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East Wind
As soon as the light in Juhwan’s room went out, Jeonggwan darted out and headed for the side door next to the small men’s quarters. This was a place that Jeonggwan had used countless times when delivering Juhwan’s love letters to the Park family’s second son, but usage of that route had seemed to diminish for a while, until recently when Jeonggwan began frequenting it again.
Typically, he would leave in the early evening when Juhwan fell asleep and return very late at night, or rather, very early before dawn turned blue. Watching this, Sukhee thought that Jeonggwan had completely fallen for that 7-foot-tall young master. While it was understandable that anyone would fall for such a beautiful and handsome young master, Sukhee was somewhat worried.
People of low birth like them would give their hearts and livers when nobles treated them just a little nicely, and that was the moment to be careful. The nobles played with them as if it meant nothing and discarded them just as easily. Because of this, those who had sincerely given their hearts either lived their entire lives longing for that nobleman until death, or were killed by that nobleman.
Sukhee had been clever from a young age and knew how to extract benefits from them while escaping unharmed, but children like Jeonggwan, who didn’t know the ways of the world and just stayed by their young masters’ sides, were prone to getting hurt. So today again, Sukhee quickly grabbed Jeonggwan as he was about to go out to see that 7-foot young master.
“Hey.”
“You startled me, what is it?”
“Does that young master give you anything when you meet?”
“Huh?”
If he was going to play with your body and heart before discarding you, you should at least collect plenty of jewelry to have something left later to reduce your sadness. Jeonggwan clearly didn’t know about such things yet, so Sukhee opened her mouth to pass on tips on how to extract rings or silver coins from that young master’s pocket.
“Tell him your body hurts and you can’t mix bodies anymore.”
“What???”
“Ask for silver coins or jewelry to buy medicinal herbs. Say that if our young master finds out, there will be trouble and you might not be able to meet anymore.”
“What are you talking about?”
But Jeonggwan’s reaction was quite strange. Sukhee had expected him to either be very embarrassed or get angry and tell her to mind her own business, but his questioning look was quite innocent, as if he was purely just meeting with that young master.
“Aren’t you mixing bodies with that 7-foot young master every day and coming back at dawn?”
“What are you saying? Master Junjae and I have never mixed bodies!”
“…You haven’t?”
“No! We just talk and take walks, that’s all!”
Jeonggwan spoke with fire in his eyes, as if deeply wronged by such a misunderstanding, which greatly confused Sukhee. Wait, they’ve met for five consecutive days, and each time they only talked and went for walks? Is that possible? Between a nobleman and a lowborn?
“…Is he perhaps not a young master but a eunuch?”
“What are you saying! That’s a dangerous thing to say…! He is the eldest young master of the Park family!”
“…Huh? Park family? The Military Minister’s Park family?”
“Yes! Oh! I’m late. Anyway, the young master and I aren’t like that…!”
After chatting with Sukhee for quite some time, Jeonggwan seemed to notice how much time had passed, jumped up in a hurry, and rushed back to the side door. Sukhee stood frozen in surprise at learning that the visiting young master was from an even higher family than she had thought. To think that the 7-foot man was the eldest son of Military Minister Park. If she had known, she would have asked for actual jade when he asked her to call Jeonggwan the second time. Sukhee smacked her lips regretfully, then tilted her head as something occurred to her.
“…Wait, didn’t Jeonggwan just call him Master Junjae? I thought the eldest son of the Park family was Myunghun, isn’t he?”
The man was no longer standing under the tree in front of the Kyung family gate. Due to Jeonggwan’s request to stand at the fork in the path leading to the mountain side door in case someone saw and misunderstood, the man had been standing in the middle of the fork for three days, waiting for Jeonggwan.
“Young master!”
“…You’ve come.”
“I’m sorry! Am I late?”
Jeonggwan, panting as he ran up, smiled at the man as if asking to be looked at, and the man, who was fine as long as he could see Jeonggwan even if he was late, felt his tightly closed lips helplessly crumbling at this unexpected coquettishness.
“…It’s all right.”
How could a person be like a fluffy cloud drawn against the blue sky? The man’s ears reddened as Jeonggwan looked up at him with his white face and sparkling eyes. Ahem. Clearing his throat, the man picked up the lantern he had placed on the ground.
“Young master, I’ll carry it! Give it to me…!”
“…It’s fine.”
“Isn’t it heavy?”
“…It’s fine, just stay close and follow me.”
Until now, Jeonggwan had carried the lantern while the man walked with his hands behind his back, but yesterday, on his way back to the palace, the man realized how heavy the lantern became when held for a long time. So he had decided not to hand the handle to Jeonggwan starting today.
Still, he was the eldest son of the Military Minister’s household, a delicate young master who had probably never had a drop of water on his hands, so it seemed very strange to Jeonggwan that he would carry the lantern himself with a servant right beside him. Jeonggwan awkwardly stayed close to the man’s side. But even this made Jeonggwan’s heart pound today because the man was so handsome.
“What story will you tell me today?”
“…Today, it’s a story about a woman with the surname Park.”
“Park? Is it a story about your family, young master?”
“I am Won—uh, uh, yes. It’s the same surname, but this is a story that people made up.”
The man’s deep, pleasant voice echoed around the two as they entered the right path. Coming out of the Kyung family’s side door, there were two paths: the right one led to a hillside densely grown with chrysanthemums, and following that hillside path led to a large river.
That riverbank was a quiet, spacious place where lovers occasionally went for walks before winter set in, but in winter, the river fog was so thick that no one visited because visibility was extremely poor. Now, on a not-too-cold day before winter, the moderate fog created a charming and beautiful atmosphere.
On the opposite side, the left fork was a wide road leading straight to the marketplace, which was the path Jeonggwan had frequently used to deliver Juhwan’s letters. The two naturally headed to the right path, keeping with their meeting at the side door to avoid being seen by others, and while traveling this path, the man told Jeonggwan interesting stories each time.
‘…Stay a little longer before you go.’
‘Why? Do you have business with me?’
‘…’
‘…If not that, then,’
‘…I have an, an interesting story.’
When first trying to keep Jeonggwan, the man had thrown out any words he could think of, not knowing how to hold him back. Jeonggwan had approached again, seemingly willing to fall for it, and found the man’s stories surprisingly entertaining. These days, he was waiting for night to come quickly to hear these stories. Though it was largely to see the man’s face, the stories he told were genuinely entertaining—not common marketplace jokes but well-structured narratives.
This was because the stories the man told were those shared by the head court lady of the Crown Prince’s palace, who was famous as a storyteller even known to the king. They walked around the hillside and circled the large riverbank three times while chatting amiably. Then, at some point, when Jeonggwan’s speech slowed and his eyes grew heavy with sleep, the man would take him back to the Kyung family’s side door—a routine they had been repeating these days.
“I’m disappointed when he’s disappointed by her appearance, and that husband who is happy when she sheds her ugly shell to become a beauty is wicked!”
“Indeed. He won’t become a great person.”
“I don’t like that husband!”
“…You don’t like him?”
“Yes! I dislike that husband.”
“…”
Today, the man was telling Jeonggwan the story of a woman with the surname Park, and Jeonggwan was getting angry because he so disliked the woman’s husband’s wicked personality. The man’s chest tingled at Jeonggwan’s words, because it felt as if Jeonggwan was calling him “husband” and flirting with him.
“Later, that husband… begged for forgiveness, they say.”
“…Is that so?”
“…Yes. What about then? Do you still dislike the husband?”
“…Well then, I like the husband.”
Finally, laughter burst from the man’s lips. Why was the word “husband” coming from those lips while looking at him so lovely? The man ended up gently stroking Jeonggwan’s round back of the head with one hand.
“…”
“…”
And naturally, their eyes met, and the emotion in their eyes—one looking up, one looking down—was identical. Because of this, the man’s gaze deepened, and:
“…Ahem.”
“Ahem…”
“…Ahem ahem.”
The gazes of the left royal guards and military officials secretly escorting the man began to look away one by one. The soft river fog was enveloping the two, so those watching from afar could only see their silhouettes, but they could clearly see the man putting down the lantern, holding Jeonggwan’s face with both hands, and bending at the waist.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
