At Hae-gang's instruction, Jihwan gave a silent nod to an attendant who was stealing a glance at his face, and then set off himself to hurry and find a swift runner to send to the Dan family manor.
"No matter how much I look, I cannot believe it. How could he have come out so strikingly handsome?"
"Tell me about it. Who on earth spread the word that His Highness is a half-wit? Pockmarked and skin-and-bones, my foot. Are their eyes crooked or something?"
"They've probably never even seen his nose. Someone just wanted to sound knowledgeable, heard he was unwell, and spread those ugly rumors."
"Even so, isn't this a bit too malicious? Even now, out in the streets, they're all wagging their tongues about the general marrying some living corpse — whether he'll even get through the wedding night properly. Ugh… don't get me started."
"That's how rumors are. This country's palace is so deep you can't fathom it, and all sorts of bizarre talk comes out of it — how much worse must it be with another country's palace affairs? If anything, bizarre talk is only fitting, I tell you."
Hae-gang's sudden declaration that he would go fetch Mok-young himself had not come from mere whim. Amid the unusually bustling crowd moving through the detached palace, Hae-gang had happened to overhear some court ladies talking, and that was why — now dressed in full ceremonial attire — he had made up his mind to step outside the gate himself and stroll the main road at his leisure.
Hae-gang already knew well enough how the bizarre rumors about him were circulating in the streets. During three days of sightseeing here and there, the story he had heard most often was, of all things, about "the Ghost King's bride, no different from a living corpse" — small wonder. He didn't feel particularly bad about it. He had never been one to care much about what was said of him. Having lived fourteen years as a man with a death sentence, he had heard far worse in Namwi; street gossip was hardly worth a thought.
But today was the long-awaited day of his wedding, and he somehow could not let slide the insult that the man who would become his spouse was "marrying a living corpse." Whether he would live a year, two years, or perhaps a little longer was unknowable — but precisely because of that, he meant to see to it that on an auspicious day like today, at least, nothing would mar his dignity.
As the attendants bustled about, dressing him in his ceremonial robes and adorning him without a gap, Hae-gang had endured it all in silence; now, fully dressed at last, he set out to restore his bride's good name.
"The weather is truly fine. It has been a long time since the sunlight felt warm."
Mounting the horse the attendant had led over, Hae-gang spoke. Gripping the reins, he gazed up for a moment at the cloudless, vividly blue sky.
Whether because the winter wind was cold or because the temperature itself was cool, the sunlight he met in Northern Wei was less harsh than in Namwi. As he had said, it truly had been a long time since sunlight had felt "warm."
And that was the road to greet his spouse. Could it be that a heavenly god's blessing had truly brushed over it? Even for one whose nature knew no expectation, there was a moment's delight. It too was a feeling he had not felt in a very long time, so Hae-gang did not hesitate to spur his horse's flanks and ride out through the great gate.
***
"My lord! The general, my lord!"
In the Dan family manor, where work had been proceeding busily yet calmly and in perfect order, a great
commotion arrived. It was an attendant from Hae-gang's residence, and so hurriedly had he ridden that the moment he reached the great gate, he was panting as if his breath would give out, calling for "the general, my lord" before he had even dismounted.
When a Dan family attendant came out and asked what the matter was, he opened his mouth to hurry and deliver his message, but seemed barely able to get the words out. With no other choice, the Dan attendant ordered someone else to fetch a bowl of water, and the one so ordered hurried off somewhere and returned with water. And while Hae-gang's attendant drank the water, Mok-young — who had long since noticed the commotion outside — came out to the courtyard. He too, fully dressed in his ceremonial robes, looked more gallant than usual.
"What is it?"
Mok-young asked, looking at Hae-gang's attendant. Standing with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze looking coolly down was so piercing that the attendant flinched in surprise; then, handing the water bowl to the person beside him, he hurriedly wiped his mouth with his sleeve. Then, bowing his head respectfully, he explained the reason he had ridden here in such haste.
"His Highness is on his way here."
"What? I was about to go greet him shortly."
"Yes, that is…"
"That is? Speak quickly."
"He said he could not wait… and has set out."
"Ha."
Compared to his hesitation, the attendant's answer was blunt and to the point, and Mok-young let out a hollow laugh before he knew it. He set out because he could not wait? What was so urgent? Ours is hardly a marriage burning with longing — was there any need to ignore procedure, unable to wait even that little while?
Mok-young was equally at a loss for why Hae-gang had moved first, and for a moment he didn't know what to say in reply. Now that he knew Hae-gang had set out, he himself could not go out the great gate. If their paths happened to miss each other, there would be trouble before they even entered the palace.
"At least one thing is clear — he is no dim-witted man."
Mok-young naturally thought of the man he had met in the marketplace a week ago, and setting what he had seen then alongside this willful behavior now, he thought that perhaps this was no pushover. He had been hoping for a smooth married life, however long their bond might last — but at this moment, a cool premonition brushed the nape of his neck that things might turn out otherwise, in a rather unexpected direction.
And indeed, Hae-gang appeared before Mok-young's eyes in the guise of the most flamboyant bride in the world.
"General Dan! Your lovely bride has come — come out and see!"
It was a truly booming shout. So full of vigor that no one would think it came from a soon-to-die living corpse, it made the people who had been stealthily following along to gawk at Hae-gang — until they reached the front of the Dan family manor — stare at him with round eyes.
After sending the attendant ahead, Hae-gang had left the detached palace and come all this way, riding leisurely down the main road, letting the clip-clop, clip-clop of hooves ring out at ease. He deliberately did not gallop. That way, if there was anyone who wished to gawk at the "bride," they could gawk to their heart's content. And that way, the ugly rumors about the Ghost King and his bride would be swept clean away.
Dressed in ceremonial robes of peerless splendor, Hae-gang crossing the main road looked positively gallant, as if he were a general returning in triumph. In an instant he stole every onlooker's gaze, and then — with the attendants and guards who had hurried after him in attendance — it became clear that this eye-catching figure was the prince holding his wedding today, which drew even more attention.
Hae-gang made no effort to keep people from coming close. Sitting upright on his horse, looking only ahead as he rode on, he instructed the guards not to drive the onlookers away too roughly. Only by seeing up close would the word spread that their general was, after all, spending every day stuck to someone who looked perfectly fine on the outside.
People could scarcely tear their eyes from Hae-gang's face, and the murmur behind him never ceased as they debated among themselves whether he truly was the prince of those ugly rumors. Then at last, when Hae-gang arrived before Mok-young's house and raised his voice to announce that "his bride" had come, the crowd fell silent as a dead mouse.
This was he. The one who would become their general's spouse was this beautiful, this full of spirit. And now, curious how their general would react upon greeting his spouse, every gaze turned to the great gate.
Only Dan Mok-young felt like dying at this moment. Having roamed countless battlefields and endured every hardship — had he ever been this flustered?
"…….."
Mok-young, who had come out beyond the great gate, said nothing as he looked up at Hae-gang's face looking down at him without even dismounting. Looking at Hae-gang's smiling face, the onlookers — not only those who had followed Hae-gang but even the household members who had been busily moving about preparing the wedding at Mok-young's house — all sighed as if melting, murmuring, while Mok-young alone could not leisurely admire his bride's lovely face. He was too busy suppressing the churning inside him at the thought of grabbing the brat by the collar and dragging him down this instant.
It truly was him. And at that moment, he must surely have known that he was the one who would become his spouse.
"They said he was a man with the pallor of sickness written all over him — are you all right marrying such a man?"
And yet he had so smoothly deceived him and asked such a question.
Should he call it outrageous? Should he call it absurd? Amid feelings he could scarcely name brushing past him in this moment, one thing was clear: this was no ordinary pre-wedding flutter. It was entirely his own fault that he was only now, on the wedding day itself, properly facing his spouse's face, so he had no standing to complain — which left Mok-young even more at a loss. He could hardly bark at him, "How dare you deceive me?"
"So surprised? You look as though you've seen a corpse."
Hae-gang seemed to see right through Mok-young's inner thoughts. Without hurrying, he leisurely dismounted alone and approached Mok-young, speaking. A soft smile still played on his lips, and his voice was even somewhat gentle.
The remark about "a face as though he'd seen a corpse" was aimed less at Mok-young than at the people around them. Everyone had wagged their tongues calling him a "living corpse," yet in reality he was this perfectly healthy-looking man. At least on the outside. Hae-gang
knew that well too, but he was also one who knew full well how handsome his own appearance was.
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