🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 10 …
Nahee headed toward the ancestral shrine before the sun had even risen.
It had already been several years since her husband died. Other than on special occasions, this had become part of her daily routine.
She would light the lamps in the shrine that no one but her ever visited, burn incense, and pray for the peace of the husband she had never even seen.
Although she had made up her mind to get a divorce, Nahee still never neglected this duty.
Perhaps it was because everyone around her kept calling him “your groom” and “your husband,” causing her to grow attached to someone who had already died. Or perhaps she simply pitied the fact that even his own blood relatives never came to visit him.
Even Nahee herself could not understand her own heart.
Or perhaps… it had simply become a habit.
That was why, as always, she opened the shrine door expecting it to be empty—
—and jumped in surprise.
Someone had arrived before her.
“Y-You…?”
As Nahee stammered, the visitor—Hari—turned around and pressed a finger to her lips.
At the silent signal to keep quiet, Nahee swallowed hard, quickly shut the door behind her, and stepped inside.
“Why are you here? No… how did you get in?”
The Choi Magistrate’s residence was not guarded as heavily as a government office or the royal palace, but neither was it so lax that someone could enter and leave without anyone noticing.
Moreover, neither the time nor the place made sense for receiving a guest.
While the Choi family forced Nahee to continue mourning, they themselves lived as though the ancestral shrine did not even exist.
Which meant only one thing.
Hari had secretly slipped into the shrine.
“I have someone helping me.”
The owner of Punguibang, Lee Woon.
Hari recalled him lingering near the outer wall of the Choi residence.
Suddenly, the sole of her foot began to throb.
It was the very foot that had stepped onto his back.
“Must you really go this far? If you tell me the whole story, I’ll find another way.”
She even remembered the concern in his voice.
He’s such a strange man.
We’ve only met a handful of times. Why does he worry about me as if we’re family?
Is he just overly meddlesome? Soft-hearted? Or simply too generous?
While Hari’s thoughts wandered for a moment, Nahee lit the shrine candles and offered incense.
“May I offer one as well?”
Nahee hesitated, her eyes widening.
The very first person to offer incense to her husband’s shrine…
…was the oejibu helping her seek a divorce.
Should I really allow this?
“It is only proper for an oejibu to hear the other side’s story as well.”
“…You’re saying you’re going to speak with a dead man?”
“Well, the dead do not speak. But if he truly died with resentment… who knows? Perhaps he’ll grant me a revelation.”
Nahee could not understand a word Hari was saying, but she quietly stepped aside.
Without another word, Hari lit the incense, bowed her head in silent prayer for a moment, then sat beside Nahee.
“If you have something to say, hurry and say it before you leave. Hardly anyone comes here, but you never know.”
Hari remained silent.
The woman who always spoke so smoothly now hesitated before opening her mouth.
Nahee’s heart began pounding uneasily.
“Don’t tell me… you’ve come to say you’re giving up on my divorce?”
“No.”
“And I am not going to obtain a divorce.”
“I am going to obtain a judgment declaring the marriage null and void.”
Nahee gripped the edge of her skirt tightly.
Hari confidently promised to accomplish something Nahee had never even dared to dream about.
She would no longer have to endure her parents-in-law’s cruel mistreatment.
She would be allowed to eat flavorful food.
She could throw away the plain white mourning clothes.
She could even wear beautiful norigae ornaments again.
Just imagining it filled her with happiness.
“But to do that…”
“I need your help.”
“My… help?”
“I’m talking about the eldest son of this household.”
“Tell me everything you know about him.”
“There isn’t really much…”
“If there isn’t, then start finding out from now on.”
“Anything is useful.”
“The places he frequently visits.”
“The people he associates with.”
“If you keep watching him, something unusual is bound to stand out.”
“Hmm…”
“Does it absolutely have to be about my eldest brother-in-law?”
“There is… one thing that has been bothering me.”
Hari’s eyes immediately lit up.
“What is it?”
