Page 30 of Gumiho Kiss (Realm of Eternal Blossoms #1)

The Mistake

C hin Sun flew to the police station, feet moving faster than they ever had in her life.

She didn’t bother concealing herself from passersby; she wasn’t about to waste what precious little time Hyun Soo had left.

To most, she must have looked like a vaguely human blur, gone before they could fully grasp what they were seeing.

When she arrived, a great crowd had gathered to watch a public interrogation in the inner courtyard.

An officer sneered as he stood over the accused, who lay on the ground with a straw mat wrapped around his body.

Two more officers hovered behind him, clubs raised.

Magistrate Hong sat in a chair at the edge of the main pavilion, watching the proceedings with sadistic pleasure.

Judging by the tears and bruises on the accused’s face, the police had already begun torturing him.

Chin Sun’s ribs tightened as they always did when she witnessed such injustice, but she curbed the flow of anger inside her.

That was a fight for another day. Right now, she had to get Hyun Soo the help he needed.

She pushed her way past the spectators and stopped in front of an officer coming out of one of the side rooms.

“Where’s the damo Hae Rim?” she demanded.

The officer started at her abrasive tone, then pointed toward the bureau kitchen. Chin Sun burst inside, setting off a chorus of high-pitched screams from the group of damos working within. She marched past the clay hearth to the medicine cabinet, where Hae Rim was in the midst of sorting herbs.

“You need to come with me—now.”

Hae Rim’s mouth opened like she was about to protest, but something in Chin Sun’s expression must have caught her eye. She nodded and grabbed a small bag. “Where are we going?”

Chin Sun grabbed the girl’s hand and yanked her out of the kitchen. Since those outside were focused on the officers’ brutal display of power, no one batted an eyelash when the two of them disappeared in a blur of movement.

Chin Sun bolted back to the clearing with a frightened Hae Rim in her arms. When they reached Hyun Soo, she set the nurse down, then knelt at her beloved’s side.

“Can you save him?”

Hae Rim pressed her fingers against her forehead like she was trying to fight off a wave of dizziness.

“Hae Rim!” Chin Sun shouted, impatience getting the better of her. Hyun Soo was barely breathing.

The damo seemed to come back to her senses and bent to grab Hyun Soo’s wrist. She frowned, then scanned his unconscious body. She turned to Chin Sun. “What happened to him?”

“He . . .” Chin Sun trailed off. “Is there anything you can do to help him?”

“Not until I know what brought him to this state,” Hae Rim said sharply. “I see no signs of physical trauma, yet his heart struggles to beat. Are you going to tell me the truth, or did you bring me here to watch him die?”

Chin Sun internally winced at the woman’s insensitive remark. In normal circumstances, Hae Rim would be absolutely right. Except, what use would it be to tell her what happened? It wasn’t like Hae Rim knew anything about gumiho or fox beads.

“I don’t know. He just passed out all of a sudden.”

The angry glint in Hae Rim’s eyes made it obvious she didn’t believe that for a second, but she turned back to her patient and opened her bag. She withdrew a small herbal pouch with a sweet, earthy scent. Ginseng, if Chin Sun wasn’t mistaken.

“I don’t suppose you have a way to brew tea here, do you?” At Chin Sun’s grimace, she huffed. “I didn’t think so. Well, the first thing we need to do is get him somewhere I can treat him. Do you think you can . . . ?”

Chin Sun caught her meaning and threw the man over her shoulder with ease. “I’ll take him back to his room at my family’s residence. Then I’ll return to get you.”

Hae Rim held up her hand. “Wait, that’s all right. I can get there on my own.” Her face was pinched and pale, as if the thought of being carried again made her feel sick.

“Do you have any idea where we are?”

“Uhhh . . .” Hae Rim surveyed the clearing, eyes wide with uncertainty.

“I’ll be back soon.” Chin Sun darted off. Hyun Soo’s warmth was comforting, reminding her the body she carried still had life pulsing within it. But for how much longer?

She vaulted over the wall into the family courtyard and deposited him on his bed mat before any of the servants noticed her. She tucked him under the blanket and stepped back.

From this vantage point, he looked like he was in the midst of a peaceful sleep. That grim reaper better have been right, or she’d make sure he regretted his mistake.

A gasp sounded behind her. “Lady Lee!”

Chin Sun whirled around to a startled Pyung Ho. “Mr. Park is ill. Watch after him for me until the nurse arrives.”

The servant nodded his assent, so she stepped around him and hurried back down the servants’ corridor. She retrieved Hae Rim and brought her home, this time entering through the front gate.

“Agasshi?” Ye Seul approached from the back of the house with a tub of water, eyebrows drawn together in concern.

“Mr. Park has fallen ill. I’ve brought Hae Rim to treat him.”

“A damo? Shouldn’t he be treated by a male physician?”

“She is the only one I trust.” Chin Sun’s voice left no room for argument. She turned to Hae Rim. “Let her know what you’ll need.”

Once the damo had rattled off a few items, the servant bustled away to prepare them, water sloshing from her basin.

Chin Sun brought Hae Rim to Hyun Soo’s room, where Pyung Ho waited anxiously. She thanked the young man for his diligence before dismissing him so he could return to his duties. Ye Seul appeared not long after with the tea, setting it down on a tray before excusing herself.

“Let me see if I can get him to drink this,” Hae Rim said once they were alone, voice uncharacteristically gentle. She placed one hand under the bodyguard’s head, and with the other, she grasped a cup of tea. “Mr. Park, I need you to drink this.”

The man’s eyelids fluttered but did not open.

Hae Rim pressed the cup to his mouth and got Hyun Soo to swallow a sip of the warm liquid before he fell unconscious again.

The nurse lowered his head and checked his pulse again.

A beat later, she turned, her features mirroring the relief spreading through Chin Sun’s chest.

“His heart is still weak, but the fact that I was able to get some tea into him is encouraging,” Hae Rim said. “I’ll remain here and see if I can get him to drink the rest. You don’t have to stay.”

“I want to,” Chin Sun insisted. “He’s . . .” She watched the slight rise and fall of Hyun Soo’s hanbok, heart clenching painfully in her chest. “He’s important to me.”

“Important enough to expose your true identity?”

Chin Sun’s pulse leaped, but she forced her body to relax. She let out a fake laugh. “True identity? Hmm? Whatever are you talking about?”

Hae Rim rolled her eyes. She glanced at the door, as if to make sure no one was listening, then leaned close. “No woman could do what you just did. No human woman, that is.”

Chin Sun sucked her cheeks in, debating how to respond. Her fingers itched for the knife she only then remembered she’d left behind in the clearing. “What is it you want?”

Hae Rim held up empty hands. “Nothing, except that you don’t treat me like a fool.”

Chin Sun examined the damo carefully. “You’re not curious what I am?”

Hae Rim met her eye with a blank expression. “Your secrets are your own, mistress. I have no right to demand you share them.”

What a strange answer. She showed neither interest nor fear in the face of Chin Sun’s otherness. Chin Sun had often wondered what it would be like if others found out she was gumiho, but she’d never imagined a reaction like this. Or rather, the lack of one.

Shouldn’t Hae Rim be terrified right now, begging Chin Sun to spare her life? Or perhaps fleeing to alert the police bureau? She’d been prepared to threaten or bribe the girl into silence, but this . . . this was disconcerting.

It couldn’t be that Hae Rim already knew what she was, right?

“Lady Lee,” Hyun Soo whispered.

The women broke off from staring each other down and turned to the bodyguard, whose eyes opened wide with alarm. He glanced from Hae Rim to Chin Sun, then around the room.

“What happened?” He directed the question to Chin Sun. “The last thing I remember . . .” His cheeks filled with color.

“You passed out,” she explained. “I called Hae Rim to help you.”

Hyun Soo nodded, accepting her answer, but then his eyebrows stitched together. “How did I get here?”

“Pyung Ho carried you back,” Chin Sun lied. “Are you feeling all right now?”

“A little dizzy, but it’s bearable.”

“Here, drink more of this then.” She gave him some tea, blushing when her fingers grazed his stubble.

“It seems my presence is no longer needed,” Hae Rim stated. She dipped her head and rose to her feet. “Make sure he finishes that tea, and send for me if you need anything else.”

Chin Sun almost stopped her, but she didn’t want to raise Hyun Soo’s suspicions, so she gave the damo a glare that said, Don’t you dare betray me.

Hae Rim smiled sweetly and swept out of the room, but as she passed, something snagged Chin Sun’s attention. The ring on the damo’s index finger. Or more specifically, the symbol engraved into it: a pearl surrounded by flames.

She’d thought it peculiar before, but now a heavy feeling settled in her gut. She’d seen that symbol recently.

On the goblin’s sword.

Chin Sun chewed her lower lip. Could she have been mistaken?

No, the image of that symbol surrounded by the glow of blue fire was seared into her memory. There was no mistake. Hae Rim’s ring matched the design on the goblin’s blade.

But why? The symbol was too unusual to be a coincidence. Was Hae Rim connected to the goblins somehow?

“Lady Lee?”

She turned to Hyun Soo with a loving grin, hiding the fear clawing at her chest. “Yeh?”

Hyun Soo opened his mouth, then closed it again as if he was struggling with whether or not to ask something. Finally, he said, “Was it really Pyung Ho who brought me here?”

“Yeh, that’s right. Who else could it have been?”

“I must have dreamed it, but I had the strangest thought that you were the one who carried me back.”

Chin Sun forced herself to chuckle. “I may be strong, but that’s way too far for me to carry you by myself.”

“That’s true. Anyway, I want to say thank you. You saved me . . . again.” He smiled at her with such open adoration she had to look away; otherwise, her heart might crumble under her guilt.

She was lying to protect him. If he knew she was gumiho, that would put him in even more danger. If the public ever found out her true identity and then learned he’d concealed it, he’d be executed alongside her.

Chin Sun pulled at the sleeve of her jeogori. “I guess you owe me again.”

“Yeh, I suppose so. Well, since I now know jumping into danger is a habit of yours, I’m sure I’ll be able to return the favor soon.

” Amusement danced in his voice, the pair returning to their normal rhythm of banter.

It was easier that way, comfortable, especially in light of their weighty confessions earlier.

“Only once you’re feeling better.” She shook her finger at him, but his hand snaked out and grabbed hers.

“And then we can pick up where we left off.”

“Where we . . . ?” Chin Sun pulled away and threw her hands over her blazing cheeks.

Hyun Soo raised a teasing eyebrow. “Figuring out our future, of course. What did you think I was talking about?”

“I . . .” Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth, unable to form words in the wake of her embarrassment.

He laughed at that, a great belly laugh, but the movement brought on a coughing fit. “You must stop looking so adorable, Lady Lee. Until I’m better, that is.”

Chin Sun scowled through her blush, though inwardly she was squealing that he thought her adorable. “And you must stop calling me Lady Lee if your intentions are what you’re implying.”

Hyun Soo pursed his lips. “Then what should I call you?”

In a burst of courage, Chin Sun grabbed his hand and placed it against her jaw. “When we’re alone, you can call me Chin Sun, and I shall call you Hyun Soo. Is that fair?”

“Chin Sun?” called a voice behind her.

She dropped Hyun Soo’s hand and whirled around, all the blood leaving her face.

Uncle stood in the corridor, mouth open, paper clasped in his right hand. He looked from his niece to Hyun Soo and back, eyes rounder than the moon. “Chin Sun, what are you . . . ?”