ASM Ch 3

Chairman Seo, who had been frowning as if he were displeased, immediately brightened up at the mention of Cha Taehyuk.

“It seems that our Cha-seobang¹ is worried about you, Eunwoo.”

Unlike Chairman Seo, who laughed heartily while talking nonsense, Eunwoo couldn’t come to such a pleasant conclusion. That was because Cha Taehyuk’s indifferent face, which had occasionally looked in her direction since the reception began, showed no sign of concern for her.

Cha Taehyuk had an unreadable expression on his face throughout the entire wedding ceremony.

The expressions on marble statues were far more rich with emotion.

But as the reception began, his eyes, which had been unreadable, gradually filled with a clear emotion. His forehead, nose, firm cheeks, jawline, and the rest of his facial features would occasionally become distorted as if he was overcome with discomfort. His straight brows occasionally twitched, and his eyes would grow sharp from time to time.

And yet, the only soft feature of his face, his lips, curved into a smile. At that moment, with the out-of-place smile paired with the indifferent disgust in his pale eyes, it was not difficult to read the true nature of his feelings.

Cha Taehyuk was mocking her.

As expected, when she glanced in the direction where Cha Taehyuk was standing, he raised a brow at her.

It was a clear warning to stop hanging around like this when she was a mere Beta and go home.

In the end, it was Eunwoo who looked away first.

It wasn’t that she was particularly hurt by his gaze.

It was just that she wasn’t used to having this man stare at her like this.

She had met him several times at social gatherings of this kind. Of course, their positions were much different from now. While Cha Taehyuk was always at the center of the gathering, she was always hanging around on the edge. While she was trying to somehow get a foothold in that society, Cha Taehyuk never pretended to acknowledge her. Eunwoo didn’t even try to catch his eye. She knew her place. Cha Taehyuk was someone she couldn’t approach.

“Go ahead and head home.”

Chairman Seo glared at Eunwoo with disapproving eyes when she hesitated. Eunwoo reluctantly took a step forward.

With every step she took, she could feel the eyes following her..

She felt like she could already hear what they were saying.

Cha Taehyuk was embarrassed to show his Beta wife in front of others, so he quickly got rid of her. She felt like she was being dragged out like a criminal by his secretary. They were probably badmouthing her for acting like the main character at her own wedding.

In an attempt not to lose to the very end, Eunwoo deliberately spoke to the secretary with a gentle smile.

“I was just getting tired, so thank you for coming to pick me up.”

It was truly a pitiful show of pride.

* * *

The woman made her exit with a stupid smile on her face. She spoke to the secretary in a friendly manner, and the way she tucked her hair behind her ear was so elegant. Anyone who saw her would have thought she was a princess greeting the lowly onlookers as she took her leave. That made it even funnier.

Soon, as Seo Eunwoo disappeared and the gazes that had been fixed on her began to fall away one by one, the discomfort finally subsided a little.

And just before the door closed behind her, he felt a strange sense of satisfaction when he saw the slight tremor of her shoulders.

He thought that married life might be fun in its own way. Watching Seo Eunwoo slowly wither away.

In any case, Seo Eunwoo’s crime of daring to marry him was great, and he intended to make her pay dearly for her sins.

* * *

Secretary Nam Ki-wook introduced himself as Eunwoo’s personal secretary as he guided her around the Pyeongchang-dong mansion where she would be living with Cha Taehyuk.

The newlywed house, located right next to the mansion where Chairman Cha Mook-heon, the current chairman of Haesung and father of Cha Taehyuk, lived with his wife, Director Koh Hee-yeon, consisted of the main building, an annex, and the employees’ quarters.

In the largest bedroom on the second floor, which was obviously decorated to suit a woman’s taste, the luggage brought from her family home was already neatly put away.

Secretary Nam, who showed her around the mansion, didn’t say it out loud, but it was obvious from just a single glance. The space where she would be residing in the main building would be on the second floor, and Cha Taehyuk would use the first floor. They would not cross that line, which was implicitly drawn across the stairs.

“Director Cha is very busy, so he comes to work early and leaves late. He told me to inform you to go to bed first without waiting for him.”

As they were finishing the tour of the mansion, Secretary Nam’s brief message caused the tension to melt from her body.

She was filled with a sense of relief.

The completely separate living spaces and the fact that he insisted on staying out even during their first night. Despite the displeasure Cha Taehyuk showed at the wedding, she was certain that she would never run into him again.

She was truly glad. He showed no hesitation in expressing his displeasure towards her even at the reception where everyone was watching, so she was secretly worried about how much worse it would be at home, when it was just the two of them.

But if things continued like this, she felt like they could get along while keeping a reasonable distance from each other.

In any case, it was not Cha Taehyuk but his child who would guarantee her status as Haesung’s Young Madame.

Eunwoo nodded, barely able to suppress the smile threatening to form on her lips.

“Yes, I understand. Thank you for your guidance.”

Secretary Nam’s eyes relaxed as Eunwoo answered calmly. He seemed to have been worried that she might be offended.

“No problem. If you need anything, please call me anytime.”

As Secretary Nam bid her farewell and disappeared, Eunwoo took a deep breath and exhaled. It felt like the tension that had been wrapped around her all day was finally going away.

Eunwoo took a deep breath and patted her chest as she slowly moved to go and wash up for the night.

Whatever it was, it was going well. It was going to work out well. Things were going to get better from now on.

As she whispered this to herself, she finished her bath and went to bed. Now she was starting to feel a little excited.

She had a groundless sense of hope that if she managed to endure everything and stay in this house, things would work out. Thanks to this, she was able to close her eyes in peace.

All I have to do is endure. Just endure it. As she thought this to herself, she slowly fell asleep.

Boom—. After some time, Eunwoo woke up from her light sleep to the sound of the door opening.

Someone opened the door and came inside.

Because of the light coming from the hallway behind it, all she could see was the silhouette of a person leaning against the doorway. But she could recognize the person with one glance.

It was Cha Taehyuk.

Overwhelmingly tall with an upper body that formed a perfect inverted triangle, and long, strong legs just like a model.

“Director?”

The question that came out reflexively was not because she didn’t know who he was, but rather because she was curious about his sudden appearance.

Cha Taehyuk muttered softly, as if he’d noticed this.

“Have I come to a place I’m not allowed?”

His head tilted slightly. Even with his face covered in the shadows, she could vaguely make out the twisted corners of his mouth.

“Tonight is our first night.”

Eunwoo couldn’t understand what he was talking about, so she helplessly opened her lips.

“But Secretary Nam said you told me not to wait…”

However, her voice faded away as Cha Taehyuk approached her.

His steps were slow and steady, like a cat or wild beast. She hadn’t been able to tell before, but as he got closer, the pungent smell of alcohol tickled her nose, and Eunwoo suddenly realized.

This man was drunk.

A cold uneasiness ran down her spine. She instinctively tried to back away. But before she could even move her legs properly, her chin was grabbed by a firm hand. A blazing heat that was too hot to be human scratched her cheek. It felt as if lava was slowly crawling over her skin, eliciting a small groan from her lips.

But Cha Taehyuk only looked at her face more seriously.

“How do you feel now that you’ve got the marriage you’ve always wanted?”

The soft voice brushing her ear was rough, like trampled gravel.

When Eunwoo grabbed the blanket, unable to say anything, Cha Taehyuk’s other hand pressed down on the back of hers.

In an instant, she was trapped between Cha Taehyuk’s arms, and a rush of heat washed over her.

“I-It’s too hot.”

Taehyuk snorted at Eunwoo’s strained whisper.

“Rut.”

His simple answer made her whole body stiffen.

“It just had to come on my wedding day of all days.”

He sighed listlessly, his voice trailing off as if he were disappointed. His tone was so sarcastic that it made her wonder if he had deliberately chosen their wedding day around the time of his rut.

Eunwoo tried to turn her stiff head away.

“Ah… Should I find a suppressant for you?”

She made the stupid suggestion without ever having seen what an suppressant looks like. Otherwise, there was no way she wouldn’t have realized what kind of situation she was in.

“Suppressant?”

Eunwoo’s shoulders shrank involuntarily at the mocking words.

“Do you think I came all the way here in search of something like that?”

Her mind grew dizzy. She wasn’t so naive as to not understand the meaning behind his eyes as they glaring so persistently at her. Still, she couldn’t bear to accept it, so she stammered and opened her mouth again.

“Then why on earth……”

Even if he took her, it wouldn’t help him resolve the issue at all.

Before she could even finish asking her question, Cha Taehyuk pushed her back and muttered softly.

“Don’t you need to know exactly what kind of man you married? Exactly what kind of mistake you just made?”

The cold air lurking beneath the deep voice filled Eunwoo’s throat. At the same time, the front of her pajamas was ripped off. With the sound of the buttons scattering across the floor, her bare skin was exposed to the cold air.

For a moment, Eunwoo could do nothing but stare blankly at her own exposed, pale skin.

She hadn’t planned for this.

No, she hadn’t even thought about this situation.

Even though they were married, the prenuptial agreement and the look of disgust he showed towards her were clear.

First of all, she wasn’t an Omega.

“Wait.”

Her body trembled. Her nipples, suddenly exposed to the cold air, began to swell. Although it was only a physical reflex, Cha Taehyuk snickered when he saw it.

“I’ll show you. What an Alpha is, what rut is, and what pheromones are.”