Chapter 75

Galeun's Tongue

As Galeun began to feel nauseous, his startled wife and maids quickly surrounded him and hurriedly headed towards the side door leading to the quarters.

“Eh? Eh? Wait, wait.”

“Calm down. We won’t do anything bad.”

The maids urgently supported Galeun from both sides, and his wife, Zhuge Qing, asked about his condition.

Galeun, hanging between the two maids, started to be dragged along, dragging his feet.

Galeun, alternating his gaze between the maids and his wife, looked as if his eyes would pop out. His younger sisters, with shocked faces, followed the wife and the maids.

“Sis, sis!”

“It’s fine. We’re just moving you to the room.”

In response to Zhuge Qing’s answer, Galeun’s younger sisters looked somewhat relieved, and the wife’s question continued.

“Since when has this been happening?”

“Oh, I was wrong!”

Galeun, startled by Zhuge Qing’s interrogating tone and the maids who seemed to be escorting him, hastily apologized.

As if he had committed a grave mistake...

Suspicion grew into doubt, and doubt into corruption, gradually expanding.

“No, I’m not here to hear your apology. I just want to check your condition, so answer honestly.”

Zhuge Qing’s voice, not sounding too harsh, made Galeun cautiously reply.

“Um, about a month ago...”

“A month?! Why didn’t you inform the Zhuge family?!”

In response to his wife’s question, Galeun closed his eyes tightly and answered.

“What? It’s a minor issue, and I was... scared...”

“Nonsense! Remember, you are one of the people of the Elder!”

“What? Yes... I’m sorry.”

As Galeun was dragged along, he shouted towards the wife and the maids leading the way.

“Wait a moment!”

He felt that the wife and the maids had some misunderstanding.

Thankfully, I noticed it quickly; otherwise, it could have been a disaster.

The two maids, the wife, Galeun, and Galeun’s two younger sisters all turned to look at me simultaneously. Feeling the concentrated gazes, I spoke in an awkward voice.

“There seems to be a big misunderstanding, doesn’t it?”

In response to my words, Zhuge Qing slowly closed her eyes and nodded, as if she understood everything.

“I’m not jealous, Elder. I’m just checking his condition.”

“No, that’s not what I mean...”

“Since you are one of the Elder’s people, it’s natural for me to take care of you.”

-Creak

As she said this, her fingers dug into the door frame, which she had slightly twisted.

-Crack

The stone outside the side door leading to the quarters, where she was standing, split in all directions with a crack.

Though she said it wasn’t so, her emotional control was clearly failing.

Startled by this, I shouted again.

“Madam, it seems you have misunderstood everything!”

“What exactly is the misunderstanding?”

“No, I mean, everything is a misunderstanding!”

In response to my words, Zhuge Qing’s composure seemed to break, and her eyes, like a clear lake, began to emit a piercing laser.

Sudongpo, the tiger of Hedong? The railgun of Hubei, Zhuge Qing. If he had seen her railgun and laser, he would have been so impressed that he would have written a poem in her praise.

“What is the misunderstanding? That the Elder promised to marry me and then took a concubine? Or that the concubine had a child first?”

Zhuge Qing knew exactly what she was misunderstanding.

“Yes! That’s all a misunderstanding.”

“Huh?!”

As Zhuge Qing frowned and looked at Galeun, Galeun, like he had a fever, started nodding his head, just as he had done to the maid earlier.

“But my chest feels so swollen... and my stomach...”

At this, Zhuge Qing’s mouth, which had been frozen like time, began to emit a strange sound, just like the maid had.

“Ah... Hot... Ugh...”

Then, she quickly stepped outside, leaving a word for me and running towards the quarters.

“I’m very tired from the long journey. I’ll go rest first.”

“No, Madam, we stayed at Brother Po’s house last night and didn’t walk far...”

Before I could finish, the maids gave me a look of disapproval and started running after the wife.

“Miss! Come with us! Miss!”

The dinner atmosphere, which was already bad, had completely fallen apart.

The wife and the maids had gone, and I didn’t want to follow and make her more embarrassed, so I encouraged Galeun’s younger sisters to eat and asked Galeun if he was in pain.

“Galeun, are you in any serious pain? If the symptoms have lasted a month, shouldn’t we see a doctor? If you don’t have money, I can call a doctor for you.”

Worried, I asked, and Galeun, unsure of what to do, started looking at the maid for cues. The maid, seeing this, snorted and disappeared into the kitchen.

“Hmph!”

‘What’s going on?’

There seemed to be a significant issue between them.

“If the maid or the wife comes looking for me, tell them I’m having a brief conversation with Galeun.”

“Understood, Innkeeper!”

With the misunderstanding cleared, I gave the children a little extra money and took Galeun outside.

I thought it would be better to talk somewhere else, so we went to the stream near the inn.

“Now, with no maid around, tell me what’s going on. There seems to be a problem between you two. If the maid is at fault, I’ll dismiss her, so don’t worry and speak freely.”

Galeun is my only employee. I don’t know what kind of person the maid is, but if there’s a problem, I’ll side with my own.

Seeing my firm stance, Galeun seemed to trust me and started to speak cautiously.

“So, it started after the maid arrived...”

Galeun, looking at the moon, started to recall the events, as if living up to his name.

***

Galeun was uneasy