As Yejin Song waved goodbye before stepping into her car, Sofia Jeong wiped away her tears when the doors to the manor closed. Like taking off a mask, or shedding off a coat, she walked back into the bedroom she shared with the Chairman - at least supposedly. It had been years since they actually slept together, and now Kanghoon Jeong occupied the room alone every night. Sofia thought she was being at her kindest point by doing that.

If she had a choice, he would have been sleeping in a place far less comfortable than this.

"How is he now?" she asked Letitia, who was smoothing out the covers of Kanghoon's bed, as the man slept soundly. The fiasco he had pulled earlier that night ruined her opportunity at dinner with the chairlady of Bellamy, but at least she managed to salvage her sympathy. Not to mention that son of her...

"He fell asleep after we gave him the medicine," Letitia answered dutifully. 

"And Abel?"

"He did as you ordered and has kept an eye on Chairlady Song's son, we can expect him to return in a while with an update,"

Sofia nodded, "Good, that pesky boy is a problem. Even after all these years..." and she stopped muttering, it was best to keep some things to herself. "That will be all for today, you are dismissed," but Letitia seemed to hesitate, Sofia raised an annoyed brow. "What is it now? You know I don't like mumbling."

Her servant gulped before speaking, "I-It's just that well...time is running out and t-the boy-"

"Yes, I am aware of that," Sofia snapped. "And I know what I'm doing, I don't need you to remind me Letitia," she fixed her icy cold gaze on her. "Is that all?"

"Y-yes Ma'am." Letitia blurted before leaving the room. 

Sofia rolled her eyes, she didn't like people telling her what to do - even if they were somewhat true. She looked at Chairman Jeong is distaste and sat down next to him, her fingers holding his chin. Her burgundy-coloured nails dug into his skin, tempting her to commit something far worse. The agitation in her gut twisted-

She let go. Not yet, she thought. She had lasted this far, doing things brashly now meant wasting all these years. If the man died now, she would lose everything she wanted. All because of that wretched contract and will. 

The man was a fool to give his heart away to that woman, to declare so much money under her name and her son's - it made Sofia's blood boil. That mistake that sent this spiral, this mess.

If only she knew about the will, the boy needed to live.

In the void of nothing, between the cracks of dimensions, the empty fractures of the world - lay the sleeping boy. 

Sofia Jeong approached the boy as she always did when she came to visit him. Resting atop a crystal island, dressed in pants and shirtsleeves - was Jeong Yunho, in a sleep like death. She stared at him, whom she had seen age over the years. He had grown into his face, no longer the grubby little child. For someone who had been asleep for almost his entire life, the pink flush to his cheeks, the feathery shadow of his lashes made him look like a fairytale painting. 

Beautiful boy, pity. As much as she wanted to deny, it was in her blood to admire pretty things.

"Time, my treasure," she said aloud, towards him and to herself. She carressed his cheek, gentle unlike she was with the Chairman, for the sleeping boy was the key to unlock her chest. "Time will come, and you shall be my key."

The plan had begun.