Months ago, when Yeri had insisted on breaking up and deliberately avoided him, Shin had obtained the first report on Zhi Corporation.
Back then, during the casino visit with Tristan, both of them had been baffled by the discovery of large sums of money transferred overseas to shell companies and obscure foundations.
Now it made sense. Klaus Zhi wasn't exactly ignorant of his brother's schemes. If anything were to happen to him and Nolan succeeded, his wife and children would likely be left with nothing. So he had prepared a contingency in advance, an overseas fund account for them.
Judging by the expression on Yeri's face, even if Klaus Zhi had prepared an escape route for her, she would never be selfish or cowardly enough to flee abroad, abandoning the father who loved her so deeply.
Change her mind about the wedding?
Even with her doubts about this marriage, Shin had already sealed off every possible exit.
"How long have you known about this?" Yeri asked, watching him warily.
Shin smiled, a hint of something unreadable flickering in his eyes. "Since you were busy avoiding me. But whether I knew or not doesn't really matter." His gaze shifted to the documents in her hands. "As you can see, if your father were to lose the company to your uncle, would you really leave and hide abroad?"
Yeri fell silent.
So this was why Shin Keir had been so confident, why he never once doubted that she wouldn't back out of marrying him.
Aside from the matter about Leo Nafplion, there was an even more important reason she couldn't walk away. She knew how much her father loved and valued this company. It was her grandfather's legacy, entrusted to her father precisely because he knew that if her uncle ever became CEO, he would only tarnish and destroy it.
"Can you stop it?" she asked, almost in a whisper.
Shin's smile deepened, calm and absolute.
"Trivial."
Yeri "..."
In truth, there was no real reason for her to refuse this marriage.
Even if she felt like a fish laid out on the chopping board, there was no such thing as a free meal in this world.
She couldn't possibly ask him to protect her family and help her father without offering something in return.
"This transfer agreement is unnecessary," Yeri said quietly. "You're already helping my family more than enough."
Shin's expression shifted, ever so slightly. "And I've already told you this isn't a marriage alliance." He paused, then asked coolly, "Let me ask you something. Do you feel cornered with this marriage?"
Yeri stared at him blankly, her silence only irritating him further.
"Yeri Zhi!" he snapped through clenched teeth.
Only then did she snap out of her thoughts. "Not really. I just… have a lot on my mind."
"Not really?"
"Well…" Yeri hesitated. It didn't exactly count as being cornered. She simply disliked having no fallback plan, no insurance of her own.
Besides, if she hadn't met Shin Keir, her parents would most likely have sent her abroad.
"Anyway," she waved a hand, "don't think I'm being forced into this marriage or that I'm against it. That's not what I mean. But this transfer- "
"It's your compensation," Shin cut in calmly. "For the time you were nearly harmed when we were chased by mercenaries."
Yeri froze. "Compensation? You mean…" Her eyes widened. "You found the person behind it? Who was it?"
Shin didn't bother hiding the truth. "My cousin. Hadi."
Yeri was left speechless. So it really was the usual family struggle for inheritance, power, and wealth.
She shot him a sharp look, then flipped through the documents again. Finding nothing suspicious, she signed her name without further hesitation.
Had she known it was compensation, she would have signed it long ago. After all, if Shin Keir hadn't been skilled enough to fight back that day, she would have died without ever knowing why.
By any standard, this was reasonable compensation.
"Why didn't you tell me in the first place…" Yeri muttered under her breath.
If she had signed without asking, she would have assumed it was some overly generous engagement or pre-wedding gift. Did he want her to think that?
Truly a capitalist.
"So," Shin said, setting the documents aside, clearly satisfied with the matter of the three percent shares. "What did you mean by 'not really'? Explain."
Yeri felt her scalp prickle. This was one of his most irritating traits, this sharp, relentless interrogation that made her feel like a suspect under questioning.
"Misunderstandings tend to breed more misunderstandings," Shin said evenly. "Left to rot, they become rifts. Isn't it better to talk things through?"
Yeri fell silent.
After several rounds of back-and-forth, she finally lost the battle of logic and exhaled in defeat.
"I'm just… worried," she admitted quietly. "That after we get married, you'll mistreat me."
Shin's mouth twitched. He had never imagined there would come a day when he would hear such words from her.
Mistreated? Did she have any idea what kind of demon she had been when she was still Jewel?
The thought was almost laughable.
With a quiet sigh, Shin reached for his laptop and began typing, leaving Yeri staring at him in confusion. His fingers moved swiftly, decisively, as though this were a matter he had already settled long ago.
It didn't take long. He finished, printed the document, and handed it to her.
Yeri accepted it absent-mindedly, then froze.
It was another agreement. One that stated he would transfer all of his assets to her in the event that he ever mistreated her after their marriage.
Once again, shock exploded behind her eyes like fireworks. Her mind buzzed, and the thin sheet of paper in her hands felt impossibly heavy.
She really wanted to rip his head open and see what on earth was going on inside it.
Shin Keir was not a man ruled by emotions. He wasn't lovestruck, nor impulsive, so why would he go so far as to draft a contract so utterly unfavorable to himself, one that could cost him everything he had built over a lifetime?
"Are you that confident I wouldn't scam you?" Yeri scoffed. "Or are you just so confident I won't sign this?"
Shin shrugged casually. "I'm just that confident." After a brief pause, he added, "Besides, I can understand why you'd feel uneasy."
Yeri eyed him warily, her gaze flicking back and forth between his face and the document in her hands.
Suddenly, a dangerous temptation stirred in her chest.
What if she try her ability again? Maybe the first time she had failed because of exhaustion, anxiety, or bad timing.
This was too important to leave unanswered. She couldn't allow him to lead her along without knowing what kind of trap or truth lay beneath.
Her expression shifted.
Yeri moved closer and sat beside him, then leaned in and wrapped her arms around him.
"Brother Shin, thank you," she said sweetly, her voice soft and affectionate. "You're really so good to me… I can't believe you'd go this far for me."
Shin "..."
"This is something that needs time to think over, don't you agree?" Yeri continued smoothly. "I'll hold onto this contract for now."
"Alright," Shin replied after a beat, letting the matter drop without resistance.
They chatted for a while afterward about trivial, unimportant things. Eventually, Yeri made an excuse about assignments and returned to her room.
At around three in the morning, Yeri's alarm rang.
Groggy, she forced herself upright, rubbing her eyes. She reminded herself again and again that she was doing the right thing, for herself, and for her future.
She had to know if he was brewing some kind of conspiracy.
At this hour, he should be asleep.
She crept down the corridor and knocked gently on his door. No response. Heart pounding, she slowly turned the knob and slipped inside.
The room was completely dark, blackout curtains drawn tightly over the floor-to-ceiling windows. Still, she remembered the layout well enough. After a moment, she located the bed and Shin, lying asleep upon it.
Yeri carefully sat on the edge of the bed, nudging him lightly, like a ghost hovering between worlds. He didn't stir.
For a moment, she hesitated. What if he woke up? Maybe she should have slipped him a sleeping pill first.
Time passed. Finally, she clenched her fingers and made her decision. It shouldn't be a problem since she wasn't going to alter anything. She wouldn't do it like she had done for Sister Lianna.
She would only take a glimpse. Just a peek into Shin Keir's memories.
Yeri stealthily lay down beside him, carefully placing her hand over his outstretched one.
The moment their skin touched, her consciousness was violently yanked away, as if her soul had been ripped from her body.
For a split second, she saw it again. That cold, hollow abyss, endless, lightless, so profound that she couldn't even see her own hands.
Then she jolted awake.
Despite the dimness of the room, she could clearly see his menacing, sharp, utterly dangerous gaze.
Fear seized her throat. She screamed, scrambling backward, nearly tumbling off the bed if not for Shin grabbing her leg mid-fall.
"What are you doing, scaring people like that?!" she scolded instinctively, completely forgetting that she was the one who had broken into his room in the dead of night.
Shin switched on the lamp. He frowned the moment he saw her properly and reached out as if to grab her arm.
Terrified by the look in his eyes, Yeri fumbled backward, desperately trying to put distance between them. "Th-that I was just checking!"
"Your nose is bleeding."
Yeri froze. Unconsciously, she touched her nose. When she pulled her fingers back, they were stained red. She stared at the blood in a daze.
Shin let out a heavy sigh. He got up, retrieved a tissue, and returned to the bed. Without waiting for her consent, he gently wiped the blood away.
"Lie down," he ordered.
Still reeling, Yeri obeyed, her mind racing as she desperately searched for an excuse that might explain why she was in his room at three in the morning.
However, Shin already knew she was up to something again. What he hadn't expected was for her to attempt using that demon ability on him again.
Didn't she understand that every use came with a backlash?
If there was one thing that hadn't changed between the succubus Jewel of the past and Yeri now, it was her complete disregard for her own well-being.