Wandering Through Vol. 1 Chapter 2 - Wedding

Several days have passed since Father returned home.

 

As I lay in the unyielding summer heat, I had almost forgotten about my tale of woe. I suppose because I thought it would never happen in my life.

 

So when I went to my mother and father in the morning, when the summer fever was almost gone, I was puzzled by what I heard.

 

“There’s some bad news about you.”

 

At his father’s words, Yi Seo glanced at her mother, who seemed reluctant to hear what had happened, but did not object.

 

“I am weak…”

 

“It’s a medicine. The ceremony will take place before winter, so make sure you don’t get cold in the meantime.”

 

That was the end of it. He never even told her if she was getting engaged or married. 

 

When her father, unwilling to say anything more, led her out of the room, as if she were being driven away, her mother, who stood beneath the stone, embraced her.

 

Her small body buried itself in her arms.

 

In the familiarity of her parents’ arms, Yi Seo asked tenderly.

 

“Am I getting married?”

 

After repeatedly denying the question, her mother nodded this time. Then she whispered in Yi’s ear.

 

“I’ll accompany you when you get married, so you don’t have to worry about anything.”

 

“Even Yeongsun?”

 

“Yes. She’s your servant, so she’ll follow you everywhere.”

 

Yi smiled faintly and answered, “Okay then.”

 

From then on, the marriage was a straightforward affair. There was nothing for her to do there. 

 

If it weren’t for the interruptions from her mother, Yi would never have known what was really going on, or even who her groom was.

 

“This is the proposed Great Prince. He’s the eldest son of the First King, and he’s eleven years old this year…”

 

Seeing the look on Yi Seo’s face, the nanny explained about the prospective groom. 

 

Yi Seo listened wordlessly, but when Yeong Sun, the only servant, overheard, she burst into tears.

 

“…Your other half is a great soldier. What should I do, my darling?”

 

Although she sobbed as hard as she could, wondering where she would be taken, it was impossible for Yi Seo and her mother not to hear her cry. 

 

The palm of Youngsun’s hand slapped the small back.

 

“Don’t you dare cry when you have a good day ahead of you, child!”

 

“Ouch. Ugh, sniff…”

 

Born as the firstborn son of a former king, but never became king. 

 

Even though he’s over ten years old, he hasn’t even been able to open the gates of heaven. 

 

A poor fool who couldn’t dress himself and couldn’t cook a single meal.

 

“What’s wrong with him?”

 

“Don’t believe the rumors. If it’s true, then I would have become a ghost. You shouldn’t listen to others.”

 

Yi Seo pleaded with Young Sun. But despite the words that came out of her mouth, as soon as she realized who it was that was to be her betrothed, she realized why the marriage was arranged.

 

It was because he was not good enough.

 

Even if he was only half-blood, what good would be the legitimacy of being the king’s enemy? 

 

Had I been worth my weight in gold, the other would not have given him a healthy wife who could bear him many children.

 

‘Pity the groom. Even if he were a half-breed, he wouldn’t want a better half for a wife.’

 

Before the wedding, Yi echoed those words over and over again in her mind.

 

‘I must be good to him. So what if he hates me?’ 

 

The day of the wedding arrived.

 

Buried in the hem of her heavy robe and veil, she was mesmerized by the shouts of the crowds.

 

Waking up before the dawn rooster crows, I scrambled to get ready. 

 

Although I managed to cover my pale face with powder and lotus balm, I couldn’t help the constant fluttering of my eyelids.

 

“Please, sweetie, use your tongue.”

 

Nanny Yeongsun was hiding a cloth soaked in honey water, and if she hadn’t insisted, I would have passed out halfway through.

 

The palanquin with the bride arrived at Sujin Palace.

 

It was the dwelling place that the inlaid had given to the Great Lord, and where Yi Seo would live from now on.

 

The door swung open, and the young bride stepped out of the palanquin.

 

Yi tried to control her quivering eyelids and lowered her eyes as discreetly as possible. 

 

An official in a dark indigo robe seemed to be reciting some kind of speech of blessing, but her ears were deaf.

 

The long sleeves of her robe hid her trembling hands, and the width of her tiered skirt hid her swaying steps.

 

With her head bowed, she walked, stood, and bowed as she was led by unknown hands.

 

By this time, she was on the verge of collapse.

 

It was still winter, but the midday sun was hot, and everything on her body felt heavy. She bit the flesh in her mouth to hold on, but it was all she could do.

 

The only thing she had seen of the great lord who would become her husband was the black figure she had bowed to.

 

As soon as she reached the new room, her strength gave out, and she collapsed immediately.

 

The only good thing for her exhausted body was that there would be no groom and no proper lanterns for the night.

 

It was an eleven-year-old groom and a twelve-year-old bride.

 

All the adults around Yi Seo, who hadn’t even been circumcised yet, said that she should behave herself because her husband had a dirty temper.

 

Her mother even taught her how to take off her bow and cloak on her own because she was worried that if she fell asleep without knowing how to do it, she would struggle all night.

 

“It’s heavy…”

 

When Yi collapsed on the ground, the heavy garment crushed her, and she let out a cry of pain, but she did not attempt to remove it. 

 

Even if the Great Lord failed to do so, and thus Yi could later untie the robe herself, the law required her to wait.

 

Yi Seo fell asleep on the floor with the cloak covering her body.

 

Unperturbed by the commotion outside.

 

💫

 

The hem of the royal blue silk drapery fluttered in time with his large steps.

 

A wrinkle-free, red-eyed young man with a fan shielding his face rushed across the courtyard of the Sujin Palace, where a tumultuous wedding was taking place.

 

His steps halted in front of the inner chamber, where the elderly Court Lady was pacing impatiently. Seeing the young man’s face, the old lady bent down in anger.

 

“Your Majesty…!”

 

“Stay out.”

 

With those words, the young man flung open the door to the inner chamber.

 

As expected, there sat his cousin, the king’s brother, the master of ceremonies. The king called the child’s name.

 

“Yi Yun.”

 

The child, kneeling on the floor with his hands clasped in front of him, scattered with black ash from whatever had been burned, rose to his feet.

 

“You’re here, brother.”

 

His ears reflexively pricked up at the crisp beauty of the voice. Sometimes, whenever he heard that voice, he felt as if he’d been doused in cold water.

 

“What are you doing here, on your wedding day, the day you wanted so badly, and what a mess.”

 

A pair of black eyes with a faint blue tinge stared at the king. The king did not avert his gaze. 

 

The child dusted his hands of black ash and answered.

 

“It is the king who sits in the throne chamber now, not this wedding.”

 

“People will say you can’t even keep still on your wedding day.”

 

“The more foolish I am, the better it is for you, isn’t it?”

 

An oddity. The king’s cousin was an outlier from birth.

 

With an unusually long neck and eyes as blue as a goblin’s. His finely sculpted features, like those of a mesmerizing gumiho, lacked the exuberance of a child.

 

It was a look of freedom and boredom, an honesty reserved for kings, but the king would rather it pretended to be his foolish alter ego.

 

The discrepancies between the words of a child and a man who had already lived many lives were sometimes enough to give him nightmares.

 

“It would be better for my brother, and better for my nephew, if I were on your side.”

 

Suddenly, the king remembered the time, years ago, when his cousin had tried to reassure him. 

 

How he had whispered to reassure him that he was never meant for the throne.

 

“…I’m a king of omens, and I have no intention of taking the throne I’ve already held once, and this lifetime is a circle of loose ends to untie…”

 

“As I’ve always said…, if you could only give me the full control of the young bride that sits in that sacred chamber, I would never covet your seat.”

 

When I first heard the words, I thought it was a sad old man who couldn’t fulfill his dreams, but that only made me feel cold.

 

The king thought it would be different on his wedding day, but it was still the same.

 

Looking at the young groom’s face, the king could not find any excitement in the subject of the longed-for bride.

 

“Was that bard once one of your lovers?”

 

“The queen of that shrine was my queen.”

 

The child’s beauty was plain, a mere recitation of facts. The child passed the king as if he had no intention of saying more.

 

Then the child paused at the threshold and turned back to the king.

 

“Ah, you said, What does this look like, my brother?”

 

Looking at the room with black ashes on the floor, the child said, “These are the burned remains of the flesh sent to you by the queen.”

 

“…!”

 

The king looked back at the child in amazement. The child, still with his back to the king, muttered.

 

“Isn’t that what married couples are like? How they hate each other so much sometimes.”