and sighed. “Perhaps Lady O did have a lover, yet she is of such a gentle temperament. No man could have despised her enough to have harmed her.”
But what if the reason behind the violence had its root in Catholicism? I didn’t know where to begin to unclutter this question. All I could do was dig and dig. “I have one last thing to ask, mistress. On the week of Lady O’s passing, there were many deaths among Catholics of low origin.”
A shadow passed over Lady Kang’s countenance, and a chill jabbed into my chest. I had crossed a line; this question, I ought not to have asked. Yet I could not think of anyone more knowledgeable. She might have even worshipped the Western God together with the victims.
I pressed on. “Do you know why such tragedies occurred all of a sudden?”
“All those corpses found recently…” She lowered her voice, as though straining against a harsh weight. “They were the corpses of those who refused to apostatize this foreign learning. You see, Seol, it is dangerous to be different here in Joseon. Queen Regent Jeongsun is preparing the magistrates to reinforce the ogatong chi p?p.”
I frowned, not understanding.
“It will be peaceful for the next five months, the formal mourning period before the elder king’s burial. But afterward, every five households will be grouped into a unit. If a Catholic is found in any one of them, all five are to be found guilty of treason in the New Year.”
“Oh…”
“But I believe the persecution is a double-edged sword. It will wipe out the Catholics, whom the kingdom despises for being different. But it will be the queen regent’s means of wiping out her opposing faction as well.”
“The Southerners,” I whispered, and withheld myself from adding, the faction to which Lady O’s father belongs. Yet another question rose to my lips—and I knew I’d already asked one too many, but Lady Kang’s willingness to talk encouraged me to speak on. “What connection does this faction have to Catholicism, mistress?”
“That is a very important question.” She sucked on her pipe. A string of smoke twirled into the air as she breathed out and answered, “Southerner scholar-officials were among the first to spread Catholicism when it was smuggled in. They spread it in the name of reform, but the regent believes it is nothing more than their attempt to regain power in the government.”
Lowering my gaze, I played with a loose thread on my sleeve. Masters and mistresses, lowborn parents and relatives—all were killing heretics out of fear for their own lives. And soon the fear and panic would reach their sharp fingers deep into the imperial court itself. Perhaps the lover had killed Lady O because he knew her heretical ways might endanger him or someone he cherished far more. Or perhaps Lady O’s mother had killed her. Honor killing was common in the capital.
“You care about this case.” Lady Kang’s solemn voice lifted my attention back to her dark eyes, steadied on me. The uneasiness in her composure from moments ago was gone. “You are free to suspect, but do not jump to conclusions. Do not fixate on only one possibility. Wait until you have thoroughly examined all angles of the case.”
“I am a servant, mistress,” I reminded her. “A servant’s conclusion could never matter.”
“All who are involved in an investigation are responsible in taking care of a life. Each decision you make, you will look back to it one day and you’ll realize that it took something out of you, never to be replaced. So tread with care, Damo Seol … great care.”
The thought that my decisions were of importance filled me with a free-falling sensation, as if I were a bird released from a cage, thrown into a world of endless sky. Yet I couldn’t help fearing that I was being tempted. She’d said so herself: it was dangerous to be different.
“I understand,” I whispered.
The creak of footsteps brought our conversation to a hold. The silhouette of a maid bowed outside the screened door. The tranquil voice said, “Mistress, Scholar Hwang is here to speak with you.”
“So he has arrived…” Lady Kang puffed on her pipe, turning back to me. “Because you are so curious, I will tell you this: since I was a child, I’ve had a certain peculiarity. I have known things that others did not. I would study the face of a man or woman, and right away, I could tell much about them. I said once,