My Lordship's Alliance

chapter Six: The Marriage Part two

Heeseung horrifyingly looked at the scene before him. He couldn’t believe it! How can Sunwoo make a drastic decision like this?  Isn’t he a man? How does he think this would unravel in the coming days? Being married to someone is something more than just sharing some wine or doing some bows. When the groom learns about this what will become of Sunwoo!? He would be killed!

“I can’t let this happen!” Heeseung said. Jungwon was still in shock. He got startled hearing the sudden words of the elder beside him.
“What are you going to do?” Jungwon asked, “he has already decided his fate. We can’t do much about it!”
“Our friend is in trouble. We must help him.” Heeseung pulled his dongsaeng closer and said, “We are the ones who helped Lord Gim’s daughter escape. We must bring her back as soon as possible and undo this terrible mistake.”
“What are you saying? You are the one who forced me into this, I have told you that it’s a risk.”
“I know that I am at fault here. I should have stopped him. But you know that I can’t say no to him. You among everyone should know that!” Heeseung continued, “when he said to help the daughter, I thought he would have a backup plan. I never thought this was his plan!!”

“So what should we do?” Jungwon asked Heeseung.
They both looked at each other. Heeseung’s eyes seemed anxious and with a deep sigh, he said, “we should get Lord Gim’s daughter back as soon as possible and beg her to go back to the Bak’s household as the bride.” Jungwon shook his head in agreement.

They both left from the wedding ground to he river banks. Heeseung took a one last look at his dongsaeng dressed as the bride. His heart ached and with much hesitation, he turned and  proceeded to untie the boat.

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As the marriage function ended, both Sunghoon and Sunwoo were asked to go to the temporary house built behind the Gimhae house. The groom and bride were obliged to spend their first night there.

As they walked, Sunghoon’s friends were laughing teasing him, to which he never bashed an eye at them. Sunwoo , beneath all the façade, was really terrified and was continuously cursing himself for his foolishness. He turned anxious on the thought of what in the world had just happened and became more agitated when ‘what will be going to happen’ hit him in his brain. He was shivering like a puppy when both of them entered the house. Sunwoo on stepping on the elevated floor, slightly slipped. He was about to fall when Sunghoon grabbed his waist keeping him from hitting the ground. Sunwoo turned his head to look at the man. He wasn’t smiling, but one can see a slight expression of concern in his eyes. He is a gentleman, of course he would be concerned for his wife, thought Sunwoo and to which he blushed. Sunghoon saw his wife’s face turning red and in reaction Sunghoon became self conscious and a bit awkward. He pulled Sunwoo up and asked him, “My wife, are you okay?”

Sunwoo was flabbergasted. He wasn’t prepared to hear Sunghoon calling him ‘his wife’. He thought to himself, ‘this is not going to be good. How can I escape from this position?’

Sunwoo was afraid about the first night. He must find a way to somehow avoid any kind of physical contacts with Sunghoon. Gladly, he had taken a small amount of sleep-inducing herbal mixture from the kitchen that was kept to trap rats. Unknown to him, Sunghoon had no plan to consummate the relationship. For him, marriage should be between people who love each other. He married Da-hee for duty, not for love.

Sunwoo slightly pulled himself up from Sunghoon’s hold and moved into the house. The house was already decorated and perfumed with gentle rose fragrance. There were incense lit on the small altar created. The newlyweds prayed in-front of the altar paying respect to the ancestors.

“My wife” Sunghoon said calmly turning to Sunwoo who held his gaze down, “I would like to freshen myself. Would you mind asking the servants to prepare the water for me?” Bak Sunghoon knew that such a noble girl from a highly reputable and wealthy family would find it difficult to do tasks like this. She wouldn’t know even how to start a fire in the stove, let alone heating up water for the bath.

Sunwoo held his breath and was keenly listening to the other’s request. As soon as he understood the message, he bowed at the elder and slowly went outside to look for the servants. The Lord Gim had already arranged a new servant for his daughter. A small petite girl, probably in her teens and he have also arranged the Village inn apprentice Bak Jongsaeng as the personal cook for the couple. The servant girl ran towards Sunwoo as soon as he stepped out of the house into the small backyard.

“Madam, what do you need?” the girl asked.
Sunwoo was astonished to see the beautiful little girl, “what’s your name?” He asked.
“Madam, call me Chul!” The girl answered smiling.
“How old are you?”
“Fourteen!”
“Oh my, you are so young! Please just call be Opp….Noona” Sunwoo flustered a bit and smiled nervously.
“Noona, do you have any work for me?” Chul asked to which Sunwoo nodded no.
Sunwoo was the one to do chores like these for the Lord’s family. He knew how straining it would be for such a petite girl. Sunwoo then went into the work area and brought a big bamboo water buckets. The water carrier had already filled the big cauldron with water from the nearby well. Sunwoo then carried a bucket full of water from the cauldron and approached the kitchen. He then collected the firewood from the shed and started a fire in one of the stove. He is still in his hanbok. He lifted his skirt slightly and carried a large mud pot for heating the water. He placed it on the stove and slowly poured the water into the pot for boiling. He would slightly reorganise the firewood to keep the flames uniform. He was sweating and wiped it off of his face using his hands which were covered in soot and ashes, thus staining both his face and his clothes.

All his efforts were observed by Sunghoon from the living room. He was dealing with some official matters with one of his friends and saw how Sunwoo did all those works by himself. He then slowly got up and stood by the window to observe ‘his wife’s’ way of doing house chores. To him it was surprising as he thought Girls from Noble households were pampered so much that they never really know how to cook or do house chores.
“Your wife is pretty skilled! You must be lucky!” Sunghoon’s friend said as they both stood by the window.
“It’s enough!” Sunghoon said, “we shall discuss rest of our work tomorrow. You may leave!”
The friend smirked a little and got off from the house. Somehow he sensed a bit of jealousy from Sunghoon. Of course who wouldn’t be jealous! He got such a good wife, both of beauty and heart! The friend thought as he walked out of the house.

Bak Sunghoon was still standing besides the window seeing his wife doing things for him. His face said it all! It was like his preconceived notions of the girl was slowly shattering infront of him.

Sunwoo prepared a warm bath for Sunghoon and he walked towards the living room to inform his husband (😉). He slowly approached Sunghoon who was reading some scholarly articles.
“Ehem!!” Sunwoo cleared his throat. Sunghoon looked up and saw Sunwoo gazing down at the floor in respect.
“Look here, your bath is ready.”

Sunghoon stood and with a small smile approached Sunwoo. He moved closer to Sunwoo to which the latter’s heartbeat fastened. Sunghoon slowly raised his right hand and reached Sunwoo’s left cheek. Sunwoo’s heart started pounding and he shut his eyes tightly in reflex. Sunghoon touched Sunwoo’s cheek and slowly rubbed off the soot on his face. Sunwoo opened his eyes unhurriedly and both accidently locked their eyes. Sunghoon was astonished by the innocence on his wife’s face and was startled at her beauty. She looked like the winter cherry blossoms, slightly blushing cheeks with sparkling eyes. Sunwoo was captivated by the deep eyes of Sunghoon. His eyes were deep as the oceans and he felt like he was drawn to it.

“Noona!” Chul called Sunwoo. Suddenly both the husband and wife broke their gaze and flustered Sunghoon strode towards the bathhouse as Sunwoo approached the little girl.

Chul came to ask for the menu for dinner as Jongsaeng instructed her. Later Sunwoo and Chul helped Jongsaeng prepare food for dinner. There was an underlying tension between Sunwoo and Jongsaeng as he remembered the past incident in the Village inn. But for now, they all have been able to get along well, thanks to Sunwoo’s extroversion and talkative nature.


It was already night-time. Sunwoo was in the bedroom after dinner, clenching both hands on his skirt. He was shaking and was sweating due to the immense pressure and tension he was experiencing. Sunghoon was still in his study going through some papers, documents and articles. Sunwoo prayed that Sunghoon would spend his entire night in the study. As he was about to feel somewhat relaxed on that thought, Sunghoon entered the first night chamber!!