“I’ll get you out of here.”
The words, spoken so lightly, kept echoing in my mind. I thought I had long since abandoned any foolish hopes, yet Choi Yeo-min’s unwavering gaze had shaken me without me realizing it.
But Choi Yeo-min was just an attendant. He wasn’t someone who could take me out of this mansion, enclosed on all sides. Even if I managed to step outside this bedroom, I wouldn’t get far before being caught. And even if I remained unharmed, Choi Yeo-min—
‘No, don’t think about it.’
I shook my head, pushing away useless thoughts. Letting out a deep sigh, I rested my chin on my sharply bent knees. I gazed out the window absentmindedly when suddenly, a strong floral scent enveloped me.
“What are you looking at?”
His lips pressed close to my ear as he whispered. Instead of answering, I gestured toward the window with a tilt of my chin. He lifted his head from where he had been nuzzling against my nape and followed my gaze.
“There’s nothing there.”
“There’s a garden. And people.”
Frowning slightly, he turned back to face forward. Then, as if losing interest in the view, he rubbed his head against me, insisting that I stop looking outside and play with him instead. Even when I told him to let go, he ignored me—until he finally scooped me up from where I was perched on the windowsill.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
“You keep looking outside. Play with me instead.”
With a bright smile, he lifted me higher and pressed a light kiss to my lips. My eyes widened in shock before my expression quickly hardened. I squirmed in irritation, trying to break free, but he held me effortlessly and began walking.
Passing the bed, he suddenly threw the door open. The guards outside straightened and bowed deeply upon seeing him. Glancing around briefly, he strode off—not toward the garden, but in the opposite direction.
“Where are we going?”
“I’m going to show you where you’ll be staying from now on, Seo-yul hyung.”
“Where the hell—”
His steps were leading us toward the heart of the mansion. After all this time of keeping me confined to my bedroom, I couldn’t fathom why he was suddenly taking me elsewhere.
We passed through an entrance guarded by security, heading toward the grand banquet hall—the busiest place in the mansion. The attendants preparing for the Day of the District stopped what they were doing and bowed deeply as he approached.
“Greetings to the young master of the District.”
He ignored the greetings of the people and walked straight through the banquet hall, heading elsewhere. The gazes of those around us all turned toward me in his arms. In a hurry, I raised my hand to cover my face, but that wasn’t enough to fully hide myself.
“Please put me down.”
“If I put you down, will you walk with me?”
“No, I’ll go back to my room.”
“That’s exactly why I’m not putting you down.”
He was relentless. I struggled again, but the more I resisted, the tighter his arms locked around me. Even as I squirmed, he didn’t stop walking.
I had no idea how far we had gone. By the time the distance back to my bedroom felt impossibly far, he finally came to a halt. Then, with surprising gentleness, he set me down. Just as I was about to say something, a small yellow butterfly flitted past my eyes.
Following the delicate flutter of its wings, my gaze shifted—and there it was. An endless field of flowers, and in the middle of it all, a brilliantly shimmering blue lake.
“This place—”
“Do you remember?”
Time had passed, and many things had changed, but there was no way I wouldn’t recognize this place. How could I forget the garden where I once came with him when he was still so small? The way he had been so delighted, standing freely under the sunlight for the first time—it was still so vivid in my memory.
“Do you want to go over there?”
His hand, approaching hesitantly, brushed against my arm. His fingertips tickled my wrist before sliding lower, slipping gently between my fingers. I watched as our fingers slowly intertwined, then lifted my gaze to meet his.
“Once the Day of the District is over, you won’t have to stay cooped up in your room anymore. You’ll be moving somewhere else. Somewhere much bigger than where you are now.”
“Where?”
“Near this greenhouse. I asked for this place.”
Still holding my hand, he led me toward the center of the greenhouse. The soft crunch of grass beneath our feet filled the air. Compared to the small garden that had fit in a single glance, this greenhouse was vast beyond comparison. As I took it all in, we arrived at the lake’s edge.
“Do you want to dip your feet in?”
“No, I’m fine—”
Before I could even finish my sentence, he bent down and gently slipped off my shoes. The damp blades of grass clung to my bare feet, making me curl my toes at the strange sensation.
“Come here.”
He had already taken off his own shoes and was waiting. Cautiously, I dipped my feet into the lake, but unlike the warmth of the greenhouse, the water was ice-cold. I shivered violently, and he burst into laughter.
“It’s freezing.”
“But doesn’t it feel nice?”
I stomped my feet in the water, trying to shake off the chill that felt like it could make my hair stand on end. I couldn’t take it anymore—I was about to step out when he suddenly grabbed me and pulled me into a tight embrace.
“Hey! Let go of me!”
Before I knew it, my feet left the ground, and my world flipped upside down. By the time I regained my senses, I was thrashing in the freezing water.
As I barely managed to pull myself up, he clutched his stomach, laughing at the sight of me, drenched like a wet rat. I swept my soaked hair back and steadied my breathing before lunging at him.
And just like that, our scuffle to dunk each other into the water began. Since I couldn’t overpower him, I resorted to clinging onto him, ensuring that if I went down, he did too.
After going under and resurfacing multiple times, the icy water that had initially felt unbearable started to feel refreshing. Either I had adjusted to the temperature, or I had been moving so much that my body was heating up.
“Enough, I give up!”
He was the first to surrender. Still latched onto him like a cicada clinging to a tree, I didn’t stop even after hearing his declaration. Only after dunking him into the water one more time did I finally let go, shaking the water off my hands in satisfaction.
“I said I give up.”
His head barely peeked out from the water as he pouted. I shamelessly shrugged, pretending not to have heard him. He sprang up as if he was about to tackle me but then just let out a long sigh instead.
“Aren’t you cold?”
Wading closer, he reached out and swept my wet hair back as he asked. Even after I assured him I was fine, he pressed his hand to my forehead to check my temperature himself before finally believing me.
His fingers, tracing my damp cheek, followed the trail of water droplets downward. When they brushed against the sensitive skin of my neck, my shoulders tensed involuntarily. His flame-colored eyes locked onto mine, their intensity slowly deepening.
“Do you like this place?”
Caught off guard by the sudden question, I simply blinked. He asked again—do I like this greenhouse? When I gave him a small nod, he smiled, withdrawing his hand from my neck.
“I’ll show you many other beautiful places too. The mansion in District 1 has so much to offer. It would take more than a month just to explore it all.”
I already knew that District 1’s mansion was incomparable to District 5 in size. But until now, my world had been limited to his bedroom. I had never been allowed to see beyond it.
And yet, now he was saying he would show me more of the mansion. Most likely because, after the Day of the District, he would become the district leader—and I would become his partner. Whether it was a small prison or a vast one, it didn’t change the fact that I was still trapped.
“I’ll create places that you’ll love, Seo-yul hyung. If they don’t exist, I’ll build them for you.”
His voice softened as he lowered himself to one knee. His damp lips pressed against the back of my soaked hand before trailing upward, grazing over the protruding bone of my wrist with a light bite. A chill ran down my spine.
“I’ll give you anything you want.”
“You don’t even know what I want.”
“Anything—except leaving me.”
He tacked on that condition swiftly, making me sigh. Looking down into those relentless red eyes, I voiced the question I had been asking again and again.
“Is Se-yul alive?”
“…….”
“You just said you’d give me anything except leaving. So tell me. Is Se-yul alive?”
I had already heard from Choi Yeo-min that Se-yul was alive, but I needed to hear it from him myself. His lips parted after a moment of hesitation.
“…If I let you meet Han Se-yul, will you stay by my side?”
Only then did I fully believe it—Se-yul was truly alive. The crushing weight that had been pressing down on my chest seemed to dissolve.
“Seo-yul hyung…!”
He shot up and caught me as I staggered. His drenched embrace was damp and suffocating. I tried to push him away, insisting I was fine, but before I could, he effortlessly lifted me into his arms.
Stepping out of the lake, he placed me onto the soft grass. Just as he was about to leave to fetch something to dry me off, I grabbed his arm.
“Are you really going to let me meet Se-yul?”
The moment I mentioned Se-yul’s name, his face twisted into a frown. He initially tried to brush my hand off, but instead, he crouched down to meet my gaze.
“If I let you meet Han Se-yul… will you stay by my side?”
