Seulhee invited Dongwoo into the house and introduced him to her mother, who smiled and nodded and continued with her work. With nothing else better to serve the messenger, she went to find some of her father’s ale. She wondered if the young man was judging her and her family since he obviously had enjoyed much more wealth than she ever had, even if he wasn’t ridiculously rich. However, his impeccable manners and bright smile assured her otherwise.

“You’re a merchant, aren’t you?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yes, I am.”

She decided to say what she was thinking. “I’m surprised Sungyeol sent someone like you. Don’t you have more important things to do? Places to be? Things to trade?”

Dongwoo merely laughed. “He had his reasons for sending me.” The way he said that, Seulhee suspected there was something going on that she didn’t know about. “I have a bit of an off period in my work right now. In fact, I was visiting family on the way here. Since your village was in the about the same direction as my home city, Sungyeol figured it would be easiest just to send me.”

“I see.” She wondered if she would find out the real “reasons” Sungyeol had sent him any time soon, if ever. “Well, thank you for taking time out of your schedule to do this. I will need to pack a few things, and after that we, can leave as soon as you want.”

In response to this, Dongwoo nodded. “Actually, I was going to say that we could leave whenever you’re ready. If we’re fast, we can make it to the next town before nightfall.”

With that decided, Seulhee went to prepare the few belongings she would be bringing with her. She didn’t own that many things, and it was better to travel light. From what she knew, the workers in the palace all wore some sort of uniform, so she wouldn’t need too many clothes of her own. Anything else she would eventually purchase using the money she earned.

As she was double-checking that she had grabbed everything she needed or wanted, she came upon a small satchel. It was the bag she had placed Sungyeol’s letters in, back when he had written more frequently. She’d kept them all these months, even after he had ended their friendship, simply hiding it away where it wouldn’t remind her of sad things. She reached inside and pulled out the locket he had bought her so long ago.

Seulhee had all but forgotten the locket. Given Sungyeol’s previous declarations that he would marry her, she wondered if the gift had meant something more than a gesture of friendship at the time. But now that wasn’t important anymore. She gazed at it for a moment, remembering the days when she and Sungyeol had shared the same lives and dreams and world. At last, on a whim, she simply put the necklace on and tucked it under her clothes, the metal cool against her skin.

When she returned to the main room of the house, she found Dongwoo talking to her mother, and they were both smiling. With her entrance, their conversation gradually came to a halt, and Dongwoo rose. “Ready?” he asked, gesturing at the pack she carried.

“Yes.” She went over to her mother to hug and kiss her goodbye.

“Good luck, dear. Stay healthy and happy for us.”

“I will,” Seulhee promised. Hopefully, anyway. “Tell Father I love him and will miss him.”

As she and Dongwoo walked toward the door, Dongwoo asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to wait for him to return and say goodbye to him as well?”

“It’s fine,” she reassured him. “I’m not sure if I could handle a farewell with both of my parents here. I might lose my will to leave.”

“I see.” Without further hesitation, the two stepped out of the house and onto the path that would take them to the capital.

***

For a while they traveled in relative silence. Seulhee had a feeling that Dongwoo wanted to talk but was accommodating her and keeping silence. She herself had been quiet from reflecting on her life and her friendship with Sungyeol, as well as the future she was heading toward.

Eventually, Seulhee broke the silence to ask Dongwoo a few questions. “What do you trade?

“Textiles, mostly. Sometimes furs, though those depend on the season and game. It’s a family business, and I’m in charge of one branch of it.”

This came as a surprise to her. “Already? But you can’t be much more than four years older than me.”

“Twenty-one, actually. Almost twenty-two. I’ve been raised for this, so not only is it in my blood, it’s in my brain.” He looked proud of this, not in an arrogant way.

There was something else she had to wonder about. “If you’re in charge of a branch, shouldn’t you be busy managing it? Why are you here?” He had technically answered the question earlier, but she felt that it hadn’t been the whole truth.

Dongwoo chewed absently on his bottom lip, which was unusually plump for anyone she had ever seen. “Well, I have been shifting some responsibility off of myself and onto other people more recently since I have something else that’s been more important. Once that is taken care of, I’ll go back to fully handling all of the work, though.”

Seulhee decided this was the best time to pose the real question that had bothered her since Dongwoo had first showed up at her door. “What exactly am I doing in the palace? I know I’ll be working there, but neither Sungyeol nor you explained anything in detail.” She fixed her guide with a stare. “And I don’t think it’s just normal work, either. I think there’s something else that’s going on that you two aren’t telling me about. Well?”

In answer to this, Dongwoo sighed. “Sungyeol warned me you would be suspicious. We were planning on telling you everything eventually.”

She didn’t quite like the sound of this statement. “What do you want to tell me?” she demanded. “I have a right to know, don’t I? If it’s about my future and my work.”

The answer came, short and quick. “Conspiracy.”

Seulhee frowned. “What do you mean?”

“What you think it means,”Dongwoo said. “Sneaking around, plotting overthrows, setting things to a new order. All of that.”

She stopped dead in her tracks, staring at him. “You’re going to kill the king?” The words came out of in a strangled voice. She couldn’t like the king because of the tax increases, but she didn’t think this was enough to call for his head on a stake.

Dongwoo halted as well. “No, that’s not it at all. It’s the opposite. We’re going to save the king.”