With my body pressed tight against Sohwi’s arm, I walked beside him at a pace matched to my stride, heading for the main hall where the banquet had been prepared.
“My lady.”
As we walked, I decided to use my meager wits to predict what might be happening and prepare myself as best I could.
I didn’t know where he had found out, but that yellow mutt knew my memories were not intact.
Otherwise, there was no way he could have openly done something on par with proposing to me, a married woman in the eyes of the public.
At the very least, he must know for certain that I lacked common sense about this place.
“My lady. It would be best if you put a little distance between us.”
I didn’t know what his goal was, but since it was clear he wanted to put Sohwi and me in an awkward position, there was no way he would leave alone the gossip born from the major incident of my accepting that hairpin.
If anything, spreading it would only benefit him, so that yellow mutt must have worked hard to scatter the rumor everywhere.
After mixing in all sorts of seasonings to suit his own taste, of course.
For example.
There is discord between Mountain Lord Horyeong and Lady Ho.
It seems the wedding may be canceled after all.
They say Lady Ho accepted Uncle’s hairpin.
Stories casting doubt on the relationship between the two of us, and stories linking me with that yellow mutt, must be circulating in that vein.
The matter of the wedding, which I had postponed indefinitely, must also have lent weight to the rumors he had remodeled to his liking.
“My lady. You seem to be clinging a bit too closely.”
On top of that, the fact that I had accepted the hairpin had truly happened, so even the guests favorable to me would likely be unable to easily deny the gossip.
For now, by showing that Sohwi’s and my relationship was different from the gossip, I had to make that yellow mutt’s heavily seasoned rumors lose credibility first.
As for paying him back, I would have to read the mood afterward and slowly seize an opportunity.
And Sohwi, as if embarrassed, had been fidgeting with the arm I was clinging to since earlier.
“Your chest is touching my a-arm. My lady….”
I know.
I’m pressing close on purpose so it touches.
If I want to clearly show everyone that our relationship isn’t bad, it can’t be helped.
My dear husband may be embarrassed to show everyone such affection, but let’s endure it together.
I’m embarrassed to show everyone too, but I’ll bear with it.
“Haa…. My lady truly is asking for punishment….”
In response to Sohwi’s embarrassed words, I merely curled the corners of my lips up with all my might.
Perhaps realizing from my smile that I had no intention of moving away, Sohwi’s fox ears drooped weakly, which was terribly cute.
As I watched Sohwi’s embarrassed appearance from beside him, we somehow arrived at the main hall, where the banquet was already in full swing.
“Master. Madam, you’re a little la…?”
When we arrived, Hwaya, who had been in the main hall ahead of us receiving the guests and managing the other maids,
turned her head toward us as if she had sensed us like a ghost.
Hwaya, who was always so competent in everything, saw the two of us and could not continue speaking. With her mouth slightly open, she looked back and forth between me and Sohwi.
It felt as though she were interrogating us, asking what on earth had happened while she had been so frantically busy.
“…Haa. Please come in. Everyone is waiting.”
Only after I gave the worried Hwaya a small wave to say it was all right did she let out a quiet sigh and guide us to the seats prepared for us.
“Please tell me everything later.”
Since I had no intention of letting go of Sohwi’s arm even after sitting down, Sohwi had to deliver his congratulatory address in that state.
As for me, I instead rubbed my cheek against him like a cat and slowly scanned the expressions of the people attending the banquet.
Old Hotae, who for some reason was looking at Sohwi as if he found this absurd.
Harin, fidgeting between Hotae and the yellow mutt, her head lowered as she stared only at the banquet table.
Beside her, the yellow mutt, who looked displeased for some reason, and some of the tiger beastmen who had been eagerly conversing with him until now, only to clamp their mouths shut.
And the rest of the beastmen, wearing expressions that said, “Of course.”
Contrary to my expectations, perhaps the gossip had not spread.
The atmosphere seemed more lukewarm than I had thought, so I tilted my head in puzzlement.
“I heard about the hairpin, Madam.”
Hwaya, who had been watching my reaction, bent down and, covering her mouth with her hand, quietly whispered in my ear.
She brought up the very thing I had been wondering about.
“And yet the atmosphere is very different from what I expected.”
According to Hwaya, it seemed the hairpin story had indeed been circulating as gossip.
And yet the mood wasn’t as bad as I had thought?
I had expected to hear at least a little snickering.
Judging from the reactions, it didn’t seem as though Hwaya and the maids had settled the mood to some extent before I arrived, either….
“It’s likely because Hwangseo is not particularly trusted within the family.”
“Hwangseo? Ah, the yellow mutt?”
I had thought he was an unpleasant person from the moment we were in the garden, but to think he was actually a blemish on the family.
Being Harin’s uncle meant he was the elder brother of the Mountain Lord who represented the tigers of Geumin Mountain.
If I compared it to a Western-style romance fantasy, then even if he had not inherited the title, he was still the duke’s elder brother and something like the eldest son of the ducal house.
Just how many incidents had he caused for even Hwaya, who was not a member of the same family, to say such a thing?
“Yes. He did chatter a little with the remaining factions, but it didn’t mean much.”
And instead of correcting me for calling him a yellow mutt, Hwaya changed the way she addressed him to “the yellow mutt” as if she had been waiting to do so.
At this point, the reason everyone had been shocked when I accepted the hairpin was not because it signaled discord with Sohwi or the beginning of an affair, but because they were worried that I had touched the yellow mutt’s hairpin.
No wonder the banquet hall, which should have been bustling after the congratulatory address was recited, was awkwardly quiet.
Everyone must have been watching my mood.
“Harin. Your big sister is here, aren’t you going to look at me?”
Then as the lady of the house, I couldn’t let the banquet atmosphere remain gloomy.
Harin’s eyes were still red, just as they had been in the garden, as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
The sight was so pitiful that I spread my arms wide to tell her to come here, and only then did Harin rise from her seat and trot over to be embraced in my arms.
“How rude of y—”
“Harin! You came looking so pretty. What about me?”
“Mm…, yes! You’re really pretty!”
The yellow mutt beside her seemed about to nag Harin for no reason, so I cut him off very blatantly.
I had given her permission. Who was he to bring up manners?
Perhaps because being held in my arms improved her mood, Harin answered brightly.
Seeing that, the others began opening their mouths one by one as well, and in an instant, the atmosphere of the banquet hall grew lively and noisy.
“Lady Ho. This time, we are improving the matchlock muskets…”
“Lady Ho! We have made a loom in a new way…”
“Lady Ho. These days, aside from drawing thread from gold and silver, we have also been using new materials…”
And little by little, people began speaking to me.
Why were they talking to me about unfamiliar things like improving matchlock muskets and new looms?
Even if they told me difficult things like that…
“Ahah…. I see.”
I had nothing in particular to say except to smile and answer vaguely.
I had only heard of matchlock muskets and looms by name; I could not say I truly knew them.
To me, guns were nothing more than the rifles handled in the military, and clothes were something one bought with money and wore.
“Haha…, please speak one at a time, slowly. It’s difficult if you all talk at once.”
Though even if they asked one by one, it would still be difficult to answer.
“This time, we are carrying out improvements to increase the accuracy of the matchlock musket.”
“Ah. I see.”
“Until now, we have been increasing the length of the barrel, but it has already become so long that it is difficult to handle.”
“Ah. I see.”
Since I didn’t want to be rude to the person speaking so earnestly, all I could do was at least respond properly.
As I broke into a cold sweat over the difficult conversation, Sohwi, who was beside me, buried his face in the crown of my head and whispered quietly.
“My lady is famous among the tigers, so it cannot be helped.”
“Why am I famous?”
“You are famous for having ideas so ingenious they seem almost strange. The glass mirror also came about thanks to you, my lady.”
Just what kind of existence had Ryu Sua been?
She was starting to feel less like an overstuffed protagonist and more like a Mary Sue.
“At some point, the accuracy of untrained shooters became far too low. I am wondering if there is a good method.”
“Ahah, haha….”
Since I, who was not Ryu Sua, could not give a proper answer, I merely laughed for no reason and put food into Sohwi’s mouth.
“Lady Ho is not what she once was.”
From the side, the yellow mutt lightly scraped at me with a faint sneer.
Of course, it was true that I fell short of Ryu Sua.
I had no memories and no special perks. It was only natural that I was inferior to the original protagonist.
But even if it was true, hearing it from the yellow mutt irritated me for no reason.
“Then, instead of increasing the accuracy of the matchlock musket itself, how about helping the shooter aim better?”
So, in a fit of anger, I blurted out whatever came to mind without thinking.
The expression of the tiger beastman who had been speaking became anything but ordinary.
“Could you explain that in a little more detail?”
“Pardon? No, that is…. It is not as though the bullet fired from the matchlock musket suddenly swerves and misses….”
The way his eyes sparkled like a child hearing a fascinating story, staring fixedly at me, was extremely burdensome.
“If there were a mark that indicated whether the gun was being aimed properly….”
“Oh dear. My lady has done it again.”
I swallowed the words, “like a sight,” but judging from Sohwi’s reaction, it was already far too late.
The tiger beastmen who had been listening to me all rose from their seats at once.
“I see. If the gun is properly aimed horizontally and vertically, then naturally the accuracy would increase.”
“Why did we fail to think of something so obvious?”
“I want to return at once and test it.”
While still standing, they gathered together and began an impassioned discussion.
It was nice that they reacted as though my words were amazing, but it was not exactly some incredible idea I had come up with myself.
It felt a bit strange, like I had become the person involved in one of those otherworld-story clichés where people force themselves to praise something as amazing.
“Lady Ho! Might you join us for a tea gathering tomorrow? We would like to discuss this further with you…”
And thanks to that, it seemed that even after today’s banquet ended, I would have to be caught by them and listen to difficult conversations.
I had been planning to drink tea alone with Sohwi tomorrow. Would I not be able to, at this rate?
Just as I was feeling pointlessly disappointed inside, a brilliant idea flashed through my mind.
“I’m sorry, but I think that would be difficult.”
A way to avoid that uncomfortable tea gathering and land a blow on the yellow mutt sooner than expected.
“It was only today that Hwangseo personally rebuked my conduct. How could I behave so complacently….”