When Sooyoung woke up the next morning, the sun had risen high in the sky as a golden discus, the cockerels having finished their morning calls long ago. Great alarm overtook her when she saw that her fellow kisaeng had all abandoned her, leaving nothing behind but her haegeum and personal effects — not even a single silver piece! Sooyoung grew afraid and confused, for why would the manager leave her for no apparent reason? Could it be that the brute from last night had managed to visit harm on him?

But when she left her quarters and stumbled into the main hall of the tea-house, emptied of all guests, her fear dissipated like the morning fog, only to be replaced by a deep embarrassment, for the handsome woman who had promised her everything from the last night was staring at her, as if she had been waiting for Sooyoung to wake up this whole while. 

“My lord,” Sooyoung greeted breathily, bowing deeply to Seungwan. She was at a loss for words, not knowing what turn of events had transpired in the night while she was asleep. 

“Are you feeling better this morning, Sooyoung?” asked Seungwan, approaching her gently. The noble, although holding a calm demeanour, was really sweating underneath her robes; just the sight of Sooyoung produced a vigorous pounding in her chest like that of ten war-drums at once. 

“Yes, my lord,” replied Sooyoung shyly. “I cannot thank you enough for rescuing me from the colonel’s humiliation last night and defending my dignity.”

Seungwan felt her heart melting like the snow in springtime, and said, “I’d shed my blood and rush through fire to hear such thanks.”

She drew close to Sooyoung, heat radiating off her stout and noble stature. Now Sooyoung dared herself to look into the dark eyes of her ardent admirer, full of want and longing, and a deep rose-pink blush bloomed over her face. 

“Through fire?”

Without deviating her solemn gaze a single bit from Sooyoung, Seungwan continued, “Before I saw you, I would not have believed myself if I said that.”

It was not uncommon for Sooyoung’s admirers to say things like that, and she said, “Then how can I believe today?”

With a gentle hand, Seungwan grasped Sooyoung’s chin. At the touching of her fingers, a tremble coursed through Sooyoung like she had been struck by lightning, yet Seungwan’s gaze was so magnetic that even in her embarrassment she could not look away. 

“Time will convince you otherwise, but to express my sincerity, I have divested you of your bond to the state.”

A look of great surprise came over Sooyoung’s face, and she seemed to freeze for several long moments, before tears welled up in her eyes.

“What’s the matter?” inquired Seungwan, seeing Sooyoung clasp tightly at her robe as she wept. “What ails you so?”

“No… nothing ails me…” answered Sooyoung. “But I can never repay such a debt to you in this lifetime.”

Seungwan gently wiped a tear off the corner of Sooyoung’s eye. “You need not worry, my lady. I did this not to earn your gratitude from a place of indebtedness; I merely wished to show my dedication to winning your affections.”

Remembering what Seungwan had asked her yesterday, Sooyoung blushed again, and she felt faint. 

“Oh, my lord, I will serve you till the end of time, to the ends of the earth,” declared Sooyoung happily, all too glad that she had gained a new master whom she could not express her boundless affection for. 

Seungwan shook her head and grasped Sooyoung’s hands, bringing them up to her lips for a gentle kiss. Then, she shocked Sooyoung by getting onto a knee, never breaking her sincere and intense gaze. 

“No, my lady. You are a slave no more, but a free woman. If you so wished, you could leave this place and forge your destiny across the horizons, and I would be glad that you could fly unfettered with the four winds. But, if I could so humbly request: I wish for you to be my consort — my woman. I have great riches and vast lands, but all of my treasures and possessions pale in comparison to you, who is like a divinity to me, who compels me to fall at your feet and beg for your love.”

“My lord, it cannot be that you, who has only seen me twice, should conceive such a great desire for me,” said Sooyoung. 

“I had scarcely seen you when I had forgotten myself altogether, and I see that a soldier like me, hitherto free, has now been changed to a captive; but such clearly is the will of Heaven. Love is like an arrow which pierces the unexpectedly; and now I feel its sting, which has inflicted a wound that I fear I may never recover from.”

“Then let me dress that wound and treat it till it heals,” answered Sooyoung, the sheer excitement of saying those bold words making her head spin as if she was about to faint. Yet, she continued, scarcely believing this wasn’t a dream, “I can only express my gratitude as my affection for you, if you will accept it. Wherever you go, I shall follow; what fate befalls you, shall befall me; I shall never allow myself to be separated from you unless you wish it.”

“I will never wish for that,” said Seungwan, who surprised Sooyoung again by suddenly buoying her up in her strong arms, spinning her around in happiness like a Datar bride. “I will only have one woman, and that woman will always be Park Sooyoung. In life, and in death, forever and ever.”

When Seungwan re-emerged from the tea-house with Sooyoung in her arms, Hyukjae and Joohyun who had been waiting for them cheered at the noble’s victory on the field of love, and Sooyoung buried her face in Seungwan’s neck. 

“All hail the Prince of the Mountain and her new bride!” called Hyukjae. “We procured a wagon so that she need not walk; hopefully it’s not beneath the status of a noble consort!”

“It is not befitting her new identity, but it will have to do,” said Seungwan. Then, to Sooyoung she said, “Don’t worry, my lady. You shall sit in the finest carriages when we return to my family’s estate.”

Seungwan harnessed her horse — a draft horse, to draw less attention to herself — to the wagon, and carried Sooyoung onto it. Then, a thought of hospitality entered her good-humoured mind. 

“Where are both of you headed to?” asked Seungwan to the other two nobles. “My family’s estate is in Haneulga, on the southern border of Ansu Province: just less than a day’s ride from here. If you would not eschew the pleasures of my house, I humbly request for both of you to grace my homecoming with your presence.”

Joohyun looked to Hyukjae for a decision, and the man said, “Since you have asked us so politely, it would be rude of an old man, having little business elsewhere, to refuse.”

“I should be finding my companions who have scattered to the four winds, so I beg of you to accept my apologies for not joining you,” said Joohyun. 

“Do you know where they are?” asked Seungwan.

“I don’t know.”

“Then you should come to my house, and you can take time to find out where they may have gone. I have many messengers at my disposal so that you need not travel to the four corners of the kingdom to search for them.”

Joohyun really did not want to impose on Seungwan’s charity, especially because the latter was so much greater in status and wealth than her, but then again, she had no plan for searching for her comrades. At least, with Seungwan’s help, she could be reunited with them faster and work out a next course of action sooner. 

“In that case, I am in your debt, my lord.”

The nobles began the short journey to Haneulga, with the wagon in tow. It was spring in Ansu, a land of rolling hills and forests, many of which had not been touched by the hand of men. In these deep woods of pine, fir, and larches, wild beasts of every kind lived in the forest gloom — bears, wolves, tigers, deer, eagles, and boars. In the treetops monkeys sat, staring upon the world unworriedly with looks of sagely wisdom. There were some stories among the woodsmen that some of these great apes were a century old and wore beards whitened by age. 

The rivers swarmed with fish and waterfowl. Birds perched in the trees sang wildly to attract their mates. Ansu, once ruled by Seungwan’s ancestor, the ‘King of the Mountain’ — the mountain referring to the sacred Mount Geum by the Yijiang River — was always a wonderful and sleepy region, but bearing the traces of man’s civilisation. Everywhere there were ruins of previous generations: a crumbling fort here, the foundations of a hamlet there. Many towns in Ansu were raised from ruins such as these. Being close to the northern frontier where Datars roamed freely in ages past, Ansu had also been a region of struggle. Before Taibuga, many a town in Ansu was raised from the soil, already somewhat inhospitable and difficult to cultivate, only to be swept away by war or a Datar raid. However, with the fall of the Datars, Ansu had become more peaceful, and industry and settlements grew in the region like sprouts. The wild plundering people of the northern frontier, who had long subsisted on violence and raiding, were now held in check and occupied outposts on the borders, becoming the guard dogs of the state, baring their teeth at any intruder. The land flourished and was full of life. Roads were paved and over the traces of ancient highways; rivers were tamed by dams and levees, built by captive Datars or enslaved criminals. Mills and furnaces resounded where before the wind danced in the night. Once a wild and untraversable land, Ansu was