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Chapter 36
“Geom Mul-deok… Geom(黔)….”
Yeongwon murmured the words under her breath.
And at once, she understood the origin of the unusual abilities that I-shin possessed.
“Every family has at least one old legend passed down, so most people would just let such stories go in one ear and out the other. But the power that Geom Mul-deok bestowed upon his child has been passed from blood to blood, and even a thousand years later, it is inherited by the descendants of the Geom(黔) clan.”
Seeing understanding dawn on Yeongwon’s face, Unjeong smiled gently.
“The head of the Geom(黔) clan is always the one who inherits that power. In this generation, that is I-shin.”
“Then what I saw… were they something like the Clan Head’s… mission?”
“Yes. A mission, and a curse, and also a shackle.”
“P-pardon?”
Yeongwon, who hadn’t heard clearly, asked again.
But instead of repeating herself, Unjeong simply smiled and slowly came to a stop.
“It felt like such a long way to Yeonggyeongdang, but coming back was so quick.”
“Ah.”
Yeongwon felt disappointed to find that they had already reached the entrance of Mae-won at the guest hall.
If Unjeong was willing to speak this easily, there were countless questions Yeongwon wanted to ask.
But just like I-shin, Unjeong did not seem to be as easy to deal with as she appeared.
Yeongwon turned to offer her farewell—yet Unjeong was nowhere to be seen.
“Thank you for helping I-shin today, Lady Ha.”
Unjeong’s voice echoed from nowhere.
Yeongwon looked around but could not find her.
Well, of course—she was a ghost.
Yeongwon stepped through the side gate of the guest hall and entered the courtyard of Mae-won.
Though she had only stayed a few days, Mae-won already felt like home, and as her heart relaxed, even her steps softened.
Careful not to wake Sorae, she quietly entered the inner quarters, climbed onto the blankets, and hugged the wooden pillow instead of lying down to sleep.
“It’ll be fine now, right? He won’t fall asleep again or anything… right?”
The image of I-shin, completely exhausted and slumped helplessly against the wall, flooded Yeongwon’s mind.
She had no desire to dwell on it, but the moment she entered the sarangchae of Yeonggyeongdang, the sight of I-shin in such critical condition—and her own frantic actions as she slapped, shook, pinched him to wake him—kept flashing through her mind.
And also the moment she resorted to her last measure—biting down hard on his lips.
“What in the world did I do…”
Yeongwon touched her own lips with her fingers and muttered.
The situation had been urgent, yes, but she still couldn’t understand what had possessed her to do something like that.
After all, she had been strictly trained in etiquette by a retired palace court lady since the age of twelve.
Speech, poise, posture, conduct, public rituals—not to mention the moral codes expected of a woman.
—You must always behave with utmost propriety. Especially before marriage, you must avoid even meeting the eyes of unrelated men. Such conduct is frivolous and improper. Actions like that tarnish family dignity and damage a maiden’s reputation…
Until she turned eighteen, she learned these rules endlessly from the court lady.
In truth, the Zhao-won (趙瑗) era was not stricter about gender separation than the early Zhao period.
Women participated actively in commerce, learned to read at seodang schoolhouses, and during festivals like Dano, men and women of all ages mingled freely in the streets.
However, families of scholars, officials, and the yangban aristocracy were determined to uphold the traditional norms of gender separation.
Since Yeongwon’s mother came from a yangban household, Yeongwon had also been trained in these strict rules.
Of course, just because she learned them didn’t mean she internalized them to the bone.
Outwardly she obeyed, but she had always had her own thoughts.
She would one day become the haengsu—the leader of a merchant guild—so how could she possibly avoid even making eye contact with men?
But meeting male merchants as a guild leader was entirely different from visiting a man’s quarters late at night.
Not to mention that she hadn’t simply visited—there had been close physical contact as well.
Yeongwon’s face belatedly flushed hot, and she fanned herself lightly.
But her fluttering hand soon slowed to a stop.
Because she remembered the bursting, web-like veins across I-shin’s entire body, and the raw, desperate fury that had radiated from him.
His ragged breathing, his trembling fists, the broken growl rising like a wounded beast…
I-shin was the head of the mysterious Geom(黔) clan, possessed an astonishing body, and even had the ability to control ghosts. She had always thought of him as someone utterly unshakeable.
But he had something he feared?
He had experienced something so horrific?
Yeongwon slowly blinked.
Several puzzling details she had noticed over time—but never had the leisure to fully contemplate—rose to the surface of her mind.
The cold, indifferent attitude of the Geom(黔) clan members toward I-shin.
The servants who feared him as though he were a wild beast.
The Yeonggyeongdang residence that was no better than a haunted house.
Just what kind of place was this?
Yeongwon sat dazed for a long time, filled with a new and unfamiliar unease about I-shin.
“Hey, you motherf—! Son of a—! Open that damn hand! You hid the losing piece in there, didn’t you?!”
“If you lost, then lose cleanly! Stop dirtying the place and get out already!”
“H-hey! Let go! I said let go! Do you know how much money that is, you—!”
“Just ignore that filthy bastard! Now then! Brothers! Where will you place your bets? I swear on the name of Ssangpae, even with a knife at my throat I won’t cheat! If I pulled that crap in this marketplace, I’d lose my hands in an instant!”
A slick voice rang out boldly among the cluster of brawny men.
“A-are you really going to try this, my lady?”
Sorae looked anxiously around the uproarious gambling den.
Men with their clothes half undone, exposing bare chests; men drunk out of their minds; men whose eyes were bloodshot from playing dice all night—the wide hall was filled with every sort of rough character.
Sorae simply could not understand.
How had their simple marketplace sightseeing turned into a tour of gambling dens?
To make matters worse, Yeongwon—dressed in a lemon-yellow skirt and a milky-white jeogori—looked as fresh and lovely as a spring blossom, drawing more than a few wandering gazes.
Fortunately, though the men stared openly enough to glue their eyes to her, none attempted anything improper.
But of course—this wasn’t any region of the vast Zhao-won (趙瑗). This was Jejado.
Only after several days did Sorae learn the truth behind the rumor known as “the prisoners’ paradise.”
The people here were prisoners hand-picked by I-shin, the head of the Geom(黔) clan—mostly people who were framed or punished for standing against injustice.
Their looks might be fierce and their manners rough, but they weren’t evil at their core.
And if any prisoners unworthy of I-shin’s standards ever stumbled onto Jejado and tried to settle, they were discovered immediately—either by I-shin or by the prisoners who already lived here—and were driven out before they had a chance to resist.
According to Dallae, who delivered meals to Yeonggyeongdang, true villains were never accepted here.
Even so, the heat of the gazes directed at Yeongwon from all directions made Sorae tense.
Meanwhile, Yeongwon, watching a game of ssangnyuk (a board game using dice), suddenly leaned toward Sorae and whispered with interest:
“I know all the rules and techniques of ssangnyuk.”
“You learned those in the master’s study, too?”
“But of course. If I play well, we might raise the stakes high enough to start a decent business.”
“My lady, have you never heard the saying that gambling leads to ruin?”
“One must have property to ruin. Are we not penniless already?”
Yeongwon, her eyes sparkling for once, abruptly froze.
“My lady?”
“…We have no money to place as the initial wager.”
“Yes. Because we are penniless.”
