Chapter 7 — “It is Easier to Take Someone In Than to Send Them Away”
When he returned to Yumyeongheon, Deungwol’s clothes were fairly damp.
Seeing him, the woman inside the room approached without a word and helped him remove his wet outer garment, then poured him a cup of tea.
Although they had only spent a few days together in any real sense, she seemed to know his habit of drinking tea that was not hot—she placed a lukewarm cup within his reach.
Outside, wind and rain raged, lending the room a cold, unsettled atmosphere. The lamplight trembled faintly.
At that moment, Deungwol felt his heart loosen a little, though he did not quite realize it.
He looked at his wife in silence. Only then did he notice that her face lacked color and that her lips were pale.
He accepted the cup she offered. Along with the fragrance of tea came a faint medicinal scent from her fingertips.
“Have you taken medicine? Are you unwell?”
For a brief instant, he thought he saw her flinch. After a pause, she answered.
“It’s nothing… I burned my hand by accident and applied a little ointment.”
Her words felt oddly stiff.
Deungwol recalled the morning’s events.
If she did not come in the morning because she burned her hand…?
Yet he had seen no wound on her hand, and he had been told that she was unwell in the stomach.
He had always considered his wife a reserved person—someone who spoke little and did not draw attention to herself. He assumed it was because she was young and had grown up in the countryside without proper schooling.
But since returning this time, he had begun to sense that she harbored complicated matters in her heart.
Without thinking, he offered a piece of advice.
“I am often away from home. If you need anything, do not hide it—tell Mother. If she is busy, you may speak to Madam Wi or Qingxuan.”
He meant that she should not keep everything bottled up and that she ought to avoid behaving in ways that might arouse suspicion.
Dam Yeon immediately understood his meaning.
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye.
The man drank his tea with a solemn expression.
This was his way of showing forbearance toward her. Dam Yeon slowly nodded.
“I understand.”
Just then, footsteps sounded in the courtyard. Someone had braved the rain to come to Yumyeongheon.
A young servant entered at once and reported,
“Madam, a maid from the medicinal storehouse named Baek Sun says she has something to ask you.”
Dam Yeon lifted her eyelids quietly.
The maid Suna beside her immediately asked in a sharp voice,
“Why would the storehouse’s affairs be brought to the Madam?”
Baek Sun’s expression hardened.
“Sister Suna, I mean no disrespect, but some precious herbs have gone missing from the storehouse, and the Lady Mother is angry. I merely came to ask whether you or the Madam might have taken any of them.”
Before she finished speaking, Suna snapped back.
“You say you mean no disrespect, yet how dare you imply we would take such herbs? What use would we have for them?”
Suna’s anger flared. It felt as though blame was being shifted onto them. She nearly drove Baek Sun away, but the maid stood her ground and refused to leave.
The wind, which had moments ago been still, suddenly slipped under the door and into the room. Sand scraped against the threshold with a rustling sound.
Seeing Deungwol look toward the doorway, Dam Yeon bit her lip.
After confirming that Baek Sun remained outside, she thought for a moment and then stepped out.
The veranda was lashed by rain and wind. As soon as she stepped outside, her skirt became soaked.
She shook her head at Baek Sun.
“I and Suna have not touched any herbs from the storehouse. Perhaps the wind carried them away—search elsewhere.”
She turned to go back inside, but Baek Sun stepped forward.
“However, Madam, we searched everywhere. The missing item is the very Tiepiseokgok that I showed you earlier.”
At that, Suna drew a sharp breath.
Dam Yeon froze for a moment, then smiled faintly.
The wind scattered the wet hair at her temples. She shook her head once more.
“I truly did not take it, and neither did Suna.”
She spoke with certainty.
But Baek Sun’s face went completely pale. She looked at a loss.
“If that is so, where could it have gone? I have guarded the storehouse for three years and never once made a mistake or lost anything… why only this time…?”
Dazed, she stopped pleading and disappeared into the heavy rain, staggering as she left.
Yet her words seemed to linger in the courtyard, mingling with the sound of the storm.
Suna, unable to bear the tension, grabbed Dam Yeon’s sleeve.
The herbs were gone—and of all things, it was the Tiepiseokgok they had seen earlier in the day. With Baek Sun, the only witness, absent, how could they prove the lady’s innocence?
Especially when the master of the house had just returned…
Suna signaled toward the room where Deungwol remained.
Dam Yeon fell silent for a moment, then parted the door curtain and stepped back inside.
The instant she entered, she met Deungwol’s gaze.
The room was empty except for the faint, wavering lamplight. The small tabletop screen and flower vase cast shadows that drifted like ghosts in the oppressive stillness.
Dam Yeon pursed her lips slightly.
The man spoke.
“Did you truly only look at it?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Suna rushed inside.
“General! The Madam merely stayed for a short while at the place where herbs are dried and then returned. She did not touch anything!”
Suna cried out in haste, but Deungwol did not answer. He continued to look at Dam Yeon, waiting for her response.
Dam Yeon could not understand why he doubted her. But the moment she noticed the way his gaze lingered on her hands, everything became clear.
Earlier, he had asked about the scent of herbs on her fingers, suspecting she had handled medicine. The smell had come from the work she had done in the annex that day, yet she had lied and claimed she had burned herself.
However, there was no burn mark on her hand.
She and Suna were outsiders in this house—strangers who had suddenly entered his life.
He naturally trusted the long-serving servants more. Unfortunately, she had lied about the matter and now aroused his suspicion.
It was a situation that fit together too neatly.
Dam Yeon sighed inwardly. Before she could even decide how to explain herself, his expression turned icy. He rose from his seat.
His body was tall and imposing, his arms broad and strong. When he stood, the lamplight behind him was obscured, casting a great shadow. That dark, towering shape seemed ready to swallow her whole.
Dam Yeon felt her heart stop.
He spoke.
“Even if you took it, you should simply tell the truth. Why drag a powerless servant into such trouble?”
Having spoken, he strode toward the doorway.
A cold, rain-laden breeze slipped through the gap in the door and brushed against Dam Yeon’s feet. The bitter ache in her stomach—like the bile of a morning medicine—twisted inside her once more.
He passed by her, not pausing even for a moment, and left Yumyeongheon, disappearing into the rain.
In the Changrang Pavilion, as the sound of the rain subsided, Lady Im lit incense in the burner.
She looked at Madam Wi.
“I heard someone was sent even to Yumyeongheon. Has something truly happened to the herbs in the storehouse?”
Madam Wi stepped forward and reported.
“Lady Mother, I must inform you—nothing of the sort occurred.”
Lady Im laughed softly. She asked no further about the herbs, merely casting a sidelong glance at Madam Wi.
“Why do you dislike Dam Yeon so much that you trouble her at every turn? Do you have nothing better to do?”
Madam Wi understood that the Lady Mother saw through everything but did not bother to conceal her intentions. Pouring tea for her, she replied.
“It is not that I dislike her. I simply had other thoughts.”
“What thoughts? Tell me.”
Madam Wi gazed out the window. No one was below.
“Although you made a contract with the Dam family, a contract is only paper. A person is a living being. In the end, the one who will live under the same roof with you is not you or me—it is the Dam girl. The Young Master knows nothing of the circumstances. You yourself cannot bear to reveal the truth, knowing his upright and sincere nature. Because of that deep affection, he likely believes the girl to be his true wife. But if time passes and feelings grow between them, how could you later cast her out and bring in another noble bride? I fear the old saying is true—‘It is easier to take someone in than to send them away.’ If we make the Young Master lose affection for the Dam girl from the start, then even if she one day leaves with her people, he will not try to stop her.”
Worry lined Madam Wi’s aged face.
“I only fear that proverb. Yet if the Young Master himself becomes disenchanted with her, he will not cling to her in the future.”
Lady Im remained silent for a moment, then nodded without speaking.
Back at Yumyeongheon, Suna’s eyes reddened.
“Has the Tiepiseokgok grown wings and flown away? We searched everywhere and still found nothing.”
When they were alone, Dam Yeon retrieved the book she had hidden away.
Opening it to the page she last read, she said softly,
“We will find it. Perhaps it will turn up the moment the General leaves.”
Suna’s eyes widened, though her gaze remained wet with tears.
“How could you say such a thing? If that happens, the General will think the lady is a thief!”
A thief—deceitful and cunning, low and ignorant, foolish and improper…
Dam Yeon paused, then clicked her tongue.
“Now that you mention it, it might not be entirely wrong. The chickens in the kitchen garden are always noisy—perhaps we should really try taking something someday.”
Yumyeongheon was close to the kitchen garden, and Suna had often complained about the boisterous rooster there.
But how could she talk about the rooster now? Unable to respond, Suna stared in disbelief at her mistress’s attempt at humor.
Evening deepened, and the small lamp in the room was not enough to dispel the darkness. Seeing Dam Yeon absorbed in her book, Suna decided not to mention what had happened earlier.
“It is too dark in here. I will light another lamp for you.”
