SH | Chapter 1.3

“Oh? This is quite interesting.”

Yoongong tilted his head slightly.

“Huh? What did you just mutter?”

Sandoli, who had been fussing over his master, immediately asked. In any case, Sandoli was a servant, and as a servant his attention was always on Yoongong.

“Nothing, you fool. Still, it’s remarkable that your ears remain open even while you’re nagging your master without a shred of decorum between rank and class.”

“Well, if a servant only does what he’s told, he’ll never get ahead in life.”

“What sort of advancement do servants get?”

At the unexpected reply, Yoongong looked at Sandoli as though he were a mysterious life form.

“What do you mean, what sort of advancement? This servant has grand dreams of going from the young master’s maidservant, to love slave, and then to steward!”

Sandoli took a deep breath and thumped his chest. Yoongong’s lips twisted at the sight of him. For a foolish servant, his plan was surprisingly shrewd.

“Fine. I’ll support you. Work hard. If you have any trouble, tell me.”

“You’re promising me that?”

“Yes. Anyway, you, Sandoli, are my servant. Why would I ignore you?”

Casually tossed words turning into a heavy promise by being picked up so readily was no small skill. Yoongong looked at Sandoli, then turned his gaze back toward the direction Soyi had walked. The yellow veil kept moving farther away.

He unfolded the folding fan in his hand with a sharp snap. Fanning himself lightly, he glanced again at Sandoli, who was muttering beside him.

“Once the young master marries and becomes the husband, this servant will stay by your side only until your baby lady appears. That said, it would be a shame to use this servant only for odd jobs, since I’m actually quite a tasty catch with all my talents! So naturally…”

As if imagining his own future success far ahead, Sandoli grinned to himself, babbling about a future that had not yet arrived.

He was a servant burdened with the heavy chain of the status he had been born into. A servant was born into a miserable fate, rolling in a land with no shade beneath the hot sun.

Sandoli was dragging that chain of status around while doing his utmost to crawl out of the wasteland. He was wriggling his way toward the shade.

He didn’t think about breaking the chain. From the start, even that kind of thought was a crime, so not even a bud of it existed. He just seemed intent on stretching the chain as far as it would go, trying to reach as far as he could.

He was a foolish, brave cur, nothing more than a kennel-bound mutt.

“…Yes, now that I think about it…”

Yoongong snapped the fan shut. He recalled the eyes he had seen beneath the vivid yellow skirt-covering veil. Even through the shadow of the veil, they had been clearly visible.

Those eyes were exactly the same as Sandoli’s burning eyes, as he babbled beside him.

“Sandoli.”

“Once I become steward, I’ll ask the madam to erase this servant’s slave record. Well, honestly, I don’t expect much! 대신 she’ll probably say she’ll give me more pay! Then I’ll ask not only for that pay, but also that my future children must not be made into slaves! After that, I’ll marry Yeon-yi, the third daughter of Uncle Seoldol from Gamnamul Village…”

“…Sandoli, would you please answer your master when he calls you?”

“Hold on a second. I’m in the middle of dreaming right now!”

“…Sandoli, if I ordered you to marry Deoksun tomorrow, your dream would shatter just like that.”

“My lord! This servant Sandoli will always be by your side, whether it snows, rains, or the wind blows!”

Sandoli answered immediately with a stalwart, reliable face. Yoongong’s gaze moved over his face and then lowered slightly. Contrary to that brave expression, Sandoli’s hands were rubbing together ingratiatingly. It was almost enough to make one laugh.

Deoksun was the daughter born to Bigeum, a maidservant his mother had brought with her when she married. She did not resemble her frail, lovely mother at all, but instead took after her massive, rough father Malsik, to the point that not even in flattery could one call her pretty.

“You really are a transparent little thing.”

“How deep must this servant’s loyalty be to be so completely visible on the outside! Hahaha!”

“You talk like a river of flowing eloquence.”

Yoongong shook his head while looking at the artificially smiling Sandoli, who had one hand on his waist.

“Enough. Stop and come closer.”

“I can tell you’re scheming someth… or maybe not! Of course it’ll be a splendid order, yes!”

Sandoli, who had been grumbling, immediately shut his mouth when he saw Yoongong open his lips as if about to say Deoksun’s name. As Sandoli came closer, Yoongong whispered quietly into his ear.

As Yoongong’s words continued, Sandoli’s expression changed moment by moment. At Sandoli’s reluctant look, Yoongong answered with eyes that seemed utterly untainted. Seeing those innocent-looking eyes, Sandoli felt as though perhaps he himself was the one thinking dirty thoughts, and his expression turned uncertain.

Yoongong gave him a faint smile. Having listened carefully to his master’s words, Sandoli fixed his gaze on one spot and nodded.

Between the two of them, as a small conspiracy took shape, the clear sunlight of the Dano day poured down brilliantly.

The door to the detached quarters where Asigol’s Geum Jinsa’s treasured daughter, Geum Soyi, stayed, opened quietly. Someone wearing a dark navy skirt-covering veil carefully checked the surroundings.

Because it was late at night, the street was quiet without a sound of human presence. The navy veil moved quickly through the darkness.

The quiet, careful footsteps seemed somehow full of anticipation.

The Geum Jinsa household in Asigol was lively with excitement, servant and master alike. No, it would not be an exaggeration to say the whole village was like that.

“Madam, it looks like our family is finally seeing light!”

“Exactly! If my subordinates weren’t watching, I’d want to dance around in delight!”

Smiles never left the faces of the couple. Their ancestral wealth had long been plentiful. Yet Geum Jinsa, who seemed hardly lacking in ability but always failed the state exams and remained merely a jinsa, had stayed at that rank.

They had bowed sincerely in the shrine where the ancestral tablets were kept. They had also gone up to the family graveyard more than once to inspect the burial sites. They didn’t even ask for first place. They only prayed to be admitted.

But it seemed Geum Jinsa’s fortune ended there.

“Still, it looks like our precious Soyi was saved all this time so she could become a jeonggyeongbuin!”

“That’s exactly it! Our Soyi becoming successful is better than the old man getting a government post!”

“Of course! My child succeeding is the best of all!”

“Father, Mother. I’ll be going in for a moment.”

Soyi’s voice came from outside the room. The two people, who had been trembling their shoulders with no trace of proper yangban dignity, quickly straightened themselves. They were about to form a marriage alliance with a family that valued daughters, yet they had been acting embarrassingly excited. They hurriedly patted their faces and fixed their expressions. They had to preserve their parents’ dignity.

“Ahem, come in.”

At Geum Jinsa’s permission, Soyi entered with a demure posture. Seeing their daughter like that, the corners of the couple’s mouths rose uncontrollably. What dignity? Honestly, they were nearly insane with how proud they felt of their daughter.

My goodness, my pretty child! So lovely, of course such a precious match came in!

My precious child, who wouldn’t even hurt if put in the eye! Who does she take after to be so lovely and beautiful?

After sending infinite love toward Soyi in their own ways, the two of them quickly composed themselves as they watched her sit gracefully.

“So, since the wedding will be held soon, you must be busy tidying things up around you. What brings you here?”

Geum Jinsa stroked his beard with dignity.

“Father, Mother. I have something important to say.”

“Is it about the wedding?”

“That too, but what I wish to say is even more important.”

Soyi’s eyes, looking at her parents, were very serious. The couple blinked and exchanged curious glances.

“Please listen to me until the end.”

“Go on. What is it?”

They were parents who cherished their only child, their sole daughter and precious treasure, Geum Soyi, as if she were made of gold and jade. Of course they would listen. Seeing the waiting faces of her parents, Soyi quietly began to speak.

Their voices could be heard softly outside the sarangchae. Outside the tightly closed sarangchae door, Ipbun kept wiping the floor again and again with a rag.

All the while, she kept looking around to make sure no one was listening.

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