Before the sunset had even faded, the mountain’s shadow covered the village.
The heroine was hurrying along with Dan-i, the maid, a basket of medicinal herbs tucked under her arm.
Around this time, wolf howls could often be heard from the mountain pass.
She had to get home before dark.
"Young miss, you’d better hurry a little more. It’ll be pitch-black soon."
At Dan-i’s urging, the heroine nodded and quickened her steps.
Then, all at once, a black shape caught her eye beyond the bushes by the roadside.
At first, she stopped, thinking it was a beast.
But soon she realized it was a human figure.
And not just any figure—it was a man collapsed on the ground, his clothes soaked through with red.
"Young miss, you mustn’t go!"
Dan-i grabbed her sleeve, but the heroine had already turned around.
She couldn’t just walk past while watching someone die.
She approached carefully and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder.
He was still faintly breathing.
It looked like a deep cut in his side, blood seeping out.
There was also a clear graze from an arrow on his arm.
These were wounds from being chased by someone.
At that moment, she vaguely heard footsteps and low shouts from far away.
The heroine held her breath and listened closely.
The sounds seemed to draw nearer, then soon changed direction and receded down the mountain.
She couldn’t tell who had been chasing the man.
But the killing intent in those footsteps was unmistakable.
"Dani, help me. If we leave him like this, he’ll die."
"But Miss, we don’t even know who this man’s tangled up with to end up like this……."
"Because we don’t know, all the more reason we can’t just leave him."
"Why waste time asking why in front of someone who’s dying?"
At the heroine’s firm words, Dan-i finally let out a sigh and supported the man’s arm from the other side.
The two of them barely managed to lift him up together.
He was far heavier than she’d expected, and the heroine staggered for a moment.
That caused the man’s face to be fully revealed in the moonlight.
He was in terrible shape.
His clothes were caked with dirt and blood, making it hard to tell their original color, and his hair was a mess, sticking to his forehead.
Even so, his face was oddly beautiful.
The eyelashes hanging beneath his dark brows were especially long.
Against his bloodless, pale complexion, his features looked completely out of place with his shabby appearance.
Even with his brow furrowed in pain, his face was this refined.
The heroine found herself staring without meaning to for a moment.
Then suddenly, she saw something peeking out from between his collar, glinting faintly in the moonlight.
It looked like an ornamental pendant carved from jade.
Before she could look closer, the man’s body went limp again.
"Dani, hurry. His breathing’s getting shallower."
The two of them carried the man down the mountain path, each supporting him on one side.
The heroine kept looking back over her shoulder, worried the footsteps that had faded behind them might come again.
Fortunately, no sign of pursuit reached them until they arrived at the village entrance.
*
When they reached the house, startled servants rushed out.
Kim Yuhyeong stood on the wooden porch and, seeing his daughter bring in a bloodied man, frowned.
But only for a moment; then he said in a low voice, "Lay him down in the sarangchae first."
This house had never been the type to coldly turn away travelers passing through.
Sharing a bowl of rice with the hungry and putting up the injured for a night had, since returning home, become even more natural than before.
They laid the man down and quickly sent someone to fetch the doctor.
About an hour later, the doctor arrived, examined the wounds, and shook his head with a grave expression.
"The wound in his side is deep. And the arrow graze too—it’s not the kind of injury one gets from an ordinary scuffle."
"Getting through tonight is the priority."
At those words, the inner quarters stirred.
It meant this stranger might end up breathing his last inside their home.
But the heroine did not back down.
Saying she would boil the herbal medicine herself, she headed to the kitchen.
Kim Yuhyeong looked at his daughter’s back, as if about to say something, but in the end he could not say a word and went into his room.
As the night deepened, the feverish man let out low groans again and again.
The heroine stayed by his side, pressing a wet towel to his forehead.
His bloodless face, tightly shut lips, eyelashes trembling faintly.
As she quietly looked down at him, a strange ache spread through one corner of her heart.
It was a face she was seeing for the first time.
And yet somehow, it felt familiar…….
Into the aching — Character Introduction
Kim Yeoju (Kim family) — She came from a once-prominent family, but now lives in the countryside as the only daughter of a yangban family. She is firm and resolute, but soft-hearted inside, and after seeing a strange man who was injured and lost his memory, she ends up giving him her heart as well.
Choi Beomgyu (Choi family) — A man whose family fell apart overnight, leaving him as the only survivor. When expressionless, he is chilly and forlorn, but once he opens his heart, he has the surprising charm of being bright and kind like daylight. He is pretending to have lost his memory to hide his identity.
Kim Yuhyeong (Kim family) — Yeoju’s father. He was once close friends with Beomgyu’s family.
Taehyeon — Beomgyu’s colleague. A descendant of someone who used to work in Beomgyu’s family home.
Jo Seunghak — A high-ranking official of the country. The starting point of all this tragedy, who secretly raised a private army.
Hello! I’m back quickly with a new work!
This time I brought a Joseon-era story with TXT’s Beomgyu haha
There aren’t many photos of Beomgyu in hanbok that fit the scenes, so I might use several Beomgyu photos instead!!
Still, please remember that the setting stays Joseon-era hahaㅎㅎㅎㅎ
Please look forward to this one too! Thank you❤️
![Night Jju TALK [Complete] thumbnail](https://cdnetphoto.appphotocard.com/fanfic/2236885/184842/thumbnail_img_20211002194933.png)
