Chapter 1. An Unexpected Housemate
They say that since ancient times, women have been the downfall of men.
There was not a single thing wrong with that old saying.
It all began with blood flowing downstream with the river.
It was rare, but it was not the first time I had seen something like this.
Sometimes, injured animals collapsed along the riverbank upstream.
If the animal had not been dead for long, I might even get some free meat.
Going upstream was troublesome, but free meat was worth the trouble.
...Or so I thought.
“Is it dead?”
What lay collapsed by the river was not a deer or rabbit.
It was a young woman.
And she was so beautiful that even the phrase beauty capable of toppling a kingdom did not feel like an exaggeration.
It was the first time in my life I had seen someone that beautiful.
Her skin was so pale that the dried blood covering her body stood out even more.
The sleeves of her black palace robes were embroidered with golden threads in the shapes of animals.
Judging from her appearance and clothing, it was obvious at a glance that she was a woman of noble status.
“I hope she isn’t dead.”
It was not because she was beautiful.
If someone of high status died nearby, I could get dragged into unnecessary trouble.
After my sect was destroyed and all my senior and junior brothers and sisters were slaughtered, I had sworn to live quietly, away from the storms of the martial world, and then die quietly.
I had no intention of breaking that vow because some beautiful woman had floated down the river.
“Let’s see. Is her pulse still beating?”
I placed a hand against her neck.
There was a pulse, though it was very weak.
However, there was a wound on her side that looked as if she had been stabbed by a blade.
The flesh around it had turned black.
She had most likely been poisoned.
In other words, if I left her like this, she would definitely die.
“Hmm...”
I could save her.
Or I could simply leave her to die.
In the martial world, one had to be careful even when saving someone's life.
There were plenty of stories about people who saved someone, only for that person to later slaughter their entire family.
That was what the martial world was like.
Still, if I simply left her to die, I had a feeling I would sleep badly for several nights.
“When I can’t decide, there’s nothing better than this. Heads, I save her. Tails, I ignore her.”
I pulled a coin from my pouch and tossed it into the air.
The coin spun several times before I caught it on the back of my hand.
Heads.
“Consider yourself lucky, young lady.”
I carefully lifted her into my arms.
...She’s heavier than she looks.
She looks so delicate, too.
Saving the woman was harder than I expected.
No, rather than difficult, perhaps expensive was the right word.
I had to use almost all the medicinal herbs and wound medicine I had stored.
“That’s some powerful poison. Looks like you weren’t attacked by ordinary bandits.”
There were flexible but firm muscles beneath the skin of her arms and legs.
She had probably trained in martial arts under an excellent master while receiving plenty of support.
“At this level, she might have been around Senior Sister’s level when she was alive. Just what happened to leave her like this?”
To properly treat the wound on her stomach, I had no choice but to tear away part of her clothing.
I felt a little guilty about seeing the bare skin of a woman whose name I did not even know.
But what else could I do?
Saving her life came first.
I crushed several herbs used for detoxification and applied them to the wound.
Only after the poisonous energy weakened did I stitch the wound closed with mulberry-bark thread.
Then I covered it in wound medicine and wrapped it with clean cloth.
“...”
When I placed a hand on her forehead, it was burning hot.
Still, her pulse was stronger than when I had first found her.
She would probably survive.
Probably.
After finishing the treatment, I faced another difficult problem.
I had to wash her body and change her clothes.
If I had been an ordinary person, I could have asked a woman from a neighboring house for help.
Unfortunately, I lived completely separated from society.
Even with lightness skill, reaching the nearest village would take at least three days.
What should I do?
I could not leave her like this.
If her body and clothes remained dirty, the wound might become infected and rot.
And after using all those valuable herbs and medicines on her, I certainly was not going to let that happen.
There was no other choice.
It was time for the coin again.
Spin.
Tap.
Heads.
“Sorry, young lady. I don’t have any dirty intentions.”
...Well, I can’t say I have absolutely none.
She’s simply too beautiful.
Still, I was only doing this to save her life.
Surely she would understand.
Probably.
I wiped her body clean with a fresh towel and changed her into new clothes.
My conscience hurt a little during the process.
No.
It hurt quite a lot.
But there was nothing I could do.
Her fever gradually went down, and her breathing slowly returned to normal.
Three days after she first took over my bed, I returned from hunting and found myself staring directly at her.
Her eyes were blue.
That was the first time I noticed.
“...”
“...”
Several pieces of dried meat I had made were stuffed into her mouth.
Did she search for food the moment she woke up?
I hid that pretty well, too. I’m impressed she found it.
Then again, she had probably gone without food for at least three days.
Of course she would be hungry.
But why isn’t she saying anything? This is awkward.
“Um... nice to meet... No, I suppose it isn’t my first time seeing you. How are you feeling?”
“...”
“My name is Bi Anso. And for your information, the dried meat in your mouth is my emergency food.”
The instant she heard the words emergency food, she hurriedly chewed and swallowed the meat.
It seemed she thought I might take it back.
“Cough! Cough!”
Serves her right.
Stuffing that much dried meat into her mouth at once was obviously going to choke her.
I quickly filled a gourd with water and handed it to the woman as she pounded her chest.
She gulped down the water, then cautiously looked me up and down.
“Great Hero, were you the one who saved me?”
“I was. You were collapsed near the upstream riverbank.”
“Upstream... Right. Now that I think about it...”
The woman muttered quietly.
She seemed to be searching through her memories from before she was injured.
“Those damned bastards. They dared betray me? Tearing them limb from limb and chewing them to pieces still wouldn’t be enough.”
Whoa.
She’s fiercer than I expected.
I should have realized that from the way she attacked the dried meat.
“I will never forget this life-saving grace, Great Hero Bi. I know it is rude to hide my identity from my benefactor, but please understand that I cannot reveal my name.”
“I understand. And my surname is not Bi. My surname is Bi-an, and my given name is So.”
Her expression clearly said, What kind of ridiculous surname is that?
This woman was more transparent than I expected.
“In any case, although I cannot repay this favor immediately, I swear that one day I will repay you tenfold. Then, I shall be going...”
She immediately stood as though she had somewhere urgent to be.
The moment she took her first step, however, a loud rumbling sound echoed through the cabin.
It definitely had not come from my stomach.
“Are you hungry?”
“...”
Without saying a word, she lowered her head as her cheeks turned red.
“Not only did you save my life, you even treated me to a meal. I truly do not know how I can repay you...”
The woman spoke shyly after finishing her meal.
The mountain of empty bowls beside her made the words rather meaningless.
Damn it.
She ate an entire week’s worth of food in one meal.
Is she even human? How did all that meat fit inside that slender body?
“Great Hero Bi-an, you are an excellent cook. I have eaten all kinds of rare delicacies, but I have never tasted food this delicious.”
“Ah. Yes.”
“So, about that... if it would not be too much trouble, could I stay here for a few more days?”
“...Weren’t you about to leave immediately?”
“I thought things over. It would probably be dangerous. My subordinates should come looking for me around here soon, so I think it would be safer to remain here until I can join them.”
Sure.
That would certainly be safer for you.
But my food storage, which had always been full no matter the season, would be completely emptied.
“No. I have no intention of looking after you for that long.”
“I, I’ll compensate you generously! I’m not asking you to do it for free!”
“I only accept payment in advance. Why should I trust someone who will not even tell me her name? If I continue feeding you, I’ll starve to death myself. Leave once your wounds are healed.”
Being cold toward such a beautiful woman was harder than I expected.
But there was no choice.
Judging by everything about her, she was probably the daughter of some powerful clan.
Getting unnecessarily involved with someone like that would only bring trouble.
“...Great Hero Bi-an, are there any neighbors nearby?”
“Look around. Does this place look like it has neighbors?”
“Then who washed my body and changed my clothes?”
Damn it.
The moment I became speechless, the corner of her lips rose.
“I, I had no choice if I wanted to save you! It would have been dangerous if your wound became contaminated!”
“So what you’re saying, Great Hero Bi-an, is that you looked at and touched my naked body to your heart’s content.”
“I didn’t look! I had no choice but to touch you, but even then, I avoided all the... sensitive places!”
Damn it.
My voice became quieter and quieter.
“I know, I know. Great Hero Bi-an removed my clothes and wiped away the blood because he wanted to save my life. I am not such a petty person that I would fail to understand that. However, I cannot say whether my subordinates will be equally understanding. I may not look like it, but I am the youngest daughter of a rather important family.”
“...”
“If I join my subordinates right now, I might still be confused and accidentally say something I don’t really mean.”
This fox-like woman.
She got me.
“Haah. I’ll make another bed, so help me with that.”
“Please take good care of me from now on, Great Hero Bi-an.”
At that moment, I finally understood why people said women were the downfall of men.
The instant I saw her smiling face, all my irritation melted away like snow.
I needed to be careful around this woman.
Otherwise, my guard might completely disappear.
The sun rose, then set.
The moon rose, then waned.
Nearly three months passed like that, but there was still no sign of the woman's subordinates.
There was also no sign of her appetite shrinking.
“Forget my food storage. At this rate, I should start worrying about whether there’ll be any animals left in these mountains.”
At least after her injuries healed, she began helping me hunt.
At first, I had tried making her do chores like cleaning the cabin.
However, it seemed she had not been lying when she said she was the youngest daughter of a noble family.
She had absolutely no talent for housework.
“Brother So! I caught a wild boar!”
On the other hand, watching her drag a wild boar twice, no, three times her size with one hand, she seemed born for hunting.
If nothing else, her raw strength was definitely at least twice mine.
“I told you not to ruin the hide. Just stab the vital point and kill it in one blow.”
“I bring back a boar the size of a house, and instead of praising me, you start complaining. This hide is still perfectly usable.”
“You can kill it without damaging the hide if you pay attention.”
“Do you have any idea how annoying it is to pay that much attention?”
“What’s annoying about it? You just do something like this, whoosh...”
“Ugh, stop nagging. Just prepare dinner.”
“I wasn’t finished talking...!”
“I’ll start the fire, so prepare the meat!”
We skinned the boar and prepared the meat together.
She lit the fire in the kitchen while I cut away the softer pieces and cooked them for dinner.
It had been nearly a hundred days since I began living with a woman whose name I still did not know.
My daily life had become unbelievably strange.
“I told you not to take out the rabbit meat without asking.”
“How stingy. I brought back an entire wild boar, but I can’t eat one rabbit?”
“You eat more than the boar.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing. I didn’t say anything.”
My meals used to be quiet.
I lived alone and ate exactly what I needed.
There was no reason for them to be noisy.
After she came, mealtimes became unbelievably loud.
And it was not only mealtimes.
Like paint spreading through clear water, every part of my daily life had gradually become bright and colorful.
To the point that I was afraid I might be becoming too comfortable.
“Let me ask you something.”
“What?”
“Didn’t you say your subordinates would come looking for you?”
“We agreed you wouldn’t ask about that.”
There she goes again.
Putting on that hurt, pitiful expression.
I had fallen for that face several times already, but not today.
“At this rate, you’re going to settle here permanently. Forget my food supply, the animals around here are going to go extinct.”
“Do you think I want to stay in this backwater cabin that smells like a lonely bachelor?! I don’t know why my subordinates haven’t come either!”
“And you expect me to believe that?”
“Something must have gone wrong back home. Otherwise, they would have found me long ago.”
She put down her spoon and chopsticks with an offended look and stopped speaking.
She must really be upset this time.
She was actually ignoring the food in front of her.
“...Brother So, do you want me to leave?”
“There’s no point growing attached to someone who’ll leave anyway. I don’t even know your name.”
Affection was not something one should give away carelessly.
Especially not for someone like me, who lived separated from the world.
It was not as though I had never imagined continuing this relationship with her.
But that kind of future was far too heavy for me.
“So don’t get unnecessarily attached to me either. Go back home. After that, we probably won’t ever see each other ag...”
“Wolyeong.”
“...What?”
“That’s my name. Wolyeong.”
Clatter.
The chopsticks slipped from my hand and fell to the floor.
Cold sweat ran down the back of my neck.
My heart pounded harder than it had when I nearly died, and my mind fell into complete chaos.
Why is she suddenly telling me her name?
She showed no intention of telling me for three whole months.
“Brother So, I have one question too.”
“Y, yeah. Ask.”
“Um...”
She hesitated for a moment before speaking in an almost inaudible voice.
“You aren’t impotent, are you?”
“What?”
“I mean, you’ve had a beauty like me beside you for three months and never touched me. I started wondering whether there might be something wrong down there...”
I wanted nothing to do with unnecessary storms.
I simply wanted to live quietly somewhere peaceful and die quietly.
That was supposed to be the life of Bi Anso.
But this woman, Wolyeong, completely destroyed every plan I had.
“There probably isn’t anything wrong. Probably.”
A moment of silence passed.
Then she lunged at me with lightning speed and knocked me onto my back.
She climbed on top of me and grabbed my hand hard enough to crush it.
Look at that strength.
Even if I seriously tried resisting, I might not be able to throw her off.
“Tomorrow, throw away one of the beds. This house is cramped enough already.”
Without realizing it, I slowly nodded.
Women truly were dangerous creatures.
