Chapter 274

The scenery in front of me changed rapidly with the sound of the page-turning.

Flowers blossomed and then withered, fresh blue leaves were dyed red and fell to the ground, and snowflakes fell from the grey sky.

Cheon Sa-yeon, who was standing by the window where the bare branches of the tree were seen, sat down on the chair and the woman lying on the bed opened her mouth with a rough voice.

「Is that you, Sa-yeon...?」

「Yes.」

In just one year, the child had changed beyond recognition.

He was a little taller and well-dressed. But what caught the eye more than that was the dark expression on which there wasn't even a single point of light to be found.

There was no longer a child running around the playground to catch a ball and begging the woman for sweets.

「...Sa-yeon-ah.」

The woman raised her skinny hand and the child, Cheon Sa-yeon, grabbed her white hand.

「I'm really... sorry for you.」

「It's okay.」

「A little more... together...」

The woman, who was stuttering, shut her mouth as if she had run out of energy. Cheon Sa-yeon, who had seen the figure with complicated eyes, raised his head at someone's presence.

Through the open door, the hem of the opponent's clothes could be seen. Cheon Sa-yeon, who frowned slightly, got up from his seat.

「I will come again.」

「Already...?」

「Yes. Please take your medicine.」

「Don't worry.」

The woman, who watched Cheon Sa-yeon silently drape the blanket over her chest, raised her arm and stroked the cheek of the child.

Her overly pale hand trembled at that simple act.

「My dear sweetheart.」

「......」

「Mom always loves you.」

Cheon Sa-yeon, who frowned for a moment as if his emotions were overflowing with those words, answered in a low-pitched voice.

「Me too.」

Cheon Sa-yeon, who leaned his upper body and kissed the woman's hollow cheek, left the room.

The child, who closed the door so as not to make any noise, headed outside without hesitation. Only then did I realize that this place was a small detached house in the corner of the garden.

「Don't come here anymore.」

Cheon Sa-yeon shouted loudly at the other child who was moving away from the detached house. The child heard that and turned his body toward Cheon Sa-yeon. The exposed face was terribly contorted.

「What?」

「Don't come.」

The child called Cheon Je-heon strode forward and stood in front of him. His size difference was so great that a shadow was cast over Cheon Sa-yeon's body.

「Who are you to tell me what to do?」

「Mom hates you.」

Even with Cheon Je-heon, who was much larger than himself, in front of him, Cheon Sa-yeon wasn't intimidated and spoke again.

「Don't come. They said she shouldn't be stressed.」

Cheon Je-heon, who had listened without a reply, gave an annoyed smile and waved his palm at once.

Slap!

Cheon Sa-yeon, who had been hit on the cheek with the palm as big as his head, rolled over on the garden ground.

「You idiot bastard.」

Cheon Sa-yeon, who once hit the ground and collided once more by falling to the ground, couldn't stand up easily.

Cheon Je-heon, stared at Cheon Sa-yeon touching the pain located, turned his back and returned to the mansion.

「Ah...」

Cheon Sa-yeon, who was about to stand up with his hands on the ground, looked at his palms in surprise. A garden shear had been placed next to him and his palm was cut long and bleeding.

「Ah, it hurts...」

As the blood continued to flow without stopping, Cheon Sa-yeon looked around in bewilderment. The child's gaze went back and forth between the mansion and the small detached house once.

After hesitating for a while, Cheon Sa-yeon lowered his head slightly and murmured.

「I was told not to stress her.」

Then he limped and walked to the mansion, covering his bloody palm with the other hand.

There were several attendants roaming the garden, but none of them helped Cheon Sa-yeon. The view of the child who opened the huge mansion door alone while injured looked like he was being eaten by a monster.

* * *

Cheon Sa-yeon's role in this house was to take the place of the useless things that Cheon Je-heon, who would become the successor of the company, had to go through.

His mother came as if dragged into this mansion and forced to marry and gave birth to Cheon Je-heon.

And four years later, as soon as the second son, Cheon Sa-yeon was born, she took her newborn baby and ran out of the mansion. Seven years passed like that.

On the outskirts of Seoul, the man reappeared in front of the woman who had been raising a child without seeing anyone except for a family doctor for seven years. Because he needed the child for Cheon Je-heon.

The man remarried as soon as the woman left. He was trying to get a child from the remarried woman who would suffer instead.

However, the remarried woman had greater ambition than the man expected. She was different from the woman who had been obedient. It was self-evident that when she saw her child, a great noise would follow.

So, in preparation for this kind of situation, he took Cheon Sa-yeon that he had in his insurance from the woman. Of course, in order to keep him, he also dragged the woman with little time left to live and threw her into the detached house.

Cheon Sa-yeon was an abandoned child whose birth wasn't even registered.

He was a kid who couldn't get out of the mansion. Cheon Je-heon's shadow. He was a loner who couldn't depend on anyone. That was Cheon Sa-yeon.

The now eight-year-old boy went into his room and, with clumsy hand movements, he put some medicine on his palm and stuck the bandage together. The narrow, dusty room wasn't much different from the warehouse.

Cheon Sa-yeon exhaled a breath of relief at the wound that barely stopped bleeding. He was necessary for Cheon Je-heon anyway, so if he told he was injured, a servant would call a doctor, but he didn't want to.

The child knew. Even if he took care of the wound in detail, that was different from affection. Even the woman who said she loved him without hesitation was on the verge of death, she couldn't afford to take care of the child.

「...I want to go home.」

Cheon Sa-yeon, who spat out a single word in his weary voice, closed his eyes tightly. At the end of that, everything was blurry again.

Another year passed. Cheon Sa-yeon, now 9 years old, was still treated the same.

It was a cold winter day when his breath came out white.

The carols, which the remarried woman had played on her whim, faded and thick snowflakes fell outside the window. It was that day that the woman who gave birth to Cheon Sa-yeon died.

Of all things, Cheon Sa-yeon was being punished on behalf of Cheon Je-heon. It was a very simple punishment of being imprisoned in his room for three days, but it was like hell to Cheon Sa-yeon who was told that the woman was in critical condition.

「Please let me out!」

Cheon Sa-yeon shouted out desperately and pulled the doorknob, but his nine-year-old strength wasn't enough. But he didn't give up and kept banging, screaming, and begging at the door.

Squeak.

After a while, the door miraculously opened and the man appeared in front of him.

A handsome man with a cold impression and a suit that matched without a single inch of disorder. He was the owner of the mansion.

「Do you want to go see your mother?」

He was the creature Cheon Sa-yeon feared the most. The man was holding what Cheon Sa-yeon treasured the most.

Cheon Sa-yeon looked at him and nodded his head.

「Yes.」

「You will regret it.」

「Please let me go see her.」

The man with an inexplicable smile gestured as if to follow him. As the servant opened the mansion door, a winter wind swept through his flesh.

It would have been cold without wearing anything, but Cheon Sa-yeon walked steadfastly without even the slightest shuddering while going through the garden to the detached house.

Cheon Sa-yeon's complexion turned pale with anxiety. The door to the detached house opened and a familiar voice came out from inside the woman's room.

「Don't worry.」

It was Cheon Je-heon. He was there. He was ahead of himself.

Cheon Sa-yeon's eyes fluttered wildly when he noticed this and his breathing became harsh. His pace toward the room also increased even more.

「Yes. I know.」

Cheon Sa-yeon stood in front of the room, barely balancing his body, whose feet were tangled and almost fell. Through the wide-open door, he could see the doctor standing near the bed and Cheon Je-heon.

He was holding the woman's dry hand. As if he had become Cheon Sa-yeon.

「I will. You don't have to worry.」

Cheon Je-heon, who leaned his upper body and put his ear to the woman, smiled deeply after hearing what the woman had said.

「I love you, too.」

Beeeep, at the end of that, a sharp mechanical sound rang out, indicating that the woman's heart had stopped. When Cheon Je-heon let go of her hand and stepped back, the doctor put a white cloth on the woman's face.

Cheon Sa-yeon, who had been watching the scene, asked with a trembling voice.

「What... what did you do?」

「What did I do?」

Cheon Je-heon, who smiled shamelessly, stood in front of Cheon Sa-yeon blocking the door.

「She has almost gone without even saying goodbye because you were so stupid, so I did it for you and you should say thank you to me.」

「Mo, Mom was waiting for me. Why did you do that...」

「Ya.」

His large hand gripped the child's collar. Cheon Je-heon, who pulled Cheon Sa-yeon, said while glaring at him.

「Everything here is mine, you moron. So, of course, I do whatever I want.」

「......」

Cheon Je-heon, who roughly pushed Cheon Sa-yeon, passed by with a smirk on his lips. Cheon Sa-yeon, who stood blankly and thought about something, slowly opened his mouth.

「At the end... what did Mom say?」

「Do I want to tell you?」

In response to the playful answer, Cheon Sa-yeon strongly clenched his two hands. Hot flames rose from the black eyes staring at the back of Cheon Je-heon, who was humming and moving away.

Cheon Sa-yeon, who ran without hesitation, rushed to Cheon Je-heon. Kuung, Cheon Sa-yeon and Cheon Je-heon were tangled in front of the entrance to the detached house.

「Wait.」

The man stopped the attendants from stepping forward when they saw the two children starting to fight. Then he looked at them both with interest.

「Fuck you bastard!」

Cheon Je-heon, who barely took off the rushing Cheon Sa-yeon like crazy, swung his fist. Cheon Sa-yeon, whose physique and strength were both pushed back, failed to counterattack once and was hit over and over again.

Cheon Je-heon, who was vigorously waving his fists non-stop, stopped beating and got up only after Cheon Sa-yeon stopped moving.

「Shit bastard.」

Che, Cheon Je-heon, who spat on Cheon Sa-yeon's body, left the detached house. The man who had been watching everything from behind stood next to Cheon Sa-yeon.

The man, who looked down at the boy whose face was covered in blood with puffy eyes and a nosebleed, said.

「Weak.」

「......」

「You must be punished. Treat him appropriately and throw him into the room.」

「Yes.」

At the command, the attendants forced Cheon Sa-yeon to stand up. Drops of blood dripped down his chin to the ground.