Monopolizing Fortunes (227)
Monopolizing Fortunes (227)
"They say the Prince Consort, Her Highness, and Commander Jang swept away every last enemy at the very front!"
"Those savage Mongol cavalrymen—just the three of them?"
"That's right! Those murderous fiends turned tail and ran for their lives!"
Praise for the three spread through the ranks like a wave. As they emerged from Sapung Valley drenched in blood from head to toe, awed gazes poured over them.
He had thought the victory had come too easily, but seeing the three turned into figures of blood, a solemn feeling rose on its own.
Those three people of exalted status had risked their lives to protect common soldiers like them, mere country bumpkins. There had been plenty of commanders who only raised their voices from behind the troops, but never before one who had stood at the very front as their shield.
"Hooray! Hooray for the Prince Consort!"
"Hooray for Her Highness the Imperial Princess!"
"Hooray for Commander Jang! Hooray!"
The soldiers lined up on both sides of Sapung Valley shouted cheers that came from the heart. Jang Yu-seom and Ju Seo-in, deeply moved, felt as if tears might burst forth at any moment.
At last it truly sank in that they had protected the people.
"Learning martial arts was worth it."
Jang Yu-seom picked up Ju Seo-in's words.
"This may be remembered as the most moving day of my life."
"What about my husband?"
"I'm annoyed."
"What? Why?"
"Because even after winning such a great victory, it doesn't look like I'll get any time to rest."
After earning this much merit, shouldn't he at least get to carouse in a pleasure house for a fortnight?
But once Do Tong-dal left the blood-soaked battlefield, another battlefield called the martial world was waiting for him.
Jang Yu-seom spoke.
"Take it easy. Would the martial world collapse just because Hall Master Do lazes about for a few days?"
"You think so?"
"If the martial world is the sort to collapse that easily, then let it collapse. As long as the Righteous Chivalry Sect is fine, that's all that matters."
Do Tong-dal raised a thumb toward Jang Yu-seom.
"You've finally become a proper scoundrel."
"Thank you."
Ju Seo-in wondered, 'Is that a compliment?' and then asked.
"Husband, if I become a scoundrel too, will you praise me as well?"
"Being a scoundrel isn't something just anyone can do."
"You just spit on the ground, extort money from merchants, hmm... do you also do things like human trafficking?"
"We don't do that!"
"Then it sounds doable."
He didn't want to offer advice like 'Not everyone who looks like a scoundrel on the outside is actually a scoundrel.' Nor did he have any desire to turn the Imperial Princess into a scoundrel.
Escorted by a thousand soldiers, they made their way to Heuksu Fortress. The escort wasn't strictly necessary, but No Song-guk had insisted on sending them along. Of course, it was also a consideration for the thousand soldiers themselves.
The soldiers providing escort were the ones who had fought directly behind the three. They had witnessed every battle clearly, killed Mongol cavalrymen, and experienced the deaths of comrades.
Once they reached Heuksu Fortress, those thousand soldiers would talk all night about what they had been through. There was no need to exaggerate. With even a little exaggeration, Do Tong-dal and the other two would become gods.
When they arrived at Heuksu Fortress, the soldiers defending the fortress thought, 'Ah! They're the remnants of a defeated army!'
The soldiers were covered in blood and numbered barely a thousand. Over a hundred thousand troops had marched out, yet only that many had survived! The terror of the Mongol cavalry struck them anew.
So the expressions of the soldiers who opened the gates and received them were grim.
"Hurry and prepare bathwater for Her Highness and her husband and Commander Jang! And the two largest rooms as well!"
When Commander Hwang Byeong-seon stepped forward and urged the soldiers on, their movements quickened on their own. Do Tong-dal spoke to Hwang Byeong-seon.
"The soldiers must be exhausted too, so let them wash up quickly and give them all the meat and drink they want."
"Oh dear, what have we done to deserve that? Today's victory is entirely thanks to the three of you."
Hwang Byeong-seon's words set the soldiers gathered nearby murmuring.
"He says we won?"
"They look exactly like the remnants of a defeated army."
"Only about a thousand came back alive, but since they drove off the Mongol cavalry, doesn't that count as a victory?"
Hwang Byeong-seon shouted at the murmuring soldiers.
"Quiet! An announcement about this war will be made soon, so for now focus only on your assigned tasks!"
Within less than one ke, Do Tong-dal's party was able to immerse themselves in warm water. With the fatigue washing over him, the thought 'This is heaven.' came to him on its own.
Happiness was not some grand thing, but moments like this that briefly visited in everyday life.
He seemed to have dozed off for a moment until the water cooled to lukewarm. After finishing his bath, Do Tong-dal went to the room a servant directed him to.
It was still early, but he was so exhausted that he decided to sleep for just half a shichen.
The room had a reception area upon entering, with a bedroom to the right. Do Tong-dal, about to open the bedroom door and lie down on the bed, was startled.
There was someone already in the bed. And he soon realized that the person lying on their side was Ju Seo-in.
'Why is the Imperial Princess in my room?'
Then again, since they were known to be married, it was only natural for the two of them to be assigned one room. Do Tong-dal quietly turned around and crept out of the room.
But before he could even cross the threshold, Ju Seo-in's voice caught his ankle.
"Husband, where are you going?"
"Huh? Oh, I think I went to the wrong room...."
"Are you going to share a bed with Commander Jang?"
"Th-that's not it."
"I won't eat you, so come here."
"Yes, ma'am."
Do Tong-dal had no choice in the matter. He slipped his body onto the very edge of the bed, as far from Ju Seo-in as possible. Then Ju Seo-in flipped the blanket open.
"You have to come inside."
"Sh-should I?"
Even though they had held a wedding ceremony, Ju Seo-in still felt unfamiliar. Probably because he had never once looked at her as a woman. Their first meeting had been awkward too.
Ju Seo-in turned to face the other way from the moment Do Tong-dal got under the blanket. Do Tong-dal, on the other hand, lay flat on his back with both hands folded over his chest, not moving a muscle.
The unavoidably awkward time passed very slowly. He had meant to rest, but it felt less like resting and more like lying on a board studded with nails.
But he couldn't just get up and leave either. He had ended up in a situation much like the Mongol cavalry's—caught between a rock and a hard place.
"Husband."
"Yes?"
"You made a promise with me, right?"
"What...?"
Suddenly Ju Seo-in flipped over to face Do Tong-dal. Startled, he nearly fell off the bed.
"What? Did you just say 'what'?"
He racked his brain, and before long he remembered what Ju Seo-in had said before the fight with the Mongol cavalry.
"I did. Yes, I definitely made a promise."
"Then why aren't you keeping it?"
"W-well, I'm not sure how to go about it...."
"You're supposed to say sweet things and hold my hand."
"Ah, is that so?"
Do Tong-dal took both of Ju Seo-in's hands in his. Hidden under the blanket, he hadn't noticed, but he felt a faint trembling. Behind her angry-looking expression, he could see an uneasiness he couldn't quite name.
He had thought it was just awkwardness, but that wasn't all. Do Tong-dal soon understood the true nature of what Ju Seo-in was feeling. So he tightened his grip on her hands.
"It's hard, isn't it?"
"What?"
"You killed too many people today."
"Killing... isn't my first time."
"Killing one or two people and killing thousands are obviously different. You'll probably remember it for a while. The sensation in the hands that cut them down will come back to you suddenly sometimes."
"Does it happen to you too, husband?"
"I'm no different."
"You don't seem affected at all, though?"
Not now, of course. But in his previous life, after his first kill and after killing more than thirty enemies, he had suffered from nightmares for a while. If even he had gone through that, there was no way Ju Seo-in could brush it off as nothing.
"I... it's not my first time."
"What? But this is your first war."
"I've experienced it in the martial world. Your Highness, you don't know how I've lived, do you?"
"I thought I didn't need to know. Just being Do Tong-dal was enough. And please fix how you address me."
"Yes, my wife."
Ju Seo-in smiled softly. The trembling in her hands stopped, and her uneasy gaze steadied.
"You're really strange, husband. No matter how big the matter, when I'm with you, I feel like everything will be all right."
"I'm a human stabilizer by nature."
"Heh heh!"
Laughing, Ju Seo-in closed the distance between herself and Do Tong-dal. She seemed less like a woman and more like a child seeking a warm place.
"Thank you. If it weren't for you, I probably would have lost my way."
First, the Second Prince had died as she had wished. Ju Hyeong-seon had become emperor, so what Ju Seo-in had wanted all her life had been achieved.
And then she had felt empty. She had tried to fill that emptiness with martial arts. At first it had seemed possible. The study of martial arts was endless, giving her the motivation to keep delving deeper.
But soon a thought had come to her.
'What am I learning martial arts for?'
She had felt like she was losing her way again. That was when Do Tong-dal had appeared. The title "my husband" she had used before was not a joke, but it hadn't been desperate either.
If she married, she would do so with Do Tong-dal, but she hadn't felt any urgency that she absolutely had to marry.
But when she met Do Tong-dal again, he became a goal for her. Completely different from martial arts, Do Tong-dal was a lifeline that seemed like it could hold onto her if they were together.
So she had clung to him by force. Ju Seo-in knew it was by force, but she had been desperate enough to be shameless about it.
It was true that she fell far short compared to the other three women. Her exalted status as the Imperial Princess was a treasured heirloom anywhere else, but around Do Tong-dal it lost all value.
Her status as the Imperial Princess held no more meaning than a final card that allowed her to force a marriage.
Yeon Ja-yeon had been the first to recognize Do Tong-dal's worth and had willingly helped him in difficult times. Namgung Seol-rin had become Do Tong-dal's two arms, and Ha Su-ran was beautiful. There might be other things too, but for Ha Su-ran, that alone was enough.
Ju Seo-in, on the other hand, had only been a nuisance calling him "my husband," and had done nothing for Do Tong-dal. Nor had they spent a long time together.
That was why she had forced her way onto this battlefield. She had wanted to be with Do Tong-dal no matter what, and wanted to become someone useful to him.
Now, having crossed the hill of life and death together, she finally felt the distance between herself and Do Tong-dal narrowing. There had been aftereffects, but since she could receive Do Tong-dal's comfort, they weren't entirely bad.
Do Tong-dal held Ju Seo-in and stroked the back of her head.
"As someone with experience, I promise you this. Today will pass, tomorrow will pass, and as a month goes by like that, today's events will become just a part of your memories. And later, you'll be able to say proudly that you protected the people from the Mongol cavalry."
"I can say that even now."
"Of course. On the way back to Beijing after leaving Heuksu Fortress, when you see the people living peacefully, you'll realize what a proud thing you've done."
Ju Seo-in buried her face in Do Tong-dal's chest and sniffled.
"You smell nice."
'She's like a puppy.'
"But are we going to stay like this the whole time?"
"Huh? Well, is there something else you want...?"
"Isn't there something else married couples normally do?"
"S-something else... like what...?"
"How would I know? My very, very experienced husband would know."
"Hmph! It's not even night right now...."
"Does it have to be done only at night?"
"Not necessarily, but...."
"You saw all those books in the imperial library, right?"
"I did."
"They say every kind of book in the world is there. Ev-ery. Kind."
It meant that while she had never put it into practice, her theory was thorough. Ju Seo-in looked up at Do Tong-dal.
"The fact that the sun hasn't set yet just means there's that much time left. Right?"
* * *
The messenger pigeon arrived first. But a letter the size of a palm tied to the pigeon's leg could not report the full situation on the battlefield.
"They say it was a great victory, but not knowing how great a victory it was is frustrating."
Yang Su-pan soothed Ju Hyeong-seon's frustration.
"Tong-dal will be here before long, so wait at your leisure."
"There's been no news that Tong-dal or Seo-in came to harm, has there?"
"We have received word that the two of them are safe."
No matter how small the page, that news had not been omitted. Jeon Su-bang, who had taken a sip of tea, spoke.
"I too would like to hear the details soon. Just how great a victory was it, that they sent word calling it a great victory?"
"They'll arrive tomorrow, won't they?"
* * *