Secret of the Red Lotus Flower (빨간 연꽃의 비밀)

Chapter 31

Yeo-jin hefted the chest up to the porter loading cart who then thanked her for her assistance. She wiped the sweat from her brow and looked around at the chaos the courtyard had turned into. She didn't know why they were leaving again so soon after arriving, but the servants scurrying around bringing all of the royal luggage out of the house in time for their departure later that day.

"Yeo-jin, where do we put this chest?" Yeo-jin turned to see Ah-in and Chin-sun struggling with dragging a large chest toward the cart. She had no idea why the pair had chosen the largest chest to bring out or why they didn't just ask one of the men to help. She assumed they were trying to impress someone at the palace.

"That belongs to the mistress. That goes in the other cart." Yeo-jin pointed at the cart on the other side of the courtyard.

"Can't we just put it in this cart?" Ah-in whined.

"This cart is for all of the Crown Prince's stuff," Yeo-jin explained. "You can put it here if you don't mind coming along, asking His Royal Highness for permission to come into his room, and then dragging it down to the mistress's quarters. Or you can just take it to the correct cart and a palace servant will take it to its proper room."

"Oh. That makes sense. Thank you, Yeo-jin," Chin-sun said. The two got on opposite sides of the chest and began slowly carrying it to the other cart.

Turning away so that they didn't see her smile, Yeo-jin couldn't help but feel smug by the change in their attitude toward her since she had gotten back. Most of the servants that worked for Lord Min's household were sangmin commoners and she was the sole nobi slave. Mrs. Kang had been the only one that didn't pick on her growing up and that pair had been the worst in their mocking. Now that she had gone to the capital and worked at the palace, everyone had been treating her with more respect.

Yeo-jin saw Soo-yun coming out of the main house. She didn't know why, but her mistress had been so listless all morning. Nothing she had down seemed to make a difference and she had hoped that saying goodbye to her mother would help Soo-yun feel better. Yeo-jin ran over to Soo-yun's side to see if there was anything she needed.

"Good morning, mistress. We have started loading the carts and should be ready to leave in a couple of hours." Soo-yun seemed surprised to see her maid appear by her side. Yeo-jin wished she knew what had made her mistress so distracted as well as a way to make her feel better.

"I had hoped we could leave earlier than that," Soo-yun said. "I think I will take the carriage and some of the guards then, in order to get back to the palace sooner."

"Oh! In that case, give me a couple of minutes to give the porters some instructions and I'll join you," Yeo-jin offered.

"No. Stay, Yeo-jin. You are doing a wonderful job organizing everything here. You can follow later with the Crown Prince," Soo-yun said. "Also, I promised to give you space to make your decision about becoming my personal lady-in-waiting. You can give me your answer when you make it back to the palace. This may be the last time you come back here, and you should say your farewells now if coming with me is your final decision."

Yeo-jin bit her lower lip as her mistress talked about the aji position. She hadn't told Soo-yun about Kwang-sun yet and didn't know if she should. Soo-yun had always been extra sweet to her, and Yeo-jin knew that she would withdraw her offer if she knew about the guard's declaration and new position. Yeo-jin still didn't know whose offer she should accept.

She watched Soo-yun climb into the back of the carriage, and for it to roll out the gate. Her life had taken so many different turns than she had expected. As a nobi, she knew she normally had little control throughout her life, and she was in a position that she never thought she would be caught in. Yeo-jin turned back to helping load the carts to distract herself from the agonizing decision she had to make.