The Bride: A Sequel to Hwarang: The Saga of the Sooks Book #7

Chapter 20: A Wide Heart

Shocked, he stared down at her. She meant it too.

And there was absolutely no one to stop her. Her father was a kingdom away right now. And she was in charge of his household. If she wanted to fill it with twenty dirty urchins, that was her prerogative.

He heaved a deep sigh as they approached that hungry group of kids. Suddenly, they were swamped by them as the children saw the rice cakes on the platters which he was carrying. Grubby hands reached out to grab them. Before shoving them into mouths wide with greed. In just a few moments, they had devoured the entire stack.

Ni Na beamed down at them all. "I shall return with strawberries next."

"Miss?" one of the girls spoke up. "Thank you!" she exclaimed with tears shining in her eyes.

"Yes!" exclaimed the girl who had stolen her silver. "Thank you so much for feeding us today." She bowed to her.

"You are most welcome, darlings," Ni Na responded to them both as her eyes moved from one face to the other. "I'll be back soon," she promised before she turned back towards the market.

She was off to find strawberries and tangerines. But as she walked back towards the rice cake stall, Ni Na suddenly jumped as the remembrance of strawberries jiggled her memory. "Oh, dear! Ae Ri! I totally abandoned her to chase that girl! She must be searching everywhere for me." She began to look around for her friend.

"Ni Na," Beom Sook broke into her thoughts. "You cannot move those children in with you."

She bent her gaze upon him for a moment as she frowned up at him. "Why not?"

"You are a single woman. Living alone. With just your servants. You can't take responsibility for all those kids. You'd become a...peculiarity."

"I can assure you, my lord," she intoned deeply, "I am already a peculiarity."

"What do you mean?" he asked as he furrowed his brow in confusion at her.

"I am nearly eighteen years old. I have no husband. Nor am I promised to anyone. The vast majority of my friends married sometime in the last three years. Even Ae Ri is going to marry Lord Han. I am the only one left."

"There are plenty of single girls in your class, aren't there?"

She bobbed her head. "But most of those girls are under sixteen. All the others – many of them included – are already promised." Her eyes slid away from him. This conversation was making her uneasy.

"Why haven't you been promised to someone?" he murmured quietly.

She began to move forward again as she heaved a deep sigh. "My father has given little thought to me. All of my life. When my mother died, the servants continued raising me. But none of them is in a position to marry me off." For which she was supremely grateful. "It is all right. I am quite happy with my life the way it is," she affirmed in a resolute tone.

"Are you?" he queried, disturbing her composure. "I thought that you were lonely."

"I am," she admitted. "But I also enjoy my freedom. I can come and go as I please. I can study or not study. I can play with my clay and paints to my heart's content. And there's no one to naysay me. And...I can adopt a large group of children and take them home with me," she added with relish as she strode off towards the rice cake stall.

And Lord Lee Beom Sook heaved a deep sigh of exasperation. He had the feeling that if he didn't intervene, her father's home was going to be turned into an orphanage tonight.

As Ni Na returned the platters to the creator of the rice cakes, Ae Ri suddenly gushed into her ear, "Oh, Ni Na! Here you are! I was beginning to get worried. You ran after that girl, and then I couldn't find you."