How Does Brother Namgung Know My Future Wife…?
On my way to the fortune-teller’s shop that Hongsim, the inn’s signboard clerk, had recommended, a rather respectable clothing store caught my eye.
“Men’s… specialty…?”
The signboard bore the large, bold letters Men’s Clothing Specialty Shop.
Come to think of it, when we left the cabin Brother Namgung had forbidden me from bringing any of my old clothes, citing the utterly ridiculous reason that they “didn’t suit me.”
Ever since leaving the cabin I had been forced to wear only the garments he had prepared in the wardrobe, and there were times I found myself missing the long robes and hemp clothes I used to favor.
With those old clothes on my mind I stepped inside without thinking.
The shop’s peculiar atmosphere brushed against my skin the moment I entered.
Click—click—
I didn’t know exactly why, but a strange sense of trespass washed over me, as if I had walked into a place I had no business being. I muffled the sound of my high heels as best I could and slowly wandered the interior.
Memories of the clothes I had once loved to wear—before Brother Namgung forbade them—rose unbidden. Gazing at the racks with eyes full of melancholy longing only made more appealing garments leap into view, and I bit my lip without realizing it.
Maybe… if I buy a few outfits now, I can hide them secretly in the room…
As I continued examining the displays with that thought, a familiar scent drifted faintly through the air—the same one I sometimes caught when brushing past men at the training hall.
Did they spray it inside the shop…?
A mixture of sweat and cool cologne… the scent of a male, in other words.
But this wasn’t a fleeting whiff while passing by; I was breathing it in continuously. Something in that scent made my body heat up without warning…
An inexplicable, strange excitement raised my temperature until beads of sweat began to form on my skin.
“Haaah………”
I tried to ignore the dizziness by taking a deep breath, but the sound must have alerted someone to my presence. Footsteps approached with purpose.
“Welcome, customer. I’m the manager of this shop.”
The man who offered a professional smile was tall and muscular. His speech and manner overflowed with the very masculinity I had always longed for.
This guy isn’t quite on Geungwang’s level, but he’s pretty handsome…
So the odd thought that flickered through my mind for an instant… wasn’t entirely my fault.
“Our shop doesn’t really have anything a young lady would wear… Are you looking for a gift for a young master or your father, perhaps?”
Young lady……?
“Ah, n-no, I… I’m……”
I squeezed out a mosquito-thin voice, yet somehow I couldn’t meet his eyes.
Seeing me clutch my pounding chest and fidget, the manager—quick-witted as any man who made his living by trade—must have decided I was intimidated by him. Thankfully he withdrew without fuss.
“My apologies. I seem to have interrupted your browsing. Please take your time looking around alone.”
Watching his back as he gave a polite bow and returned deeper into the shop, I felt a thick wave of relief mixed with a faint twinge of regret, and a small sigh escaped me unbidden.
“Ah……”
I had expected it—while talking with the manager that familiar tightening had returned to my lower body—but when I looked down at the damp sensation between my legs, liquid seeping from the chastity belt had left a faint wet patch on the front of my clothes.
Haa… why am I like this……?
Even I couldn’t understand why my body was reacting this way.
Fortunately the stain wasn’t large; holding my bag in front of me would hide it.
Haa…… Should I just forget about the clothes……?
The predicament drained my desire to shop. And… though I had worn them half under duress at first, by now I had grown used to dolphin shorts and bloomers.
“Yeah. It’s fine. People’s stares bothered me a little at first, but I don’t really care anymore…”
Before Brother Namgung restricted my wardrobe I had never known, but once you become the one being looked at, you instinctively notice the glances that flick toward your armpits, collarbones, thighs…
…And these days, whenever I felt those gazes, a shiver sometimes ran down my spine, as if…
“Ugh, what am I even thinking……!”
I shook my head hard and sorted out my flustered heart.
If I just buy two outfits and hide them under the bed, Brother Namgung will never know…. Right. A man who draws his sword has to cut something. Let’s go…!
True to that resolve, I bought two outfits and a pair of shoes in my size, then fled the shop as if escaping.
I stuffed the single-soled shoes, one long robe, and one hemp outfit I had bought at the clothing store deep into the backpack I had prepared in advance, then set out to explore the marketplace.
This brick-paved market street was, among the markets of Cheonju—which Brother Namgung called the greatest port city in the history of the Central Plains—a bit smaller than average, yet lively enough with a moderate crowd and bustle.
And what was I doing in that marketplace, you ask…?
Eating snacks.
Munch munch—
I pushed a fish-shaped bun into my mouth and chewed. The crisp shell shattered, filling my mouth with chewy dough and sweet, nutty red-bean paste.
After polishing off my fifth fish bun I handed five copper coins to the stall owner, who was staring at me as if I were some curious exhibit, and demanded a fresh one.
“One more, please.”
Munch munch—
While stuffing the fifth fish bun into my mouth I reviewed today’s schedule.
According to Hongsim, I should visit the nearby fortune-teller first… then look around the shop that sells light-novel-based playing cards, and head back to the inn…?
Naturally that plan also included buying any tasty-looking snacks that caught my eye along the way.
Lost in thought, I finished the fish bun and set off toward the fortune-teller’s.
Click-click—
The locked high heels made my hips sway with every step. I walked and walked until I grew used to the sidelong glances of the men I passed.
After many detours—drawn by the smell of this, lured by the sound of that being made—I finally reached my first destination: the fortune-teller’s shop.
“……….”
The fortune-teller’s attire was, quite literally, extraordinary.
The hat was pulled so low that nothing but the lower face showed, and even the mouth was covered by a mask, making it hard to tell whether this was an assassin or a seer.
Clearly not the usual Central Plains Taoist type. Looks more like someone from the Western Regions or Wa…
“I see you are imprisoned, customer.”
The fortune-teller, whose eyes were completely hidden by clothing, spoke without preamble.
“Pardon……?”
“Soon an opportunity to free yourself from your bonds will come. …However, the aftermath of that liberation… well. Who can say what will happen…….”
Fingers interlaced, the fortune-teller caressed a fist-sized crystal ball while murmuring. Whatever else, the atmosphere was anything but ordinary.
“Um, first… I came because I wanted a reading about my destined partner……”
Ordinary or not, that wasn’t what I wanted to know.
When I voiced the question I had come to ask, the fortune-teller’s movements stopped cold.
What I wanted to know was whether I could someday take a fox-like, proper young lady as my wife, have one daughter and one son, and live well—specifically, whether I could meet that fox-like proper young lady in the first place.
“……………”
“Will I be able to find my partner……?”
Inside the crystal ball cradled in both hands, multicolored starlight sparkled and glittered.
“……I see one husband who is a man among men, and one husband who is… difficult to tell whether man or woman.”
“What………?”
I’m a man—why ‘husband’……?
Whether or not the fortune-teller noticed my shock at the absurd words, the speech continued without pause.
“Of the two husbands, you must be especially careful of the latter. There are four paths that bring you closer to the latter, and if you take a wrong step……”
Thwack—!
Unable to listen to any more ear-grating nonsense, I slammed my palm down on the table.
“Ugh, a fortune-teller who can’t even tell if the customer is a man or a woman! This was a complete fraud…!”
“W-wait, of course I knew when I said—”
Thwack—
“Haa…. Total waste of time. ……Why has everyone been treating me like a woman lately?”
Ignoring the fortune-teller’s excuses I stormed out of the shop, though I did feel the sting of the five silver coins I had paid as the fee.
But there was no helping it.
By now I had grown somewhat used to complete strangers suddenly calling me “young lady” or “miss.” The problem was that lately, every time I received that treatment, a tingle ran down my spine and a strange feeling rose up.
In other words, if I kept listening to the fortune-teller… another stain might appear on the front of my clothes. And anyone who kept saying “husband, husband” clearly wasn’t a skilled seer.
Under cold, rational judgment, I had stormed out.
“Guess I’ll just head to the card shop for now….”