If Silk Flowers Bloom by the Water’s Edge Chapter 16

In the Bansi family, there was an adult who would leave the windows open in the dead of winter to keep Yirok’s wounds from healing. There was a butler who would break off a thorny branch and whip his calves. There was a Landowner who would invite a group of blind warriors and make him a spectacle for a zoo. So, the punishments at Nanjubeol could be said to be like soft dough in comparison.

Swish, swish. The switch that struck his calves was thin. It wasn’t just an empty boast; Yirok truly felt no pain. In fact, wasn’t he leisurely comparing it in his mind to the punishments of the Bansi family? However, the face of Yeonrye holding the switch was red, and the face of Chaehwa, who was trying to stop her like a meddling sister-in-law, was sallow. The fact that the person being whipped had the most leisurely expression was a comedy.

“You! You! How dare you…! To whom…!”

In truth, he had no intention of treating Chaehwa so badly. He just didn’t want to kill her young brother. The red envelope Sarira had given him was nowhere to be found, and if by some chance someone from the Nanjubeol family were to find it, things would get big. His own life was cheap, but his brother’s life was precious. His brother, who was wasting away his youth in a hospital bed in the Bansi family estate.

It was better that he was caught early. But was it really better? If he were kicked out empty-handed, would Sarira leave him alone after he failed to bring Chaehwa’s belongings? How would he live if something happened to his brother, who was being held as collateral? The thoughts, placed on a carousel of misfortune, went round and round in the same place.

Just as he was about to resign himself to his fate, Chaehwa stimulated him with the spirit link on his arm. He hated Chaehwa’s gentle eyes, like those of a cow raised in a well-equipped barn. He thought that perhaps if he tormented her and saw her cry sorrowfully, he would feel better about his own situation.

“Say you’re sorry! Say you’ll never do it again!”

Yeonrye, who was holding the switch and fuming, was the one who had raised the young miss as a maiden, making her a formal wet nurse and a de facto mother. Chaehwa had begged and pleaded with her not to tell the Landowner, and they had settled on a caning. He was to be whipped until he rolled up his calves and said he was sorry. There was only one thing Yirok couldn’t understand.

Why was the innocent Chaehwa kneeling and defending him?

“You’re stubborn, so stubborn. If it weren’t for Young Miss Chaehwa, you would have been kicked out long ago! How, how dare you!”

“Stop it, Yeonrye.”

“The Young Miss is naive and young, so she doesn’t know any better yet. Look at him, not even saying he’s sorry!”

Yirok, who had been stubbornly staring straight ahead even as his calves turned the color of maple leaves, briefly lowered his gaze. A white hand gently took hold of his folded pant leg and coaxed him.

“Hurry up and say you’re sorry….”

Chaehwa had been covering her ears as if watching a horror movie since the switch started flying at his calves. It was the other person who had seen an unsightly scene and been harmed because of her momentary outburst. The person who should be begging was not Chaehwa, but Yirok. He would not say sorry tonight, even if he had a knife in his mouth. The switch had met its match.

“I did nothing wrong.”

Yirok heartlessly pulled his calf away, making Chaehwa’s hand fall. With nowhere to go, Chaehwa’s hand headed for the ground. Yeonrye, who was running wild with the switch in her hand, would not stand for it.

“Alright. Instead of going to the Landowner, I will fix Yirok haenang‘s insolence today.”

At the sound of the switch, which was stronger than before, Yirok bit his molar. Chaehwa, her voice hoarse, rubbed her palms together like a fly.

“Yeonrye!”

The young miss, overflowing with kindness to spare, would never know. The whipping with the switch was by no means a punishment. Spending a day with kind and sensible people, making him lose Sarira’s envelope, and having him tied to the young miss, that was the punishment. The switch that came down as if to punish his own scheme was actually welcome.

“Yeonrye! I said stop!”

As Chaehwa threw her own body to block the switch, the flogging came to a halt. Yeonrye, as if in frustration, broke the switch and threw it to the floor. There was something the young miss, who was stroking her chest, didn’t know.

That sometimes, a flogging is better for one’s mental health.

🌹₊ ⊹

Yeonrye’s punishment left a record of three broken wooden switches. And Yirok, who did not say he was sorry during the punishment, had earned her dislike.

Until then, they had taken care of his meals and bedding, saying he was suffering from being bound by the spirit link. But tonight, she sat cross-legged between them, her eyes wide open. This was the woman who would usually be dead to the world and snoring in ten minutes. As if to show him what poor treatment was, she didn’t give him a blanket, just a pillow on the cold floor. She had no intention of showing any consideration for the sleep of one who had refused to beg for forgiveness until the end.

Chaehwa’s quarters were impressively equipped with two bedrooms, two guest rooms, two bathrooms, one large living room, one small one, and even a small room used as a dressing room. They said there was another separate room for full-fledged primping, so there were probably countless places in the Nanjubeol mansion exclusively for the young miss.

While bound by the spirit link, Yirok slept with Chaehwa in the smaller bedroom instead of the one she usually used. It was Chaehwa who had suggested it, saying she had personal belongings in the main bedroom. As for Yirok, he wouldn’t have cared if he had to sleep in the bathroom.

So, the three of them were lying in the small guest bedroom. It had been fine when Yeonrye had skillfully divided the area and laid out the bedding, but today, his spot was blatantly in the corner of corners. Yirok refused the pillow as well and tried to sleep on the bare floor. Behind him, Yeonrye slapped her own cheeks with a slap, slap sound to ward off sleep.

Only the arm bound by the spirit link was unnaturally positioned behind him. Yirok, sleep having fled, did meaningless things like looking at the cloud-patterned wallpaper. As if he had a peculiar constitution, he found the hot sensation on his calves more pleasant than unpleasant. Thanks to that, it seemed he wouldn’t have a nightmare today, so he was counting the wallpaper patterns.

Yeonrye, who had been staying awake, passed out as if she had fainted when the midnight bell tolled. He could picture Yeonrye leaning against the bedding closet, her head nodding. She was a decent person, aside from her excessive loyalty to the young miss. She was like the ideal of a good mother depicted in fairy tales. Yirok’s deceased mother had been more self-centered and difficult than her, so the endlessly motherly Yeonrye felt unfamiliar.

“Hey… Yirok. Are you asleep?”

As if changing shifts, Chaehwa got up as soon as Yeonrye fell asleep. At the sound of the flower-patterned blanket being thrown off, Yirok’s shoulders tensed. He tried to feign sleep with regular breathing sounds.

“You’re really asleep, right?”

“……”

“Once Yeonrye falls asleep, she won’t wake up. It’s okay.”

Her probing words poked at Yirok’s side. As if drawn by the moonlight, Chaehwa tiptoed over and opened the bedding closet door. Her footsteps, which she cleverly managed to make only when the snoring was loud, were very resourceful.

“Are you really asleep?”

Despite the tiresome question, Yirok maintained his pretense of sleep. It was the same even when she carried the blanket with her small body, as if her back would break.

“If you catch a cold, you’re the only one who loses out. Hm?”

But when Chaehwa covered his shoulders with the thick blanket she had taken out, he couldn’t help but intervene. Chaehwa was not at fault. Since she was not at fault, he should not have interfered even if her calves broke ten switches. Even if he slept on the bare floor without a blanket, he should have just let it be.

“Don’t cover me.”

“You’re not asleep?”

Her indifferent tone, as if she had known he wasn’t asleep, grated on his nerves. Yirok pulled the blanket down and threw it against the wall. Nevertheless, Chaehwa just loitered and didn’t return to bed.

“If you catch a cold, I’m the only one who suffers, being tied to you by the spirit link.”

“Then undo it. You said you knew how.”

“Then I’ll get a real scolding from Grandmother. Actually, that was just a bluff earlier.”

“If you’re trying to show me pity now, you’re far too late. I got hit because of you. And I’ll get hit because of you in the future. Good for you. You have thousands of ways to screw over the bastard you hate.”

“You did well to kick off the blanket. How did you know I brought medicine?”

Even as he spewed curses, Chaehwa held her ground. Not only that, but she confidently began to roll up his pant leg. No matter how inured Yirok was to being ignored, he had to take a step back at Chaehwa’s bizarre behavior.

“Don’t be a baby.”

“Don’t.”

He grabbed Chaehwa’s mischievous hand that was heedlessly rolling up his pant leg. At the end of her slender, yet sturdy wrist was a medicine container. It wasn’t wrong for Chaehwa to ostracize him, to have him beaten, or to lock him up somewhere. But this was wrong. She could not dry him out to death with the kindness and gentle heart he dared not wish for. He could not be buried at sea so futilely. Yirok used all his strength to throw Chaehwa’s wrist to the opposite side.

“You think you can do anything you want just because everyone treats you like a precious young miss and your life is so boring? Your wet nurse is asleep, too. You want me to quietly do something that even a switch couldn’t do? Chaehwa?

His wide, glaring eyes should have been frightening. But Chaehwa unhesitatingly scooped up some medicine with two fingers. Unyielding to his threat, she smiled and made a joke.

“You’re just scared it’ll hurt, aren’t you?”

“Mind your own business. Get lost.”

“Like you said, Yirok, this happened because of me, so I’ll put the medicine on for you. Be still.”

“You want to see what happens if I wake your wet nurse now? If I scream, I’m the only one who…”

There was a hand that swiftly entered his mouth and stopped his words. No, there was a round fist.

“I told you to be still.”