𝐄𝐗𝐈𝐋𝐄 ♕ 𝐉𝐀𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐎𝐎𝐊

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣

Gaeun's hands were rougher than Wook's. He had only come to realise it when they had held hands in front of the temple deities during their strangely untraditional wedding.

In all honesty, he had no plans to marry her just the way he had had no plans of marrying Jin Choyeon or the seven women he had tricked into an engagement. Wook only cared about a solution to his gate of energy problem.

But, oh Gods, Gaeun's father had met Kim Dojoo before Wook could even execute his next step. Within hours of his fake proposal, he found himself on his knees in front of Min Yeongsun and his sons, explaining frantically that no, he had not fooled around with Gaeun and done something unchaste, that he did love her and wanted to spend his life with her.

The men terrified him so much that he could not tell them the truth without imagining all the different ways they could kill him. For wealthy merchants involved in the fabric trade, they sure had a lot of knives and swords on them.

Kim Dojoo had pulled Wook aside afterwards, seeing him unable to refuse the decision of the wedding taking place by the end of the week, and had asked him seriously, "Are you sure about this, Young Master? You didn't lie about her being—"

"No," he squeaked, paranoid that if he were to tell her the truth, Gaeun's elder brother would materialise and cut him down, "We didn't do anything of such sort. We just...like each other. Very much."

"Then," she tilted her head in bewilderment, "Why did you try to woo Young Lady Choyeon and the others?" Seeing him tongue-tied and misinterpreting it, Kim Dojoo narrowed her eyes, "Were you trying to make her jealous?"

Wook nodded hurriedly, "Yes. Something like that."

The woman had gasped and clutched her heart, going on and on for hours about how fairytale-like it was that they had fallen in love even after living apart and seeing each other a few times a year. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, she had said with determination.

(Maybe that's why she had spent the next few days torturing Lord Park Jin by avoiding him.)

Wook had tried to find another way out of this new problem. He had paced up and down his room, hours before the ceremony, trying to think of ways he could slip in the 'can your family open my gate of energy or no' dialogue to Gaeun before it was too late. He could come clean to her but his ribs still hurt from her punch and he shuddered to think what she would do if she found out his plans.

He had had the chance the night before but they had spent it entirely on laying down the rules of their false marriage. Wook had promised her honesty while she had told him to do as he pleased as long as it didn't slight or insult her and her family.

But wait? Gaeun was using him too. She was using him to escape her homeland and that Min Dohyun so why couldn't Wook use her back?

You are, the nagging voice in his mind told him, Only, you lied and told her that you were using her to keep distractions away. You should've been honest from the beginning.

Gaeun was from Yeol and her family had no reason to fear Jang Gang the way all of Daeho did. Surely, Wook could find some excuse to visit the large country with her to seek out some scholar who'd help him. By the looks of it, Min Yeongsun was a man of influence. He would definitely know someone with the necessary skills.

Then Wook held Gaeun's hand in front of the Gods and frowned to himself. She looked regal in red and blue brocade, wearing an exquisitely designed jade hairpin he had never seen before in Daeho. All along, he had assumed from the refined speech, the noble manner in which she walked, and the clothes and accessories she wore, that Gaeun had lived a life of luxury. How else could she afford to travel from the Fire Country to the north as often as she did?