A Bewitched Woman Is Terrifying

"Ah... ahh..."

When he finally pulled his lips away from the ones he'd been so diligently working over, a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thin strand of saliva stretched between them. For Yujin, kissing a woman while wearing a woman's body was a first, so it counted as an entirely novel sensation.

"W-wait. Just wait a moment, please..."

"Hm?"

Jegal Surin, who had been leaning against the wall, panted a few times before gently pushing Yujin's body back.

To think a daughter of the Jegal Clan couldn't master a moment's impulse...!

Just as shame over herself came flooding in, she felt the thigh wedged between her legs press in, hard and insistent.

"Ah...!"

"It's all right, my lady. It's all right."

Jegal Surin, clutching the front of Yujin's robe and trembling all over, suddenly saw her elder brother's face flash through her mind. As though snapping awake at that very instant, she hastily covered her mouth and bolted back toward her quarters.

Yujin didn't try to stop her. He simply called out once from a distance.

"My lady!"

"...?"

"See you next time."

Yujin waved a soft hand at the fleeing Jegal Surin, smiling bashfully. At that sight, her face flushed red all over again and she scrambled away in a panic. Yujin knew. He knew that Jegal Surin, running away like that, would come looking for him again someday. This was a man's—no, a host's—instinct.

"Aha. Two birds with one stone."

Seducing Jegal Surin hadn't been part of Yujin's plan either. He'd had no thought of coveting her martial arts like this. He had simply, purely, wanted to rub his lips against hers.

Still, deepening one's learning is a good thing.

According to the maidservant Namgung Seol kept at her side, thanks to Seol having gone around persuading the entire household, an excuse to postpone the marriage had come into being. A maddeningly warrior-like method of self-proof.

Beat your own fiancé in a duel. What are these people, thugs?

Yujin, who had been fidgeting his fingers alone, realized on the day the Jegal Clan first arrived that such proof was impossible. The man had a scholar's pale face and a reed-thin frame, but beneath that unimposing appearance, the strength Yujin could sense from him was on a level similar to Namgung Seol's.

Perhaps because he had acquired Namgung Seol's martial arts, things that had been invisible to him until a few days ago were starting to come into view. The rigorous, properly structured cadence of a trained gait, or the sheer volume of internal energy flowing out through a person's gaze.

So his plan had been to tread carefully at first, then handle things reasonably well using Seol's techniques. But then—

'Little sister, come and greet her.'

'...H-hello. I am called Jegal Surin.'

'Possible. Fuck! Abso-fucking-lutely possible.'

Wavy, reddish-brown hair, and eyes like a piece of the sky had been sealed inside them. Even the way she shrank back slightly, standing before the taller Yujin, seemed like a device that completed her beauty.

When a beautiful woman stands before you, delivering love is a host's duty. Yujin immediately set about the work of—ahem, love.

Even allowing that he hadn't long been awake as Namgung Yujin, for someone who had spent an entire lifetime reading other people's moods, grasping the psychology of the people here was no difficult task. The men were beyond saving, of course, but the women were fundamentally shy creatures. Perhaps the great families made it more pronounced, but this was a conservative society that regarded premarital chastity as a social duty.

Which means they'd have zero immunity to this sort of thing.

Yujin, licking the spit from his lips, grinned ear to ear. It felt like actually living as a person for the first time in ages. It was nice.

"Surin, is something the matter? You've hardly touched your food."

"It's nothing, brother."

Since that day, Jegal Surin had been so full of thoughts of it that she couldn't even keep up her meals. At the banquets shared with the Namgung Clan she lifted a few morsels purely for courtesy's sake; the whole of her attention was sold off elsewhere.

But still...

Why is that woman perfectly fine?

The next day, when she ran into her in the hall, Namgung Yujin had smiled and greeted her as if nothing had happened. At mealtimes, Namgung Yujin dug in without the slightest hitch. And that same Namgung Yujin had, just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠yesterday, been grinding her lips against hers...

Jegal Surin felt she was the only one suffering over this, and it made her unfairly, genuinely upset. Had it truly meant nothing to her?

"Mmgh..."

Her elder brother, Jegal Min, entirely oblivious to her heart, went on chattering about the schedule to come.

"Surin, they say the martial duel will proceed on the fourth day. And I put my faith in the Namgung Clan's propriety—a duel before the wedding, of all things... really."

"Pardon? Yes... I suppose so..."

Jegal Min laid out, line after line, just how wrong the Namgung Clan's conduct was, and how they nevertheless showed a certain warrior's spirit—but in Surin's heart, there was no room left for talk of duels or anything else. Not only had her first kiss been stolen from her so brazenly, but the thief had been a woman. Worse, a woman who was to become her elder brother's wife...

Knock knock.

"Hm? Who could that be at this hour..."

Knock knock knock.

"Hm?"

"It is Namgung Yujin, second child of the Namgung Clan."

"Hwek—!"

Surin shrieked in alarm. Now? She hadn't come looking for her yesterday, and now of all times!

"Ah, you have company. My apologies."

"Yes. My sister seemed low in spirits, so... what brings you here at this hour?"

As Jegal Min flashed a good-natured smile at Namgung Yujin, she gave a faint smile of her own in return.

"I was worried about your sister as well. Since our walk together, I feared she might have caught a chill..."

In her hand she carried a handkerchief that looked perfectly warm.

"A small gift, and... I thought we might simply talk. Wouldn't it be good to grow close in advance?"

Had anyone seen the smile she wore at that moment, they would surely have spared no praise. Eyes drawn in graceful, flowing lines, and a tender smile brimming over with goodwill.

Jegal Min, too, broke into a quick grin and left the room, saying he wouldn't dream of intruding on time between women.

Not long after he'd gone, a strange current began to flow between the two of them.

"Mm... my lady. How is your body feeling?"

Even at Yujin's question, Surin kept her head bowed low, fidgeting with her fingers. She had mountains of things she wanted to ask, but face to face like this, the words simply wouldn't come. Why she had done that to her. Whether she truly hadn't known what she was doing. Whether that sort of thing was ordinary at the Namgung Clan.

She wanted to ask so much, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what left her mouth was something else entirely.

"Yesterday... why..."

A petulant little grievance: why, after doing a thing like that, had she paid her no mind at all?

The girl was already ensorcelled by the extraordinary.

Yujin, smiling with a hint of canine tooth showing, walked slowly to the bed and took her hand. At the touch that stroked her as gently as one might pet a rabbit, Surin's face flared red once more.

"I was too busy. As you know, I am the party concerned in this alliance..."

It was a lie, of course. Leave someone waiting a day or so and they're bound to grow anxious. Yujin, nursing a mean streak, had deliberately spared her so much as a glance.

Surin, naturally ignorant of these circumstances, nodded as if she understood, and even felt a flicker of embarrassment, wondering if she'd thrown a childish tantrum for nothing. But contrary to that feeling, her mouth kept spitting out questions.

"Then, my lady... that day..."

"Shh. Someone might hear. Yes?"

Yujin sealed her lips with a finger and asked quietly. It felt a touch early, by Yujin's reckoning—but he carried the conviction that this much would be enough.

"My lady—no... Surin. Do you want me to marry the young lord?"

"...!"

At the entirely unexpected question, Surin's eyes went wide and she clapped a hand over her mouth. The marriage pact between Jegal Min and Namgung Yujin was no simple union—it was a stage for harmony between two great houses. A grave matter she had no right to speak on carelessly. And yet Yujin slid his hand deeper between her thighs, as though the choice rested in Surin's hands.

"Nnh..."

"Do you truly want me to be married? Hmm?"

"That is... that is not something I could..."

"Just give me one word. One word. And then... I'll take care of everything myself."

Yujin was clever. Entirely apart from genuinely wanting to win Jegal Surin's heart, he was the sort who could think his way to a way out of any situation at the same time.

People who shared a surname would wield martial arts of the same lineage.

I hadn't planned on beating Jegal Min... but if it's come to this, the possibility opens up.

One single method that would dissolve the marriage, earn the clan's recognition, and keep his connection with Jegal Surin alive—all at once.

"Quickly. Say it. Jegal Surin."

When the Namgung Clan's characteristically crushing grip bit into the soft flesh of her thigh, Jegal Surin, grimacing, had no choice but to part her lips.

"......I would rather you. Did not. But...!"

The girl tried to say—alongside that rash, headlong feeling—that her own heart could be ignored for all he cared, but a soft, pliant sensation sealed her mouth, and the rest of the words never made it out.

Dawn came. And as if it were only natural, Namgung Yujin and Jegal Surin carried on as though nothing had happened—Yujin because he had no time amid all his preparations, and Surin because she was lost in confusion.

When the fourth day drew near, Namgung Wi summoned the leading figures of the Jegal Clan and several of the Namgung warriors and made his declaration.

"As promised, we intend to proceed with the friendly martial duel. It will not be a fight to the death, of course, and nothing will change on account of victory or defeat."

The Jegal Clan wore expressions full of grievance, but there was no unmaking a duel already set. All they had wrested from four days of protest was an assurance that whatever the duel's outcome, the alliance between the houses would stand.

Namgung Wi, deliberately averting his eyes from Namgung Seol's smoldering glare, announced the start of the duel with a great clap of his hands.

"The first order of business...!"

"A moment, if you would, my lord."

Yujin dared to cut the clan head off mid-word, seizing his speech. It was something that could never have happened with any other house, but perhaps owing to a strange guilt over the forced marriage and his love for his daughter, Namgung Wi yielded the floor without protest.

"There. Yujin."

"Thank you, my lord. Please hear me out, just a moment."

Ahem, ahem. Tidy up the voice a little...

Let a little pity show...

As though I'm struggling to find my justification...

"I trust you all know the circumstances behind this duel. I am... I am a woman, but I am Namgung nonetheless. If a man is to be my husband, then I would want him to subdue me with his strength. And therefore!"

Yujin pointed a sword that felt hopelessly awkward in her grip, cutting a line straight toward Jegal Min.

"I request a martial duel with the young lord."

"Daughter, what in the world—!"

"Father. For once in my life... please honor my wishes."

The performance was given with all her heart and soul—even her eyes grew slightly wet with tears. When Yujin looked over at Jegal Min, he was unfolding his folding fan with an air of amusement, already climbing onto the dueling platform.

"I too had something that sat ill with me. Since you grant me this chance, I must prove myself."

Fortunately, he seemed to have taken ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it in good humor.

Well, it's not as if I'm Namgung Seol.

He calculated that the odds of Yujin—awakened only recently, memories lost—defeating him converged on zero.

And so he reasoned it away entirely: that remark was surely a clever ploy to apologize for the insult to the Jegal Clan and grant them their justification. The rest of the Jegal household seemed to take it the same way, and they looked upon Namgung Yujin with eyes full of admiration.

To have such depth of cunning... remarkable.

Is it wisdom, or strength of character? Even so, she displays the pride of the Namgung name... Surin would do well to take after even half of her.

At the gazes fixed on her as though she were some paragon of wifely virtue, Yujin rejoiced inwardly. He could almost hear the sound of his rising favorability with his own ears.

Now... first button, fastened...

On to the second.

"Though I must say, my lady, my formations are of a rough disposition. You may be injured. So... do be careful."

Pressing down on that insolent man's pride a notch.

A formation is little more than a maze woven tight and close from internal energy and learning. Which is to say, anyone who doesn't know the paths is bound to lose. For that reason, clans specializing in formations, like the Jegal Clan, maintained an extreme secrecy so that their martial arts would never leak out.

In other words, the defining trait of a formation is that once you know the way, it is easier to break than anything.

And Yujin's head, at this moment, was stuffed full of the core of the Seven Sages' Formation. He couldn't vouch for himself, but it was a precious gift delivered courtesy of Jegal Min's little sister.

Heh.

As he looked toward the Jegal Clan with a sly smile no one else noticed, Surin was watching him with worried eyes.

Heh. Heh.

Don't worry. My lady—I'll make you mine.