The Young Consort Wants to Live Quietly

Chapter 14

***

Garam dashed forward without a second thought, his warrior-trained body tearing through his silk clothes with every movement. The palace attendants who made his clothes would have been tearing their hair out in frustration. But Garam couldn’t care less about that.

“Mirinae!” he thought angrily. That nine-tailed fox, his face plastered with gold, harboring snakes in his belly! That little child had been summoned by such a person! Who knew what would happen to her there?

Mirinae was the type to chew Sanya up and still wipe his mouth with a smile as if nothing happened. And now Sanya had gone into that snake pit!

“Kyaa!”

“You, you shouldn’t do this!”

Garam grabbed anyone he could find in Mirinae’s palace, Flower Spirit Palace, demanding the Noble Consort’s whereabouts before charging off. Although some attendants tried to stop him, Garam paid them no heed and headed straight for the room where Mirinae and Sanya were, flinging the door open.

Bang!

“Mirinae!”

“Hic!”

The sound that greeted him as he burst in was a hiccup. Garam immediately saw Sanya, her hands covering her mouth, eyes wide with shock. The child, already pale as a rice grain, had turned the color of stale rice, trembling incessantly.

That sight was enough for Garam to believe that Mirinae had indeed tormented Sanya. Garam thought he had to rescue the terrified Sanya from Mirinae’s clutches, leading to the unusual situation of him engaging in a verbal battle with Mirinae, rather than physical. It was indeed rare for Garam to fight with words instead of fists, a consideration made only because of the trembling Sanya.

Thus, Garam experienced cognitive dissonance seeing the trembling—hiccuping—Sanya calmly step out of Mirinae’s embrace to greet him, then turning around to give him a mere nod without a word. He was deeply shocked.

Was he hated?

Garam had always been a troublemaker since childhood, and after causing trouble, someone would always look at him with those eyes. Although he felt somewhat wronged, he couldn’t say anything because he was indeed guilty. But at that moment, he was just frozen as if hit on the back of his head.

“…Huh?”

Forgetting he was in front of Mirinae, Garam blurted out such a foolish word.

* * *

What about Mirinae?

Surprisingly, he was quite downcast, unable to mock Garam’s stupidity.

“Did she dislike it?”

Mirinae had immediately investigated Sanya after she had seen his eyes. The conclusion was that Sanya did not recognize his eyes.

The truth about Mirinae’s identity was a secret known only to the head of his family. If Mirinae’s power was taken away, it would mean the downfall of his family, so even with deep alliances, that fact would not be shared. Still, just in case, Mirinae had looked into the Yeoran family and discovered an unexpected truth.

Within the Yeoran family, Sanya Yeoran was treated like a sack of grain left out in the rain. There was no trace in the mansion that a young girl lived there—no toys or signs of mischief that a loved child would have.

The reactions of people were all exaggerated, each claiming how much of a significant impact they had on Sanya.

Everyone’s desperate claims of having treated Sanya with utmost care led Mirinae to discern the opposite as the truth.

It was a relief to Mirinae that Sanya did not react with fear upon seeing his eyes. However, he felt the need to ask her not to disclose this fact.

He thought it might be a good opportunity to understand her tastes, considering she looked as if she hadn’t had a bowl of porridge to eat, and perhaps send food to the palace. Unbeknownst to Sanya, Mirinae’s reason for calling her was genuinely just this. Therefore, he couldn’t understand why Sanya was so wary and uncomfortable around him.

He was concerned that an eight-year-old child was behaving too maturely. A face stiff with propriety, adhering too strictly to etiquette, was part of it. It wouldn’t hurt her to act more child-like.

Mirinae felt sorry for Sanya.

When Mirinae kindly suggested that Sanya would look pretty if she smiled, she truly smiled brilliantly. Just as he felt relieved, thinking she had finally relaxed, Sanya began to watch him cautiously again.

What was the problem?

He hadn’t threatened her in any way; on the contrary, he thought he had taken good care of her.

He had told her that his eyes weren’t scary, but perhaps they were still frightening to a child?

Moreover, Sanya seldom made eye contact with him.

Mirinae was sincere and felt a bit hurt by this. What he overlooked was that eyes play a significant role in expressing emotions, and Mirinae used his mouth, the only other feature available for expressing emotions, very minimally.

Had Sanya seen his eyes in that situation, she might have realized he felt pity for her, but she could only see his mouth.

A mouth that does not smile on a face with hidden eyes was a source of fear for Sanya, though it was a sign of sadness for Mirinae.

“Was the food not to your liking?”

But the Noble Consort, unaware of this, only blamed the poor cooking skills.

* * *

“Ugh.”

A chilly wind caressed my cheeks, eliciting a groan. The sun had set quickly, and the temperature had dropped sharply because of it.

The attendants of Mirinae’s palace, the Flower Spirit Palace, didn’t seem interested in taking care of me. That was to be expected since I already knew my reputation among them wasn’t good.

One of the palace maids who served Mirinae closely managed to sneak out and escort me to the entrance of the Flower Spirit Palace, and from there, I had to walk to my palace, the Floral West Palace, alone.

The walk took about ten minutes. It wasn’t far, and I remembered the way, but walking alone in the dark night was unavoidably scary. During the walk, I continually cursed the arrogant maid from earlier.

But now, I had finally arrived. I knocked on the tall gate of the Floral West Palace.

Knock, knock.

The soft knocking sound echoed.

Even after knocking, I frowned slightly. To get the gatekeeper to hear and open the door, the sound needed to be louder; my knocking sounded like a small cat scratching at the door.

Just as I was contemplating whether to kick the door, it swung open, and faces popped out.

“My lady!”

“You’re back! Are you safe? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“…Heesa?”

I called out the name of the talkative maid in front of me in a daze. Heesa beamed brightly, pleased that I remembered her name.

“Yes! You remembered my name!”

“You, really! Now’s not the time to be proud! We need to bring the lady inside first!”

The maid who had urged me to spit out flowers earlier scolded Heesa. At her words, the gathered maids jumped as if they had been whipped. Seoyeon, the first to regain her composure, reached out to me.

I looked up at her silently. It was after sunset, so I couldn’t see her expression clearly.

“Please come in, my lady.”

Was she asking me to take her hand?

After hesitating for a moment, I carefully extended my hand and placed it on hers. A warm energy enveloped my cold hand instantly. Seoyeon firmly wrapped my hand and gently rubbed it. I felt my nose tingle and my cheeks twitch.

“Goodness. Sending the lady back alone in this cold night! How can everyone be so heartless!”

Heesa fumed with indignation. I looked up at her worriedly, thinking that if Mirinae heard about this, she might receive a severe punishment.

“Heesa.”

Just as I was about to say something, Seoyeon called Heesa with a stern voice. As the leader of the maids, she seemed to know who held the real power.

Just when I thought I could relax, Seoyeon added, “Talk inside.”

Involuntarily, I looked at Seoyeon with dead fish eyes. She clearly knew I was looking at her but didn’t return the gaze.

Eventually, I relaxed my eyes and snickered. It’s human nature to not always find it pleasant being looked after. Honestly, I was a bit happy to be welcomed back. But the problem was…

“Miss Sanya!”

There was that maid, running towards me.

“Miss! It’s been too long. You must have been so inconvenienced without me?”

The maid immediately took my hand from Seoyeon’s. Her attempt to get cozy by linking arms with me was utterly shameless. Despite the height difference that made my arm stretch awkwardly upwards, she persistently linked arms.

But was it that the other maids were present that she couldn’t outright curse?

“Has it been a while? It feels like I just saw you. It would have been nice if you came back in about thirty years.”

“Oh, Miss, really!”

The maid bit her teeth at my indifferent comment but forced a lively voice. Then, sneakily reaching out to pinch my side, I instantly grimaced.

“Ow. Let go.”

I pushed her away with some force, and she stumbled back. In the maid’s eyes, there was a look of disbelief at my actions.

“Miss! What are you doing!”

If I had let her be a bit longer, she might have even grabbed my hair.

“Why are you here?”

“Why am I here? Where else should I be if not by your side?”

“No need, so leave.”

The thought of kicking her out wasn’t entirely absent. I wasn’t aiming for the original Sanya’s revenge, but this maid was rude and insolent not just to Sanya but to me as well.

But then, what’s the use of kicking out this speck of dust? It would only cause her to act out more. It seemed best to just send her out of the palace and not see her face.

At my command to leave, the maid started to make a scene again. It began to sound like a dog barking. As I watched her with a scowl, the maids started to surround her.

“We let her be because she seemed friendly with the young miss, but…”

“This insolent thing.”

Huh?

I blinked in surprise at the sudden change in their demeanor. Heesa came over and snuggly wrapped her arm around my shoulder.

“Shall we go in, my lady?”

Her coquettish voice made me chuckle. It was clear she was trying to divert attention, but I didn’t really want to scold her.

It was a relief not having to deal with it myself.

The night air had made me shiver. I felt like my throat was already swelling, so I nodded.

It seemed like I would be able to rest comfortably tonight.