The Meeting - 5
"W-why are you meeting that woman?"
Perhaps it was the packed schedule, or maybe the suddenness of my announcement, but Lim Hayeon asked me in a flustered voice.
"I told you yesterday, didn't I. About what to do with the Daseogak branch. It's been ten days with no word, so I'll have to go myself."
"Wouldn't it be better to just wait?"
"Maybe I can afford to, but Lady Ha Yeon can't."
The Domun bastards were scouring the city for Lim Hayeon with bloodshot eyes. Until I knew what they were planning, the business had to keep expanding without pause.
"...I'll be fine."
"Don't worry too much. If I bring it up myself, who knows what scheme the Mangeum Lord will cook up next — that's why I'm going, to let Lady Jegal Hyang pester me instead."
I understood her worry too. Every trip to the Mangeum Hall meant coming back with a new pile of headaches.
"Haa. Let me look at you."
Though we were already standing close at the door, Lim Hayeon took another step toward me, tilted her head up, and studied my face intently.
"Sohee?"
Isn't she getting a little too close these days? Keep this up and misunderstandings will happen whether I want them to or not.
"Aren't you a little too well dressed?"
Reading my expression, Lim Hayeon smiled as if satisfied with something, then clumsily retied the sash of my robe before speaking with a faint note of hurt in her voice.
"Haha. Well, better than looking like a pushover. I'm off."
The Mangeum Estate.
"Whyyyy has Young Master Kang not sent a single word for ten days?"
The silver-haired, blue-eyed beauty — Jegal Hyang — rolled around on the floor in agony, with such force that she seemed determined to absorb every speck of dust on the floorboards into her clothes.
Ten days.
It had been ten days since the marriage meeting, and Jegal Hyang had not seen Kang Yunho once.
"Nothing about this was in the books."
Stories of men and women living happily. Stories of couples who fight and fall in love. Stories of men adventuring to rescue the woman they cherish.
Among all the countless novels Jegal Hyang had devoured, not one had ever explained what a man was supposed to do when he went ten days without contacting a woman he'd agreed to court, without so much as a word of explanation.
What on earth was she supposed to do in a situation like this?
For a girl who had learned romance entirely from books, there was simply no answer.
"I mustered my courage and even went all the way to the funeral."
Young Master Kang. Imagine meeting you here — what a coincidence. Is this what they call fate? Ehehe. Jegal Hyang had dreamed of a chance encounter straight out of a novel, but reality had turned out very differently.
— You're not Hyang. It's been a while. Yes. What have you been up to these days?
— The Jegal Clan, you say? My in-law does business with a company your clan runs, actually.
— Jegal Hyang. Who are you dating lately? What? You and that bastard?
"Urp!"
Recalling that suffocating experience of being swarmed by people, Jegal Hyang's stomach churned and she gagged.
How stupid of me. Heo Song and Young Master Kang were bitter enemies. Of course he'd never be at that funeral. Regret flooded in, and she quickly gave up on meeting him in person.
"What do I do...?"
I know. I know the best option is to reach out first. But what if she sent a letter and he never replied?
"That would tear my heart clean in two!"
And with that, Jegal Hyang threw herself to the floor and wailed like a donkey all over again.
"And you know, a while back there was this man who went a whole week without contacting me."
While Jegal Hyang was desperately stitching back together the heart she'd nearly torn apart in her imagination, the sound of the servant girls chattering drifted in from outside.
"The man you said you two liked each other? So what happened with that?"
"Hah!"
Fast and silent as the time she'd sneaked into the kitchen at midnight for leftovers without waking her mother, Jegal Hyang crept toward the voices and pressed her ear to the wall.
"Like he's so special. I got angry and stopped contacting him too."
"Weren't you saying he was handsome — the type women fall for? Sounds like it was already over, no?"
That's right. If a man who's obviously popular with women goes silent, doesn't that just mean he's lost interest? Jegal Hyang nodded furiously at the wall.
"Heheh. On day ten he came crawling back, begging and pleading. I was trying to hold the upper hand, you see."
"Goodness. You're a regular seduction master."
"Just realizing that now? As a reward for his apology, I had him take me to dinner at that fancy restaurant."
"No way! Do you know how much a meal there costs?!"
The servant girls cackled and carried on with their merry tales of romance.
"Tch. This is why popular girls are..."
Though the woman on the other side of the wall was enjoying herself not at all.
That was completely useless. Jegal Hyang dragged herself back to her spot, shoulders slumping.
"Hnngh... sob... I actually knew already."
In a voice thick with self-mockery, Jegal Hyang replayed the marriage meeting in her mind.
— It's a misunderstanding that shy people become assertive in front of what they love. If you could say everything you love to a total stranger, you were never shy to begin with. A truly shy person, even when there's something she desperately wants to say...
"Hnnngh. He must have thought I was a complete weirdo."
At this point it was like sabotaging her own training bout before it even began. Why had she done that to herself?
Every time she pictured Kang Yunho's bewildered laughter right afterward, her neck threatened to snap clean off from cringing.
"And yet... it was fun."
Amid all that misery, a tender smile somehow crept across Jegal Hyang's face.
There really was a man I could talk to. I always raged that I couldn't hold a proper conversation with strangers, but with Young Master Kang, the words just flowed.
Whatever I said, he caught it and threw it back, and we talked for hours without me even noticing the time.
Recalling Kang Yunho's face as he'd cheerfully kept up with her every word, Jegal Hyang buried her face in both hands.
Then, in the tiniest, most cautious whisper — in case anyone might be listening — she murmured to herself:
"I-I wish I could go to a restaurant with Young Master Kang too."
Should I work up the courage and send a letter?
We're courting, aren't we? Surely a couple could manage a trip to a restaurant together. Just write it? But what if he turns me down?
Right — in moments like this, it's best to imagine the worst possible outcome first. Jegal Hyang pictured the worst response her letter might receive.
— We are in a contract courtship. A woman initiating contact? How vulgar.
"Nooo! Aaaaah!"
No. Absolutely not. That's far too cruel. When Jegal Hyang imagined Kang Yunho's face turning to ice, she collapsed to the floor as if she'd been run through with a blade.
"I-I need to draw something. I need art to calm my soul."
I need to escape reality. Until Young Master Kang's letter arrives, I shall complete one masterpiece on a wide sheet of paper.
Jegal Hyang hurriedly grabbed her writing brush, and then a thought struck her. But what if she finished the masterpiece and there was still no word from him?
"Th-then I just... won't finish it until he contacts me. That works, right?"
It might well become her final, unfinished work. But that was the end of Jegal Hyang's worries.
"My lady! Young Master Kang has come to see you!"
"Wh-wh-wh-whaaat?! Re-re-really?!"
Perhaps because she was my marriage prospect.
The moment I arrived at the Mangeum Estate, Jegal Hyang came bounding out in a single leap.
Since she said she hadn't eaten, we set off to talk as well — riding a carriage provided by the Mangeum Hall to a high-end restaurant with private rooms.
"Heh heh heh."
Jegal Hyang kept glancing around, unable to suppress a smile, as if something delighted her beyond all reason.
Was the Mangeum Estate too stifling for her? Does she feel like a kid visiting grandpa's house on a holiday, heading out to the arcade with the cousins?
Presumably because of our contract courtship, she was dressed in supremely comfortable traveling clothes, her eyes darting this way and that.
"He says he'll grant us a location for a bookstore in an even better spot?"
I asked Jegal Hyang, wanting to confirm the information I'd pried out of the carriage driver on the way over.
"Ah, yes."
At my question, Jegal Hyang nodded with a slight shuffle of nervousness.
"I thought as much — it would be improper of him to seize the place where the departed spent his final days."
Heo Song had died horribly; confiscating his dead grandson's property would surely earn the old man some pointed fingers.
"Yes. He said it would take a little, a bit more time."
"I do hope it can be resolved at the earliest possible date."
"Ah, th-that is, I'm, I'm sorry."
Jegal Hyang bowed her head to me as though the delay were somehow her own sin.
"Haha. There's nothing for you to apologize for, my lady. Please don't feel any pressure between us."
That crafty old codger simply didn't tell me properly. The reason he never sent word was surely so I'd wring it out of his granddaughter in person.
"Be-between us? You mean that ki—"
"Honored guest. What will you be ordering?"
The waitress pushed open the door and entered, cutting off Jegal Hyang mid-sentence to ask about the menu.
"Me? I mean — that is, um."
Caught off guard by the unexpected turn, Jegal Hyang's eyes darted everywhere, the hand clutching the menu trembling like a leaf.
"Honored guest, might I recommend our specialty? It runs a bit pricey, but the flavor is guaranteed."
The waitress pointed, none too subtly, at the most expensive dish on the list.
"N-no, then the re-recommen—"
"We'll call for you once the menu is decided."
Do you have any idea how much that costs? I'm the one paying, so that's not happening. I shut the waitress down with a firm voice.
"Very well. As you wish, honored guest."
Making no effort to hide her disappointment, the waitress closed the door behind her. Upset about the extra tip she'd miss out on, no doubt.
"Phewww."
As soon as the waitress vanished, Jegal Hyang let out a long sigh of relief.
"Picking a meal at an inn isn't easy, is it?"
"Ah, I, um, I-I'm usually qu-quite good at it."
What a hopeless lie. Blushing to her ears, Jegal Hyang offered up her protest in the most adorable way possible.
I knew better. The natural enemy of every introvert is the service staff.
The beautiful attendant at the clothing shop who smiles and presses a hard sell. The hairdresser who botches your cut and beams while asking how you like it. Expressing an opinion is never easy.
On the surface, this looked like a mortifying moment for Jegal Hyang. But this, too, had been part of my plan.
"I want to take my time browsing the dishes, but with someone hovering over my shoulder it feels like too much pressure. I hardly know what's good, yet I have to make a choice I won't regret. And I feel bad for the waitress waiting on us. Honestly, it's never easy."
I spoke as if pouring out my own grievances, thoroughly empathizing with her plight. People like this, after all, open their hearts most readily to kindred spirits.
"Yeeees! Exactly! That's it exactly!"
Great reaction. Jegal Hyang nodded with wild enthusiasm at my words.
"And being black-haired on top of that, I've had waitresses make no attempt to hide their disdain when asked to wait on me."
Now to reveal a harmless little weakness of my own. A weakness is the surest way to draw out someone's sympathy.
"Really?"
"The waitress just now, for instance — a man was standing right here, and she addressed you first, didn't she? She finds dealing with black-haired folk distasteful."
"Goodness."
Jegal Hyang clasped her hands together and looked at me, wide-eyed with astonishment.
"The take-out food I've been selling was designed so people never have to worry about any of that, and it's been very well received."
Now to steer the conversation, as smoothly as possible, toward a topic I can lead with ease.
"Yes, yes! Exactly! It was so convenient!"
Her voice quickening with excitement, Jegal Hyang launched into a full hymn of praise for take-out food.
It was a contract courtship, after all.
Neither of us needed to feel any pressure.
With the feeling of simply making a new friend, I kept the conversation flowing with Jegal Hyang.
God, how I wanted to slack off for the rest of the day. But Lim Hayeon had declared, first thing in the morning, that there was far too much to do.
After lunch and a leisurely round of tea and small talk, we left the restaurant.
"I'll escort you back to the estate."
"B-but then you, you'd have to walk, Young Master Kang."
Gripping my sleeve, her face flushed, Jegal Hyang shook her head vigorously.
"You can't leave a carriage standing in front of the restaurant. The stable should be... Innkeeper?"
And so the first destination of the Mangeum Hall's luxurious carriage was not the estate, but my own inn.
"I'll just pay my respects and send you on your way. Get home safely, Lady Jegal Hyang."
I gestured to the innkeeper and bowed toward Jegal Hyang inside the carriage. At that, she clenched her fists as though steeling herself for something, then spoke up.
"Ah, um, well. Ne-ne-ne-ne-next time..."
"Yes?"
"Next time, please send word by letter..."
"Ah, of course. I'll arrange things in advance rather than showing up unannounced like today."
She'd come out in traveling clothes with ink still smudged on her sleeve, so I'd assumed she'd left in a carefree mood — apparently she'd been more flustered than I thought.
"Yes! I-I-I'll clear my schedule too. I mean, not that I'm usually busy or anything — well, actually I never really have plans in the first place—"
"Haha. Then I'll assume you keep your schedule open for me at all times. If there's anything you'd like me to pass along, do write to me as well, Lady Jegal Hyang."
"Yes!! Eh?!"
"Lady Jegal Hyang?"
What now? The instant she poked her face back out of the carriage, Jegal Hyang scanned the surroundings, visibly alarmed.
"Wh-where's that killing intent coming from...?"
Killing intent? A trained martial artist — did she sense some kind of threat?
"Killing intent, my lady?"
"To be precise, it's about the same as when Mother told me not to eat late-night snacks, and I sneaked into the kitchen and got caught..."
That is a remarkably specific comparison.
"Things have been turbulent lately — I'd advise you to get inside quickly."
What if Heo Song's death was not the end, but only the beginning? I said it with genuine worry in my voice.
"Eh? Oh, yes! I'll go right in!"
Jegal Hyang looked around in visible confusion, then bade me farewell and returned to the estate.
"Quite an amusing young lady, really."
Watching Jegal Hyang reminded me of a friend from back home — hopeless at talking to strangers, but once you got close, never at a loss for words.
It had been fun gaming together. I wondered what he was up to these days.
"...What exactly was fun about that?"
A chill crept into the voice behind me.
"You startled me! Nothing unusual happen to you today?"
It was Lim Hayeon. Where had she even come from?
"Why..."
Lim Hayeon stared, stricken, in the direction the carriage had vanished, then turned her gaze back to me.
"Hm?"
"Why are you so pretty?"
What on earth is she talking about?