SH | Chapter 1.6

Seeing his dazed look, Seolseol beat her chest hard.

“Master Geum will of course deny knowing anything. And since the young miss disappeared without a trace, they’ll obviously suspect you. Naturally, you’ll be dragged to the magistrate’s office! And then they’ll ask, where did you smuggle the young miss to, or did you kill her, or what reason did you have for sneaking into the Left State Councillor Park Daegam’s house disguised as a bride, or who ordered you to do it, and they’ll beat you until you confess the truth! That’s exactly how this will go! I can see it so clearly, you fool!”

“Why would I smuggle the young miss away? And what motive would a servant like me even have!”

Seolseol rattled off impossible-sounding predictions without taking a breath. Donggu was dumbstruck by that outrageous imagination.

“This has about a ninety percent chance of happening, you fool. A family as powerful as theirs must have tons of enemies! Do you think they’d just shrug off a suspicious man-bride by saying he’s only a servant?”

At Seolseol’s continuing warnings, Donggu’s face gradually became frightened.

“If you don’t want to die unjustly, you’d better remember that you’ll have to sleep with your eyes open, poor thing!”

Seolseol gave him a serious warning with a hardened face. Donggu swallowed hard. He had only thought the bride substitute business was absurd.

But apparently that simple bride substitute business came with all kinds of other problems. It was too serious for Donggu to handle.

“Should I run away?”

Donggu whispered with utmost seriousness. Seolseol snorted.

“I swear you won’t get even ten li away. They were desperate enough to use a man, not even a woman, as a bride substitute. Do you think Master and Madam would just let you run? They’ve probably set traps all over the place.”

“What kind of lightning strike is this supposed to be!”

At Seolseol’s warning, Donggu’s face collapsed completely. He beat his chest with trembling arms. He felt like he was going to burst from frustration.

“Hold still, you fool! You’ll tear the fine clothes.”

“If they rip, then let them rip! They’re not even my clothes, so why should I care?”

Even if the clothes ripped, they weren’t his, so he wasn’t sorry for them. He just felt suffocated. In such a suffocating situation, anything exploding would have been better.

“If they find out you’re a man before the wedding is over, we’re all dead. Somehow, you have to hide that big frame of yours as much as possible and make yourself look smaller. If you want to live, curl up as much as you can! Do you understand?”

Seolseol kept warning him while finishing the powder.

“The groom has already entered the village. He’s passed the house of Daegon’s father at the midpoint, so he’ll arrive any moment now.”

No sooner had Seolseol finished speaking than noise burst out outside. It seemed the groom’s party had crossed the Geum Jinsa household gate. The uproar reached even the detached quarters from far away, stiffening Donggu’s back.

“Oh my, he’s arrived! I hear almost the entire village has come to watch, so be careful, be extra careful!”

Seolseol’s warning stuck to Donggu’s ears. Donggu looked into the mirror placed in front of him so he could see his powdered face.

“…”

Seolseol, with her skilled hands, had produced an uncanny result.

“Is that really me?”

Donggu turned his face this way and that. A beautiful young woman reflected in the mirror.

His broad, sturdy frame was hidden beneath the red and ornate wonsam and the long hanseom sleeves. Not only that, but the long daenggi, the lovely jade phoenix hairpin in a pale blue-green shade, and the finely powdered face combined with the red dot on his cheek to make him look like a pretty young lady in every respect.

“From now on, you can’t even sweat. If the makeup comes off during the ceremony, it’ll all be for nothing!”

Seolseol fanned Donggu’s dazed face.

“Hey! We have to go now. Hurry up!”

Duchen, the love house father, came running to announce it.

“Oh no, it seems the goose father has already placed the goose on the jeonan sang. Let’s hurry!”

Seolseol placed the jokduri she had set aside onto Donggu’s crown. She also carefully pinned in the silver hairpins and silver hair ornament supporting it so it wouldn’t slip off. The cold silver gleam felt like it was stabbing at Donggu’s fate.

Seolseol’s hand, which had been arranging Donggu’s hair, trembled briefly. It felt as though she herself had driven Donggu into that cold silver fate with her own hand.

“Are you still not ready?”

At Duchen’s urging voice, Seolseol flinched. For a moment she felt as if she had fallen into a deep well that wasn’t there and come back out.

“It’s done!”

“Then come out at once. Everyone is waiting!”

“I know that already, so hold on!”

Through the closed wooden paper door, the exchange of voices made Donggu’s breathing quick and rough. His whole body trembled like ripples on water.

Now he truly had no way out. Seolseol properly set the ornate jade phoenix hairpin in place, then arranged the front and trailing daenggi. After that, she placed the folding fan she had been waving into Donggu’s hand.

“What’s this now?”

“It’s called a pyesun. At the great wedding, it is used to hide the bride’s face with a round red fan, and it also carries the meaning of warding off evil spirits.”

“So it’s for covering my face, right? That’s at least a relief.”

“Yes. So don’t drop it, hold it tight. Since the groom’s family is highly ranked, they’ve gone to the trouble of observing every formality, which is fortunate. If they hadn’t, no matter how much powder you put on and how much lip rouge you applied, there’d be countless people who’d know you weren’t the young miss.”

Before Seolseol could even finish, Donggu carefully covered his face with the pyesun. His gaze behind the fan was solemn.

Facing the red pyesun decorated with gold leaf and pheasant feathers, Donggu swallowed hard. It felt like the only thing protecting him.

“Lady Uhn-yeon, come in! We’re ready.”

After firmly placing the pyesun in his hands, Seolseol spoke toward the door.

At her call, Lady Uhn-yeon, who had been watching outside to make sure no one was sneaking a look at the bride, came in.

“You’ve had a hard time doing this alone.”

“What hardship? You’ve been keeping watch outside the whole time too, haven’t you?”

“Sigh, what a ridiculous thing this is.”

“No one besides the household servants is supposed to know about it. That’s why we even forbade the village panhandlers and peddlers.”

“I know that. Still… after living this long, I’ve seen all sorts of things.”

“We need to keep our wits about us from here on. We have to reach the ceremonial hall before it’s too late, so let’s hurry.”

As the conversation drifted into the back alley of things, Seolseol quickly cut it off.

“My head! Right, let’s go!”

Donggu swallowed once more. Being in the middle of such a serious situation became even more frightening.

The two women ended their conversation and stood tightly on either side of Donggu. Seolseol took his right arm, and Lady Uhn-yeon took the other.

Supported by the two of them, Donggu stood up. His heart was pounding madly. Even so, the tips of his fingers were cold.

It was midsummer. Even if today wasn’t as hot as a normal summer day, it was still a summer day. He was also wearing layers of clothes. And yet he wasn’t sweating. His whole body had gone cold, frozen by a mix of tension, fear, and anxiety.

“From now on, not one word. Keep your head down and don’t let go of that red pyesun. Cover your face properly.”

“…Auntie, I’m scared.”

“We’re right beside you, so there’s nothing to worry about. Just do as you’re told.”

Donggu knew very well that what he was saying was not really the issue. But Seolseol and Lady Uhn-yeon pretended not to understand and answered differently. In this situation, neither comfort nor sympathy would have helped anyway.

Before long, they arrived at the front yard where the ceremony hall had been prepared. Behind the red pyesun, Donggu’s face had gone pale enough to punch through his white base makeup. His eyelids trembled, and his black pupils shook violently.

It seemed the jeonan-rye had already been completed, because the groom, dressed in his formal samo gwandae, was sitting in front of the ceremony table with a hongyangsan covering his face. As if celebrating the wedding, the summer heat was cooled by a passing breeze.

The groom’s blue dallyeong fluttered in the wind. Donggu went even paler at the groom’s tall height, despite not even seeing his face.

No matter where he ran, those long legs would chase him. Those long arms seemed like they would grab him by the throat.

Donggu squeezed his eyes shut. Fear and terror mixed together until the world in front of him turned blurry. He swallowed hard. He wanted to run away right this second. But on both sides, Housemaid Seolseol and Lady Uhn-yeon were gripping his arms tightly.

As if letting him go would mean their own heads were chopped off.

The white-haired elder officiating the ceremony held the hullyeok. Around him stood the groom’s family elders and the elders of the Geum family with grave faces. Inside the yard and beyond the wall, the villagers waited for the wedding with smiling faces.

“Young miss Soyi has come out!”

“Let’s have a look! Goodness. With the pyesun covering her face, the groom won’t even know what the bride looks like when he goes into the bridal chamber!”

“It’s not just the bride whose face is covered. The groom too has his face hidden under the parasol, so there’s no way to know what he looks like!”

“Even if his face is hidden, his height sure is impressive.”

“But doesn’t the young miss seem a little too big somehow?”

“Does she? Maybe a little, but bridal robes are layered and bulky to begin with.”

“She does look much taller too. Doesn’t she seem almost the same size as the groom?”

“It must be because of the jokduri on her head.”

“Still, something feels off.”

“Stop saying useless things and just watch. Our village finally has a celebration, so don’t go making needless noise!”

The villagers waiting for the wedding tilted their heads in doubt. Worried that someone might say something suspicious, Geum Jinsa’s servants skillfully changed the subject.

Donggu tightened his grip on the fan covering his face. He bowed his head even lower, so low that only the forehead marked with red dot could be seen. The gold ornaments hanging from the jokduri jingled softly.

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