Flowers Are Bait

“I… I…”

His words were muffled by his heavy breathing, and Lee-yeon couldn’t hear him clearly.

Perhaps it was because of the exposed bones on the back of his hand, but it seemed like he was not holding onto her skirt but trying to tear it, which made her tense involuntarily.

In no time, Kwon Chae-woo winced, clutching his painful side.

“I would have preferred it if you had actually come to steal the bride.”

Kwon Chae-woo’s gaze, now confronting reality, covered Lee-yeon like a dark shadow.

She pulled away from his touch and hastily walked towards the door. Her forehead felt warm, with a hint of fever that wouldn’t subside.

****

The grand mansion still felt heavy with gloom after the major incident, but gradually, the vacant positions of the staff were filled with new hires.

Some stability began to settle in the Kwon family.

After that day, Kwon Chae-woo quietly retreated to the annex for treatment to recover, and Lee-yeon behaved as if she had heard and seen nothing.

This morning, Kwon Chae-woo had limped to Lee-yeon’s door, carrying a lunchbox as if he were uninjured.

Seeing him standing there with a face that showed no signs of his recent injuries left Lee-yeon dumbfounded and filed with unspeakable anger.

With him following her, she was constantly on the verge of bursting.

She feared that she’d say things to him that would come in the way of her plan of leaving the Kwon family in peace.

She quickly accepted the lunchbox, brushing past him. His persistent gaze followed her until she turned the corner.

“This is a bioinvasive specie.”

Lee-yeon commented with a wry expression, scratching her nose.

The vibrant green hue around the artificial lake seemed suspicious. At first glance, the lush greenery appeared beautiful, but in reality, it was a troublesome invasive plant called “thornbush” that killed other plants by overgrowing them.

Lee-yeon was accompanied by the garden maintenance team members who had all gathered with their weed whackers to remove this nuisance.

“Once the thorns stick, they’re not easily visible to the naked eye. But right now, these thornbushes have covered everything, and the trees are suffering. They’re experiencing constant pain. If left as it is, these plants will completely exterminate all the trees and grass in the area. Thornbushes climb quickly and block photosynthesis, which kills the trees. So—”

“I messed up. I’m sorry for scaring you.”

Suddenly, a voice broke in, and Lee-yeon froze in her tracks.

“…We need to completely eradicate it.” She cleared her throat, adjusting her gloves nonchalantly.

Otherwise, the rapidly reproducing and resilient thornbushes cause damage year after year, despite removal efforts. Lee-yeon forced her mind back on track.

She signaled the team members who had followed her to get started. After they had put on protective gear, they each picked up a weed whacker from the ground.

Lee-yeon, too, began cutting away at the thornbushes without hesitation.

However, Kwon Chae-woo’s voice began to surface, making her increasingly agitated.

“Those lies have completely turned my life upside down.”

Lee-yeon shook her head frantically, furrowing her brows. She bit her lip and yanked on the vine, but the resilient thornbush didn’t easily break.

“Be careful, everyone, this stuff is really tough!”

The thornbush had grown rapidly, wrapping around trees in just three hours. It reproduced so fast that it would overrun the entire garden within a few months if not removed swiftly.

“You showed me what it’s like to live normally. Preparing meals for you while dipping my hands in water instead of blood, rescuing animals instead of harming them, and living like a human. Lee-yeon showed me all of this.”

Lee-yeon muttered and efficiently snipped the vine clinging to the tree with scissors.

“Walk as far as you want, Lee-yeon even if you abandon me hundreds or thousands of times along the way. Consider me the most meaningless thing, and cast me aside without a second thought. Just… pick me up only at the very end. I don’t care when that happens.”

Kwon Chae-woo’s voice tried to push its way into her heart, but she focused on the task at hand. She gripped the handle of the weed whacker even harder.

“I came to Hwaido to bury you in the first place. When my life ends, I want to be buried next to you.”

Wasn’t she an expert in deceiving herself, knowing and yet pretending not to know? Having tried it once, shouldn’t she be better at it the second time?

Lee-yeon suddenly started working more energetically, her breathing becoming more pronounced.

Her lips quivered with nervousness.

In just a few days, the one-month contract would finally come to an end.

The day of liberation was not far off, so why…!

“Ah…!”

At that moment, a strong gust of wind caused thornbushes to get tangled in Lee-yeon’s gloves, and a thorn deeply pierced through the thick fabric.