Wandering Through – Vol. 3 Chapter 89 – Side Story 4

Author: Nikss

Strange, today of all days, the house felt unusually noisy.

Having been alone since the prince left on business early in the morning, Yiseo tilted her head curiously.

There was a commotion and loud chatter outside, and the few people permitted entry into the inner quarters looked somewhat flustered.

“Lady Shanggung, are we expecting guests today?”

Even when she asked if something had happened, everyone just pursed their lips and shook their heads.

How was she supposed to understand the situation?

Yiseo closed the book she was making for the prince and finally got up from her seat.

Others might make clothes for their husbands, but Yiseo had long since reached the realistic conclusion that with her terrible skills, anything she sewed would be little more than a rag.

Fortunately, her calligraphy seemed to pass for excellent in others’ eyes, so lately, she had been spending her free time recording her experiences from her life as a shaman.

She excluded the emotions she had felt, describing only the dry ‘work’ of serving the gods. She judged it would be helpful to the current prince.

So, in her own way, Yiseo was preparing a gift.

For her husband, who had seemed strangely listless lately.

“Madam. Rather than this, wouldn’t the gentleman regain his energy faster if you just slightly lifted your skirt for him?”

At Ban’s words while grinding ink, Yiseo scolded her, asking what she meant by ‘that gentleman’ referring to the prince, and let the comment slide.

Because every night, the prince sufficiently bit and sucked Yiseo’s bare legs.

Of course, the standard for ‘sufficiently’ was set by Yiseo.

“Madam, are you going out?”

She had merely peeked outside the inner quarters’ door, but Lady Shanggung had already quickly approached from afar and asked.

An unconcealed look of exhaustion was plastered on Lady Shanggung’s face.

Yiseo shook her head.

“I wasn’t trying to leave—the outside was just noisy, so I wanted to ask what was happening. You said no guests were coming, yet it was so loud, as if you were preparing to receive some very important visitor.”

“It’s nothing important. We’re just clearing out the unused rooms all at once before it gets colder…”

Lady Shanggung let her words trail off. Then, looking at Yiseo, she bit her lip hard.

Around the time Yiseo’s eyes were tinted at this uncharacteristically flustered behavior from Lady Shanggung, Lady Shanggung spoke again.

“Has His Highness not mentioned anything specific to you?”

“Mentioned what?”

“Well, eventually…”

Lady Shanggung’s words, uttered like a sigh, didn’t even form a full sentence.

The low voice of the Grand Prince cut through and fell between them.

“Why is my wife outside?”

The Grand Prince, having returned—perhaps his business was finished—frowned upon seeing Yiseo standing at the inner quarters’ gate. Then he strode over, picked Yiseo up, and held her.

Lady Shanggung simply lowered her head, avoiding looking at them entirely, and Yiseo, wrapping her arms around the Grand Prince’s neck, answered for her.

“The outside was bustling…”

“Were you trying to go out?”

“No. I just wanted to ask why it was so bustling.”

Only then did the Grand Prince’s expression soften slightly.

At that distinct change, Yiseo sighed inwardly. Although he pretended otherwise, the Grand Prince was rather excessively restrictive of Yiseo.

Since Yiseo, from the start, couldn’t move much anyway, she patiently accepted such restrictions, but occasionally she thought that if her body were healthy, they would have argued fiercely.

“I will explain that inside.”

The Grand Prince answered shortly near Yiseo’s ear. Then, after saying to Lady Shanggung,

“Bring that here,”

He carried Yiseo back into the inner quarters.

The scent of ink still lingered in the room.

The Grand Prince set Yiseo down on the floor and used his now-free hands to turn Yiseo’s hands over and over, examining them.

Soon, he discovered the faint traces of ink still left on her palm and buried his lips there.

“Ahh…!”

By the time her fingers, palm, and even her wrist had been thoroughly kissed, Lady Shanggung’s call was heard from outside.

“I have brought what you asked for, Your Highness.”

It was surprising enough that Lady Shanggung, who normally wouldn’t even raise her voice in the inner quarters, was speaking.

But the most surprising thing was that the Grand Prince, who normally wouldn’t even answer Lady Shanggung, let go of Yiseo’s hand and opened the door.

Lady Shanggung hurriedly entered the room, placed one large chest inside, and left.

“What is this?”

“These are the clothes the Madam will wear today.”

The Grand Prince opened the chest and carefully took out the garments inside, one by one. The more he pulled out, the more Yiseo’s mouth hung open in bewilderment.

From any angle, they looked like royal wedding robes.

“Husband. These are…”

“I was told it’s clothing that the bride cannot put on by herself, so I hurriedly learned how. You wouldn’t want someone you don’t know laying hands on your body, would you?”

He could have just told the nanny or Lady Shanggung to learn it, but here he was, having learned it himself and saying such things with sheer audacity.

However, Yiseo was in no state of mind to point out the Grand Prince’s shamelessness.

“Why, why must I wear wedding robes? Moreover, these seem newly made, how on earth, no, why…”

As the Grand Prince carefully dressed Yiseo’s flustered body, he spoke.

“Wasn’t the wedding we had before, and even the first night, all a mess?”

“Well, that… there were circumstances that justified it then.”

Hadn’t he been testing whether Yiseo would still come to love him after suffering such humiliation?

When she didn’t know, she had resented him for it, but after learning the truth, she did not. He had had the right to test her.

“Even if there was a reason, the fact remains that it was a mess. I want to marry my wife again. As if today, not that day, is the real beginning for us.”

The Grand Prince whispered as he tied Yiseo’s coat strings.

“Since we have no intention of letting each go anyway, shouldn’t we cover the bad memories with good ones?”

“…”

“I dislike the thought of you recalling bad memories when you look at me. If that makes you want to run away again, wouldn’t I be the only one at a loss?”

He added abruptly, like a sigh.

“Though even if you wanted to run away, I wouldn’t let you.”

He slowly pulled Yiseo into an embrace.

Even though he was the one who brought it up, as if he had truly imagined her running away, his arms tightened around her.

After holding her for a while, he let her go with a low, regretful sigh.

“Please rest until we see each other again soon in the bridal chamber, my wife.”

💫

Leegwang had heard about their first night from Lady Shanggung.

It was, after all, a marriage between an eleven and twelve-year-old—no one ever thought two real children would consummate it.

They were just put in the bridal chamber to get closer.

But then, the groom overturned the table onto the bride and ran out.

Lady Shanggung had muttered, as if lamenting, that she still remembered the face of the small, young bride, who stared blankly as the groom, drenched in food seasoning and buried deep in his wedding robes, ran out in a daze.

A Yiseo who was small now, but even smaller back then.

“…I miss her.”

A girl with hands the size of palms, buried layer upon layer in wedding robes.

Leegwang, who had little talent for imagination, strained his mind to picture a young Yiseo and then, without even realizing it, let out a pained sigh.

Twelve-year-old Yiseo was, of course, not as small as the palm of one’s hand, but such a truth wasn’t very important in Leegwang’s mind.

Anyway, the reality that he had forgotten both Yiseo’s childhood and the process of her growing up was just a bit irritating.

What’s already forgotten can’t be helped, so he must protect what he has.

Leegwang opened the door to the bridal chamber, from which light was leaking.

Inside, the bride, buried under layers of wedding robes, was sitting stock still.

It was the wedding dress he had ordered to be made exactly like the one they wore when they married as children, precisely because he couldn’t remember it.

“Husband…”

Yiseo looked up at him and moved her lips.

For a moment, he almost pounced on her right then and there, but he barely managed to restrain himself. If he did that, he would only be met with Yiseo’s face, plastered with resignation and tension.

Right now, he wasn’t a crazed man obsessed with craving Yiseo’s body, but Yiseo’s groom, spending their first night together again.

Leegwang closed the bridal chamber door as slowly as possible and sat down in front of Yiseo.

“Husband, I…”

Seeing Yiseo’s lips mumbling, it seemed like she was saying something, but it didn’t really reach his ears.

The days when he thought he couldn’t touch her at all were actually easier to endure. His gaze was stolen by the tongue moving between her lips before he barely managed to collect himself and grabbed Yiseo’s hand.

Not yet, he must not undress her yet.

He uttered the sentence he had practiced in his head so many times.

“…I am truly… to be married to my wife…”

Did he say it properly?

He didn’t even really know what he had said.

All that was clear was that Yiseo had laughed even before his words were finished.

Yiseo laughed, and she laughed even when he reached for the fastening of her clothes.

As he peeled off each layer of her many garments, his already hardened lower body rubbed against her thigh and hand, causing him to release once.

Normally, Yiseo would now say it was done and lie down in his embrace, but she hesitated, covered her face, and then slowly spread her legs.

“Husband. Could you please… put out the light?”

He couldn’t hold back and pulled away the hand Yiseo was using to hide her face.

And then he could see.