A Madman's Midnight
"I am going out of my mind trying to figure out where the truth ends and the lies begin, my lady. Never in my life have I had to play such a fierce game of wits."
The feeling is entirely mutual, Yeongso retorted inwardly.
Just moments ago, she had been absolutely certain he remembered the killer, but now she was no longer sure. Was Hwa Banya simply probing her, testing the waters here and there?
"How can you not hate me?"
"...Why should I hate you?"
"That is officially banned from this moment on." Banya pointed his index finger at her.
"No answering a question with another question. Let me ask you again. Why don't you hate me? You were destined to live a noble life and marry into a prestigious family of equal standing, yet I dragged you here half by force. Do you think I don't know that the matriarch of the Baekri Sega stormed into her husband's study brandishing a spear the moment my marriage proposal arrived? And when she got inside, your brothers and sisters had already drawn their swords, pointing them at their own father. Even the Clan Leader wept tears of blood as he sent his youngest daughter to me. When your entire family hates me with such passion, why is it that you..."
Cutting himself off, Banya bolted upright and began pacing around the table. "This is driving me insane," he muttered to himself, rubbing his temples.
Feeling as though Hwa Banya's self-control was finally snapping, Yeongso unconsciously held her breath. He has been acting completely out of character since this morning, and now he is finally boiling over. Honestly, given his temperament, it is a miracle he lasted this long.
"As you well know, my lady, mind games are not really my style. Usually, peeling a man's skin off layer by layer makes even a corpse speak, but you... How much time is left until midnight? Ha... What more do I have to do here?!"
Hearing her husband spout such incomprehensible nonsense, Yeongso felt a sudden need to defend herself. She quietly slipped her hand out from the sleeve of her jade-colored silk robe.
"Come to think of it, I haven't offered you any tea." Banya, who had been muttering like a madman just a second ago, suddenly reached for the teapot. "By the way, my lady, what are you doing right now?"
Caught red-handed. Locking eyes with her husband while holding a round embroidery frame, Yeongso tried to smooth over the situation with a faint, innocent smile. "My hands felt a bit idle..."
"All of a sudden?"
"Yes, I am sorry. It is a habit of mine... Even during the mourning period, I often embroidered things for the ladies of the inner court."
"A habit, you say."
"Yes, haha..."
Banya slowly raised an eyebrow. Beneath the hem of his long robe, she saw him shift his right foot half a step back. It was a highly active stance, prepared for an offensive. A master of Banya's caliber would never take such a posture against mere small fry. Yeongso bit the inside of her lip. I am completely busted!
Desperately trying to maintain her composure, Yeongso set the embroidery frame down. "I apologize for being distracted while you were speaking."
"That embroidery frame. That was not where it was originally."
"It was always here."
"No, it was not. I saw it in the basket on top of the cabinet over there." Banya gestured with his chin toward a cabinet far across the room.
Yeongso forced a laugh, as if such a thing were utterly impossible. "Oh, no, it was not... You must have misseen. It has been right beside me this whole time..."
To snatch an object a good thirty feet away without even Hwa Banya noticing? Banya's eyes narrowed to slits. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife. Yeongso knew she had to defuse the situation immediately. She could not let him dwell on it. What can I use to distract him?
"Um... Weren't you about to pour me some tea just now?" Meeting Banya's gaze with a smile required an immense amount of courage.
"Tea."
"Yes."
"...Right."
"Yes."
With a suspicious look on his face, Banya poured the tea. Yeongso drank the lukewarm liquid, soothing her parched throat. The sheer tension was making her mouth dry.
Seeing her set down the empty cup, Banya pointed at the teapot. "Would you like some more?"
"No, I am fine."
"If there is anything else you need, just say the word, my lady. I would appreciate it if you told me as soon as possible. So I can take care of it quickly."
"Take care of... what?"
"Your requests, of course." Stroking his chin, Banya slowly paced around Yeongso. "How about a foot bath? Warm water infused with premium aromatic oils and floating chrysanthemum petals—it would suit the mood of an autumn night perfectly, wouldn't it? It should match your elegant tastes well enough. I will call a maid immediately. No, actually, I shall attend to you myself."
"Why are you suddenly acting so frightening?"
"Frightening? You mustn't be frightened..." Banya furrowed his brow deeply. "There is only a quarter of an hour left until midnight. Tell me quickly. Hurry."
She had absolutely no idea why he was acting like this, but as long as it kept his attention away from her slip-up, it was fine. Yeongso declined the foot bath as being too extravagant and instead suggested a light snack.
The moment the words left her mouth, a lavish spread of snacks materialized before her. The table was laden with fragrant osmanthus cakes, mung bean pastries that melted on the tongue, sweet rice balls floating in chrysanthemum honey water, dried apricots and peaches, and candied ginger.
"I have prepared a hot towel, so please wipe your hands here."
"Yes... thank you."
Prompted by Banya's urgent gaze, Yeongso took a bite of a mung bean pastry, followed by a taste of the osmanthus cake. Pouring her a fresh cup of hot tea, Banya asked, "Is it to your liking?"
Though utterly bewildered by his behavior, Yeongso nodded. Since she had not been in a position to enjoy such sweet delicacies during the mourning period, they genuinely tasted delicious.
Banya went out of his way to show kindness, gently brushing away a stray crumb from the corner of her lips. Feeling as though he still had not done enough, he even fetched a blanket and draped it over her shoulders.
"Thank you, but I am not cold..."
"Just in case."
As Yeongso ate, Banya's anxiety only seemed to intensify. Then, the sound announcing midnight echoed from outside. Her husband froze dead in his tracks.
"Renju...?" Is he even breathing? Yeongso peered cautiously into his face.
Standing rigid without so much as a single blink, he managed to squeeze out a strained voice. "Wait a moment. It is midnight, but... let me count to a hundred in my head first."
In the meantime, he insisted she keep eating. Thinking it was the strangest request she had ever heard, Yeongso popped a dried apricot into her mouth. But why has this man been so obsessed with midnight since earlier? What is he planning to do once he finishes counting to a hundred?
Keeping a wary eye on the embroidery frame she had set aside, Yeongso began counting along with him in her head, just to be prepared for any sudden developments.
...Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred.
The very instant the count reached one hundred, Banya roared loud enough to shake the rafters. "Baekri Yeongso!"
It was a stroke of luck that she had swallowed her snack a moment earlier. Otherwise, she surely would have choked.
"I... I knew it! Look at this! Midnight has passed, and I didn't go back! I didn't regress! It's all because I didn't upset you! And you still claim this isn't a curse you laid upon me?!"
"What on earth are you talking about?"
"I regressed nineteen times! Nineteen! I came back to life only to die again, and again... Every single time I died, I had to relive the agony of my entrails being shredded to pieces by your needles! No matter what I did, the moment midnight passed, I was dragged right back to the instant I died by your hand! Arghhhhh!"
Banya broke off his rant to let out a raw, furious scream, unable to contain the boiling rage inside him. His eyes were bloodshot, burning with sheer, venomous frustration.
"But this time was different! Instead of returning to the moment of my death, I skipped ahead three years after I died! Why was this time the only exception? Because I ran an experiment. During my nineteenth regression, I handed you a handkerchief while you were crying. Instead of strangling you, I actually listened to what you had to say. And look at the result!"
Banya gestured wildly like a lunatic. "I didn't go to the past—I came to the future! And because I spent the entire day catering to your every whim! Even after midnight! I didn't undergo that godforsaken regression!"