"Why are you dressed so shabbily? What if you catch cold?"
"…I'm not that shabby."
"You were always ailing when the seasons changed — I remember it vividly. Sangyang lies farther north than Anseo; it's colder here."
"A-beom."
It was no different from fretting over a five- or six-year-old. When Hui-seo glared as if to say enough, the steward only grinned shamelessly — "oh, how frightening."
"It seems Hui-won is still out."
Hui-seo, who had been exchanging glad greetings, thought — ah.
How long had it been since he was told to conduct himself properly, and here he was, acting flighty before his grandfather out of joy at a familiar face.
"Yes. The young master — no, His Lordship — usually returns around yusi, in the early evening."
Seeing Hui-seo compose himself, the steward quickly smoothed his expression and answered. His grandfather, stroking his bushy beard, nodded and gestured to Hui-seo with his eyes.
"Let's go in."
"Yes."
Hui-seo's eyes, if only for a moment, turned beyond the main gate.
He wanted to look around…
At the earliest, tomorrow would be possible. Swallowing his disappointment with practiced ease, he followed his grandfather through the gate.
The Sangyang house was a little smaller than the Anseo residence, but neat and unadorned — exactly like his brother.
Normally the house, which would have mirrored its master's temperament in quiet, was bustling.
The servants were each busy tidying and decorating the inner quarters for the mistress they would soon welcome.
What sort of person would his sister-in-law be, he wondered. A match arranged by His Majesty himself — she must be someone good.
"Uncle! Uncle! From the kitchen…"
As Hui-seo imagined this unknown person, a child came running into view. A girl who looked sixteen at most spotted the steward and came dashing over, then faltered on discovering his grandfather and Hui-seo.
"Why so wild! You'll only come to your senses after a good fright!"
The steward scolded the girl, mindful of his grandfather's eye. Recognizing the master's family, the girl bowed deeply, at a loss.
"That's enough. It's hardly the first day Hui-won has been soft with them."
True to the man who used to sit Hui-seo down as a child and teach him always to be generous to those weaker than himself, Hui-won was lenient with the servants.
His grandfather, who knew this well, merely clicked his tongue once instead of scolding.
Bewildered at being let off so lightly, the girl — her errand apparently unfinished — trailed after them at a distance.
The quiet girl, minding their eyes, kept glancing at Hui-seo.
When the glances bothered him and he turned, she would start and look away, her cheeks flushing each time.
Amused by her instant reactions, he repeated the trick of turning playfully until, before he knew it, they had reached the inner quarters. Unlike the bustle outside, the inner quarters were quiet.
"Hui-seo."
Slow as their pace had been, they had ridden the carriage for days. It must have been a grueling journey for an old man near seventy — Hui-seo, who had been about to climb the step to look for a place for his grandfather to rest, answered the call.
"Yes, Grandfather."
"…Hui-won hasn't come yet either, so if you're not tired, why not go see a bit of the capital?"
"…Yes?"
Hui-seo's eyes went round at the utterly unexpected suggestion.
"The way…"
"Sir, Su-a knows the streets well."
The steward, who had been quietly watching the two, tactfully picked up the thread.
"If she says so, you may take the girl along."
"Grandfather…"
I must go in and rest. Don't be too late coming back. …And you'd do well to dress a little more warmly.
Having said all he wanted to say, his grandfather turned indifferently and went into the room.
He had swallowed his disappointment as best he could — how had his grandfather known his heart?
"Young master."
"……"
"Young master?"
It was Su-a who broke Hui-seo's reverie, in which he had been turning over how his thoughts had been read, and why — if read — there had been no scolding for it.
"Young master, aren't we going out?"
Su-a stamped her feet, eager to be off herself. Looking down at the impatient child, Hui-seo shook his head.
"No — I want to go. I'm going."
Repeating himself as if for emphasis, Hui-seo's feet were already turning outward. "Then let's hurry out, young master!" At her cry, his heart fluttered as he followed her quick steps.
The capital's market streets weren't the wonderland he'd imagined the whole way here, but there was more to see than in Anseo.
People clustered thickly — here a puppet show if you went to look, there a storyteller reciting tales with delicious patter.
The longer the storyteller's tale went on, the farther Su-a leaned forward. Her gaping mouth and sparkling eyes were fixed on the fascinating storyteller.
Her sparkling eyes proved how absorbed she was.
Hui-seo too found himself listening, little by little, until before he knew it he was utterly lost in the tale, unaware of time passing.
"That was a fun story, wasn't it?"
Su-a, who had been clapping her hands in delight, glowed pink-cheeked.
"I'm illiterate, you see, so I can't read — these are among my small pleasures," she chattered on at length, then caught herself with an "ah."
The outing's purpose was, after all, solely Hui-seo's sightseeing — and she seemed to realize anew that Hui-seo was the master she must attend.
"Well. Thanks to you, Su-a, I got to hear a fine story."
Afraid some thunderbolt might fall, she had been watching warily; when he answered with a light smile, her face bloomed at once.
He had felt it since first seeing her — Su-a's feelings showed plainly on her face.
"Young master, is there anywhere you'd especially like to look around? Just say the word!"
Her duty now clearly fixed in mind, Su-a looked up at him, full of eagerness.
"Something I'd like to see…"
Looking around, Hui-seo glanced down a moment at the jade pendant clinking with every step, and blurted out what had just come to mind.
"Ah. I'd like to look at jade pendants."
"Jade pendants?"
"Yes."
"Hmm… the jade shop, then… ah, this way."
Pondering, Su-a stepped to the right. Hui-seo followed the child, careful not to lose her in the crowd.
"For a jade pendant you could just summon someone to the house. Or send them on the errand."
"True, but I want to choose it myself."
Picking from what a peddler brings is choosing directly too, isn't it.
Su-a seemed to think so, but she had the sense not to say it aloud.
Small as she was, Su-a cleared a path deftly. And yet, every so often, as if checking that Hui-seo was keeping up, she would gaze at his face as if spellbound, then catch herself.
"Is there something on my face?"
"N-no… it's just…"
When Hui-seo asked, fiddling with his cheek, Su-a started.
"It's just… ah, it's amazing how much you look like His Lordship…"
At the words she finally got out after long fumbling, Hui-seo laughed.
"We're brothers — of course we look alike."
"Really? I suppose so?"
No matter how he looked, he didn't seem all that much like Hui-won — but with no wish to embarrass Su-a, Hui-seo graciously played along with her excuse.
"When you smile like that…!"
"Hm?"
Hui-seo's gaze, which had been regarding the crimson-cheeked Su-a with puzzlement, soon traveled beyond her.
"Young master?"
Letting Su-a's call wash past him, Hui-seo drifted toward a stall as if entranced. On the way he bumped into someone and was shoved back by the force.
"Ah, sorry…"
Clutching his throbbing shoulder, Hui-seo blurted his habitual apology — and could not finish it.
Shadowed by the dark veil beneath his black hat, the glimpse he caught of the man's face seemed not of this world.
Like finely crafted porcelain, like a celestial out of legend — he was unrealistically beautiful.
"……"
The man's gaze met Hui-seo's too. For an instant, surprise seemed to bloom across his face, then settle.
"Young master, young master!"
It was Su-a's voice calling that snapped Hui-seo — who had been staring as if spellbound — back to himself.
"Are you all right? What would I do if you wandered off alone like that!"
"Ah. Sorry…"
He gave brief apology to Su-a, who had darted over like an arrow to check on him — then, realizing he hadn't properly finished speaking to the man he'd bumped, turned back.
But the man had already melted into the crowd and was nowhere to be found.
All that remained was the faint scent of aloeswood dispersing into the air.
"What could you have seen, to be in such a hurry?"
To find one vanished into such a bustling place would be hopeless. Putting away a strange regret, Hui-seo recalled what he had momentarily forgotten while gazing at the man.
"Su-a. Let's go."
Unwilling to let this one slip through his fingers too, Hui-seo seized Su-a's hand and walked without the slightest delay.
"Oh my, welcome!"
Despite the merchant's welcome, Hui-seo's gaze was fixed on the pigments.
"Rare things, these — for you to know them at a glance, young master has a discerning eye!"
As Hui-seo's gaze showed no thought of leaving the stall, the merchant made a great fuss, praising his eye.
Introducing himself meanwhile as a trader from far-off Haeju, he boasted confidently that these were pigments you couldn't easily get even in the capital's paint shops.
Hui-seo had never set foot in the capital's paint shops, so he couldn't say whether it was true — but in any case they were pigments hard to come by in Anseo's paint shops. Especially this clear blue.
Hui-seo kept staring without looking away, so Su-a — glancing between the pigments and Hui-seo — asked the merchant the price.
"It's a bit dear. I should have a hundred hwan for it, but I'll be generous and let it go for a mere sixty."
"Sixty hwan? What's so dear about it?"
Hearing the price, Su-a cried out in surprise.
A hundred hwan is one nyang of silver. Considering that one nyang of silver could keep commoners comfortably for a month, it was no small sum — no wonder Su-a was startled.
"I told you — it's devilish hard to come by. Only in Haeju, where the ships from the Western Regions dock, does it barely circulate. Anywhere else, don't even dream of it."
"Even so…"
As Su-a looked at him like a swindler, the merchant protested his innocence and rattled off excuses.
"Enough. Su-a, let's head to the jade shop before we lose any more time."
Gauging his purse, Hui-seo swallowed his regret and tore his gaze away with difficulty.
"Young master — as I said before, you won't easily see this color of pigment in any of Sangyang's paint shops."
The merchant tried hastily to hold him, but Hui-seo shook his head slightly. No matter how he reckoned it, with the money he had, just buying Hui-won's jade pendant would stretch him thin — best to set aside his craving for now.
"…Next time."
Promising it meaningfully, he tore himself away with difficulty.
"It was a swindle, wasn't it? That fellow saw the young master doesn't know the ways of the market and tried to foist his wares on you at a cheat's price?"
"…….."
Su-a, who had been fuming, fell silent and kept walking when Hui-seo gave her no answer.
The jade shop was not far from the stalls.
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