Wandering Through Vol. 1 Chapter 18 - Imprisonment

Yiseo looked at the wobbly tip of her toes as she lay in the dirt.

 

“Mmm, ha… ahh… ugh…!”

 

Her hips lifted and her back bucked under the pressure of his hand on her slit. 

 

Moaning against his deepening thrusts, she couldn’t take her eyes off her dirty, bare feet.

 

“Keep going, hmm, don’t close your eyes like that.”

 

Still filled with the memories of her first life, the prince who had given her his back as she climbed up, said.

 

“Don’t tread on the rough path.”

 

He carried her on his two strong legs, not wanting to make her walk on the muddy ground.

 

“Ah…!”

 

She groaned at the quick, sharp, up-and-down thrusts. Her dark, sinking eyes glazed over.

 

“Do you have the presence of mind to think about anything else?”

 

‘I was thinking of you. You of the past.’

 

The one who didn’t even want me to walk on the dirt, let alone transgress on it.

 

💫

 

“You’re not too bad for being possessed for so long, but your head is smaller than your body. Your memories are probably jumbled from the age of ten, when your body was taken from you at birth.”

 

The man with the dark cloth over his eyes said. The other half sat quietly and rolled their eyes as the man spoke. 

 

Even though the man was blindfolded, he acted as if he could see right in front of them. Half of him found it fascinating.

 

“Are you still going to take him?”

 

The man across from him nodded.

 

“That’s right. You’re young, you’ll be easier to handle.”

 

His voice was low, and she flinched. He was afraid of him. 

 

Almost as much as her mother. Now that the man had told her that her mother was dead, he was the scariest thing in the world.

 

“What do you intend to use this child for?”

 

“All her life, he’s been listening to his mother’s voice, so he’ll listen to yours.”

 

After the scary man’s words, the decision was made.

 

He took him in, gave him a place to sleep, and told him what he would have to do.

 

“You will come here in the morning and carry this woman’s quilt, and if she tries to go anywhere while I am away, you will come to me and let me know.”

 

With that, he showed him the woman he was to serve from now on. 

 

Ban scratched his head. 

 

The woman was asleep in the man’s arms, even though the sun was shining. 

 

He came in the morning in an old raggedy carriage, sweeping, mopping, making porridge, and doing laundry as the man bade him, but he never saw her awake.

 

“Ah, argh, ugh, aah…!”

 

Even in the daytime, when the man came, there was a sound of panting in her room, so he must have seen her awake, though not dead.

 

“Stop, ugh, argh, aah!”

 

‘I’m going after him. Is he trying to kill her?’

 

The moaning that had been going on for days, day and night, had finally subsided, though it didn’t mean she was awake.

 

The woman was weak, and the man seemed to be making her even weaker.

 

As she lay there breathing in the half-damp quilt, he imagined her tiny body crushed to death by the man’s huge bulk. 

 

He thought he was too much for her. She was too small, and he only gave her a little porridge.

 

If he wanted to make her big, he should give her high-peaked rice and meat, but how could she grow big on porridge?

 

“She won’t be able to eat anything but porridge.”

 

Ban shook his head in front of the man, but behind he hummed and snorted loudly. 

 

“Don’t be ridiculous, there’s no way I’m going to force porridge down anyone’s throat.”

 

‘How could anybody just shove porridge down someone’s throat? People are so mean.’

 

Without the man’s knowledge, he rolled up the rice in the meat soup and sneaked into her room. 

 

The man had frightfully warned me not to look at her, so I kept my head down and was just about to leave when I heard a hissing, inhaling sound.

 

He turned around to find her wrapped tightly in a quilt, her eyes wide open and staring at him.

 

“Madam?”

 

“You’re the one the Lord brought…”

 

She mumbled under her breath, her voice cracked and hoarse, barely recognizable. 

 

After swallowing a few gulps of water, she asked Ban a series of questions. 

 

Ban answered excitedly, but the more he spoke, the darker her expression grew.

 

“No other young or old woman has ever come to visit this place, are you sure?”

 

Ban nodded vigorously. 

 

Many of her questions were difficult to understand, but this one was easy. 

 

‘Only the dreadful man and I have ever come and gone from this old, run-down place where she stays!’

 

In the first place, the outer courtyard was right next to the back door, through which the scary man came and went. 

 

So there was no way to get into the inner tiled house and no way to come here from there.

 

Half curious, I peeked into the tiled house, but I didn’t see any footsteps, let alone anyone walking around. I wondered if the people in the tiled house knew that there was a lady there.

 

Come to think of it, the scary man wore silk robes, and I don’t know why he kept his wife in such a small, dilapidated place. 

 

If he put her in a small room, she would be much smaller.

 

“Madam, eat this.”

 

Proudly holding out the meat soup he had secretly brought, she took a spoonful and gave it to Ban to finish. 

 

She even patted Ban on the back for eating well.

 

“Good boy. You’re a good boy.”

 

Ban liked her. She had a beautiful face and a kind heart. 

 

Maybe that’s why he stuck around her every day.

 

“…Don’t turn your head.”

 

“Mmm, uh, ugh, ah, ugh…”

 

Ban shook his head at the stifled sobs that had been emanating from the room since this morning.

 

He hadn’t visited her, and he was saddened. 

 

But why does she cry when he comes and hugs her every day?

 

‘Is it because she is small? Is it because he’s too big for her?’

 

If she eats a lot and grows up, everything should be fine, but why does she keep eating and throwing up? ‘Is it tasteless? Porridge is even more tasteless.’

 

“Nanny, don’t go, nanny…”

 

She sometimes mumbled the words ‘Nanny’ or ‘Youngsun’ in her sleep, and often cried. 

 

Most of the time, she was in the arms of a man, so half the time she couldn’t even look at him, but whenever she did, her eyes would tear up.

 

When I brought her meat soup, she smiled faintly, but she didn’t eat much of it and gave it back to me to eat again.

 

Maybe she doesn’t like meat?

 

Still, the soup made her smile, so Ban would always sneak it out of the kitchen whenever he got the chance.

 

That day was one of those days.

 

When she saw the soup he brought her, she laughed softly. Then, without taking a sip, she thrust the cutlery into Ban’s hand.

 

“I’m full, you can eat it.”

 

Her voice, which must have groaned again during the night, was deeply somber. 

 

Ban wondered what her voice sounded like. 

 

‘With her fair face and kind heart, she must have a beautiful voice, but I wonder if I’ll ever hear it.’

 

“Eat up, it’s getting cold.”

 

She whispered softly, and I half-nodded. I grabbed the spoon and took a big gulp, and she patted me on the back to make sure I chewed.

 

It was something his mother had never done for him. I liked her half-heartedly. I wished she’d been my mother.

 

“Good boy.”

 

My cheeks felt hot as I was rewarded for chewing the food well. 

 

But at that moment, a cold word fell on them.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

It was the scary man. The Madam’s lord.

 

They looked up, startled, maybe slightly frightened. 

 

The man stood with his back to the sun, looking at the lady. The shadows on his face made it impossible to make out his expression, but it was more frightening than usual.

 

He looked back at her, and she was white with fear…

 

“Where are you looking? Why?”

 

In response to the man’s languid questioning, the lady pushed him halfway.

 

“Get out. Get out now. Get out, Ban.”

 

He staggered to his feet, but the cramped room made him bump into the man slightly. 

 

When he looked up, he met the man’s gaze. For a moment, his breath caught in his throat.

 

“Ugh…”

 

A strange sound escaped his lips, and then the woman tugged at him, pushing him halfway out the door. 

 

Half landed on his butt in the courtyard, sprawled out.

 

Through the open door, he could see the man climbing on top of her. He kissed her, pulled the blanket off her body, and chastised her.

 

“Why were you laughing?”

 

His tone was just like the tone of his mother when she scolded him.

 

But it’s not a sin to laugh, and the Madam thinks it’s nice to laugh, so why punish it?

 

I begged her to tell me if it was wrong, even though I didn’t know the half of it.

 

“—Please close the door, uh, close the door.”

 

The man closed the door. 

 

A wet moan escaped the closed door.

 

“Whew, hmp, ah! Ugh,uh, ahh, ah, ahh…!”

 

‘Ah. I guess they’re reconciling now.’

 

Ban got up from the yard to fetch a new quilt. 

 

‘The lady was scolded for smiling.’

 

However, since then, she kept wanting to go outside. 

 

No, she couldn’t. The scary man said. If she went outside, she would never come back in. Just like Van’s father.

 

If she left, he would have no way of finding her, so she had to stay. 

 

Now, she wouldn’t pat him on the back or tell him he was pretty, but that was okay.

 

“Ban, open the door for me. Give me some clothes…”

 

“No, I can’t.”

 

“Ban…”

 

The door creaked open, but Ban stood in front of it with his mouth tightly shut, hearing the man muttering obscenities at whatever it was that the man he had seen was doing.

 

“That’s the kind of thing you’re into.”