Too Late for Apologies
The thing lost back then had been of tremendous importance to the Yi clan. It was an artifact handed down for hundreds of years, generation to generation—call it a family treasure and no one would have blinked.
As for the circumstances of its disappearance, it wasn't that Iyeok was unwilling to speak of it. At first there had simply been no chance to, and afterward, he knew that even if he told the truth, no one in the clan would believe him. So he had kept his mouth shut.
The Matriarch longed for him to pour out the feelings he had buried for so many years. Yet she could hardly badger her grandson as though interrogating a criminal. What worried her even more was the fear that this grandson, returned after eleven long years, might vanish again before she'd had time to know him.
"My child, my eightieth birthday is coming soon. You must have known that when you came here. Surely you're not thinking of leaving without even attending my birthday banquet?"
Iyeok said nothing. But his expression softened. He, too, had no wish to wound his grandmother's heart any further.
The Matriarch summoned Im Yeong and had her escort Iyeok to his own room. Then she stood for a long while, watching his retreating figure grow smaller in the distance.
After eleven years, Iyeok lay down on his own bed. The strangeness and discomfort he'd felt melted away almost at once, replaced by something familiar. The whole room bore the marks of regular cleaning and careful upkeep, and through it all he could feel the Matriarch's heart, plain as day.
"Young Master."
Im Yeong's voice came from outside the door. Iyeok sat up. She might be only a maidservant, but she was a woman who had served his grandmother for decades and was now well into middle age—he had no desire to treat her rudely.
"Come in."
Im Yeong entered, leading a girl who looked two or three years younger than Iyeok.
"The Matriarch has ordered this child, Xiaolin, to attend to you, Young Master. She's my niece—a very capable girl."
"...That's all right. Having someone wait on me makes me uncomfortable. And please don't call me 'Young Master.' I'm not a member of the Yi family anymore."
Im Yeong offered only a faint smile.
"Young Master, this too is the Matriarch's kindness. Why do you resist it so?"
Iyeok fell silent.
"Besides, if you do not take her in, I fear the girl will have no place in this household from here on."
And having no place meant being cast out.
"I won't be staying here long."
"Even if it's only a few days, serving you would be a great fortune for this child."
Only then did Iyeok glance at Xiaolin for the first time. She stood with her head bowed demurely, eyes cast down.
"Fine. But I don't need much. Just... wash my clothes, and that's all. Nothing else."
"Yes. Thank you, Young Master."
Im Yeong bowed deeply, whispered a few words to Xiaolin, and left the room.
Xiaolin remained standing motionless by the door.
"Sit somewhere comfortable, or go to your own room and sleep," Iyeok said, settling back against the pillows. "I'll call if I need anything."
Xiaolin pressed her lips tightly together and bowed her head a little lower. To her, raised on the strictest training in a maid's conduct, the instruction was simply impossible to follow.
Iyeok understood her position, so he decided not to trouble himself over it.
He closed his eyes and sank into thought. A memory from when he was six surfaced, along with that person's face. A deep sigh escaped him without his meaning it to.
Before long, someone else arrived. This one was around Im Yeong's age, but opposite from her in every other respect. Above all, he was a man.
"Young Master."
The man bowed with a proper fist-in-palm salute, his deep, masculine voice rumbling low and resonant.
"What is it?"
"My name is Zhou Ze. The Head of the household has commanded me to protect you."
"Protect me?"
Iyeok laughed, incredulous.
"Are you worried I might steal something on my way out?"
"You misunderstand, Young Master. The only order I received was to keep you safe. Besides—you are the true bloodline of this house. Whatever you were to take, how could anyone call it theft?"
Iyeok's reply was acid.
"What a magnificent loyal hound you are."
Zhou Ze merely smiled.
"Your generous praise honors me."
In that instant, fury surged up hot in Iyeok's chest.
"Goddamn it, get out of here right now!"
But Zhou Ze didn't move an inch.
"I have been charged with responsibility for your safety. For as long as you remain here, I will see to it that no one else is able to approach you."
In other words, Zhou Ze was a watchman sent by Ijo to make sure Iyeok met with no one in the family at all.
"You're impressively servile. I've groveled my share out there in the world, but I could stand to learn a thing or two from you."
Zhou Ze didn't waver in the slightest. It seemed no amount of provocation was going to change the situation. Fair enough—the whole arrangement left a bad taste in his mouth, but the truth was he'd had no intention of meeting anyone besides his grandmother anyway.
Iyeok flopped back onto the bed.
"I'm tired. I'm going to sleep. Get out."
Zhou Ze nodded.
"Understood. I will stand guard outside your door."
He bowed at the waist, then left the room together with Xiaolin, closing the door quietly behind them.
For several days, Iyeok shut himself in his room and did little but sleep—except for the two daily visits to pay his respects to the Matriarch.
Zhou Ze clung to his side like a shadow. But as the days passed and Iyeok showed no apparent intention of going anywhere else in the compound, he seemed to relax his vigilance somewhat.
On the morning of the fifth day since Iyeok's return, the door opened.
A woman walked in—noble and beautiful, yet radiating an air of unmistakable chill.
"Young Master... Young Master..."
Xiaolin called out in a whisper. Iyeok gave no sign of hearing her. But Xiaolin lacked the courage to raise her voice any further.
The woman stood at the bedside and looked down at Iyeok for a long moment. He did not move a muscle, lying exactly as before on his side, facing the wall.
He was clearly not asleep. The woman spoke.
"You finally come home, and still you won't so much as show me your face..."
She was the most exalted woman in Yun Soul Fortress—the Matriarch of the Yi clan, in other words, Iyeok's own mother.
"Are you still holding that matter against me?"
Iyeok didn't even pretend to listen. Xiaolin slipped quietly out the door. Not overhearing what one was not meant to hear was the first duty of any servant.
The Matriarch of the Yi clan, Mi Ji-yu, let out a soft sigh.
"Can you not even bring yourself to speak one word to your own mother? You have no idea how much it hurt me when word came that you had fallen so low as to become a thief."
"You must have been terribly ashamed. Giving birth to a thief like me."
Iyeok hadn't moved from where he lay turned away. Mi Ji-yu's face stiffened. He slowly sat up and looked her straight in the eye.
"You slapped me so hard my eardrum burst. But I heard every word you said that day. You asked how great a sin you must have committed to give birth to something like me."
"That was... I had just lost something so precious, and you were being so stubborn—"
To see Mi Ji-yu—always so proud, so unshakeable—fumbling for words made Iyeok turn his head away, afraid his resolve might crumble. He didn't like the sight of himself either: an abandoned child turning fussy and grasping the moment love was dangled before him, too late.
"I'm sorry... I—"
"Don't apologize."
He cut her off, forcing his voice colder still.
"I have no intention of settling who was right and who was wrong, not after all this time. The moment Grandmother's eightieth banquet is over, I'm leaving. And even if I die out there, I promise you one thing: I will never drag your name through the mud."
With that, he rolled over and turned his back on her again.
Mi Ji-yu stood looking at him for a moment longer. Then she left the room without a word.