Wandering Through Vol. 1 Chapter 15 - First Life 01

Yiseo opened her eyes to the blinding sunlight. Her vision flickered out of focus in the sun for the first time in a long time. 

 

Raising her hand, she tried to shield her eyes from the sun, but her fingers only twitched slightly.

 

“Hmph….”

 

My whole body ached. It radiated a tingling presence in places I didn’t even realize were attached to my body. 

 

Even her tongue tingled as she spat out the painful words.

 

In a flash, her upper body was lifted and into someone’s arms.

 

As she buried her head in his hard chest, she realized how painful it felt to feel like she was going to die. Every part of her body felt like it was screaming.

 

The man facing her on the futon groaned lowly, burying his lips in her shoulder.

 

She realized then that his member hadn’t left her yet. 

 

No matter how much her entire body ached like she’d been beaten, she realized now that she was still holding something huge underneath…

 

“Hmm, just in time, haha, I thought I’d wake you up.”

 

The hard lump of flesh in her stomach cried out. 

 

The feeling in her stomach tingled, as if she’d already been stirred before she woke up. 

 

A thin stream of wetness leaked through the interlocking cracks, soaking her inner thighs. Through its slimy texture, she realized she was clean. 

 

Except for what he had just shot inside her, there was not a trace of the fluids that had covered her body during the night.

 

With a damp cloth, Leegwang wiped away the juices that had trickled down between their junctures, then let her bury her face in his chest pecs and ran a comb through her hair, which had come loose and disheveled overnight. 

 

All the while, never removing his own, which he’d tucked into her bottom hole.

 

“Let go, and I will….”

 

Her hoarse voice cracked beyond recognition, and before she could finish, he was pressing the back of her head again, forcing her to bury her head against his chest.

 

Finished brushing her hair, Leegwang pulled the bowl of porridge from the floor.

 

‘When did he bring that again?’ 

 

Slowly, she blinked, her eyes scanning the room. 

 

It was a small room, but that was all it was.

 

The shutters on the door were still firmly closed, and sunlight poured in through a window in the upper wall. 

 

The window was covered with shades, but they must have been removed because it was cold.

 

The rest of the room was much the same: an old lantern, a bookcase, a cabinet for clothes, and the only thing that had changed was the quilt. 

 

The golden stitches that had been torn all night had become unusable, so Leegwang sat on the new quilt and held Yiseo in his arms.

 

He lifted the bowl of porridge and held it to her mouth.

 

“Eat.”

 

The thin porridge was warm on the tip of her tongue. 

 

As if it had just been made. Yiseo wondered who had prepared this porridge. 

 

This small room was Yiseo’s home. No one passed by, except for Mother and Daughter, Youngsun. 

 

Perhaps a servant was brought in.

 

‘What if it was known that the new groom had gone elsewhere on the first night, and not to the chamber? What a shame for the new Bride.’

 

She thought of it as if it were someone else’s business, or else she couldn’t bear it. 

 

‘All this didn’t happen. It’s a dream that disappears when I close my eyes and open them,’ she wanted to think.

 

“You’d better eat. You haven’t had anything but water for two days.”

 

It’s been two days. Already. No, it’s only been two days.

 

The memories of my past life in my head feel like they’ve been there for 20 years.

 

“Open your mouth, and I’ll let you rest when you’re done.”

 

Yiseo opened her mouth obediently, hoping for the latter, but she didn’t chew the gruel, and it went down her throat like water.

 

The thin porridge slid down her throat as easily as water without chewing.

 

That was just as well, because she had neither the energy nor the will to chew.

 

Tipping the bowl of porridge in place of her still-open mouth, he pressed his lips to hers, which didn’t even swallow, and cupped her chin as if to say, ‘Pass on.’ 

 

The hand that stroked down her thin back was not rough. She blinked at the carefulness of the touch. 

 

It was different from the roughness of his hands on her body.

 

‘Was it over now, the punishment she’d been given?’

 

As if to fulfill her expectations, he finally pulled his shaft out from beneath her. 

 

Shuddering at the feel of the heavy flesh scraping against her insides, he laid her back down and tucked the covers over her, not bothering to torment her again.

 

And then he kissed her lightly on the lips.

 

Actually, it was more like he licked the porridge off the corner of her mouth with the tip of his tongue.

 

As she lay there, she watched him dress, his half-hard member disappearing through the waistband of his pants as he did so. 

 

When she was sure he had no intention of doing more, he sat up with his back to her, his head turned up, and his cloak tied around him.

 

It was still. Not at all like the night before.

 

As she watched him, she suddenly realized that this was the man he had always been.

 

Quiet and delicate and…

 

He’d always been so calm, locking eyes with her and giving her a small smile.

 

“Was last night a punishment for me?”

 

“…”

 

“What my family did in our previous life…”

 

“That’s a life that’s over. Don’t you think it’s ridiculous to punish something that happened hundreds of years ago now?”

 

He pushed himself up. Yi Seo asked as he hurried out of the room.

 

“Then why…!”

 

“That’s for you to figure out.”

 

‘What? I already remembered everything, what else was there to think of?’

 

“I’ll be right back, so be quiet.”

 

With those words, the door closed behind the man.

 

My head was dizzy, and a feverish heat had taken over my body. If I collapsed at this rate, I would be delirious for days. 

 

As she sat up to ask a question, a tingling sensation washed over her.

 

The blanket he had covered her with slid off her body.

 

The sight of her naked body in the sunlight was horrifying.

 

It was more plausible, Yiseo thought, to say that she had been beaten rather than ravished.

 

Every inch of her body was covered in bruises. She couldn’t even tell what color her flesh was.

 

The woman stood still and looked down at her mangled body. The man she knew was not capable of this.

 

In her memory, the man she loved would never….

 

💫

 

一 Life 02

 

In the 24th year of the reign of King Uijong of Goryeo, in the year of famine.

 

The shaman counted the stars in the sky.

 

“Those who wear the crown of death, will be killed and leave no seed behind, even if they are only a mere frost.”

 

The soldiers moved at the command of her father. 

 

It was an upheaval.

 

She didn’t have to look to know it. It had been ordained from the day she received the gift. 

 

Sitting in the shrine, she watched history unfold.

 

“Sister. It’s late at night, what are you doing instead of sleeping?”

 

At the question from her cousin Ao, who had been bringing her to the shrine since last night, Yiseo turned her head from staring at the night sky. 

 

A tall boy, tall for his age, stood with his back to her.

 

“What are you doing instead of sleeping? Yangmu.”

 

The boy called Yangmu smiled wryly, “I’ve been having trouble sleeping, and strangely enough, I’ve been tossing and turning today, as if something is about to happen…”

 

“I have a hunch.”

 

“What?”

 

Yiseo said, pushing past the boy and entering the shrine.

 

“I’ll get you a cup of tea if you follow me.”

 

It was cute to have a cousin who followed so closely, even if it was to follow a cousin who made no sense.

 

“Drink.”

 

Sitting down, Yiseo slid her teacup across the table to the boy across from her. The boy’s eyes twinkled as he watched her.

 

“Did you see that you and I would be having tea right now, and that’s why you brewed it in advance?”

 

“Would you be horrified if I told you I knew you’d ask that question?”

 

The boy sipped his tea and smirked.

 

“You know what my answer would be.”

 

Yiseo smirked and asked, “Drink your tea. How do you like the taste?”

 

“It’s delicious. Why doesn’t sister drink it?”

 

“It’s poisoned. I don’t want to fall ill now.”

 

“…What?”

 

The boy repeated as if he had misheard, but instead of answering, Yiseo said something calming.

 

“You are to leave the city in haste and travel south to seek sanctuary, so that you may live.”

 

The teacup fell from the boy’s trembling hands. 

 

Yiseo wiped his hands clean of the tea, hesitated for a moment, then patted the boy’s head.

 

“I’m sorry, but I can’t save your father. He’ll live for a few more years, but you won’t see him again.”

 

Father dies in a flashback. So do all of his brothers.

 

The boy becomes the only survivor of the entire Lee family.

 

“I’m glad it was meant for you to survive. I mean it.”

 

“Sister…”

 

The boy collapsed. The servants came in, picked him up, and left, just as he had been told. 

 

She couldn’t tell what the boy was thinking as he stared at her until the moment his eyes closed. 

 

Just because he could see how a person moved didn’t mean he could see the emotions inside them.

 

Her guess was resentment. She buried the boy in her heart, never to see him again.

 

Then, as she had seen, the father murdered the king. 

 

He abdicated and killed his offspring. He took power and made a king with his own hands. 

 

And if he could not be king, he would make his seed king.

 

Three years later, Yiseo rode in the bridal chariot sent by her father.

 

Then she married the Prince of Goryeo.