Vol. 1 Chapter 1.2

A sharp knocking on the door shattered her train of thought. So-jin’s eyebrows knit together at the unannounced interruption.

“We explicitly told them the Young Miss needed absolute quiet!”

So-jin huffed and flung the door open, revealing a man who appeared to be a retainer of the Hwangbo Clan. Met with the maid’s fiercely glaring eyes, he looked thoroughly put on the spot.

“Do you not know what state the Young Miss is in? Barging in like this all of a sudden ”

“No that’s not it… The Young Master of the Peng Clan has arrived.”

“What?”

Her eyes widening in shock, So-jin rushed back to Yeon’s side.

“Young Miss! The Young Master is here! Oh dear what do we do? We haven’t prepared anything…”

“Young Master?”

“Don’t tell me you forgot him too? Young Master Peng Dong-hu, your fiancé!”

As So-jin anxiously stamped her feet, the broken chain of Yeon’s thoughts suddenly clicked into place.

Peng Dong-hu, and the Peng Clan of Hebei.

 

Those were the exact names that played the most decisive role in bringing about the destruction of the Hwangbo Clan.

Right at that moment, someone pushed past the Hwangbo retainer and strode confidently into the room.

“So, you really did wake up.”

For the son of a prestigious martial family, Peng Dong-hu possessed a rather plump, stout build. He wore a traditional robe that was a size too large, a clever styling choice that hid his distinctly un-martial physique while giving the illusion of a broader, more imposing frame. Though, of course, it couldn’t even begin to compare to a naturally massive giant like Hwangbo jeong gun.

Yeon looked at Peng Dong-hu as Hwangbo Yeon remembered him, from a third-party perspective.

This is the bastard.

He was the primary culprit behind breaking the original Hwangbo Yeon’s spirit, leaving her entirely powerless. His specialty was psychological manipulation. Digging through Hwangbo Yeon’s memories, it was clear he had already laid the groundwork. Had she not collapsed from her illness, her mental state would have been utterly devastated by now.

Utterly oblivious to the storm brewing in Yeon’s mind, Peng Dong-hu turned to So-jin and offered a gentle sugary smile.

“Would you mind giving us a moment alone?”

“Of course, Young Master.”

Without a shred of suspicion, So-jin bowed and stepped outside. It was painfully obvious she had no idea what a monster he truly was.

Now that they were finally isolated, the mask slipped. The shift in Peng Dong-hu’s expression was subtle but Yeon didn’t miss it. The second young master of the prestigious Hebei Peng Clan, who had just acted with such impeccable courtesy toward a mere maid was subtly shedding his disguise. He strolled leisurely behind Yeon’s back, his voice dropping to a low whisper.

“You’ve been asleep for far too long.”

When his hand brushed her shoulder, Yeon gasped. It wasn’t out of nervousness it was pure unadulterated rage.

According to the timeline, this was the exact period when Peng Dong-hu was practically living in brothels. Having realized he had no talent for martial arts, he had essentially abandoned his training entirely.

To think that while his fiancé was lying on her deathbed, this bastard was drowning himself in pleasure at a courtesan house and now he had the audacity to bring those exact same cheap groping habits here. It made her blood boil.

As if to prove her theory right, Peng Dong-hu’s fingers slid from her rounded shoulder, tracing slowly toward her collarbone. As his hand began to creep lower, he sighed.

“Do you have any idea how difficult this has been for me?”

It was a classic textbook manipulation tactic, flipping the script to make the victim feel guilty. If he was acting like this toward someone who had literally just opened her eyes from a coma, she could only imagine how brutally he had gaslit the original owner in the past.

Unable to stomach it for another second, Yeon snapped.

“Stop right there.”

If it were up to her usual temperament, she would have flipped the table and shattered his jaw by now. However, Peng Dong-hu hadn’t explicitly crossed the line into physical assault just yet. More importantly, Yeon was still caught in a web of existential doubt. She hadn’t fully accepted that she was now Hwangbo Yeon, nor was she certain if she had the right to completely derail this girl’s destined life.

Amused by her resistance, a soft scoff echoed right by her ear.

“I’ve told you this countless times, Yeon. I am your fiancé.”

“And?”

“And? A loving couple needs intimacy. Anyone else would have lost their patience by now. I’m practically a saint for putting up with you this long. Don’t you think you’re being a bit too cruel to me?”

Dialogue this sickeningly detailed had definitely not been in the original novel.

“Or what, are you planning to call off the engagement? If we break it off, you do realize the blame will fall entirely on you, correct? I’ll have no choice but to explain the exact reasons why to the entire martial world.”

Suddenly, it all clicked. Yeon finally understood why the original Hwangbo Yeon had let herself be dragged around by this piece of trash. Scandal, broken engagements, public ruin these were terrifying concepts for a fragile sheltered lady to bear.

Taking Yeon’s silence as total submission, Peng Dong-hu moved his hand again. Drunk on a sense of conquest, his daring fingers crept dangerously close to an unacceptable boundary. It was past the point of unpleasantness, it made her skin crawl.

“We almost got to do this last time, before your father ruined it by barging in. That oblivious old man protects you far too much. He has no idea that his coddling is precisely what’s ruining you.”

His hand slithered beneath the front folds of her robe like a creeping viper.

At that exact millisecond, Yeon’s patience snapped like a brittle twig.

It seemed Young Master Peng was in desperate need of a reality check. The Yeon currently occupying Hwangbo Yeon’s body was not the type to sit back and take things lying down.

“Hey.”

With a brutal vice-like grip, Yeon snatched Peng Dong-hu’s wrist and locked her gaze onto his. Before the startled man could even open his mouth to protest, a freezing command cut through the air.

“Get your hands off me, you piece of trash.”