As Woo bin left the room, Shin hye let out a shaky sigh and closed her eyes. Woo bin needn’t worry that she might change her mind. Now that the agreement had been made, she was a hundred times more impatient than he to start on their journey. The knowledge that Uncle Byeong gil and Uncle Doo hong were most likely searching for her this very moment filled her with fear.

When she had escaped the house near the end of summer, she had been caught at the entrance to her father’s club. By the time Uncle Doo hong had brought her home, he had knocked her about in the car until her lip was split, one eye was blackened, and her back and arms were covered with bruises. Two weeks of being locked in her room had followed, with little more than bread and water being past her door.

No one, not even her friends Rachel, Eun sang, and Bo na, knew the full extent of what she had undergone. Life in the Lee household had been a nightmare. The Lee's, her mother’s family, and the Shin's—her mother’s sister Ji woo and her husband, Doo hong—had joined in a collective effort to break Shin hye's will. They were angered and puzzled as to why it had been so difficult…and Shin hye was no less puzzled than they. She wouldn’t have ever thought that she could endure harsh punishment, indifference, and even hatred, without crumbling. Perhaps she had more of her father in her than anyone had guessed. Park Byung hun had been a boxer, and the secret to his success, within the rope ring and outside it, was not talent but tenacity. She had inherited the same stubbornness.

Shin hye wanted to see her father. She wanted it so badly that the longing was a physical ache. She believed he was the only person in the world who cared for her. His love was negligent, but it was more than she had ever gotten from anyone else. She understood why he had abandoned her to the Lee's long ago, directly after her mother had died in childbirth. A gaming club was no place to raise an infant. And while the Lee's were not of the elites, they were of good name. Shin hye could not help but wonder, though…if her father had known how she was to be treated, would he have made the same choice? If he’d had any inkling that the family’s anger at their youngest daughter’s rebellion would become focused on a helpless child…but there was no use in wondering now.

Her mother was dead, and her father very nearly so, and there were things that Shin hye needed to ask him before he passed away. Her best chance of escaping the Lee's clutches was the insufferable spoiled brat whom she had just agreed to marry.

She was amazed that she had managed to communicate so well with Woo bin, who was more than a little intimidating, with his Roman god beauty and deep black eyes, and a mouth made for kisses and lies. He looked like a fallen angel, replete with all the dangerous male beauty that Lucifer could devise. He was also selfish and unscrupulous, which had been proved by his attempt to kidnap his best friend’s fiancee. But it had occurred to Shin hye that such a man would be a fitting adversary for the Lee's.

Woo bin would be a terrible husband, of course. But as long as Shin hye harbored no illusions about him, she would be all right. Since she cared nothing about him, she could easily turn a blind eye to his indiscretions and a deaf ear to his insults.

How different her marriage would be from those of her friends. At the thought of them, she felt a sudden urge to cry. There was no possibility that Rachel, Bo na, or Eun sang—particularly Eun sang—would remain friends with Shin hye after she married Woo bin. Blinking back the sting of incipient tears, she swallowed against the sharp pain in . There was no use crying. Although this was hardly a perfect solution to her dilemma, it was the best one she could think of.

Imagining the fury of her aunts and uncles upon learning that she—and her fortune—were forever out of their reach, Shin hye felt her misery ease a little. It was worth anything not to have to live under their domination for the rest of her life. Worth anything, too, not to be forced into marriage with poor, cowardly Dong hee, who took refuge in eating and drinking to excess, until he was nearly too obese to fit through the doorway of his own room. Though he hated his parents almost as much as Shin hye did, Dong hee would never dare to defy them.

It had been Dong hee, ironically, who had finally driven Shin hye to escape this evening. He had come to her earlier in the day with an engagement ring, a gold band with a jade stone. “Here,” he had said, a bit sheepishly. “Omma said I was to give this to you—and you won’t be allowed to have any meals unless you wear it to the dining table. 

Upon hearing Dong hee's words, Shin hye  had felt a surge of astonished fury that brought a violent tide of scarlet to her face. 

Biting back a caustic reply, Shinhye had fought to calm herself, and concentrated on the words that swooped and dashed inside her like leaves in a violent wind. She had collected them painstakingly, and managed to ask without stammering, “Dong hee…if I agree to marry you…would you ever take my part against your parents? Would you allow me to go see my father, and take care of him?”

The smile had died on Dong hee's face, the plump pouches of his cheeks drooping as he stared into her grave eyes. His gaze dropped away and he said evasively, “They wouldn’t be so harsh with you, cuz, if you weren’t such a stubborn little rodent.”

Losing her patience, Shin hye had felt the stammer getting the