SH | Chapter 2.2

The procession of the newlywed groom and bride left the village in a ruckus.

The groom, mounted on horseback, moved at the very front. The bride’s palanquin followed behind him. Beside the palanquin walked Seolseol, as the bride’s maid.

“Goodness, did they rip out the roots of the whole house to send a daughter off? Why are there so many wedding gifts?”

“Oh dear! What sort of person has no sense at all? Compared to the groom’s house, what is there for Lady Soyee to be judged on besides her appearance and character? At least Golden Jinsa’s house has some wealth, so of course they sent so much along!”

“Still, it feels like too much. Just what they loaded on the cart is enormous, and look at all those porters. See how big the bundles on their backs are? Each one looks heavy enough to make them collapse on the road.”

“Wouldn’t they do that if they were worried enough? Isn’t she their treasured only daughter?”

“I suppose so.”

The wedding gifts packed on the cart were not enough, so several porters followed behind, carrying large chests packed full of gifts. The villagers who had come to watch the procession looked at Golden Jinsa and his wife with pity.

Golden Jinsa and his wife, mindful of the villagers’ gazes, worked hard to squeeze out tears.

Meanwhile, Donggu, trapped in the closed palanquin, could only listen to the villagers’ send-off from outside. Donggu had very clearly become Golden Jinsa’s precious daughter, Geum Soyee.

He was trapped in a road blocked from front, side, and back, unable to move an inch.

Headdress, hairpin, the front ribbon and trailing ribbon, red dangui, red bridal makeup. Shackled by all the splendid trappings of a bride and locked inside the narrow prison of the palanquin, Donggu could see only darkness ahead.

As they watched their one and only daughter go off to marry, Golden Jinsa and his wife kept dabbing at their tears. They watched until the procession grew distant and became only a dot.

“Will she be all right, sir?”

Lady Yeon wiped away her tears with the ties of her jeogori before speaking cautiously. The sorrowful expression she had worn while watching the procession leave was gone.

“She has left our hands now. The rest is up to Soyee and Park Seobang.”

Though his expression and tone were calm, Golden Jinsa looked worried as he watched the procession recede. Lady Yeon sighed, looking after it with him.

“At this point, I want to move in next door to the Left State Councillor’s house immediately.”

“You must keep in your heart that if you act with such impatience, our Soyee could be put in danger, madam!”

“…I know that well. I only mean that is how I feel.”

At his wife’s sulky look, Golden Jinsa softened his stern expression. They had done all they could. The household staff had followed instructions just as told, despite not understanding a thing, and had done well. Foolish perhaps, but commendably not foolish enough to be clumsy.

That too was Soyee’s fortune.

“Just endure a little longer. Didn’t we say we would send a letter once things had settled down a bit? Let us offer up our prayers so that our Soyee can achieve her wish.”

“Yes, I sincerely hope so too. Then we can go to Hanyang as well.”

The servants standing behind Golden Jinsa heard their master’s conversation and let out silent sighs. They followed orders without knowing the reason why. They had to work desperately to keep the absurd situation, in which Donggu had been made the bride in Lady Soyee’s place, from being discovered. Thankfully, it seemed they had gotten through it.

Donggu alone was not the one to be thankful for having replaced Lady Soyee.

The servants of Golden Jinsa’s house prayed that their comrade Donggu, who had ridden away in the palanquin, would be safe.

With all their hearts.

Perhaps because of the earnest prayers of the comrades hoping for his safety, Donggu, who had been nearly out of his wits, suddenly came to himself. For all three nights the groom stayed at the bride’s house after the wedding, Donggu had been drained dry by receiving Yoongong.

Because Yoongong charged at him like a beast, Donggu had neither the time nor the space to think about anything. Inside the swaying palanquin, his body, already sore from the heavy wedding robes, felt even more weighed down.

Perhaps the road was rough, because the palanquin lurched violently just then. That sharply agitated the aching lower back and the still-raw heat in his back passage. The sudden, stabbing pain made Donggu snap awake.

‘…Ah!’

Biting his lip in pain, Donggu suddenly realized.

‘Come to think of it, I’m completely alone right now.’

For all three days, Yoongong had never left Donggu’s side. Whenever Yoongong stepped away for a moment, Seolseol and the older nanny were always beside Donggu. And whenever they had a spare moment, Golden Jinsa and his wife would stick their heads in under the pretense of checking on him.

If Donggu wandered into the yard, the servants working inside and outside the house would all fix him with bright, watchful eyes. He felt such pressure that he could hardly breathe, let alone think of running away.

Donggu shut his eyes tightly. He was an ignorant servant who knew nothing and had learned nothing. But he was not so stupid as to have no idea how the world worked. Donggu caught hold of the faint thread of suspicion that had been flickering in his mind all along.

‘Sure enough, no matter how I think about it, this is strange.’

Donggu quietly opened the small window on the side of the palanquin. He could see Seolseol walking close beside it.

“Auntie.”

At the hushed call, Seolseol turned her head.

“What bride looks around outside without thinking? Hurry and close the window and sit properly!”

Seolseol put on a stern face. Her attitude, shifting back and forth between treating him as Lady Soyee and treating him as Donggu again, looked terribly sly. It was easy to see right away why Ipbun had turned out so cunning, just like her. Donggu, already hardened by Ipbun, could remain calm even under Seolseol’s threat.

“Why are you following me as my maid, Auntie? I may not know much, but a young lady from a yangban house usually has maids her own age, no?”

“…All the girls your age are already married. So it could only be me, since I’m the only unmarried one.”

“Why are you the only unmarried one? What about your daughter, Ipbun?”

“Ipbun disappeared with the real Lady Soyee.”

“She’s just not visible, is all. We don’t even know for sure whether she left with Lady Soyee!”

“I don’t know where Lady Soyee went, but a daughter from a noble household would never set out on the road without a maid.”

“The letter left behind clearly said Lady Soyee was going to a temple. She has hardly ever gone to a temple before. If she had deep faith, I would have known. Auntie, you know very well that I kept following her on the master’s order to protect her!”

“You’ve only followed Lady Soyee since last year. Lady Soyee used to go up the mountain road often before that to offer prayers at the temple. And Ipbun always went with her.”

Seolseol looked at Donggu with a face so firm not even a needle could get through.

“I told you to close the window! I’m afraid someone will see.”

“…The madam said the marriage proposal for Lady Soyee was so good that, out of benevolence, she married off all the servant girls of marriageable age.”

“Then why else do you think a man like you ended up taking the bride’s place? There were no unmarried girls left.”

“But why was Ipbun left out of the group of servants getting married?”

As Donggu still did not close the window, Seolseol’s hand, which had been about to do it for him, twitched for a moment.

“…Ibpun is Lady Soyee’s maid. She had to follow her when she married, so how could we send her off to be married? Ibpun’s match is to be arranged at the house of the family Lady Soyee married into.”

“…!”

Seolseol looked at Donggu as though he were a fool who knew nothing. Then she reached for the window again.

“Did you know that?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I really liked Ibpun.”

“…What use is it for someone lowborn to like anyone? People are paired off however the master decides.”

With a sigh, Seolseol brought her face closer to the window.

“Look at what you are now. You, a man, went off to be married just as the master commanded.”

Donggu clenched his fist.

“…Forget Ibpun. Do not even speak the name Ibpun. Ibpun is not even my daughter. There is no servant by that name in the Jinsa house. As for Ibpun, Master Jinsa will even take care of the villagers. So if you so much as mention Ibpun again, you’ll become someone who is mentally ill, rambling about ghosts and nonsense.”

“Even so, she’s your daughter. How can you sound so calm?”

“I am a widow with no husband and no children. I have no family to care for, so I, Seolseol, could follow you without hesitation. Remember that well, and remember it again.”

With a cold expression, as though hiding something carefully, Seolseol looked at Donggu. Then, without hesitation, she shut the window.

Donggu stared blankly at the closed window and muttered.

“I thought Lady Soyee knew this fellow had feelings for Ibpun. So I wondered if they hadn’t married her off in case they wanted to pair her with me. That’s why I felt both disappointed and relieved when everyone else was getting married and Ibpun and I were left out.”

That was surely what he had thought until he saw the empty annex.

At Donggu’s faint voice, Seolseol looked around. Fortunately, everyone seemed busy carrying heavy loads and no one was paying attention here.

The palanquin bearers also seemed too busy carrying the heavy palanquin to notice anything. But in life there was always if, wasn’t there? He had to be careful.

“I told you to keep quiet. I’m scared someone will hear.”

Though it was a whisper, the firm voice was as cold as a blade. Seolseol, who had worn such a sorrowful face while helping with the bridal makeup on the wedding day, was nowhere to be seen now. Only a servant carrying out the master’s orders without a self remained.

Donggu clenched his fist harder, until his nails dug in. If he did not, it felt like he would pound his chest madly.

His breath rose to his throat and then sank back down. He gasped for air with difficulty, mouth opening and closing. The thick, sticky air flowed into his chilled chest. That, somehow, made it a little easier to breathe.

No matter how bitter or angry he became, once he had been born a servant, he could only breathe in the space allotted to him. Just as one had to live within an impossible situation even when suffocating in it and unable to run.

Inside the swaying palanquin, Donggu’s black eyes sank even blacker.

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