𝐄𝐗𝐈𝐋𝐄 ♕ 𝐉𝐀𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐎𝐎𝐊

𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗲

Marital bliss was the oldest and the grandest lie in the universe.

Gaeun couldn't remember the last time she was in the same room as Wook without feeling an intense sense of homicidal rage. Though their marriage had been an act, she had still expected him to adapt to the responsibilities that came with it. She had foolishly believed the dynamics of their relationship would change quite a bit. It changed, of course, but not in the way she had wanted it to. Jang Wook had gone off to study under a Buddhist monk in the mountains and Min Gaeun was left to take care of his household along with the head maidservant, Madam Kim Dojoo.

When he was leaving, Wook had promised her that he'd be home in time for Gaeun's mother's memorial service. However, three months later, as she got ready to head towards her grandparents' home, a servant shuffled into her room, whispering that while the Young Master had indeed returned to Daeho, he had made straight for the courtesan house, Chwiseonru, instead.

"They are saying he was kicked out of training by his teacher, my Lady," the servant bowed, eager to return to the servant quarters to gossip, no doubt. "He is with Young Master Park Danggu at Chwiseonru."

Gaeun sighed heavily, glancing at her reflection in the mirror as she tried to decide between three different hairpins. "Let him be," she said dismissively, "I'm getting late for the service. I'll see him once I return. Send for Madam Kim, will you?"

Kim Dojoo was perhaps the only blessing in Gaeun's fake-married life. The woman, who had no idea about the real reason Wook was with Gaeun, adored her and looked after her as if she was her own child. "My Lady!" Madam Kim's musical voice rang through the room as she glided through the door, "I've brought you your medicine."

Shoulders sagging, Gaeun grumbled, "Do I have to?"

"Just a few more days," the woman said sympathetically, setting down a glass of some dark concoction on the table in the middle of the room, "and you don't have to think about it ever again. How are you feeling today?"

"Wonderful." She begrudgingly took the glass of medicine from Madam Kim's hands and downed it before her mind could convince her otherwise. Gaeun grimaced at the bitter taste that burned her tongue and winced, trying to hold herself back from puking.

Madam Kim rubbed her back soothingly. "There, there," she comforted, "Should I talk to Master Heo for a different—"

"No need," she shook her head, "Like you said, it's just for a few more days. Now," she gestured at the hairpins she had laid down in a line over her dressing table, "Which one of them makes me look as if I'm really mourning?"

"My Lady, I really do wish you didn't act as if you didn't miss your mother." There was disappointment in Madam Kim's voice as she gathered sections of Gaeun's long hair into a modest coiffure.

She looked at the maidservant's reflection in the mirror and smiled, "But that's all I do, don't I? I miss people and places, and I wait here with nowhere else to go." At the faltering look on Madam Kim's face, Gaeun said apologetically, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound so ungrateful."

"Not at all—"

Grasping the maidservant's hand, Gaeun said, "I don't think I or this household could survive without you, Madam Kim." Satisfied at the way Kim Dojoo giggled to herself at the praise, Gaeun continued, "Now, pick a hairpin before my grandmother sends her wolves to fetch me."

♕♕

Gaeun's maternal grandparents barely acknowledged her presence throughout the service. Whether it was due to annoyance towards her and her late mother or due to exhaustion from preparation, Gaeun did not know. The only thing she was sure of was that the whole ceremony was out of obligation. Her mother, Lee Hyunjoo, though a good woman, had left behind more bad memories than good in the lives of her family.