After finishing her meal, Bohye bathed in warm water. Perhaps because she had gone out after so long, she was terribly tired. Her feet also ached from wearing new flower shoes. Wiggling her toes, Bohye combed her hair. The strands she drew through her comb were lustrous. It was Yeonhong’s pride. Though it was not her own, Yeonhong would go around boasting of how lustrous her lady’s hair was, how her beauty grew more remarkable by the day, and how excellent her temperament was.
Once she had finished applying fragrant oil, Bohye called for Yeonhong before going to sleep early.
“Yeonhong.”
Not content with that, she poked her head out the door and beckoned, and Yeonhong came scurrying over.
“Come in here.”
“What is it, Miss?”
“Have you bathed?”
“Of course.”
Yeonhong answered proudly. Bohye smiled as though gazing upon a younger sister and pulled her by the arm to come sit before her. Then she combed Yeonhong’s hair and beautifully applied the camellia hair oil she herself used. Embarrassment spread across Yeonhong’s face.
“I do not need to use such precious things, Miss.”
“No. You are my companion.”
“Your companion……”
“You are my only companion, no different from a sister. So do not feel awkward about this.”
Bohye’s face, reflected in the mirror, was truly filled with joy. Yeonhong pressed her lips tightly together and hunched her shoulders. She felt as though she could do anything for someone so kind.
After she had finished combing her hair, Bohye asked Yeonhong,
“Is there anything uncomfortable about where you sleep? If you need anything, tell me anytime.”
“No, nothing at all, Miss.”
“When I marry, I will insist on taking you with me. And once we are there, I will keep a keen eye out to find you a good match.”
“I just want to stay by your side……”
Yeonhong confessed her small wish. Hearing that, Bohye bit her lip tightly. Yeonhong was truly her sister and only companion. Overcome with joy, Bohye embraced Yeonhong tightly.
After Yeonhong left, Bohye lay down on her bedding and sought sleep. Tonight, she felt she would fall into an unusually deep slumber.
Not long after Bohye fell asleep, every light in the manor went out and everyone sank into sleep.
* * *
“Miss!”
That pitch-dark night, a voice calling to wake Bohye came from outside. Bohye was usually a deep sleeper, but tonight it was even harder to rouse her. She could not move, as if someone had bound her body tight.
“Miss! You must get up!”
The door burst open and someone rushed in. Bohye still could not budge.
“No. You have to get up! Otherwise it is dangerous! Hurry, please hurry……!”
This voice was Yeonhong’s. Yeonhong shook Bohye violently. Thanks to that, she gradually began to wake. Her vision was hazy and all manner of red light flickered. Her head throbbed terribly. At the acrid smell stinging her nose, Bohye burst into tears the moment she opened her eyes.
“Miss, *sob*. Put on these clothes. Hurry. You must flee!”
“Flee? Why?”
Bohye was still wandering in a dream. It was because she had inhaled smoke. Yeonhong threw an outer robe over the swaying Bohye’s head. It was an outer robe made of the coarse fabric that maidservants wore. And Yeonhong herself rummaged through Bohye’s wardrobe, took out an expensive outer robe, and put it on over her own clothes. To any onlooker, Bohye looked like the maidservant and Yeonhong the mistress.
“Yeonhong, what is going on!”
Her tongue was stiff from the smoke. Unable to press further, Bohye was pulled by Yeonhong’s hand and staggered outside.
“Ah……”
It was as if the whole world was covered in flames!
It was a living hell. Bohye stood rooted to the spot, mouth agape in shock. She could not believe this place was the same house she had walked through just that afternoon. Fire blazed up on all sides, and masked assailants ran about wielding blades, killing the people of the house. Screams burst out here and there.
“Miss!”
Yeonhong grabbed and pulled Bohye.
“Ah, Father. Where is Father?”
Yeonhong did not answer. Even as she was pulled along, Bohye kept looking back. Yeonhong took Bohye and hid behind a warehouse that had just begun to catch fire.
The screams gradually grew distant, and the assailants seemed to have disappeared, chasing those fleeing outside. This silence brought Bohye no comfort at all.
With her face soaked, Yeonhong pulled Bohye, who was likewise weeping silently. Having escaped the warehouse, they fled in the opposite direction to avoid the commotion. Walking where Yeonhong led through thick smoke and darkness, Bohye stared blankly at the pavilion where her father had read books and received guests.
Just then, they heard the sound of someone running. It was too late to hide.
The one approaching them was a servant who worked in the courtyard. And from behind him, a blade flashed.
“Huk……!”
The sound of Yeonhong gasping escaped. In an instant, the servant fell. The assailant wielding the blade slowly revealed himself. The two of them stood frozen in place.
The one with half his face covered by a mask slowly turned his head toward Bohye. Their eyes met. Perhaps because of the blazing fire, his pupils looked reddish-brown, or perhaps purple. A very deep, dark purple……
Yeonhong pulled at the dazed Bohye. The assailant lightly flicked his blade. Blood split the air and soaked the ground.
*I have to run.*
Bohye came to her senses and ran. As she ran, she tripped on something and her shoe came off—it was not a stone, but a dead person’s hand. Naturally, tears streamed from her eyes. But unable to scream, she bit and bit her lips. Not just tears, but blood burst from her lips as well.
“Miss, you are following me well, right?”
“Yes.”
Bohye answered, wiping her face with her sleeve.
“We are going to the back mountain. Escape there, then head to your maternal family, Miss.”
“Yeonhong. You are coming with me, right?”
Yeonhong nodded. But that gesture was hidden by the outer robe and could not be seen. With her shoe lost, Bohye hobbled with every step.
As a servant, Yeonhong knew the manor’s small exits well. Because she had been weak since childhood, she had often slipped through the dog hole to avoid undesirable tasks, so she had discovered hidden escape routes that others did not know about. Beside the privy, in a remote corner where the wall leaned, there was a hole dug to drain rainwater. Yeonhong led Bohye there.
“Hurry and get out, hurry!”
Bohye bit her split lip again and crawled through the hole. What had become of her father? Leaving the burning house behind, all manner of anxieties and a shattered future that could no longer be promised scattered before her.
Having crawled over the wall, Bohye was a mess covered in dirt. One shoe was lost, and her hair—which both Yeonhong and her father, Seo Jeong-heum, had adored so dearly—was in disarray. Caring nothing for any of that, Bohye pressed herself flat against the wall and called for Yeonhong.
“Yeonhong! Hurry! Come quickly!”
Perhaps sensing anxiety, desperate urgency drenched Bohye’s voice. Yeonhong too was just about to lean her body through.
“Who are you.”
From inside the wall, the assailant’s voice was heard.
“Are you Seo Jeong-heum’s daughter, you wench?”
Bohye’s heart dropped. Her entire body cooled rapidly as if doused in cold water. No, no, no!
“……”
The ominous premonition was approaching certainty. Just as Bohye was about to pound on the wall and shout that Seo Jeong-heum’s daughter was here.
“Yes!”
Fearing that Bohye’s voice might carry over the wall to the assailant, Yeonhong shouted the answer.
“Look at the girl’s loud voice. You seem quite bold; you must really be Seo Jeong-heum’s daughter. It would be a shame to let you go just like this……”
“Kill me at once! I am Seo Jeong-heum’s daughter!”
*No!*
Bohye pounded on the wall and screamed repeatedly, but the sounds coming from outside the wall were drowned out by the roar of the fire consuming the house, the thunderous crashes of the building succumbing to the flames, and Yeonhong’s desperate cries, so they could not be heard.
“Hehe, let us see what a noble house’s daughter is like.”
“Yeonhong!”
“Wait, what is that sound.”
Bohye’s voice from over the wall faintly grazed the assailant’s ears as it carried over. As the assailant, who had been approaching Yeonhong with a sinister laugh, snapped his head up, Yeonhong clenched her teeth and lunged at him. At his hand, to be precise.
“Uwah!”
Yeonhong bit the assailant’s hand. As Yeonhong struggled to snatch the blade he held, the assailant shook her off as if swatting an insect.
“You little bitch!”
At the fierce curse, Bohye squeezed her eyes shut. A rough gust of wind followed. It was as if the scene of the blade slicing through the air was unfolding vividly before her eyes.
And then, a *thud*—something collapsed in front of the hole.
“Father and daughter alike, neither knows when to die. Not an ounce of pity.”
A spitting sound was heard. Bohye sank down before the hole, her face ashen. Blood flowed from the hand that had been pounding and scratching at the wall. Her hand was torn and her nails broken. She wished that what was slowly crawling out through the hole was muddy water. But it could not possibly be muddy water……
“Y-Yeonhong.”
Bohye bent down to re-enter at once. As she tilted her head, Yeonhong’s hand was visible from inside. Reaching out, she could barely touch the fingertips. The hand she touched was so terribly cold. Yeonhong’s hands had always been hot throughout the four seasons……
That hand twitched. And gathering the last of her strength, it gestured for Bohye to go.