Chapter 13

Even though he was the one being teased, Hisa couldn’t even lift her face, and that left Hong Yeom-rang dumbfounded. His head started to ache. Just like she said, the goblins showed no intention of opening a path. He needed another way. He dragged Hisa back into the cave.

The moment they disappeared, the chatter of the goblins cut off as if by magic.

As if they had lost interest, the forest fell silent again.

“I’m the one who got teased, so why is the lady the one feeling embarrassed?”

She stood still as he moved her, so Hong Yeom-rang set her back down on the padded mat.

He picked up the oil lamp he had left on the floor and placed it back on the small desk.

“You can’t persuade the goblins like that…”

“Miss, why are you speaking politely to your servant? I told you, until I leave this forest, I’m the servant.”

Was there really such an inconvenient servant in the world.

Hisa rolled her eyes. She looked around the cave she knew even with her eyes closed. Hong Yeom-rang watched her face as she deliberately avoided him. After eating his pitifully short hair, there was now a faint color in her cheeks. He’d have to check properly in the morning, but at least she wasn’t hunched over from hunger anymore.

“Mhm.”

If the young master wanted to play the servant that badly.

Hisa answered vaguely. She was sure he would lose his temper again and turn back into that terrifying servant who barked at her. She just sat down on the soft padded mat. After sitting for a while, she felt like lying down, so she did. Hong Yeom-rang crossed his arms and watched her.

It’d be better for both of them if he stopped standing there and just sat down.

It was a relief he had refused the wild ginseng. If he had eaten it, she wouldn’t have been able to handle him.

She’d definitely be hungry again soon, but for now, she felt full, and that was nice. Hisa rubbed her flat stomach over the overcoat.

“Looks like you’re the only one who got what you wanted. You must be happy.”

Hisa had enough sense not to say she was happy. She raised her fingers to her mouth again.

“Your hand.”

Hong Yeom-rang spoke shortly.

Her hand stopped near her lips. She rolled her eyes up to look at him standing over her. He was staring at her hands again. It must really bother him. She pulled down the long sleeve of the overcoat to cover her hands completely.

“If your hands go to your mouth again, I’ll tie them up. You only need your mouth to eat, so those useless hands don’t matter.”

Hong Yeom-rang was the kind of man who would actually do it, so Hisa nodded obediently.

“When you go into the forest, it opens, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then starting tomorrow, you’re coming with me. That’s fine, right?”

The temporary servant pressured his master. She wanted to tell him it was pointless, but if she did, he might not give her any hair tomorrow. So Hisa just nodded.

“Good. Now go to sleep.”

Only after the servant generously allowed her to sleep did she close her eyes.

She fell asleep the moment her head touched down. The warm padded mat gave her a comfortable rest. She had always been able to sleep anywhere, on gathered leaves, on the cave floor, even on trees. But she slept even better on the mat. Today, she was full too, so she could sleep without even thinking about the scary Hong Yeom-rang beside her.

Her breathing became steady.

After running away so fast earlier, now she slept defenselessly. Hong Yeom-rang watched her without expression.

At least she seemed to wash. Her clothes were a mess, but her face was clean.

He pulled out the goblin scented pouch Hisa had left behind. He had thought the bitter, deep honey-like scent came from it, but it didn’t. He tossed the pouch up and caught it with one hand. Inside were only musk powder and dried chrysanthemum flowers. There was also a tiny dagger, no longer than his pinky finger.

Tap. Tap.

Over the past two days while Hisa had been gone, this had become his new habit.

Throwing and catching the only thing she had left behind.

“Why are you so angry?”

He didn’t remember much else. But that question someone once asked him came to mind often.

Whenever his anger reached its peak, that question was always the first thing he thought of. It wasn’t from the capital. Then it must have been from this village. Asking someone who was already furious why they were angry wouldn’t have gotten a proper answer anyway.

Hong Yeom-rang dismissed the thought again.

The only person who could have said that to him was his dead mother, so he always assumed it had been her. Even when he was angry, recalling those words made him pause for a moment.

“Mountain deity, goblins, monsters… what a damn mess.”

Everything that could gather on this mountain had gathered here. And yet the village below remained peaceful and continued to prosper.

With things like this, it was no wonder superstition thrived. He had seen Hisa with his own eyes, heard the goblins, and watched the forest close. He couldn’t even call it superstition anymore. It was absurd. At this rate, the mountain deity itself might show up next.

And how could he be sure that wasn’t another monster.

He shouldn’t have come back here.

He should have turned away when he saw his father’s uneasy face, the father who expected him to return triumphant and become a royal son-in-law.

Rustle.

Hisa turned over.

As she did, her sleeve slipped up, revealing her blistered hands.

She slept as if it didn’t hurt at all. Hong Yeom-rang stared at those ugly hands. The thin skin on her fingers was peeling. The blisters were swollen. For a moment, he felt the urge to reach out and pop them himself.

Even if he didn’t, she would wake up tomorrow and bite them open again, ignoring his warning. Hong Yeom-rang let out a short sigh. He rummaged through the pouch in his hand and took out the small dagger. He opened the lamp and held the blade over the flame. The tip quickly turned red.

Moving more quietly than when Hisa moved, the large man approached and knelt in front of her.

He grabbed her hand. She didn’t even stir.

Her wrist was still so thin it fit easily in his grasp.

With the sharp tip of the blade, he popped the blisters one by one without hesitation. Fluid seeped out. He tore a strip from the ties of his own clothes without a second thought and wrapped each of her fingers.

Blue cloth wrapped around each finger.

These were hands that had never done real work. Despite being bitten and ruined, if they had been left alone, they would have been pretty hands.

Hong Yeom-rang stopped thinking about it. What could be more pointless than asking a monster what it was. He only wrapped them because he didn’t want to see them. If he watched her chew them open again, it would definitely get on his nerves.

He stepped back.

Unconsciously, Hisa brought her fingers to her mouth.

“…Ptoo.”

Instead of soft flesh, she bit down on cloth and spat it out in her sleep.

She didn’t wake. Maybe she realized something was off, because she didn’t bring her fingers back to her mouth. Instead, she curled into herself more and kept sleeping. One cheek was pressed flat against the mat, her lips puffed out. She breathed softly like a child.

When he had held her wrist, he had felt her pulse.

A faint warmth. Something clearly alive. And because of that, he couldn’t bring himself to cut her down completely.

What a damn cursed forest. He shouldn’t have come. If he had known he couldn’t leave, he never would have entered. None of the previous sacrifices had tried to leave, so no rumors had spread. They all came willingly and left with wealth.

A monster that gives wealth in exchange for hair.

If word got out, people might line up outside the cave, all wanting to become sacrifices.

So she must have been sneaking in and stealing it while they slept. Hong Yeom-rang recalled the faint presence of Hisa approaching him quietly. The moment she had panicked and fallen back when he woke.

“What kind of life are you living.”

In the end, Hong Yeom-rang threw that pointless question at the sleeping Hisa.

What attachment could she possibly have to this world, to live on by eating people’s hair like that.

Of course, there was no answer.

If she was the messenger of the mountain deity, she was far too pitiful. She couldn’t even control the goblins. If anything, they mocked her alongside him. The more she lowered her head, the harsher their teasing became.

Maybe she had simply ended up living in this forest and became a punching bag for monsters and goblins alike.

Thinking about Hisa being mocked by all kinds of strange creatures made his mood sour.

Unaware of any of it, Hisa slept soundly on the mat.

For her, it was a full and sweet sleep.