The man looked down at her mother, whose eyes were wide open and bloodshot with fury. Then, slowly, he lowered his head.

Until that moment, Yeon hadn’t understood what her master was doing to her mother.

It seemed as though he was bowing and pulling her closer.

“Haa… haa…”

A wet, sticky sound followed. The woman, her body shifting against his, parted her damp lips and lightly slapped his cheek.

It was the kind of scandal that could lead to ruin.

If the lady of the house had seen it, she would have immediately ordered the woman to be beaten — or worse, dragged out and severely punished.

But the master didn’t seem to care at all.

Then again, he was strangely lenient with her mother.

This wasn’t the first time she had slapped him.

Just three months earlier, she had slapped him again — in front of the eldest son, Yongwoo, and the lady of the house herself.

It had something to do with Miss Suin, who had been unwell at the time.

Yeon remembered her mother trembling as she clasped her hands together and begged the master for forgiveness.

Terrified, she burst into tears and sobbed uncontrollably until Yongwoo lifted her up and shielded her behind him.

Unlike the lady, whose face had been twisted with fury, the master remained calm and unmoved.

He dismissed everyone — everyone except her mother.

What happened after that, Yeon didn’t know.

She wondered if her mother had been beaten, but she simply returned quietly to her room, holding her swollen belly.

“I can’t forgive you either.”

A low voice echoed in Yeon’s ears.

Her mother let out a soft, bitter laugh.

Then the man shoved her and she fell back.

Yeon squeezed her eyes shut and pretended to pull her blanket up.

Next came the soft moan her mother made when she had a fever.

The master called her name.

“Soso.”

His harsh, low voice crawled into her ears.

She told herself it was just a dream.

She told herself that none of the sounds reaching her ears were real.

But if they were real, perhaps the Master was simply punishing a disloyal servant. That would be easier to accept, at least.

“Hey, what are you thinking so hard about?”

“Ah—no, it’s nothing. My mother is doing well.”

Yeon shook her head quickly and forced a smile.

Gadeok clucked her tongue and looked at her with pity.

Yeon lowered her gaze to the floor.

Her mother said that she didn’t want any gyehwa rice cakes.

However, when Yeon told her that the master had given her the cakes himself, her mother began bombarding her with questions: What did he say? Why did he call her? What did they talk about?

Yeon had nothing else to report. She simply replied that he had asked her about her mother’s health.

“I think he’s worried because you’ve been ill for so long.”

“Is that so?”

“The master is a good man.”

“If he were truly a good man, he wouldn’t have left you like this.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing.”

Shaking her head at Yeon, who was still chewing the yellow rice cake, her mother reached out and stroked her daughter’s plump cheeks gently. Then she opened her arms wide and pulled Yeon into a hug.

Yeon nestled into her embrace like a baby rabbit. The faint scent of orchids clung to her embrace.

Yeon closed her eyes tightly and wrapped her arms around her mother’s chest. Her mother was delicate and pale, a breathtakingly beautiful woman.

She had jet-black hair, fine, graceful eyebrows, and elegant eyes beneath them. Her face was fair and slender. Her features were so refined and vivid that it was hard to believe they all belonged to such a small face.

She was as intricately lovely as the porcelain dolls sold across the sea. Although the lady of the house was beautiful in her own right, the household servants whispered that she couldn’t compare to Yeon’s mother. Yeon, too, resembled her mother exactly.

“They say the late Empress was just as beautiful. Your mother is just like her.”

Some even said that she resembled a living portrait of Lady Xi Shi.

Others said that it was a waste for someone so lovely to live her life as a mere servant.

However, they also said that no matter how beautiful a maid might be, such beauty would only bring misfortune.

It’s useless in the real world.

Yeon didn’t care. Regardless of what her mother looked like, she would have loved her just the same.

“My sweet girl… how can you be so pretty, so precious?”

“You’re even prettier, Mama.”

“No, Sisi is prettier.”

“The master said I’m pretty too. He said I look like you.”

“… What?”

Her mother, who had been gently stroking Yeon’s dark hair, froze suddenly and looked down at her in shock.

Her serene, graceful face remained motionless, as if made of fragile porcelain that had just cracked. Yeon stiffened and hunched her shoulders.

“What else did he say to you?”

“Mama…”

“That man is the most vile and despicable noble in the world.”

“Mama, don’t… You’re scaring me! Please don’t say things like that.”

Yeon shook her head. She was frightened when her mother spoke ill of the Master.

Her face was pale and rigid with anger, which was frightening enough, but Yeon was even more afraid that someone might overhear her.

Of course, the master might just scoff and say that he was going out hunting again. He might even come back with a live rabbit, laughing as he handed it to her and told her to look at what he had caught.

That was the kind of man he was. He was someone who would catch a live baby rabbit and give it to her as a gift.

Someone who would give her a pair of fur-lined shoes — shoes that not even his only daughter had received.

They were made from the fur of a fox he had hunted a few months earlier.

Yeon didn’t dislike the master. She feared him, yes, but not as much as she feared the lady of the house.

And yet…

“If your mother says it’s true, then it is!”

“But…”

“That man couldn’t even protect your little brother.”

“Huh?”

Yeon stared blankly at her mother, confused.

Her mother’s eyes were wide, trembling with fury and filled with tears.

She truly seemed to harbour deep resentment towards him.

Yeon looked up at her in fear. Her mother was like this sometimes — no, often.

She blamed everything on him. Her illness, Yeon’s misfortunes — everything was his fault.

It was because he never left them alone.

But Yeon didn’t think that way. She believed her mother was simply more delicate than others because she was ill.

The lady of the house, Suin’s mother, didn’t fall ill nearly as often. But Yeon’s mother was frail, much like Suin herself.

They both suffered from heatstroke in the summer. They had sharp tempers and piercing glares, too.

Sometimes, looking at young Suin reminded Yeon of her own mother. Nevertheless, Yeon didn’t consider herself to be unfortunate.

She believed that her mother would stop getting sick so often if she could just learn to control her sudden, explosive bursts of anger.

After all, her mother wasn’t given particularly difficult tasks.

Even when Yeon was scrubbing the yard or helping with the cooking, her mother would sit quietly in the corner of their room doing needlework.

Even when the lady hurled insults at her for not knowing her place, the master never stepped in to scold her. He would simply remark, ‘She’s quite the two-faced beauty.’

Even when the Grand Madam was still alive, her mother wasn’t mistreated. At most, they would tell her to rest, saying that she must be tired.

That’s how it had always been. Her mother held a special place in the household.

This was all thanks to the master’s protection. But her mother didn’t seem to realise it. Or maybe she was just pretending not to.

“Mama, please don’t say things like that…”

“Why? Are you taking your father’s side now?”

“Father…? Mama…”

“Enough. Let’s just go to sleep.”

Her mother gently pushed her away.

Yeon watched quietly as her beautiful mother sulked away.

***

Sometimes, Yeon found herself thinking about what the master had said while she sat quietly beside him.

He said that he didn’t want to leave anything behind for her mother – what did he mean by that exactly?

But before she could begin to understand, she was summoned to the royal palace.

“So you’re Yeon.”

Princess Sukon, who had visited the Western House, carried herself with the grace and warmth befitting a member of the royal family.

Rather than wearing her hair piled high like a floating cloud, she wore it braided low behind her ears and secured it with a gold gatu ornament and a dosimjam hairpin. She wore a deep blue silk robe.

Yeon didn’t know how to behave in the presence of the woman who had travelled so far just to see her.

So she dropped to her knees and pressed her forehead to the floor.

“Stand up. You’ll catch cold kneeling there.”

The princess’s warm voice echoed gently in Yeon’s ears. Yongwoo, who had been standing beside his father greeting the princess, quickly stepped forward to help Yeon up.

Then he brushed the snow from her knees. Yeon glanced at him, her face flushing, before turning her gaze back towards the princess.

“Dress the girl in clean clothes before bringing her in.”

The master instructed Gadeok, who stood behind him.

Yongwoo handed Yeon over to the maid.

She led her away and scrubbed her thoroughly with hot water. Then she dressed Yeon in a white Baekjeo top and clean hemp Gun pants.

Her hair was neatly plaited behind her ears and oiled to keep it smooth.

“I hear that the princess visiting the Western House today is the young emperor’s aunt.”

“Pardon?”

“The emperor may be young, but he is still the son of heaven.”

“Yes, but why would someone like her want to see me?”

“You’ve probably heard that His Majesty recently lost his mother.”

“Yes.”

“He may be the emperor, the ruler of all under heaven, but he is still a child. I’ve heard he’s had a fever every day since the Empress died…”

Yeon lowered her gaze. Not long ago, the former emperor died. Shortly afterwards, the Empress Dowager died too. The two of them left behind three very young children.