Chapter 3
“Would you like to work here, by any chance? I mean, you seem to look at this every day.”
The shop owner said, pointing at the “Now Hiring” sign. Iseo’s face flushed. She hadn’t realized he had been watching her.
“Oh, no, I mean… yes. If you’d trust me with it, I’ll do my best. But I don’t meet the age requirement.”
“Oh, this?”
The owner of the traditional dessert shop took down the paper, crumpled it, and tore it up.
“I only wrote that because everyone else does. I wasn’t specifically looking for someone like that. Anyway, when can you start? Not right away, I suppose? I need to make hangwa, but I don’t have anyone to attend to customers.”
“No, it’s fine. I can start now.”
Even if she went home, she didn’t have anything in particular to do. She would probably just read a book and fall asleep.
“Oh my! That’s perfect. Come on in.”
From that day on, Iseo began working at the dessert shop. During the day, she handled the register and served customers, and at night she learned how to make traditional Korean sweets. When she had first quit her company job, dealing with people had been unbearable, but now there was always a smile on her face as she greeted customers.
She liked watching customers carefully choose their treats. Whenever she imagined people someday picking sweets she had made with excited expressions, she felt a new surge of energy.
Eventually, even the time spent commuting between home and the shop felt wasteful, so she asked for permission and moved into a small room behind the shop. She spent nights organizing and refining the recipes she learned from the owner. And yet, she never felt tired.
“Fire!”
By the time she woke to someone shouting, the place was already filled with smoke. Half-asleep, Iseo reached out, feeling her surroundings.
“Iseo! Iseo! Hurry, get out! Iseo!”
It was the shop owner’s voice. Iseo desperately flailed her arms toward the sound, but her hands caught nothing. The thick black smoke obscured the exit.
“Help me!”
She couldn’t breathe. Her throat burned, and her voice wouldn’t come out properly. She croaked for help, knowing no one would hear her. Flames flickered through the smoke, licking their way inside.
“Help me…”
Her eyes slowly closed.
That was the end of Iseo’s memories of her past life.
Iseo bit her lip tightly. Why did she have to remember that at a time like this?
“Miss!”
Samdeuk called out to her anxiously.
Outside, the scene had already turned into hell. The only way for him to survive was to escape while protecting Madam, the young master, and the young lady. The fates of the elder and younger masters were as good as sealed. Their sacrifice could not be in vain.
When Iseo didn’t move, he grabbed her, intending to throw her over his shoulder and run if necessary. But Iseo struggled fiercely. Her strength was astonishing for such a young girl, and Samdeuk, caught off guard, lost his grip. She rushed back and pressed her ear against the crack in the door.
“Did you really think no one would notice if you resigned your post and lived here like a dead mouse?”
Seokcheol knelt, propping himself up with his sword, and sneered as he looked into Hwang Yunseok’s eyes.
“What are you talking about?”
A mocking smile spread across Seokcheol’s face. The man’s pretense of integrity and aloof dignity amused him—especially for someone about to die.
“I heard your granddaughter is betrothed to Grand Prince Je-an. What do you think that means?”
Hwang Yunseok’s brow twitched.
“I don’t claim to know the intentions of those above, but the current king ascended the throne after slaughtering all his brothers. Only Grand Prince Je-an remains.”
Seokcheol raised a finger and wagged it playfully before him.
“He was spared because he poses no threat. The Queen Dowager gave birth to him, but he’s only thirteen. Besides, it would look worse in the records if every single brother were killed. Leaving one alive helps avoid that.”
“To kill so many brothers and nephews, yet still fear criticism—how ridiculous. And you’re saying he’s doing all this to kill me just because my granddaughter is betrothed to him? What a foolish tyrant! All those innocent lives outside—they are his people! All this just to eliminate me?”
Hwang Yunseok shouted, glaring at Seokcheol.
“No, no—you’re missing the point. This isn’t about killing you. It’s to threaten the Queen Dowager. Honestly, it doesn’t matter where the powerless Grand Prince is. We simply don’t want more bloodshed in the royal family—but the Queen Dowager refuses to stay still.”
“Y-you think that makes any sense?”
“What does my opinion matter? His Majesty has decided. You should have cherished your lovely granddaughter more.”
Seokcheol rose with a smirk.
Watching everything, Iseo trembled. He was about to kill her grandfather and father.
Everything was unfolding exactly like the book she used to read late into the night. After witnessing their deaths, she would lose her mind, rush at Seokcheol, and die with him.
Iseo sprang to her feet.
“Samdeuk, let’s go! Hurry!”
Startled by her sudden movement, Samdeuk hesitated but quickly began to run. Behind them, the screams of the elder and younger masters rang out one after another. He glanced at Iseo, worried she might collapse in tears.
“Hurry! We have to go!”
Tears clung to Iseo’s eyes as she urged him on. But her young body couldn’t move as fast as she wanted. The ground was uneven, and it was hard for a seven-year-old girl in a skirt to run.
The path led to an underground storage cave built to store harvested grain. Hwang Yunseok had dug it partly as a pastime. He had kept dried persimmons and honeyed treats there, enjoying the simple pleasure of personally preparing snacks for his grandchildren when they visited.
Naturally, the passage wasn’t well made. It was rough and unstable, dug haphazardly by a scholar who had never worked the soil. Though the ground had been tamped down from use, making it less dusty, it was slippery and difficult for Iseo to run on.
Samdeuk tried to carry her, but the ceiling was too low. Each time she stumbled, he fidgeted anxiously.
“Miss, are you alright?”
Out of breath, Iseo waved him off, urging him forward.
Faster. They had to hurry.
She had no intention of dying like in the book.
There had been a time when she had lived like she was already dead, exhausted by life—but not anymore. There were still so many sweets she hadn’t managed to make in her previous life. Some she had only sold without even tasting.
That wasn’t right.
She should have treated herself better—should have tasted the sweetest things first and lived happily. If she had known she would die so meaninglessly, she would have been kinder to herself.
What was the point of finally finding something she loved, only to die before truly enjoying it?
Grabbing the hem of her skirt, Iseo quickened her pace. Behind them, the sound of a door breaking echoed. Beyond the cave door lay the mountain.
“Iseo! Hurry!”
Her older brother Hyunwoo called, stamping his feet anxiously. Footsteps pursued them from behind. The cave door was already open. Madam Jeong scooped Iseo up in one arm and grabbed Hyunwoo’s hand with the other, running toward the mountain. In the rush, Iseo’s ornamental norigae snapped off, but there was no time to retrieve it.
The village, including their home, was engulfed in flames.
Samdeuk shut the cave door and picked up a nearby ember, setting it alight. The dry wood, parched from the spring drought, caught fire instantly. Urgent shouts and screams came from inside.
He briefly gauged the distance between the burning cave and his fleeing masters. Then he threw the norigae Iseo had dropped in the opposite direction. After that, he ran after his masters.
“The Queen Dowager is arriving!”
A court lady announced loudly, but the king, lounging on his cushions, made no move to sit up properly. The attendants guarding Gangnyeongjeon didn’t look embarrassed by his rude behavior; instead, they lifted their chins proudly and looked the Queen Dowager’s attendants up and down.
What can you do even if you’re offended?
Their disdain was obvious. The chief court lady behind the Queen Dowager bit her lip, but saying anything would only put her mistress in a difficult position.
“The Queen Dowager has arrived.”
Even after entering, the king didn’t move for a long while.
“The Queen Dowager has—”
“That’s enough. Leave us.”
Only after dismissing her attendants did the king’s half-open eyes turn toward the Queen Dowager, a faint smile on his bored face.
After staring at him briefly, the Queen Dowager knelt before him.
The king slowly sat up.
“Oh dear, Your Majesty, what is this? Are you trying to make your already unfilial son into a complete disgrace?”
“Please spare him, Your Majesty. Please spare Grand Prince Je-an. I was wrong—everything is my fault. Just spare him, please!”
“For what?”
The king asked teasingly.
Though she was the Queen Dowager, she was younger than the king.
After the first queen bore three princes and passed away, the second queen gave birth to the current king, six more princes, and a princess.
When the second queen died, the late king was already over seventy and reluctant to remarry. But at the insistence of court officials who argued that the inner palace needed a matriarch, he took a third queen—who was now the Queen Dowager.
