C4 Part1

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“But Her Highness the Consort has been so gracious to us! If the Mistress is looking down on Her Highness in this manner, then we should at least be the ones to take her side!”

“But to be completely honest, the Mistress isn’t such a bad person either. Last time, when one of the workers got hurt moving all the luggage, she sent for a doctor and sent them back home with medicine. She told them that they don’t have to come back until they’re all better and even sent them back with money. After that, I heard that she’s been sending them a living wage as they recover at home. I heard the worker won’t stop thanking the Mistress enough.”

When the woman stopped speaking, the rest of them kept their mouths shut. Consort Yu continued to send them gifts as thanks for taking care of the Master, but those gifts came with conditions. They were to report who Heon was meeting with and what they spoke about. However, not MoonWon.

She made them bear the consequences of the mess they made, but she didn’t order them around with a domineering aura or give them intimidating commands. On the contrary, she paid attention to the details that the Consort never cared for and took care of it one by one.

While there were still those who remained loyal to the Consort, there were definitely some who began to favor MoonWon.

“Either way, if you plan on harassing the Mistress, then you need to do it knowing that it’s going to come back to you. If you’re caught by Yusun-nim or Junghwan-nim, you’ll definitely get in trouble.”

“Still, I don’t think Yujin’s mom and dad

[1] will change their minds. Didn’t that couple receive tons of money for personally reporting to the Consort? I heard that they beat a servant half to death for daring to ask if they could stop doing this. And…”

“You’re not finished yet?”

The women’s gossiping came to a halt when a frantic servant reprimanded them. The women’s mouths remained shut as their busy hands continued to move.

* * *

As Yeori watched the two carriages, her expression turned dark.

Heon was the one who had first held out his hand when he asked MoonWon to attend the banquet with him. However, in the end, the result was always the same. One carriage was big enough for the both of them, but two were prepared anyway. Yeori wanted to ask Heon if they had to travel separately like this.

Yeori glanced at MoonWon to see if she was upset with this situation, but she was merely accepting Yusun’s greeting instead. Yeori didn’t want to ask MoonWon how she felt about this if MoonWon herself hadn’t noticed.

However, Hong-ah thought differently as he stood by Yeori’s side.

“Mistress, are you okay?”

“Hong-ah! You!”

MoonWon tilted her head in confusion at Hong-ah’s question. Yeori glanced at Hong-ah, telling him to stop with her eyes, but Hong-ah had already blurted out his thoughts.

“He asked you to go with him, but he’s getting into another carriage.”

When Hong-ah’s unhesitant voice spoke up, Yeori glanced at MoonWon. However, MoonWon remained the same.

After he had held out his hand and asked her to go to the Palace with him, no word nor thought popped into her head. She managed to squeeze out a few words and accept his invitation, but after that, she hurried back to her room as if she were running away.

Just thinking about that time made her heart race. He’d merely held out his hand, but she felt as if she’d caught a glimpse of what was behind the tightly shut door.

“Even if I’m his wife, isn’t it too bold for me to just enter his carriage because I wanted to go with him?”

“Mistress! How can you say that?!”

Distraught by MoonWon’s words, Yeori raised her voice. Hong-ah, who had only asked the question out of curiosity, was bewildered and lowered his head. Only MoonWon seemed to laugh softly at her words. When Hong-ah glanced at her, MoonWon stroked his hair and adjusted her dress.

Although the clothes weren’t as simple as the ones she’d worn before, her skirts and sleeves were not as wide. When MoonWon got into the carriage on her own, Yeori followed in after her.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming in?”

When Hong-ah didn’t follow after them, Yeori pressed him. Despite Yeori’s insistence, Hong-ah continued to hesitate. Then he spoke to MoonWon in a soft voice.

“Can I go with you?”

Knowing why Hong-ah was asking this, MoonWon smiled.

“Is there a reason why you can’t?”

“Not really, but…”

When MoonWon took him under her wing, a lot of the harassment towards him had gone away, but he ended up receiving a lot of the other servants’ envy instead. Yeori was the first servant that had come to serve MoonWon, so she was a given, but Hong-ah had gotten his position by pure chance.

However, MoonWon kept Hong-ah close just like she did with Yeori and did everything she could for him. His ragged clothes had been exchanged for ones of good quality, and his shaggy hair had become neat and tidy with the help of MoonWon’s hands.

When MoonWon departed for the capital, Hong-ah was going to be left alone, and the harassment would begin again. He had been worried about it, but it wasn’t like he could follow MoonWon as he pleased.

“It’s alright, so get in.”