A Fiancé's Sister Is Still a Stranger

The news of her marriage to the young head of the Jegal clan had struck Yujin like a bolt from the blue, and ever since she'd been rolling the problem around in her head, hunting for a way out.

Think about it — even if she'd obtained that utterly broken martial art that let her absorb other people's techniques wholesale, it was worthless without opponents to use it on. The Namgung clan might have warriors to spare, but she could hardly go seducing her own relatives and family members!

And yet, the moment the thought wait, they wouldn't be MY family anyway, so who cares? flickered through her mind, she shook her head side to side for the sake of living a normal life.

Just as she was rolling around alone with those thoughts, a maidservant approached and bowed her head.

"My lady, the Eldest Young Mistress has arrived."

Not even that long since she'd woken up, and already? Fast, very fast.

"Ah, so my sister is here. I see."

Yujin tucked that thought neatly away and flashed an easy smile. The radiant, ladylike grace of it was apparently so different from the old Namgung Yujin that the maids had needed quite a while to adjust — but a month had already passed, and now they'd accepted it as her new self, retreating with practiced backward steps.

At the maids' signal the door burst open, and a warrior with a sword at her hip strode in. Namgung Seol — eldest daughter of the clan head, and Namgung Yujin's older sister. The sheer force of her presence was closer to a soldier than a woman, and Yujin caught herself shrinking back without meaning to.

At the sight, Namgung Seol clicked her tongue, as if disgusted by any show of weakness.

"Hmph.."

"Sister?"

Yujin knew perfectly well what that attitude meant, but she bobbed her head and turned on the charm anyway. Spitting on a smiling face is harder than it looks, after all.

Dropping her sword carelessly aside, Namgung Seol asked without even sitting down.

"Are you well?"

"Yes. I'm quite recovered now."

"Ha. A warrior of the Namgung clan, bedridden this long. Tsk.. Right, they said you lost your memory."

Hm?

"Yes, that's right."

Saying so, Namgung Seol stole sly little glances at Yujin. It ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was a curious attitude for someone dealing with a second daughter she supposedly disliked — and Yujin quickly worked out what this strange feeling of déjà vu actually was.

"Ahem. Ahem."

After clearing her throat several times, Namgung Seol forced the words out as if dislodging a stone caught in her throat — with great difficulty, yet striving all the while not to let it show.

"You. You always... followed me. Don't you remember? You trailed at my heels from the time you were little. Mm. It was nothing short of a nuisance."

At her words, every maidservant's face shifted to something best described as what nonsense is this? And small wonder — it was common knowledge throughout the household that the first and second daughters of the Namgung clan were distant at best, their relationship having careened toward catastrophe thanks to the elder's obliviousness and the younger's inferiority complex.

What is this. What is this.

Shut up. Just listen quietly.

The maids, treated to such entertaining theater, all clamped their mouths shut and strained their ears. Not one of them was foolish enough to contradict her mistress's lie outright.

"Ah.. so that's how it was. I'm sorry, Sister. My memory is just.."

Pressing a hand vaguely to her head and feigning illness, Yujin studied the woman before her with care. Namgung Seol wore a stern expression that pretended indifference — but beneath it lay love, and worry, and... a need for validation?

"Hm. Yes. We can simply start over from now on, can't we? You could come watch my training, if you like..."

You were close with her, apparently. Though she only shows up now.

It all felt off somehow, but lacking Namgung Yujin's memories, Yujin had little choice but to take her sister's word with a grain of salt. It couldn't hurt to have a sister who liked her — especially one who had supposedly broken through the wall to the Peak realm...

Namgung Seol, fidgeting with her fingers, had ears that had flushed faintly pink. Seizing the opportunity, Yujin clasped her hand tightly in both of hers.

"Then, shall we have dinner together tonight? Please, tell me about myself."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

A ridiculously strong sister on retainer, plus some intel gathering. Two birds, one stone...

"Unhu—! Ahem! What?"

At Yujin's touch, Namgung Seol jolted, shoulders jerking, accompanied by a very strange noise.

"Ahem. Cough, cough! Yes. I'll send word. Rest well."

And with that, Namgung Seol scurried out of the room with a single personal maid in tow.

I'd say that went pretty well, no?

The amnesiac-young-lady act. Seemed to have landed nicely... and her sister had looked rather pleased, all things considered.

Contrary to those expectations, however, a strange window popped up before her eyes.

"Huh?"

Her sister was a capturable character too?

Thud, thud, thud.

Namgung Seol strode down the corridor, making no effort whatsoever to soften her footsteps, then whipped around to scan her surroundings. The instant it was just her maid Soran and no one else, she unleashed a torrent of words.

"H-how was it? Did it seem natural? Hmm? Tell me. Yujin took my hand. Do you have any idea how long it's been? Three days at minimum — I'm not washing this hand. Ahhhh..! That's right, it's the first time since she was seven. She's grown into a proper lady. Hee. Hehe. Her hand was so soft. Mm. A marriage — that's nonsense, utter nonsense. Now that I've seen her again, it's even more impossible. Ah, this precious child.. Ah, dinner. Prepare the dinner. Yes, make the tofu dishes Yujin likes. How do I know, you ask? I have my ways. I never kept records of what food she left behind, absolutely not. I must go to Father at once — handle everything else yourselves."

Even knowing this breathless, heaving manner of speaking was simply her mistress's way, Soran thought she'd had quite enough of it.

"If you felt this way, you should have gone to see her ages ago."

"She hated me, didn't she.."

At the old memories Namgung Seol nearly wilted on the spot, but the thought of that smile from moments ago seemed to sweep her worries clean away. Yes. There was no way she could send that child off like that. Steeling her resolve, Namgung Seol made for the head's residence.

Seated with formal dignity in the head's hall, Namgung Wi felt another ache bloom behind his temples.

"So you're saying.."

"Yes. I will kill the Jegal clan's young head if I must to stop this marriage. Father."

Deep inside, the head of the Namgung clan may well have been howling every curse he knew. The elders had finally quieted down of late, and now his own daughter had started spouting nonsense too.

Damn it all..

"No. You know full well such a thing cannot simply be waved away. Why this, all of a sudden..?"

"She's far too young. Far too precious to marry— no. Too young, I mean."

"And since when have you thought so fondly of your sister?"

Weren't the two of you on terrible terms?

"Are sisterly bonds so shallow as all that? I merely intend to fulfill my duty as her elder sister."

"Haah..."

Nothing had been set in stone yet, but Namgung Seol was the designated heir of the Namgung clan, its young head. For her to oppose the match this openly made for an ugly picture — and worse, it might be read as jealousy toward a younger sister who would wed before her own succession was settled.

Which meant the problem had to be solved, one way or another...

As Namgung Wi pressed at his throbbing temples, deep in thought, Namgung Seol slammed her palm on the table and shouted.

"The purpose of marriage is! Harmony between the families!"

"Yes. Quite so..."

Even with his daughter shouting in his face, he no longer had the strength left to scold her. Having surrendered, Namgung Wi simply listened.

"Might I propose this, then. A friendly exhibition duel. If the man who would become the Namgung clan's son-in-law cannot best a woman, the marriage is hardly justified, is it not? And if Yujin loses... well, so be it."

The words out of her mouth sounded perfectly reasonable, but her eyes had gone completely mad. Namgung Seol didn't actually believe her sister could lose, of course — she had a scheme of her own. Rumor had it the Jegal young head was a master of formations. The moment Namgung Yujin failed to cope and landed in danger, she herself would barge in and subdue him to a state of precisely this-much-short-of-death. It was a flawless plan.

"Do as you please... Your father no longer knows what to make of any of this..."

The exhausted clan head threw up his hands at last, and the news of the exhibition duel was delivered to the elders as a fait accompli. A letter flew off to the Jegal clan as well, scrawled in a hand worn ragged and weary.

A few of the elders pushed back, but Namgung Seol sought out each and every one of them to lay out her perfectly "reasonable" justifications, and faced with the young head's heartfelt persuasion, they had no choice but to nod along.

While Namgung Seol bustled about so frantically, the day of the Jegal clan's visit arrived all the same.

It was a procession of considerable size, banners snapping in the wind as if to boast, behold, a house of true prestige. When Jegal Munhwi — the head of the Jegal clan's younger sibling, leading the delegation as its representative — hammered on the great gates of the Namgung estate, the massive doors swung open and Namgung Wi came out to greet them.

"Welcome, welcome!"

"Master of the Azure Heaven Sword! It has been far too long!"

"Hahaha! You flatter me with empty titles. Do come in."

While the elders of each house exchanged their formal courtesies, the rising stars of the two clans greeted one another with their eyes alone.

"Welcome to the Namgung clan."

Yujin welcomed them with impeccable courtesy — there was nothing of the amnesiac, nothing of the fool, about her at all. If anything, she seemed far more poised and worldly than the girl they remembered from years past.

So the rumors were empty air after all, eh, Surin.

Yes, brother.

Jegal Surin did briefly wonder why Yujin's gaze rested on her rather than on the young head, but dismissing it as impossible, she shook her head briskly.

And that night, Jegal Surin allowed herself to grant a small kindness to the woman who would become her sister-in-law.

"Young lady, shall we take a little walk? I'd like to show you around the clan's estate. I confess the engagement has me rather anxious as well..."

Despite her grueling schedule and bone-deep fatigue, this was the woman who would wed her own beloved older brother — so, unable to refuse, Surin rose slowly from her seat and stepped out of her room.

Contrary to Surin's expectation that the girl would be worn out, the two of them got along as easily as old friends. Their pleasant conversation carried on so agreeably that neither noticed night had long since fallen, black and deep.

As the night grew late, Namgung Yujin began to bare her heart. How nervous the marriage to the young head made her; how utterly out of her depth she was in matters of that sort, and how it worried her.

And perhaps an hour had slipped by when, in a corner of the estate where no soul ever wandered, the two women were pressing their lips together.

Between Jegal Surin's soft thighs, Yujin slipped a leg, thigh brushing snug against her. The sweep of the skirt seemed to get faintly in the way, so she pressed upward with just a little more force.

"Nngh..!"

"Young lady. It's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all right."

"Nngh.. no. We shouldn't. This isn't right..."

Yujin laid a finger gently against the bridge of Surin's nose and flashed the most harmless smile in the world.

"Shall we just call it practice?"

Truly, there was nothing in this world so beautiful as a woman weak to refusal.