The Fugitive's Wife (Complete)
I came back to my senses about five minutes later.
Whoosh—! I kicked the blanket off with a violent thrust of my leg. As I sat up, Liu Bang was still sitting in the exact same spot like a stone statue. He cleared his throat awkwardly and opened his mouth.
“Chia-ya, so, about last night….”
“Don’t say anything. Whatever it is.”
I snatched up the jacket that had been lying nearby. In my haste, I didn’t even bother untying the strings properly before yanking it over my head. Then, forcing my face into the calmest expression I could manage, I turned to look at him.
“Da-in.”
At the formal title, Liu Bang bit his lip slightly. It seemed that during the gap in my memory, some sort of “husband” agreement had been reached between us. How ridiculous.
Still, I had no desire to use something as cringeworthy as “husband” even in private. Without correcting the term, I continued.
“Nothing happened between us last night.”
“……Huh?”
“To be more precise, that ‘accident’ from last night will not change our relationship.”
I knew it. Saying this wouldn’t erase what had happened yesterday. Demanding that a lecher like Liu Bang politely step back over a line he had already crossed was harsher than asking a cat to spit out a fish.
“But Chia-ya….”
As expected, Liu Bang looked openly crestfallen. I could feel his gaze sliding toward the corner of the bed, where an alarmingly vivid red bloodstain and some unidentifiable dried fluids remained. You perverted old man.
Originally, I had planned to drive the nail in here with something like, “You must take responsibility.” To claim that last night had been nothing more than a drunken mistake. That the woman who had writhed on top of him wasn’t really me.
“…….”
But for some reason, the words wouldn’t come out. A sudden shiver ran down my side, and the phantom sensation of his large, rough hand gently stroking my lower back flashed through me like a hallucination. I’m actually losing my mind.
My heart began to pound violently in response. In the end, I squeezed my eyes shut and offered a compromise in a much softer voice.
“Of course… this doesn’t mean a permanent severance.”
“Severance…?”
“Yes. No matter what, we can’t pretend something that already happened never occurred.”
I twirled my fingers, trying to express the complicated feelings that words couldn’t capture.
“So for now… let’s simply start over. From a wholesome relationship where we can hold hands while falling asleep, kiss each other on the cheek in front of everyone, and occasionally drink together while playing drinking games.”
That was the best I could do. I would acknowledge what I remembered of last night. We couldn’t jump straight into playing newlyweds, but I wouldn’t close the door on the possibility of moving forward someday.
“Drinking games, huh….”
Liu Bang, who had been pondering for a moment, finally broke into a small smile mixed with relief.
“Alright. Let’s do that.”
Then came the kind of joke typical of him.
“Next time we drink, I’ll have to prepare something less strong.”
“Yes, please do.”
Only then could I finally manage a smile. Good. One problem solved.
I cleared my throat with a soft “ahem” and changed the subject in a much more comfortable tone.
“And about the operation of this mountain stronghold. From now on, I will help as well.”
“Huh?”
Liu Bang’s face went blank again. Then a bright bloom of laughter spread across it.
“Does that mean you’re staying here too—!”
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
I shook my head firmly. Liu Bang looked visibly disappointed.
“Then?”
“Material support. I will provide supplies.”
It was true that Liu Bang’s life in the mountains was far more organized than I had expected. From what I had seen yesterday, the leather processing alone was clearly generating decent income. But now it was spring. The season when the weather warmed and the snow melted. The season when climbing Mangtan Mountain was no longer considered suicidal.
Once the snow melted, far more refugees would climb the mountain to join the stronghold. Conversely, the government troops would also begin serious searches along the now-passable mountain paths.
In such a complicated situation, to continue this luxurious fugitive lifestyle, “cash” was essential—cash to feed the people and to bribe the government soldiers.
“Three hundred coins per month. The delivery method will be ‘dropping.’”
“……Dropping?”
Liu Bang looked confused. I nodded and continued.
“We’ll agree on a specific location in advance. Every month, I’ll secretly drop off the support funds and daily necessities like salt there. Without anyone knowing.”
Dead Drop. In the 21st century, it was a method mainly used by drug dealers and spies. A one hundred percent contactless transaction where neither problems nor face-to-face meetings between seller and buyer ever occurred.
“Ah….”
Liu Bang nodded as if he understood, then looked slightly disappointed.
“So you won’t be coming here every month.”
“Correct. That would carry too much risk.”
Even setting aside the county magistrate’s surveillance, once spring arrived, bears twice my size would begin roaming near Mangtan Mountain. I had no desire to become a bear’s snack.
“I’m thinking of the giant zelkova tree at the entrance to Snake Valley, right at the foot of Mangtan Mountain. The knothole looked deep enough to hide quite a few things.”
“Ah, I think I know the one. From a distance, it looks like a person waving their hand, right?”
“Yes. That exact tree.”
I understood Liu Bang’s comparison. Though to my eyes, it had looked more like him clumsily swinging a sword to pass the time beside me.
“After you retrieve the items, please leave a reply and a ledger in the same place. I will collect them, review the records, and reflect them in the next month’s supplies.”
“Can’t we just have the messenger deliver letters?”
“……Do you really think I would tolerate burning thirty coins every time I send you a single letter, da-in?”
I narrowed my eyes and glared at him. He responded with an awkward cough.
“Ahem, understood. Then we’ll do the dropping.”
“Good. We’ll discuss the details with the others over breakfast later.”
“Yes. Let’s do that.”
Liu Bang nodded in agreement. After that, an awkward silence settled over us for a moment. I quietly looked around before letting out a deep sigh and speaking again.
“Da-in.”
“Yeah. Go ahead.”
“Could you bring me my undergarments?”
“……Huh?”
Only then did Liu Bang snap out of his daze and look at me. I silently pointed at my pants and underclothes, which lay pathetically crumpled like shed skin where we had been drinking the night before.
“……Ah.”
Liu Bang, now fully alert, stood up. He hurried over and picked up my clothes. The undergarment he awkwardly handed back to me was… Insane.
It was stained so obviously that anyone could see it at a glance. Feeling my ears burn, I quickly spoke.
“……Da-in.”
“Y-yes, Chia-ya.”
“By July… this tiresome fugitive life should finally show signs of ending.”
“Uh… July?”
In moments like this, shifting the topic to something serious was best. If Liu Bang said something like “Your underwear got a little wet, didn’t it?” my face would literally explode.
I nodded, snatched the undergarment and pants he offered, and hid them under the blanket.
“When the rainy season begins in July, the roads will become a mess and be cut off. Once the paths are blocked, a great number of people will be unable to meet their labor service deadlines.”
Liu Bang, who had been quietly digesting my words, grew serious.
“And the district officials who find it impossible to meet those deadlines will stand at a crossroads, just as I did last winter.”
“Yes, exactly. And in the hearts of those forced to make such a choice… rumors will already have taken root about a certain pioneering official who first raised a banner and hid himself on Mangtan Mountain.”
In truth, that last remark was completely unnecessary. While it was correct that the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebellion arose from delays in labor service caused by the rainy season, Liu Bang’s name would not have factored even slightly into their decision to revolt. But right now, I wanted to say it.
That your choice last winter had not been wrong. That the courage you showed would become the fuse that changes the world. Even if it wasn’t the truth, I wanted to tell him that.
After all, Liu Bang was simpler than anyone. If a single sentence could lift my husband’s spirits, wasn’t that the duty of a wise wife?
“……!”
As expected, Liu Bang’s eyes widened greatly, clearly moved by my words. He stared blankly at his own hand for a moment, then looked back at me with a bright, childlike smile.
“Yes. If it turns out that way, it would be wonderful.”
His voice had grown much more relaxed. I smiled lightly back at him, then continued in a slightly more serious tone.
“That aside, da-in.”
“Yeah. Go ahead.”
“Would it be alright if I stray from the main topic for a moment?”
“Stray…? Sure, go ahead.”
Liu Bang nodded readily. I took a deep breath and spoke without hesitation.
“You said you did it with me three times last night, didn’t you?”
“Eh? Uh… ah… y-yeah, I did?”
“Did you finish inside me all three times?”
“……Cough.”
Liu Bang coughed as if something had gone down the wrong way. But this was something I absolutely had to confirm.
“Please answer honestly.”
I pressed him again. His face flushed crimson to the tips of his ears as he kept coughing, but he eventually nodded.
“Y-yeah. I did. All of it… inside.”
“Completely? Every last drop?”
“Yeah. You were so aggressive, Chia-ya.”
“……Hmm.”
First experience, three times. On top of that, Liu Bang had been celibate for the past six months. And… twelve days since my last period.
Anyone who hadn’t slept through health class would know that the twelfth day after the start of one’s period marked the end of the follicular phase and the beginning of the fertile window as the body prepared for ovulation.
“Why are you suddenly asking about that?”
Liu Bang asked with a cautious expression, clearly worried he had made some mistake. I looked at him for a moment, then lightly shook my head.
“It’s nothing. I was just curious.”
Yes, calm down. No matter how virile Liu Bang would later become—the man who would father six sons and one daughter—he was not a marksman who hit the target every time. If pregnancy had been that easy, the birth rate in 21st-century Korea wouldn’t have been struggling in the 0.X range.
“Ahem. Then could you leave the room for a moment?”
I cleared my throat and pulled my pants back up.
“Ah… y-yes, sorry. I’ll head out right away.”
Liu Bang quickly left the hut. I waited until the curtain was fully closed and his footsteps had faded into the distance before carefully lifting the blanket.
“……Sigh.”
My lower body had felt heavy and sore for a while now. The space between my legs was sticky. The sight was too wretched to put into words. I need to clean up.
Feeling an incredibly uncomfortable sense of depravity as if my lower belly were completely full, I got up to look for something to wipe myself with.
“Then, stay healthy, husband.”
“Yes. You take care on the way back too, Chia-ya.”
“Madam, safe travels~!”
The farewell was calmer than I had expected. After filling our stomachs with a hearty hangover soup made from wild boar (it was delicious), Fan Kuai, Ho, and I left the mountain stronghold amid everyone’s farewells.
Liu Bang accompanied me only as far as the watchtower. I waved to him with equal composure and began descending the mountain path.
“Sister-in-law. Did you spend a cozy night with Big Brother last night?”
As soon as the watchtower disappeared from view, Fan Kuai approached me with a mischievous grin. Yes, we spent an extremely cozy—bordering on destructive—night together.
I managed my expression with effort and nodded.
“Yes. It seems my husband was quite lonely.”
“Haha! No matter how far apart, a married couple is still a married couple, right? I’m glad you two seem close.”
Fan Kuai laughed heartily. Fortunately, thanks to the pain in his hip joint, he didn’t seem to notice that my gait had become slightly awkward. I gave him an awkward smile and quickly changed the subject.
“Things are going to get much busier from now on. When you have free time, Fanda-in, please visit Jeonunchang.”
“Jeonunchang?”
A pure “Why?” floated across his face. I answered without hesitation.
“Because the time has come to take real action.”
I had survived the winter safely, and so had Liu Bang. And last night, I had bet not only my body but my future on him.
Spring was the season when everything changed. Just as Liu Bang had built such a massive community even in desperate circumstances, it was time for my goal to shift from “survival” to “preparation.”
Four months until the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebellion.
And four months until Liu Bang would emerge into the world as Paegong, the Duke of Pei.
What I needed now was nothing but to move forward.