Be the Sacrifice Chapter 16

Splash—

 

The silk cloth, soaked in water again, was pressed down on the wound. 

 

It stung as the water seeped in; it hurt. Still, Heesa didn’t mind much; she already knew that leaving it alone would let it heal anyway. While looking at her own wound, she noticed his slightly drooping hair. 

 

The sunlight fell over the dragon pool, filling his hair with warm yang energy, making it shimmer and flow in a way that was beautiful. 

 

It would’ve been even prettier if it were longer.

 

“Why. Want me to feed you lunch too?”

 

Hong Yeomrang lifted only his eyes, asking with a displeased face. He looked like someone who already knew she had been staring at his hair. 

 

Hunger always tormented Heesa. 

 

There was no way her stomach wasn’t growling. She wanted to shamelessly nod at Hong Yeomrang’s words, but right now, she liked the sight of this man sitting proudly under the sunlight.

 

Enough to endure both shame and hunger.

 

“I was looking because it’s pretty.”

 

Whenever the sun hangs over the dragon pool, the whole area sparkles despite the dizzying depth of the water. Hong Yeomrang’s jet-black hair is just like that dragon pool. 

 

It catches the sunlight and glitters so brightly that you can’t see how deep it goes. 

 

Step in the wrong place and you’ll fall endlessly…

 

Once, when she fell into the dragon pool, Heesa just stayed still. Her feet didn’t touch the bottom. She didn’t thrash around to escape, didn’t struggle to survive. 

 

But the moment she let all the strength drain from her body, before she could even see the bottom, her body floated back up to the surface first.

 

“What’s the point of food looking pretty?”

 

“Then why is there a saying that ‘a nice-looking rice cake tastes good too’?”

 

“This guy’s sitting here talking about rice cakes now.”

 

Look at this. Not even once does she back down. 

 

Seeing Heesa grinning and talking about “a nice-looking rice cake” while stroking his own hair, Hong Yeomrang was simply dumbfounded. She’d eat obediently if given food, yet here she was playing hard to get.

 

“Can I touch it?”

 

“…If you pull any out, you’ll be starving for about three days straight, miss.”

 

Hong Yeomrang spoke menacingly, still holding a grudge over how Heesa had once yanked out strands of his hair and left his soul half-gone.

 

When he looked at her like this and spoke, most people would shrink back, but apparently, all she heard was permission. 

 

Heesa reached out her hand. Even the hem of the clothes-tie she’d knotted yesterday was half-undone, revealing her scarred, ugly fingers coming closer.

 

Swoosh—

 

It felt like a breeze had passed once. 

 

Only much later did he realize it was just Heesa’s hand lightly brushing his hair. She quietly brought back the hand that had touched Hong Yeomrang’s hair and stared down at it in silence.

 

“Miss, are you messing with me right now?”

 

Even though he tried not to care, the way she was acting made it impossible not to.

 

Was she doing this on purpose? 

 

He’d start to get angry, but then he’d look at Heesa’s face and realize it wasn’t intentional, so Hong Yeomrang couldn’t bring himself to stay mad.

 

“Hm?”

 

“That was touching? Do it properly. If you’re going to declare war, at least do it right.”

 

Squeeze—

 

He spoke through gritted teeth while dipping the blood-soaked cloth back into the water and wringing it out with one hand. 

 

Heesa, who had been foolishly recalling the ticklish sensation of the hair against her wounded fingertips, opened her mouth like an idiot. 

 

But she felt that if she didn’t do as Hong Yeomrang said, she’d end up the one being wrung out like that cloth, so she hurriedly reached out again.

 

Thump—

 

Hong Yeomrang shoved his head forward as if headbutting her hand.

 

His hair fills her entire palm and fingers to overflowing. Warm from catching the sunlight. And glossy, shining, soft. Heesa’s eyes curved into crescents. 

 

It felt similar to touching something small and fluffy and alive. Though he had a much larger frame, his head and his hair, were small in comparison.

 

How long could she keep touching it?

 

For now, Hong Yeomrang was obediently letting her have his head, so Heesa gently, softly ran her fingers through the strands.

 

It stung a little whenever the split ends of her fingers brushed against the hair. 

 

Still, an innocent smile spread across Heesa’s entire face.

 

“Your hair is warm.”

 

At the bright, sunny sound of her laughter as she said that, Hong Yeomrang swallowed the words telling her to stop. Her fingertips reached all the way to his scalp. 

 

The sensation of her rough, calloused fingertips parting the strands felt strange.

 

To begin with, Hong Yeomrang had never let even a servant touch his hair. The only times anyone had ever stroked his head were when he was very small. 

 

While his mother was still alive, or…

 

When else had it been?

 

Hong Yeomrang furrowed his brow. 

 

Had my own father ever once patted my head?

 

Before the suddenly sour mood could make him tell her to get off, Heesa withdrew her hand first.

 

“Feels like I’ve soaked up a ton of the yang energy you like, miss?”

 

“I don’t know about that… but it’s such a waste to cut hair like this….”

 

If it had been longer, it would have been so much fuller and prettier.

 

“Why. If you’re just going to burn it anyway, wouldn’t it be better to give it to me?”

 

“Would’ve been nice.”

 

“Oh, now the real feelings are finally coming out?”

 

Heesa quietly shut her mouth. Because it really was how she felt. Then, suddenly feeling aggrieved, she spoke up.

 

“You gave it to me, didn’t you? For a hundred days, I didn’t have to see you.”

 

“Ah, so now it’s all my fault?”

 

Who was the one who pulled out my hair and disappeared into the forest without showing even the tip of her nose? 

 

Hong Yeomrang had endured as much as he could. 

 

Yet even when Heesa, whom he knew was watching him from somewhere, never showed up in the end, he had cut his own hair and waited.

 

“That’s because of your impatient temper. And why burn something so wasteful?”

 

“If I can’t reattach it anyway, should I just keep carrying it around?”

 

“…Me… I mean, you should’ve given it to me….”

 

“This is unbelievable!”

 

The moment he shouted, there was a noise louder than the sound of the waterfall crashing down for an instant. 

 

Heesa flinched and hunched her shoulders in surprise. 

 

Seeing that, Hong Yeomrang roughly swept his short hair back. He hadn’t meant to startle her.

 

“Miss, back then there wasn’t even a dog’s worth of trust between us… no, not even a speck, right?”

 

Even now, there isn’t any trust. 

 

The goblins had crawled off somewhere and vanished, leaving Hong Yeomrang stuck with this monster called Heesa, whom he couldn’t take his eyes off for even a second, like an unwanted burden. 

 

A monster who only knew how to eat hair, who didn’t have a shred of strength. 

 

The moment he looked away, she’d be hurt somewhere, bleeding all over the place. Hong Yeomrang squeezed the cloth in his hand tightly again.

 

He’d deliberately called her “miss,” and now he really had ended up saddled with some sheltered young lady from a noble house who knew nothing of the world.

 

In this forest full of jagged rocks, pits, sharp branches, and sheer cliffs.

 

“There still isn’t any now.”

 

“Stop saying things that are right.”

 

The bleeding on Heesa’s knee had finally just barely stopped. 

 

Still, an ugly scab would form over time whether he liked it or not.

 

Regardless, she dipped her feet into the edge of the dragon pool and splashed water around carelessly. Her hair, roughly tied and tangled with leaves and twigs, caught Hong Yeomrang’s eye. 

 

In truth, it had been bothering him the whole time he’d been walking behind her.

 

At the words “stop saying things that are right,” Heesa pouted, turned her back, and kept splashing. Hong Yeomrang reached out and yanked her hair straight.

 

Her weak upper body immediately flopped backward. She fell flat onto the thighs of Hong Yeomrang, who had been sitting cross-legged.

 

In the sunlight, Heesa lay sprawled out.

 

She had been pale as a ghost, but after eating a bit of hair, a faint flush of blood returned across her entire face. Her gentle black eyes blinked up at Hong Yeomrang, not understanding why she had suddenly fallen backward. 

 

Then, meeting his displeased gaze, she broke into a soft, beaming smile. 

 

A monster who knew how to do nothing was smiling.

 

He didn’t even offer the usual protest of “Why did you pull my hair?”, but yielded quietly.

 

Nowhere could greed or malice be found in her. It was absurd to begin with that a monster was sitting here under the sunlight like this.

 

“Stay with me for just a hundred days.”

 

As if she knew what was in his heart, Heesa said. His lips parted, revealing neat white teeth.

 

“What’s in it for me, being with you?”

 

“It’s quiet. And there’s no one else.”

 

She spoke as though she knew exactly the kind of place he wanted. 

 

Everywhere was noisy. He, the son of a meritorious family, was followed by countless rumors close to the truth. 

 

The talk about him was no different, whether in the capital or here. 

 

The king would never allow their family to stand too close. Hong Yeomrang met Heesa’s gaze, free of any shadow.

 

“You’re a monster, aren’t you?”

 

Get hurt and get angry as ordinary people do.

 

He wanted to see Heesa get angry. Looking straight into her eyes, Hong Yeomrang sneered. 

 

Like a hunter searching for the tiniest, darkest, most shadowed spot, he examined her thoroughly.

 

“Then I’ll just come at night while you’re sleeping, sneak a little bite, and leave.”

Without the slightest sign of being upset, Heesa said it seriously. His hand, cold and wet from the water, covered her eyes. 

 

A soundless laugh lingered briefly at the corner of Hong Yeomrang’s mouth.