Chapter 31
The market was crowded despite the drizzling rain.
His robe damp against his skin, Seojun visited every merchant shop and street vendor, following the traces of Yeonhee.
But his search was interrupted by a commotion up ahead.
Like the sea parting at low tide, a path appeared through the crowd.
Commoners had moved to prostrate themselves in the mud at the passing of a high official, and behind him was a line of officers.
“Excuse me,” came a female voice. “Please, I must make haste.”
Seojun looked and noticed, a few paces away, a young woman weaving around the bowed figures, her head veiled beneath an overcoat, the green silk gleaming bright amid the wash of commoners garbed in white.
His attention narrowed upon a mark near the collar of the headdress: a single bird, embroidered.
“Begging your pardon,” she cried, “I didn’t mean to step on you. I’m in such a hurry!”
Seojun returned his attention back to the scene before him, at officers pushing along empty wagons and carts. They were on their way to fill them, but with what?
A sudden uneasiness gripped him. Turning on his heel, he shouldered his way through the crowd, quickening his pace into a run until he stood before Five Willows. He was already too late. Officers swarmed the premises like flies upon a carcass.
“Is … is that not Minister Yu’s son?” Voices sounded muffled in his distraction, his entire focus on the shop entrance, wondering if Haewon was still inside.
“Ah yes. He is.” Smudges of red-robed figures loomed next to him and clapped his back.
“Yu Seojun! How tall and handsome you have grown! I always hear about your great achievements…” Voices continued to garble together. “You are your father’s pride.”
Panic thrummed as he watched officers stalk out with books and toss them into carts.
“Excuse me,” Seojun insisted.
With Shin Haewon still inside, Five Willows might as well have been in flames.
The fear gripped him just the same. Pushing his way through the growing crowd of spectators, then past the row of officers, he strode into Five Willows.
A hand grabbed at him inside the shop, but then the officer at once snatched his hand away in disorientation.
Whispers arose among the officers. Minister Yu’s son.
He shoved past a few more men, bumped into Merchant Hyoyang, who was bemoaning the situation, then drew closer to the center of chaos.
Time slowed as he watched the books being lifted from the shelves, carried out in armfuls.
Soon they would be scrubbed of ink, of all stories, left to wither under the merciless sun, their paper to be reused for correct and proper purposes.
Then he saw her.
Haewon moved through the wreckage, but she didn’t see him, her face small and pale under the silk overcoat pulled over her head. Her eyes were red, her cheeks tear-streaked, her breathing ragged.
Instinctively, he caught her by the arm to stop her, then quickly released it just as she turned, startled, her face crumpling. “You came back.”
His thundering pulse slackened as he took in the sight of her.
She was here. She was before him, unharmed.
Her veil still bundled her in anonymity.
She and her family might not be ruined yet.
He took in a deep breath, wiping his brow.
His limbs had never felt so weak before. “Of course I did,” he finally answered.
“The books,” she whispered, “all these books…” She shook her head, a look of worry draining the remaining color from her face. “You need to leave. He is here.”
Seojun looked up. Anger pulsed through his blood at the sight of Wuyeong watching them. But he managed to keep calm, his voice low, as he murmured to her, “The little bird. You once wore a veil with a magpie embroidered at the collar. Where is it now?”
Much confused, she stammered, “My veil? I—I’m unsure why you are asking. Let’s not speak here. You should leave—”
“Where is it?”
She hesitated. “It was missing since two mornings ago. Yeonhee likely took it; she often does.”
“Then I think, if you step outside, you will find that sister you are so desperately looking for.”
“She is here?” Her shock and relief were palpable, so taken aback she seemed unaware of her own hand clasping his sleeve. She might as well have been tugging at his heart. “You are certain you saw her?”
“Yes,” he rasped.
He watched her run to the door, then kept staring at the empty space she’d left behind. A sense of finality settled over him; it came in a wave of sadness and an odd feeling of emptiness, as though he had reached the end of a tale he’d wished would never end.
Once reunited with her sister, Shin Haewon would no longer have any need for his assistance.
He would not see her again after this day.
There would be no more late-night encounters.
No more long walks down the damp country road together.
No more Magpie and Black Lotus, the thread of potential scandal binding them together.
No more, that is, so long as Wuyeong kept quiet.
Turning now, he shot a cold glance at the man who was quickly becoming the bane of his existence.
“My lord!” Wuyeong’s smooth voice called out. “I don’t know what she’s told you, but you’d be wise to keep your distance from her ilk. If I told you who she really was, why, you’d be flabbergasted—!”
Seojun moved forward in one swift movement, grabbing the nuisance by the collar. Knuckles white, he gave the man a fierce shove against the wall, sending more books toppling to the ground. Officers had paused their shuffling to stare.
“Stay away from her,” Seojun snarled.
“I—” Wuyeong looked pale with shock. “I am merely doing my duty, nauri.”
“Your duty? Is it your duty to harass young women?” His grip tightening around the man’s collar, Seojun wanted nothing more than to shake some sense into him. “You are nothing more than a scoundrel, a sycophant who deserves a good thrashing.”
Wuyeong grew a shade paler at this. “My d-dear Lord Yu, you are mistaken. Your anger is most misdirected. She’s lied to you. Shin Haewon is no lady. She’s—” A cursory glance around, and then he whispered, “Shall I tell it to you here? Who she is?”
Seojun released his grip, and soon they were in the privacy of the transcription room, which the officers had not yet touched.
With a clumsy tug, Wuyeong straightened his robe.
He could not hide the tremor in his hands.
“A book of evidence is already with your f-father, my lord. I will have to tell him all that I know, and truly, there is no other way to keep Mistress Shin Haewon’s name from my lips if I cannot explain the identity of Black Lotus.
She knows who the author is, I’m sure of it.
They’ve exchanged over a hundred letters!
Perhaps they are lovers! Either way, I must give your father a reason why I must interrogate Mistress Haewon—she is a gentleman’s daughter after all, and I cannot simply do as I please.
Indeed, the entire Ministry of Justice, and the king himself, will be so pleased with what I discover! ”
Seojun stood taut. He thought of his father. Of his sister. Of their displeasure at the chaos he was about to bring to their door. But he had always known, for a long while, that no secret could remain buried forever. Especially not a secret that endangered others.
“If I tell you who Black Lotus is,” Seojun said brusquely, “you must swear to me that you will leave her alone.”
Wuyeong froze. “You … you know Black Lotus?”
A muscle worked in his jaw. Seojun hated the thought of delivering his fate into such a man’s hand, but his father would soon discover the truth nevertheless.
If Minister Yu possessed Haewon’s book of letters, then it was only a matter of time before he recognized his son’s turn of phrases, and the reference to the yellow ribbons on pine …
Looking away, Seojun stared at the dust drifting in the stormy light. “You asked for Black Lotus’s identity,” he said coldly, “and I will give you the answer. But you haven’t promised me, yet, to leave Mistress Haewon alone.”
“I swear it! I swear it upon the graves of my parents. Upon the graves of my ancestors!”
Seojun massaged his aching temple. It took him a few moments to bully himself into accommodating this mongrel. “I am who you are searching for.”
“You are whom?”
“You asked for the identity,” Seojun said with growing impatience, “and I am giving you the answer. I am Black Lotus.”
Wuyeong scoffed, then his smirk vanished, his face going ashen.
A flurry of emotions flickered across his features before settling into a grimace.
“You are the writer?” He faltered, and as though realizing the greatness of his discovery, a smile trembled on his lips.
“No, it makes sense. I see the way you look at that girl, that girl who goes by the name Magpie. I’ve read Black Lotus’s letters.
This is how you know each other so intimately…
” Then a look of hesitation twisted his features.
“If you are jesting, speak now. I will not be made a fool of.”
The noose tightened around Seojun’s throat.
Yet he felt strangely calm as he repeated, “I, Yu Seojun, am Black Lotus. And I will admit all, provide evidence—on one condition.” He met Wuyeong’s gaze.
“You will keep your promise and ensure that your knowledge of Magpie’s identity dies with you.
Or else, mark my word, I will make your life miserable for as long as I live. ”