5. K-Ttukbaegi and the Shopping Cart
‘This is unbelievable.’
I set the stone pot (ttukbaegi) down on the floor. It shattered into three pieces immediately.
‘Is his head okay?’
In the original story, Kashar suffered from a disease called “Madness.” In reality, it wasn’t a disease but a curse. That made it even more of a problem.
‘They said when his madness first broke out, an entire palace was destroyed.’
The core of his madness was indiscriminate slaughter and destruction. That day, everyone managing the palace lost their lives at his hands. The Emperor, not knowing the cause was a curse, banished Kashar and sent him to the battlefield.
Recalling the original story gave me goosebumps.
‘I just knocked out a man who can massacre an entire army.’
And I did it with a soup pot.
‘Wait, isn’t madness a brain issue? If I hit him in the head…’
I felt like I had done something truly terrible. My conscience stung twice as much knowing I had smacked a patient with a ttukbaegi.
‘In the original, it said Kashar took medicine.’
“Alubi” is a rare berry that keeps one sane. But long-term use causes severe headaches and makes the person vomit black blood. Only the female lead can break the curse. Until he meets Elshius, Kashar lives relying on that poison.
‘What should I do?’
Even if he was a monster of a man, I felt incredibly sorry. I stood there fidgeting and eventually started blaming him instead.
“Why are you even here?”
I didn’t know the reason, especially since Kashar rarely visited the Imperial Palace.
‘The fact that he’s here means…’
After racking my brain, I found a clue.
‘It was his mother’s death anniversary.’
The Emperor had imprisoned Empress Viviana because she gave birth to a son with madness. Feeling guilty after her death, the Emperor asked Kashar to help her rest in peace when he gave him his title. Every year on her anniversary, Kashar visited the tower where she was imprisoned.
A familiar landscape flashed through my mind.
‘If it’s the tower, then no way.’
I ran outside, and sure enough, I saw the tower beyond the forest.
‘How can it be this close?’
I had always just thought, “Oh, it’s a tower,” but it was actually where the former Empress died. After staring at it for a while, I went back to the kitchen. Kashar was still lying on the cold floor.
‘I’m going to die.’
The shock faded, and a harsh sense of reality took over. I was going to end up just like that broken ttukbaegi! He would wake up soon, realize what happened, and find the suspect to kill them brutally.
‘Chopped into tiny pieces.’
I could see my future funeral.
‘Should I just pretend I don’t know and go to sleep? No, I can’t.’
I crouched down next to him.
‘Life is so unpredictable.’
I sat there complaining about my luck until the sun started to rise. I looked back and forth between the blue sky and Kashar.
“…….”
Did he even know how worried I was? His chest rose and fell as he breathed quietly.
‘He’s sleeping well.’
He looked so peaceful, as if he were just taking a nap.
‘He’ll probably be fine when he wakes up.’
Despite my worries, the original story described Kashar as a monster.
‘How could I forget the scene where he swung a sword even with a hole in his stomach?’
He would definitely wake up like nothing happened.
“Ah.”
That’s when another idea hit me.
‘Let’s dump him.’
The sun was rising. My eyes moved to the shopping cart. Opposite the Cold Palace and the tower was an abandoned forest. If I left him there, maybe I could get away with it.
‘He might just think he was ambushed.’
People are usually confused when they wake up from being knocked out. I hoped he would forget being in the Cold Palace. I looked at the cart fondly.
‘It was so hard to bring this here.’
Who knew it would be useful like this? I was impressed by my own foresight.
“……Alright.”
I stood up and checked Kashar one more time.
‘Still out.’
I hopped over him and grabbed his legs, hoisting them over my shoulder.
“Phew, huff…!”
He was so heavy! I wiped away cold sweat and looked at him lying in the cart. Because he was so tall, his arms and legs hung out of the cart. After a lot of struggling, I succeeded.
“Sorry about this.”
I looked down at his handsome face while he lay in the cart.
“Hurry up.”
I had to dump him. I gripped the cart handle as the sky grew brighter.
“Heave-ho!”
I started pushing the cart.
“Inventions are great.”
Kashar didn’t wake up even after a long walk. Finally, I reached the middle of the forest.
“This should be far enough.”
This was the perfect spot to ditch a second male lead.
‘Please let him have amnesia.’
Even if it was just for the last half-day, I wanted those memories gone. Then the Cold Palace and the headache would never have happened.
‘I’m really, really sorry.’
I grabbed his legs and pulled him out of the cart.
‘A handsome man still looks good even lying on the dirt.’
I pretended to wipe a tear.
“Let’s never meet again.”
I looked like a tragic heroine, but I was being totally sincere. I hoped he wouldn’t remember me. Just as I was about to turn away and leave without looking back—
Grip!
“……!”
Something grabbed my wrist like it was going to break it. I tried to pull away, but I was pulled down instead.
Thud. The world flipped, and my head hit the ground. Before I could process it…
“Who are you?”
A dark shadow loomed over me. Kashar was on top of me, growling. It felt so unreal that I just blinked blankly. He was observing me closely.
“That… is…”
The moment I opened my mouth, his red eyes shined.
‘Is this the same person?’
I was trembling with tension. I realized too late that when people are terrified, they say stupid things.
“By any chance… did you lose your memory?”
Please say yes. My inner hope slipped out of my mouth. I was literally begging him to be an amnesiac.
“What?”
Kashar’s face twisted. He looked at me like I was a crazy person. I swallowed hard. My mind was racing.
“I-It was on purpose…”
I had to say something to survive. I closed my eyes and shouted.
“I didn’t mean to dump you on purpose!”
This was true. If he hadn’t tried to break into my house, this wouldn’t have happened! My fear turned into a sense of unfairness.
“Dump? What?”
Kashar muttered as if he didn’t understand. But it didn’t take long for him to realize he was the one I was trying to dump.
“……Huh?”
I opened one eye to try and explain, but seeing his face, I closed it tight again.
“I-I thought you were a thief! Really…!”
My voice got smaller and smaller. After a long silence…
“Open your eyes.”
His voice was annoyed. I opened them immediately like a puppet. I didn’t know where to look. While my eyes were darting around, his calloused hand grabbed my chin.
“Waaaah-save me!”
Kashar turned my head side to side, squeezing my cheeks so hard I made a weird noise. He looked at me like I was a strange specimen.
“You’re saying people live there?”
He remembered everything. Even in this situation, I noticed that his memory was perfectly fine.
‘Surprisingly, people do live in that dirty place.’
I know my house is a mess, but hearing it from someone else felt bad.
“So,” Kashar said with a twist of his lips. “You hit a thief in the head and tried to dump him in a deserted forest?”
I had to shut my mouth. He was 100% right.
“Destroying evidence in so many ways.”
Kashar brushed back his hair in disbelief. Then he winced and touched his head.
“Damn it.”
I felt like my cells stopped moving at that curse. I knew exactly why he did that.
‘He has a bump.’
Seeing him touch the back of his head made me break out in a cold sweat. There was no way out. I used a sudden burst of strength to push him away.
“You want to die…?”
He growled and tried to pin me down again, but I was faster. I dropped to my knees.
“P-Please don’t kill me!”
I rubbed my palms together frantically. Tears actually started coming out.
“I have Princes to feed and raise…!”
Whether he found it ridiculous or not, I acted like a desperate breadwinner.
“Princes?”
Kashar, who had been watching me coldly, focused on that one word.
“Yes! Your Duke-ship’s younger brothers!”
I nodded like a maniac, glad he reacted to something.
“Are you a maid?”
“Yes. A total maid.”
I couldn’t look professional while kneeling, but I tried to look like an expert through my facial expression.
“Serving the Imperial family.”
His gaze shifted.
‘Fighting with the Imperial family is always a hassle.’
He took his hand off the hilt of his sword.
‘Yes!’
I’m going to live! I felt like I could hear angels singing. But then, he smirked.
“Is that so? Then I should go talk to the people you serve.”
The smile was charming, but it felt like a death sentence to me.
“Lead the way.”
His hand went back to his sword. It was a warning that if I delayed, my head would be separated from my body. I stood up on shaky legs.
“Um…”
He gave me a murderous look. I smiled awkwardly and pointed at the shopping cart.
“I, uh… I have to take that with me.”
He didn’t know how hard it was for me to get that cart. He just stared at me in disbelief.
“……I’ll show you the way now!”
I took his silence as a “yes” and started pushing the shopping cart.
