Chapter 4

“T-then you don’t care? About being the princess’s husband?”

“You’re still spouting pathetic bullshit. Big brother, shamans just say what pleases the ears of whoever pays them.”

“Uh…?”

“They tell coinowners what they want to hear.”

Hong Yeom-rang made a round coin shape with his fingers and said it without interest.

“So you really don’t care, huh? Come to think of it they said when I was born I’d do great things for the country! You’re right. You’re right.”

Far from doing anything great Hong In-nam might not even pass the civil exam next year. Because of a bad stomach he missed the exam this time and his younger brother passed, so he had trouble holding his head up. Hearing his brother’s words made him think shamans were liars who tailored what they said to whoever paid them.

Apparently he and his father had lived in this village so long that they’d picked up its ways.

“Haha, people really need to drink the capital’s water.”

Hong In-nam stepped up to the one he suddenly found pretty and slapped a hand on his shoulder to be friendly.

“Move.”

“…Okay…”

Hong Yeom-rang’s curt reply made him pull his hand away fast. Hong Yeom-rang brushed that part of his shoulder with a palm and turned his back, vanishing into his rooms in an instant.

It had been drizzling since morning.

As Hong Yeom-rang readied himself to go up the mountain, villagers peered over fences whispering that the weather had never been this bad and that surely the ritual was tainted. Servants were packing food and clothes by the bundle to take up for the devotional rites. They said supplies were left at the cave outside the mountain once every three days.

“You want me to wear this?”

Seeing a yellow durumagi he asked with a grin.

After Hong Yeom-rang had gone to the capital a servant who still didn’t know the temper of the general’s second son answered with a fawning laugh at his master’s smile.

“Yes, young master. When they go up everyone dresses bright and pretty. I ran to the market and had this made in a rush the day before yesterday.”

He even looked proud of it.

“F*ck, am I getting married right now?”

Still smiling and not realizing he’d been swore at, the servant kept grinning. In a blink the robe in his hands was snatched away.

Rip. Rip. Rip.

On a rainy day the yellow silk split in a clean sweep and fluttered across the General Hong household yard.

“Uh… uh… M-my lord.”

How dare they hand him a scrap of yellow cloth that only a woman would wear.

Coming back home after a long time left him not liking a single thing about it. Hong Yeom-rang was dumbfounded and couldn’t even wipe the smile off his face. Everyone seemed daft. Blindly believing superstition wasn’t enough, they’d even thought to dress a man in that crap.

“If you’re gonna send me off like a bride bring a skirt and jeogori.”

That would be exactly the kind of outfit someone would dress a sacrifice in to send to a lewd monster.

Now that he thought about it the monster on the sacred tree yesterday had been clinging around a scrap of yellow cloth too.

“Maybe the monster living in the mountains likes yellow?”

Maybe he’d piss on it for good measure.

Hong Yeom-rang hated having his clothes soaked on rainy days more than anything. Clear days didn’t lift his mood and rainy days soaked his clothes and made him feel worse. Born into a meritorious family he’d taken whatever he wanted. He’d reported his father to the magistrate not because he was righteous but because his father’s greed was obvious.

If his son became the royal consort’s husband. Imagining his future child would become king after the frail crown prince died made his father puff up with pride.

That had been disgusting to Hong Yeom-rang before he’d even had his first wet dream.

Expectations crushed his shoulders.

Was there anything more boring than a preordained future.

They’d thrown a feast on the day his second son was born despite the sick mother. At the mother’s deathbed only Hong Yeom-rang had been there. His father cared more about public appearances. His older brother’s jealous glare was just extra.

He’d taken the military exam to become an officer and go to war. That was his reason for sitting the exam.

Whether his father became a lone father or his older brother did it didn’t matter for being a royal consort’s husband.

Family revival? He could shove that where the sun don’t shine.

They were already a meritorious family. If they wanted more they’d either have to put a son on the throne or become traitors and seize it themselves. Hong Yeom-rang preferred the latter to relying on a princess and her shadow.

“People are watching you.”

General Hong scolded him sternly for teasing about bringing a jeogori and skirt, conscious of the onlookers.

“Go quietly. Do you want to make some stain on my reputation?”

He sounded like a respectable, caring father.

Seeing Hong Yeom-rang still smiling made General Hong flinch.

That grin reminded him of his dead wife. She’d used that same smiling mouth to spit venom and she’d died young, and now his second son had inherited that temper.

“Bring a bright red robe. It won’t matter if blood splashes.”

Without looking at the trembling servant, Hong Yeom-rang said it. He wanted a bright red robe like a bride might wear and the servant darted like an arrow out through the open doorway.

“While you’re at it bring a palanquin too.”

Hong Yeom-rang added that behind him. General Hong pressed a hand to his forehead, face flushing.

“What sort of disgrace are you making yourself pull now!”

“If I’m being sold off I might as well go pretty.”

Hong Yeom-rang’s lips curved.

They called it the princess’s husband but it was more like sending a stud to the stables, so strictly speaking General Hong was marrying his son off.

“You gonna be this arrogant in front of Her Highness the princess too?”

General Hong stepped closer and spoke in a low voice.

“You worried the match will fail?”

“You, that temper of yours! That temper will ruin things. Did you learn nothing in the capital?”

In the capital he’d seen the greed of men like his father and it sickened him. Hong Yeom-rang’s mouth twisted cruelly.

“The court’s top shaman said it’s not superstition, that even the royal household is watching you. Why don’t you understand that, you big fool.”

“So this is just practice for being paraded off like a woman. I’ll go along with that.”

“Huh.”

He’d see this through to the end.

Whether fate or his stubbornness won Hong Yeom-rang wanted to find out.

“And did that top shaman not know I’d be fated to be a sacrifice?”

Life had been full of oddities. As he kept pressing the point and General Hong was about to say something, a servant dashed in out of breath carrying the bright red robe.

“Ha.”

A short laugh escaped Hong Yeom-rang.

If he told them to bring that and then tear it and fetch another color they’d probably fetch that other color too.

The trembling servant set the neatly folded robe before him. Admiring the servant’s nerve Hong Yeom-rang took it without a word.

“Pay him double for his trouble.”

“This… this…!”

His father huffed. Whatever he said Hong Yeom-rang wrapped the bright red robe around himself and took the sword bestowed by the king in his hand.

His father’s headache didn’t stop. People along the outer wall who’d been peeking in were now gossiping about the sword-wielding Hong Yeom-rang.

A palanquin hastily prepared at the master’s order arrived at the gate. It was a large palanquin fit for a man, carried by six bearers. Hong In-nam kept his distance knowing his brother’s temper and thought he’d kick the palanquin to pieces, but to everyone’s surprise Hong Yeom-rang ducked into the open palanquin and sat down.

After a little commotion the palanquin carrying the sacrifice set off for the mountain.

A string of porters followed carrying food for the rites and everything Hong Yeom-rang would need for one hundred days. Because he was a nobleman’s son the procession was far more ostentatious than that of a normal sacrifice and everything was wrapped in silk bundles. If not for the huge palanquin anyone might’ve mistaken it for a bride’s procession.

The bearers’ breathing grew rougher as they climbed the mountain.

Carrying a palanquin with a grown man inside up a mountain wasn’t easy. Rain made the path worse and it took a long time to reach the cave where the rites would be held. The humid air pressed in and even inside the palanquin he could hear the rain outside.

For the long stretch Hong Yeom-rang didn’t open the tiny window in the palanquin and sat without shifting his posture.

“…Young master, we’ve arrived.”