said in a sorrowful tone. “The story you know is only one strand of a vast tapestry.”
I remained quiet, wondering what else I had yet to understand; I felt I understood all. Those who did wrong should pay for their crime.
“But let us not concern ourselves with the priest. Let it not divide us,” she added. “We are here because we share a common concern for Woorim’s safety.”
Help me, Woorim had called to me with bloodshot eyes, the veins protruding from her forehead. Her hand slipping out from mine as the killer dragged her away, wrenching her hair. There was no time to be wondering who was right and who was wrong.
“And what is going to happen to Inspector Han if he is charged with murder?” I asked. “Lady O and Scholar Ahn were both aristocrats from influential families.”
“Perhaps he will be poisoned. The gentle way to execute an official.” Lady Kang did not look at me but at the mountain peak again. “This is the consequence of the clash of old and new. We must prepare our hearts, all of us. No matter which side wins, we will all be heartbroken.”
* * *
I lay in the room with no one else but the whispers from my past, filling the space like the fluttering of a thousand wings. I pressed my palms against my ears, burying my face into the pillow, yet I could not escape.
We can’t fight, Older Sister said. It’s just the three of us. We must stick together.
There had been three of us—her, Brother, and myself—but because of my choice to betray Inspector Han, now there would be only two. My sister would have made a different choice. She would have moved heaven and earth to protect her brother, even if he were a murderer, and perhaps I would have gone far to protect him too. Only, Inspector Han would never be my brother.
Older Brother was supposed to be gentle and deeply kind. He had told me stories about home, promising that we would one day sit around a table and eat together, shoulder to shoulder. He had promised to write me a warm poem. He had made so many promises while counting the moons, waiting for our banishment to end in Heuksan, and these promises had sung me to sleep for years afterward. Just for him, I had kept myself from running away again and had stayed in the capital to look for him, for the brother who had promised me a home bursting with the warmth of reunion. But instead I had found a cold and distant superior, a military official who had told the bandit to let me die.
Unable to sleep, I rolled out of the blanket and wandered out of the room. A single black cloud hung in the moonlit sky. As I paced about in restlessness, a fistful of dread churned in my stomach, and I remembered Lady Kang’s words. Inspector Han might die because of what I had discovered, his bloody robe. Was I my brother’s killer?
I pulled out Inspector Han’s letter to the dead. I couldn’t make myself read it again; it was enough just to see the crumpled paper. Enough to remind me that I could not stop now. I’d come too far.
The ground scraped beneath my feet as I walked, and with each step, there was a growing sensation in me that nothing would be the same again. Setting my palm on the wooden double doors, I pushed them open. I ran through the alleys and pathways, then arrived at Jongno Street, a broad road illuminated by women holding lanterns that could easily expose my face. I still had my branding painted over, but most patrolmen would recognize me nevertheless.
Shadows beneath the tiled eaves and narrow alleys cloaked me as I journeyed toward the Capital Police Bureau. My heart pounded so hard in my chest that someone could have heard its echoing beat. Soon, I glimpsed the establishment built on its stone foundation, the roofline flaring out at the ends. The entrance gate, capped with an imposing pagoda, was protected by guards with spears. I had almost forgotten how frightening the police bureau appeared.
I remained hidden in the alley, far enough that the guards wouldn’t see me, but close enough to observe the bustling through the opened gates. Roundsmen stepped out of the bureau, accompanying a man garbed in a blue silk robe, his shoulders drawn back, standing tall and shameless. The silver embroidery on his robe glinted