Wandering Through Vol. 1 Chapter 29 - Second Life 01

“Why did he marry instead of waiting for me!”

 

The Prince was the recipient of Mongmae’s vented anger. She pounded her hands on his chest, furious, and then sobbed bitterly.

 

“I’ve been waiting for you, how could you…!”

 

It was extremely unusual for a nobleman’s child not to marry past the terms. 

 

Marriages in the royal family were quicker. The Crown Prince had been married at fourteen, long before he met Mongmae, but instead of saying so, he kept quiet and accepted Mongmae’s resentment.

 

They knew each other only by name, and hadn’t spoken much. They’d never held hands, but from the moment he’d met her, he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her.

 

It felt terribly natural.

 

She belonged to him, and he belonged to her. It was a feeling he couldn’t explain to anyone. It was heavier than love.

 

Mongmae grabbed him by the collar, her eyes flashing frighteningly.

 

“Kill her, kill your wife, and marry me again. The child, yes. The child is fine, because it will have your blood in it, but not her.”

 

“She’s not guilty of anything.”

 

“Why is she innocent, she took you away from me!”

 

Huishan hadn’t taken anything from Mongmae, she had married a stranger at the age of fifteen, at the behest of her parents, and that was just who she was now.

 

“Why, do you take her side? Do you even love her? You’ve never told me, not once, that you like me, not once…”

 

“…”

 

Mongmae cried, but he wouldn’t give her the words she wanted.

 

He didn’t want to make her a concubine. He was already married, had a child, and that had happened irrevocably before he met Mongmae. 

 

So he didn’t approach her. He didn’t want to put her through the pain of having to share a husband with someone else.

 

She was a lowly shaman, and yet, strangely enough, she had seemed so precious to him from the beginning.

 

He had fallen in love at first sight.

 

‘I didn’t talk to her. I tried not to look at it and even warned others not to climb the mountain where it was in the first place.’

 

But one day, he collapsed, and when he woke up, he was always on this mountain, in this now familiar shrine. 

 

Mongmae continued to approach him, who avoided her without saying a word. 

 

From one day to the next, they would walk down the mountain path together, at a distance, without saying a word.

 

That was all. It was good enough.

 

They hadn’t touched, or spoken, in three years… or whatever the hell to call it.

 

They’d known each other’s hearts, but he’d never reached out to her. Never lusted after her.

 

So, this was the first time he’d ever been greedy.

 

The Prince grabbed Mongmae’s hand by the collar.

 

“Last year, in the year , my father ascended the throne. I became the firstborn son of the lord of the land, and though I’m still in the court because the palace is cluttered, I’ll be moving into the palace soon.”

 

“…”

 

“I will give you one of the pavilions there, I will give you the highest position in the court, and I will have no concubine except you, so…, will you come with me?”

 

Mongmae, who had listened to his words in silence, slowly opened her mouth. 

 

The anger from before had subsided, and her voice was cold.

 

“Then you will kill your wife?”

 

Mongmae’s hands slid up his neck and grasped both of his cheeks. The coldness of his touch sent chills down her spine.

 

“You need only answer that you can. Or you can just nod your head, and I’ll take care of it. I’m more than willing to get my hands dirty if you want me to.”

 

She said sincerely. It wasn’t just words, a platitude that hoped to reassure her that she was the only one.

 

“That’s right, I’m late, so it’s my fault, so I can do it, and all you have to do is nod, because if you love me, you should be able to let go of her.”

 

A chill ran down his spine. If the Prince really did take Mongmae into his court, she would surely murder Huishan.

 

He didn’t know what to say. He had a vague suspicion that nothing he could say would satisfy her.

 

The longer he remained silent, the more vicious Mongmae’s glare grew. 

 

Finally, she asked that would break his silence, “…If that woman is not possible, what about your father? Can you kill him for me?”

 

Startled, the Prince body took a step back from her. Mongmae’s hand, which had been clasping his cheek, fell away.

A sharp laugh ripped between them. 

 

Mongmae mocked at his pale expression.

 

“When your father became King, my father became a traitor. Now that he has usurped the throne and deposed his nephew, all of his loyalists must become traitors so that what he has done is not a sin!”

 

The Prince gulped at the first glimpse of Mongmae’s past.

 

“Would such a man allow the daughter of a traitor in his son’s court? Would he allow me to set foot in the palace he took!”

 

“…”

 

“Your father would rather lock you up, hunt me down, and kill me than see me stick by your side.”

 

Mongmae cupped the pale, weary cheeks of the Prince again.

 

“I’d rather we run away. If you don’t want anyone to die, then just run away. I don’t care if you’re a bastard, I don’t care if we become a slave. Run away, escape somewhere far away, and we can live together. With you, I’ll never know hunger, and you’ll never know hardship.”

 

These were empty words. His father was a rogue, a usurper of the throne, and how could such a man futilely chase after a prince of three generations when he was gone, when he might return to lead the rebellion?

 

It would not be long before he would be caught, and the only way he could avoid capture would be to live in the uninhabited mountains, foraging for roots and grasses, never encountering anyone. 

 

Even then, he would freeze to death when winter came.

 

In effect, Mongmae’s words were a request to die together.

 

The mere thought of her death terrified him. He wanted to live with her, or maybe just her, and that was fine. 

 

He didn’t know when he would step on the threshold of the afterlife, his body collapsing at every turn.

 

Seja took Mongmae’s pleading hands in his and barely managed to speak.

 

“I’ll…, I’ll convince my father, even if it means risking my own neck, to keep you by my side…”

 

Mongmae swatted his hand away.

 

“Do you love me?”

 

Seja nodded. Mongmae followed up.

 

“If I leave now, will you hold on to me?”

 

“…”

 

Mongmae swallowed hard at the unanswered question.

 

“How is that love?”

 

Mongmae left the spot. 

 

Seja did not stop her, nor did he follow. Even though he knew what her slow steps wanted.

 

And when she was finally completely out of sight, he collapsed on the spot.

 

When he did not return, the men who had been waiting at the foot of the mountain came up, picked him up, and carried him straight to the shrine.

 

“Your highness, get up, your highness, wake up!”

 

But when they laid him down in the shrine, he didn’t wake up as usual. His breathing became faint, and his fever spiked and cycled in and out of coldness.

 

There was no point in being in the shrine if he wasn’t going to get better. 

 

Unconscious, Seja was carried down the mountain to the temple and brought to the palace. 

 

Just in case, ‘he’ from the shrine followed them down the mountain, but to no avail.

 

In fact, none of the medicines, doctors, or even shamans and superstitions worked on him.

 

The man was clearly dying. He gazed down upon him, still and dying. 

 

Huishan called out to him, sobbing, as if asking him to do something.

 

“Jagomi…”

 

There was nothing he could do about Huishan’s already tear-stained face.

 

Seja had already passed his natural lifespan. The reason he holds on to his lifespan was because he’s drawing on someone else’s lifespan.

 

The thread that the dragon god had woven to save his child, a thread that had been intertwined since before he was born…

 

💫

 

“…Hmph!”

 

Yiseo woke up on the damp ground. Her body felt fine after rolling down the mountain path in the rain. 

 

Throbbing all over, but nothing was broken or bleeding. She groggily wiped the rainwater from her face and looked around.

 

Right next to her, Suyeong had collapsed.

 

As I rushed over and barely turned him over, I saw blood running down his forehead. I looked around and saw rocks everywhere. 

 

Only where she’d fallen was fluffy mud.

 

She was lucky.

 

As if her life hadn’t ended yet, as if death had passed her by.

 

“Ah…”

 

Yiseo blinked dazedly as she looked down at her hands, covered in Suyeong’s blood. 

 

A very belated realization hit her. Her lifespan was twenty-one years.

 

In any life, she was always twenty-one.

 

And in this lifetime, she was already twenty-two years old.