I had safely received permission to go out. I was admonished dozens of times to return before sunset, but permission was permission.
I felt like something unseen had taken a blow during the process of obtaining it, but more important than that was the fact that today marked the start of freedom in my movements.
Besides, I figured it was necessary to do things that would make me somewhat favorable to Sohwi. I should at least grant the title of “husband.” If I thought of it as merely the name “husband,” it was nothing much.
The real problem came after that. Because when I mentioned that my outing had been approved, Hwaya’s eyes lit up.
“Then you must wake up early tomorrow.”
“I was planning to go out after lunch, though?”
“We cannot show the Lady with a haggard face. I shall prepare something easy to eat while we get ready.”
Truly, I was woken before the rooster even crowed. Still half—asleep, I was dragged to a room prepared with hot water, but when I saw more than three fox maids already waiting inside to attend my bath, I began to slowly back away.
I was caught straightaway by Hwaya, who was firmly blocking the doorway, and thrust into the hot water. If there was any fortune to be found, it was that I did not enter completely naked—I bathed with thin clothes draped over my body.
The thin garments, soaked in water, clung to my body and revealed everything, so it was little different from being naked. Still, perhaps because I was technically wearing clothes, even when the maids lathered their hands with soap and scrubbed my entire body directly, I somehow only felt slightly dizzy and managed to endure.
After that, the grooming did not end easily. Once an undergarment was put on, the maids engaged in heated debate for quite some time over which scented oil to apply, or whether to attach this sachet.
I, the subject of all this grooming, spent a long while idle, my breakfast replaced by fruit that Hwaya fed me. Even after I was fully dressed, there was the color of this ornamental pendant, how to style my hair, and how many hairpins to use.
They showed me several accessories that all looked the same and asked my opinion, so I simply smiled soullessly and answered mechanically that they were fine. It seemed like that would make it end sooner.
The endless grooming finally ended while I was dozing with half—lidded eyes, munching on small rice cakes Hwaya had brought as snacks instead of lunch. If I had to go through this chaos every time I went out to the village, it might be better for my mental and physical health not to go.
At last, I thought we were finally about to depart for the village, but when a maid suddenly said she would call a palanquin, I only managed to stop her after desperately begging her not to.
How much attention would I draw going to the village with something like a palanquin? With my insistence that I simply wanted a quiet stroll, the people surrounding me finally began to disperse after telling me to have a safe trip.
Seeing that, I thought, surely not, but—
“A noblewoman of the Madam’s stature going out with only two attendants must be a first for you.”
“This seems like enough… It would be inconvenient to bring more.”
“Even so, one maid and one guard is far too few.”
I had no idea how many they had intended to bring at first, but I barely managed to settle on two.
One was Hwaya, who had assisted me from the first day. The other was a large—framed man who accompanied me as a guard; his name was Jeongi.
What was interesting was that Jeongi was an ordinary person like me, without any animal features. I asked Hwaya about this.
“It is true that most of the maids in our mansion are foxes, but not all attendants are foxes. For example, the doctor is a mouse, and though few, there are also wolves and dogs. We naturally hire ordinary humans as well.”
“I heard that Horyeong Mountain is the foxes’ territory, so I assumed everyone was a fox.”
“We foxes are particularly like that. Places symbolizing abundance are all like this—like mice or rabbits. Still, unlike other places, we tend to hire many humans.”
Hwaya smiled as she spoke. As if to say that the atmosphere of the mansion had changed due to Ryu Sua’s influence.
After such simple conversation, as we walked a while, a faint clamor of people drifted over. I could see white smoke rising to the sky, and roofs peeking between the trees.
“We are almost there.”
As the mountain path grew gentle and we fully emerged from the forest, the overall sight of the village began to come into view.
It was a village where houses of various sizes nestled against the foot of Horyeong Mountain as if leaning on it. Street stalls lined up as if flaunting that it was market day. Laughter of children running about excitedly filled the spaces between them, and an ox cart loaded with goods passed slowly through the middle of the road.
There were none of the flashy signs you might find in a city, nor the ceaseless sound of motorcars. Not a single person here was silently walking around staring at a cell phone.
The voices of haggling drifting from the market square, roosters crowing somewhere, even the sound of hammers striking iron at the blacksmith’s—it was noisy, but strangely, it did not grate on the ears.
“It’s more… ordinary than I thought.”
I felt something slightly different from what I had expected. The sight of a village like ones seen only in dramas was fascinating, yet somehow familiar.
The steamer before a doorway giving off puffs of steam and the savory scent of rice cakes. Next to it, the taffy seller stretching his candy on a stick as if gathering children. Some children unable to take their eyes off the taffy, drooling.
It was strangely not unfamiliar.
“Madam, shall we stop by the bookseller’s first? While you look around with Jeongi, I will go to the fabric store to pay for the goods I ordered in advance and return.”
“I will leave the money with Jeongi, so if you need anything, tell him. Jeongi, you must attend to the Madam well.”
“Yes.”
Hwaya stepped away for a moment, leaving me alone with Jeongi, whom I had met for the first time today. As she said, if I browsed books at the bookseller’s, she would be back soon. A quarter of an hour—that is, about fifteen minutes.
In that case, did I really need to spend such a short time looking at books anyway?
“Jeongi.”
“Yes, Madam.”
“I am going to buy some taffy. Is that all right?”
“You need not even ask, Madam.”
Hwaya likely did not expect me to stay quietly at the bookseller’s anyway. That was why she had told Jeongi to attend to me well. Even if not, I decided to think of it that way.
With Jeongi following behind, I walked toward the taffy seller where the children had gathered.
“Oh my, could this be a young master or mistress from a noble house? Our taffy is truly delicious! I came all the way from Myoga Mountain to sell these!”
“Myoga Mountain?”
“That’s right! A place protected by the Moon Rabbit. How about it, want a taffy?”
The taffy seller lifted a long strand of taffy, and with one hand he repeatedly snipped the taffy scissors in the air, producing their distinctive metallic sound.
I roughly counted the number of children watching nearby. About ten, perhaps?
“Please cut about fourteen pieces.”
“Coming right up!”
Thanks to the seller’s spirited snipping, my two hands were soon filled with taffy. With Jeongi paying the price from his sleeve behind me, I sat down to the children’s eye level.
“Want some?”
I held it out so they could take it, but contrary to my expectation that they would reach out immediately, the children only furtively glanced about. One child even blocked the hand of what seemed to be a younger sibling.
Not knowing why, I was wondering at this when Jeongi, having finished paying, approached me.
“Madam. If you do not give them verbal permission separately, they will not take it.”
“Why? This seems like permission enough.”
At his words that I had to give clearer permission, I told the children they could each take one, and only then did every last one of them busily take the taffy.
At the sight of them ducking their heads and bowing in gratitude afterward, my mood naturally brightened. Even in my original world, when child customers came, I would always give them simple snacks or candy at the counter and receive cute greetings.
“Madam. People like us without family names watch the moods of the high—born. Because if we inadvertently give offense, life becomes hard.”
It was a truly bitter story, and one that did not quite resonate with me. I had lived in modern times without a caste system, and now I belonged to the so—called high—born.
“I see. Jeongi, would you like one too?”
“I am fine.”
“Then eat it. Too many are left for me to eat alone.”
“I shall accept it gratefully.”
Jeongi reluctantly put the taffy I gave him in his mouth. I had bought generously thinking some child might take more, but they truly took only one each.
So shouldn’t we eat what’s left? It would be a waste.
“How did you come to work at the mansion, Jeongi?”
“I wandered following my slash—and—burn farmer parents, and after losing them to a calamity, I was taken in out of pity.”
“I—I’m sorry.”
“It is all right.”
Even though the interesting topic of calamity had come up, having heard that he lost his parents, I could say nothing but apologize.
Still, perhaps realizing I was curious, Jeongi began to speak further.
“As the places where people live increase and forests or nature decrease, spiritual energy lessens and corruption accumulates. When it gathers in one place, it becomes a calamity. Usually, thanks to the Mountain Lords, it ends with only a few livestock dying.”
“Usually?”
“Yes. Within the Mountain Lords’ domains, calamities cannot grow properly. A sturdy village youth can drive them away with a sickle. But it is different outside their domain.”
The story I heard while slowly melting the taffy in my mouth reminded me that this place was a fantasy. Had I fled the mansion knowing nothing, it was a world where I might have become a corpse by the next day.
It was fortunate that I had decided to remain in Ryu Sua’s place, cowardly though it was. Selfish, but rational—that was me on the first day of possession.
But when would Hwaya return? It seemed to be taking longer than expected. Not knowing how much time had actually passed was truly frustrating.
I suddenly missed the cell phones everyone carried in modern times. That black slab that fits in one hand.
That small slab the person leaning against the alley over there is holding in one hand. Something barely the size of a hand mirror that could do everything no differently from a computer—how convenient…
Slab?
While listening to Jeongi and blankly chewing taffy, my eyes caught something resembling an object that should not exist here.
Though I could not be certain since I saw it from afar, that uniquely glossy texture and the way he held it in one hand, looking down at it intently—he was unmistakably a modern person looking at a smartphone, his clothes alone marking him as someone from this place.
I was so startled that I could not tear my eyes away for some time, and then I met his gaze.
The moment our eyes met, he hurriedly tucked the black slab into his bosom and immediately bolted from his spot, and so did I—
“Madam! Where are you going all of a sudden!”
I started running after him.