Chapter 4
Chunsim was about two years older than Sehee and had seniority over her.
Because Sehee was kind-hearted and considerate, she had been assigned to look after Moa. Chunsim, who had been managing Cheongbindang, harbored resentment at being pushed to the sidelines.
“How dare an orphan like you enter Cheongbindang, the place I’ve so carefully tended?”
Chunsim glared at the silk clothes Moa was wearing.
The garments were undoubtedly expensive. Yet, since the head steward had hurriedly procured them, they were not of the absolute highest quality. They weren’t exactly suitable for a noble guest at Cheongbindang, but they were also too fine for a common orphan…
Chunsim’s gaze fixed on the jade buttons adorning Moa’s outfit.
“How did you deceive the master? Did you think wearing clothes like this would let you live in comfort?”
“I didn’t deceive anyone…!”
Moa shook her head, but Chunsim’s glare turned icy.
“You pretended to be some noble lady to trick the master, and now you think you deserve to stay at Cheongbindang? Do you even realize how outrageous that is for an orphan like you?”
With that, Chunsim snapped the jade buttons off Moa’s clothing. They fell into Chunsim’s sleeve pocket.
‘Why… why me…?’
Moa’s eyelashes trembled with shock. She had never expected to see someone so openly hostile here.
‘I didn’t do anything… Why do I look like a bad child?’
She suddenly remembered the day, just before returning from foster care to the orphanage, when she had overheard a conversation between her grandmother and mother.
“I know your intentions are good in taking care of the child. But even raising just the child soon to be born will be difficult.”
“Mother, but…”
“I’ll be honest. I can’t stand seeing my grandchild raised together with a child of unknown origin.”
Her grandmother’s gaze had been filled with nothing but disdain.
At the time, she was too young to understand, but she had later asked her older sisters about the words that had stuck in her memory and grasped their meaning.
‘That’s not it. I’m Moa from Saessak Orphanage.’
‘You’re a fool. They just don’t like us because we’re orphans.’
It wasn’t that her parents disliked her—it was that she was disliked because she didn’t have parents.
Moa shivered quietly as the memory of that old wound resurfaced.
“Why… why are you doing this to me?”
Clenching her fists, Moa asked, her sense of injustice rising. She wanted to ask the same question she had wanted to ask her grandmother, who had said she disliked her “because she was an orphan,” and her foster mother, who had failed to persuade her grandmother and sent her to the orphanage instead.
“I… didn’t do anything wrong.”
Chunsim tilted her head with a cynical smile.
“You seem to think one must do something wrong to be hated. No, you just don’t deserve to be here.”
Her words tore open Moa’s old wound, stripping it bare in an instant. Chunsim pocketed various accessories and luxury items that she considered “unjustly” given to Moa.
“The master will probably get tired of you soon enough and send you away. You won’t last long.”
“…!”
The thought of needing to cling to this house—but the learned certainty of being abandoned again—pierced Moa like a sharp blade.
Tears welled in her eyes.
Then, unexpectedly, a warm breeze seemed to flow through the empty room. It felt like the soft brush of Ssom-i’s tail against her cheek.
‘Ssom…’
At the thought of Ssom-i, light returned to Moa’s empty eyes.
Her expression changed subtly. Even in fear, a quiet resolve grew within her.
‘I… I didn’t lie at all.’
Since this was a decision made by Jinsahyun, it was unfair that she had to endure this.
Moa clenched her hands tightly until four small crescent moons appeared in her palms.
At that moment—
“Miss, I’m here.”
Sehee entered, opening the door.
Chunsim quickly changed her expression into a polite smile. If not for Moa’s reddened eyes and the missing button, no one would have suspected anything unusual.
“…Chunsim?”
“I was just keeping the young lady company for a moment.”
Sehee, perceptive as she was, couldn’t have missed Chunsim’s twisted jealousy.
“Chunsim, but why does the young lady look like that?”
Sehee asked sharply, and Chunsim arrogantly lifted her head.
“She tripped just now. Must’ve hurt herself a bit.”
She had lied instantly, thinking both of them were beneath her.
‘Turns out the liar is you.’
Moa’s eyes, once timid because she believed being an orphan was her fault, now burned a vivid blue.
Sure of her innocence, courage surged within her small heart.
“Sehee!”
Calling Sehee, Moa instead dashed at Chunsim and threw herself into her arms.
“O-oh my!”
As Chunsim staggered—
Moa’s small hands accurately grabbed her sleeves.
“This woman stole my things! The master gave them to me, so they’re mine!”
“L-let go of me!”
Moa ignored her protests and shook the pocket with all her strength. She only needed to cling and pull—no difficulty there.
Thud—thud—thud!
Jade buttons, silver spoons, and even a child’s norigae tumbled out.
The room froze.
“…Chunsim.”
Sehee no longer treated Chunsim as a senior.
“How dare you touch the young lady’s belongings?”
“Th-this child! She did it on purpose—!”
Chunsim tried to protest, thinking words and her authority as a senior would be enough to suppress them.
But before she could finish, Sehee blew the whistle she was holding, summoning the guards stationed near Cheongbindang.
Jinsahyun had specially assigned them to protect and monitor Moa.
In an instant, the guards rushed in, and Chunsim was dragged out screaming, “Nooo!”
As her cries faded, silence returned to the room.
Sehee hugged Moa, gently brushing her back.
“You must’ve been startled, Miss. That was scary, wasn’t it?”
“…Mm.”
Moa clutched Sehee’s sleeve tightly.
‘I thought I’d be abandoned again…’
Her heart still trembled.
But at the same time—
‘I protected myself…’
Unlike before, she had defended herself without relying on adults. A small beacon of pride flickered inside her.
Moa bit her lip and made a quiet promise.
“This time, I’ll never be abandoned. I’ll speak up and help out, and I’ll stay here.”
Sehee patted Moa’s head affectionately.
“Now, let’s put on our pretty clothes. Playing outside will lift your spirits.”
“…Okay!”
Moa’s eyes sparkled as her mood improved.
“Hmm… your face is all messy now, Miss.”
Sehee firmly closed the door and went to prepare water to clean Moa’s tear-stained face.
While waiting for Sehee, Moa looked around the room and moved toward the window.
She saw a boy standing far away.
He wore a neat blue uniform and was pressing his temples, as if he had a headache, while staring at Cheongbindang.
He looked around seventeen or eighteen, his long hair tied back like Jinsahyun’s.
His pale, delicate face looked unwell, and shadows under his eyes were deep, like Jinsahyun’s.
‘He must belong to this household,’ Moa thought, momentarily feeling a pang of envy.
‘Hmm? That face…’
Looking closer, it was a face she had seen in a dream! Slightly younger than in the dream, but unmistakably him.
Still, she decided to pretend not to know him, since she couldn’t admit she had met him in a dream.
“Who are you? I’m Moa!”
Seeing his sharp, slightly unfriendly expression, Moa frowned.
‘Why does his expression look so different?’
In the dream, he had seemed cheerful.
Now, the boy looked like he hadn’t slept in ten nights, his face tense.
Thinking he must be tired, Moa waved.
“Do you want to sleep here if you’re sleepy?”
“…How dare you.”
The boy’s face twisted at the suggestion.
At that moment, as if sensing his anger, a small creature with dark blue scales slumped on his shoulder flew toward Moa, looking as if it might attack.
Its dull, dark yellow eyes were elongated like a snake’s.
Moa stared blankly into the little creature’s eyes.
‘Geum-oh…?’
That had been its name in the dream, she thought. Why did it look different now?
Its gaze had been more mysterious and gentle in the dream…
Moa, momentarily tense, reached out cautiously. She sensed Geum-oh was in distress.
As her hand touched it, Geum-oh paused briefly. A ripple flickered in its yellow eyes.
At that moment, far off, the boy’s troubled eyes reflected confusion—and a spark of hope he hadn’t realized he had.
“Young master, that’s not allowed!”
Sehee arrived just then, pulling Moa into her arms and closing the door.
Moa didn’t notice the brief clearing in the mystical creature’s gaze as her hand touched Geum-oh
