want?”

“Have you seen the rose gold necklace with a V-shaped pendant? The one I wear all the time.”

“No, I haven’t.” Eunseol got a bad feeling about this, but she replied in a calm voice.

“Oh yeah?” Minseo appeared to accept her, but it was obvious there was distrust in her eyes. Eunseol saw this and gave Minseo an irritated look.

Just then, Minseo took a step forward and yanked the front of Eunseol’s blouse. Minseo muttered, “Nice blouse.”

“...!”

It happened so suddenly. Minseo looked down at Eunseol’s cleavage coldly and added, “So I guess you aren’t wearing it yourself.”

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Eunseol slapped away Minseo’s hand and glared. No matter how often something insulting like this happened, Eunseol just couldn’t get used to it.

“I thought your old habit might have come back again.”

Eunseol argued, “I’ve never done something like that before.”

“Everyone in Hocheon High School knows you have sticky fingers, Eunseol Lee, so why are you overreacting?”

Eunseol wanted to yell that it was because Minseo framed her, but she kept her mouth shut. She didn’t have the time or energy to argue, and besides, there was nothing she could gain from fighting her cousins. She had been an extra mouth to feed for this family for the past five years, so she knew what the outcome would be. Eunseol just didn’t want to waste her energy.

“Let me have a look.” Minseo turned around and yanked open the plastic drawers. The first one held Eunseol’s underwear, and they fell to the ground. Similar things happened as Minseo went on to the next drawers and dug through them.

Eunseol felt contempt toward her, but she clenched her fists around her purse strap and gritted her teeth. She kept telling herself not to get involved. She knew that what Minseo wanted was an emotional outburst from her, so she continued to remain quiet.

Keeping her voice as indifferent as possible, Eunseol announced, “Good luck finding it. I need to go.”

Eunseol wanted Minseo to know that she wasn’t hurt by this, but it seemed that this attitude had angered Minseo even more. Minseo approached Eunseol and grabbed her hair from the back. She pulled it down so that Eunseol’s chin was pointing up.

“...!” Eunseol felt humiliated, but she knew she had to endure it. She couldn’t make a scene now, and she needed to be patient for her plan to work.

Minseo put more pressure on her hand, making Eunseol groan. Minseo, slightly taller, looked down at Eunseol and muttered, “I guess the outcast of Hocheon High School thinks she’s all that, huh?”

“...Let go.”

“Let go? Is that an order?” Minseo smirked coldly and Eunseol didn’t say another word. She felt like crying from fury, but instead, she continued to glare.

Minseo continued, “You need to ask me politely. If you do, I might be generous and forgive you.”

Minseo had always resented Eunseol. To her, Eunseol was beneath her family, staff, and her two dogs. So she was irritated by how Eunseol behaved like she was a fragile flower blooming in a puddle of dirty water. Eunseol pretended to be an innocent victim, and this upset Minseo to no end. It made Minseo feel soiled and impure.

“You’re always like this,” added Minseo.

Realizing what Minseo meant, Eunseol looked up quietly and asked, “...Do you want me to kneel and beg?”

“You think you can?”

Just then, Minseo’s cell phone rang in the air. After a brief hesitation, Minseo let go of Eunseol’s hair and answered, “Huh, what? A party to congratulate me? What for?”

Eunseol took this opportunity to open the door. Minseo’s voice became distant as she talked on the phone.

“Wedding will be soon. Jeonghyeok is back in Korea after all. Why are you making such a big deal? Of course, I’ll call him by his name since he’ll be my husband. Why would I still call him ‘teacher’?” said Minseo on the phone.

Hurrying out of the house, Eunseol thought to herself, Sorry, but I’ll be the one getting married to him.

***

Eunseol arrived at the cafe first. Sitting down, she contemplated silently. Petty vengeance wasn’t the reason why she planned to steal Minseo’s fiancé in her arranged marriage. She refused to let Minseo have any effect on her life because Minseo didn’t deserve such power.

Marriage was Eunseol’s only escape. This was a difficult decision to make, and although she bravely arranged this meeting, she couldn’t relax. Pressing on her pounding heart, Eunseol looked around. Through the opened folding door, she saw that spring was in full bloom now. The passersby were enjoying the pleasantly warm weekend in Gangnam.

Sometime later, she flinched involuntarily when she saw a man in the crowd who was at least a head taller than everyone around him.

It was Jeonghyeok Yun.

He was Eunseol’s homeroom teacher in the past and the man who was considered for a long time as Minseo’s potential husband in an arranged marriage. It was only after Eunseol graduated from high school that she learned Jeonghyeok wasn’t just an average teacher but also the first-born son of an academic foundation. She heard that he quit being a teacher soon after.

Even now, she had no idea why Jeonghyeok worked as a teacher. All she knew was that he was so out of her reach that they could no longer continue being a teacher and a student even though he was the only adult who protected her in her life.

She could see his tall figure walking into the cafe. In his perfectly tailored suit and neatly combed hair, Jeonghyeok looked familiar yet extremely foreign to her.

“...”

“...!” Eunseol’s eyes met Jeonghyeok’s. They weren’t in close proximity, but she froze in an instant. On the other hand, Jeonghyeok’s steps were unfaltering and his eyes looked blank.

It seemed that time suddenly flowed slowly at that moment. Everything except Yoon Jeonghyeok stopped moving. Only he looked lively in her eyes, and Eunseol was afraid her heart might jump out of her body. Feeling her body becoming rigid, she bit the inside of her cheek.

When he got closer, Eunseol rose and greeted politely, “Thank you for coming, Teacher.”

Across from her, Jeonghyeok looked like a giant mountain. Nearly 6 feet 3 inches, his large size was beyond intimidating. She needed to strain her neck to be able to see his face clearly.

His cold black eyes looked gaunt from exhaustion. In comparison, his sharp straight nose created an obvious shadow on his face. He looked especially cold, perhaps because his lips were closed so firmly. The icy energy from him made Eunseol shiver. She couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed.

“It has been a while,” Jeonghyeok replied in an overbearing voice. He gestured toward her chair, asking her to sit. His thick woody scent captured Eunseol’s senses. Not a hair out of place, Jeonghyeok sat down with his back straight like an elegant rock. Eunseol, who looked dazed for a moment, jolted and sat down as well.

Studying Eunseol slowly, he commented, “I didn’t expect you to call.”

Eunseol looked down in confusion at his intense gaze. Sitting across from him, she felt like she was back to being a kid again.

“You’re all grown up now.” A touch of appreciation in his voice tickled Eunseol’s ears. This was unexpected because she remembered her teacher to be a stickler for rules. But now, it appeared that he sat in front of her as a man, which only made her feel even more distant from him.

“You’re wearing makeup too.” His low baritone stabbed deeply at her senses. Her heart pounded loudly as strange feelings filled her. Her neck turned warm and Eunseol clenched her fists.

“By the way…” Watching her fists, Jeonghyeok continued, “I got you into the same university I went to, but I heard you took a leave of absence.”

Eunseol’s eyes widened. She didn’t expect him to have heard about what happened to her.

She mumbled quietly, “There were unforeseen circumstances…”

Unlike before, Jeonghyeok didn’t ask why. After all, he wasn’t even her teacher anymore.

“So why did you want to see me?” asked Jeonghyeok after glancing at his watch, indicating that he was busy. Eunseol felt her courage plummet to the ground, but she knew she needed to do this.

“I…” Managing to look him in the eyes, she added, “...would like you to marry me.”

When she didn’t receive an answer, Eunseol became anxious. She continued, “If you must marry into this family, you’ll feel more comfortable with me than Minseo.”

Jungheok asked coldly, “Do you even understand what a marriage is?”

“Yes, I do. And I’m ready to do my best.”

“You have to do all kinds of things with me. You think you can do that too?”

When he asked again, Eunseol became confused. She had imagined many different scenarios for this meeting, but this was not one of them. As she remained quiet, Jeonghyeok explained without blinking, “I’m asking if you can sleep with me even though I used to be your teacher.”

Eunseol turned bright red at his explicit language. It was then that he clicked his tongue and muttered, “You obviously have no idea what I’m talking about.”

Jeonghyeok was about to stand up cold-heartedly when Eunseol called out to him.