Chapter 1.1

Thud, thud-!

The rough axe swung down as it split the sturdy log in two.

The young man holding the handle of the axe straightened his back as he wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

“Take it easy.”

The pile of firewood this young man had chopped today had already grown into a large heap.

An elderly woman with white hair handed the young man a gourd full of water from the well as she glanced at the front gate.

“Who are you waiting for? You’ve been staring at the front gate for a while now.”

The young man’s name was MuGyeom.

He was a servant, so he didn’t have a surname.

“Today, my lady is supposed to arrive. But she’s running late, so that’s why I keep looking at the gate.”

“My lady?”

“She’s the youngest daughter of our master in Hanyang (TN: now called Seoul), Lady EunSeo. Did you not hear the news?”

“I’ve only heard that our master in Hanyang has three daughters.”

“Lady EunSeo is our master’s youngest daughter. She was married off early this summer, but…”

The elderly woman let out an ‘Aigoo’ as she wrinkled her nose.

“She’s quite unlucky. I know there’s a saying that all beauties are cursed, but my lady was so kind, so how…”

“Did something happen?”

A full year hadn’t passed since MuGyeom had become a servant of this household. He still didn’t know the specific details about this family.

They were currently taking care of the country house of the influential Lord Yoon YeoPyung. This house was situated in a tranquil countryside far removed from Hanyang. 

Although none of Lord Yoon’s family members lived in this house, the family would often come here for a few days to spend some time away from the busy capital. 

For this reason, there weren’t a lot of servants in this house.

The only ones working here was a seventy-five-year-old, half-deaf woman who had served the Yoon family for about sixty years and MuGyeom. That was it.

The elderly housekeeper would cook and nag a little, but otherwise, the rest of the housekeeping duties rested on MuGyeom’s shoulders.

While there wasn’t much work to do in a house like this, with the arrival of autumn, the most important task was to prepare enough firewood for the upcoming winter.

Since MuGyeom began to serve this household, Lord Yoon and his family had never come down here.

Therefore, the youngest daughter who was on her way here would be the first member of the Yoon family MuGyeom would meet.

“Our Lady EunSeo was the loveliest one among the daughters. My own hands helped bring those three daughters into this world, but Lady EunSeo was the loveliest. Ever since she was a child, she was lovely. That’s why I thought she’d live a good life, but aigoo…”

No matter how he looked at it, something bad had happened to the youngest lady. That’s why the old woman spoke of a beauty’s curse.

“I heard in the summertime that she had married into a good household, but a few days ago, I heard that she’d be coming here to recuperate. I didn’t know what had happened, so I asked around. Turns out she was abandoned by her husband’s family.”

“Abandoned…?”

So a woman who had married into an abusive household was kicked out and sent back to her parents’ home.

Usually, a woman was abandoned by her husband’s family if she couldn’t bear a child, showed signs of jealousy, or didn’t serve her in-laws properly.

Since she had married during the summer, it probably wasn’t that she couldn’t have a child.

“Our lady always had a weak constitution, but what did they do to her so that she suddenly can’t use her legs?”

“She can’t use her legs?”

“That’s what I heard. She can’t use her legs and can no longer walk or do anything. I’m sure her in-laws made her that way and eventually abandoned her by taking her back to her parents’ house… I’m sure the Madame has lost face by having a daughter return after being abandoned by her husband. That’s why she’s not keeping her in their residence in Hanyang. She said she’s sending our lady here for her recuperation, but that’s all in name only. I’m sure they’re planning on having her live out the rest of her life here.”

They claimed she was abandoned, but it was basically the same as divorce.

He had heard that there were occasionally a few households who sent back their daughters-in-law after divorcing them.

Usually, the woman’s household would lay low and quietly remarry her off to another household. But in this case, the woman had lost use of both her legs, so remarrying her would be impossible. Therefore, they sent her to the countryside like this.

They were embarrassed that their daughter had been abandoned, and they were even more embarrassed of the fact that their daughter wouldn’t be able to use her legs.

When it came to the nobility, face was everything.

The face of the nobility.

MuGyeom scoffed.

MuGyeom was a nobleman’s bastard. No, actually, he couldn’t even be considered a nobleman’s bastard.

His mother used to be a servant in a noble household before she had been raped by the master and given birth to him.

Originally the wife’s handmaid, his mother was a lovely woman. She had caught the eye of the master of the house. When the wife had gone back to her parents’ home, the master raped her. Afraid that his deeds would be caught, he quickly sold her away before his wife returned.

Unaware of the fact that the nobleman’s seed had taken root, his mother had been surprised to see that her stomach was gradually expanding. However, she couldn’t go back and claim that she was pregnant with her previous master’s child.

Thankfully, she met an elderly, unmarried servant in the new household, and they got married.

And so, although he was actually the son of a nobleman, he grew up as the son of the elderly servant.

From a very young age, his mother often sat him down and told him that ‘noble blood flows within your veins.’

She told him that half of the blood in his body was noble blood. That he was different from the other children of the servants. However, as MuGyeom grew older, he realized how laughable that was.

He realized how trivial it was to carry half of a nobleman’s blood in his veins.

He learned how many noblemen didn’t have a care in the world as they spread their seed into the bodies of servant girls. He learned that many bastard children were born from these incidents. MuGyeom wasn’t proud of the fact that half of his blood belonged to a nobleman.

He actually viewed it as dirty blood.

He felt that the blood of a man who raped a handmaiden was incredibly disgusting.

All they cared about was their face. When he looked behind this mask, he could clearly see that they were all dirty lumps of lust. He found the nobility to be the most despicable.

“Will she stay here long?”

“Probably, don’t you think?”

“I see.”

MuGyeom and the elderly woman were the only ones living here, and he really liked the peace and quiet.

MuGyeom had worked for three masters so far.

The first was the master of the house he had been born into.

When he was twenty-four, he was sold to his second master’s house. This nobleman’s personality was incredibly nasty.

However, MuGyeom didn’t suffer much under the nasty nobleman. Instead, trouble came in the form of his legal wife and his concubine.

MuGyeom was a head taller than most men, and he had wide shoulders to fit his large frame.

His biceps and thighs were muscular due to chopping firewood at a young age. The veins in his arms bulged as he did his work, and whenever he went out to the wrestling grounds during the festivals, he’d always come back having won an ox. He was just that strong.

Because he was a lot more handsome than the noble scholars, it was only a given that the legal wife and the concubine would show an interest in him.

The wife and the concubine began a silent war as they tried to win him over. When the nobleman was out of town for a few days, the wife took the opportunity to call MuGyeom to her bedroom in the main residence.

At first, she told him her leg was hurting, so she ordered him to massage it. Then she ask him to take off her clothes for her before pushing herself onto him. MuGyeom pushed her away and made his escape.

However, due to the humiliation of having her advances rejected in such a manner, the wife ripped her own clothes and screamed. She called everyone to her. Then she accused MuGyeom of trying to rape her, and that he had run away when he was unsuccessful.

Having been charged with the accusation of attempting to rape his master’s wife, MuGyeom was a dead man walking. However, when the nobleman returned home, the concubine snitched on the actions of the wife and thus MuGyeom’s life was barely spared.

However, because he didn’t want others to find out what his wife had done, the nobleman sold MuGyeom to another household.

And the place to which he had been sold was Lord Yoon’s country house.

MuGyeom liked living here.

The things that had occurred in his second master’s house had happened in his first master’s house as well. Because the girls would constantly fight over him, MuGyeom’s masters would end up selling him away.

Because he had come across these situation wherever he went, MuGyeom liked living in a secluded place like this.

This was Lord Yoon’s country home, and only an elderly housekeeper lived here. He’d rather live here and chop firewood for the rest of his life.

However, that peace and quiet would soon be disrupted by this ‘lady’.

All his past experiences caused him to feel a bit nervous, but because he had been told that the lady couldn’t use both of her legs, he knew that she wouldn’t be able to push herself onto him. He was thankful for this.

“Aigoo, it looks like she’s arrived.”

At that moment, they heard some noise coming from outside the gate.

It was the sound of the palanquin bearers lowering the palanquin.

MuGyeom followed the elderly woman and walked through the gate.

The palanquin bearers had come a long way and were wiping the sweat off their foreheads with the towels hanging around their necks.

“It must have been difficult for you to make such a long journey.”

The elderly woman opened the palanquin door and greeted the person inside.

“You, there. You’ll need to come here and help us.”

“Me?”

“My lady cannot move on her own, so you will need to escort her to her room.”

That was when MuGyeom remembered that ‘my lady’ couldn’t move her legs. Because she couldn’t use her legs, she wouldn’t be able to walk to her bedroom on her own.

MuGyeom leaned over so that he was half inside the palanquin.

Inside, a small maiden was sitting with her legs stretched out.

She was so small that MuGyeom felt like he could lift her up with one hand.

Her head seemed smaller than the size of his hand.

How could someone’s face be so small?

On top of that, her skin was as white as snow.

Her cheeks were rosy, and her lips looked like they’d been tinted with spring flowers. No, it looked like the petals themselves.

Her neatly combed hair was pulled back and held up with a hairpin. It was the only indication that she was actually an abandoned wife*.

“Ah…”

When MuGyeom completely entered the palanquin, his body filled up the entire space.

Because of his large frame, he had to bend down in order to enter. His body took up the entire space inside the palanquin. The lady was bewildered and shrunk back.

As she withdrew further into her seat, she lowered her head. Her unusually long eyelashes were trembling. MuGyeom’s eyes gazed at those trembling eyelashes.

The eyes underneath the lashes looked like those of a scared chipmunk.

MuGyeom placed his hand underneath her thighs and wrapped his other arm around her waist. He felt as if the slightest pressure would shatter her slender body.

He carefully pulled her to his chest and brought her out of the palanquin. He straightened his back as they exited.

The legs resting on his arm remained limp.

There was no doubt about it. This lady could not use her legs.

She was so lovely. How could something like this have happened to her?

As he carried her in his arms, MuGyeom could smell the faint fragrance of camellias.

It was a sweet scent.

He also heard the sound of her breathing.

Her reddened ears.

Even though he was merely a servant, he was still an unfamiliar man. Her ears were red because she felt bashful.

‘These noble ladies are all the same…’

He was an unfamiliar man… A servant. And yet being carried in the arms of a servant made her ears redden like this. MuGyeom scoffed in his head.

It doesn’t matter how lovely she looks on the outside.

When one has a glimpse of what is inside, they will see all the dirty, lustful thoughts.

She ended up losing the use of both her legs and was abandoned and sent to her family’s home. And yet, her ears still reddened at the sight of another man. MuGyeom found this all laughable.

About half a month after the lady’s arrival, a problem occured.

The problem was that the seventy-five-year-old housekeeper missed a step as she was leaving the kitchen and broke her hip.

Because of her old age, the doctor told them that her broken hip wouldn’t heal easily.

This elderly woman had worked in the Yoon household since she was fifteen years old.

During this time, she had given birth to sons and daughters and had even lived to see the birth of her grandchildren.

As thanks for all her hard work, Lord Yoon emancipated her and her children, so she wasn’t a servant who was tied down to this household anymore. However, she merely let her children go and decided to stay behind.

And she had continued to watch over this house until now.

After hearing that their mother had injured her hip, her children had come to take her away. The elderly woman had no choice but to follow her children and leave the house.

Because of this, only MuGyeom was left behind.

Because MuGyeom couldn’t cook, the elderly housekeeper had taken care of the cooking and was in charge of taking care of the lady. However, with her departure, it was now up to MuGyeom to cook the meals and take care of the lady instead.

Of course, they were told that a replacement for the elderly housekeeper would come in ten days.

When the main residence in Hanyang had learned of what had happened to the elderly housekeeper, they sent word that they would send someone. However, they said it would take ten days.

MuGyeom wasn’t sure why it would take ten days to find someone to cook and take care of the young lady, but there was nothing he could do about it.

While he didn’t feel comfortable of the fact that only he and the lady were left in this house, MuGyeom decided not to think too much of it. After all, what could this lady do?

All he had to do was keep his distance and merely help her with her daily necessities.

At this point, any woman trying to stick close to him were like bugs to his eyes. They were all disgusting.

“My lady.”

MuGyeom stood outside her door with a washbasin in his hands and called out to her.

He had brought the water for her morning wash.

Starting today, MuGyeom was in charge of taking care of the lady’s needs.

“I’ve brought the water for your morning wash. I’ll be coming in.”

However, no sound came from the other side of the door.

He couldn’t enter until he received her permission.

She was, after all, the daughter of a noble household.

Even men and women of the nobility couldn’t freely be in each other’s presence, so a mere servant definitely couldn’t enter the room of a noble lady without permission.

“My lady, may I enter?”

“Uh…”

A thin voice flowed out from inside the room. However, the voice didn’t give him permission to enter.

“My lady?”

“I look a mess right now…”

Wasn’t that obvious?

It was morning.

She had been lying in bed all night, so of course she looked a mess right now.

That’s why he brought the water for her to freshen up.

“Shall I return a little later?”

“No, no, it’s fine. Just come inside.”

The lady spoke with a helpless sigh.

*In ancient Korea, a woman’s hair was left down in a simple braid before marriage. After marriage, they put their hair up to indicate their marital status (and basically the loss of their virginity).

TN: Although I used the word ‘servant’ here to describe MuGyeom, they were basically slaves. Slaves and their children were treated like livestock and were often traded and sold off. They didn’t make any money like the other paid servants and continued to work for the family they were born into or sold off to.