Jin Ye clicked her tongue the moment she saw the exposed reddish skin. The bandage should’ve been changed regularly, but seeing that pus had formed, it clearly wasn’t.
She couldn’t understand why he left it until it became like that. She also wondered who left this wound on Seoyeob’s body.
“Who did this?”
Jin Ye was ready to drag that person and cut their hands right away. Hurting someone favored by the emperor was no different from looking down on the emperor.
Seoyeob didn’t open his lips for a while. It seemed like he needed some time to think over how to tell her. However, what Jin Ye wanted wasn’t a made-up answer.
“Don’t you dare keep a secret from me.”
Seoyeob eventually confessed.
“This person did it by his own hands.”
The answer might be a lie because it came out after a long pause. Jin Ye decided to not doubt it for now. Instead, her reproaching voice sounded quite piercing.
“Marquis Jo, do you forget your duty to protect me?”
“There’s no way I would forget it. This… this is—”
“I don’t need your excuse. Get out and treat it properly.”
Seoyeob shut his eyes tight as he was cut off. Yet it was only for a moment. He quietly pulled up his clothes. Looking at the unusual slow movement, Jin Ye noticed the words Seoyeob expected to hear from her.
Does it hurt? Don’t get hurt again next time.
He must have been wanting her to say those warm words. She knew about it.
Nevertheless, Jin Ye didn’t let it out of her lips.
Jo Seoyeob was her loyalist. Except for that, his value was…
Nothing.
She knew that he was a man that would willingly give his life because of the love he had for her, but Jin Ye only wanted his life, not his feelings.
She hated such emotional play.
Expecting, getting disappointed, and breaking down. In the end, to stand up again when there’s a hope seen.
All those emotional phases were so terrible.
Rather than those, what she needed was…
“You have no qualification.”
The power enough to shut up the mouths of those who brazenly declared that in front of her.
To announce that in this world ruled by men, she was above them and had the power to control the world.
Her goal had come true steadily. There was no one who didn’t kneel before her, and she was close to exterminating the ikjaes that had been dirtying this world for 300 years.
In that process, there was no way trivial feelings had any use.
Thus, with a faint voice, she purposely called Seoyeob right before he left the room.
“Seoyeob.”
Seoyeob, who had neatly tidied up his clothes, stopped before the door. It seemed like he held hope from her call. Still, like what had been stated, it was only a hope. Jin Ye completely crushed that.
“Has the name seal not yet appeared on your body?”
She saw Seoyeob bit his lips with his head down. Whenever he heard this question from Jin Ye, he always drew a desperate expression.
“Yes, it still has yet to appear. There are some people who didn’t get their name seals, so I’m not waiting for it…”
His voice went faint as if he was really troubled to finish his words. Jin Ye quietly stared at him. Just now, there was a lie mixed in.
Behind his words, there was a sincere wish hoping for it to not appear. The moment it appeared, his fate would be unavoidably drawn into it.
Therefore, Jin Ye decided to strike the right spot. She knew this was a hurtful question, but this was essentially needed in their relationship. A clear warning so that Jo Seoyeob wouldn’t cross the line.
“Don’t you mean you’re hoping it wouldn’t appear?”
Seoyeob raised his head and looked straight at Jin Ye. A faint resentment flashed in his eyes.
Why do you always ask that?
It was that kind of gaze.
Nevertheless, Seoyeob never went against Jin Ye. He knew very well about his position. That Jin Ye only wanted his unconditional loyalty and the fact that the moment he broke that, his value would become nothing.
He didn’t answer and only looked a bit troubled.
“I will take my leave.”
Still, the line needed to be drawn. Jin Ye stopped him from leaving.
“Seoyeob.”
As she called his name, Seoyeob’s eyes shook. Truthfully, Jin Ye always felt burdened by the hope that never left those eyes.
It would be better if you don’t love me.
It would be better if you stopped because you couldn’t hold it anymore.
She sincerely hoped for that.
However, as always, Jo Seoyeob never surrendered. He said that it was rather his joy to be exploited next to her.