Chapter 2

“I don’t want to go!”

An irritated voice echoed through the main hall of the Jin family.

Mokyeon, sitting on the floor in a colorful silk dress, cried out as though she were about to burst into tears.

“How can you send me to that cursed monster?!”

“Mokyeon, even so, he is a prince. And on top of that, he is a vassal king who rules the Ink King’s Residence!”

“What good is becoming a concubine in the failing Ink King’s Residence?!”

The Ink King’s Residence was famous for its long winters and bone-chilling cold.

The land was barren and difficult to farm, and it was close to the Valley of Demons, where monsters swarmed, so people were reluctant to go there.

Madam Jin was not unaware of this.

But there was nothing she could do.

“How can we disobey an imperial decree?! Besides, the Ink King will be coming to take you tomorrow…!”

It was an order from the Emperor.

Moreover, the Imperial Family had promised an enormous amount of ice tribute as a condition of this marriage arrangement.

It was an order that could not be refused.

But Mokyeon shed tears as large as chicken droppings.

“So you’re telling me to go to that mute, ugly monster prince who can’t even speak properly?”

It was said that the Ink King had been cursed during a battle with a monster long ago, leaving his face horribly disfigured and taking away his voice.

That was why he supposedly wore a mask to hide his hideous face.

And now they wanted her to become the concubine of such a cursed monster!

Just then—

“Instead of Miss Mokyeon, I will go to the Ink King’s Residence.”

The door opened, and a plainly dressed young girl entered.

“Jin Soa?”

“Where do you think you are, barging in here like that?!”

Madam Yang, the legal wife, shouted furiously when she saw Jin Soa, the illegitimate daughter.

Normally, Soa would have immediately knelt and bowed her head, but she simply stood there and looked at the family head, Master Jin.

Master Jin unhappily stroked the tip of his beard.

“This is a marriage arranged by His Majesty.”

“But His Majesty is merely looking for a respectable woman to attach to the cursed prince.”

“Hmm. But…”

“If my status is not respectable enough to save His Majesty’s face, then why not take me in as your adopted daughter?”

“What?”

Madam Yang, who had been listening from the side, abruptly stood up.

“Do you think I would accept a girl like you under me?”

“But, Madam, if I do not go, then your beloved biological daughter, Miss Mokyeon, will have to go to the Ink King.”

Soa spoke clearly and calmly.

Mokyeon hurriedly clung to Madam Yang and nodded.

“Mother! I don’t want to marry that monster! I’ll hang myself the moment I arrive at the Ink King’s Residence!”

Mokyeon sniffled and buried her face in her sleeve.

Madam Yang pulled Mokyeon into her arms.

She was just as unwilling to send her daughter to the Ink King.

In the end—

“There is no other choice.”

Fate changed.

Soa sat inside her room wearing the red garment that had been made for Mokyeon.

She quietly stroked the red sleeve.

She could feel the smooth silk and elaborate embroidery beneath her fingers.

This isn’t even an official wedding.

She would be neither the queen consort nor a secondary consort, but merely a low-ranking concubine, a Jae-in.

There would not even be a proper wedding ceremony, yet this imitation of a wedding dress looked rather ridiculous.

Madam Yang had forced herself to prepare it simply to make things look presentable for her precious daughter, Jin Mokyeon.

Soa took off the dress that had been made for Mokyeon.

Instead, she changed into the neatest clothes she normally owned.

The only old silk dress she possessed.

Its color had faded yellow with age, and it did not even have embroidered decorations, but it was still better than the extravagant wedding dress prepared for Mokyeon.

After changing into something more comfortable, she habitually poured tea into the teacup beside her.

The rough tea filled the chipped, worn cup.

One cup.

Two cups.

Soa stared blankly at the steaming tea.

Habits really are frightening.

It was a habit she had developed because of Seogon.

Soa used to prepare tea for Seogon, who enjoyed his tea hot, and wait for him.

But the tea that inevitably went cold always became hers.

At first, she had waited for Seogon.

Later, it simply became a habit.

Even when she was no longer waiting for him, whenever she felt anxious, her hands would move on their own and brew tea.

Did he really not realize his heart had grown cold, even though he knew the tea would grow cold?

No.

In truth, she had suspected it.

That Seogon had lost interest in her.

She simply did not want to admit it.

Staring at the teacup, Soa swallowed both cups of tea.

The warm tea, still holding its heat, melted the coldness in her chest.

There was no more tea left to grow cold.

Just then, a crow cried outside.

The time has come.

Soa opened the large birdcage sitting to one side.

A peregrine falcon with glossy feathers immediately flew onto her forearm.

“Unjo, I’m counting on you.”

【Leave it to me.】

The peregrine falcon immediately took flight through the window.

When Unjo disappeared beyond the wall, the door opened and a maidservant entered.

The maid’s eyes widened when she saw the wedding clothes strewn across the floor.

“Jin Soa, what are you doing?!”

“Not Jin Soa. You should call me Miss.”

“You! Go change your clothes right now—!”

Smack!

The maid staggered, clutching her cheek.

“I told you to call me Miss.”

Soa smiled pleasantly and shook her hand.

The maid stared at her in stunned disbelief.

She probably had never expected a mere illegitimate daughter to act like this.

An illegitimate daughter who was treated like a servant.

That was Jin Soa’s position in this household.

Even the servants looked down on Soa and forced her to take care of the household chores, and there had never been anyone to reprimand them for it.

Until now.

“T-This…!”

Smack!

“You really don’t understand even when I explain it to you. When someone has a poor memory, the only choice is to teach them through their body.”

Soa spoke calmly as she looked down at the maid, who was clenching her fists.

In the past, she would have been struck several times by that maid.

But the situation was completely different now.

Her father had registered her as Madam Yang’s adopted daughter so that he could send her to the prince.

Moreover, she would soon be sent to the Ink King.

If her face or body were injured, it could cause problems.

“You, you…!”

“Should I teach you one more time?”

As Soa’s hand rose slightly again, the maid hurriedly dropped to her knees.

“M-Miss!”

“Fortunately, you understand well.”

How could she have been so arrogant all this time when those knees could bend so easily?

Soa left the maid trembling with anger and walked away.

A sharp voice pierced her back.

“M-Miss, the clothes…!”

“You should clean them up.”

That was the maid’s job, after all.

Mokyeon had been waiting at the main gate from the very beginning.

She intended to watch what Soa looked like when she was dragged away to the Ink King in her place.

Just then, Jin Soa approached from a distance.

Mokyeon frowned when she saw Soa dressed so plainly.

“What an embarrassing appearance. Did Mother not even give you a wedding dress?”

“She did, but it smelled disgusting.”

“What?”

Mokyeon frowned, but Soa ignored her and stopped in front of the main gate.

Her attitude had subtly changed.

Normally, she would have kept her head down and walked on eggshells around them.

But now, her chin was held high.

Does she think she’s become someone important just because she’s going to the Ink King?

It was laughable how desperately she was scrambling to improve her lot in life.

“Did you want to cling to the prince that badly? Well, I suppose even that monster prince would be good enough for you. It’s still better than becoming the concubine of some wealthy, old merchant.”

Soa quietly turned her head toward Mokyeon, who was mocking her.

Then she pulled the lotus hairpin from Mokyeon’s hair.

The carefully styled hair fell loose.

“What are you doing?!”

“I’m taking back the things I foolishly lost.”

“Jin Soa. Have you gone mad?”

“Elder Sister, your words are rather vulgar.”

Soa calmly stuck the hairpin into her own hair.

“Elder Sister? Did you just call me Elder Sister?”

Mokyeon became furious.

Soa had always called her Miss.

Because whenever she called her Elder Sister, a slap would follow.

Yet now she was suddenly calling her that.

“And besides.”

Soa stepped closer to Mokyeon and spoke.

“I’ll be a member of the Imperial Family soon. Speaking to me that way would be discourteous, wouldn’t it, Elder Sister?”

She smiled sweetly.

Mokyeon’s eyes wavered in confusion.

But as though trying to hide her embarrassment, she raised the corners of her trembling lips.

“You think you’re already something just because you’re going to the Ink King? Hmm?”

Mokyeon poked Soa in the shoulder with her finger.

“Get a grip, Jin Soa. You’re nothing more than someone picking up what I threw away.”

Soa looked down at the finger poking her shoulder and gave a small laugh.

Threw away?

You threw away the Ink King?

“You never had him in the first place. How can you say you threw him away?”

“What…?”

Mokyeon’s eyebrow twitched.

“It’s ridiculous. Isn’t ‘throw away’ something only a person who had something in the first place can say?”

Soa chuckled.

Mokyeon’s face grew hot.

It was Mokyeon herself who had stubbornly refused to go to the Ink King because she hated the idea.

And yet, somehow, it felt as though Jin Soa had stolen something from her.

As though a sly fox had shamelessly snatched away something that belonged to her…

No. That can’t be.

Mokyeon bit her lip.

The Ink King was something she had thrown away.

Because he was a horrifying monster prince.

“You know the Ink King’s face was ruined by a curse, right? How does it feel to be sold off to the ugliest man in the entire empire?”

Mokyeon laughed as she reminded herself why she had rejected the Ink King.

Of course, there was no way she could live with a man like that.

But then—

“Really? Then you must have seen the Ink King’s face before, Elder Sister?”

Jin Soa asked calmly.

“Of course! I saw him, and he was so hideously ugly that I couldn’t even look him in the eye!”

Mokyeon snapped back.

Soa narrowed her eyes.

A lie.

Even in her previous life, Mokyeon had complained that she had never actually seen the Ink King’s face.

Her obvious bluff was so ridiculous that it was almost laughable, but Mokyeon did not stop.

“There’s no way a human face could be that horrifying…!”

At that moment—

Creeeak—

The heavy main gate began to move.

For an instant, the air grew strangely still.

A cold shadow stretched through the slowly opening gap in the gate.

Step.

Along with the hem of a black robe, heavy footsteps pressed down upon the courtyard.

A man dressed in pitch-black robes, a longsword hanging at his waist.

A cold shadow could be seen beneath the black myeokri draped over his head.

He advanced like darkness swallowing the entire estate.

“The I-Ink King…!”

The name was whispered fearfully by one of the maidservants standing behind Mokyeon.

The man, so tall that he seemed almost able to touch the eaves, cast a long, dark shadow over Mokyeon.