Chapter 89
But she knew that if problems arose for him while bringing back her sister instead, another regret would surge. Moreover, she didn’t want to live each day with anxiety until news arrived.
Yuseol stepped back once more and answered.
“You’d want appropriate compensation anyway. I should go.”
Then sounds of presence rang out from beyond the forest. Constables could be seen approaching.
A masked man picked up the scabbard and handed it to Mu-yeong. Then he disappeared to the other side of the forest as if hiding.
Mu-yeong put the sword in the scabbard and returned it to Yuseol. The constable who appeared at the right time saw the two palanquins and the man and woman and asked in a suspicious voice.
“We’re patrolling the forest—is there a problem?”
Mu-yeong answered leisurely.
“It’s the palanquin bearers’ rest time.”
The constable looked around again, then nodded and said.
“Lately, as life has become harder, bandit groups are increasing. Please be careful.”
A day ended like that.
***
Yanghui moved to the palanquin carrying clothes and tribute items.
Mu-yeong very naturally sat across from Yuseol. Talk went around among the palanquin bearers that he would be entering the palace. She couldn’t hear the reason.
Yuseol thought he was no different from a bandit. Not only Yanghui’s seat, but it seemed like he was gradually taking away something of hers. Her peaceful mood was one of them. In exchange, she received anxiety and tension, so it couldn’t help but be an unfair trade.
Another day passed. Yuseol, who had briefly closed her eyes due to fatigue, looked outside with the window curtain lifted. He was leaning against the wall the entire time with his gat removed and his dopo loosened.
Yuseol turned away her gaze that kept going toward his hair color that gradually turned grayish toward the bottom and his water-colored pupils. It was a flawless appearance with only his cool impression as a flaw. She speculated that problems had arisen in his personality because people enchanted by that face had satisfied all his demands.
Before long, the palanquin entered a gravel road not far from the palace. Because the road was uneven, the palanquin swayed here and there. Yuseol’s red skirt hem kept brushing against his feet.
Though their bodies weren’t touching, somehow she felt on edge. While pretending to look elsewhere, she subtly pulled her skirt.
His gaze, which had been on Yuseol’s face since earlier, fell toward her skirt. Then it slowly rose to her face as if finding its place.
Deep green pupils began watching her. Her gaze looking outside the window wavered.
She, who didn’t know what to do for a moment, gripped her skirt hem as if trying to grab onto anything to find stability and asked.
“My lord, if you have something to say, please say it.”
His gaze moved indifferently to outside the window. Instead of the expected sarcasm, silence returned. A strange energy began to circulate in the fresh air. Even the beautiful scenery no longer entered Yuseol’s eyes.
Time passed like that. Her fingertips gripping the window frame tingled, constantly bothering her. Yuseol unconsciously glanced at him. Because he was sitting in front. There was no other reason.
Then her fleeting gaze suddenly met his. Her gaze instantly returned to the scenery.
She couldn’t understand why her heart was pounding enough to be overwhelming. It seemed like a sensation she had wanted to forget and live without was awakening. The man’s low voice that had been heard on that particularly dark dawn repeated in her ears.
“Sahwa, you see. She wasn’t human.”
It seemed like that day’s unfamiliar sensation was coming alive. Yuseol felt heat rushing to the places on her body that he had disturbed with his lips. It was a temperature that made her flustered and not know what to do. She anxiously wiggled her white, dry fingers.
But she didn’t know why such a thing had happened that day. If it were that man, he could choose a woman to his taste and marry.
…Should I ask directly?
Yuseol looked at him again. As had been the case continuously, their eyes met. The pure pupils within her eyes that had become glamorous with makeup didn’t avoid him this time.
“I’m curious about something.”
“…….”
“Do you perhaps have any feelings for me?”
Mu-yeong tilted his head diagonally and looked outside the window. Though the pupils in his indifferent face were strangely disturbed, Yuseol couldn’t read their meaning.
A quiet low voice came belatedly.
“Feelings, you say.”
Though she couldn’t see his expression because he immediately averted his gaze, she could imagine the man’s dumbfounded face. She, who bit her lower lip, answered calmly.
“Then that’s fortunate.”
At her expression that she also declined, he showed his dimples. Yuseol looked at the narcissus by the roadside and asked again.
“Then why did you decide to accompany me?”
“Because I had time left before leaving.”
She recalled his words about leaving during the solar eclipse. There would be about a month or two left.
“Where are you going?”
“Far away.”
How far?
Yuseol wanted to ask that. She couldn’t understand why she felt that way.
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