“An arranged marriage, really?”
“Who? Kang Yoon-ho. With whom? Jeagal Hyang.”
“Why? How come?” Im Ha-yeon’s frozen mind echoed with unanswered questions.
“That’s just… a joke, right?”
He sometimes cracks jokes to lighten a tense mood. It has to be a joke. Im Ha-yeon concluded clumsily.
“It’s true. Man Geum-jeon suggested it.”
She would have preferred it to be a joke. Im Ha-yeon’s poorly formed conclusion was swiftly shattered.
“Why… why would Man Geum-jeon suggest a matchmaking for you?”
Im Ha-yeon couldn’t help but tremble, her voice shaking.
“I must have made quite an impression.”
“Do wealthy people nowadays rob fortunes and force matchmaking when they like someone?”
“That’s my point. He said it’s unreasonable for a man to run a business without a woman to support him, so he arranged this date.”
“Why is there no woman to support you…?”
But I’m already doing that. Im Ha-yeon barely held back the words threatening to jump out and looked at him with trembling eyes.
A woman to support him. In other words, a wife.
The thought that she might become his wife made one question flash through her mind.
What exactly is her relationship with Kang Yoon-ho?
Is what she’s doing supporting him? No, they’re not that close yet to be calling it support.
He’s holding her and she’s holding his hand. No, isn’t she just leaning on his favor? But she thinks she’s helping him still.
Im Ha-yeon’s heart was instantly thrown into chaos by the news of Kang Yoon-ho’s matchmaking.
“Deputy Head?”
“So, you heard that and just came back?”
Im Ha-yeon barely concealed her turbulent heart at Kang Yoon-ho’s voice.
How can this man talk about going on a matchmaking casually in front of her? Im Ha-yeon felt a bit flustered by his nonchalance.
“If you refuse just because of me, how will you protect Da Seo Gak and Im Ha-yeon?”
Im Ha-yeon took a deep breath without realizing it, under his gaze that treated her as precious.
This man is really…
He has a habit of coming from strange angles.
“I get that, but…”
He’s going for a matchmaking he doesn’t want, for her sake. At that moment, Im Ha-yeon became ashamed of how she had resented Kang Yoon-ho.
“I’ll go because of Man Geum-jeon’s insistence, but it was bound to fail anyway. I’m a black-haired barbarian, and my opponent is the youngest daughter of the great Jeagal family.”
Kang Yoon-ho dismissed the possibility easily.
“…”
“To get through this trial, I can only do my best on Man Geum-jeon’s terms.”
You’re not going to take this matchmaking seriously, right? Im Ha-yeon couldn’t bring herself to speak.
If luck is on his side, he might become the son-in-law of the Jeagal family. But even in that situation, he’s looking at her.
“I understand. I’ll trust you.”
Im Ha-yeon tried to manage her expression as her lips almost curled into a smile and nodded.
——
Spring had passed, and the nights in Wuhan were getting hotter.
Im Ha-yeon got out of bed, unable to sleep, and opened the window.
“It’s bound to fail in the first place.”
He said it lightly, but Im Ha-yeon’s heart did not feel light at all. Lying on the bed, she couldn’t shake the thought of him going on a matchmaking.
The great Jeagal family.
A martial arts family that could rival the Sichuan Tang family or the Namgung family. Even the high-handed Nine Great Sects & One Alliance wouldn’t dare treat them lightly.
Kang Yoon-ho was going to be matched with the youngest daughter of the Jeagal family.
It’s bound to fail. One is a despised foreign man, and the other is the youngest daughter of a prestigious family. The gap is too vast.
But…
Im Ha-yeon shut her eyes tightly and recalled the man she had been watching all this time, Kang Yoon-ho. If, just if, the Jeagal family were people who looked beyond appearances…
Im Ha-yeon shook her head, trying to shake off her anxiety, and stood in front of a full-length mirror.
“He likes me. …But it’s bound to fail.”
The treasure of the Umbrella Pavilion.
With a beautiful appearance that made her think she had never lost to anyone in her life, shimmering pink hair. A voluptuous body, and she was confident in the elasticity of her lower body thanks to her light body movement training.
Surely, he didn’t fall for her for nothing.
He’s seen her like this every day. Would any woman stand a chance in front of him?
If you refuse just because of me, how will you protect Da Seo Gak and Im Ha-yeon?
Im Ha-yeon tried to soothe her anxious mind with Kang Yoon-ho’s words as she lay back down and tried to sleep.
It’s bound to fail.
It won’t work out.
There’s no way it’ll work out with the youngest daughter of the Jeagal family.
“What if it actually works out?”
In the end, Im Ha-yeon could not sleep easily.
*
At Man Geum-jeon’s mansion.
Hehe hehehe.
A beautiful woman with silver hair was unable to contain a silly giggle that didn’t match her appearance.
“Hyang, are you feeling a little strange? Are you not feeling well?”
“Perhaps you were shocked by getting entangled in an incident. Should we call a physician?”
Outside the closed door, Jeagal Hyang heard the whispers of the servants but didn’t care.
“No, it’s not that.”
A master of social interaction with zero communication skills. A complete simpleton who can’t even meet eyes with a stranger.
That she, who seemed like she wouldn’t be popular with men at all…
“I’ve become a woman who receives confessions from men!”
Jeagal Hyang jumped around the empty, spacious room, overwhelmed with joy.
Would you go out with me?
At a distance where they could feel each other’s breath, the man gazed down at her with a pensive face. Exotic but captivating, she almost felt her heart leap out.
“Haah, just thinking about it feels like a picture-perfect scene.”
Recalling that moment made Jeagal Hyang’s heart race uncontrollably.
“Confession? This is proof that I’m an attractive woman. Hehe hehehe.”
It was such a thrilling moment that her memory might have a few gaps, but that didn’t matter. After all, what mattered was that Master Kang confessed and she accepted it.
“Ack! My shin! Hehe hehehe.”
As Jeagal Hyang danced ineptly, she bumped her shin against the table but didn’t care. The joy of being confessed to overshadowed the pain.
“Kang Master, Kang Yoon-ho Master.”
Jeagal Hyang recited his name musically, savoring it.
Her shin still ached, but that didn’t matter. Holding onto her injured shin, she recalled the events that had played out in her cousin’s mansion a hundred times over.
In desperate peril.
With her black hair fluttering amid the enemy’s encampment, the man had boldly come to rescue her.
Hehe hehehe.
What had it been like when surrounded by warriors? He moved for her sake rather than his own safety.
With words full of logic and bravado, he had subdued all those warriors and made her aunt, who hadn’t listened to a word, bow down.
Just like in her favorite novels, where a man risks his life to save a woman.
Wasn’t he like Tang Jung from The Rise of the Tang Family?
“Now, I’ve also received a confession, right…?”
Jeagal Hyang rolled around the room, recalling the moments of the confession, when she suddenly felt something was off.
What was it?
I’m rolling… but that’s now. No, I had rolled before. Where? From the confession scene.
“Ack!”
Curse that donkey roll!
Jeagal Hyang finally recalled what she had done right after accepting his confession.
“Whoa whoa whoa! I did something so embarrassing in front of Master Kang!”
What was that donkey roll? It was a disgrace for martial artists. The most shameful movement, right?
And she was the match for Master Kang. He saw her, the potential match, roll around on the ground.
In a situation where she should have been confessing!
How utterly disgraceful. She must have looked like she had no feminine charm whatsoever.
“Thinking back, I don’t think I properly apologized about the impersonation issue…”
She had caused great damage to Da Seo Gak. Ho Pil would be incredibly disappointed too. After all this, she might even risk losing the tea bookstore because of her.
Would you engage in a contract relationship with me?
“On second thought, I said I wouldn’t date, so…”
To Master Kang, she was a bundle of unlikability, a whole lot of trouble. Yet here she was, a pathetic woman who had to go on a matchmaking because of her grandfather.
“Ughhhh. Ugh! Ugh!”
She wanted to die. She had to die. Her counterpart had no feelings for her, yet she foolishly created this illusion. Jeagal Hyang banged her head against the post, unable to contain her humiliation.
What kind of flower garden had she been strolling in?
There couldn’t possibly be a world where she was a popular woman.
“Miss! Why are you banging your head against the post?!!!”
The startled servants burst through the door.
“I… I’m so embarrassed I can’t face Master Kang!”
“The matchmaker?”
“Yes!”
“I don’t know what happened, but don’t worry! I have a way to ensure you’re not embarrassed the next time you see him.”
“Really? You have a method?”
Could there be some method known only to popular women that she didn’t know about?
“Bring her to my room quickly!”
“Yes!”
“What’s this?”
What the servants brought in were piles of clothes—hundreds of them.
“You must look pretty when you go out for your matchmaking! We’ll see which outfit suits you best starting today. Let’s try on each one!”
“Um, I… I like comfortable clothes, though…”
Even if it gets ink on it. Casual, easy to change alone. Cold sweat dripped down Jeagal Hyang’s neck.
“Oh my, this outfit looks beautiful!”
The dresses the servants admired were all ethereal and flowy, something from a different world than hers.
“I must… run away…”
“Miss, hold on! In my years as a servant, I’ve never seen a beauty that deserves dressing up as much as you! Be prepared from today!”
“Ughhh.”
Jeagal Hyang didn’t want to wear these flowing clothes, but refusing felt even harder.
*
“Is Jeagal Hyang readying herself well?”
Man Geum-jeon asked the head of guards as he strolled through the garden as usual.
“Yes. This time, we’ll make sure to prepare not just her appearance but also her safety.”
“Good. Make sure there are no mistakes.”
With the return of his runaway granddaughter, the head of guards, having served Man Geum-jeon for a long time, realized that the patriarch was in a good mood.
“I find it truly surprising. I never imagined Jeagal Hyang would go from not wanting to attend the matchmaking to wanting to meet Master Kang.”
“She must take after her mother. When it comes to recognizing a man, she’s the best among my daughters.”
Man Geum-jeon smiled softly as he recalled the time his daughter, Jang Young-young, had married.
She was exceptionally talented but a mischievous brat who caused quite a bit of trouble for her numerous masters.
She had outright rejected every man who didn’t catch her eye, leaving her late wife quite vexed.
Yet that girl had insisted on marrying a man who wasn’t even the Deputy Head of the Jeagal family at the time.
The sight of his daughter disguising herself as a proper lady in front of her beloved had stayed with Man Geum-jeon for many years.
“Surely, Master Kang must appear outstanding to Jeagal Hyang as well. I didn’t think she would charge straight into Heo’s mansion without seeking the patriarch’s help.”
Hehe hehehe. That caught me off guard as well. I had expected him to kneel before me at the very least.
Man Geum-jeon was aware of how events had unfolded.
He had left the test of character to Kang Yoon-ho, who could conveniently use the name of The Rise of the Tang Family while borrowing the reputation of others before recklessly publishing the books he’d forbidden.
Especially considering the clumsiness of his grandson; forgetting who he had taken a test from couldn’t be overlooked.
Under normal circumstances, he would have scolded his grandson harshly and taken back the certificate from that test.
The only reason he let it slide was that Kang Yoon-ho asked for it, thinking that since Jeagal Hyang wasn’t blameless either, he could just let them meet.
“From what I hear, he subdued dozens of martial artists and promenaded out holding Jeagal Hyang’s hand. It reminds me of when young Master Kang risked everything to take on the Black Knife.”
Hehe. I was young back then. I had a friend whom I would trust with my life alongside me.
Faint memories; Man Geum-jeon recalled the face of his friend with the surname Baek, who had followed him because he couldn’t bear to watch him die alone.
“Master Kang even involved Jeon Gil-san to ensure that The Rise of the Tang Family wouldn’t be sold anymore.”
Man Geum-jeon silently chuckled at the thought of Kang Yoon-ho’s actions, which surpassed his expectations on how he handled the test.
He had turned enemies who had troubled him twice into allies, employing methods difficult for normal people to carry out.
Such would not do for revenge-driven martial artists or common folk, but it represented the mindset of a true merchant.
Given that the person he compelled was his own grandson made it all the more joyous.
After all, they would soon become family.
“I suppose I should congratulate them. Let’s prepare the matchmaking before Jeagal Hyang’s heart changes.”
“I will ensure that nothing is overlooked this time.”
Man Geum-jeon quietly gazed toward the west, not responding to the head of guards.
He knew that his time would eventually fade like water flowing past…
Yet, appearances may change, but the spirit matching the youth and his friend needed someone to guide them.
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