Chapter ~ 02
“I don’t want to go!”
An irritated voice echoed through the main hall of the Jin family.
Mokyeon, dressed in colorful silk clothes and sitting on the floor, cried out as though she were about to burst into tears.
“How could you send me to that cursed monster!”
“Mokyeon, he is still a prince. Moreover, he is a vassal king who rules the King of Muk’s territory!”
“What good is becoming a concubine in the ruined King of Muk’s household?!”
The King of Muk’s territory was famous for its long winters and bone-chilling cold.
The barren land made farming difficult, and because it was close to Yogok, where monsters ran rampant, people were reluctant to go there.
Madam Jin knew this as well.
But there was nothing she could do.
“How can we disobey an imperial decree! Besides, the King of Muk will come to take you tomorrow…!”
It was an order from the Emperor.
Moreover, the imperial family had promised a massive amount of dowry as a condition of this marriage arrangement.
It was an order that could not be refused.
But Mokyeon shed tears as large as chicken droppings.
“So you’re telling me to go to a prince who can’t speak and is hideous, a cursed monster?”
It was said that the King of Muk had been cursed during a battle against monsters, which had disfigured his face and taken away his voice.
Apparently, he wore a mask to hide his terrible face.
And she was being told to become the concubine of such a cursed monster!
Just then—
“Instead of Miss Mokyeon, I will go to the King of Muk’s residence.”
The door opened, and a plainly dressed girl entered.
“Jin Soa?”
“Do you have any idea where you are to barge in here!”
Madam Yang, the principal wife, shouted angrily upon seeing the daughter of a concubine, Jin Soa.
Under normal circumstances, Soa would have immediately fallen to her knees and bowed her head.
But this time, she stood calmly and looked directly at the head of the family, Lord Jin.
Lord Jin unhappily stroked the end of his beard.
“This is a marriage arranged by His Majesty.”
“But His Majesty is merely looking for a suitable woman to attach to the cursed prince.”
“Hmm. But…”
“If my status would cause His Majesty to lose face, couldn’t you simply register me as your adopted daughter?”
“What?”
Madam Yang, who had been listening from the side, suddenly rose to her feet.
“Do you think I would accept a girl like you as my daughter?”
“But Madam, if I don’t go, your beloved biological daughter, Miss Mokyeon, will have to go to the King of Muk.”
Soa spoke clearly, and Mokyeon clung tightly to Madam Yang and nodded.
“Mother! I don’t want to marry that monster! I’ll hang myself the moment I arrive at the King of Muk’s residence!”
Mokyeon sniffled and buried her face in her sleeve.
Madam Yang embraced Mokyeon.
She, too, had no desire to send her daughter to the King of Muk.
In the end—
“We have no choice.”
Fate changed.
Soa sat inside her room wearing the red clothes that had been made for Mokyeon.
She quietly ran her fingers over the red sleeves.
She could feel the fine silk and elaborate embroidery.
It isn’t even an official wedding.
She was not becoming a queen or a secondary consort, but merely taking the position of a low-ranking concubine, a jaein.
She wouldn’t even be having a proper wedding ceremony, so this imitation of a wedding dress seemed rather ridiculous.
Madam Yang had forcibly prepared it to make things presentable for her beloved daughter, Jin Mokyeon.
Soa took off the clothes made for Mokyeon and threw them aside.
Instead, she changed into the neatest clothes she normally wore.
The only old silk garment she possessed.
Its color had faded yellow, and it didn’t even have embroidered decorations, but it was still better than the extravagant wedding clothes prepared for Mokyeon.
After changing into comfortable clothes, she habitually poured tea into the teacup beside her.
Rough tea filled the chipped, worn-out cup.
One cup.
Two cups.
Soa stared blankly at the steaming tea.
Habits really are frightening.
It was a habit she had developed because of Seo Gon.
She used to prepare tea for Seo Gon, who enjoyed drinking it hot, and wait for him.
But the tea that eventually grew cold always became hers.
At first, she drank it while waiting for Seo Gon.
Later, it simply became a habit.
Whenever she felt anxious without waiting for him, her hands would move on their own and brew tea.
I knew the tea was growing cold. So why didn’t I realize that his heart had grown cold, too?
No. In truth, she had suspected it.
That Seo Gon had lost interest in her.
She simply didn’t want to admit it.
As she stared at the teacups, Soa drank both cups of tea in one go.
The warm tea that had not yet gone cold melted the chill in her chest.
There was no more tea left to grow cold.
Just then, a crow cawed outside.
The time has come.
Soa opened the large birdcage sitting to one side.
A peregrine falcon with glossy feathers flew onto her forearm.
“Unjo, I need your help.”
【Leave it to me.】
The peregrine falcon inside immediately took flight through the window.
When Unjo disappeared beyond the wall, the door opened and a maidservant entered.
The maidservant’s eyes widened when she saw the wedding clothes scattered across the floor.
“Jin Soa, what do you think you’re doing?!”
“Jin Soa? You should call me Miss.”
“You! Change your clothes right now—!”
Smack!
The maidservant staggered while clutching her cheek.
“I told you to call me Miss.”
Soa smiled brightly and shook her hand.
The maidservant stared at her in stunned disbelief.
She probably hadn’t expected a daughter of a concubine to act like this.
A bastard daughter treated like a servant.
That was Jin Soa’s position in this household.
Even the servants looked down on Soa, forcing her to handle the household chores, and no one had ever reprimanded them for it.
Until now.
“T-This…!”
Smack!
“Even after being taught, you still don’t understand. When your head is slow, the only way to learn is through your body.”
Soa spoke calmly as she looked down at the maidservant, whose fists were clenched.
In the past, that maidservant would have struck her several times.
But the situation had completely changed.
Her father had registered her as Madam Yang’s adopted daughter in order to send her to the prince.
Moreover, she would soon be sent to the King of Muk.
If they left even a scratch on her face or body, things could go awry.
“You, you…!”
“Should I teach you one more time?”
When Soa raised her hand slightly again, the maidservant immediately dropped to her knees.
“M-Miss!”
“Fortunately, you understand quickly.”
How had she been so arrogant all this time when she had knees that bent so easily?
Soa left the trembling, humiliated maidservant behind and walked away.
A sharp voice struck her from behind.
“M-Miss, the clothes…!”
“You should clean them up.”
That was the maidservant’s job, after all.
Mokyeon was waiting at the main gate first.
She intended to watch Soa being dragged away to the King of Muk in her place.
Just then, Jin Soa approached from afar.
Mokyeon frowned when she saw Soa’s plain appearance.
“What is that embarrassing outfit? Didn’t Mother even give you a wedding dress?”
“She did, but it smelled disgusting.”
“What?”
Mokyeon frowned, but Soa ignored her and stood before the main gate.
Her attitude had changed subtly.
Normally, she would have kept her head down and been meekly submissive.
Now, her head was held high.
Does she think she’s become someone important just because she’s going to the King of Muk?
It was laughable watching her struggle desperately to improve her station.
“Did you want to cling to the prince that badly? Well, I suppose even that monster prince would be more than good enough for you. At least it’s better than becoming the concubine of an old merchant guild master who has nothing but money.”
Soa quietly turned her head toward Mokyeon, who was mocking her.
Then she pulled the lotus-shaped hairpin from Mokyeon’s hair.
Mokyeon’s elaborately arranged hair came undone and cascaded down.
“What are you doing!”
“I’m taking back what belongs to me. The things I foolishly lost.”
“Jin Soa. Have you gone mad?”
“Sister, your words are rather vulgar.”
Soa calmly inserted the hairpin into her own hair.
“Sister? Did you just call me sister?”
Mokyeon became furious.
Soa had always called her Miss.
Whenever she called her sister, Mokyeon would slap her.
And now she suddenly called her sister?
“And one more thing.”
Soa stepped closer to Mokyeon and spoke.
“I’m going to become part of the imperial family now, so speaking to me like that isn’t proper etiquette, Sister.”
She smiled sweetly.
Mokyeon’s eyes wavered in confusion. But soon, as if trying to hide her embarrassment, she lifted the trembling corners of her lips.
“You think you’re already someone important just because you’re going to the King of Muk? Huh?”
Mokyeon poked Soa’s shoulder with her finger.
“Get a grip, Jin Soa. You’re only picking up what I threw away.”
Soa looked at the finger poking her shoulder and chuckled.
Threw away?
You threw away the King of Muk?
“How can you throw away something you never had?”
“What…?”
Mokyeon’s eyebrows twitched.
“It’s funny. Isn’t ‘throw away’ something only a person who possessed something at least once can say?”
Soa chuckled, and Mokyeon’s face grew hot.
It was Mokyeon herself who had stubbornly refused to go to the King of Muk because she didn’t want to.
Yet somehow, it felt as though Jin Soa had stolen something from her.
As though a sly fox had cunningly snatched away what belonged to her…
No. That can’t be.
Mokyeon bit her lip.
She had thrown away the King of Muk.
Because he was a hideous monster prince.
“You know the King of Muk’s face was disfigured by a curse, right? How does it feel to be sold off to the ugliest man in the Empire?”
Mokyeon smiled as she reminded herself why she had rejected the King of Muk.
Of course, there was no way she could live with a man like that.
But—
“Really? Then I suppose you’ve seen the King of Muk’s face?”
Jin Soa asked calmly.
“Yes. I saw him, and he was so hideous that I couldn’t even bear to look him in the eye!”
Mokyeon snapped angrily, and Soa narrowed her eyes.
She’s lying.
Even in her previous life, Mokyeon had complained that she had never seen the King of Muk’s face.
Her obvious boast was laughable, but Mokyeon didn’t stop.
“A human face could never be that horrifying…!”
At that moment—
Creak—
The heavy main gate began to move.
The air suddenly became strangely still.
A cold shadow fell through the slowly opening gap in the gate.
Thud.
Along with the hem of a black robe, heavy footsteps pressed down upon the courtyard.
A man dressed entirely in pitch-black robes, a long sword strapped to his waist.
Beneath the black myeokri hanging over his head, a cold shadow could be seen.
He advanced like darkness swallowing the entire estate.
“T-The King of Muk…!”
The name was whispered fearfully by Mokyeon’s maidservant standing behind her.
The tall man, seemingly large enough to reach the eaves, cast a long, dark shadow over Mokyeon.
