The Declaration - 6
"So why'd you come to my porridge shop?"
It was the road back after receiving the Mangeum Lord's approval. As it happened, the inn of Jeon Gilsan — the Mangeum Lord's maternal grandson and the very first franchisee of my business — sat along the way, so I stepped inside to look it over.
"Nothing much. For some reason, you've hardly any lost Giosugu pigeons here. The fewest of any of the inns, in fact?"
Giving Gilsan's greeting only half a nod, I flipped through the shop's paperwork.
Since the Giosugu were carrier pigeons kept for delivery, some were bound to go missing or die in accidents. So why had orders for replacement birds fallen off lately? However well they were being managed, that was far too few losses.
"I picked a day and made a full round with our family's guards."
Gilsan studied me carefully for a moment, then answered with a triumphant grin.
"You made a round?"
"You'd think the trash customers would number one or two, but there was every kind under the sun. So I set aside a day and went around teaching them some manners."
"You went to their delivery addresses? What if something had happened to you?"
"Do you have any idea who I am? The great Jeon Gilsan? I had every last one of them checked out and only roughed up the truly worst offenders, so don't you worry. If anything, the moment I moved to confiscate their Giosugu, they went and grabbed my pant leg begging, I tell you."
Gilsan shrugged as if it were nothing worth mentioning.
Back in Korea, delivery restaurants trembled at a single star rating, and slipping in a complimentary drink was the bare minimum. But here, if you picked a fight with a delivery business, did the owner come after your skull?
"Make sure no word of this gets out. Judging by the ingredient orders, sales seem to be coming in without a hitch."
If anything, they'd gone up compared to a few weeks ago. Was all that etiquette being drilled into people actually working?
In truth, since we ran the food delivery business as a monopoly, a few abusive customers walking away was no great loss. I'd personally dealt with louts who kicked up a fuss demanding to know why a Joseon man was the one doing the delivering.
"Me, I've got nothing going wrong. You're the one with the problem."
Gilsan said it with a smirk.
"Me? What problem?"
"One look and I can tell — it's women trouble."
Gilsan looked me up and down as though he'd already worked out the whole of it.
"It's not."
The succession of Mangeum Hall. Marriage with Lady Jegal. My future activities as a writer. With things to worry about piling up all at once, had it been showing on my face?
The answer came out a little sharper than I intended.
"Sure it is. This is exactly why you should've quit the two-timing while you could. I always knew your legs would get snapped one of these days. Kukuku."
Gilsan laughed with obvious relish.
"It's not that kind of problem. And Lady Hayeon is away because she had to go traveling with her father for a while."
So he'd jumped to the conclusion that my face was dark over Lady Hayeon, who had left not long ago?
"Right, right. My mother does that too, come to think of it. Whenever she fights with Father, she says she's off visiting her family for a while."
"Hey."
I said it was a misunderstanding. We settled it just fine. When I furrowed my brow, Gilsan crossed his arms like I was the funniest thing he'd seen all day and nodded away.
"Anyway, you're a piece of work, you know that? No, wait — is it your father-in-law who's the impressive one? How does a man approve a son-in-law who's seeing other women besides his own daughter? If it were me, I'd have started by smashing your skull in."
"......"
A cowardly fact attack, delivered at exactly this moment.
"Kukuku."
"I just came from meeting your maternal grandfather."
I let out a small sigh and reached for a different topic to steer the conversation elsewhere.
"Aha! So it wasn't this side, it was that side. How are you even still alive?"
Was I allowed to hit this punk Jeon Gilsan? I was only trying to change the subject here.
"It's not that I got an earful about Lady Jegal."
Only then did Gilsan join in with a somewhat more serious expression.
"Then it's business? Just let it wash over you. That's the kind of man he is. I get hauled in for the successor exams all the time, and nobody ever comes back with praise. Everyone comes home half-dead. The ones with bad scores play dead themselves just to skip the gatherings — that's how bad it gets."
Oh, I'd heard about that.
"He does nothing but spring things on a man..."
I muttered anxiously and stole a glance at Gilsan.
'If the succession comes up, am I going to be at odds with Gilsan all over again?'
We had met through bad blood, but as we grew closer over business, we'd somehow reached the point of trading jokes back and forth.
Before long, would we be the kind of pair who part shouting, Begone — the next time we meet, we are enemies?
"Grandfather he may be, but who can fathom the mind of the great Mangeum Lord? Fine! For once, this big brother of yours is feeling generous. Come along."
Apparently completely oblivious to what was going on inside me, Gilsan seized my sleeve and made for the door.
"Follow you where? I'm finishing up here and going home."
It was still business hours, for one. And on the face of the man who had been talking successor exams not a minute ago, thoughts of drink were already brimming over.
"Scared of getting home late, so you're running off? Come on. Let's have a drink at the courtesan house."
"Courtesan house, my foot. Lady Jegal is waiting at my house."
And that wasn't all. If word later reached Lady Hayeon's ears that I'd been in and out of a courtesan house, I could only imagine what I'd hear for it.
On top of which, Gimun Hyangju herself had told me not to go traipsing into such places.
"There's so much you don't get. The reason you're worn down right now is that you can't get any rest. When it's time to play, you play — am I wrong? At home you're reading the women's moods every single day. At work you're smothered in things to fret over. There are exams besides. No wonder your body and mind can't help but give out. This is exactly the time you ought to be enjoying yourself a little."
Gilsan delivered it all as though bestowing profoundly meaningful advice as an elder of life. In practice, it was the sort of talk that kept the Mangeum Lord's sigh factory running at full capacity.
"Do I look like a man who enjoys the pleasures of women to you?"
"You're telling me you DON'T?!"
Gilsan stared at me with eyes of pure astonishment, arms flailing.
"......"
No — why was he looking at me like, what, we weren't the same kind of man?
Examined from every angle, it was an outrageously unfair impression, but when I tallied up my own track record, I found nothing to rebut it with.
"Fine, fine. Truth be told, I don't enjoy the women either. The courtesans all cater to my every whim. I go because I like being treated well. Who wanders in and out of courtesan houses just for the women? This big brother will show you the pleasures of the night. Come on! Follow me."
"Something's fishy here."
He'd always been fond of courtesan houses, but this was clingier than usual.
"Fishy how? I just want to treat you right, that's all."
No. It was enormously fishy. His face looked like something was weighing on his conscience.
"Hey. You. You've got something you want to talk about in there, don't you?"
"Do I look like that kind of man to you?"
"Yep. Very much so."
"......"
"There IS something. Out with it. If you bring it up in there, I'm absolutely not granting it."
"Ugh. It's just — I've been thinking of opening the third branch soon. I'm a little short on funds..."
"You'll be paying full price."
I answered on the spot.
"Hey! Kang Yunho! No — Leader Kang. I'm telling you, talk it over in there. If it's beauty you want, beauty. If it's a voice, a voice. If it's dance, dance. I'll set you up with a courtesan who says her dream is to meet the man of Wuhan himself!"
"There are courtesans like that?"
Courtesans in this world were, for all intents and purposes, idols. The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them.
"See? Tempted after all. Her name's Maehyang. A courtesan they say you have to gift an entire estate just to meet once. Tempting, no? So come along and let's talk some good business."
Maehyang? Where had I heard that name before?
Ah!!!
"We'll talk about the third branch another time. Lady Jegal is waiting at home — it can't be helped."
I shook off the sleeve Gilsan had grabbed and waved my arms.
"Brother-in-law! And here I thought we were close!"
"If you're going to call me brother-in-law, then that's as far as it gets you, you rascal."
"Hey! Brother-in-law! Hey, rascal! Kang Yunho! You punk. You sure do treasure your women..."
As I turned away wearing a face full of guilty conscience, Gilsan tossed out a few more jibes before giving up almost at once.
Right. With Lady Jegal at home, how could I possibly go to a place like a courtesan house?
It was absolutely not because the courtesan called Maehyang was one of Gimun Hyangju's own close aides, and absolutely not because a certain scrap of clothing she had given me sat tucked away in a corner of my room.
"Where has Lady Jegal gone?"
When I returned home, Lady Jegal was nowhere to be seen in the room.
I searched the office, the chests around the house, the damp corners the sun never reached, even the spots hidden from every eye — but there was no trace of Lady Jegal anywhere.
Where had she gone? Had something happened? I asked the maid.
"The Mangeum Lord summoned her, and she has gone to his estate."
"It seems our paths simply crossed on the road."
If he meant to summon someone, he might have summoned us both. Did he have something to discuss with her alone?
"You would do well not to say such needless things."
…
That was unsettling.
"Kang Yunho — do you have feelings for that boy?"
Contrary to Kang Yunho's expectations, the Mangeum Lord spoke with the warm, genial smile of a grandfather delighted to see his granddaughter after so long apart.
"Yes. Young Master Kang is a ve— very good man."
Jegal Hyang, for her part, nodded and nodded, her face taut with nerves.
Her grandfather, a man famous for his severity, was asking after her with so kind a smile. For Jegal Hyang, staying calm was simply not an option.
"Kang Yunho — I intend to make that boy my successor. And then you shall become the mistress of Mangeum Hall."
After chatting with his granddaughter over tea for a while, the Mangeum Lord came to the heart of the matter.
"I'm sorry — what?"
Young Master Kang, successor of Mangeum Hall? At the utterly unforeseen words, a dumbstruck sound spilled out of Jegal Hyang.
"I mean to tell your aunts before long. They will no doubt resist with everything they have, but I believe that boy Kang Yunho can prove himself. That matter does not trouble me overmuch — it is something else that does."
"Something else worries you, sir?"
Young Master Kang could become her grandfather's successor. But a piece of news more staggering still struck Jegal Hyang hard on its heels.
"As of now, your father knows nothing of your relationship with Kang Yunho."
"What? Whaaat?!"
Father didn't know? Eyes gone perfectly round, Jegal Hyang stared at her grandfather as the realization landed.
'Come to think of it, no one in the family ever said a single word about it!'
She had already been living under the same roof as Young Master Kang for months. If the family had known, they would have known long ago. And on reflection, if her father had learned the truth, he was not a man who would ever have stayed quiet.
'Wh-what am I supposed to do?!'
For an instant, everything went dark before Jegal Hyang's eyes.
"I spoke with your mother in advance, all the way back at the matchmaking stage. It was not your granddad who forced the two of you together."
"You spoke with Mom in advance, sirrrr?"
Jegal Hyang let out a small breath of relief.
Her father might hold the power of the clan, but the balance of power within the household was another matter entirely. If her mother had given her blessing, the whole story changed.
'Huh?! Come to think of it, I came to Grandfather's estate to get away from Mom.'
Then how had he spoken with her in advance, all the way back at the matchmaking stage?
No — it couldn't be. A staggering suspicion flashed through Jegal Hyang's mind, only to be cut off by her grandfather's voice.
"Yes, I spoke with your mother as well — but as of now, that boy Kang Yunho falls far short as a husband for you."
"Young Master Kang is not lacking in the least, siiiir."
He was a man almost too good for her — so good that she wondered whether she would ever meet anyone like Young Master Kang again.
Jegal Hyang shot back at once.
"Heh heh heh. I am not saying the boy lacks ability. I am saying he falls short as a son-in-law of the Jegal Clan."
Watching his introverted granddaughter retort without a moment's hesitation, the Mangeum Lord spoke, inwardly delighted at just how hopelessly smitten she was.
"Ah... Yes, sir."
"His talent is such that even this old grandfather acknowledges it — but he is no man of immense wealth, nor the son of an established house. And he is no official who passed the examinations and draws a salary from the state, is he? Worse still, does he not carry a hair color that invites scorn? So your family will surely judge him wanting as a husband for you."
Love might be a matter between a man and a woman, but marriage was a matter of grave consequence for the clan.
The Jegal Clan stood among the most illustrious martial families in Hubei Province. However deeply the two might love each other, marriage was something that could only be decided by the elders of the clan.
And Jegal Hyang was the treasured youngest daughter of the Jegal Clan's head — not a woman some black-haired barbarian could go about eyeing as he pleased.
"Wha—?!"
Only then did Jegal Hyang grasp the reality of the situation she was in.
"Do not be flustered. All you need do is look after that boy Kang Yunho well for the time being. Once he is named my successor, you need only go to the Jegal Clan and have your engagement recognized."
The Mangeum Lord was the father-in-law of the Jegal Clan's head, but he was not an elder of the Jegal Clan itself. Strictly speaking, he held no deciding authority over the marriage of Jegal Hyang and Kang Yunho.
All he could do, as the clan head's father-in-law, was secure her a fine match. One that came bundled with the position of his own successor, no less.
"Young Master Kang and I... e-e-en... engaged, sir?"
Engaged. Jegal Hyang's voice trembled at her relationship with Kang Yunho advancing by one sudden, enormous stride.
"However, there is one thing you must do for me until that boy Kang Yunho becomes my successor."
"Wh-what must I do?"
What mission was her grandfather about to entrust to her? Like a low-ranking clerk awaiting a weighty assignment, Jegal Hyang gazed up at Old Man Jang, heart pounding.
"Kang Yunho. Seduce that boy."
"Whaaaaat?!"