The night grew deeper, but everyone was awake as they enjoyed the excitement of the festival.
Yujo carefully opened the window and entered her room. The dark room was completely silent.
Was everyone outside? Had Brother Jewol returned?
Yujo snuck through the darkness as she made her way to the bathroom. She felt as if her body reeked of sweat and dust. When she entered the bathtub full of chilly water, she finally felt a sense of relief.
“Has your mistress returned?”
Suddenly, she heard Jewol’s voice outside. Ah, was he back already? When she turned around, she saw the shadows of Jewol and a bowing young woman.
“Not yet, Master.”
Ah, it was Ran?
“When she returns, let me know.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jewol was just about to turn around, but he stopped. He turned back to Ran.
“Never take your eyes off her.”
What?
Yujo watched the two shadows from within the water.
What did that mean? Why was he telling her not to take her eyes off her?
“Yes, sir.”
Yujo stayed inside the depths of the water as Ran kept her figure bowed. Yujo felt strange.
Even after Yujo had changed into her nightdress, sleep evaded her. She kept replaying the conversation she had overheard as she lied in bed.
She must’ve heard wrong. No, she must have misunderstood.
Never take your eyes off her. Why was Jewol commanding Ran to watch over her? Yujo tossed and turned within the blankets before bursting out of bed. She couldn’t lie still any longer.
She draped a summer jacket over her nightdress before opening the door and exiting the room. The house was filled with noise as always. Wherever Princess Yeowa was, overflowing laughter followed.
For some reason, she was worried about the bamboo shards she had left in Jewol’s care. She wanted to take a look at them again.
She quietly made her way down the corridor and entered Jewol’s study. She lit the lantern inside. The materials inside the study were all neatly organized.
How like him. Yujo carefully grazed her eyes over the books. Even his handwriting was neat and tidy. Yujo dragged her finger over the writing.
Where could he have put the bamboo shards?
She picked up the lantern and carefully sifted through the study. He must have put it away somewhere safe because she couldn’t find it anywhere. She looked through all the tidied drawers until she found a small box buried deep inside one of them.
Did he put it inside here? The box was even locked with a padlock. However, she already knew where Jewol kept his keys.
She quickly found the key hidden inside a vase and opened the lock. Click, Yujo thoughtlessly opened the box. What she saw inside made her freeze.
At first, she just thought it was a pretty bottle.
It was transparent, but it seemed to give off a glow of seven colors.
“It was completely clear and transparent and gave off a colorful light. But it’s very unstable, so after it comes into contact with a person, that person will explode within a couple of hours. So it has to be kept in a sturdy, crystal bottle.”
What… was this?
“SoYeon?”
At Jewol’s voice, Yujo flinched in surprise and hurriedly closed the lid of the box.
“Ah…Bro-“
He frowned.
“My lord husband.”
Yujo quickly corrected herself. They had agreed that she would call him ‘my lord husband’ when they were outside. But why did those words suddenly sound so awkward? She felt as if her tongue had gone stiff.
“When did you get back?”
“Just now.”
“What happened back there?”
“That’s… I thought I saw someone I knew.”
“Someone you knew?”
“I thought I saw a friend from Yeha, so I couldn’t help myself. But when I took a closer look, it wasn’t them.”
Yujo didn’t know why she was lying. She was sorry for doing it, but she couldn’t help herself.
‘Really?’ Jewol murmured suspiciously.
“But what brings you to this room?”
“That is…”
If she asked him what was inside this box, that would be the end. It would be the end if she asked him whether this bottle held the icy-fire stone. No, don’t worry about that and just ask him. Brother, what is this? Just ask…
Just…
Yujo’s heart held that question inside as she looked at Jewol. He was an older brother she had known for a long time. Brother Yuha’s friend. How much time had the three of them spent together? They had run across the meadows, slept underneath the stars… They had hunted together and even played together. Jewol had always been a kind person. His smiles were like that of a celestial being’s, and he received a lot of love from the two siblings.
“Never take your eyes off her.”
Why had he given that command to Ran?
However, she couldn’t ask him. She merely gave him a sheepish smile and replied.
“Ah, I wanted to take another look at the bamboo shards, so I was looking for them.”
“Haa, you want to see it again when it’s this late?”
Jewol’s expression was the same as always. No, actually, something was off. Yujo was flustered at this new awareness. There was an unfamiliar distance between them that she hadn’t noticed before.
He walked over to his desk as he spoke. The lantern illuminated his handsome face. It hadn’t changed. Yujo bit her lip.
Even when he carefully found the bamboo shards and splayed it out for her, Yujo felt a chill run down her spine. She needed to trust him. Why was she thinking like this? Rather than trusting a man whose name she didn’t know, shouldn’t she trust this brother of hers whom she had known for many years?
“What’s wrong?”
Jewol found Yujo’s stiff expression very strange.
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
Yujo lowered her gaze and spoke with a blank expression. She recalled the completed bamboo slip with the bamboo shards filled in. Now that she thought about it, that final character seemed to be a Seol.
“Is there a Seol family among the families from the northern province?”
“Seol?”
Jewol slightly tilted his head.
“There are a lot of families from the northern province, so I’m not sure.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Yujo shook her head. She wanted to shake off the suspicions that were creeping over her shoulders.
“Yujo.”
Suddenly, Jewol called out to her. Startled, Yujo raised her head. Jewol’s eyes underneath the light of the lantern looked a bit strange. That’s… It looked very similar to the eyes of the strange man as he looked at her in the ChiHwaRu. The eyes of a man gazing at a woman. Yujo quickly looked away.
“Ah, don’t you think you should go inside and rest?”
“Yes, I think I’ll head back. Thank you, Brother.”
Yujo gave him an awkward smile.
I should trust him.
Yujo shook her head. She dumped out the dark doubts pooling inside her heart.
Jewol slightly turned his head and glanced at her before smiling bitterly.
Ran was standing in front of Yujo’s room. Yujo quickly looked at Ran and Jewol’s expressions, but they both looked calm. Something didn’t feel right. Jewol relaxed a bit and bid Yujo a goodnight before leaving.
Yujo merely stood in the darkness. Jewol passed through the corridor and…
“Seol…”
She didn’t hear Jewol’s murmur.
The next morning was very busy.
It was the day Princess Yeowa and other guests would gather together to enjoy a comedy.
Long strips of white cloth stretched out across the princess’s residence, and the white lanterns shook in the wind. Because Princess Yeowa’s relatives would be in attendance, the food and event was to go off without a hitch. Yujo wore a tidy outfit and approached her mother-in-law, Princess Yeowa.
“You came?”
Princess Yeowa, whose hair was slightly white at her temples, gave Yujo a soft smile and beckoned her daughter-in-law to come closer.
“Did you enjoy a comfortable night’s rest, Your Highness?”
“Aha, I told you to call me ‘Mother’.”
“But…”
Court etiquette in a royal household wasn’t like that of a normal one. Even if one was a royal’s husband or son, they were not allowed to address the princess as they pleased.
“Oh, come now. Come on. Do you know how much I’ve wanted to be called ‘Mother’?”
Princess Yeowa raised her teacup and murmured.
“I also want to be called ‘Grandmother’.”
Yujo swallowed a groan. She wasn’t her actual daughter-in-law, and she had no plans to give birth to Jewol’s child.
Jewol was like a brother to her. He had never made her heart race. Additionally…
She tamped down the rising doubts once again and put on a polite smile.
“I heard they were going to perform a Kunqu opera today.”
She had no choice but to change the subject at times like this.
“Yes, is everything ready?”
“I put a lot of thought into the preparations, but I’m not sure if it will be to your liking.”
“Don’t worry. This is all just for a bit of fun. Anyways, it would have been nice if Jewol could have joined us today. I heard the Crown Prince was looking for him, so he hurried over to the Crown Prince’s palace. His Highness dotes on him so much.”
“Ah, yes.”
Yujo answered quietly as she lowered her head. At the mention of Jewol, she recalled the crystal bottle she had found in his study last night. Was that the icy-fire stone? Wasn’t that only found in the imperial palace? It was said to be a fallen star from the heavens, and that one would catch on fire if they touched it.
Was that really the icy-fire stone?
Was she mistaken? She must be wrong.
However, the brilliant colors shining from inside the bottle were strange as well.
Yujo shook her head. She wanted to trust Jewol. She scoffed at herself for being shaken by the words of a man whose name she didn’t even know. It was ridiculous that she was suspecting Brother Jewol because of what an unknown, ignorant man had said.
Just focus on the bamboo slip. The final family surname written on the bamboo slip was Seol.
Seol, Seol… Would it be that difficult to find someone with that surname in YeonSung?
“Princess Muyeo will not be attending today.”
Yujo returned to her senses when she heard Princess Yeowa speak.
“Sorry?”
“She said she will be at CheongRyu Hall at the Silk River to float some lanterns. It’s for the best. Honestly, I don’t like having that child enter our home.”
Although she was her aunt, Princess Yeowa secretly shunned Princess Muyeo.
“Ah… Yes, ma’am.”
She clearly recalled how Princess Muyeo hugged her daughter as she spoke about how she missed her mother. Because she didn’t take after the emperor or the guibin, her own birth was disgraced, and she continued to live as a humiliated princess. Thankfully, she had a loving husband who was devoted to her.
“The emperor must have been incredibly upset seeing as how he got rid of his daughter by sending her away in marriage at the young age of thirteen. If it weren’t for Duke HyoEun, Seol Joon, intercepting and bribing the empress, that young girl would have been sent away to a barbaric tribe as tribute.”
Yujo looked at Princess Yeowa in shock. She knew that a member of the imperial family, especially a princess, didn’t have the freedom to marry for love. However, wasn’t being sent as a tribute taking it too far?
However, Yujo was unable to give a retort to Princess Yeowa. Yujo merely stretched out her hand to take some fruit that were prepared as a morning snack. Suddenly, her hand froze.
“Is Duke HyoEun’s surname ‘Seol’?”
“It is. The family is wealthy from doing business with the western countries, but they have no roots and are a humble household.”
“Are they from the northern province?”
“The northern province? I’m not sure about that, but they’re definitely not an influential family from YeonSung. But otherwise, I’m not sure.”
Why was the surname ‘Seol’ so common?
However, one thing bothered her. She said that the duke had made great efforts to obtain Princess Muyeo.
Guibin Nok, a lady from the northern province.
The scandal revolving around her and her death.
The families that had gathered in YeonSung.
And the Heukra, who carried the guibin’s waistband.
Clatter!
The plate slipped out of Yujo’s hand. The startled servant girl and Princess Yeowa looked at her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah…”
Yujo lowered her head, flustered.
“I’m sorry. It just slipped out of my hand…”
“You should be careful!”
Princess Yeowa flippantly scolded Yujo, but Yujo was still unable to hide her bewilderment.
If the guibin was Paran’s priestess… No, was that too far of a stretch?
The guibin’s name was Nok Yeo(黎). However, the important part wasn’t her surname, which she would have inherited from her father. No, the problem lied with her given name ‘Yeo’. Black ‘Yeo’. In the language of ancient Paran, it meant ‘raven’. In other words, the three-legged raven or ‘three-legged crow’.
No way…
Yujo shook her head.
No, seriously, no way…
“How do you write Her Highness Princess Muyeo’s name?”
“Muyeo? Why are you asking all of a sudden?”
“Ah, I thought I might have made a mistake when I sent out her invitation today.”
“It’s the lovely ‘Mu’ and black ‘Yeo’. Muyeo(娬黎). Is that not how you wrote it?”
At the princess’s words, Yujo paled and shook her head.
“N-no. I wrote it correctly.”
Yujo received the new plate and politely placed it on top of Princess Yeowa’s table. All the clues slowly came together in her head. Guibin Nok Yeo’s ‘Yeo’. Princess Muyeo’s ‘Yeo’. If the guibin had been Paran’s priestess, if one looked at her geneaology, wouldn’t the next priestess be Muyeo, her daughter, after her death? And the northern families that were in charge of protecting the priestess would have to be in YeonSung.
Nine families. And Joon of family Seol who had done everything he could to obtain Muyeo.
However, one thing didn’t make sense. The Heukra.
Why did the Heukra wear the guibin’s waistband as it killed the nine northern families?
What should she do?
Yujo tilted her teacup as she was lost in thought. She wanted to see if her hunch was correct. She wanted to check if her guess made any sense. Should she head over to Princess Muyeo today? No, should she go to Duke HyoEun’s residence instead?
Suddenly, she recalled how she had told that man and Jewol about the character ‘Seol’ last night.
For some reason, she felt the tips of her fingers freeze.
“What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”
Princess Yeowa looked at Yujo nervously and couldn’t help but ask.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I’m not feeling well, so I’ll head back first.”
Yujo knew the princess was looking at her in shock. However, she had no time to waste. Yujo quickly bowed and left Princess Yeowa.
Finding out that Jewol had gone to meet the Crown Prince bothered her. She wanted to figure out if Seol Joon was from a northern family as soon as possible. Something didn’t feel right, and she needed to act now!
She needed to meet with Princess Muyeo. That’s all she could think about. Even after ordering the servants to prepare her carriage, the anxiety didn’t go away.
“Madame.”
She heard Ran’s voice coming from outside the door.
“Come in..”
Ran entered with Yujo’s permission. She then proceeded to speak in a flustered voice.
“His Excellency Duke MoonYeo will not be out for much longer. Why don’t you leave with him when he returns?”
Yujo turned around and gave her an odd look.
“Why should I do that?”
Jewol had never accompanied her whenever she left the residence to visit a woman.
“No, that’s not what I meant. I thought you’d both be leaving to enjoy the lotus lantern festival, so…”
“…How impertinent.”
Yujo’s words cut through Ran’s. For some reason, she felt that Ran was trying to stop her from leaving. As she thought… Was she being watched?
“I apologize. It’s just that there are a lot of guests today, so using the carriage wouldn’t be proper.”
Ran was now giving her another excuse. Yujo pretended to be obedient and nodded. She glanced at Ran’s expression and smiled.
“Then I’ll just leave on a horse.”
“What?”
Ran raised her head in shock.
“You mustn’t. You mustn’t show your face to outsiders. It’s extremely improper.”
“Then I’ll just wear a hat with a veil.”
Yujo immediately grabbed the veiled hat that was hanging on the wall and exited through the door. Yujo ignored Ran as she made a fuss about something else and tied the bands of the hat around her chin. She quickly made her way to the stables.
Ran ran after her with all her might, but she was no match for Yujo, who was well versed in the martial arts. The servants in the stables gasped when they saw her, but Yujo ignored them and merely picked a horse before getting on top of it. With a curt shout, she exited through the gates and left the princess’s residence.
Yujo avoided going through the bustling marketplace and made her way to her destination like an arrow. Traveling with a veiled hat turned out to be even more dangerous than traveling without one because it has difficult to see anything around her.
Once she was far enough away from the princess’s residence, Yujo draped the veil over her hat. Then she crouched lower and increased the horse’s speed.
She recalled the way Princess Muyeo’s face had looked as she handed Yujo her mother’s morin khuur.
Please let everything be okay. Please let me be wrong!
The rapid clatter of the horse’s hoofs didn’t reach Yujo’s ears. She was too overcome with worry. As soon as she reached Princess Muyeo’s residence, she asked for an audience. However, the attendants told her that the family was on an outing at CheongRyu Hall near the Silk River.
Yujo turned the horse’s head and made her way to the Silk River. Anxiety continued to beat against her heart like the waves of a tide.
What should I do?
Should I go there by myself?
But what if Jewol… What if there was a slight chance that Jewol was somehow involved with the Heukra?
No, what if there was something he was hiding from her?
Yujo’s horse stopped in the middle of the forest. She turned around and looked back at YeonSung. The vast imperial palace. The black silhouettes of the houses surrounding it. The flags fluttering in the wind. In the faraway sky, she could see dark clouds rolling towards the city.
Yujo turned back around and gazed at the forest path in front of her. She let out a deep breath.
What should she do?
She just realized that she didn’t even have any weapons on her.
Who could she turn to for help?
A desolate feeling settled over her heart.
TN: Things are picking up! Yujo finally realizes that Jewol’s up to no good… Now she just needs to realize that her brother has been captured! Save Yuha! Save Muyeo!