Sowon arrived at her empty house early in the evening, her clothes ruffling in the sudden stop of her sprint. From a distance, it had appeared that no one had come to mess with her house, and well, she had already calculated all the possible times that another offering would happen. According to her observations, they would only bring another girl in five years, unless there was a natural disaster that they would think that Sowon had cast upon them like drought or flood.

Hopping her fence and strolling down the main entryway, Sowon noted that an arrow had been stuck on the backside of her house, with an old fashioned letter tied on the shaft side of it. Sighing and pulling it out, Sowon rubbed the groove where the arrow pierced with a slightly annoyed glare.

"Property damages are unfair when I don't know who to punish."

Huffing another breath, Sowon untied the note, already knowing that it was either a challenge letter or maybe a rare declaration of war. Sometimes they say big things and don't follow through.

[To the lord of this house,]

Oddly, the handwriting seemed shaky. Sowon walked up the steps to her house and sat on the porch steps, reading it carefully.

[You have killed my precious sister and I will never forgive you.]

Sowon tilted her head to the side, when did she kill someone? Either ways, who was this sister? Sowon scratched her neck a little, moving to lean her back against a pillar. If this was about an offering, about a girl whom she had taken into custody, it could be many, for they all lived in her village of a few houses and the rest, abroad.

[Watch out.]

For a threat letter, it surely didn't feel like one in her hands, Sowon flipped the paper left and right, there was no way that a man had written and shot this letter, not to mention it wasn't that high on her house where she had found the arrow, and well, looking back on how shallow the arrow was in her wall, it wasn't a strong shot.

"A boy?" (why she know gender cuz use noona but i omit)

Sowon rubbed her forehead, feeling a small headache surfacing.

"Who?"

The only thing she could do was to return to the village and ask if any of the girls had a younger brother, Eunha's story resurfaced and Sowon could only hope that it wasn't what she already started to think it was. Eunha was being used by that family, they threw her away and now Sowon was caring for her, her past shouldn't resurface anymore.

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Eunha stared into space as Yerin was shuffling around behind her, preparing some tools. Her long black hair that she had habitually used to cover her injuries, was a little matted in areas and was difficult to untangle. Yerin had offered to cut her hair for her, though Eunha had wanted to ask Sowon if it was alright, Sowon still hadn't returned. It was likely that it would be the next morning before she would was what Yerin reassured her with, but it did less reassurance than it did make her nervous about cutting her hair.

"Are you sure it's okay unnie?"

"It's fiiiiiiine, I'll make you cuter than you already are!"

But when Yerin was done, even the artist herself was a little doubtful she had done the right thing. Now sporting a bob cut that was just a little choppy on the ends because of a dull knife, Eunha could feel the breeze on the back of her neck and it made her shiver at the unfamiliar sensation. There was a scar that peeked the collar of her shirt on her back and Eunha felt the ruined skin carefully, pulling the collar up further, though gravity would only make it slide back down.

"Eunha yah, nobody is looking there, even if they see it, they don't mind."

Eunha quickly moved her hand away, gathering them in her lap.

"Unnie was giving off a nervous feeling so I just got a little worried."

Yerin grinned, Eunha was definitely speaking more and it was great to see that her efforts were being rewarded, but the issue was, Eunha was unable to treat Sowon the same way. Watching as Eunha messed with the fringe over her eyebrows, Yerin pondered whether it was really alright to leave Eunha's neck exposed. When she was cutting the hair, she was one, aiming to cut any super complicated knots to make it more comfortable for Eunha, as sleeping on bunched up hair wasn't nice; two, she really thought that a bob cut would suit Eunha's small delicate face.

Over the sound of the knife sliding against Eunha's hair and a thick bundle of fabric, Yerin had found out in small talk that Eunha's face was relatively unharmed despite being the mistress's fury and hatred because Eunha, although a stress reliever, was also tasked with servants joba nd had to greet people at the door when there were parties.

Hugging Eunha's back, Yerin hummed quietly a song that she had memorized in her heart.

"Unnie?"

"You're a loved girl, okay? Sowon unnie just isn't used to it, and you are too."

Eunha calmed down a little, feeling the warmth of Yerin on her back. It was different, the way Yerin felt compared to Sowon, she was warmer, in both meanings. Sowon's body was cool, chilly at times, and even though she, as Yerin had explained, was doing her best to get Eunha to trust her, wasn't very good at it. Leaning into the warmth, Eunha wondered why she wanted Sowon to feel this warm.

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one done