Chapter 18 — With the Young Lady, Secretly in the Warehouse...
I carried the unconscious Gap-soon toward the river.
Splash...
"Hnggh—!"
Not that I didn't mess around with her a bit along the way, but that's a trivial matter, so let's move past it.
Anyway, I washed her unconscious body clean and dressed her neatly in the clothes she'd been wearing. Since something might end up exposed, I made sure to check everywhere her skin might show—her thighs, her chest, her pussy.
Cradling Gap-soon in my arms, stroking her hair, I returned to the magistrate's estate just as the evening glow was beginning to rise.
"Ahem... you may enter."
I shot a glance at Gap-soon, still asleep in my arms, and crossed the gate at the nod of the old servant standing watch.
Once inside, I saw that most people were only just now emerging, so I carried the unconscious Gap-soon into the house and laid her down on the bedding.
Chu!
"Hngiit... dooon't...!"
Was she having sex with me even in her dreams?
After planting a kiss on Gap-soon's forehead, I headed straight off to finish the tasks I had to do.
It was a busy morning. What caught my eye were the two old maidservants cleaning the stable—work that was supposed to be Gap-soon's.
Snicker.
"Tch..."
"...Hngk."
Passing them by, I headed, naturally, to the wood-chopping yard.
To be honest, I chop every last stick of firewood in the house, but it's not as if the amount is all that large.
What would anyone need with heaps of firewood in the middle of summer? The work was finished in the blink of an eye, and since my chores were done, I was just thinking I'd wash up, head inside, and have another long, leisurely round with Gap-soon when—
"Pssst! Psst!"
"Hm?"
At the voice calling out on my way back to the house, I turned to the side and saw Shin Ha-yoon, hidden away just like yesterday, beckoning to me.
I slipped discreetly into her hiding spot, and she asked, her face slightly flushed,
"Th-that is... a-about today...?"
"You mean, about relieving your lust?"
"Shh! K-keep your voice down!"
"I was speaking quietly, though...."
It wasn't as if my voice had been all that loud, yet she suddenly pressed a finger to her lips and peered out through a small gap in the wall, as if worried someone might have overheard.
And at the sight of her like that...
Squeeze...
I. Got. Carried. Away.
"My lady."
"Ngh... be, be quiet. There might be someone... Hyiik!"
Hiccup!
Shin Ha-yoon couldn't finish her sentence.
Tremble, tremble, tremble...
Because my hand had come to rest right on top of her ass.
"Hic...! Hiccup...!"
Tremble, tremble, tremble...
She had frozen stiff in the very posture she'd been holding—peering out through the gap in the wall.
Unable to utter a single word, her whole body locked up, nothing but her trembling legs and beads of cold sweat—that figure of hers was unbearably lewd.
I edged closer to her side and asked,
"Does it have to be at night?"
"Hngiik...!"
"My lady."
Slither...
"...!"
My hand slid off her ass,
glided along her thigh,
and made its way to her flank.
Jolt. Jolt.
With my hand resting on her side as it twitched at intervals, I asked,
"My lady."
"..."
"Answer me. My lady."
"Wh-where do you get off... giving orders to...!"
Whip!
Flush...!
Perhaps it was the indignity of being ordered around by a slave—her head snapped to the side in an instant.
Her eyes met mine, and in that instant, her face flared crimson.
Her lips parted and closed, fluttering, and my gaze drifted toward them.
A strange, charged atmosphere.
"N-no... waaay... a k-kiss..."
In that moment, realizing where my eyes had landed, Shin Ha-yoon spoke in a trembling voice.
And I answered her,
"Then we won't."
"....Huh?"
Sure, the mood had been right, but there was no pressing need for a kiss.
She'd be begging me to kiss her herself soon enough, anyway.
I smacked the ass of the dumbfounded Shin Ha-yoon.
SMACK!
"Kyaaaaah! Wh-whose ass do you think you're...!"
"My lady. You'll be caught if you carry on like that."
"Haep...!"
Watching her cover her own mouth with both eyes stretched wide, I smirked and reached for the door.
No. I tried to open it.
"Aigoo, it's hot as hell."
"It's way too hot. Is this what real summer feels like?"
"Want to go wash off in the river in a bit?"
"Yeeeaaah!"
Flinch.
And it wasn't just the maidservants headed this way.
Listening to their conversation, it seemed they weren't merely passing by—they were coming in.
Shin Ha-yoon, listening alongside me, also realized it and stared at me with her eyes stretched wide.
'No time to hesitate.'
Fortunately, the place we'd slipped into was a gwang—a storehouse, by modern reckoning—though it differed slightly in that it had separate sections, like the rice storehouse and the grain storehouse.
What surrounded us weren't rice jars but a peddler's warehouse lined with wooden crates and packed goods, everything stacked high. Hiding ourselves would be no problem at all.
Scanning the area for a place to hide, I spotted a spot where the jars were stacked quite high.
"My lady. This way."
"Mmhm..."
"Your face is rather red. Are you quite alright?"
"I-I'm fine..."
Perhaps because a thrilling situation had dropped into her lap out of nowhere, her face was quite flushed.
It wasn't as if there was anything to be excited about, really. Though admittedly, going through something like this was pretty spectacular.
I led her into the perfect little space—just big enough for the two of us—and crammed our bodies inside.
"Eh...? Wh-what about me...?"
"Come inside, into me."
"Wha..."
When I spread my legs toward her and told her to climb into my arms, her face went scarlet.
"R-right now...! You're telling me... to go in there? To be held in the arms of a m-man, an unrelated m-man?!"
"Too much talk. Come on."
"Hold on, wait... Kyaa—Haep...!"
Mmph.
I hurriedly clamped a hand over Shin Ha-yoon's mouth as she was about to scream.
The "young lady" character in dramas is always a total klutz, and seeing Shin Ha-yoon act exactly that way, I had to admit—those dramas really did do their research.
And so, the moment I sealed Shin Ha-yoon's mouth and gathered her into my arms—
The servants walked in.
Rattle.
Held in Dol-soi's arms, Shin Ha-yoon's mind was in complete disarray.
To be precise, a single subject had filled her brain to the brim.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
'Th-this is exactly... Trysts Behind the Garden Wall....'
Trysts Behind the Garden Wall.
Something she had mentioned before, in front of Dol-soi.
Love as it appeared in books—and among them, she had said, there were princes and generals, but slaves as well.
The book Shin Ha-yoon had spoken of that day, the one telling a love story with a slave, was none other than Trysts Behind the Garden Wall.
And its contents were remarkably simple.
'The slave saves the young lady...'
Dol-soi had saved her.
And in exactly the manner written in the book, too—from the men who had tried to assault her while she was out wandering late at night.
'The slave accidentally touched her b-behind too, and the young lady teased him for it...?'
Today, Dol-soi had touched her ass.
Whether it was an accident or on purpose was not, at this moment, a matter of any great importance to Shin Ha-yoon.
'And then... they hid like this, just like now?'
The two in that story had been meeting in secret to treat the slave's wounds, and other servants had come in, forcing them to hide as well.
Not to treat any wounds in this case, true—but they were meeting in secret, away from the eyes of others.
And on top of that, another servant had come in and forced them into hiding.
'N-no, that's not it... Dol-soi is a slave, and I'm the eldest daughter of the Shin family...'
Glint.
Shin Ha-yoon looked up at Dol-soi's face as he held her in his arms, glancing around in case any other servants might approach.
Too gentle to be a general, yet far too striking for an ordinary commoner. Nothing like some scrawny village boy—he practically radiated the presence of a full-grown male.
And then...
Gulp.
Shin Ha-yoon's gaze naturally fell on the broad chest raised directly in front of her.
Hard, chiseled muscle that would make even a professional warrior recoil in shock.
'Come to think of it, the maids did say yesterday that they coveted Dol-soi, didn't they?'
It was obvious.
Looking at these muscles, the other slaves would be driven out of their minds with wanting.
Even she herself, at this very moment, wanted to bury her face against that broad chest of his...
GASP!
'What am I even thinking...?'
Shake, shake.
Shin Ha-yoon shook her head hard, trying to shake loose the thoughts flooding her mind.
Seeing this, Dol-soi asked quietly,
"My lady. Is something the matter?"
"Hngiik..."
No, no, no.
Why did everything Dol-soi said keep sounding like the lines of a slave in a novel...?
Shin Ha-yoon's melty, softened brain was slowly projecting Dol-soi onto the slave of Trysts Behind the Garden Wall.
And, as if slipping into the role herself, she was gradually beginning to cast herself as the young lady opposite him.
Gulp.
"Alright, then! Let's go grab ourselves a tasty snack!"
"Sounds good! Let's eat, then go wash off in the stream!"
Rattle.
The voices of the servants drifted in as they hoisted the heavy soybean paste and chili paste jars in their arms and headed outside.
She had no idea how much time had passed...
But one thing she did know.
'Wh-what do I dooooo....'
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
That her heart was absolutely, undeniably not beating the way it usually did.
Shin Ha-yoon had only just managed to calm her wildly raging heart.
She had been in Dol-soi's arms, after all—and the moment the coast was clear, she had scrambled out of his embrace and fled the storehouse.
"Phew..."
Even now, just thinking about what had happened made her heart pound all over again.
She was still fretting over what to do with this uncontrollable pounding when the attendant outside knocked on her door.
"My lady. The Madam is here to see you."
"Oh...! Y-you may come in!"
Shin Ha-yoon, who had very nearly committed a forbidden act mere moments ago, blurted it out without even managing to compose her expression.
Rattle.
The door slid open, and when Kwon A-young came into view, Shin Ha-yoon's spine went cold with worry over what her own face might look like.
But then she noticed that Kwon A-young, seated before her, looked far from ordinary herself—and a look of seriousness settled over Shin Ha-yoon's face.
It didn't last long, though.
"...I'm sorry, what?"
"From tomorrow, Dol-soi will be your escort. So don't pick any strange fights with him, and don't go getting yourself into trouble. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"
"So, so you mean... Father has taken quite a... quite a liking to Dol-soi?"
"That's right. So don't do anything strange to him, and don't do anything that would get you into trouble again, either."
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
'Oh...'
That Father trusts Dol-soi that much...?
That from tomorrow she'd have to travel with him everywhere, and so she mustn't treat him carelessly...?
"No, in fact, it would seem you ought to make a good impression on him. He's certain to be manumitted."
"M-m-manumitted?!"
"Ah, yes... I suppose that's quite a shock for you as well."
Manumitted?
That meant Dol-soi would become a commoner—a free man. Which meant... th-that meant...
'Could... could I actually be allowed to get married...?'
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
"...And so... Hayoon... Dol-soi..."
Oh... what do I doooo... I can't hear a word of Mother's words...
She just...
She just...
'What do I dooooo...'
Dol-soi had filled her head, completely...
