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Chapter : 04
The Butterfly on the Wall (4)
If the Crown Prince were to call off the marriage he himself had pushed through at this late stage, he would only make a fool of himself and give the Empress something to seize upon.
Lady Hwa feared the Empress, but she could not forget the kindness the Noble Consort had shown her while she was alive, and for that reason she shared a special bond with the Crown Prince.
It would not be right to put such a Crown Prince in a difficult position, and she knew well enough that only by lending him her support could they themselves survive.
That was why she had been unable to stop the Princess when she resolved to accept the Crown Prince’s wishes.
During the preparations for the wedding, the Princess appeared composed.
Her lover, Jeong Ja-in, came to see her again and again, begging for a meeting, but she was so resolute that she coldly turned him away each time.
However, after hearing just yesterday that Jeong Ja-in had collapsed, unable to endure the shock of their breakup, the Princess’s heart began to crumble.
Princess Shin Hye-ok wanted nothing more than to run to him at once and hold him in her arms as he lay fallen.
But with what face could she embrace him, when tomorrow she would be leaving for another man’s arms?
All she could do was weep with an aching heart and fervently pray for his safety.
Lady Hwa, who had cherished her and wished only for her happiness, could no longer bear to watch the Princess suffer. And so she decided to shoulder everything herself, in the Princess’s stead.
“My child. If you meet Jeong Ja-in again, never look back—go with him.”
“What? Mother, what do you mean by that?”
Lady Hwa stroked the Princess’s face and smiled sadly.
“Do not live like me. Do not live for anyone else—live only for your own happiness. That is the path that is also for my sake. So promise me this: if you happen to meet Jeong Ja-in, you will do exactly as he says. You will not think of the imperial palace, nor of this mother, nor of the Crown Prince, nor of the lord of Bisanseong.”
“Mother! What are you saying? You’re not plotting something dangerous, are you?”
Hye-ok did not fully understand, but she felt that her mother was planning something perilous for her sake.
“There is nothing dangerous. I told you—it is only if you happen to meet Jeong Ja-in. Just do as he says. Even if your marriage is disrupted, it will not immediately bring ruin to the Crown Prince or Lord Kang.”
“Mother!”
“You’re crying, my beautiful child. When I see your tears, my heart falls apart as well. So promise me you won’t think about what comes after. Trust this mother. I will prepare a different gift for the Crown Prince and the lord.”
Moved by her mother’s heartfelt persuasion, the Princess nodded through her tears.
She, too, could not bear the thought that the man she loved might die; she missed him so desperately that she could not control herself.
A carriage adorned with flowers climbed a forest road drenched in sunlight. The gentle wind that stirred the woods carried the fragrance of blossoms and the scent of fresh green leaves.
Ha Jo-yeong opened the window and breathed in the full bloom of the spring breeze, but her expression did not suit the radiant season.
Soon they would reach the fork where the roads to Bukwon Province and Namgang Province diverged.
Her heart was heading toward Biryongsan in Namgang Province, but the carriage was bound for Bisanseong in Bukwon Province, leaving her deeply unsettled.
Once she entered Bisanseong, her fate would sink into even deeper darkness.
Thinking that this beautiful spring road might be the last “path of flowers” she would ever see, she could not even manage a hollow laugh.
Two months earlier, she had stood before a man named Ji Man-il—who was to become her husband—wearing clothes her older sister had discarded.
The man, who looked far older than her thirty-two-year-old brother, had a vulgar face like a toad.
What did age or appearance really matter?
Still, he was revolting.
His craven expression, his eyes gleaming with perverse desire, and the way his gaze crawled over her body made her feel as if he were licking her with his tongue—it sent chills down her spine.
“Oh, she’s far better than I’d heard. I’ve always wanted to hold a woman this slender. She looks obedient, too. Hahaha! Are you really sure it’s all right to give me your precious younger sister?”
At Ji Man-il’s crude words, Ha Jin-san responded with delight.
“As you may have heard from the rumors, she is a child sorely lacking in many ways. No one wanted to take her, so I am grateful that you like her so much.”
Every filthy rumor about her had been fabricated by Ha Jin-san and Ha Jin-hong.
That she was slow-witted, that she had wandering hands, that she often dragged men into her room in the middle of the night—she had even heard whispers that she’d suffered a miscarriage.
Until now, Jo-yeong had been indifferent to such rumors.
Because none of them were true.
But being humiliated by a man like this because of those lies felt utterly miserable.
“People are so narrow-minded. I don’t care about such rumors. It’s only natural for men and women to be drawn to each other. Just imagining that a woman who looks so pure and delicate is actually so open and fiery—it’s delightful! Hahaha.”
Ji Man-il, a newly rich man from Bukwon Province, was said to be forty years old this year.
To her, he was practically old enough to be her father. He already kept several concubines, and it was said that the wife he had remarried last winter had drowned to death.
“The first wife was sent back to her family, and the second wife and one concubine died in an accident. That accident still bothers me.”
Judging from his appearance, his claim that he’d lost his wives in an accident did not inspire much trust.
“No matter how I think about it, it’s strange. My brother would never just send me off like this. Why is he suddenly letting me marry so easily? He even knew I was trying to run away.”
Viewed simply, Ha Jin-san desperately needed Ji Man-il’s money, and Ji Man-il wanted her—nothing more.
With each generation, the Ha family’s fortunes had declined.
The estate in Taegyeong Province was still standing, but many of the businesses run by the collateral branches of the Ha family had shut down.
By the time it came to Ha Jin-san, incompetence had reached its peak.
Every new venture he touched failed, and his investments suffered heavy losses.
Yet swollen with vanity and pretension, Ha Jin-san refused to acknowledge his failures and poured even more money into ever larger ventures.
Moreover, Ha Jin-san and Ha Jin-hong were swindled several times because of their extravagance and vanity.
Eventually, to make up for their losses, they resorted to running illegal gambling houses and even taking out usurious loans.
That was how Ha Jin-san came to meet Ji Man-il.
While negotiating interest on a loan from him, Ha Jin-san decided to sell her.
Still, knowing why Ha Jin-san had kept her locked up at home all this time, she could not see it as something so simple.
“If it weren’t a place meant for me to die, he would never send me.”
Perhaps getting rid of the unsettling, ill-omened daughter of a stepmother—one who might even have been born with divine powers—would be killing two birds with one stone.
Long ago, the ancient Ha clan was said to have possessed divine powers.
It was a family secret, but also a legend passed down like an old tale.
Their ancestors had risen to prominence and amassed wealth through those powers, but with each generation the divine abilities weakened, and those who possessed them became rare.
Thus, the ancestors of the Ha family established a family law stating that even someone from a collateral branch, if they possessed divine power, would become the head of the family and inherit everything.
Nevertheless, for nearly three hundred years, no one with such power had been born.
Perhaps the poison lay in the fact that their wealth had not been built through skill, but through divine power.
The descendants, raised in abundance and indulgence, could do nothing but squander their wealth on luxury.
That was why the elders of the main house at Biryongsan were waiting for someone with divine power to appear.
Ha Jin-san suspected that she possessed such power and constantly monitored and tested her.
If it became known to the elders of the main house that she had divine power, he would have to hand over all the family’s wealth and the position of family head.
His suspicions could not have fully faded yet, so it felt suspicious that he had sent her away.
She looked outside the carriage, but it was surrounded by sturdy attendants and guards, leaving no opening to escape.
Her heart felt as heavy as if a stone were pressing on her chest, and because she was not walking of her own will, the carriage climbing the mountain road without rest felt all the more cruel.
Tap.
The troubled Jo-yeong shut the window.
“Once I’m married, won’t it be easier to escape?”
Biryongsan was already far from Taegyeong Province, but from Bisanseong to Biryongsan in Namgang Province was far too distant. Making that long journey alone, empty-handed, and safely would be no easy task.
So perhaps, even if it was a marriage she hated more than death, it might be better to wait for an opportunity after the wedding and at least take some valuables with her when she fled.
“If only I can stay alive until then.”
Jo-yeong touched the small dagger she had secretly hidden against her chest and prayed.
That this blade would not be used to pierce her own heart.
