Baek Seungjo was generous not only with me but with Nansil and Meoru as well. He had warmly spoken to them first just the day before, and on top of that had given them each a full nyang of coins, saying he was in their care.

Did he simply dislike men and have a fondness for anyone in a skirt, regardless of station?

It was exactly what one would expect from the most notorious womanizer in Hanyang.

***

He passed the mineral spring water errand off to Malsoe. Deoksoe, pretending to have gone up the mountain, hid outside the detached quarters and kept watch on the comings and goings inside.

“Brother, I’m back.”

His eyes were nearly falling out of his head from staring over the wall when that Malsoe came shuffling back at last.

“What took you so long. I told you to be quick about it, did you stop to boil and eat a grub on the way?”

“If I had eaten a grub, I might have had the strength to climb the mountain.”

“Why you little—!”

He was about to cuff Malsoe on the head for his cheek when the servants’ quarters door opened and the courtesan came out wearing a jeonmo¹A wide-brimmed hat worn by women when going outdoors.. Now that he looked, the gentleman lounging on the veranda chatting with the guard also appeared to be readying himself to go out.

He cannot be allowed to just walk out and wander around!

Deoksoe quickly snatched the water carrier and hoisted it onto his back, then sprinted over. By the time he reached the front gate of the detached quarters, he was lucky enough to arrive just as they were stepping over the threshold.

“My lord! Are you going out?”

He ran ahead to block the way and bent at the waist in a bow. The gentleman’s indifferent gaze landed on Deoksoe’s back.

Oh no. If he had actually climbed the mountain, he should be drenched in sweat. Should he have splashed some water on himself?

But the gentleman did not seem to notice that Deoksoe had not fetched the mineral spring water. He had thundered at him earlier, yet now he appeared to be in good spirits, for he actually answered a question that he could just as easily have ignored.

“I thought I would take a walk. The detached quarters are cramped and there is nothing to see, so I want to have a look around the provincial office.”

Deoksoe’s heart dropped. The Pyongan Provincial Governor’s sharp and menacing instructions flashed through his mind.

“You are to watch Baek Seungjo’s every move. You must keep him from poking around where he should not inside this provincial office. Do you understand?”

Deoksoe had served the governor as a loyal retainer for years, so he understood without needing to be told in detail exactly where “where he should not” meant.

“Report to me everything he shows interest in and everyone he meets in secret. And…”

The governor had added more, his viper eyes gleaming with a hollow light.

“Nagyeong, that girl who looks at men like they are vermin. Watch closely how she treats Baek Seungjo, and how he treats her.”

So he could not let the gentleman wander freely through the provincial office. Deoksoe set down the water carrier in a hurry and fawned over him in the manner of a loyal servant.

“My lord, I was born and raised in this provincial office. Allow me to serve as your guide.”

I had expected Baek Seungjo to tell Deoksoe, who wore no skirt, to get out of his sight. But from behind his open fan, he curved his mouth upward with an air of amusement and gave an unexpected answer.

“Very well. Lead the way.”

He truly was impossible to read.

Deoksoe set off cheerfully in front. My own mood lifted along with his. I had been at this provincial office for quite some time, but I had spent nearly all of it confined to the courtesan house and knew little of the grounds.

With Deoksoe knowing the way, I could simply follow without a care.

There was a separate reason my mind felt at ease above all else. Even Park Wonchul, who reigned here like a king, would not dare drag me away at will while I was attending to Baek Seungjo, a close confidant of the reigning king.

I decided to take this opportunity to stroll through the provincial office at my leisure.

“My lord, this is Byeokwolji, the pride of this provincial office.”

The first place Deoksoe led us to was a wide pond with a large pavilion beside it. I had come here on occasion myself. Since becoming a courtesan, I had danced and played the gayageum²A traditional Korean stringed instrument. here whenever a banquet was held.

In midsummer, lotus blossoms would bloom in a breathtaking profusion, but it was spring now and not even the flower stalks had risen yet, so only the fresh green lotus leaves spread thickly across the surface of the water.

“It would be pleasant to spend time here in summer. How far can you see from up in the pavilion?”

“How could my poor words ever do justice to that view? Why not go up and see for yourself while we are here? This way.”

We were walking along the edge of the pond toward the pavilion when Baek Seungjo suddenly stopped, and I nearly drove my nose straight into that door-wide back of his. I looked up to find him looking down at me with a displeased expression.

“This is no fun at all. Any proper courtesan ought to take a man’s arm and liven the mood. Why are you trailing behind me like a servant following a master?”

Was he asking me to flatter him? I supposed I could bring myself to act coy in return for the croaker he had fed me…

No. I would sooner be beaten until I coughed that croaker back up.

I bowed my head in a show of compliance, then let my mouth run insolent once more.

“As you yourself said, my lord, I am a lowly servant. How could I dare walk shoulder to shoulder with you? It would be against all propriety.”

“Ha.”

He snapped his fan shut with a crack and tapped my forehead with it, looking thoroughly vexed.

“Your tongue certainly never runs dry.”

After that he made no further demands of me. But when we reached the pavilion and began climbing the stone steps, he turned to look at me again and suddenly extended his hand.

I pretended not to see it and gathered my skirt hem with both hands. It was a small ruse to avoid looking like I was refusing, but perhaps it was too transparent.

“I was only offering to help in case you tripped on your skirt.”

“Am I not managing it perfectly well myself? Please do not trouble yourself over this humble girl, my lord, and simply enjoy the view.”

At my firm refusal, Baek Seungjo glanced back at Deoksoe, who was walking ahead, and let out a short laugh of disbelief.

“My, she makes such a fuss over one little hand-hold. I cannot tell whether I have a courtesan or a chaste widow on my hands.”

So the steps had been a pretext all along, and he had simply wanted to take my hand. Was he beginning to show his true colors as a womanizer?

We looked around the pavilion and came back down, and as we moved further into the provincial office grounds, a bitter smell pricked my nose. We seemed to be passing in front of the medicinal storehouse.

Perhaps it naturally called to mind the scheme he had been devising the evening before, for Baek Seungjo suddenly stopped walking and murmured with a groan.

“Come to think of it, I ought to get some medicinal herbs and build up my strength…”

Deoksoe must have seen it as a chance to show his loyalty, for he jumped in without hesitation.

“Oh my, are you feeling unwell, my lord? If there are any herbs you need, just say the word. Our governor will gladly provide them.”

“Is that so? Then can he provide wild ginseng as well?”

“…Pardon? W, wild ginseng… did you say?”

Deoksoe’s eyes went wide. He had every reason to be startled.

Wild ginseng was plentiful in this Pyongan Province. But it was a restricted item, a tribute that had to be presented to the state. Even the Pyongan Provincial Governor could not touch it freely, let alone a servant.

Flustered, Deoksoe broke into a cold sweat and stumbled over his words.

“Th, that is not something I c, can manage on my own… Sh, shall I go and ask the governor?”

“There is no need.”

Baek Seungjo tilted his chin toward something behind Deoksoe and curved the corner of his mouth upward.

“He happens to be coming this way.”

And indeed, Park Wonchul was walking toward them from the far end of the path, a long train of clerks following behind him. This was bad. My entire body seized up in an instant and my legs began to tremble.

I wanted to run. But with legs this unsteady, how many steps could I even manage?

I had no choice but to look up at Baek Seungjo the way one clings to a lifeline. Ah, but my lifeline was a rotten one. He was looking at Park Wonchul with a welcoming expression.

A sudden fear gripped me. What if Park Wonchul asked for me, and Baek Seungjo simply handed me over without a second thought?

I had not behaved like a courtesan, so I would have no grounds to complain if he did. Should I have let him take my hand? Should I have given him a coy smile? I had forgotten my position, no better than a dog that gets thrown into the pot the moment it fails to catch the rabbit, and had been needlessly proud for nothing.

I was still caught up in belated regret when Park Wonchul drew close and came face to face with Baek Seungjo.

“Was your first night in the detached quarters comfortable?”

“Thanks to your care, I rested well.”

“And yet a man who claims to be in poor health is out wandering like this?”

“If I shut myself in a room in the name of recuperating, will I not fall ill in my mind instead? The provincial office has a fine atmosphere, I am told, so I stepped out briefly for some air.”

I bowed in greeting, then withdrew to a distance, standing apart like a folding screen, and waited with a pounding heart for the two men’s conversation to end.

But they say a beast can sense fear. Park Wonchul’s viper eyes found me at last.