That evening, Seoyeon interrupted Jieun as the young woman was turning down the covers of her bed.  Seoyeon had managed to sneak a tray of food out of the kitchen (with Minseok’s reluctant permission) to eat dinner in her room, since her father was having dinner with one of the small regiments and intended to dine with each of the regiments at least once in his first couple of weeks, and Seoyeon would much rather have had her father to herself.

Jieun looked startled at being caught, even though she was doing what she was supposed to be doing, and once she had calmed herself down, she continued, shooting worried glances in Seoyeon’s direction every so often.  It was almost as if she expected Seoyeon to go off on her, and Seoyeon couldn’t think why.  Sitting down at the vanity, which now neatly displayed all the perfumes she’d brought with her, Seoyeon set the tray on her lap and began eating.  Jieun continued to putter about, neatening up a couple of rugs and closing the shutters.

“Jieun,” Seoyeon called to her, hastily swallowing her food out of the way when the sound of the shutter bolts being drawn distracted her, “could you ask for a handyman or somebody to check that those bolts are actually working properly?  The windows blew wide open last night and I had to shut them in a howling gale with hail pelting my face.  That’s utterly unacceptable.”

Jieun froze, and then turned towards her.  “A gale?” she said blankly.

“A gale,” Seoyeon repeated.  “The storm last night blew my windows open.  I don’t want it to happen again.”

Jieun looked very confused, but then she curtsied politely, made a show of checking the bolts again, and crossed back to the bed.

“I’ll light the candles for you now, ma’am,” she said, setting straight to it.

Seoyeon wasn’t sure what that had to do with anything, but she went back to her food.  By the time Jieun had finished, Seoyeon’s plates were empty, and so she passed Jieun the tray to take back down to the kitchen.  Jieun disappeared through the hidden servant door.  There was no particular reason for Seoyeon to stay up, so she curled up in bed, read for half an hour, and then pinched the flame of the candle out and went to sleep.

Her dreams were once again filled with strange monsters and half-formed demons in the shadows.  She didn’t know if the creatures in her dreams were the ones screaming or if she was, but she was abruptly awoken at about two in the morning by a loud slam, and she shot upright in her bed, quivering from fear and from a sudden wave of cold in the room.  Like a frightened rabbit, she looked around her, wondering what the slam had been.

There was a quiet creak of floorboards near the window.

Seoyeon’s first thought was that the slam must have been the shutters.

Her second was the chilling realisation that there was somebody else in the room who had shut the shutters.

“Who’s there?” she blurted out, clutching her duvet to her like it was some kind of shield.

There was silence.

“Who’s there?” she repeated.  She tried to sound authoritative, but it came out as a borderline squeak.

“I’m warning you.”  Panic began to rise and even Seoyeon could tell it was evident in her voice.  “If you don’t answer, I’ll—”

There was a soft, soft whisper from the other side of the room, and the candle on Seoyeon’s bedside table suddenly flickered into life.  She shrieked, heart galloping in .

A soft swish of the servant door announced the intruder’s departure.  Seoyeon sat petrified for several long moments, but she didn’t dare pick up the candle and attempt to follow.

The very first thing Seoyeon did in the morning was tell her father about the incident.  He looked perplexed.

“How did this person get in?  Don’t you bolt your bedroom door?”

“The servant’s passage.”  Seoyeon shuddered.

“And nothing was taken?”

“No.  I couldn’t sleep after that, so I checked all my valuables.  Nothing’s missing.”

“Then what was this person doing?”

The answer sounded so dumb even in Seoyeon’s head that she almost didn’t bother voicing it.  “I think they shut my window.”

Her father just looked at her.

“My window was shut when I went to sleep, though,” Seoyeon added.  “I saw Jieun bolt it.  But yesterday night I was sure the shutters were bolted down and I woke up around the same time with a howling gale.”

That seemed to confuse him more.  “There was no gale the night before last.”

“There was.  The wind was driving hail into my face as I shut the window.  It could have brought a tree down.”

“Sweetie.”  He sighed.  “A gale that strong would have left evidence.  You’re imagining things.  Jieun probably didn’t shut the windows properly and came back during the night when she remembered.  I wouldn’t worry so much if I were you.”

Flummoxed, Seoyeon wondered if it was worth arguing the point, but her father was an expert on weather patterns, having grown up the son of a high ranking naval official, and she knew she’d never win that one.  Jieun would probably be a better target.

It took Seoyeon almost the entire day to find Jieun.  They appeared to just keep missing each other (Seoyeon wasn’t patient enough to just sit in her room waiting for the maid to show up, especially when there were things to do like go riding again with Jongin), and it wasn’t until evening,