Along with her altered manner of speech, Lady Jeong’s entire demeanor changed at once. Recalling the imposing walls of the Sehwa family estate that she had seen as a child — the former estate of the now-annihilated House Yu — Hyoyoung carelessly scraped her nail across the torn corner of Sehwa’s mouth.

When the name of the family that Sehwa could no longer speak was mentioned and her wound was reopened, she experienced excruciating pain. She clenched her teeth, barely suppressing a m*an. Lady Jeong prodded the wound several more times before stepping back.

She wanted nothing more than to have the slave girl before her beaten from head to toe, but she was reminded of the concubine who had previously been banished, Lady Yi. What a disgraceful sight it had been to see her shoved barefoot into a palanquin by force.

“That’s enough instruction for today. Leave and finish your work. According to Matron Seo, you have a lot more work to do.”

At the long-awaited dismissal, Sehwa bowed deeply before rising. Lady Jeong ignored her as she retreated backward, but the moment the door closed, she unleashed the anger she had been suppressing. Merely looking at Sehwa’s impassive face had made her blood boil.

“Matron Seo!”

“Yes, My Lady.”

“Do not let that creature sleep tonight! His Highness will not return until tomorrow, so it will not matter if you work her throughout the night. Do you understand?”

***

The Hour of the Rat had nearly passed, and the Hour of the Ox was approaching. Cloud-dimmed moonlight settled upon Sehwa’s exhausted face.

‘It is finally over. If the others had not helped me along the way, I would have had to work through the entire night.’

With her swollen hands clasped together after repeatedly becoming waterlogged and frozen, Sehwa dragged her feet forward. At her master’s command, her quarters had been moved again. They were far from her workplace and she had to push through several heavy doors to reach them.

Panting, Sehwa finally arrived at the place where she could lie down. Even the servants were asleep, yet a lone torch awaited her in silence.

“You have finally returned.”

The man who addressed Sehwa was Ilyeong, one of Hwon’s most trusted personal guards. He had been with Hwon since boyhood. True to his name, which meant ‘shadow’, he moved silently and secretly, making him seem particularly well-suited to a night like this, under the pale moonlight.

Sehwa looked at him, half concealed within the enormous shadow cast by the gate, and quietly bowed her head in greeting. As her lashes lowered beneath the bluish light, a faint wavering appeared on Ilyeong’s expressionless face for a moment.

He parted his lips briefly as he looked at Sehwa’s disheveled appearance. However, he soon pressed his lips together again, turned away, and placed a hand against the firmly closed gate.

Creak.

The servants’ rear entrance opened halfway with a dragging sound.

“……Have you been waiting long?”

Sehwa asked Ilyeong as she stepped over the high threshold. Ilyeong shook his head.

“I heard you were summoned to Huiwoldang. I expected you would be late.”

As one of Hwon’s eyes, the man was always watching Sehwa whenever Hwon was away from the estate. Sehwa and Ilyeong had long since grown accustomed to their roles as subject and observer, respectively.

Neither of them spoke again after that brief exchange. Together, they crossed the rear garden and approached the small room where Sehwa lived near their master’s quarters.

Stepping one pace ahead of Sehwa, Ilyeong moved aside. Sehwa bowed slightly to him and started towards her room. Ilyeong watched her silently before abruptly speaking.

“Beg His Highness for forgiveness.”

Sehwa raised her bowed head and looked at Ilyeong’s face. Although they encountered each other frequently, she had always kept her head lowered and rarely seen him properly, making his features seem unfamiliar. Yet the emotions gathered around his deep-set eyes were familiar.

Pity and sorrow.

There was also a hint of reproach and an anger whose cause she could not understand.

Avoiding Ilyeong’s gaze as it settled upon her swollen cheek, Sehwa turned her head away and replied,

“I already say that all the time.”

Ever since Yul’s birth, Sehwa had pleaded whenever she encountered her master. Clasping her hands and begging him to forgive her had become so frequent that she was sick of it.

“Do not pretend you misunderstand me.”

Ilyeong quietly rebuked her, his expression tightening at her response. His gaze upon her raw fingertips felt as tough as cured leather.

“You know how to escape that wretched state.”

Sehwa’s expression hardened. Seeing the faint tension around her lips, Ilyeong sighed and continued.

“Although he never says so, His Highness is always watching you.”

“……”

“What man assigns someone to watch a mere slave girl at all times? Learn to read his mood and conduct yourself accordingly. Your life will undoubtedly become easier.”

Sehwa’s shoulders shook briefly. But she soon emptied her face of emotion and bowed to Ilyeong.

“……I will take your words to heart, sir.”

After that brief response, Sehwa opened the door. Even after she had disappeared through the half-open doorway, Ilyeong stood there for a long time.

The bright moonlight cast the man’s shadow.

But a shadow is only a shadow.

Stretched darkly across the closed door, it could do nothing.

***

Click.

The paper-latticed door closed. Sehwa, who had been standing, lowered her exhausted body onto the bedding that had been forlornly spread across the floor.

The room didn’t even have a bed. A chest in one corner and two pieces of cloth — one to lie on and one to cover herself with — were all she owned. Ironically, however, the tiny room’s walls and floor were smooth, spotless and orderly, befitting a space within the palace where her master lived.

Lying flat on the floor, Sehwa pulled the blanket over her and stared at the high ceiling. Her entire body felt as though it had been beaten, yet sleep remained elusive.

Blinking several times, her expression vacant, she remembered why the room had become so empty.

It had happened on the day her master returned from the battlefield.

“A slave girl who warms her master’s bed should stay close to him, shouldn’t she? That way, when the mistress is tired from looking after the baby, you might get the chance to look after him instead. Hmmm? Am I wrong?”

As if tormenting her throughout the night were not enough, her master had the baby brought before her to further intimidate and torment her. Then, having become displeased with her again, he proceeded to humiliate her from early that morning onwards.

As always, she barely endured that dreadful ordeal. Once he had finished, her master looked down at her, slumped at his feet, and clicked his tongue. At the sound, the battered Sehwa sprang upright like a trained dog and reached for him. Without tending to her own torn clothes, she helped her master dress.

She caught a glimpse of the corner of his mouth forming the same gentle curve she had once seen long ago.

What had she thought of at that moment?

“Hwon. There is something on you.”

“You need not concern yourself……”

“Please stay still for a moment. I will remove it for you.”

A bridge over a garden pond, surrounded by lush summer foliage, unfolded within her memories. She could see the long, swaying branches of the willow tree and smell the refreshing scent of grass and one particular man, whose fragrance had reached her even amid it all.

Staring at the ceiling, Sehwa frowned at the scene that had suddenly crossed her mind, then shook her head.

The past no longer held any meaning for her.

Every part of it was nothing more than a futile memory.

The fading image of a once gentle man wavered like a reflection on water before disappearing completely. In its place appeared the vivid image of her master tormenting her as she knelt before him.

“Move this thing’s quarters back here.”

After indulging himself with Sehwa however he pleased, her master issued a chilling command to the man responsible for overseeing the residence. The neatly dressed, middle-aged man bowed before his master without sparing Sehwa so much as a glance.

“Do not place a bed—or any other unnecessary clutter—in this thing’s room.”

“Yes, Your Highness. I shall obey.”

After her master left for the battlefield, Sehwa was ordered by Buyong to move to the outer quarters. The room she shared with several other servants was noisy and dirty.

Even so, she preferred it there.

At least there, she could relax and sleep.

Perhaps that was why she unconsciously raised her head when she heard her master’s voice. Looking down at her trembling at his feet in her ruined state, he smiled — a smile that reminded her of willow branches drooping over a pond — and said,

“Why are you making that face? You will be outside during the day, and once night falls, you will be unable to leave this room until dawn. There is no reason to place anything unnecessary in here from the beginning.”

His refreshing smile did not suit the filthy words. Three years ago, Sehwa had not even known that such humiliating things existed. But the beloved only daughter of House Yu, who had only ever experienced beauty and kindness, was dead and gone.

After the night when flames consumed the capital, only Sehwa remained — as Prince Yu’s personal slave.

Silently lowering her head, the slave girl concealed her despairing face, knowing her place.

“Su. You are living in good health, aren’t you? Please, just stay alive. I beg you. As long as you remain alive and unharmed……”

Perhaps because she was able to sleep alone for the first time in a long while, the tension in her body gradually eased. Murmuring the name of her younger brother, whom she missed but did not dare to utter carelessly outside, Sehwa rolled over and curled up into a ball.

Then she quietly whispered the name of her child, who lived on the same estate but was out of her reach.

“Yul……. My baby.”

Ever since her child had been taken from her, she had been unable to sleep unless she was curled up. The emptiness in her arms seemed to gnaw away at her entire being.

She could barely fill the void with her own arms and legs. When exhaustion finally overwhelmed her, her eyelids slowly closed.

Darkness settled over her emaciated body, granting her at least a shallow sleep.

But it lasted only briefly.

When the blue light of dawn arrived, the slave girl would have to rise again and endure a life that felt like an eternity of suffering.