He raised his head and made eye contact with her. Her face was filled with shock. He couldn’t tell if she was afraid of his looming figure or if she was surprised by her unexpected luck. Due to the close distance, her soft breath had spread and hit his lips. 

“Now let’s go.”

“Yes, General!”

Gyeol left Dan like that and turned around first. Dan, who had been dazed, suddenly came to her senses and asked.

“Where are you taking me?”

Gyeol, who had just grabbed the black horse’s reins, turned his head. Soon, the most dizzying answer out of all she had heard today flowed out from his mouth.

“Hanyang.”

Hanyang?! That Hanyang, the capital of Joseon?! Ah… Oh my god…

She had just barely survived from thieves and fire. This place was under the control of the northern ghost and they were leaving it.

It was scarier than a tiger’s den.


➽───────────────❥


Dan started moving along the endless snowy field with Seo Gyeol’s army. He had started so hastily that she couldn’t leave a word to Berkan. After all, it was a place that had no connection other than old man, so the owner of Shim Tea Shop will soon be forgotten from the minds of people. 

Dan moved together with the people at the end of the procession but their overall speed was still slow because of the assistants. The only rest they had was when they ate or slept when it was too dark and couldn’t go any further. Even she had to curl up and sleep in a barracks made of animal skin. Fortunately, Dan was able to use a small barrack of her own because she was a woman. 

As she watched the bonfire while holding her bamboo barrel tightly, she couldn’t tell if everything was real or just a nightmare. 

If this is a nightmare, please end it here. When I open my eyes, be a cozy tea shop again.

“Get up, we are leaving now.”

However, when she woke up to Jin-wi’s voice, which sounded harder than a rock, she was still in her old barracks. It had been a few days like that. While stopping for a while by the stream to eat, Dan could see a flash of determination in Gyeol's eyes. She, like the other shoulders, were eating roasted and dried grains.

Why did he say that he would bring me along?

Was he sorry that she was single with no home, no land and no family?

Or maybe… is he taking me to Dadong?

[PR/N: is an administrative neighborhood in Hanyang]

As she thought about that, she felt chills as if the blood had drained out of her body. Horrible rumors about the Northern Ghost and Dadong came to her mind.

Ah, no! The Northern Ghost only took very young children to Dadong. It won’t be Dadong, it shouldn’t be…

Dan shrugged hard as if she had convulsion and denied her thoughts.

Huh?

But, looking at Gyeol’s determined face again, she narrowed her eyes. Looking at it now, that man, his complexion looked particularly bad today.

Come to think of it… I haven’t seen him drink anything lately.

The other soldiers drank even from a frozen stream to get their throats wet. Gyeol, however, did not move a single step from the rock on which he sat. On the first day, there was a water bottle made of ceramic and his drink was in it, but after three days she couldn’t see it, and he hasn’t drank anything since.

If you stay like that, something big is going to happen…

“General! General! Are you okay?”

It had been over three days, his body was bound to collapse. Dan rushed through the crowd of soldiers and approached Gyeol. Seeing he had white, dry lips, low fever and blurred consciousness, it appears that he was dehydrated. Dan laid his body upright and said to Jin-wi.

“Water, bring me water!”

“You can’t let the general drink water.”

“If you leave him like this, it will be more dangerous!”

Having never experienced this kind of situation, neither Jin-wi nor the other soldiers knew what to do. In the end, they followed words and took water that flowed down the stream. But, did he know that it was water even in his weakened state of mind?

“Ha, huh…! Get rid of it!”

He overturned the water that they brought. His expression was distorted, as if he had seen something terrible. 

“You must drink. Otherwise, it will be a disaster!”

“...Hanyang is just a little further away. We just have to wait until then.”

Despite Dan’s persuasion, Gyeol forced himself to stand up. But perhaps he had reached his limit, he only collapsed again and exhaled harshly. It was as if he was holding on to a sliver of consciousness with sheer mental power. Dan’s heart fluttered. What should she do? Is there no way he could force this man to drink water? 

Forcibly… water…

“...”

Okay. It was the only way. Dan, who with hardened eyes, held out the gourd to Jin-wi again.

“Please go back, I’ll make him drink.”

“What are you going to do? The general…!”

“Just this once,” Dan asked with all sincerity. “Leave it to me just once, please.”

Did she see the truth in her eyes? Jin-wi, who looked at her with suspicion, finally nodded. Soon after, the soldiers poured water into the gourd again. Dan, who straightened her body, accepted the gourd.

Let’s look at the rippling water for a moment. 

Dan then sternly put her mouth on the gourd. Then, before she could be stopped by the other soldiers, she bowed down and kissed Gyeol. 

“...”

Clear and sweet, cool water flowed from Dan’s mouth to Gyeol’s mouth, without leaving a single drop.