Deciding to live as Ryu Sua, who had no memories, and accepting a life as Sohwi’s prospective wife were two separate matters.
So the reason my face flushed at Sohwi’s request for a date was not because I was embarrassed. It was purely because I was flustered.
He might have the kind of romance-fantasy male lead looks that were better described as pretty than handsome, but he was still a man. And even if my outer appearance had ended up like this, the stuff inside was still a pitch-black bastard of a man.
Of course I’d be flustered if a man asked me out on a date.
He’d said he would be considerate since I had no memories, and yet his idea of consideration was to ask me out on a date the very next day. It was absurd.
Of course, from my perspective, my first outing after all that effort had ended almost immediately, so I welcomed any reason to go out again and nodded.
“Madam! Just trust us! We’ll have you dressed up in no time!”
I regret it. I should have just refused.
As expected, being caught by the maids and dressed up was that exhausting.
We were only going to a nearby village. Couldn’t I just go as I was? I’d already spent all morning getting dolled up.
“Do I really have to bathe again?”
Why did I have to be stripped bare and put into a bathing tub again?
Even if I conceded a hundred times over, shouldn’t we only have had to pick out new clothes?
“Of course you have to bathe again! What we did this morning wasn’t even getting dressed up.”
“That’s right. It was only the bare minimum of tidying. Besides, you’re going out with the Master! We have to choose the scented oils properly.”
“The other maids are already picking out your clothes outside.”
Just because I grumbled a single sentence, I ended up getting scolded one by one by the maids attending my bath.
There were three maids alone helping me bathe, and apparently other maids were choosing my clothes. Judging by the commotion coming from outside, it didn’t seem like there were only one or two of them.
Had every maid in the estate gathered just for a mere outing? I didn’t think this was something worth making such a fuss over.
We hadn’t even gone out yet, and I already felt like I was going to be exhausted.
***
The preparations ended in no time.
As if every maid in the estate really had gathered, more than ten maids in the room each diligently worked on their assigned part of me.
They tidied my hair, applied powder to my face, kept rubbing something all over my body… If every outing was like this, it might actually be better to just stay in the estate.
A dress-up doll would have it easier than me. Once you decorate a doll, that’s the end of it.
In my case, the maids kept saying this wasn’t it, this wasn’t porcelain, and redid my makeup. What did it even mean that I had to be more like a fox than a fox?
Maybe because they’d fixed my makeup more than a dozen times, my whole body seemed to smell of cosmetics and scented oil. A faintly sweet, yet strangely musky scent.
“Did I keep you waiting long?”
As soon as the preparations were roughly finished, I escaped from between the maids as if fleeing before someone could suggest fixing my makeup again, and hurried toward the front gate where Sohwi was waiting.
Perhaps Sohwi had waited near the gate the whole time after asking me on a date and while I was being dressed up; he was leaning against one of the gate pillars with his eyes closed.
“It took longer than I thought…”
At the sound of my voice, Sohwi opened his eyes and began to voice a slight complaint, only to fall silent.
Even as I approached right up beside him, he stared at me without saying a word.
“What’s wrong? Husb—mmph.”
I had only called Sohwi as I usually did in order to ask if something was wrong, but he suddenly covered my mouth with his hand.
With my mouth blocked out of nowhere, I tried to pull his hand away, but this time too, despite all my struggling, his hand didn’t budge.
“The maids put in far too much effort. Today, don’t call me Husband.”
After staring at me for a long while with his hand still covering my mouth, Sohwi said something I couldn’t understand and finally let me go.
He’d even used his wish to make me call him Husband before, so why was he suddenly telling me not to call him that today?
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean I nearly canceled our outing just now.”
“Don’t tell me it’s because I took too long? Are we really not going? I had such a hard time getting dressed up.”
I went through all that preparation because we were going out. If he canceled, then what was all my suffering for?
Since I’d already suffered, I absolutely had to go out, so I grabbed the sleeve of Sohwi’s clothes after he mentioned canceling and asked him.
“My wife is normally so quick on the uptake, yet only at times like this, she is utterly oblivious.”
Why was I being called oblivious here?
It wasn’t a problem for me, since I was embarrassed to call him Husband anyway.
“A man’s heart truly is fickle. On one hand, I want to wrap you up tightly in a jangot so no one can see you… and on the other, I want to show you off to my heart’s content.”
From my perspective, the one saying strange, oblivious things was Sohwi. He was the one who suggested going out, and now he was suddenly saying something completely random.
“So we’re leaving, right?”
“Yes, let’s go.”
Still, seeing as he immediately agreed when I asked if we were leaving, it seemed we were going after all.
Along with his words, Sohwi held out his hand to me. Anyone could tell he wanted me to take it, but was I supposed to?
Walking around holding hands with a man was a little…
“If you don’t take it, I’ll leave you behind.”
“I’ll take it. I said I’ll take it!”
Afraid he might really leave me behind, I quickly took Sohwi’s hand.
As if merely holding hands made him that happy, Sohwi smiled brightly and led me away.
***
Since I had decided to live as Ryu Sua, who had no memories, I had to live, for now, as the future mistress of the estate. And I thought it wasn’t right for someone like that to do nothing and live like a parasite.
However, I didn’t know what a mistress of the house was supposed to do, nor did I know how to do it. It would be difficult for me to handle the estate’s affairs.
Then shouldn’t I do something only I could do?
Even a rotten fish still has some value; I didn’t know a thing about the original work, but I was, at least, a transmigrator. If I used the modern knowledge that only I had to make and sell useful items, wouldn’t that be a great help to the estate’s assets?
That was why I absolutely had to come along on this outing, first to check what kinds of goods were already circulating in the marketplace.
I didn’t come along just to go on a date, is what I’m saying. This is all information gathering. From this moment begins the first step of the modern-person genius theory!
…There was a time when I thought that, before we set out.
“Those soaps smell nice. Shall we buy some?”
That is, until I saw handmade soap being sold perfectly naturally at a village stall.
Why were they selling soap so naturally in a Joseon-style village?
And not just soap, either. They were selling ointment, claiming it was good for the skin, and even distilled spirits for disinfecting.
I know it’s a romance fantasy, but isn’t this way too baseless? It’s weird for things like this to just be casually circulating on the market.
Most importantly, now I have nothing I can use!
For a food-service worker who spent the lunch rush frantically making dish after dish for customers, those three were pretty much the limit of my useful knowledge…
Wow. Over there, a woman in kimono-style clothing is buying dragon’s beard candy from a street stall… Where did all the old-world atmosphere I saw on the first day go?
If I’d known this would happen, I should have studied harder instead of cooking, which is useless here.
“Do you want to eat that candied sweet, my wife?”
“I’m not looking because I want to eat it…”
I hadn’t come out to have a date, but in the end, I had become someone who went out on a date holding a man’s hand.
It felt like everything I was doing for the first time since transmigrating was going wrong.
Sigh, what could I do?
“I like that one.”
“It seems my wife is finally in the mood to enjoy herself.”
After sighing inwardly, I pointed at the colorful candy that had caught my eye.
Since I was already out, I might as well enjoy it.
Market sightseeing is meant to be done with food, after all.
“Look at Madam and Master. They haven’t let go of each other’s hands once since they left the estate.”
“Master’s eyes haven’t left Madam for a second. It was worth winning the chance to come along.”
…The maids following behind us were getting a liiittle annoying, squealing based only on how things looked, but I decided to ignore it and enjoy myself.
Holding Sohwi’s hand as we walked around the market, accepting one snack after another whenever something caught his eye, and listening to the maids fuss over us—I continued sightseeing, which wasn’t bad in its own way, for quite a while.
Then, on the other side, I spotted a few children and adults holding the black wooden plaques I’d seen before and heading somewhere.
“I’m telling you, they really just gave us meat-and-rice soup.”
“They won’t say something different later, will they?”
“Meat soup!”
Come to think of it, that person had also said they would give meat if you brought the wooden plaque. It seemed that had been true after all.
If I followed them, could I perhaps meet that person from back then?
“I want to go over there. Husband.”
Wanting to follow the people carrying the wooden plaques, I tugged on our joined hands and called Sohwi.
Perhaps it had already become a habit in that short time, but without realizing it, the title Husband slipped out naturally.
“…”
“What’s wrong?”
But when I called him Husband, Sohwi’s expression hardened at once.
He usually loved hearing it, so I didn’t know why he was acting like this today.
It also felt like a bit of strength entered the hand holding mine.
“My wife is testing my patience.”
“I am?”
“Yes. Since I now want to bury my nose in your neck and inhale your scent even here, please restrain yourself today.”
I was the same as always, so what was he telling me to restrain? How absurd.
It felt a little unfair to just let this pass… Right.
“Then do you want to smell it?”
I grinned and gently lowered the front of my clothes, then used my free hand—the one not holding his—to sweep my hair aside and fully expose my neck.
Then, as if showing off my neck, I tilted my head and thrust it toward Sohwi.
Every time, he was the one teasing me and laughing to himself, wasn’t he?
“Here.”
He should try getting a taste of his own medicine.