Chapter 55.1

Chapter 55.1

Even while trying to keep calm and think straight, Seok-kyung kept replaying Ara’s words in his head.

‘A guy named Suho, a human working here as a public health doctor.’

He’d disguised pricey jewelry as fakes and handed them over like gifts. And then, with nerve to spare, he’d even spun some crap about a bride. No doubt the bastard had his eyes on Ara.

“And Suho isn’t a bad person, senior or no,.” was Ara’s words.

Too bad Ara clearly didn’t have a clue.

“He’s not a bad person, but he lies like that? Call someone nice twice and he’ll sell off the whole damn country.”

With no one around to hear, Seok-kyung muttered to himself, filling his empty cup with more cold water.

So she wore that guy’s gift out in plain sight, but the one he’d given her was shoved away in her room like some holy relic?

‘Thank you.’

She’d looked ready to cry when she said that. Was it because she liked it or because she didn’t?

The thought made his insides flare up again. He downed the water in one shot.

But the fire of jealousy blazing in his chest wasn’t about to die from a few swallows. It only burned hotter, like it was trying to scorch him from the inside out, leaving him with the kind of thirst only a starving ghost could know.

Over a gift, of all things. He’d done what he should; returned gesture for gesture. What did it matter if she liked it or not? What did it matter if she was dumb enough to fall for a scammer’s lies? Like Ara said herself, what difference did it make?

She was just… a human he had a contract with. As long as she didn’t get hurt by some stray spirit, that should’ve been enough.

‘But what if… just maybe… that faint aura he’d sensed earlier wasn’t from some random spirit?’

No. Couldn’t be. But then again, if it really was some half-baked ghost, wasn’t that even worse? Rumors would spread that the king himself couldn’t even drive off a worthless wraith.

What finally tipped his unease over the edge were Ara’s last words before she left.

‘I’ll go grab groceries before it gets too late.’

Which meant she might run into that guy again while shopping.

“So gullible… always falling for the worst people.”

He spat the words he didn’t even believe, setting the glass down with a sharp clink.

“What a damn nuisance.”

Clack. The glass slammed against the marble countertop one last time before Seok-kyung finally turned and walked out of the dining room.

If it had come to this, he’d just see for himself.

He wanted to know what kind of man could be so much kinder than him, someone who wouldn’t make her miserable.

He wanted to see if that human Ara trusted so foolishly really was harmless to her.

***

Not long after, Seok-kyung stood in the middle of Shinya Town’s market street.

“Back again, newlywed. Come by next time too, I’ll throw in some extras.”

“Thank you. I’ll be back, grandma.”

Ara stepped out of the vegetable stall she always visited, both hands loaded with bags. The shopkeeper, grinning, walked her to the door to send her off.

“Alright, if I go now I’ll make it just in time.”

Balancing the heavy bags, Ara picked up her pace and headed somewhere.

Seok-kyung trailed her at a careful distance.

Thanks to the goblin’s cap he wore, neither Ara nor the crowd around them noticed him at all.

That made it easy to shadow her. People and the market’s bustling air brushed past him as if he were nothing more than a ghost.

It had been a long time since he’d felt this kind of liveliness. Chasing after Ara’s back as it flickered in and out of sight between the crowd, his mind drifted to a memory not so long ago.

‘Honey. They gave it with good intentions, just take it.’

‘Who told you to play the newlywed first? You started it.’

Her playful voice, teasing bolder than his own joke. He remembered her wrapping her arm around his and tugging him closer.

‘The grandma I treated at the clinic dropped by when I was shopping. Said if I had a bride, I should give her this.’

And that guileless face, repeating the conman’s words like she believed every bit of it.

“What bride, my a*s.”

Seok-kyung’s complaint slipped out without him realizing.

“Ara!”

Suho suddenly appeared out of the crowd, waving her over.

“Senior.”

Dragging her bags with effort, Ara’s face lit up the instant she spotted him. Even her voice calling out to him was carefree.

Seok-kyung quickened his pace until the tip of his shoe stopped right beside the two of them.

“What’s all this? You bought so much. Didn’t you bring a cart?”

“I rushed out and forgot.”

Up close, Ara was smiling like she’d never been downcast in her life.

Seok-kyung clenched his jaw before he realized it. His fingers, twisted tight behind his back, had gone pale.

With him, she’d been skittish, tearful at the drop of a hat. Yet here she was, grinning at a fraud, and he hated every second of it.