It took several days’ worth of arguing to accomplish it, but Jaesun managed to convince her parents not to marry her off. Instead, she began helping Dongwoo manage his branch of the family business. Her father had said long ago that she had the entrepreneurial potential in her blood, but it wasn’t until her performance pulled through that he admitted that she was a good merchant.

Since he had no apprentices of his own, he eventually allowed her to study under him and train to take over the business in his absence. Thanks to the king, who had prohibited merchants and moneylenders from refusing to sell and loan to women, she would be able to inherit her father’s assets.

A year later, one of her relatives retired, and she was put into place to succeed him since he had no children. Many questioned her competence at first since she was a woman, and still quite young, but she proved herself in the end, and they stopped underestimating her when her efforts paid off in the form of significant growth in revenue.

Once she had accumulated enough personal savings, she began to make plans. She wanted to start a school for girls like herself to learn the basics of economics and finance. The king had opened up a school in the capital and expanded the program to include larger towns and cities, but those were dedicated more to literacy than anything else. Jaesun’s goal was to provide girls with skills that they could use to advance themselves.

She shared the idea with Dongwoo, and he agreed to support her, both morally and monetarily. The two of them began a campaign to get other merchants involved, and although many were skeptical, a few decided to join the cause. Nearly six months later, a disused warehouse was converted into the school building, and the classes opened up, taught by Jaesun herself and whatever volunteers she could find.

There was no fee to attend. That would be unfair to those who had less money. She wanted equal access. Fees would only reinforce the hierarchy, and her goal was to increase social mobility.

At first, many people treated the school as a bit of a joke. Only a few parents allowed their daughters to take lessons. However, once those girls began to prove beneficial to their families and their husbands, others began to regard the school in a different light.

It wouldn’t have been a stretch to say that Jaesun began a trend for merchant wives. She had shown everyone that women could and would earn money for themselves, their families, and their husbands. Any girl who possessed the skills and penchant for entrepreneurship was now more valuable and sought after.

Jaesun herself received many marriage offers from men of all ages, without her parents’ efforts to play matchmaker. They began taking their requests to her directly rather than her father since she was virtually independent of her parents despite being single.

She rejected these advances. Her exact reasons for doing so weren’t apparent to anyone, not even her parents, who thought perhaps she simply wasn’t interested in marriage at all. Now that she had her own living to support herself, a husband was not a priority for her, and they respected that, though they worried she would feel lonely.

Jaesun herself wasn’t entire sure about her own reasoning either. Some of the offers had come from her friends and contacts from her work, young men who she respected and admired. However, they didn’t stir any feelings in her, and she didn’t need whatever money they could provide, so she kept herself out of the marriage market that she had practically created.

***

The day had drawn to a close, and the school had emptied out several minutes ago after the last class. Jaesun sat in the office of the school, one of its seven rooms, reading over some papers that her students had turned in. She taught the last class, after she finished her work with the business and delegated the rest to the people under her, and was always the final person to leave the building.

A knock sounded at the door. She glanced up from the papers. Who would be looking for her at this time? The other teachers had already gone home, so she should have been the only person remaining in the school. Puzzled, she rose from her chair and went to open the door.

At first, the man’s face was concealed by the shadows, but then he took a step forward, and the light of the setting sun shining through the window illuminated his features. The identity of her visitor nearly caused her to fall over backward, but she caught herself. “Hoya.” Her voice wavered slightly. “Come in.”

She backed away from the door to allow him to enter. He stepped inside but did not sit down, even though there was another chair aside from the one she had been sitting in.

“It’s been a while,” he said.

Two years now, Jaesun reflected. Such a long time ago, yet she could remember it all so clearly.

“What brings you here?” she asked. Surely he had married by now. When she had met him, he’d been of marriageable age, and given his status, he was obligated to do his family honor and take a wife to continue the family line. Not to mention he was the heir apparent to the kingdom.

“I feel that we have unfinished business,” Hoya replied.

“I thought I finished it two years ago.”

He laughed lightly. “I thought so, too. I fell head over heels in love, realized it was doomed, then gained a beacon of hope, only to have it extinguished and my heart broken. I left those feelings fallow and turned myself to my responsibilities and obligations. But then my mother began to parade girls before me, hoping one of them would capture my heart, and I found that I couldn’t feel anything for them.”

Jaesun knew what was coming next, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it.

“I hadn’t really let go. Perhaps I could have if things had been different, but because of what you said, I couldn’t. You told me that your reason for leaving wasn’t because of anything I had done or because you didn’t love me. The fact that our feelings for each other were still mutual prevented me from moving on.

“Then I realized that you were wrong about it not being because of me. In a way, I was at fault. Without realizing it, I was too possessive of you, and I made you dependent on me at a time when you were vulnerable instead of helping you to stand on your own. I think that’s why you left me. You saw what I was doing and what was happening to you and knew it was wrong for you, so you trusted your judgment and escaped.”

He had changed, Jaesun realized. He was still confident, carrying himself with that familiar regality that belied his plain dress, but at the same time, his figure revealed a greater sense of humility than she remembered. He had lost his more presumptuous attitude. He had been mature before, but now he was much more polished. She wondered if he’d been trained for kingly duties. That sort of burden would certainly temper the ego of youth.

Jaesun sighed. “I didn’t blame you, and I still don’t. You weren’t purposely trying to dominate me or anything. I can forgive you, if that’s what you want.”

“Yes, thank you,” said Hoya. “But that’s not the only thing. I’m asking you for a second chance.”

Involuntarily, Jaesun felt her heart twinge. “Hoya, it’s been two years. I…” However, seeing his pleading look, she let him explain.

“For a while I wondered whether I really loved you, or whether it was just an obsession. Whether it was superficial, and I simply wanted to tame your spirit and make it mine. Then I went to inquire about you. I talked to Sungyeol, who got in contact with Dongwoo, and he filled me in. That was when I confirmed for myself that it wasn’t just lust and acquisitive desire. I knew that I truly appreciated your passion and strength of will. I had simply been blind to my own follies and tried, in a way, to contain it. That is how I lost you. So now I’m asking you for another chance at what we could have had.” He finished and gazed straight at her. This time, his eyes were neither controlling nor imploring; instead, they expressed a sincere request made from one individual to another.

Jaesun let the words sink in and her mind began to turn thoughts over and over. At last she said, “You probably heard from Sungyeol that I’m not married, even now. Many men have asked to marry me, and every time I’ve said no. Although I have never admitted it to anyone, you were part of the reason I rejected them. I thought I had cut the ties between us, but, like you said, it didn’t work.

“Seeing you here and now, I cannot say I regretted loving you, that my love for you was not justified or it wouldn’t have lasted. Instead, I regret leaving you. I don’t regret finding my own independence, of course, but I can see that independence doesn’t have to preclude love and marriage.” She paused, her emotions threatening to overwhelm her.

Hoya didn’t press her to go on and merely waited.

“All things said and done, I’ll give you that second chance, Hoya. I can’t guarantee anything, but yes, we can restart.”

End of Jaesun: Justice