Chapter 1.2

“SoYeon.”

Yujo flinched and turned her head.

SoYeon, Dan SoYeon.

The name still sounded strange to her. Jewol was standing behind the red curtains. Wearing the ceremonial dress of the Silver Nation, he looked even more handsome than usual.

The slender, pale face, his splendid eyes, lips as red as a maiden’s. Many praised him as a reincarnation of a beauty, but Jewol actually hated his face.

Feminine beauty was perfectly mixed in with his masculine features. He was as graceful as a heavenly god, but rather than a blessing from the heavens, it felt more like the root of their wrath.

“It just finished.”

He looked apologetic. But how was any of this his fault? Enduring something like this was nothing to her.

“It’s okay, Brother.”

Yujo gave him a faint smile. Seven years had already passed since she had gotten close to Jewol.

But to think that they’d be facing each other like this in such a situation… It felt strange. Brushing off this thought, Yujo stretched out her hand and quickly moved the bridal veil to the side. When he saw Yujo’s face reveal itself, Jewol gave her a soft smile.

Who would believe that this was actually Yujo, Yeha’s ChungMae?

Yujo, the fierce female warrior. The falcon that split the heavens as it flew freely in the sky. She would normally have her glossy hair swept up in a ponytail and be wearing her mask adorned with blue feathers.

Wasn’t she the one who soared through the plains of Yeha on her chestnut horse as her arrows pierced through the sky?

However, the Yujo sitting here didn’t show any sign of that woman. Wrapped up in her scarlet veil, Yujo was just a bride… She seemed so distant and captivating, almost as if she would suck up the soul of her groom.

“Aren’t you thirsty? The rules of the Silver Nation can be so ridiculous. Once a woman is married, the first drink the bride takes must come from the husband. I don’t know what all this fuss is about. They’re just torturing a poor innocent, aren’t they?”

Jewol mumbled softly and held up a silver bowl to her. The bowl held some water with white flower petals floating on top of it. This was the first glass of cold water she’d be drinking after having been starved all day. Such ridiculous romanticism.

“Here, drink. You must be thirsty.”

Yujo silently received the bowl. Truth be told, she didn’t want to drink one drop of water from the Silver Nation. But how could she just do whatever she wanted? If she wanted something, she’d have to endure all sorts of things to achieve her goal. Yujo firmly brought the bowl to her lips.

“Should I take off your headpiece?”

Yujo nodded at Jewol’s offer. The headpiece and ornaments were very heavy. It felt as if a young child was sitting on top of her head. It pressed down on her temples and gave her a headache.

“It’s quite a horrible headpiece.”

Yujo murmured, causing Jewol to let out a small laugh.

“My crown is pretty heavy too. Who in the world thought to make something like this…”

“Your crown is heavy? Haa. Try putting on my headpiece. You’ll end up falling in love with that crown of yours.”

Jewol’s soft hands lifted the headpiece off of Yujo’s head. A groan automatically left her lips. She felt as if she could fly just from taking off that damned headpiece.

“Do you want me to untie your hair?”

Yujo’s hand froze in midair at his words. In Yeha, untying a woman’s hair was a privilege only given to the groom. If the man wasn’t the woman’s husband, they weren’t allowed to touch her hair.

“No, I can do it.”

She wanted to give that privilege to her true, future husband. Yujo smiled bitterly and carefully pulled out the ornaments in her hair. Jewol saw her begin to undo her hair and got up to leave the room.

Meanwhile, Yujo continued to stroke her hair as she carefully pulled out the ornaments and combs. She barely managed to get all of them out and finally tied her hair up. Her glossy hair fell down her back. She finally felt like she could breathe again.

How did her hair manage to hold all these ornaments? She understood that this was all used to establish a bride’s social status and beauty, but Yujo saw them as a bunch of expensive snares.

She took off her cumbersome bridal dress. The dress was exquisitely decorated with beautiful embroidery and pearls, so it was also very heavy. After squeezing out of her uncomfortable shell, she finally felt like she could live.

“Can I come in?”

Jewol called from outside. When she told him to come in, Jewol pushed aside the curtains and came inside. He took off his crown and his outer clothes before putting on a comfortable robe. He held a dagger in one hand.

‘Why…?’ Yujo was just about to ask when Jewol pulled off the blanket on the bed and ran the dagger across his forearm. He began to sprinkle his blood onto the mattress.

“Brother!”

“Yujo, lower your voice.”

He turned his head and spoke to her. There were palace maids standing outside the bridal chamber. Yujo shut her mouth and quickly cleaned his wound and wrapped it with a strip of cotton.

“There’s no need to go this far.”

“There is a need. The palace maids who come to clean up the bedding tomorrow morning will take it back to Mother as evidence of your virginity. If you don’t want to deal with unnecessary talk, we need to be thorough. And there’s one more thing you need to keep in mind.”

Jewol lowered his voice.

“We are in YeonSung. This place can drive anyone crazy. There will be eyes and ears all around you. If you’re going to do a sloppy job, it’s best that you don’t do it at all. If you make one mistake, you’ll be putting your family back in Yeha as well as my household in a lot of danger. Yujo, be prepared. Don’t let your heart waver, and don’t look back.”

Yujo silently looked into his eyes. Jewol was right. Too many lives were resting on their shoulders.

The closer they were to the heart of the Silver Nation’s regime, the more unpredictable it was. They couldn’t afford to make a mistake, and she couldn’t be swayed by pitiful sentiment and turn back.

“I’ll bear that in mind, Brother.”

“And when we’re around other people, call me ‘my lord husband’.”

Yujo let out a soft laugh.

“I’ll do that.”

My lord husband? She could barely get those words out of her mouth because it was so embarrassing.

“I’ll sleep next to the bed.”

“Will you be okay?”

“Of course. Just give me a blanket.”

“Thank you, Brother. But do you think we can have a bite to eat before we go to bed?”

Pfft, Jewol burst out laughing.

“Of course. If the bride starved to death on her first day of marriage, it would be catastrophic.”

With that, he lightly tapped her cheek.

The winds of Yeha were blowing.

It was a wicked and brutal wind.

It wrapped around the jagged cliffs of the rocky mountains and raged across the desolate sand. The wolves hidden in the deep valley looked up to the sky and howled.

The ground shook, and the trees fell. The waterfalls crashed down from the cliffs above and roared as they split the ground.

They were coming.

Like ambassadors of death, the soldiers looked up at the heart of Yeha from the valley below. Even though they had just passed through Mount Paran and cut through the sharp winter winds, the men were still overflowing with energy.

They moved as one.

At the very front, a man sat on a dark red horse and looked up at Yeha arrogantly. Half of his face was covered by his armor, but his exposed lips seemed cold and cruel.

He raised his hand. That one gesture boosted the solders’ morale as they let out a shout in response. The men all clenched their hands around the hilt of their swords.

They were like wolves that were ready to tear the throats of their prey. A horrifying thirst for blood spread out across the land of Yeha.

An enormous monster!

Yujo raised her arrow. The winds of Yeha were on her side. It blew against her back and flowed towards the man.

About five hundred paces. He was too far away. The arrow would never reach him. The man’s lips stretched into a smile. She could feel his bitter, condescending laugh from where she was standing. After yesterday’s battle, half of Yeha was burning.

“O Great Mergan! Give this daughter your strength!”

Yujo whispered in her heart.

Whoosh. The arrow flew across the sky. Then it began to fall. The sunlight was blinding. The enemy commander raised his sword, but the sun was too bright and pricked his eyes. In that moment, Yujo’s arrow accurately pierced the Red King’s chest.

“Madame!”

Gasp!

Yujo’s eyes burst open in shock.

What happened? Where was this place?

The red curtains fluttered in the breeze. A light glimmered from the unfamiliar window.

“Madame Duchess.”

Yujo quickly got up. Sunlight permeated the red room. She was alone on the bed. Jewol was nowhere in sight.

“It’s time to wake up. The princess is waiting.”

The shadow outside the door wavered as it spoke quietly. Yujo turned around and sighed. Her whole body was damp with sweat.

Was it all a dream?

It was a dream. She had dreamed of the time when they had clashed with the Red King’s army. If her arrow hadn’t pierced the Red King’s chest, Yeha would have been annihilated.

It was all done with the help of Mergan.

With that thought, Yujo stood up. When they heard her movements, two palace maids pushed aside the red curtains and tied them to the pillar. The sound of the chirping birds flowed in from the window as they announced the arrival of a new morning.

“We’ve prepared your bath.”

The palace maid who had introduced herself as ‘Ran’ approached Yujo and bowed as she spoke. Yujo followed her into the bathing room and asked.

“What about Duke MoonYeo?”

“The duke has already woken up and went to Sunoh Hall.”

Jewol had left the bridal chamber before the sun had risen.

Yujo pushed aside the hanging bead curtain and entered the tub. The bathing room was incredibly large. She had heard that the people of the Silver Nation enjoyed their baths and that they had a bathing room attached to almost every room. It seemed that this rumor was true.

The bathtub was so large that four people could fit comfortably inside. The hot bathwater was steaming, and it was filled with red flower petals.

Did they begin preparing all this water in the middle of the night?

Yujo frowned. Now that she was in her current position, she needed to get used to these kinds of things.

The palace maids stood at her sides and began to take her clothes off. Yujo endured the awkwardness and quietly plunged her body into the water.

Outside the lattice window on the upper wall of the bathing room, a brown songbird peeked inside and let out a curious chirp.

What had happened to the Red King after he had been struck by her arrow?

Seeing as how there was no word of his funeral, he must have survived.

Would their paths cross during her stay in YeonSung?

At this thought, a bitter smile stretched across Yujo’s lips. If she was given another chance, she would plunge another arrow into the bastard’s throat.

A new battle had begun. But this battle wasn’t fought with swords or arrows. In the heart of YeonSung, she was going to obtain the treaty no matter what. She needed to protect the land of Yeha at all costs.

“Madame.”

Once her body and hair were washed clean, Yujo stood up. Water droplets trickled down her slender, nude body.

Ran and the other palace maids began to earnestly dry her body and hair as they rubbed perfume oil on her skin. They carefully swept up her pitch black hair and adorned it with a red camellia and some ornaments that looked like green leaves.

“The preparation is complete.”

Ran whispered.

In no time, her reflection in the mirror was transformed into a lovely, elegant madame of a ducal house. Her appearance was incredibly strange to see, but Yujo didn’t care. The important thing was to obtain a peace treaty from the emperor. She would do anything to reach her goal.

“Let’s go.”

At her command, the palace maids escorted Yujo out. Finally, the bridal chamber door opened. Wearing a pomegranate silk dress, Yujo stepped out.

A new lady had appeared in YeonSung. She was the daughter-in-law of Princess Yeowa, Dan SoYeon. The woman was tall and slender, her brows were sleek, and her eyes were beautiful.

With her only son growing older, Princess Yeowa was overjoyed when her son, Duke MoonYeo, had decided to wed the daughter of Lord Sa HanSung of the northern province.

Duke MoonYeo was a great beauty who seemed to have jumped out of a painting, and when he stood next to his wife, the couple looked incredibly well-suited together.

The newly-wed couple received invitations from every social gathering in YeonSung. Being so young and fresh, they also received a lot of love. It was currently the elegant, refreshing month of April, so YeonSung was in the peak of spring.