Even My Life Is Yours Chapter 92

The elbow drawing the bowstring pulled back to its limit. Holding her breath, she focused all her nerves on the prey at the tip of the arrow. At the same time, as she released the fingers hooked on the string, the arrow flew like a shot. Once again, the beast, whose life ended painlessly from the arrow piercing its neck, collapsed with a thud onto the ground. Hongyo, who had been hiding behind a tree, picked up the pheasant lying on the ground. Three rabbits and one pheasant was not a bad harvest. Thankful for the daily provisions to sell at the market, Hongyo gathered up the hunted animals.

Upon returning to her hometown, her exhausted body and mind were noticeably improving. She didn’t know it at the time, but Lee Geumseong’s words about her being out of it seemed to be right. Wandering around the mountain, her worries naturally disappeared. It did not matter whether she caught ten animals or left without catching a single one. Whenever she felt overwhelmed while hunting like now, she would lie on a large rock in the valley and look at the sky.

The weather, having fully transitioned into summer, was very hot, but the mountain dyed in green was full of all kinds of vitality. Listening to the sounds of bugs crying, leaves rustling against each other in the wind, and the water flowing from the valley, her complicated thoughts gradually settled down. At such times, everything that happened at Hwayeonggyeong felt like the distant past. At most, a little over a month had passed, but the comfort given by familiarity made her forget everything for a while.

‘What would happen if I resign like this?’

There were times when she occasionally had such thoughts. Hongyo thought idly, watching the clouds slowly turning a vermilion hue. Hwayeonggyeong would certainly not collapse just because she alone resigned. So even if she resigned like this, Hwayeonggyeong would run just fine. Besides, as long as Gamyoung was the leader guiding Hwayeonggyeong, there was nothing to worry about.

However, when thinking of Hwayeonggyeong, the first thing that came to mind was her peers. From Choi Hyangbang’s group, who saw her off until the last moment she left the place, to Jeonghwan, who naturally knew she would visit, there was no one who did not weigh on her mind. To Hongyo, who originally had no one to really call a friend other than Gamyoung, they made her feel like family in a sense.

Of course, it was not a relationship to be called family like her grandmother or adoptive mother, but she felt they were a ‘household’. For Hongyo, who belonged somewhere for the first time, it was a kind of stability she was feeling for the first time. It had only been half a year, but that sense of stability made her life at Hwayeonggyeong feel dear to her. This was especially true when she thought of Jeonghwan, who saw her off to the door, telling her to take care of herself until the very end.

‘Keep in mind that if you don’t return, I will find you no matter what and drag you to Hyeongju.’

He spoke with feigned strictness, but at his tone, which was obviously a joke, Hongyo let out a chuckle. His glaring expression, even though he wasn’t really going to drag her to Hyeongju, was funny whenever she recalled it. Come to think of it, when she was not in a good condition, the one who took care of her the most closely was Lord Gamgyeong.

Far from asking if she was okay, he would just abruptly toss work at her, but thinking about it now, even that was a consideration out of concern for her. If she had felt useless, it would have been even harder to endure. However, Jeonghwan watched over her so she wouldn’t have such thoughts, and whenever she was spacing out or feeling depressed with an unknown sense of lethargy, he would toss her the easiest tasks. She realized that was his own kind of consideration.

Hongyo was grateful to that Jeonghwan. They say you realize the value of something only when it’s gone, and wasn’t this exactly that case? She felt a bit sorry for the times she occasionally complained about the work being hard. Thinking about it again, Jeonghwan was not just a decent person, but a truly good person. On the contrary, seeing how she thought of him this much after leaving Hwayeonggyeong, it seemed she missed him quite a lot too.

‘Hyeongju… I have never been there before.’

Was Hyeongju the only place she hadn’t been to? She had never stepped outside the capital in her entire life. She couldn’t express how excited she was when that fellow Gamyoung once asked her to go to Najeon. She thought she was finally leaving the capital and experiencing something called travel, but she didn’t expect the place he wanted to go would be the imperial palace. So if she really ended up leaving Hwayeonggyeong, she wanted to travel outside the capital at least once. If she asked Lord Gamgyeong, wouldn’t he take her along at least once? She heard Hyeongju also had a sea, and she definitely wanted to see it at least once.

But that was a matter for later. Right now, she just wanted to rest without any thoughts. She wanted to forget everything, from Yeoryeong who occasionally came to mind when she thought of Hwayeonggyeong, to the inexplicable anxiety that suddenly visited her even though she had erased her memories.

“Grandmother. I caught a pheasant today too!”

At that, her grandmother in the kitchen grumbled.

“What do you mean, a pheasant? You should have caught at least a deer.”

Even while complaining like that, her grandmother was already preparing to dress the hunted animals. On the first day of her leave, as soon as her grandmother saw her, she hugged her and wouldn’t let go. Saying that she didn’t even notice the beef she had bought with a big resolve, Hongyo could tell how much her grandmother had missed her. As for herself, seeing her grandmother made her feel like she had finally returned home, so she stayed in that embrace for a very long time. However, as it passed half a month since Hongyo returned home, the fondness quickly faded, and they returned to their daily routine. Just like right now. As soon as she lay down on the wooden bench, her grandmother, unable to wait even a moment, sent Hongyo on an errand.

“Tomorrow, go to the drapery and bring the cloth I left there. If you say you’re there to pick up the stuff for Lord Choi’s household, they’ll know what to give you.”

Come to think of it, it had been a long time since she had seen the old master of the drapery. When Hongyo replied that she understood, her grandmother, who was cooking dinner, spoke.

“That old man said he hasn’t seen much of both you and Gamyoung lately. For you, I just made up an excuse that you went away for work, but that rascal Gamyoung should have gone to see the old man when he came here.”

It was the first time she was hearing this. Hongyo asked with a puzzled face.

“Gamyoung came to the house?”

At that, her grandmother surprisingly praised Gamyoung for a change.

“Yes. Since I told him you went to the imperial palace for work, he said he would visit often. Thanks to him, I cleared the snow piled up on the roof this winter and prepared firewood; you don’t know what a relief it was.”

It was a story she was hearing for the first time. She had already been worrying about how her grandmother would shovel snow all winter by herself, but she didn’t know Gamyoung had come and gone.

“Did he come often?”

“Let’s see. He came at least a couple of times a month, so he came quite a bit. By the way, did Gamyoung make a lot of money somewhere? Every time he comes, he brings meat and clothes; where would a poor student studying abroad get the money to buy such things? If you meet Gamyoung, tell him to stop buying things. He doesn’t listen to me.”

No wonder there were winter clothes she hadn’t seen before when she came home after a long time; her grandmother hadn’t made them. Hongyo muttered.

“I had no idea.”

“But is Gamyoung not getting married? Why is a well-built and handsome boy not taking a wife? According to the old man at the drapery, he was quite popular with the maidens. Anyway, that old man was whining about how his sales dropped after Gamyoung quit.”

The grandmother, who was lighting the fire with firewood, looked at Hongyo as if realizing she had misspoken. Was this the time to worry about someone else’s marriage? Her own one and only granddaughter had her prospects of marriage blocked because she was being raised as a grandson. Who would want to raise a girl as a boy? She was her granddaughter, but her fate was truly harsh.

Hongyo remained silent, seemingly quite bothered by those words. The grandmother watched Hongyo, who was sitting on the wooden bench, quietly swinging her legs. Hongyo’s face, looking at the tips of her feet dangling in the air, looked quite bitter. Watching her granddaughter like that, the grandmother purposely shouted more boisterously.

“It’s even hotter being in front of the fire. Hurry up and wash so we can eat.”

“Huh? Y-yeah.”

However, even after that, Hongyo remained lost in thought with a strange expression for a while. Come to think of it, she hadn’t even visited the dojo yet.

‘I wonder if everyone is doing well.’

˖°⛩️⋆˙️

Hongyo, who stopped by the drapery, felt a tug at her heartstrings at the sight of the old master welcoming her more warmly than expected. To his question asking about Gamyoung’s well-being, she simply answered that he was doing well and left the drapery. Gathering the baggage in her hands, Hongyo directed her steps to the place she originally intended to go.

The dojo, which she visited after a long time, hadn’t changed. Familiar faces were visible among the children swinging wooden swords. As she ran over in a single bound out of gladness, the senior brothers and junior brothers who spotted Hongyo approached her all at once.

“Who is this? It’s been so long, I thought I was going to forget your face.”

“That’s what I’m saying. Senior Brother Hongyo, I missed you so much.”

As a senior brother she was usually close to patted her shoulder, this time a junior brother hugged her waist. Even so, since he didn’t even reach her chest, she ruffled his hair buried in her stomach, and as if he liked even that, he lifted his head and laughed.

“When did your front tooth fall out again?”

Perhaps because he was at the age where new teeth were growing in, his missing front tooth was cute, and as she laughed, he shut his mouth tightly as if telling her not to tease him. The children, excited to see her after a long time, wouldn’t leave her side. The senior brothers were the same. They didn’t rush at her excitedly like the kids, but before she knew it, the senior brothers surrounded Hongyo and asked how she was doing.

“I did hear you went to work. How have you been?”

“I just, well, ate well and got along. Have you senior brothers been doing well?”

Even without asking, seeing their shiny faces, it seemed they had been doing well.

“But where is Master…”

“Yeo Hongyo!”

Just then, the Master, who came out to the yard, spotted Hongyo and called out loudly. Because of that, Hongyo ran to the Master without hearing the rest of the sentence. The Master looked very glad to see Hongyo after a long time. Despite his usual dignified and serious appearance, clear signs of joy were evident on his face.

“Yes. I was wondering when you would come; is it alright for you to not show your face for this long?”

“Aw. It’s not like I’m going anywhere very far, so of course I should come see you. Have you been well in the meantime, Master?”

“Yes. Nothing much happened with me, but the kids looking for you kept asking when you would come, so it was quite a hassle. So, come by often.”

Hongyo was also glad to meet these people after a long time. When she was attending the dojo, they were faces she saw all the time so she didn’t realize it, but seeing them like this after a long time, there wasn’t a single person she wasn’t glad to see. It was then. Hongyo’s face lit up upon seeing the woman who walked in following the Master. Lady Sujin, whom she was seeing after a long time, was still bright and radiant.

“If it isn’t Young Master Hongyo.”