Flowers Are Bait - Chapter 196:

Crash! The sound was like a thunderous explosion, and it was impossible to distinguish it from a gunshot. The glass tumbler, which accurately struck the man’s forehead, shattered into pieces, and his previously smiling face turned grim.

Blood gushed from his torn forehead down to his nose.

In the moment the man released his grip, Lee-yeon didn’t even look back; she immediately started running. Her fear-stricken legs moved faster than her thoughts. Sixty or so cottage windows all went dark simultaneously, and even the lights in the garden were switched off, plunging everything into darkness. It all happened almost at the same time.

“Darling, bear with the dizziness a little longer, I’m really sorry…!” He said from behind the escaping Lee-yeon.

When she removed the mask, her vision went pitch black, but she was intimately familiar with every corner of this garden. Escaping through all those people was impossible from the beginning. Even if she managed to hide, she couldn’t run far.

Instead, Lee-yeon thought of the tallest tree nearby. She calmly changed direction and discreetly made her way to the back of the tree. She covered her mouth and pressed herself against the trunk whenever she heard footsteps. Even in doing so, her heart felt like it was about to explode, and her lungs stung.

Her head spun in confusion, and dizziness overwhelmed her.

Trembling, she tightly grasped the tree with her shaking hands and pressed her feet against the trunk. In the darkness and urgency, her feet kept slipping, but she gritted her teeth, hearing the sounds of people chasing after her. Her palms were scraped and torn, but she felt no pain.

“Hah… haa…”

Finally, Lee-yeon climbed up the tree and looked down. Some were running, and others were staggering. There were men and women, young and old. But all of them were trampling the flower beds or staring at the ground.

But there was only one person—.

While everyone else was looking down, there was someone looking up at the sky.

“……!”

“…….”

The person who knew well that she was skilled at climbing trees.

***

However, Lee-yeon couldn’t determine whether he was a friend or foe. Her heart pounded with a sense of impending disaster, especially when she saw the anger-filled eyes pinpoint her exact location. As he approached with hurried steps, her lips gradually became dry.

It was his same intense gaze when they reunited on the day they met Kwon Chae-woo. Yes, he had come to capture her again. With that conclusion in mind, Lee-yeon hugged the tree trunk tightly and trembled uncontrollably, enduring the pounding heartbeat that seemed to echo in her ears.

She suddenly lost sight of him as she managed to withstand the throbbing in her temples. He disappeared into the darkness as if he had melted away, and Lee-yeon frantically looked around.

It was at that moment when leaves rustled and a powerful vibration was felt.

“…!”

Turning around, she saw Kwon Chae-woo climbing the tree with fierce determination, without any warning or announcement.

“Gasp…!”

Every time she blinked, he got closer, closing in with an intense force.

Without seeming to move his feet at all, he defied gravity as if he were performing parkour training. His strength and agility were astonishing, rivaling that of a leopard.

Lee-yeon couldn’t even scream and only grit her lips together in fear. The impulse to run away surged within her, but there was nowhere to go this time.

Finally, Kwon Chae-woo firmly grabbed her arm with a bone-jutting grip. When she instinctively opened her mouth, he sternly warned her, his voice low and menacing.

“Don’t say a word. I told you not to babble.”

His white knuckles were as if they were about to burst into flames as he endured the pain. Lee-yeon gazed at the prominent veins on his forehead and then shifted her gaze to his flaring nostrils. His menacing gaze suffocated her.

“Come here and wrap your legs quietly around my waist.”

“…. What?”

Lee-yeon was taken aback, not understanding his request.

“Wrap your legs around me,” he demanded.

“Why? What are you planning to do if you take me away?” Lee-yeon’s voice was laced with caution, but Kwon Chae-woo unhesitatingly slipped his hand into her side.

“Let go of me…! This―”

Before she could protest any further, Lee-yeon found herself pulled into his arms. As she tried to steady herself, her trembling hand accidentally touched his neck, which was strangely covered in cold sweat.

Kwon Chae-woo buried his face in the crook of her neck and took a breath that could be interpreted as relief or pain. The heaviness and duration of his breaths made her frozen body stiffen even more. In a hushed voice, she murmured,

“If you so much as touch me with a single finger…”

“I’ll cut them all off.”

“What?”

“All those fingers that touched your clothes, I’ll make sure their owners regret it.”

Lee-yeon’s face showed confusion. More than the perverse interests of the party guests, it was Kwon Chae-woo’s words that frightened her the most.

“But you’re here to catch me too, aren’t you?”

He had been one of the people who just watched when the locals attacked her. Besides, objectively speaking, there was no reason to trust him, especially since he was a nobleman hosting such a party.

“How much more do you want to make me miserable? You destroyed my sacred tree, ruined my trial, and turned my house into a mess. And when I got hurt, you just pretended not to see me.”

His warm breath on her neck suddenly stopped.