Slap-!
A girl with hands and feet frozen blue fell to the floor from a single blow. Unlike her pale hands, her cheek swelled up bright red.
"Sayeol, you dare covet Hong-ryun's belongings?"
Namgung Sayeol, the illegitimate child who was like a shameful stain on the Namgung Clan. The girl couldn't grasp the situation for a moment and looked down at the floor. A fierce voice pierced the air above her head.
"We took in something that should have been thrown away on the street, yet you don't know your place and are acting greedy."
The memory of having to dig through the snowy field with her bare hands last night to find a small jade ring came to mind.
'Find it properly.'
The cold sneer of the second-born, Namgung Je-ha, flew at her. The sixteen-year-old girl, who was kneeling in the snow-covered garden looking for something, raised her head.
'Don't even think about crawling back inside until you find Hong-ryun's jade ring.'
She had merely found the item that child had lost.
Sayeol raised her head. A woman with finely painted eyes was glaring at her as if she wanted to tear her apart.
It was Lady Seo, the mother of the three Namgung siblings. Sayeol shook her head. She managed to force out a voice.
"N-No, it's not that."
Sayeol held out a white jade ring with trembling hands. The very jade ring she had found in the snowfield last night.
"L-Lady Hong-ryun said she l-lost it, so. So yesterday I f-found it and...."
Lady Seo looked down at Hong-ryun, who was hiding behind her skirt. The precious youngest daughter of the Namgung family, Hong-ryun, shook her head with a face full of tears.
"I-I thought I lost it too, but the maid told me! That she had the jade ring."
There was fear in the child's eyes. The child, afraid of her mother, was framing Sayeol for losing the precious jade ring.
"Now that the eldest, Do-wi, has left for the academy, there is no one to take your side! How long do I have to put up with you, you wench!"
Lady Seo's anger deepened. Sayeol's small plea would not reach her.
"To give the Namgung surname to a child like that! What use is there in looking at her? Go and bring the rod! I must flog her!"
Lady Seo shouted at the maids. The maids in the back row, who were observing the situation, stepped back and disappeared, and it didn't take long for a long rod to be placed in Lady Seo's hand.
Slap, slap-!
There was no such thing as rolling up the pant legs like when scolding a young child. At the rod striking down indiscriminately, Sayeol curled up, covering her head with both arms.
Sayeol thought the rod was like snow. Every time it hit and grazed her body, a painful heat bloomed. Her insides boiled. It felt like fire was running wild.
"Madam, Madam! The young miss is going to die!"
Sayeol's only maid, So-hwa, rushed in urgently. Once again, slap, a sound rang out, but she felt no pain. It seemed So-hwa had been hit this time.
"...D-Don't do it."
Don't do that to So-hwa.
Her head was dizzy. Her whole body felt like a ball of fire.
And so, thud, her curled-up body collapsed. Only then did Lady Seo put down the rod she was wielding.
"Tsk. She's going to the Zhuge Clan soon anyway. Be grateful that I ended it here."
"Young Miss...!"
Lady Seo picked up Hong-ryun. Hong-ryun, afraid of upsetting her mother, quietly kept her mouth shut and dug into her embrace as if acting cute.
As Lady Seo and her maids disappeared, the humble room in the annex was left empty, with only the cold wind blowing.
So-hwa somehow supported Sayeol with her small frame and dragged her to the bed.
Her whole body was like a ball of fire. Having been in the snow for a long time last night, the fever had already risen since morning.
"I-I'll go get some water!"
Ignoring the burning pain on the back of her hand where she was hit, So-hwa hurriedly ran out the door to get cold water to cool the fever.
A white hand reached out towards So-hwa's back as she left the room.
"D-Don't go...."
Just, stay by my side.
But Sayeol's voice could not reach So-hwa.
Unable to overcome her heavy eyelids against her will, Sayeol heard a faintly nostalgic voice.
'Sayeol, this brother will definitely come to pick you up.'
She had a premonition that she would never again hear Do-hwi's voice, which had been like a spring day in her short life that was like midwinter. Slide, her eyes closed without a sound. Like snow touching the ground and melting away, soundlessly.
It was early afternoon, and the fierce winter wind had died down a little. Maids drawing water at the well were talking.
"They say Young Miss Sayeol still hasn't woken up?"
"Young Miss, my foot. The marriage is the only problem."
"They say you can't wake up if a ghost clings to you."
"Eek, this girl! There's nothing you won't say! The Blood Palace might open its doors at that rate!"
While they chattered irresponsibly about the illegitimate child who would soon disappear anyway, there was a maid who silently drew water and left.
Her neck was long and her posture upright, but her face, which still looked young, was full of worry.
'The Young Miss needs to wake up soon.'
She was So-hwa, Sayeol's only maid. The only person on Sayeol's side, who spent time like a close friend in childhood and now like family.
'Heaven is so indifferent.'
To live receiving treatment worse than a weed in the annex, only to have to marry a man older than her own father.
That was not something to tell a child who was burning up with fever and hovering between life and death.
Slide-.
"Young Miss."
So-hwa opened the door and called Sayeol out of habit. Rustle, a presence was heard. So-hwa's eyes widened.
Thud!
"Young Miss!"
So-hwa discovered Sayeol sitting up on the bed. She put down the water jar she had been carrying on the floor and hurriedly approached Sayeol.
"You've finally woken up!"
Tears welled up in So-hwa's eyes.
"Do you know how much I...!"
Continuing her words, So-hwa felt something strange. She surely must have heard her call the Young Miss loudly.
"Young Miss, Young Miss?"
Her expression was like that of a corpse, and her gaze wandered emptily. So-hwa called her several times, but there was no answer.
"I-I'll go bring a physician!"
So-hwa hurriedly informed the main house that Sayeol had woken up, afraid she might collapse again, but.
"Since she's awake, there won't be any hindrance to the marriage."
"Pardon?"
The only reply was as if it was fortunate that a broken object had been fixed.
"Even if it's now, prepare her. Time will be tight."
"Right now, that is...."
Is that something to say?
Marriage for someone who just barely woke up.
So-hwa, who eventually returned empty-handed, cried endlessly while holding the hand of Sayeol, who remained motionless, staring only into empty space.
"Young Miss. Marriage as if being sold off as soon as you wake up. This can't be."
Even when So-hwa cried as if the snow would melt, Sayeol gave no answer. As if all her emotions had died.
But apart from the pity, time flowed heartlessly.
One, and then ten.
And so, the day of the marriage.
Although it bore the name 'marriage,' there was no boisterous feast.
So-hwa combed Sayeol's white hair with a fine-toothed comb and barely managed a cheerful voice.
"Young Miss. The weather is nice today."
"...."
"If you go to the Zhuge Clan on a day like this...."
So-hwa choked up and shut her mouth. It was so deplorable that she had to go as if being sold off without even having a proper wedding ceremony.
"I, I...."
Because there is nothing I can do for you, it feels like my insides are rotting away.
So-hwa wanted to at least send the Young Miss off with a smile. So she couldn't bring herself to say those words and cried silently. While she paused for a moment like that, a faint voice was heard.
"That."
"Y-Yes? Young Miss?"
The Young Miss, who hadn't uttered a single word since waking up, finally opened her mouth. So-hwa's eyes widened in surprise.
"Y-Young Miss. What do you need?"
"That hairpin would be good."
A low, calm voice flowed out, contrasting with So-hwa's fussy voice. A white finger pointed to one of the few ornaments.
"Y-You wanted to wear this hairpin?"
So-hwa looked at the hairpin. The gold hairpin, longer and older than the others, was decorated with red amber at the end. She picked up the hairpin and carefully adorned Sayeol's hair.
Thump, thump.
Just then, the sound of someone striding outside the door was heard. It was definitely male servants.
"We are from the Zhuge Clan."
"...."
Slide, the paper sliding door opened even without permission, and servants from the main house entered.
"The Head of the Zhuge Clan has come personally, so please finish your preparations quickly."
At those words, So-hwa raised her head which had been bowed. Since it was a marriage the family was pushing off, she thought they would send a proxy.
'Could the Young Miss live even a little happily there?'
"Please follow us."
The servants took the lead, and Sayeol followed behind them with ghost-like steps. So-hwa chased after the hem of Sayeol's clothes, embracing a faintly rising hope.
They soon passed the inner garden and stood before the main gate. A moderately sized carriage and a moderate number of servants. And.
"I came out personally."
Zhuge Hwang-ho, who had a face closer to a father than a husband, was seen. He looked at Sayeol as if looking at a pretty marten.
"Come here."
A face looking at something he could play with as he pleased. So-hwa felt her expectations shattering into pieces.
Hwang-ho opened his arms as if telling her to come into his embrace. Sayeol stared at that sight blankly, then slowly walked closer to him. Hwang-ho looked down at Sayeol with satisfaction and thought.
'She'll be easy to handle.'
Sayeol, who was looking at that smile numbly, slowly raised her hand.
A hand like a white butterfly pulled out the hairpin fixed in her hair, and no one felt anything strange.
And.
Crunch-.
"Guk."
In an instant, it pierced through Zhuge Hwang-ho's lower abdomen.
Deep enough that the long hairpin was completely buried.
"Guk, kough. What is this...."
Gush, blood poured out.
Hwang-ho collapsed on the spot.
Everyone stood frozen, unable to feel the reality of it.
Sayeol laughed with her mouth tearing open while holding the hairpin dripping with blood.
Like a demon.
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