Slap! Garan’s head whipped to the side as the sharp sound cracked in the air.

His handsome, dignified face was blank. Yujo remained frozen in her spot.

How dare she hit a prince? How dare she lay her hand on him? If he ordered her to death by ripping the limbs off of her body, she wouldn’t be able to refute the command. However, she couldn’t allow him to approach her like this.

Garan turned his head back and looked at her.

His dark, black eyes showed nothing.

When she saw them, a shiver ran down Yujo’s spine.

“Hit me again.”

“What?”

“From here on out, I’m going to do a lot of things that will deserve them.”

“Your Highness!”

“That’s right. I’m ‘Your Highness’. Who are you? Aha, that’s right. Didn’t you say that you didn’t want to reveal your name to me? Then from now on, I’ll address you as ‘No Name’. I wonder why I was so adamant about knowing your name before. The problem could have been easily solved like this.”

He had become unhinged. He was completely broken. His red lips twisted as a fierce anger radiated off of him.

“I guess that makes sense. You and I merely met when our paths crossed. You were just horny and wanted your pussy filled. That’s all it was, right?”

Yujo stared at him in shock. She had never heard such vulgar words before. Those words never left the mouth of a nobleman. Additionally, he just said that their paths happened to cross, and that she embraced him because of her lust. She couldn’t believe it.

“How could you…”

A bitter laugh poured out of his lips.

“Am I wrong? I didn’t even know the truth and was worried about you. What if you were with child? How much would you suffer as you went through it alone? Since you knew my name, would you come find me?”

Yujo remained frozen as she gazed at him.

He was worried that she had conceived?

She wasn’t so naive as to be unaware of the consequences of a man and woman’s coupling. However, even if she had conceived, she wouldn’t have gone to him. Nothing good would come out of their relationship, so she had already made that decision!

She’d forget it. She wouldn’t see him again. She had been determined to completely cut the connection between her and this man. She didn’t think this man would consider the night they shared to be that important. These were the thoughts she carried with her.

Most men didn’t think much of sleeping with women. They would spend a night with a woman for the joy and pleasure, but they never thought about the consequences the woman would have to bear afterwards.

And since he was an imperial prince, this was even more certain! If she was with child, he’d just give her money to raise it, and that’s that!

This man would be no different. Look at how he grabbed the courtesans back at the ChiHwaRu! Remember how easily he pressed his lips against hers! He must have been half-joking all this time!

So how significant could their one night have been?

She wanted to believe this.

However, she knew this wasn’t true. They had revealed their hearts to each other in that short amount of time. She knew that the traces of that night remained with them.

That was why this man was angry. She had trampled on their night together and run away without notice. That’s why he was enraged.

She knew. But it couldn’t be helped. She knew, but there was no other choice.

Yujo grit her teeth. She turned her face away with determination.

It needed to be lust and only lust. She needed to tell him that he was correct. They met and just felt an attraction. Their paths crossed for a short moment, and they embraced each other like beasts. That’s all. She needed to tell him that.

And she needed to believe it.

Yujo needed to push him away. But his hands didn’t let her go. His teeth were clenched, and his eyes were hot as they bore into her. He seemed broken from all the wounds and anger.

She turned her head away.

“Thankfully, that… didn’t happen, Your Highness.”

Yujo spit out coldly.

“You are correct, Your Highness.”

“What?”

“Even women have desires. And many things happened that day. There was a fight, and we plunged into the river. It was a cold and painful night. That’s why I lost all reason.”

“What did you say?”

“I am…”

She needed to end it. No matter what.

“I am married, Your Highness.”

In that moment, no one said a word. She couldn’t even hear his breaths. He stared blankly at her before his hands fell to his sides.

Yujo didn’t look at him. Outside the window, the snowflakes fell down and made a soft sound as they landed on the ground. Her throat closed up, and her body went stiff. But Yujo endured it all.

“That is why I cannot give you my name.”

Crash! Surprised, Yujo looked behind her. Garan had rammed his fist into the wall, causing it to crack and crumble.

Yujo didn’t raise her eyes. She didn’t have to look at him to know how angry he was.

“Don’t lie.”

“I’m not lying.”

“You’re lying!”

“Didn’t I just say I wasn’t?”

Their fierce gazes met. Yujo saw the anger and hurt in his eyes. She grit her teeth.

Their connection would have ended anyways. It was cursed. She would soon have to find his dead mother and push her to her death and humiliation once again.

He couldn’t give his heart to such a woman.

And she mustn’t receive this man’s heart.

She glared at him with cold eyes once more.

“Please let me go.”

“Does your husband know?”

His voice was steady.

“What do you mean?”

He asked her with a pale face.

“That you’re not a virgin? That you and another man fucked like animals all night? I’m asking you if he knows about that.”

Yujo remained frozen and didn’t reply. There was no way he knew.

However, this wasn’t important right now. The important thing was to get her half-dead brother out of the Crown Prince’s prison as soon as possible. She needed to escape the Crown Prince’s grasp no matter what.

“Answer me!”

“He doesn’t know.”

Her cold voice replied sharply.

Either way, Yujo was a bad woman in his eyes. Therefore, she’d play the role of a bad woman until the end.

“He doesn’t know. What woman would tell her husband about a man she was attracted to for a brief moment?”

“What did you say?”

“That’s enough, Your Highness. I deserve death for what I have done. But didn’t you say that I saved your life as well as the princess’s? Please consider that and forgive me my sins.”

Yujo lowered her head. He didn’t answer. She heard someone calling out to him from far away. The SangSuh official’s house had become frenzied because the prince had not appeared at the greenhouse as planned. Yujo flinched in surprise and tried to quickly make her escape through the window. However, his hand grabbed her arm.

“Why should I?”

“Please let me go!”

“I can’t do that.”

Yujo looked up at him in surprise.

“You calculated this all by yourself, decided this all by yourself… And I’m just supposed to be grateful and take it? Is that what you’re saying?”

His eyes were burning with rage.

“Call your husband. I’m going to speak to him.”

The blood rushed out of Yujo’s shocked face. It was so ridiculous that she couldn’t speak. Did he truly not understand what she was saying?

Even if he was the son of the emperor and an imperial prince, it wasn’t acceptable for him to have an affair with a married woman. And he was also the Red King. Wasn’t his mother shamed for having multiple affairs with other men?

“You can’t do that.”

“What can’t I do?”

“Have you lost your mind?”

“I haven’t lost my mind.”

She began to shake. Her vision went dark. Yujo turned her head away and tightly closed her eyes. She didn’t know how she could push this man away.

“Then I guess I’ll just have to die.”

“What?”

He blanched at her words.

“If a woman with a husband carries out an affair, she will be killed by her household or she will take her own life. Isn’t that how things go?”

Yujo turned her head back and glared at him. His mother died in this manner. Did he want her to die that way as well? Her eyes screamed out this question.

“Just say it. If you do, I will end up dead. It seems that you’ve wanted this all along, Your Highness. You wanted my life.”

His face turned white as snow. His piercing eyes glared at her. She wanted him to hate her. She wanted him to scream at her for being such a disgusting woman and leave.

However, he didn’t say a word. The sound of their pained breaths surrounded them. They carried such painful wounds, and their eyes were busy hiding the hurt in their hearts.

He gazed down at her as he approached her. Her face was as cold as frost, and it no longer looked at him. No matter how much he looked, he could no longer find the warm woman who had embraced him that morning.

He chuckled bitterly. Although everyone called him a son of Heaven, in the end, he was incredibly poor.

For many years, he was unable to spend time with those he loved. Ever since he was a teenager, he lived in the cold winds of the battlefield. He finally met someone with whom he could share some warmth, but that person ultimately told him that she hated him.

“All right.”

He finally spoke.

“I can’t kill you.”

He took a step back. He was as stiff as a statue as he looked at her. In this dusty storeroom, the lady in red looked so beautiful.

I hope you live happily. He wouldn’t be able to utter this lie even if it killed him.

He walked out of the building.

She didn’t know what to do.

Her surroundings were quiet.

Yujo stood still in the empty storeroom. Her expression was blank.

The snow continued to pour down from the sky. The man who had appeared so suddenly had disappeared in an instant. Yujo looked out the window.

She couldn’t hear his footsteps. All she could see through the open window was the falling snow.

Suddenly, she ran out. When she was outside, she looked around, but she didn’t see any trace of that man.

She retraced the steps they had taken when he had been chasing her. However, all she could see was white snow. There was no one there.

She ran down another path. Her red, silk skirts dragged on the snowy ground. She didn’t see him here either. She looked outside the corridor. She could only see the crisp snow falling in the yard.

She stood still. She didn’t breathe. In this moment, she couldn’t understand why her chest hurt so much. She couldn’t understand why she found it so hard to breathe. Her tears ran down her cheeks. They dripped onto her red dress.

Such an idiot… Why are you crying like such an idiot?

She covered her lips with her hand. She was so sorry. Incredibly sorry. For speaking to him that way. For saying such hurtful words.

For not giving him her name or identity. For not thanking him for worrying about her. She was so sorry.

She had heard that he had gone to the western provinces. The women of YeonSung enjoyed hearing stories of the battlefield through their husbands and sons.

They said that a knife had been stabbed through the Red King’s shoulder this time. They said that his tent had been set on fire in the night. They said that he had been chasing after a pirate when the whole ship had sunk into the sea.

Through all this, the Red King remained persistent and brave.

People wondered whether he was half-god, half-human.

Half-god, half-human? He was human just like the rest of them. He felt pain when he was stabbed, and he would bleed when he was pricked. The winters were cold, and the seas would have been turbulent. Even if he was accompanied by many soldiers, the many battles he fought were still difficult to overcome.

The emperor’s dog. He was used in the battlefield once again. However, the glory of the empire would ultimately belong to the Crown Prince.

No, that wasn’t true. The emperor’s heart was changing. This might open a new door for the Red King.

Instead of the violent Crown Prince, wouldn’t it be more appropriate for the Red King to ascend the throne?

News of him reached her through the wind. It was carried in the falling leaves as they fell to the ground, only to be buried in the snow. Who could know what had passed between them in the summertime? Merely two nights. She had to bury the events of those two nights deep in her heart, and they must never be repeated.

It was nothing. Just a brief passing. What kind of fate was that?

Her shoulders shook as she tried to suppress her cries. Yujo collapsed onto the ground. She heard the taps as her tears dripped onto the floor, creating small dots in the wood.

Suddenly, a black, silk shoe entered her field of vision.

Yujo froze, and her breath was stuck in her throat. Her tears stopped in an instant. No way. She lifted her head. He was standing there. The man with the sharp, black eyes. He had been watching her all this time as she shed her tears.