“Then why don’t you take it quickly instead of…”

“Beodeul, I think I heard something strange just now.”
She felt as if all the blood had drained from her head. She maintained her composure on the outside while her insides churned, but her calm had already been shattered.

His eyes were oddly shining from within the shadow that covered half of his face. Suddenly, a cold touch reached her chin.

“I thought you were a man, but you are actually a woman.”
“Young master.”

“We’ve been together for a year and a half now.”
His black pupils flickered strangely. Just like that day, the eyes she met among the water sprays.

“Beodeul.”

She quickly covered his mouth with both palms before he could speak, pushing him against the wall, and immediately the sound of roughly stepping on sand filled the air.

“Where did she go again? I’ve told her to rinse the rice, but she forgets even when told twice.”
It was a great relief that her mother did not call her by her real name. Was it a pre-emptive act before moving? Two things happened in one day. Two men had learned that she was a woman.

One had sworn never to disclose it, but who knew if he would stab her in the back upon realising that the woman he loved was not interested in him, and the other had even seen her sword dance.
Yunhu might be naive but not foolish enough to blabber carelessly, but the young master? Unpredictable, thus more dangerous.

She was immobilised for a while, caught in the whirlwind of her thoughts.

“Beodeul has many secrets to hide.”
He gently took her hand down and whispered low, as if he was willing to follow her lead.

“I thought you were just an ordinary shaman’s son.”
So he had heard. The thought of being dragged to the government office and having to spout excuses—prepared long ago with her mother—made her dizzy with the annoyance that would surely follow.

“You asked if my hometown was near the white mountains of the south, didn’t you? After all, if it’s going to be revealed eventually…”

“What did you just say?”
She raised her head, not having heard his muttering, like talking to himself. The man’s elongated smile was unsettling.

“Nothing.”

She felt as if she had died and come back to life a hundred times. Would the rumours spread throughout the neighbourhood by tomorrow? That the shaman’s son was actually a daughter, harbouring a heinous past and having anchored herself in Muritmaegol, they might gossip and drive her out.

Perhaps it would be better to leave Muritmaegol sooner.
“Even the name would be false, right?”

He knelt down to match her eye level, then took her sliding hand and brought it to his mouth again.

“Beodeul. What did you tell Yunhu?”

“What.”

“You like him, don’t you? So what answer did you give him?”
In this situation, was that what he was curious about? As she worried about being caught by her mother in this state, her heart was burning.

He urged for an answer, rubbing her hand against his cheek when she remained silent.

“Your mother would come this way if you make a noise.”

“Don’t do this.”

“What did you do with Yunhu?”

“Are you going to spread rumours about me throughout the neighbourhood?”

“Why would I?”

He tilted his head slightly.

“So….”

“Why do you think I would do that? It’s disappointing.”

The young master withdrew his hand from her and stepped back.

“You have your reasons for living with secrets too.”

“Are you saying you’ll keep your mouth shut?”

The young master smiled, telling her not to worry. He didn’t even ask why she was disguised as a man, as if he understood the past she had fled and left behind.

Strangely, while it was unsettling, she also felt an inexplicable sense of relief—perhaps for the first time in 12 years, someone recognised that Hong Sahye was a woman. But why did it comfort her that this someone was the young master? She wasn’t sure. Perhaps she was still not fully composed.

That day, she acquired another secret she could not tell her mother. With the secrets piling up, she lay restless in bed, tossing and turning until she managed to fall asleep as dawn approached.

She feigned illness and cocooned herself in blankets for three days. During these three days, none of the rumours she feared had spread, and on the fifth day, assured, she was able to put on trousers and help with village work.
She greeted Yunhu as if nothing had happened that day, diligently attending to her tasks. When it was just the two of them, Yunhu was surprisingly more proactive than usual.