When Taeyeon opened her eyes, the starry night greeted her. She could feel her vision a little blurry and her right eye a little tingly.

Her body was submerged in water, leaving her head only on the surface. The cold water of the spring cleaned her face from all the blood and dust, making Taeyeon feel more relaxed.

The women around her had removed her clothes entirely, leaving her completely on that spring, with handkerchiefs and tissues been used to clean her body of blood, pus, dust and sand entirely.

When she tried to move, she was reminded of the pain from her body and muscles.

“You’ve made it, champ.” A pale, tall and mature woman said beside her, smiling. Taeyeon turned her puffy eyes towards her. “You’ve won the trial.”

“I thought…” She started, her voice a little husky and rough. “I thought I was gonna die…”

“We all did.” Another girl added, she was younger and tanner. “When you fell and dropped your sword? Man, that was wild… We were certain you were gonna die…”

“I don’t know what I had in mind to call for that trial.” Taeyeon added, making the women around the water spring chuckle.

“You are really brave.” They said. “You’ve challenged Master Shin like no one has ever done before.”

“I didn’t want to challenge him…” Taeyeon commented, her eyes backing up to look at the night sky. “I just wanted to save the Hwang servants.”

“It was really brave of you to do what you did to save them.” Taeyeon sighed. “No one would dare to do such a thing for a couple of servants.”

“Especially foreign servants from the north.”

“I couldn’t let them be executed for nothing.” Taeyeon closed her eyes when one of the girls wiped the region behind her ears with a tissue.

“The whole city is talking about you!” The youngest chuckled. “The bastard boy who won over Master Shin!” She emphasized the ‘boy’ word.

“It’s hard to keep them away.” The other added, smiling. “Your friends have come here looking for you.”

“And the servants you saved. The one you’ve put under one of our outfits came here asking to see you.”

“Don’t let them in.” Taeyeon asked.

“We didn’t.”

“They don’t know about your secret?” The mature woman asked her and Taeyeon felt a weird taste of rust in .

“No.”

“Why don’t you tell them?”

“They would never accept me.” Taeyeon answered, gulping. “The moment they know about my secret, they would leave.”

“Would they? If they were real friends, don’t you think they would accept you as you are?”

Taeyeon sighed. “I don’t think it’s that simple.”

“How can you even hide it from them?” They asked curiously. “What about your monthly moons?”

“I’ve got some herbs with me.” Taeyeon answered. “My monthly moons won’t come as long as I keep having ‘em.”

“Oooh.”

“I usually have ‘em as hot tea.”

“That is actually a good way to have ‘em!”

“You really thought that through, didn’t you? This plan of dressing yourself like a man?”

Taeyeon sighed. “When it’s about your surviving, you gotta do what you can.” The two girls seconded, backing to clean Taeyeon’s armpits and the chest area.

When Taeyeon heard someone behind them clearing , Taeyeon turned herself to see who it was. The woman was tall, slim and light tanned-skin. Her face was clear from any makeup and her long black hair all loose down to beyond her shoulders. But her jewelry and accessories as well as her vivid red hanbok told Taeyeon she was the Lady Owner of the house.

Taeyeon bowed her head to her, showing some gratitude for her acceptance. “Thank you so much for caring about me, ma’am.”

The woman had her the corner of her lips in a smirk. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better, thank you.”

“Your clothes are being washed and cleaned. The morning sun will take care to dry ‘em up tomorrow.” Taeyeon nodded silently. “For now, you shall be given a towel and clothes for you to spend the night.” The woman made a sign with her head to the girls around her and they soon left the area obeying her words.

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“You’ve got the whole city in a buzz, little lady.” She smirked and Taeyeon lowered her eyes. “A foreign person comes here and challenges Master Shin like that? Not everyone is that brave.”

“Or that naive.” Taeyeon replied, quickly enough. That made the woman chuckle.

“What was your name again? Taeyang?”

“Taeyeon.” She corrected, politely.

The girls who previously had gone in search for towels and clothes for Taeyeon came back, their hands carrying towels and a red outfit from the brothel.

“Come, Taeyeon, we need to talk a little bit in private.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Taeyeon forced herself to stand up from the springs and followed the older woman.

“No need for ma’am. I’m not that old. You can call me Lady Hae-Jin.” She introduced herself. Taeyeon nodded to her.

“As you wish, Lady Hae-Jin.”

~~*~~

It’s been so long since Taeyeon used female clothes, she was actually finding some of the attire a little uncomfortable. But she wouldn’t dare to complain for those women were actually helping her the best way they could.

As she walked inside Lady Hae-Jin’s official lodge, she took a seat in front of her after the woman invited her to sit down. A jar of soju and 2 small cups of porcelain were on top of the small table between them.

Lady Hae-Jin served herself with alcohol before pouring some for Taeyeon, which the girl accepted, but did not dare to drink the beverage.

“Not fond of soju?” Lady Hae-Jin asked, curiously.

“I don’t drink alcohol as it could me to have slips and reveal my secret to people. Especially to the boys I travel with.”

“Wise decision.” The woman seconded. “But you are not in danger in our house. So you can have your alcohol if you wish so.”

Taeyeon blinked, thinking about it, but ended up shaking her head sideways. “Thank you for your kindness, but I rather not.”

The woman nodded her head, accepting her words, drinking her alcohol without even turning her head to the side. Taeyeon smiled faintly as she reminded her of Lady Boshi. Lady Boshi didn’t make any effort to be polite and educated when she was in the presence of all the women in the brothel.

“So, Taeyeon…” She started, making Taeyeon rise her eyes up. “What you’re up to here in The Red Mountains?”

“Nothing, really. The boys and I have arrived here just yesterday from Stoneguard. Our destination lies in Hanyang, the capital city.”

Lady Hae-Jin tilted her head. “You’re crossing the lands of Joseon to reach the capital city?”

“Yes. It will take a while till we get there, but that is our plan.”

“How long you’re going to stay here for?”

Taeyeon blinked, lowering her head. “You have 48 hours to leave my city, Kim Taeyeon. Or the bastard son of Ironstow will be turned into dust.” She recalled Master Shin’s words.

“The boys and I are in short of money. We wanted to stay here for some weeks, trying to find jobs or little works we could do to earn some money for our travel. But Master Shin gave me 48 hours to leave the city.”

“Hm…” Lady Hae-Jin bit her lips. “He still threatened you like this even with you winning the trial…that man is so shameless he doesn’t even respect the gods.”

“He is humiliated he has lost to a bastard kid. He is furious with me.” She spoke firmly.

“Of course he is.”

“His threats don’t really scare me. But I fear for my friends.” Taeyeon gulped. “I fear he could get my friends and kill ‘em all.” Like he did with the Hwangs. “And I don’t know what I should do.”

“What you mean?”

“He doesn’t know who my friends are and for now their faces are safe. But I fear his stupid army could see me with them and start using my friends to hit me somehow. I can’t let that happen. ”

“He gave you 48 hours to leave the city. That means you have roughly 2 days to stay here till you go north to Hanyang.”

“We can’t go north just yet. We’ve just crossed a desert, the boys are tired and hungry, and we have little to no money with us. If we leave this place right now, we would probably end up dead on the road.”

“Why you are going to Hanyang? Make no mistake, the Sacred City ain’t that nice to bastards either.”

“I need to find someone there.”

“Who’s that someone you need to find? It’s not every day you see a bastard crossing all the lands of our nation to find a random man over there...”

Taeyeon wouldn’t reveal to strangers whom she was actually looking for. “I’ve made a promise to my master. My swordmaster. Master Kim.”

“He’s the father you never had?”

Taeyeon nodded her head. “He raised me with his art and wisdom. Unfortunately, he got really sick. And he was old, so he knew his time was coming.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Before his departure, he asked me to find a man in Hanyang. A Scholar Maester.”

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