Queen of Roses

24) Dark Desires

Lisa practically skipped through Daegu's open market, enjoying the late spring breeze and welcome sunlight. She had let her long, auburn hair down for once, allowing the wind to ruffle through the wavy strands gently. In her slender hands, she carried a woven basket filled with all the silver coins necessary to purchase the ingredients required for the lantern festival.

As a palace maid, she would often be tasked with grocery shopping duties, so it only made sense that she was put in charge of organizing the lantern festival. Seokjin was put on kitchen duty as soon as Mrs. Kim had tasted a piece of his infamous bread. And the rest of the group was probably still arguing over who would go plant hunting and who would watch their hostage, Taeyong.

Luckily, Lisa managed to slip away before the argument got ugly.

Now, she strolled through the busy streets of Daegu with a wide smile on her face, the loud chatter of shoppers and laughter of children serving as her background music. She had never travelled anywhere farther than the capital city of Goryeo, so she appreciated every piece of new land she had the opportunity to walk upon. And though Daegu was no where as large or beautiful as the city, it was a place full of history and there was something beautiful about the way it had survived so much hardship.

So far, Lisa had tasted 3 samples of street food and bargained with 2 vendors to buy a bulk amount of vegetables for half the price they were asking for. Within an hour, her basket had filled up with only the best produce available in the market and everyone on the street had learned 'the red-haired girl's' real name.

Feeling quite proud of herself for the progress, she decided to step into a book store to reward herself for a job well done.

People from Lisa's social class were most often illiterate – not possessing neither the time nor money (or both) to send their children to respectable schools. Lisa may have also been stuck with this fate had Chaeyoung not taught her to read and write at a very young age. She would lend Lisa any and every book she owned, and they would often rant about the characters over tea. It had become one of their favourite past times, and Lisa had come to treasure her literacy as one of her most precious qualities that no one could snatch away from her.

Her fingers flipped through the new selection of soft, bark papers as she looked for something both she and Chaeyoung could enjoy together. A few educational books about astronomy were collecting dust in the far corner of the sky-high book shelves. Next to them were a few large print children's books, filled with hand drawn art work. There was also a whole row dedicated to the laws of Goryeo, but Lisa suspected Chaeyoung had already memorized each one.

Continuing to explore, Lisa strolled all the way to the back of the store to an area labelled as the "romance section". She glanced around the area cautiously, ensuring no one would witness her walk into such a scandalous area, before picking up the first book in the stack. Her eyes grew wide as she began reading the first page, and then she flipped the page to see a very graphic drawing and almost dropped the book. She started giggling to herself as she pictured Chaeyoung reading the book and decided to buy it to merely witness her reaction.

The bookkeeper gave her a strange glance as she was making the purchase, but Lisa couldn't be bothered to care – after all, she was a stranger in Daegu, so it wasn't like anyone would ever see her there again.

She stepped outside with an even brighter smile on her face, still unable to contain her excitement of having the freedom to explore a new town. Lifting the pale-yellow skirt of the hanbok Mrs. Kim had lent her, she began making her way back towards Taehyung's home.

As she neared the end of the market, though, she noticed a stray golden-furred cat on the side of the road. Unable to resist the cat's adorable charm, she placed her basket down for a second to pet the purring animal. Crouching down beside it, she ran her hand across its soft fur with an adoring smile. She removed a small piece of Seokjin's bread out of her basket and broke it up into tiny pieces and began feeding the cat lovingly.