Disclaimer: The SKKS-verse belongs to the creators of Sungkyunkwan Scandal.
Technical Notes: As you may have noticed from Korean dramas, married women in certain (most?) Asian cultures do not take their husbands' family names; so I hope you don't get confused when I refer to Lord Cha's wife (and any married women in subsequent chapters) by their maiden names. Also, while I'm not sure whether the term "Appa" ("Dad" in Korean) already existed in SKKS-era Korea, I'm using it anyway to illustrate the relative informality of the Cha household.
Chapter Two
The first time Jae-shin saw his intended bride, she was windblown, smelling of the stables, and apparently wearing her brother's old clothes.
After giving his son what he thought was enough time to get over the initial shock, Minister Moon surprised his son again one morning by ordering him to wash and dress in proper clothing; that day, they were going to visit the Cha estate so that he could meet his betrothed.
Jae-shin's future in-laws received their guests in a spacious, luxuriously appointed room inside their sprawling house. "Nice day for a ride," Cha Bo-dae remarked after the Moons had settled themselves on silken cushions and the lady of the house, Kang Min-ah, directed the servants to serve refreshments.
"Indeed," Minister Moon agreed mildly. "We had a very pleasant trip here."
"I'm glad to hear that." Even though Lord Cha was addressing his father, Jae-shin could feel the other man's eyes on him, most probably scrutinizing his looks, his manner and every move he made. He was sorely tempted to do something to scare off the girl's father, but he couldn't shame his family.
"You have a lovely home."
"Thank you." He chuckled. "What you see is the result of a family effort — the men earn the money, and the women spend it."
Minister Moon laughed politely. "Well, it is clear that you have all done your part well. Speaking of your family, where are the children?"
"Ah..." Did an uncertain look pass between Lord Cha and his wife? "They're somewhere around the estate. I sent for them when we saw people coming." He smiled apologetically. "I suppose it would have been proper for them to be on hand to greet you, but there's no end to work on a farm, and I insist that my children spend some time learning how things are done."
"Even your daughter?"
The answer, it turned out, was yes. At that moment, three young men burst into the room. "Appa!" the tallest one said excitedly. "You won't believe the—" He broke off when he realized that his father had guests. "Oops..."
Jae-shin had turned towards the newcomers in the commotion. Perhaps attending Sungkyunkwan with Yoon-hee, who had spent part of it posing as a man, had made him more sensitive to this sort of thing, but he was fairly sure that the smallest of the "young men" was not a man at all. She was almost as tall as her brothers and resembled them to some degree, but her angular features were softer and more delicate. He became absolutely certain that he was right when the person in question looked at him and her eyes grew round.
Despite having the reality of her betrothal crammed down her throat during every waking moment ever since the match had been proposed, Cha Ka-hai still felt rooted to the spot when she came face-to-face with her incipient bridegroom. Her mortification grew when he hiccuped in shock. This was not the way she had hoped to meet him.
She was saved from having to think of a way out of the situation by her mother, who created a diversion by turning deathly white and swooning into her surprised husband's lap.
"Omonim!" Instead of making a discreet exit as a wise person would, Ka-hai dropped to her knees at the unconscious woman's side, calling over her shoulder for someone to bring her a cut onion. "What happened, Appa?"
Her father didn't have to say a word. He just looked pointedly at her attire and suggested coolly, "Children, as you can see, we have guests. Why don't you freshen up and join us? The servants will see to your mother."
She felt her brothers each take one of her arms and together, they hoisted her to her feet. "Welcome to our home, my lords," Ka-sar told them cheerfully. "As you can see, we've just come in from doing some work around the estate. Pray excuse us; we'll rejoin you after we've made ourselves presentable."
Then, as if she hadn't been humiliated enough, Ka-sar and Ka-chun frog-marched her from the room.
"What were you thinking?"
"Ouch!" Ka-hai exclaimed as her personal maid, Kwan-sook, roughly dragged a brush through her long, dark hair. "Are you trying to pull out all my hair?"
"I might as well do that if you're going to show up looking like you've been dragged through a bush backwards," the maid snapped, beginning to re-braid her mistress' hair with quick, jerking tugs. "You knew that the young lord was coming today, but you couldn't even be bothered to prepare for his arrival."
"Really? Then what is it I'm doing now?" While Kwan-sook arranged her hair, Lady Kang's personal maid was quickly sponging her body with perfumed water to remove the smell of the stables. There was no need to lay out her clothes; Ka-hai's best hanbok had been hanging from a hook since yesterday afternoon.
"You know I meant preparing on time. His lordship told you to stay close to the house, and he sent for you the moment he knew they were coming. The servants found you clear across the estate, didn't they?"
"We forgot," she admitted sheepishly. "It was so beautiful outside, and the new horses are amazing, and Ka-chun suggested a race—"
"Is Ka-chun the oldest? Do you have to follow what he says?" The maid sighed in frustration and grabbed a towel to help dry off Ka-hai so that she could get dressed. "If you're trying to scare that young man away, I think you're doing a very good job of it."
There was a knock on the door just as Ka-hai was tying her jeogori. Kwan-sook opened it to admit one of the younger maids, who reported, "The master sent me to check on the young mistress. The mistress has had to lie down, so the master says that the young mistress must help him entertain the guests."
"They're her guests, anyway," Kwan-sook said. "Tell him she'll be right out."
Ka-hai felt slightly more confident when she rejoined her family and their guests, but only just. She was glad to reappear before them dressed as she was originally supposed to, but knew that there was no erasing the abysmal first impression she must have made on her future family.
"Here she is at last," her father announced when she entered the room. His tone was jovial, but the flinty look in his eye told Ka-hai that he was displeased with her. "This is my daughter, Ka-hai. Ka-hai, this is Moon Geun-soo, the Minister of Justice, and his son, Jae-shin."
"Welcome," she said, glancing unseeingly at Minister Moon and his son before bowing her head. "I am deeply sorry for keeping everyone waiting."
"Think nothing of it, my dear," said an unfamiliar male voice.
Ka-hai looked up to see that it was Minister Moon speaking. He was a bearded ox of a man who seemed given to looking somber, but to her relief, he didn't seem angry. "It's been a while since Jae-shin's dear mother passed on," he continued, "but I do remember that ladies like to take their time in making themselves pretty. And if I may be so bold," he added with a small smile, "the wait was well worth it."
She heard one of her brothers stifle a snort of laughter at that, but their father was seated in between them so that she couldn't poke him. Instead, she gave her future father-in-law what she hoped was a winsome smile. "Thank you, my lord."
After what had to be the longest and most torturous meal ever, Lord Cha ordered his children to show Jae-shin around the gardens so that he and Minister Moon could speak in private. It had been difficult to pretend that the earlier incident hadn't happened and thus avoid any awkwardness, so when they were gone, he dropped all pretense. Although he was a yangban, he often dealt with farmers, not diplomats, and felt more comfortable when speaking plainly.
"I'm sorry that you had to see that, Minister," he began, "but I guess it's all for the best. In my business dealings, you want to know as much as you can about what you're getting before you buy it.
"My daughter clearly isn't as pretty or feminine as other girls out there — that's my fault. My blood runs true in all my children and I'll admit that times haven't always been good for us, so all of them know how to work on a farm." Lord Cha looked earnestly at his prospective in-law. "But Ka-hai is healthy and intelligent. She's fairly skilled at healing and, as you may have noticed, she can take over when her mother is ill and you won't know the difference."
He cleared his throat. "Still, I'll understand if you want to call off the betrothal and find your son a wife elsewhere. Your son looks like a fine boy and I'm sure you won't have any trouble finding another match for him. I just wanted to say my piece before you decided."
Minister Moon was silent for a moment. "No," he said finally. "I still accept the match. It's time that Jae-shin took a wife."
Lord Cha blinked. "Are you sure about that?" he blurted out. "I'm not trying to scare you away, but... I did say I would understand if you decided to cry off."
"You did, and thank you; but yes, I'm certain." He chuckled. "I like your daughter. She looks like she has spirit."
"That she does," Lord Cha agreed, relaxing slightly and venturing a smile. Moments ago, he was sure that Ka-hai had ruined any chances of a match with the minister's son, turning up as she had in those grubby men's clothes; now, he couldn't believe his luck. Min-ah would be greatly relieved.
"That's good. Jae-shin is... headstrong at times. He'll need a wife who can handle him." Minister Moon nodded decisively. "I think they'll suit each other just fine."
While their fathers conferred inside, Ka-hai was showing Jae-shin the garden and trying to ignore the teasing grins of her brothers, who were acting as chaperons. "Do you have gardens like this in the city, my lord?" she asked, trying to make conversation. So far, he hadn't said anything, save for the occasional grunt when she pointed out something of interest.
"The grander houses do," he answered. His voice was lower than Ka-sar's, and he spoke quietly. (At least, she thought, he wouldn't spook the horses.) "But they're smaller than this. Space is harder to come by in the city."
She nodded, wondering what to say next.
Fortunately, Jae-shin seemed to believe that it was his turn to contribute to the conversation. "Do you require a house with a garden?" he asked her.
Ka-hai hesitated. Saying yes might make her appear frivolous. On the other hand, saying no would be lying. "I don't think I need a garden," she said finally. "I'm not an expert with plants — Ka-chun is the gardener in the family — but it would be nice to have one, to remind me of growing up in the country."
"Well... we have one."
"That's nice."
Her brothers snickered audibly.
Jae-shin turned to them. "My lords, would you give me and your sister a moment to speak in private?"
They had probably been expecting a reprimand, so the polite request surprised them. The taller one, whom Jae-shin assumed was Ka-sar, recovered first and regarded him suspiciously. "Is it all right if we leave you alone with him, noonim?" he asked his sister.
Ka-hai glanced at him and, instead of acting shy, briskly waved off her brothers. "It's fine. We'll stay right here and you just go over there. Ka-chun, you said you wanted to check up on that tree, anyway."
He nodded gratefully to Ka-sar and Ka-chun as they withdrew with their sister's permission. It was hard enough figuring out what he was doing without them hanging around. However, he thought with some amusement, if his brother had lived long enough to go courting, then Jae-shin might have done his share of smirking and snickering in the background, too.
Ka-hai watched her brothers leave and turned back to him when they were out of earshot. She was tall enough to almost look him straight in the eye. "What is it, my lord?" she asked, her expression mildly curious.
"I brought you something," he told her, just managing to suppress a hiccup. "A present."
Reaching into his sleeve, Jae-shin withdrew a small parcel and presented it to her. "It was my mother's," he said as she removed the pale green silk wrapping and found a hairpin carved of white jade. "My father—we thought it would be proper for you to have it."
"It's beautiful." After admiring the ornament for a while, she promptly stuck it into the bun at the back of her head and gave him a sunny smile. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," he replied, and then hiccuped.
Her smile instantly darkened into a concerned frown. "Are you all right?" Ka-hai asked. "You've been hiccuping all afternoon. Do you want some water?"
He shook his head, blushing with embarrassment. "I'm fine. It's just a... habit."
"Pretty strange habit," she murmured, then shrugged. "I guess people can't choose their habits sometimes. Are you sure you're all right?"
"I said I was fine," he told her, a little more sharply than he had intended.
Ka-hai looked taken aback at his tone of voice, but she nodded and spoke again before he could apologize. "Well, thank you again for the lovely gift," she said politely, and paused. "Was that all you wanted to discuss with me? Shall I call back my brothers?"
Jae-shin hesitated. "Actually... there is one more thing."
"All right. What is it?"
"Do you really want to marry me?"
Ka-hai was surprised. Why was he asking her this? Did he want to call off the betrothal? Panic gripped her, but it dissipated quickly as she realized that he probably did want to cry off, but lacked the nerve to initiate the break. Well, it was true that she wasn't chomping at the bit to get married, but she didn't like the idea of being compelled to do his dirty work.
Finally, she shrugged. "I guess so."
"You guess so?" he repeated incredulously.
"Sure. I mean, what else is there for a girl to do? I'm going to have to keep house whether or not I marry. It might as well be my husband's house."
"So anyone would do?" Jae-shin asked, sounding insulted.
"Of course not. I can't marry just anyone," she pointed out. "We breed horses on this estate, my lord, and we pair the horses carefully. It wouldn't make sense to do that and not put the same amount of thought in choosing our own mates. You were very carefully selected, my lord. At least," she added in an offhand tone of voice, "that's what my father leads me to believe."
He glowered. "You make me sound like a stallion being put out to stud."
"Well, it seems that you're in the market for a brood mare," Ka-hai pointed out, "so that makes us even." She felt guilty for goading him, and half-afraid that he might call her bluff, but if this betrothal was going to be broken, it wouldn't be by her hand. (Not directly, anyway.) "I suppose the question facing us now is whether I am to be your brood mare... or someone else's."
"Your writing has improved, but only slightly."
The Blue Messenger stopped a short distance from Jae-shin, who was perched comfortably on the ridgepole of a rooftop, and planted her hands on her hips. "What's wrong with it this time?" she asked.
It was the first time he had seen her since their first encounter, when she had been unmasked, and the first time he had heard her speak. Her voice was clear as a bell, but her accent curiously harsh; she did not sound like a highborn lady.
He held out her last leaflet, his corrections written as usual in red ink. "I guess I could agree with the substance of what you've written here, but there's still too much hysteria for my taste."
She glared as she snatched it away. "Well, if the government didn't do stupid things at the wrong time of the month, then maybe I wouldn't be so hysterical."
Jae-shin had no idea what that meant, so he ignored it. "People like you are supposed to provoke the public into thinking for themselves," he lectured. "Not blind rebellion. Next time, why don't you try proposing solutions for whatever it is you're complaining about?"
"Hmm, that's a good idea," the Messenger replied sarcastically. "I think I'll start by saying that all government officials should do their jobs instead of living off the sweat of the people. For example — you. Why aren't you killing or arresting me?"
"I'd like to," he told her, folding his hands behind his head. "I've been working this case for so long that it's starting to bore me."
"Then why aren't you moving?"
"If I caught you, then I'd have to file reports, and then they'll most probably make me testify at your trial. I don't have time to go through all that procedure right now. You see, I'm getting married."