Secret of the Red Lotus Flower (빨간 연꽃의 비밀)

Chapter 33

Soo-yun's lungs burned as she ran through the forest, but she didn't stop to catch her breath. She found couldn't even if she wanted as the overwhelming need to get out of the forest surged through her. Suddenly, her skirt got tangled in some branches and she desperately tugged on it to pull free. With a loud ripping sound as the skirt came loose, and the branch snapped up to smack her across the face. Soo-yun was thrown to the ground by the impact.

The entire side of her face hurt, and the coppery taste of the blood filled her mouth. Soo-yun felt something wet run down her head and she winced when she touched where the branch had struck her. She pressed her sleeve against the wound and irrationally felt more distressed for the soiled dress than her own injury. Eun-ji was kind enough to give me this simple hanbok to replace my tattered one and I have already ruined it, Soo-yun thought. She remembered that the older woman had packed an extra pair of clothing and some food, just in case, but Soo-yun didn't feel like now was not the best time to change.

Using the tree trunk, Soo-yun pulled herself up only to sit down again when her vision began to spin as the ground seemed to tilt under her feet. She fought the urge to curl up and cry. The day had been so long, full of terror and confusion, and she wondered if anyone would blame her for just giving up. She closed her eyes and reminded herself that Ha-neul needed her. With renewed conviction, Soo-yun stood up again, successfully this time.

Soo-yun looked up at the sun and tried to remember what Eun-ji had told her about how to make it back to Hanseong. Was I supposed to keep the sun on my left or my right? she thought. It would have been simpler to merely follow a path to the capital, but she was afraid that taking a path would make it easier for the bandits to find her. Luckily, the old potter knew of a shortcut that would allow her to bypass the main road and, hopefully, return with help before nightfall. Realizing that time was running out, Soo-yun quickly decided on a direction and pushed forward through the forest again, albeit more cautiously this time.

After another hour, Soo-yun saw a break in the woods and hope surged in her breast. As she exited the forest, she looked across the field at Hanseong and the winding Han River. The main road to the city gates was filled with travelers and, if she could make it there without being seen, she was confident that she could disappear among them. She cautiously hugged the tree line, constantly checking the woods to see if any bandits were lurking. By the time Soo-yun made it to the road, she was a bundle of nerves.

As a merchant's wagon rolled past, Soo-yun rushed out of the forest to join the rest of the people walking along the road. She grew increasingly paranoid every time a stranger glanced in her direction as she wondered if they were part of the bandit group that attacked her carriage.

"Look, Mommy! That lady's head is bleeding!" cried a little girl walking nearby. Her mother shushed the child and pulled her away from Soo-yun.

Soo-yun touched the side of her head again and looked down at the drying blood on her fingertips. No wonder everyone was looking at me, she thought. Digging through Eun-ji's pack, Soo-yun pulled out the extra skirt and draped it over her head to hide her wound. She clinched the waistline under her chin and hoped that, as long as no one looked too closely, they might assume that it was a sseugae chima headdress. Belatedly, she realized that it also hid the phoenix-capped binyeo hairpin that would have given her away as the Crown Princess.

As she came closer to the main gate, she saw a group of guards checking the hopae identification tags of everyone coming into the capital. Soo-yun still had hers but it was made of ivory and proclaimed her as the Crown Princess, unlike the wooden ones the commoners had. Considering Ha-neul's insistence for Soo-yun to look for Yeong-ja at a blacksmith's instead of the palace, she assumed that getting into Hanseong incognito was important. All she could do was hope that they didn't pay too much attention to her as she kept her head down.