A Kind Goblin’s Bird - Chapter 5

The Most Beautiful Bird Part 1

When the porridge bowl’s bottom was exposed, Sa Heon-yeong began to carefully wash the woman again. As soon as she woke up, she confirmed that she was naked, but he soon looked away from her. The woman was not in her common house, but when she wakes up naked in front of a man she doesn’t know familiarly, it should be surprising, but she wasn’t too surprised. The woman didn’t seem to care about her body.

While Sa Heon-yeong was washing the woman, she was looking straight at him. She occasionally blinked her eyes. He thought the movement was like the flapping of a butterfly’s wings. As a child, he had cut the wings of a butterfly. horizontally, vertically. Every time he saw a butterfly, he cut it with her sword. He hated butterflies.

He seems to be able to stop hating it from today. Every time he sees a butterfly, he will think of the woman’s eyelids. these beautiful eyes.

“But really, who are you?”

“The goblin.”

Hmm. The woman frowned at him. He was a person no matter how she looked at him, but when he said that he is the goblin, she had an unbelievable face. The woman doesn’t know much about anything and is like a fool, but she wasn’t really a fool.

It’s much nicer than crying.

He was really embarrassed when she cried earlier. The woman had thin shoulders. Her bones could be exposed, and her body looked like she was about to tear her skin out. Shaking such a body, the woman swallowed and swallowed her cry, and it was embarrassing.

“Sir Goblin, do you have bad eyes?”

The woman asked openly. Are my eyes weird?

Sa Heon-young burst out laughing. As he smiled, the woman lowered her eyebrows and tilted her head. She doesn’t seem to understand why he was smiling.

Looking back, Sa Heon-yeong doesn’t seem to think that she was a beauty when he first saw the woman. But as the woman looked at him and sang her song, her face gradually changed.

Come to think of it, it was a strange day to go through. Fog and rain kept blocking the view, and people kept bumping into each other while walking. A day when one can’t see well, a day with a strange cloud cover. On that day, the woman sang a song as pure and sweet as he would hear in a dream.

His ears seemed to melt. The fever started in his ears and spread all over his body. The woman’s face changed moment by moment as if it had received a different light. An invisible rainbow was illuminating the woman. Reflected in her face, her eyes, her voice. Abundant light spread through the space. That day, Sa Heon-yeong experienced a small miracle. There was nobody there. There was neither the escort nor himself. It was just the woman.

From that night on, Sa Heon-young could not sleep. Even if he closed his eyes and opened his eyes, only the woman’s face came to mind. Her face changed moment by moment in his head. It was difficult to be sure which face was hers. As bright as a child, with a transcendent expression like an old man, her lips curled while singing were sensual, but her cheeks in his hands were innocent. He missed her. Unable to bear it, Sa Heon-yeong decided to go see her.

A subordinate of the inspectorate bribed Song Geun-ryang’s maids and servants to find the woman. She was the illegitimate child of Song Geun-ryang, she was being abused, and she lived alone in the back mountains. There is only one way to the back mountain, and the road was always blocked to keep the woman from escaping.

When he heard the story that the woman lives alone in the mountains, his desire to see her grew stronger. So yesterday, Sa Heon-yeong climbed the opposite mountain alone. Below the steep cliff of the opposite mountain was that little mountain. It would be impossible for an ordinary person to descend this cliff, but it was not difficult for someone with martial arts like Sa Heon-yeong. He jumped off the cliff. It was much lighter than usual, it felt like he was flying.

And he met this woman again.

All week long he wondered what her real face would look like. Does she have a bright face or a superficial face? Is it sensual or naive?

She was much dirtier and shabbier than expected. And she was beautiful. Overwhelmingly, it was just pretty. like a pearl in the mud.

“My eyes have always been good.”

The woman blinked her eyes. It seems hard to believe. Why does she deny that she is beautiful? Song Geun-ryang passed through Sa Heon-yeong’s mind. A man with a mean look with eyes like a bird. He abused this woman very much. The woman probably wouldn’t even consider herself a person.

“It really is. Living in the open grassland improves your eyesight. I have been on the battlefield since childhood, so I’m good at seeing things from afar.”

Grassland…….

The woman muttered softly. She didn’t seem to know what it was. Sa Heon-young looked at her thin neck and shoulders.

After meeting her again, he was a little crazy. He was out of his mind. His heart was strangely excited, and he couldn’t feel the touch of the ground beneath his feet. Pearl in the mud. She really was. She was dirty, innocent, pitiful and beautiful. If there was a pearl in the mud, what would humans do if they saw a beautiful pearl without flaws? Sa Heon-yeong doesn’t know what others would do. But he picked up the pearl and made it his own.

It was also the same. After he told her he would come to pick her up, he prepared her dowry for a short time. He came to Song Geun-ryang’s house with three carts full of gold.

“What is a grassland?”

“It’s a meadow. A huge meadow.”

Alas. The woman seemed to close her eyes and imagine how big the huge meadow would be. Sa Heon-young looked down at her.

He had brought the woman and looked down at her all night. All night long, he had been engulfed in strange and eccentric emotions. He also took off the woman’s clothes himself. Since he had never taken off a woman’s clothes, Sa Heon-yeong was a little lost. It’s okay because we’re going to be married, right? Of course, I’m her fiancé. The answer to the question was quite arbitrary. According to the law, it was out of the question. But he was reluctant to have anyone else tell him about her. He wanted to do it himself. So he took her clothes off himself and frowned at the woman’s scarred body. And he carefully laid the woman down in the hot tub. And now he was washing her up.

“Don’t you have to eat? Are you not hungry?”

The woman opened her eyes and asked as if she suddenly remembered. It was a worried face.

“It’s all right.”

As Sa Heon-yeong smiled lightly and continued washing her, the woman carefully grabbed his hand. Sa Heon-yeong gave his gaze to the little hand that was wrapped around him. Hands that starved for four days. The hand that took the herb to her mouth to forget her hunger. Fragile slender fingers clasped his rough hand.

“Still, the meal…….”

“The bath service comes first.”

“I can wash by myself.”

The woman reached out her hand. She seemed to want Sa Heonyeong to come after his meal, but for a moment he felt as if she were refusing to touch him. If you think about it rationally, it makes sense. What woman would be happy to have herself bathed by a man whom she doesn’t even know.

“Do you not like it?”

At Sa Heon-yeong’s question, the woman widened her eyes. Then the woman lowered her eyes for a moment and fell into thought. Not like it or not. She seemed to be contemplating, and Sa Heon-young became nervous. Then the woman raised her head.

“I don’t hate it.”

But, the woman added,

“I think you don’t seem to be used to it.”

“This is the first time.”

Sa Heon-yeong said so and wiped the woman’s exposed shoulder with the cloth. But, as the woman added, the voice added softly.

“It’s all my first time.”

The woman blinked her eyes and looked away.

The woman’s cheeks were red. She didn’t seem to know what she was going through. The face that seems bewildered is as dejected as a child lost in an unknown place. She blinked her eyes quickly, as if nervously, and took a deep breath as if it was hard for her to breathe. The woman was a virgin who did not even know what this tension was.

In comparison, Sa Heon-yeong was at least a man who knew what he was doing. He was great on the battlefield. When he was young, he had a noble status, so he could not face women recklessly. After getting a little older, rumors began to spread among the enemy army because of the goblin mask and the terrifying martial arts. Drinking blood and enjoying human flesh was the most famous rumor. As a result, no woman wanted to be embraced by Sa Heon-yeong. Of course, if he had gone to the red-light district, he could have bought a woman, but Sa Heon-yeong was not a man with a strong sexual desire to want to embrace women. He had no interest in women in the first place.

It was the first time he was so interested. It was the first he ever acted so impulsively. He thought it seemed crazy. Sa Heon-young smiled and carefully wiped the woman’s body. As he wiped the mud off his pearls, he thought that he liked this mad state more than ever.

The woman who ate the whole bowl of porridge drooped. Perhaps it was because she had been sitting in the hot water for a long time, she had a hot fever on her cheek. she asked, panting a little.

“Why are you doing this to me?”

“What?”

“I have nothing. If it’s a song, I can sing it, but…….”

The woman said cautiously. She looked worried about why Sa Heon-young was doing this. The woman who is okay to be naked in front of a man is uncomfortable when he sends favors to her, who has nothing on her. Because it was pitiful and pathetic, Sa Heon-young smiled brightly.

“The song.”

His hand went under the water. He began to wipe the woman’s chest past the collarbone. Sa Heon-young had a chill on his back, but the woman was calm. She had a face who didn’t know what it was.

“I may ask you for a favor for it once, but I don’t need it.”

The woman’s song was beautiful. It was said that if you sleep while listening to the song, she will make your wishes come true in the dreams. However, Sa Heon-young had no wish to come true. The one closest to a wish in his life was innocently giving her tender breast here and now.

“You don’t need it?”

The woman who had been treated as if singing was her value all her life, widened her eyes when he said that he didn’t need her songs. As if she couldn’t believe it, she sprawled her body in disbelief. There was a small splash of water in the bathtub. The spray was quite similar to the storm in Sa Heon-yeong’s heart.

“Can I kiss you like before?”

Sa Heon-young couldn’t resist it and asked. He was talking to the woman, but his hand was on her chest. Soft flesh. The woman’s breasts were still a little fleshy compared to her skinny body. Sa Heon-yeong was holding his urge to squeeze her chest.

Was he a human being so easily swayed by sexual desire?

Sa Heon-young let out a bitter laugh at himself.

“Why, why are you doing that?”

The woman was not a fool. she asked, blinking her eyes. She has a face of embarrassment rather than dislike. Sa Heon-young looked at her face carefully and answered.

“My lips twitch all the time when the Lady speaks.”

“…….”

“Because it’s so pretty. It looks sweet like candy……. Can’t I?”

If she said no, he thought I would stop. She was Sa Heon-yeong’s woman. He has a lot of time, so he can get to know her slowly. No, it should be. However Sa Heon-yeong was impatient. His heart was excited and the world kept spinning. He wanted to touch her. It wasn’t a matter of his lower body, he wanted her to be as close to him as possible. He doesn’t know what this feeling is. It was his first experience. But he could definitely recognize that this feeling was very intense.

Having been on the battlefield for a long time, he has a habit of always weighing victory or defeat. He didn’t seem to be able to overcome this feeling at all. This feeling was terribly strong.

“Do you not like me?”

Sa Heon-yeong knew he was cheating, but he asked, stroking the woman’s cheek. The woman was weak against this kind of contact. As he stroked her cheek, she closed her eyes and shook her head.

“You like it then?”

“I do not know…….”

The woman was honest. Sa Heon-young became nervous. The fact that he was the only one who fell in love at first sight burned a part of his heart. He was going to continue with that. Then the handmaiden, who was kneeling on her knees outside the door, spoke softly.

“Your Highness, Court Lady Yoon is here. She has come to see Your Highness in a hurry, what should I do?”

Court Lady Yoon,

-She is his mother’s closest aide. In other words, it means that this incident entered the mother’s ears. Sa Heon-young clicked his tongue inside. He can’t make it through the day. Heck, he had a fuss last night with nothing to see in his eyes. No, it seemed to be done on purpose. This woman is mine. He wanted to shout at everyone. This intense emotion contains a ferocious and immature impulse.

“Tell her that I will greet her in the afternoon.”

At Sa Heon-yeong’s words, the woman widened her eyes. She seemed surprised at the cold voice that was different from when he was talking to her. Sa Heon-young smiled brightly. Shh. When he showed his index finger to his lips, the woman did not know what it was, and she put her index finger to her thick lips and imitated it. Shh.

A little later, the maid spoke again in an annoyed voice.

“Your Highness. Court Lady Yoon asked to apologize for disturbing His Majesty’s rest, and she dared to prostrate and wait.”

In a word, she can’t leave until she sees his face.

It is impossible to make the queen’s cherished court-lady prostrate in the middle of the royal court. Sa Heon-young threw a distasteful gaze beyond the sliding door, and then turned her gaze back to the woman.

“I have to go for a while. The maids will take care of you.”

The woman’s eyes fluttered. Sa Heon-yeong smiled at her softly to reassure her.

“Make yourself at home. If you need anything, please bring it to them.”

It was when Sa Heon-yeong put down the cloth next to the bathtub and got up. His leg was caught and looking down, the woman was holding his leg. When their eyes met, she seemed to realize that she had just caught him by his leg. Embarrassed when she saw his wet pants, she quickly removed her hand.

“I’m sorry.”

She muttered sullenly. He could see her lowered eyes trembling. A face as if fearful or disliked. It was like a puppy. A puppy who can’t stand one moment even though it’s been here for a while. No, the singing was more like a bird rather than a puppy.

Sa Heon-yeong looked down at her for a moment and asked her.

“Would you like to come with me?”

She didn’t seem to hear it. Sa Heon-yeong leaned his body down and looked down at the woman. She waited a moment and then she looked up at him as if the woman felt something strange.

“…… ?”

“I asked if you would like to come with me.”

“It’s okay?”

The woman raised her body up. The woman who got up on her knees grabbed Sa Heon-yeong’s hem and asked again.

“Really, can I come with you?”

The pathetic eyes brightened.

…… And her scarred body.

Sa Heon-young was in trouble. It is the body he has cleaned. The body was exposed. The moment he looked at her body, his throat stinged from thirst.

He’s heard a lot of things like emotionless or inhumane things. He had never actually touched a woman’s body. It would be lying if he said he had never felt lust, but that was a natural sexual desire, regardless of who he was. But now, as if there was only one woman left in the world, his lower pulled like crazy. His head is dizzy. Sa Heon-yeong was momentarily confused as to what he was doing right now. Perhaps what he is doing is asceticism.

Sa Heon-yeong took off his robe and put it over the woman’s body. Under the woman’s body, the tip of the long robe falls into water. The woman was startled and grabbed the hem of the robe. Then the long sleeves gaped to expose the woman’s breasts. Sa Heon-young grabbed the collar that was about to open without realizing it. He no longer wanted to see the woman’s breasts. If he could not covet now, he would rather have it out of sight.

“Are you alright?”

The woman worriedly asked as Sa Heon-young’s complexion wasn’t good. Sa Heon-yeong lifted her up and shook his head.

“It’s not alright. …… I can see your chest.”

“You washed it.”

She said with a face that couldn’t understand.

Sa Heon-yeong had nothing to say, so he bit his mouth. He washed the woman for a long time. Even before the woman got up, he was still washing her. It was a simple thing to hand over to someone, but he didn’t want to, so he wiped this beautiful woman the whole time. She was just pretty and he was just happy to see her clean. Sleeping with her eyes closed, she was like a work of art, and he had no time for sexual desire.

But now she opens her eyes and speaks words. He was bewildered as she reacted completely differently from what he had expected.

Before she moved again to show her body, he swung her up. The woman was so small and skinny that she was completely buried in his long robe. The woman let out a small laugh as she was hugged by the man.

“I must be heavy.”

“Too light.”

The woman was really so light that he got a little scared. He doesn’t know the weight of an adult woman. It was the first time he had hugged a woman like this. But he could be sure that this weight was not normal.

“But can I really come with you?”

The woman’s voice was low, small, and slightly hoarse, with a soft echo. In a whisper-like voice, the woman asked quietly. Sa Heon-yeong answered in her ear.

“If you are coming like this.”

If there was even the slightest bit of shame, he would have hated it. It is something that a prostitute in a red-light district would do to be allowed to move while wearing only a man’s long robe. But the woman grabbed the man’s collar and whispered in his ear.

“Is that okay? Oh, did my father say you can do this?”

“…….”

“It looks like the day is bright, but when do I have to go back? How long can I stay here?”

Sa Heon-young looked down at the woman’s face, realized the true nature of the worry on her face, and smiled. She was worried about him. From the moment they met, she cared for him. She told him to run away and she said he would die if he was beaten. The rod she was beaten with must have been terrible. The harshness left deep scars all over her body. All night long he counted her wounds. It was exactly 87. 87 scars. What kind of abuse would it take to leave 87 scars on the body of a woman who is so small and thin that it is hard to tell how old she is?

Still, this woman worries about him.

His heart felt sweetly stinging.

“Are you worried that I will be scolded by the Lady father?”

When Sa Heon-yeong asked, the woman nodded her head. There is concern in her eyes.

“Father-in-law.”

That fucking bastard.

“He won’t scold me. Of course, he won’t scold the Lady either.”

He will pay the price for abusing this woman.

“We are getting married.”

Sa Heon-yeong stood in front of the sliding door, holding the woman, and the door opened silently. All the maids who were kneeling in front of the door bowed their heads.

Greetings His Highness. Greetings Her Highness.

With every step, the maids on their knees bowed their heads and said. Then the woman tilted her head. She seemed to wonder who the maids were referring to. It was really pretty like a bird. As he passed through the long corridor, Sa Heon-young kissed the woman’s cheek several times. Each time he kissed her, the woman closed her eyes and accepted it quietly.

When he reached the end of the corridor, he saw Court Lady Yoon in the distance. She was the empress’s henchman and the woman Sa Heon-yeong hated. He looked at Court Lady Yoon and smiled bitterly. He whispered sweetly into the woman’s ear, not taking his gaze from his Yoon Sang-gung.

“The Lady will soon become the wife of this body. … … Do you understand, Court Lady Yoon?”

***

Note:

Court Lady Yoon’s title was actually ‘Yoon Sanggung’, which is the highest attainable rank for ladies-in-waiting or gung-nyeo. Putting it as Lady-in-waiting Yoon is kind of weird in the ears and ladies-in-waiting seemed more like a West tradition. So I’ll put it as Court Lady from the gung-nyeo (which means the lady officers of the royal court).

But just to emphasise how big a deal Court Lady Yoon is since she was actually a sanggung. Since just Court Lady Yoon doesn’t sound that influential. A sanggung would have served more than 15 years, and was treated well enough to have her own house and servants.