BIUM Chapter 6

 

It wouldn’t take long, and as long as no one else found out, that was all that mattered. 

 

By the time Myung married, and she entered the imperial palace, Hwan would be leaving it.  

 

“Please take care of me!”  

 

“Sure. You too.”  

 

It was merely repayment for the life he owed. That was all.  

 

“Just swinging wildly won’t make your opponent run into your blade, you know? You need to thrust faster.”  

 

Hwan, her instructor, was far more capricious and showed no mercy. 

 

Though he claimed he was teaching her self-defense, his lessons began with nothing more than a tree branch.  

 

‘Guess I really have to take this step by step.’  

 

After a week of training, all she had learned was how to grip the branch. 

 

Just as she began doubting whether he was teaching her properly, Hwan had her practice thrusting into the air. She thought she had learned enough by watching Yusu’s training from afar, but the moment Hwan saw Yiwon’s thrust, his face twisted in disapproval.  

 

Not wanting to hear his harsh critiques, she practiced whenever she had time, but Hwan never once gave her even an empty compliment.  

 

“Hah!”  

 

“Pathetic.”  

 

By the third week of stabbing the air with a branch, her target finally shifted from empty space to Hwan himself—though she didn’t feel particularly relieved. 

 

The air never complained, but Hwan never missed a chance to hurl insults whenever she missed.  

 

“I know you like consistency, but your enemies won’t just stand still for you.”  

 

“I… know that!”  

 

Even though she could see the movements when facing an assassin, following Hwan’s motions was far from easy. 

 

Yiwon twisted her body toward him and thrust the branch. Just before it could reach him, he vanished like an afterimage, slicing through the air.  

 

“Why did you even ask me to teach you if you were going to struggle this much? Wouldn’t it be better to quit now?”  

 

His mocking words, half-teasing and half-serious, grated on her nerves until she finally snapped.  

 

If he had said, like Myung always did, that it was because she was a woman, she could have just laughed it off.  

 

But Hwan’s ridicule didn’t sound like it was about gender—it sounded like he was calling ‘Eun Yiwon’ herself incompetent.  

 

“I learned the sword because I had to stand in for Myung and protect him. But you? You just wanted to learn, right? Don’t tell me you’re doing this as some half-hearted pastime because your life isn’t in danger?”  

 

“That’s not it!”  

 

She had no idea what Hwan’s exact relationship with Myung was, let alone what he did. She could only guess from his words that he was closely tied to Myung.  

 

If Myung found out Hwan was teaching her the sword, he might face serious consequences. Yet Hwan took the risk and kept their lessons a secret.  

 

“Why go through all this trouble? Just ask your guards to protect you. You’ve got plenty of people to keep you safe.”  

 

But keeping a secret was one thing—his constant teasing made her want to punch him.  

 

So she practiced until her hands bled. In reality, all she was doing was flailing a branch in the air.  

 

Maybe Hwan was using sword training as an excuse to mock her, to make her realize her place. Her gratitude toward him faded with every taunt.  

 

“Just give up.”  

 

Tears welled up at his jeering, but defiance flared inside her.  

 

Outwardly, she seemed privileged, but the constraints binding her were endless. Even so, Yiwon gave it her all.  

 

That man had no right to belittle her effort.  

 

Gripping the branch tightly, Yiwon thrust toward Hwan with all her strength. As he dodged, she adjusted her stance. The tip of her branch grazed his sleeve.  

 

“Ugh!”  

 

“I—I hit you!”  

 

Her legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground. Her palms were raw from gripping the branch, her wrist throbbing, but she didn’t even register the pain.  

 

For the first time, she had touched Hwan.  

 

“Not bad.”  

 

“Ah…”  

 

“See? You *can* do it.”  

 

Hwan grinned down at her, his usual mockery nowhere to be seen.  

 

As if he had known she could do it all along.  

 

Only then did she realize—his harsh words had never been sincere.  

 

“You were provoking me on purpose?”  

 

“Of course! Nothing motivates like wanting to shut someone up. Feels good to land a hit on the guy who’s been taunting you, doesn’t it?”  

 

“Wha—? I mean…!”  

 

Caught off guard, Yiwon averted her gaze, then quickly glanced back at him.  

 

For a brief moment, the joy of touching him with the branch was overshadowed by the thrill of having flustered *him*.  

 

By all rights, he should’ve been furious. But he didn’t seem bothered at all.  

 

“Now, time for a real gift.”  

 

“Huh?”  

 

Hwan reached into his inner pocket and pulled out a long object, handing it to her.  

 

It was a dagger, about half the length of her forearm. Sheathed in plain, rugged leather with no embellishments, the blade was thin but razor-sharp.  

 

As Yiwon stared at it in awe, Hwan stepped closer.  

 

“Grip the hilt like this and twist—”  

 

“Ah!”  

 

In an instant, the blade extended, lengthening to the size of a full sword. Yiwon’s eyes widened as the dagger transformed into a longsword.  

 

“These are rare in Hawon, so it wasn’t easy to get. But it’ll be convenient for hiding a blade on your person.”  

 

“This is…”  

 

“If you want to defend yourself, you’ll need a proper sword.”

 

Once a week—sometimes twice—Hwan would come to Yiwon’s quarters on quiet nights when everyone was asleep. 

 

And just like that, as if it were nothing, he would approach her and show her a world she had never known.  

 

Before she realized it, Yiwon had begun counting down the days until his visits.  

 

The sword that once stabbed at empty air had shifted to sparring, and the unfamiliar man who looked just like Myung had, at some point, become the second person she trusted most after Yiho.  

 

She wished, over and over, that this would never change—even if just for one more day, or one more month.  

 

🌙 

 

Yiwon quietly stepped out of the room after watching Yiho fall asleep in the infirmary. 

 

If only her brother’s health would improve, she would ask for nothing more. But sadly, his condition showed no signs of getting better.  

 

“Haah…” 

 

In front of Yiho, she confidently reassured him that he would recover, but now that she was alone, it was hard to hide her true feelings. 

 

Even if her brother was ill, she could endure life in the Eun household as long as he was with her.  

 

But if she were left alone—  

 

‘Mother.’  

 

Sitting on the wooden floor, Yiwon clutched the ornamental pendant hanging from her skirt and stared at it blankly.

 

A dazzling butterfly decoration made of purple jade and pearls, with the character ‘Won’ engraved at its center.  

 

It had been made by her mother after Yiwon was born.  

 

Whenever things were hard, holding onto this pendant would calm her troubled heart—but today, no matter how tightly she gripped it, she couldn’t find peace.  

 

“That’s a lovely pendant.”  

 

Yiwon’s eyes widened as she turned toward the voice.  

 

Though she was usually good at sensing others’ presence, Hwan was difficult to detect when he deliberately hid his.  

 

“When did you get here?”  

 

“Myung came by.”  

 

“Ah…” 

 

“Don’t worry. The master of this place is keeping him occupied. Your brother’s sick, huh?”  

 

“He’s… doing a little better now.”  

 

“Doesn’t look like it.”  

 

His piercing words made Yiwon lower her head, masking her expression. She knew, as the older sister, she had to stay strong—but it was never easy.  

 

Still, she couldn’t voice her worries about Yiho to Hwan. She had already received so much from him, and this was her burden to bear.  

 

“Your brother’s fighting hard in his own way.”  

 

“…What?”  

 

“He knows you’re worried. That’s why he’s pushing himself to come this far. So don’t think you’re the only one holding on.”  

 

Yiwon’s eyes wavered as she listened. She exhaled deeply, still clutching the pendant.  

 

When she lifted her head again to look at Hwan, the worry from earlier was gone.  

 

Somewhere along the way, she had convinced herself that she alone had to endure for Yiho’s sake. But she had never considered that he was fighting too.  

 

“I wanted to become a physician.”

 

Hwan didn’t scold her for the sudden confession. Instead, he silently watched, as if urging her to continue. Emboldened, Yiwon spoke.  

 

“I wanted to help my brother—who suffers from the same illness as my mother.”

 

“Then why not do it?” 

 

“…Huh?”

 

Women couldn’t become physicians. He ‘knew’ that.  

 

For a moment, Yiwon wondered if he was teasing her—but then she saw his expression and smiled.  

 

“You’re right.”  

 

Of course, both Yiwon and Hwan knew women couldn’t officially practice medicine.  

 

But his point was clear: even if she couldn’t be a physician, she could still ‘learn’ medicine to help her brother.  

 

A sudden curiosity struck her. She was restricted by her gender and the Eun family’s constraints—but what held Hwan back?  

 

“If it were you, Hwan, you could achieve anything you wanted, even without staying by His Highness Myung’s side. So why do you remain with him?”

 

The smile vanished from Hwan’s lips. The shift in atmosphere made Yiwon flinch, and just as she stepped toward him—  

 

The door swung open, and Nanhee appeared.  

 

“My lady. His Highness the Crown Prince is here.”  

 

“Huh?” 

 

“Is something wrong?”  

 

“Ah—no. Let’s go.”  

 

As she followed Nanhee, Yiwon glanced back at where Hwan had been standing.  

 

The expression he had shown her just before disappearing lingered in her mind. 

 

Regret weighed heavily on her—had she misspoken?—but by then, the spot where he had stood was empty.

 

🌙

 

Unlike Hwan, who wore a plain black robe devoid of even the simplest embroidery, Myung was dressed in a luxurious black silk robe exquisitely embroidered with golden threads.  

 

It wasn’t an unfamiliar sight, yet she kept comparing him to Hwan.  

 

“I understand your concern for your younger brother, but this place is too rough for you.”  

 

“It’s merely the largest clinic in the capital. What danger could there be?”  

 

“It’s a place where the uneducated come and go. Some may be patients, but others could have ill intentions. I want you to be careful until you enter the palace.”  

 

His words sounded reasonable, but in the end, they were just another way of telling her not to leave the inner quarters of the Eun family. 

 

Unless the heavens overturned, there was no chance her marriage to Myung would change. If that was the case, she at least wished to grant Yiwon some freedom until the wedding.  

 

“Your brother has improved much today.”  

 

“That child’s illness won’t be easily cured. It’s fortunate he’s better, but I’d like you to pay a little more attention to yourself.”  

 

Comparing people was wrong, but when the same question yielded entirely different answers, she couldn’t help but search for Hwan in Myung.  

 

“Your Highness.”  

 

“Speak.”  

 

“I… wanted to become a physician. I wanted to treat my brother myself.”  

 

At Yiwon’s words, Myung’s frown deepened openly. Yiwon often made such unreasonable remarks. 

 

Today seemed to be one of those days—she had brought up another absurd idea.  

 

It wasn’t that he didn’t care for Yiwon. On the contrary, he valued her more than any other woman.  

 

The influence of the Eun family that she would bring him was important, and he admired her elegant, refined beauty and her impeccable manners as a noblewoman.  

 

That was precisely why he had no desire to listen to her occasional nonsensical thoughts, nor any intention of indulging them.  

 

“Physicians are men’s work. The thought of your delicate hands handling the pus and blood of patients is unpleasant. You are a woman who need not do such things. Your brother will be treated by skilled physicians, so put such thoughts out of your mind.”  

 

“…”  

 

“Do you understand?”  

 

Myung wasn’t the strange one. If anything, the strange one was Hwan.  

 

Yet, Yiwon liked that strangeness in Hwan. And the more she cherished that strangeness, the thicker the wall between her and Myung grew.  

 

That was why it hurt even more.  

 

The fact that she had to marry this wall-like man made Yiwon despise it all.  

 

“Yiwon.”  

 

“I underst— Pfft.”  

 

Yiwon, who had been looking at Myung, covered her mouth, stifling a laugh. 

 

Myung, flustered by her sudden reaction, frowned, but Yiwon was too busy biting her lips to contain herself.