Outdoor Tryst with the Guest Concubine Du Eun (1)
Du Eun
Episode 19
“Excuse me.”
While Seo Jun was wrestling with his status window, the woman who had covered her face with a veil opened the carriage door and called out to him, apparently convinced the danger had passed.
“Hmm?”
“Are all the bandits dead?”
“They’re all dead, so you can rest easy.”
Seo Jun looked at the woman approaching him. He had expected her to look terrified, but her expression was surprisingly calm—almost resigned, as if nothing mattered anymore.
Her eyes are beautiful.
She was of average height, but her figure was pleasing, and the eyes visible between the folds of her veil were strikingly lovely.
“Have you been separated from your companions for long?”
“They’re inside the carriage. I don’t know exactly how much time has passed. We fled for quite a while to escape the pursuers.”
Seo Jun asked various questions to assess the situation, intending to return her to her group. Since she had remained inside the carriage the entire time, however, she had little grasp of what had transpired outside.
All he could gather was that there had been many bandits, and that the rest of her escort—aside from the carriage carrying her—had been captured.
She was traveling in the opposite direction from him, heading from Seonmu County to Unjung County to be married.
“It looks like we’ll have to spend the night here. I can take you toward Seonmu County tomorrow. What do you want to do?”
“I haven’t decided yet, but I’m grateful for your kindness, warrior.”
They dragged the bodies of the driver and the bandits to a spot out of sight, dug shallow graves, and buried them. The bandits’ horses were tied up nearby. After lighting a campfire beside the carriage, they spread out fur pelts for bedding.
Glug glug.
“Eat.”
“Thank you.”
After finishing the simple porridge, Seo Jun’s hunger eased. He picked up a bottle of liquor he had taken out of his dimensional space earlier.
Glug glug glug.
He poured a cup for her.
“You must have been frightened today. Care for a drink?”
“Yes, please.”
The woman accepted the cup without hesitation. After handing it over, Seo Jun poured one for himself.
“Come to think of it, we haven’t even introduced ourselves. I’m Seo Jun from Sakbang. My courtesy name is Baekryong. I’m on my way to Seonmu County for work and to earn some money.”
“I’m Du Eun from Jeongyang. My courtesy name, received after the wedding rites, is Gaheun. I’m on my way to be married in Unjung County.”
Du Eun’s eyes darkened with sorrow as she spoke of the marriage.
This was not a union she desired. It was little more than being sold off because her family needed money.
They continued talking over drinks, one cup after another, gradually learning more about each other.
“You look sad. Is it because you don’t want to marry?”
Gulp gulp!
Seo Jun’s question struck a nerve. Du Eun squeezed her eyes shut and downed the liquor in her cup in one go.
“Lord Baekryong, my family is poor. My father is a scholar, but he comes from a humble background with little talent. He can’t enter government service and has no ability or interest in making money.”
“My late-born younger sibling starved to death last winter. Not long ago, the brother just below me fell ill. We needed money for his treatment. Even so, because I’m considered fairly pretty, there was a family willing to pay a large sum if I married into them. So I’m going to the Jin clan in Unjung County as a guest-concubine.”
Du Eun removed the veil that had been covering her face. Tears streamed from her large, luminous eyes. Her straight nose and red lips made for a strikingly attractive and beautiful appearance.
A pure, pitiful type. If she’d been an actress in the future, she would’ve made plenty of people cry.
“Guest-concubine? What exactly is that?”
It was a term Seo Jun had never encountered even in his memories of this era.
“Have you never heard the term before?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“I see. Then do you know what a guest-marriage is?”
“I know that much.”
“Then you’ll understand quickly. A guest-concubine is a concubine taken specifically for the purpose of a guest-marriage.”
A guest-marriage referred to the custom in which a host would treat a guest with utmost hospitality and allow him to sleep with his wife. To modern Seo Jun, it seemed like a Mongol practice, but in reality it had occurred across many regions.
Especially in Bing Province, Liang Province, and You Province, although no longer done openly, the custom still occurred frequently.
“But I thought guest-marriages involved letting the wife sleep with the guest. Why take a separate concubine for that?”
“They use the existence of that custom as an excuse to bring in a concubine for entertaining guests. Since they consider themselves scholars, they can’t offer their own wife, yet they still need to provide hospitality to important visitors. So they bring in a concubine who is essentially no different from a courtesan. By calling her a concubine, they can claim they treated you with utmost sincerity—even offering a concubine—while preserving face and appearances.”
It was a new vice built upon an old custom.
They say the best form of hospitality is bodily hospitality. How pragmatic.
Though she would be married into a wealthy household as a concubine, she was effectively being sold as something little better than a courtesan. It was pitiable.
Yet unless he intended to take full responsibility for her, it was awkward to intervene. Who was he to claim responsibility for someone whose life had only briefly brushed against his?
She is beautiful, though.
While Seo Jun was lost in thought, Du Eun stared intently at his face.
He’s handsome.
Was this not the very image of the man she had dreamed of while growing up? Striking looks, exceptional martial skill, and a kind expression when he heard her story.
With the alcohol warming her, Du Eun suddenly found courage. She stood up abruptly, moved beside Seo Jun, and plopped down next to him.
“Lord Baekryong, have you taken a wife yet?”
Seo Jun met the gaze of Du Eun, whose cheeks were flushed and whose large eyes were fixed on him.
“There is a woman I promised to fetch, but we haven’t held the wedding yet.”
A hint of relief flickered in Du Eun’s eyes. If Seo Jun already had a wife, her decision might have caused that woman pain.
“That’s a relief. Then… would you hold me tonight?”
Du Eun wondered what she was thinking.
“Hmm… Are you thinking of coming with me?”
“No. I can’t follow you, Lord Baekryong. If I disappear, the Jin clan won’t leave my father, my younger brother, or anyone close to me alone.”
“If you spend the night with me, the man you’re supposed to marry will surely take issue with the fact that you’re no longer a virgin.”
“The people escorting me were all from the Jin clan. They’ll assume I was captured by bandits and violated. Since they’re bringing me in as a guest-concubine anyway, and I’m reasonably attractive, they won’t cast me aside.”
Seo Jun pondered Du Eun’s bold explanation for a moment.
Well, what’s the harm? I’ll just go for it.
Having made up his mind, Seo Jun reached out, took the back of Du Eun’s neck, and gently pulled her toward him.
He pressed his lips to hers, rubbing lightly before slipping his tongue inside. Du Eun flinched at her first kiss but soon surrendered to his movements.
Smack! Suck!
His other hand moved to her chest, grasping it over her clothes.
Squish.
Despite her pure appearance, her breasts were surprisingly large in his hand.
Even as his hands worked busily, Seo Jun stripped away Du Eun’s garments one by one. Though it was spring, the nights were still cold, yet the heat rising from their bodies made them forget the chill.
As Seo Jun began caressing her breasts and stomach at the same time, he whispered softly into her ear.
“You’re so beautiful.”
Du Eun’s tightly shut eyes trembled at the corners.
When he gently kneaded her breast and rubbed her nipple, a heated breath escaped her lips.
“Mm…”
Before long, Seo Jun had removed all of Du Eun’s clothes. He stripped as well and lay down beside her.
Suck!
“Hah!”
When he sucked hard on her nipple, a strong moan escaped her. His right hand slid between her thighs, gently stroking the area.
Continuing to suckle her nipple with his tongue while caressing her thighs and groin, he soon felt a damp sensation against his fingers at her center.
He raised his middle finger and began rubbing around her entrance, then slowly pushed inside and withdrew.
“Hah… hah… ngh!”
“How does it feel?”
“Hah… It feels strange.”
Du Eun turned her face away in embarrassment.
He slowly pushed his now-wet middle finger deeper into her slick entrance.
Seo Jun’s mouth trailed down from her breasts across her stomach, moving lower.
“Hah! W-what are you…?”
Seo Jun brought his mouth to her womanhood and began to lick.