A Send-Off and a Resolve
By the time Ha-ryeon and I returned with Tomusa, the play was over and the adults had already finished their meal.
Not only Namgung Hwi-gyeom and Yu Dan-a, but their husbands as well, had noticed that the two of us were gone. Hands clasped, Ha-ryeon and I made our way toward the room where our parents waited.
"Nervous?"
I asked.
"Huh?! No. Not even a little. I feel like I could take the Heavenly Demon right now."
So she said — and all the while her hand trembled, fine and fast. I saw it, and I closed my grip around her fingers, hoping to ease that tension even a little.
The door rattled open. Eight eyes turned on the two of us, and the air sank into a gravity that felt, if anything, a shade too severe.
The one who broke the silence was none other than Ha-ryeon.
"The play was so boring I couldn't stand it anymore. So I dragged I-hyeon out by force. I wanted the two of us to go off and have fun on our own."
"You admit the fault is yours?"
Hwi-gyeom fixed Ha-ryeon with a glare of terrifying force. Under that pressure the strength nearly fled Ha-ryeon's joints; she almost sank to the floor. But every time, the hand of mine she was gripping so tightly lent her courage.
"It isn't only Ha-rye's fault. Even when she said we'd had enough and ought to go back, I was the one who refused."
At those words Ha-ryeon started and looked sideways at him. There was no yielding in his eyes. She understood his heart at once, and a faint smile touched her lips.
All the while, I-hyeon's mother, Dan-a, was turning something over. What his master had said that morning still snagged at her. The boy is strong enough now to protect himself, so stop only holding him down. Let him do some of what he wants. She examined herself, wondering whether this little rebellion was the fruit of her having repressed him too harshly — and then she seemed to reach a decision.
"So the play was no fun, from where the two of you sat. I'm sorry. We were so busy eating and enjoying ourselves that we never spared a thought for you."
Yu Dan-a stroked I-hyeon's head, and Ha-ryeon's.
"This is too grave a fault to wave off as a child's whim. It is not a thing one simply forgives and lets pass, Dan-a."
Hwi-gyeom pressed her, voice heavy with severity, at the softness of what Dan-a had done.
"We enjoyed ourselves in our way, and the children enjoyed themselves in theirs. Is that not enough?"
"You always give ground. That is your trouble."
Namgung Hwi-gyeom pressed a hand to her brow.
"You know what you did wrong, I trust."
"Yes...."
"We know."
"Do you repent?"
"I will not do so again."
"I won't either. Not next time."
Ha-ryeon and I-hyeon bowed their heads.
"The children have had their say. What will you do?"
Namgung Hwi-gyeom shook her head, as if there were nothing else for it.
"Namgung Ha-ryeon. I shall forgive you this once. Should a thing like this happen again, I will not."
"I will take it to heart."
Yu Dan-a laid a hand on Namgung Hwi-gyeom's shoulder.
"Then let us be on our way."
That night, by the quick wit of Yu Dan-a, the two of them were fortunate enough to escape any punishment at all.
Inside the carriage that carried Ha-ryeon's family, Namgung Hwi-gyeom turned to her daughter.
"You slipped away from an important seat. Did you gain a prize worth the cost?"
Ha-ryeon met her eyes, steady and unwavering.
"Yes. I played a decisive hand — one meant to seize something I want with everything I have."
"Then that is enough."
Namgung Hwi-gyeom let out a short breath of laughter and looked out at the moonlight.
Blood will tell, will it....
The next morning, Ha-ryeon's family prepared to board the carriage that would take them home.
"Thank you for spending a precious day on us, Hwi-gyeom."
"I am the one who should thank you, for receiving us so well."
"That we had only a single day together is a true regret. You must stop by again."
Namgung Hwi-gyeom and Mom exchanged their farewells.
"Ha-ryeon, you offer your thanks as well."
"Thanks to you, I spent a delightful day."
Ha-ryeon bowed her head in gratitude.
"I am glad you felt so. Come again whenever you wish."
"A-and... thank you. It was fun, being with you."
She didn't forget to say goodbye to me, either.
"You can't forget this!"
Ha-ryeon held up the leather band she had bought on the street the day before.
"Yeah!"
I held mine up just the same and smiled brightly. Tomusa and Myoryeong gave off a rather peculiar air at that, but I did my best to pretend I hadn't noticed.
"Then we truly must be going."
Namgung Hwi-gyeom's family settled into the carriage.
"Until we meet again."
Mom saw them off to the very last.
"Well. The guests are gone, so I had better give you your punishment."
"What? Didn't you forgive me yesterday?"
It was the first punishment I had ever been handed in my life, and I couldn't hide how thrown I was. In that atmosphere last night, hadn't the whole thing been let go? Mom, you liar!
"I thought it over again, and a punishment ought to be given as a punishment. Go to the island in the lake with your guards, reflect until evening, and then you may come out."
I stuck my lip out.
"Ahem. That face will do you no good. Ha-young, take I-hyeon to the island."
"Yes. Understood."
In the end I couldn't manage so much as a squeak. Tomusa gathered me into her arms, and we set out for the island at the center of the lake.
It was hardly bigger than a small room — barely a dozen square meters — and with three of us sharing it, the place felt cramped.
"I thought I'd been forgiven yesterday. Ha-ryeon only got pardoned on the spot because Mom pushed for it, didn't she? I was actually going to test the Qualification Formation today. The whole plan is ruined."
"Young master. This is where you are meant to reflect. If the clan lord learns you did no such thing, you will be sleeping out here as well."
Tomusa cut straight across my grumbling.
"I don't care. Let's just kill the time and go back in."
I flattened the grass and flopped onto my back.
"Young master!"
She looked down at me with open disapproval.
"Must you be given another punishment before you will listen?"
At the word punishment, I had no choice but to sit up.
"All right. I'm up, aren't I?"
But if reflection was the point, I was already finished. I knew what I had done wrong, and I had already promised I wouldn't do it again. What more was I supposed to think about? I only stared, blankly, at the fish living beneath the lake.
"Young master, may I ask you one thing?"
It was Myoryeong who broke in on my appreciation of the fish.
"Sure. I don't mind."
"What is that bracelet?"
She pointed at the leather band wound around my wrist.
"Oh, this? Ha-ryeon bought it for me yesterday, when we went out into the streets."
"L-Lady Ha-ryeon did...?"
"Yeah. She said that next time, too, she can set me free like this, and that I should remember it whenever I look at the bracelet."
At those words Myoryeong's face darkened. Tomusa looked no less thrown.
"Tch. To think she would read the opening and play a stroke this bold...."
Myoryeong bit at a fingernail and muttered it to herself.
"Come to think of it, Ha-ryeon's bodyguard was in a strange state. Which of you two did that?"
The words were barely out of my mouth before Tomusa's shoulders jumped.
"It was you, Tomusa? Why?"
"Sh-she was keeping me from going to where you were, young master. I meant to cut her arm off, but I held back."
I was fairly sure something terrifying had just been slipped in there....
"Well, I suppose you had your reasons. It wasn't simply that you got angry, right?"
Tomusa's shoulders jumped again.
Hey.
"Still, the two of you talked it out and moved on, yeah?"
"Yes. She, too, came to understand that what she did in that moment was wrong."
"If the two of you settled it, that's a relief."
I smiled at Tomusa.
"Oh, right — while we were out, Ha-ryeon told me about my older sisters. Have either of you, Tomusa or Myoryeong, ever seen them?"
"I was hired after you were born, young master, so I don't really know."
Myoryeong said.
"I was already in the clan's service before you were born, so I have seen them a few times."
"Oh! So you know my sisters, Tomusa! Then why haven't you said a word about it all this time?"
Tomusa seemed to realize she had slipped, and her mouth snapped shut at once. A reaction like that — something definitely smelled rotten. Still, I would meet them sooner or later. Or through Ha-ryeon, if it came to that.
What sort of person was my sister? I had never heard the name Yu Ja-baek, not even in the novel, so I hadn't a clue. But if she was making a name for herself in the Murim Alliance, she had to be strong.... I needed to work without rest, so I wouldn't fall behind!
"Young master, why are you getting up all of a sudden?"
"I think I'm done reflecting! I need to get to the training ground."
Myoryeong and Tomusa stared at me, utterly blank.
"Young master, please stay here and reflect quietly."
"Senior is right. I think we'd be better off just waiting here."
"No! I have to get stronger!"
At that, Myoryeong and Tomusa looked at each other and nodded. Then Myoryeong seized my left arm, and Tomusa my right, and they pinned me fast.
"Young master, why don't you just take a nap like this?"
"Yes. The weather is fine. Let's nap. It's been a while."
"Let go! I have to get stronger!!"
No amount of thrashing moved the two of them. A quarter of an hour or so must have passed before I gave up struggling and decided to accept it.
"So what am I even supposed to reflect on now? I already promised yesterday I wouldn't do it again."
I said it squinting up at a sky blazing with sunlight. I was absolutely not narrowing my eyes because I was angry at the two of them. The sun was simply too strong.
"You must keep thinking until you realize it yourself. Surely there is something you did wrong, young master."
So Tomusa trusts Mom. Tch. Have a little more faith in me.
Hah... hah....
Wait. This feeling — don't tell me!
I whipped my head toward Myoryeong, but her eyes had already gone glassy.
"Tomusa, save me! Something's wrong with Myoryeong!"
"Y-young master...? Heh... hehe.... It's the young master...."
"Tomusa, hurry!"
And so another noisy day came to an end.
"Hehe... at last, the rite reaches its completion...!"