Inspector Han’s closeness to the commander, like son and father, so how could our chief—Seol! Lantern!”
I raised it high again, the flame bright through the rice paper.
“I once overheard Officer Shim say his father has no legitimate son,” Aejung continued. “And instead of making Shim his heir, he adopted a nephew. Common enough, but still … can you imagine the pain of being denied by your own father? ’Tis no wonder he is so quiet. He keeps his gaze lowered even when speaking to us!”
He bore a mark like me, I realized. An invisible one that flared across his forehead: son of a concubine.
I should be kinder to him, I thought. Another outsider, like me.
“Officer Ky?n is free to take the military exam as often as he wishes.” Aejung grunted. “He just doesn’t have the talent to pass it. He’s not very good at anything.”
“Except being a rat. I think he’s a rat reincarnated into human form,” I said, and when Aejung spit out a laugh, I added, “But unfortunately, he does not look like one.”
Aejung laughed harder, and I joined her, the two of us filling the empty courtyard with our conspiratorial giggling. But we immediately fell silent when we arrived at the low steps that led up to a long wooden building, the officers’ quarter, illuminated by two burning cauldrons. After climbing, I set the lantern down on the veranda and slid open the door, wood rumbling against wood. There officers lounged, legs crossed, all occupied—talking, reading, or mending uniforms. Thick cotton bedding lay sloppily folded in a corner, stacked one over the other. Black police hats hung by their silk chin straps on wooden nails.
As I helped Aejung set up the low-legged tables, I sensed Officer Ky?n’s presence, just as I might hear the whining of a barely visible mosquito. I tried to ignore him, ducking my head and staring at the bottles and bowls, but a question drew my eyes upward: Was he still angry at me?
He watched me with a tight, displeased smile that strained across his teeth.
I bit my lower lip hard, remembering how I’d snatched the bow from him as though he were a foolish boy. I wished the earth would open and swallow me up. Honor was like life to a man, and I had taken that from him. I had shamed him before all his fellow officers.
“Impudence!” An older officer’s bellow startled me. “How dare you stare into the face of your superior?”
With just the right amount of remorse in my voice, I apologized, then ducked my head again and continued to pour wine into bowls.
“That is fine,” Ky?n said, low-voiced.
“No, sir. I won’t allow her to treat you with such disrespect.” The older officer’s voice groveled at the feet of the far younger Officer Ky?n. “Seol is still being trained, so one must discipline her more harshly from the start, or she’ll never learn how to conduct herself properly.”
“This creature is so thickheaded she’ll never learn.” Ky?n emptied the bowl with a few gulps. “Pour me some more.”
I did so carefully, cautiously. But before I could move away, with a snap of his wrist, Ky?n threw the liquid onto my face. Anger exploded in my chest, but I sat still, wine streaming down my forehead, my cheeks, dripping onto my hands folded around the bottle. A servant mustn’t express emotions, I told myself as I gritted my teeth tighter. Hide it until you’re alone. Cry and yell only when all are asleep.
As though nothing had happened, he said in a smooth voice, “I hear that Matron Kim is infuriated.”
The officers did not respond to Ky?n and instead stared at my shame-soaked face. After a beat, the older officer asked, “The mother of that noseless victim?”
“The same. She thought she would be summoned for the corpse’s examination, but proper protocol was not observed. She has ordered a servant sent from Inspector Han’s household to receive his punishment.” Ky?n scratched at his chin as if in deep thought. As if he were capable of it. “Perhaps I will speak with Inspector Han. I’ll suggest a servant who might be willing to save his life yet again…”
His eyes rested on me, and as they did, a thought raced through my mind. Inspector Han would not dare hurt me.
“What are you smiling about?” he demanded.
“Neh?” I asked, confused. “I’m not smiling, sir.”
“Yes, you are.”
“I am not!”
He was still for all of a second, and then he lunged forward. It all happened too quickly for