this and ascended to officialdom as a renowned engineer in the time of King Sejong. Even in ancient times, many slaves rose up to become generals because of their courage. No one was born into their glorious position, just as no one is born to be a slave.”
Who was this woman? I watched as she moved to tuck something back into her robe. A beaded necklace bearing an odd ornament: two wooden pieces crossing one over the other. A crooked and misshapen cross.
THREE
I SAT ON the edge of the pavilion veranda, surrounded by the familiar high walls of the police bureau. The clouds above me hid the stars and the sliver of moon, the midnight sky pitch-black, while the trilling of a lone bird echoed somewhere in the east.
My entire body burned with pain, but my head ached the most, half my hair crusted with blood. But Hyeyeon said that I’d be fine, that she’d bring her medical supplies to clean and stitch it up. So I waited for her with a cloth pressed against the wound.
I couldn’t move even if I’d wanted to. The weight of those last hours—when I’d woken up alone in the forest and journeyed all the way back to the bureau, barefooted, with the mysterious lady—pinned me to my spot.
“So she came back,” an officer said as he passed by, slowing down to glance at me. “Thought she’d run away, like last time.”
“You should have seen her return, Officer,” the chief maid replied, walking alongside him with a rattling tray of cups. “Her hair was hanging by her face, and her dress—her dress!—it was soaked and torn like a beggar’s.”
“Aigoo.” The officer sounded hardly interested.
Trying to block out their voices, I pressed the cloth and my hand against my ears. But I could still hear them, distant though they were now.
“Look at her, she is likely furious. Left behind for dead, she was—”
“Hush!”
The cause of their sudden silence, I could sense, was a few steps away from me. My pulse leaped at the sight of Inspector Han taking a seat on the edge of the veranda, though not right next to me. He sat far enough for two people to sit between us. Then he spoke, his voice as deep and quiet as the night. “You weren’t left behind.”
I looked at his dusty leather boots, unable to form a response.
“I sent out men to look for you but called them back just now. I would never abandon one of my officers or damos.”
The weight in my chest lifted, just a bit. “Thank you, sir,” I said timidly to his boots.
Silence hung between us, and when I peeked up, I saw his head turned to me. But I couldn’t tell whether he was looking at me, for the shadow cast by his police hat made it impossible for me to see his eyes. “I had a little sister,” he murmured. “She would have been your age if she hadn’t died.”
I silently mouthed a word of gratitude to the dead girl, for reminding her brother of my life. Perhaps he would have left me behind otherwise. To most aristocrats, I was a mere servant, easily disposable.
“I’m indebted to you,” he said.
I blinked. “For what, sir?”
“I might not have lived if not for you.”
“It was my honor to serve you, sir. If only I had come earlier, then you would not have been wounded.”
“It was not my blood. It belonged to my horse.”
I recalled the horse struggling on the ground, its head nodding up and down. “Oh…”
“Come closer,” he said.
Surprise lit in me. Inspector Han had always kept his distance from all, officers and damos alike. I slid across the veranda, and once I was close enough, I wondered if he could feel the heat of my nervousness.
“Hold out your palm.”
I reached out and spread my fingers. He pressed a solid and cold object into my hand: a tasseled ornament, a norigae, like the one tied to Lady O’s dress—but much different in color and shape. This one was an amber carving of a terrapin, attached to a long tassel of blue silk strings.
“This was a gift I wanted to give my sister on her birthday, but never got to. Hold on to it until I fulfill my promise to you.”
“Promise, sir?”
“Tell me. What is it you most desire?” he asked. “And I promise it will be yours.”
Still staring at the ornament, unable to believe my eyes, the truth slipped out of me before I could weigh its