Chapter 156.1

Chapter 156.1

After returning to Korea, Joo Seolheon manipulated the test results before sending them to the U.S. to prevent Sonya from being taken away.

It was true that younger brains were more susceptible to suggestion, even in a new environment, Sonya remained dazed, her focus scattered.

Meanwhile, Joo Seolheon began treating Sonya’s physical wounds. She treated the old scars on the ten-year-old’s body, her decayed teeth, and the misaligned bones from untreated fractures.

Damon ordered her to send Sonya to an orphanage rather than a regular household. “If you’re thinking of using her as an operative in the future, a rootless orphan will be far more useful.”

Joo Seolheon meticulously vetted orphanages across the country before finally sending Sonya to a shabby one run by the siblings she had once abandoned. There were far better facilities available, but she had no clear reason for choosing that one.

She needed to climb to the highest position. She didn’t know when or how Damon might demand Sonya under the pretext of Operation Red Veil, so every day felt like walking on thin ice.

Moreover, maintaining stable oversight of Sonya required a substantial budget. Joo Seolheon leveraged her U.S. connections to secure rapid promotions while relentlessly building her achievements.

Only by reaching the top would she gain the authority to plan classified operations and allocate funds.

Eventually, Sonya, as if waking from hibernation, regained clarity and adapted to her new surroundings.

Under the guise of a sponsor, Joo Seolheon received periodic reports. Tonight, she drank again: Russian vodka.

“What? They locked her in a storage room for three days without food?”

“Well, the child attacked the older boys at the orphanage without mercy…”

“How ‘without mercy’ could a child possibly be?!”

“One boy’s arm was broken, another’s pelvis was injured so badly he couldn’t walk. Some were choked, others had cracked ribs.”

“….”

Joo Seolheon pressed her fingers to her forehead and exhaled. Only then did she remember the horrors Sonya must have endured to survive in Winter Castle, the unspeakable final trials.

On days when young recruits in training uniforms visited the annex, she and Rigay would stay awake all night. She downed the burning vodka in one gulp.

“And it’s not like we starved her. Sometimes, Seoryeong behaves strangely. She refuses food or hits herself. Even when we try to dress her in nice clothes sent by you, she insists on wearing tattered ones.”

“….”

‘Rigay, no matter how much you buried her childhood memories. Could you really erase all traces of Sakhalin from that child?’

She had given the child the surname of the mother she despised. Seoryeong written with the characters for “bright” and “sunlight”, yet the girl still locked herself in dark storage rooms.

‘What do I do, Rigay? I don’t trust myself to handle this alone.’

Her stomach churned. Sonya was still unnaturally agile, barely felt pain, and rarely showed emotional shifts. When the orphanage staff expressed concerns about her temperament, Joo Seolheon immediately arranged counseling.

It turned out to be a blessing, she had been wanting to assign Sonya a kind, accepting adult figure.

Exhausted after work, Joo Seolheon played Sonya’s latest video again.

“I like what’s mine. When I grow up and have something truly precious, I’ll give it everything I have. I’ll take really good care of it. I’ll cherish it a lot.”

“What a good girl.”

The psychiatrist’s voice was gentle. What a good girl. Joo Seolheon repeated the words silently. What a good girl.

Unconsciously, she smiled, staring at the child’s face, which was gradually filling out with baby fat. Then, absentmindedly, she touched her own sagging chest.

It felt like a distant dream that milk had once flowed from them so freely. Now, they were just shapeless and useless.

Watching Sonya’s bright, round eyes, she smoked until dawn. The spacious apartment felt strangely cold and lonely. She kept thinking of that pitiful man.

Even after returning from Russia, she couldn’t break one habit, she recorded every stage of Sonya’s growth by hand. But she rarely watched the child’s gymnastics competitions.

“Expulsion?!”

“That’s…”

“The other parents have some influence in the sports industry. Their daughter was already a rising star, but then Seoryeong broke her leg during practice, and their relationship was already strained to begin with.”

“Ha! Influence? You’re talking about influence? Do you know who I am?!”

Unreasonable anger surged through her. Even she could tell her reaction was irrational, but the emotion was too overwhelming.

“The biggest issue is that Seoryeong has no will to defend herself. She won’t even try to clear her name.”

Sonya’s chronic problem was her inability to form attachments to anything.