Wandering Through Vol. 3 Chapter 71 - The Journey

After sending Lady Shanggung away, Leegwang spent the entire morning washing Yiseo’s body with warm water and massaging her stiff muscles. 

 

By now, he had gotten quite skilled at it—able to touch her without waking her. 

 

With reluctant hands, he slowly dressed her. He slipped socks, smaller than his own palms, onto her tiny feet and helped her into an underskirt. 

 

Before tying the skirt’s waistband, he couldn’t resist burying his face against her chest for a moment. Her body, which once carried the scent of dry paper or the grass and trees of the mountains, now faintly exuded a sweet fragrance.

 

Washing her, dressing her in fresh clothes, scenting her with perfume…

 

Perhaps because he tended to her so meticulously every day, her skin seemed even softer now. 

 

Shamelessly, he prided himself on treating her so well. Yiseo, who had suddenly found her chest being suckled in her sleep, would certainly not have agreed.

 

Before he knew it, the thought of briefly pressing his face to her chest had shifted to wanting to lightly lick her, and then, in an instant, to wanting to suckle just a little.

 

Of course, Leegwang latched onto Yiseo’s breast, which yielded no milk, and sucked on her nipple. Rolling the red bud in his mouth, he soon began fussing like an infant for milk that would never come.

 

At first, Yiseo’s eyelids didn’t even twitch at the weak suction on her breast, but eventually, her brows furrowed. 

 

Finally, her eyes fluttered open.

 

“Mmm….”

 

The moment she woke, Yiseo found herself half-undressed, with a man suckling at her breast. 

 

To be precise, her clothes weren’t so much removed as they were half-dressed and abandoned—but the result was the same, leaving her nearly naked.

 

“…”

 

She wasn’t flustered. She had been through far worse than this to be bothered by such a thing.

 

Watching the man desperately lick and suck at her nipple, which had nothing left to give, she swallowed a sigh and placed her hand on the back of his neck. 

 

Leegwang’s body stiffened slightly. 

 

Still holding her nipple in his mouth, he only lifted his eyes to look at her—his expression almost cute, like a child caught stealing a snack…

 

…Or maybe not.

 

If a child were caught stealing, they’d hide what they were eating, but this man kept it in his mouth with shameless boldness. She could even feel him rolling his tongue, as if intending to suck more milk from her. 

 

Unfazed by his audacity, Yiseo gently stroked the back of his neck before cupping his jaw with both hands and pulling him toward her face. She lightly pressed her lips against his, which had just released her nipple. 

 

His dazed eyes were already glazing over, so she kissed him again and again, stealing his breath, then quickly pulled away and tugged her skirt up.

 

Moving with surprising speed for someone who had just woken up, Yiseo tied her skirt strings and neatly adjusted her undergarments.

 

“…”

 

Leegwang, belatedly regaining his senses, stared at her with a somewhat aggrieved look. 

 

Pretending not to notice, Yiseo smoothed her disheveled hair and searched for her ribbon. With a low, exhausted chuckle, he pulled her into his embrace. 

 

Gathering her hair in one hand, he pressed his lips to the nape of her exposed neck and whispered,

 

“I’ll do your hair for you.”

 

He tidied Yiseo’s hair with a hair comb whose origins she couldn’t fathom. 

 

Under the pretense of fixing her hair, he would occasionally fumble with her ears or strands, but since his hands never wandered further down, she found it tolerable.

 

At first, his large hands were clumsy, braiding her hair like a child who had never married, but now he twisted and pinned it up with some skill.

 

Once finished, his hands pulled her into an embrace as he asked, “I’ve done your hair up for you. What will you do for me in return?”

 

To demand payment for something she never asked for—what kind of bandit was this man?

 

Why had he become so childish and shameless? 

 

Yiseo swallowed a sigh and briefly pressed her lips to his cheek before pulling away. He laughed silently, shoulders shaking, then lay back on the bedding, still holding her from behind.

 

“Clever girl. You already know what I want.”

 

His lips rained down like a downpour over the nape of her neck and shoulders. 

 

Smacking his lips in dissatisfaction, he added, “If only you had a little more flesh on you, a bit more strength. No matter what I feed you, you stay as frail as a sickly chick.”

 

Unable to hold back, Yiseo retorted, her strained voice cracking at the edges.

 

“That’s your fault, my lord. Excess is worse than lack, yet night after night—”

 

It was Leegwang who finished the words she couldn’t bring herself to say. 

 

Deliberately rubbing his lower body against hers, he asked, “What’s wrong with a husband and wife sharing intimacy every night?”

 

“…”

 

Yiseo avoided saying anything that might provoke Leegwang, such as pointing out that they were not truly husband and wife. She did not want to test his temper with her honesty.

 

“My body is weak, and I cannot… properly accommodate you, my lord. To regain strength, one must rest well, but… You do not let me rest, do you?”

 

“I’m letting you rest right now. And what do you mean, ‘cannot accommodate’? Tight as you are down there, once I’m in, you swallow me to the root, don’t you?”

 

For a brief moment, Yiseo missed the silent Leegwang of the past.

 

Perhaps excited by his own words, Leegwang stroked the inside of her thigh, coaxing her gently.

 

“If it was too dark to see last night, why don’t we take a good look now in the daylight? Let’s see just how well you swallow me down there. Just one in-and-out. Hmm? I’ll only push to the end and pull right back out…”

 

Spouting nonsense, his hand insistently crept under her skirt. With only a thin layer of fabric between them—no undergarments—his touch was unmistakable. 

 

Flustered, Yiseo quickly spoke up.

 

“My lord, I’m tired…”

 

“Didn’t I tell you not to call me that? If you don’t want to spread your legs, call me ‘husband.’ Then I might hold back.”

 

It had been over ten years since she last called him that. 

 

When Yiseo hesitated, unable to respond, Leegwang—who had been holding her from behind—shifted and climbed on top of her. Her slightly nervous eyes looked up at him.

 

Watching the way her round eyes tensed, he felt like he’d lose himself again and just devour her. 

 

Deliberately, Leegwang bit the inside of his cheek.

 

Every time, he told himself he’d at least hear her call him ‘husband’ once, but the moment he was pressed against Yiseo, he’d be too consumed with craving her to spare a single thought for anything else. 

 

How many times had he let it slide like that?

 

Today, he wanted to hear that little mouth of hers say it.

 

“Stop overthinking. It’s not like you can run away anyway. You’ll live here with me till you grow old and die, and even then, you’ll be buried with me. Yiseo.”

 

“…”

 

Even in the face of such unreasonable words, Yiseo didn’t say anything that might provoke him, and he was starting to notice. It was strange enough that she had obediently stayed in his arms after being kidnapped without any agreement.

 

At first, he’d been too lost in his desire for her to think that far, but now, he was gradually sensing something odd.

 

Namely, she seemed… accustomed.

 

To be abducted into this inner chamber, almost imprisoned, and subjected to his desires.

 

Just as Lady Shanggung had said, it seemed she really had gone through the same thing with him before. 

 

Had she learned from it? The way not to provoke him.

 

The thought that someone had conditioned her like that left a bad taste in his mouth. Even if that someone was his past self, the self whose memories he’d lost.

 

Without those memories, his past self felt like a stranger.

 

Leegwang deliberately brought up what Yiseo couldn’t say herself. Unlike his past self, he had no intention of losing his temper, even if Yiseo said something provocative.

 

“Is it because I took another wife after leaving you that you refuse to call me that? Even a runaway wife is still a wife, no?”

 

The moment those words left his mouth, he felt Yiseo’s body stiffen slightly. She bit her lip hard, as if nervous. 

 

Who was she putting on that act for?

 

“Should I drag that woman back, punish her, and throw her out? Maybe then you’d call me your husband.”

 

Killing her would’ve been the simplest solution, but something made him hesitate to say that outright to Yiseo, who seemed like she’d never even harmed a chick.

 

Yet Yiseo’s reaction surprised him.

 

“Th-there’s no need to drag her back.”

 

Leegwang paused. Her reaction almost sounded like she was worried about that woman.

 

Was she concerned about the new wife brought in by the husband who had abandoned her?

 

Realizing her reaction was too telling, Yiseo shut her mouth again. Leegwang, momentarily entranced by her, picked up his train of thought where he’d left off.

 

Come to think of it, after taking his new wife, he had forced himself on Yiseo despite her refusal.

 

Why had his past self done that? Because he hated her so much, as she claimed? Was there any reason to despise his wife like that? 

 

Just because she couldn’t bear children and was lame… That didn’t seem enough.

 

After all, his past self was still him.

 

There was no way he would’ve hated a woman—one who could unsettle him like this—so intensely for such trivial reasons.

 

Leegwang stared straight at Yiseo and asked, “Why did my past self hate you so much?”

 

“My leg…”

 

“If that were all, I would’ve just divorced you. Why did I take a new wife and still force myself on you?”

 

Yiseo hesitated before finally speaking.

 

“I… met someone else. Not you. Someone I knew before I met you…”

 

Though it was a matter of her past life, it wasn’t entirely untrue.