at the corner of his lips. “Tell me, damo investigator, based on all that you’ve observed, what do you think led to her death?”
“I … don’t know, sir.”
He nodded. After a moment, he said, “There are usually only three causes for murder: lust, greed, or vengeance. Among these three, vengeance is the most common.”
“I never knew that,” I admitted quietly.
“No, you would not have. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was killed by her family or an intimate partner. I have worked for so long at the police bureau that I find very few things to be surprising or new.” Expelling a weary sigh, Inspector Han gestured to the door. “Announce me and go.”
I announced his presence to Hyeyeon, who temporarily covered the corpse with a straw mat, and once alone, I made my way toward the main pavilion, still blushing. There, I swept the vast floor, and the repetitive swishing of the broom allowed my thoughts to drift back to Lady O. So she wasn’t a virgin; she must indeed have had a lover. Perhaps, I thought, a lover with a dagger.
I stopped sweeping and covered the end of the bamboo handle with both hands, resting my chin there. Fog that hid the morning sun rolled in through the open gates and swam in the courtyard, leaving a sheen of dew on the massive wooden pillars and the cold, gray stones. It was as though the bureau had plunged into the deep and livid sea, a boundless space between myself and the world.
I wondered if the underworld might look like this. The home now to Lady O, and the home to my father, my mother, my brother …
“Hurry! Faster!”
My thoughts scrambled as voices echoed from the distance. I saw shadows, shapeless lumps behind the fog. The shadows grew larger and more distinct. It was two officers, their black robes flapping behind them as they entered the bureau through the main gate. “You there!” one of them called out. “Where is Inspector Han?”
“In the examination room.”
They ran past me, disappearing into the southern courtyard.
A complaint must have arrived. Perhaps another loose woman like Lady O, slashed to death for the sake of family honor, a crime I was coming to learn was quite frequent. Honor was everything here in the capital, more important than life itself to these nobles. I’d heard a bizarre story of a woman who had hacked her shoulder with an ax simply because a male stranger had touched it.
My thoughts wandered as I swept here and there, though mostly pulling the broom along, leaving large spaces untouched. I rarely put my whole heart into domestic chores, especially when it came to sweeping. There were more important things to do with my life than to chase after dust.
More important things? I could almost hear the chief maid’s rebuke. Such as what, Damo Seol?
We damos were prone to avoiding our chores or doing them half-heartedly. Once, the chief maid had sent Damo Aejung to prepare tea, only to find her sleeping in the yard outside the kitchen with a medicine book open on her lap. She had lashed Aejung’s calves as punishment, and did so with every other damo who shirked their duties. But it was the wrath of the police officers that we feared most.
When the space looked decent enough to keep me out of trouble, I dragged the broom along the courtyard toward the storage room, but I paused, hearing hurried footsteps behind me.
It was Officer Ky?n. “What are you doing just standing around?”
“Sir, I was told to sweep—”
He tossed me a coil of rope made of five braided strings, used to arrest criminals. “You’re to come with us. A woman is needed.”
“Where?”
He replied under his breath, so quietly I barely heard him. “Mount Inwang.”
I licked my dry lips, my throat suddenly parched. Now I noticed his bow and quiver full of arrows. Mount Inwang was a place I had dreaded since I’d first heard of it as a child, the home of white tigers.
I tapped my finger against the bamboo broom handle, trying to distance myself from panic. “What is on Mount Inwang?”
He might have reprimanded me for speaking out of turn. Instead, Ky?n said, “Maid Soyi has fled.”
* * *
The fog thickened by the time we rode out that afternoon, but Inspector Han had a keen sense of direction, easily leading the twenty officers and myself through Hanyang. The five-day mourning period issued by the royal court had ended, so shops were open again,