Chapter 10 - The Engagement

The Engagement

Sa Heon-yeong hugged the woman and put her in a bathtub with flowing hot water. The woman knew her body was already clean. Yesterday, while half asleep, she felt him wiping herself with a warm towel. Sure enough, when she woke up, her body was dry. Still, Sa Heon-yeong put herself in warm water. He seemed to be a person who likes things clean.

And the petals fell on her head. The woman lifted her head and looked up at the flower petals that Sa Heon-yeong was sprinkling.

“Pretty.”

“Do you like it?”

“Yes.”

Sa Heon-young also liked this time. He never thought of serving a woman, but he came to serve her very naturally. He wanted to meddle in everything about this woman.

He deliberately sprinkled the flowers little by little. The woman closed her eyes and raised her head to receive the flower rain. She had an innocent face. Last night, she blended her body so much. He made the face dirty with semen. That woman greets the flower rain today with a beautiful smile.

“By the way, why were you sleeping in such a place yesterday?”

Sa Heon-young asked.

“Yesterday, when I woke up, Mr. Goblin, no, Sir Sa Heon-young, was not there, so I went to look for you.”

Sa Heon-young rolled his eyes and smiled. He seemed happy with the woman’s words. “Yes,” he urged her. The woman thought for a moment what part of her speech made him feel good, but she eventually continued her speech without realizing which part it was.

“Because I can’t walk.”

Sa Heon-young’s laughter ceased.

“You can’t walk?”

“Hmm. I can’t walk.”

Sa Heon-young remembered the place where the woman was found. It was not far from the bedroom. It was so close that Sa Heon-young never thought that the woman would be there. She was only a few steps away, and she couldn’t walk there, so she just lay there? And fell asleep?

“Call a physician.”

At Sa Heon-yeong’s words, a voice came from beyond the sliding door. “Yes, Your Highness,”

“Physician?”

“I’ll have to see if there’s something wrong with your leg.”

Sa Heon-young looked down at the water full of petals and thought of the woman’s ankle under the water. Those ankles were so thin that even a little effort could make them go wrong. But he didn’t know it was really wrong. Isn’t she a woman who has lived in the mountains? When Sa Heon-young frowned inwardly, the woman smiled brightly.

“A physician, I’ve never met them. What do people called physician look like?”

The woman’s eyes twinkled.

Has she never seen a physician? Sa Heon-young remembered the wounds on the woman’s body. 87. She’s never seen a physician with that wound.

“They look different, but the members of the royal physician are mostly old people.”

Sa Heon-young didn’t show any expression. He sprinkled the woman with flower rain until the last minute, picked up a cloth and gently wiped her body.

“Oh, old people. Old people are sick themselves. But do they take care of other people’s sickness?”

“Because it is a different story from being sick and having the ability to heal others.”

Yes…… . With a face that she did not understand well, she picked up a flower petal floating on the water and placed it in the middle of Sa Heon-yeong’s forehead.

“Pretty.”

The woman laughed softly.

He was born as a man and he was never so fascinated by the word that he was pretty. Sa Heon-young thought with a smile. He seems to think that if the woman smiles like this, it’s just a good thing whether she says he’s pretty or she hates him.

“You look like a flower in the moonlight.”

“Wife enjoys romantic expressions.”

“I’ll show you when we go to the mountains. The flowers in the full moonlight are very pretty. Oh, it blooms in the summer, so I won’t be able to show you until next summer.”

The smile disappeared from the woman’s face as if thinking of the mountain for a moment. She thought for a moment and then bit her lip. Sa Heon-yeong did not wash her, but bowed his head and looked into her face.

“Why?”

“…… here is so.. ….”

Did she not like it?

It was a marriage that took place like lightning. No, to be precise, it didn’t even happen. He was a prince and a member of the royal family. Several procedures were required to raise the rite of marriage. All he did was loot the woman he liked.

She may not like it because he brought her without anything she liked. However, Sa Heon-yeong was the richest person in Yangan, except for the emperor. According to the standards, it was Sa Heon-yeong who had more money than her wealthy father. Can’t he build one of his wife’s favorite pavilions? If he wanted, he could even build a golden pavilion. When Sa Heon-yeong thought so, the woman said,

“This is such a great place. It is so pretty …… when I go back…….”

The woman couldn’t keep up with her words.

When she goes back, how will she live this time? She wanted to die, but her mother told her not to die. But it is a very lonely place. Hunger can be tolerated. If she endures while eating herbs, she will somehow be able to endure it. But being lonely……, that blade-like pain…….

“Are you going to leave me?”

The woman was startled by Sa Heon-yeong’s hard tone and raised her head.

“What…….”

“After saying that I have pretty eyes, you promise me that you will marry me, that you will spend the first night and take me, and then you say that you will throw me away?”

The woman jumped at the words. The water shook like a storm. Watching Sa Heon-yeong bit his lower lip, the woman became impatient and reached out her hand to save his squashed lip from the bite. Then Sa Heon-yeong turned his head away. The woman was more anxious. Don’t do that. She comforted Sa Heon-yeong and barely pulled his lips out.

“It’s not like that, my father……. When my father tells me to come back…….”

“Then will you leave me?”

Sa Heon-young’s face turned colder. The woman shook her head.

“I’m not throwing away… … .”

“Do you want to go back?”

“No! No. Not that,”

“Not that?”

“There is my mother’s grave.”

Her mother’s grave. Sa Heon-young looked down at the woman. He had no interest in the dead, but he was not the woman. It was because she feared that her mother’s grave would burn on fire that led her to allow this marriage in the first place. As Sa Heon-yeong waited for her to speak without saying anything, she let out a sigh and she spoke in a slightly low voice.

“My father……,  said if I didn’t listen to my father. He would throw my mother away as dog food. So I have to go back to my father if he wants…….”

The woman spoke up and even wetted her dry face. It was a story she didn’t want to tell much. A man named Sa Heon-yeong who was beautiful, strong, and rich. She didn’t know what a king was, but it was clear that he was a great man anyway. She felt that it was not a good thing to say to such a person. She stuck out her tongue and licked her own lips once, then continued her speech.

“Anyway, if it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t go even if my father called. I like Sa Heon-young the best in the world.”

Best. There was only one man named Sa Heon-yeong in the world. In a world the size of the woman’s palm, there was only one such sparkling, jewel-like thing.

“I will bring your mother.”

Sa Heon-young is the best in the world.

As soon as the woman spoke like that, the cold thing that had run through Sa Heon-yeong’s heart melted again and disappeared in an instant. Sa Heon-young stroked the woman’s hair. What is this woman made of? How is she so sweet? If his mood starts to get a little worse, the woman quickly soothes him like a sugar candy. There is no time for him to be offended, no time for his anger.

“I’ll bring your mother, do her funeral properly, and you do the ancestral rites with me.”

At Sa Heon-yeong’s words, the woman’s eyes widened.

“Funeral? Ancestral rites?”

What is it? The woman asked with her eyes.

“Yes. There is a procedure for bringing a deceased person home. It is a necessary procedure to lay them rest. We hold funerals and do ancestral rites , and instead,”

Sa Heon-yeong spoke in a very soft voice, as if it would melt if you touched it.

“You must never see your father or other family members again. Can you?”

The woman looked up at Sa Heon-yeong. Sa Heon-young’s black eyes were particularly long and thin. He looked at her with a captivating look, and the woman nodded her head. Slowly once. And several times in a row. And at one point, the woman reached out her hands and hugged Sa Heon-yeong’s neck.

“Really, really? Even if I stay here, can I not see my father or the Madam? If my father tries to hit you, if he tries to hurt you, he’s a really scary person…….”

The woman whispered. Like someone who is afraid that someone will hear it.

“As long as wife stays here, I will be fine. No one can lift a hand on me. I swear.”

“However…….”

“Am I not a goblin? I don’t get hurt by humans.”

At Sa Heon-yeong’s words, the woman tightened her arms and gave strength to hold him. Yes, yes. She nodded her head several times.

*

Naturally, Sa Heon-young has no intention of leaving Song Geun-ryang’s family alone.

“Her Highness has lost much of her energy.”

“…… .”

“People have energy and strength. Qi comes from the basic power endowed in humans. This qi does basic things such as seeing, hearing, walking, and moving the five organs. Strength is something that can be strengthened through diet and training, but qi is given to us physically like nature. And Her Highness ate the herbs in a state of lack of strength, pulled out the qi, and used it as power. It was possible temporarily, but after you cut the herbs, of course, you will run out of energy. As a result of repeating this, the qi has become weak. As a result, she could not walk well and could not see well. She will hardly see at night, she will not be able to walk well, and she will have no strong bones, muscles, or organs. Resuscitation will be built up with medicine, but it is difficult to become healthy like a normal person. If she practices a little walk on a regular basis, she will be able to walk better.”

The physician ended the long report by kneeling on his knees and bowing his head to the floor. Time continued to pass, but no words came down, so he glanced up and saw the demon king tapping the armrest with his finger. Then he asked,

“Can’t walk?”

“She will be able to walk for a while, but it will be difficult beyond that. I will take care of her walking practice.”

“Alright.”

He has no intention of taking care of Song Geun-ryang’s family and he has no intention of fixing the woman’s leg.

It wasn’t bad for Sa Heon-yeong that the woman couldn’t walk. If there’s a place she wants to go, he’ll carry her himself, but why should she move on her own?

Even if he cuts off her leg, it’s not enough.

…… that’s nice too.

As a blood-red smile lingered in Sa Heon-yeong’s heart, the physician continued speaking.

“And the uterus,”

Sa Heon-young’s eyes suddenly became cold.

“I don’t think I ever told you to pay attention to such a secret place for my wife.”

The physician fell flat on the floor. It was because the demon king’s voice was as low as scratching the floor. The demon king who eats people. Such rumors spread.

“I’m, I’m, I’m sorry. Since I am a royal physician, it is just,”

“Whether my wife will have children or not, it is the will of heaven, and it is not yours to take care of.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Yes, it is.”

“What about the uterus?”

“It’s broken,”

The physician hurriedly bit his mouth.

There was no sound. The demon king didn’t throw anything, and he didn’t make a loud noise. Yet he could not speak. A cold wind like a midwinter stalk overtook him. He was cold. Even though it was still early autumn, he had chills.

“Go away.”

“Tha, thank you.”

The physician hurriedly disappeared. Sa Heon-yeong, who was looking at him, said, “Take care of it,” and three of the 20 people who were by his side but who were invisible disappeared.

“Ha Soye.”

At the call of the Demon King, Ha Soye fell to her knees. She had once lost the queen and she is preparing for her neck to fall.

“My wife knows little things. You would have noticed.”

“Yes, yes, Your Highness.”

Sa Heon-young got up. The mask was a little uncomfortable today. He wear it all the time, so it wasn’t uncomfortable or heavy now, but it was strangely cumbersome. He wanted to meet the woman. He was tempted to ask her to take it off again.

With that pretext, he may want to meet the woman again.

“Should there be dirt on her precious feet?”

At Sa Heon-yeong’s words, Ha So-ye fell flat.

“The gods showed a crack in Her Highness’ heart.”

“Yes, I saw a crack.”

“…….”

“Do I have to put it into words to understand how precious she is?”

“No, Your Highness. The Goddess, I will serve my best without fail.”

“I guess so.”

The demon king didn’t say more, but Ha Soye understood what her master had omitted. It meant that if she made another mistake, he would drop her neck. When Ha Soye swallowed a gulp, the Demon King got his body up. Ha Soye followed him with her kneeling steps, then got up from her place, and followed him with strides.

“What are you doing?”

Ha Soye hastily responded to the demon king’s dreary voice.

“Dress up,”

The demon king’s steps stopped abruptly. He glanced back at the frozen figure. Ha Soye shook her neck. She clearly remembered that the demon king was displeased when she first attended to the queen’s dressing.

“…… Dress up.”

“According to noble status, but far from color.”

She doesn’t know what the queen is mad about, but the demon king disliked even entrusting the maidens to dress up his queen. He was so obsessive on washing her body that he did it himself. She had to be careful. Even if the color of the rouge on the queen’s lips is a little darker, the king will send her neck off.

“Let’s meet her.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The demon king started moving again. Ha Soye touched her neck without realizing it. There was an eerie aura as if it had been touched by a scythe of a reaper.