Chapter 152.1

Chapter 152.1

‘My father is… the leader of the Sakhalin branch.’

Rigay revealed this with a shell of a face as he woke up in bed. He covered his entire face as if to hide his shame.

‘Because I’m the biological son of the leader… I studied differently from the other brothers and got into university.’

‘…,’

‘Even though that guilt feels like it’s choking me, someday I have to inherit his legacy. I’ll go back to Sakhalin once I finish the ongoing research. But… if I have a child…’

He wiped his face as if it were terrible.

‘So I thought I would live alone for the rest of my life, Zoya. But then I met you, and I fell in love…. I’m really sorry to say this, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to pass Sakhalin on to my child.’

After that, the man who had stopped eating, locked himself in the prayer room and didn’t come out all day.

Joo Seolheon stood in front of the firmly closed door, thinking that perhaps Agent Damon’s words might be right. Even if she became his wife, she hadn’t come close to the core of Rigay at all.

She had married that guarded man by coaxing, tempting, and sometimes pushing him, but in the end, she hadn’t crossed the boundary. In a way, that was quite tragic, and it made her let out a hollow laugh.

If that’s the case, then she should at least test the waters.

‘Baby, would you like me to get rid of it?’

As she casually brought up the words that might have coiled in his heart, the door that had not opened suddenly swung wide. Indeed, this person needed to be stripped of his coat by the wind, not the sunlight.

All this time, she had been going on about a love that didn’t suit her, but it seemed she had taken a wrong turn. No matter how much effort she put in, he would only smile awkwardly, and when he was in pain, he showed his true self.

‘You are a coward.’

As expected, his face turned pale.

When she got no reply, she said, ‘If that’s what you want, I’ll do it.’

‘Zoya.’

She didn’t know how extreme the Sakhalin branch was, but the doctrine opposing abortion was universal. Joo Seolheon looked at her husband’s face, gripped by fear, with an indifferent expression.

It was an unwanted pregnancy. For her, it was finally an achievement, but seeing his pale face made her stomach drop. Strangely, she felt no joy at all.

‘I’ve already committed too many sins, Zoya. I can’t possibly wash away all these sins….’

‘So what are you saying…!’

‘There are many people around me that my father has planted. Once your belly starts to show, the news will definitely reach my father’s ears.’

He held his face, frightened and sorrowed. There was a certain accuracy in pushing Rigay to a nervous breakdown. Even his wife was someone planted by someone else. Joo Seolheon maintained her expression.

‘Zoya, can we… send our child for adoption in Korea?’

‘Let’s not do that and go to America together instead,’ She seized the opportunity and pressed him once more. ‘If you hate Sakhalin that much, let’s leave together. We have many options.’

‘I left my brothers there. Am I supposed to run away alone?’

Rigay’s complexion turned dark. Joo Seolheon couldn’t understand his guilt and blindness.

A person who obeys his father yet does not seek his homeland. A person bound by the doctrines of Sakhalin yet believes his child should not suffer the same fate.

Joo Seolheon stared at the contradiction he was trapped in. Adoption? If the child does not exist for him, then the pregnancy is meaningless. She steeled her heart coldly.

From that day on, Rigay woke up every night in a cold sweat, as if tormented by nightmares. On days when he received letters from his father, the grown man would forget his sense of direction and stand blankly in the middle of the hallway.

Then he would close his mouth tightly and only open the tattered Bible. It was frustrating and pathetic to see him like that.

‘Please, Zoya… I can’t be like my father. It would be better for this child to be happy that way. Let’s send the child for adoption in Korea. I’m begging you. I shouldn’t have a child. I don’t want to have a child.’

While he thought horrifically about the brothers he had left behind, there were times when anger surged within her, thinking, how dare he turn your back on his own child?

For months, Rigay had been unable to look directly at her eyes or her growing belly, only bowing his head deeply.

As her belly grew, her husband’s frustration also swelled, and their marriage headed toward the worst. Every time a fearful gaze landed near her belly, it felt as if what was inside her was not a person, but a monster.