“I showed you an unsightly sight, Madam.”
Hwaya’s tears, which had been like a sun shower, soon ceased like a sun shower and had returned to their usual bright radiance.
Had it not been for the beaded blotches left on my shoulder, it might have felt like a lie that she had wept in my arms.
Of course, while I had been the one embracing her, Hwaya was taller than me, so it had ended up looking as though I were the one nestled in her embrace.
“Then shall I start by tidying your hair?”
“Again? This is already the third time.”
“Of course it must be done after going out.”
Well, she seemed to have been sufficiently comforted, so I supposed it did not matter.
Hwaya seated me and took a comb from within her garments.
The touch of her hands gently brushing down my long hair was as soft as ever. I seemed to recall that long hair tends to tangle and hurt when combed.
Yet this heavy, lengthy hair had never once hurt during a brushing in all the time since I had possessed this body.
No doubt it was partly thanks to Hwaya’s skill, but also because it had been meticulously cared for over a long time. The soft rustling of hair and the gentle sweep of the comb put me in good spirits.
So this was why there were women who kept their long hair even while complaining every day about the trouble.
“Madam. I am afraid you will have to dine alone this evening.”
“Ah, I thought as much.”
After all, with what had happened in the nearby village.
Sohwi must be busy for various reasons. Suffering from overwork was the fate of a romance fantasy male lead, was it not?
“It seems they had been distributing food even before we discovered the situation. The damage appears considerable.”
“…I see.”
At Hwaya’s words, the image of a mother who had given even her own portion to the children flitted through my mind.
Since everyone who ate had ended up like that. Those children… The screams that had echoed from the square seemed to linger in my ears.
The screams of a mother who would have been safe thanks to love, yet whose children could not be safe because of it.
“Isn’t there any way to help…?”
Conversely, there must be more than one or two children who had lost their parents.
Wounded adults could still go on living. Even if it was worse than death, even if they spent every day in tears, a day would still pass.
But children who needed protection and love were different. For such young and weak beings, each passing day was agony.
I wanted to help with all my heart… but I was a guest living off others without a single penny to my name.
Setting aside a place like an orphanage to protect the children, even providing a single warm meal cost money. Penniless as I was, whatever I did, I had to reach out to Sohwi, the master and owner of the estate’s assets.
Of course, if I could earn the money myself, it would solve everything. But what was I even capable of…?
“Hwaya. If I worked hard at needlework, could it earn money?”
“Pardon? Well… some women do take in sewing for wages.”
“Could I do it too…?”
Hwaya’s hands, which had been brushing without pause, suddenly stopped dead at my question.
From Hwaya’s perspective, it must have sounded like a rich lady saying she wanted to wash dishes as a day laborer.
But I could not think of any other way.
Everything I might try with modern knowledge was already available in the market. If I went to the capital where the royal family resided, they were probably practically steampunk by now.
“Madam. With sewing wages, it would be hard to even provide one child’s meal.”
“I suppose so…”
“Above all, Madam has no reason to earn money through needlework.”
If I asked Sohwi, it would be simply resolved. But what meaning would there be in satisfying my own greed in such a manner?
Even now, I was already forcing my will out of greed.
“Would not Madam’s personal assets be sufficient?”
“No matter what, every time… what?”
My personal what?
“The money from when Madam first made and sold stone soaps has accumulated considerably.”
At Hwaya’s offhand remark, my mind felt as if it were reeling.
So Ryu Sua was the one who had started the soap business. If I had suggested making money with soap without knowing anything, what a disgrace it would have been.
“The scented soaps we use were also first conceived by Madam. Thanks to that, you still receive no small income.”
Even what I used every time I bathed was Ryu Sua’s creation—a kind of fragrant liquid soap called *hyanggam*.
No wonder the lather was so rich and soft.
So Ryu Sua was young and rich, loved by all and wealthy. A proper romance fantasy heroine’s specs. Hmm…
Thanks to that, there was nothing I could do. She could have gone a little easier. What good was Ryu Sua being rich?
“That money is a bit difficult to use…”
It was not my money.
Even if I resolved things with Ryu Sua’s personal assets, in the end it was the same as begging for someone else’s money. It was not a fundamental solution.
Instead, I only felt utterly defeated by the capable Miss Ryu Sua. Was I really able to be of any help as a wife?
“Why does Madam feel so reluctant to use those funds?”
As my worries deepened, Hwaya’s stopped hands began moving again, her fingers slipping between strands of hair and dividing them into three parts.
“Are you worried there might be somewhere it needs to be used?”
“That too… but I feel like I would hate it if the money I had saved suddenly disappeared.”
I did not want to cause problems by recklessly spending money that Ryu Sua might have set aside for something. It was savings gathered by the heroine herself.
“Then there is no problem in spending it.”
“Pardon? No, that is not—”
“In other words, is it not permissible to spend it in accordance with the plans Madam has set?”
Did it work that way?
“Rather, would it not be a problem if Madam did not spend according to plan?”
“Huh…?”
“If your memory were intact, you would have spent it. Having it merely pile up is the problem.”
Before I knew it, Hwaya had finished braiding and arranging my hair, moved, and sat politely before me.
“Do not worry, Madam. Am I not here?”
She gently laid her hand over mine.
“Even if Madam cannot remember, there are things I know, are there not?”
“…”
“If you truly feel uncomfortable, let us think of a way to earn as much as we spend together. I shall help you from your side.”
The warmth of Hwaya’s hand overlapping on the back of mine was warmer than I had expected.
“…You wish to think about it together?”
When I murmured softly, Hwaya tilted her head slightly.
“Yes. Did Madam not say so? To help you well from beside you.”
I had not expected to have my own words thrown back at me in that very way.
So I had. I had asked for help first, yet here I was digging alone again.
“Were they empty words? Then this mother will be a little sad.”
“Th-that was a metaphor!”
Ugh. Had I given her ammunition to tease me with an unnecessary metaphor?
Still, watching Hwaya smile brightly and happily while calling herself mother, I supposed all was well that ended well.
“Still, I would appreciate your help.”
“Of course, Madam.”
Since I had decided to accept Hwaya’s help, I immediately set about making plans.
I lacked the common sense and monetary sense of this world.
“For now, I wish to keep spending to a minimum.”
“I shall adjust that part well, so do not worry.”
Since providing a safe place to stay was more important than providing daily meals, I wished with all my heart to build something like an orphanage.
But preparing a location was no easy matter, so I could not afford to be greedy in that regard.
“Madam’s original plan was to sponsor the Hyeminseo.”
“The Hyeminseo?”
“Yes. It is a place that supports medical care for commoners, and it also protects children who have lost their parents.”
Ryu Sua must have thought something similar to me. Reinforcing an existing place was simpler than building a new one.
“But due to the recent calamity, the Hyeminseo is already at full capacity…”
The problem was that this existing facility, the Hyeminseo, was bursting at the seams.
Not only children but other commoners had been severely injured by the calamity, and since it was fundamentally a medical institution, it could not be helped.
“As expected, building a place directly would be best.”
“That would take a lot of money and time…”
“There is a suitable place and building, but there is a problem.”
“…”
At this point, it was not that it existed; it felt like it had spawned the moment she spoke.
So Ryu Sua was truly young and rich, owning land and houses as well.
“Permission from the court is necessary.”
“That court? The royal court?”
We were just building an orphanage; why did we need the king’s permission as if it were some grand affair?
After all, children were the future of the nation; it would be nice if this part could be glossed over easily—
“But since it involves privately gathering people, if done poorly, it could be seen as raising a private army?”
—not. I had forgotten; this was a monarchical state where the king actually existed.
If I fell out of favor by mistake, I would be accused of treason and lose my head.
“Truthfully, you need permission regardless to provide relief under Madam’s name.”
“Even to prepare a single day’s meals?”
“Yes. The court already views Madam on the same level as the Mountain Lords.”
It was hard to understand what being viewed on the same level as the Mountain Lords meant. I had not even known what a Mountain Lord was to begin with.
“Mountain Lords are those who suppress calamities in the mountains and territories designated by the court. The master is currently serving as the Horyeong Mountain Lord.”
Now that I thought of it, there had been the taffy seller from Myogasan and Jeong-i’s explanation during my first outing.
I had forgotten with everything that happened since then.
“From the moment one suppresses calamities, a Mountain Lord is practically no different from a king to the people living within the territory. They simply do not say it aloud.”
In other words, if a Mountain Lord who already enjoyed the people’s support were to capture their hearts excessively through relief efforts…
This too would look like treason. My neck. My neck.
“I am not official yet either. The same situation.”
So in the end.
“Madam must speak well to the master and obtain permission.”
Didn’t that mean I had to get on Sohwi’s good side?
***
The fact that the result of my hard deliberation was hardly any different was truly… Still, if I only asked, at least I would not be begging Sohwi for the rest, so was it better?
Hmm… When I asked for my first outing, I had acted hastily and ended up getting the address “Husband” fixed on me, so perhaps not.
But what meaning was there in worrying alone?
“The person in question is not coming.”
I had not seen hide nor hair of Sohwi since returning to the estate today. I had to meet him to ask.
The moon was already shining brightly; I would give up for today and get some sleep.
I untied the ribbons of the thin *jeoksam* I was wearing and tossed it off behind me.
White arms and the curve of my chest, barely hidden by the thin cloth, were fully exposed. If Hwaya saw this, she would gasp in shock, but sleeping in clothes with such wide sleeves was terribly uncomfortable, even if they were not short sleeves.
I wanted to take off the skirt too, but then I would be left in just a chest wrap. Then Hwaya would truly nag me until my ears bled.
“He comes every day, yet when I want to see him, he does not come.”
They say dog dung is never there when you need it for medicine—how fitting. He came every day, yet not when he was needed.
“I am glad my wife feels the same.”
I had to correct myself.
They say a tiger comes when you speak of it—how fitting. How could he appear the moment I grumbled?
Sohwi, leaning his face in through the open window frame, was quite a welcome sight.
“Were you not busy?”
“I am busy. Busy, but must I not bid my wife good night?”
Perfect.
Since he was here, I could talk to him about the orphanage…?
Sohwi’s gaze was somewhat strange. He was looking my way, yet it felt as though his eyes were not quite meeting mine somehow.
“You asked for time, postponing the wedding, yet were you waiting with your chest bared so wide?”
“Eh?”
“My wife, you are quite the brazen woman?”
Only then did I remember the discarded *jeoksam*. I hurriedly covered my chest with both hands.
“Ah, I am not!!!”
I am not brazen! It was merely for comfort!