🚨 R18/19 Warning: Please note that this translation contains descriptions of non-consensual sexual acts. It is intended for adult readers only. 🚨
Nokhee accepted the bet with the intention of letting him win once or twice. She was so focused on his complaint about the cold that she failed to notice how odd it was for him to want to wear a woman's small garments over his muscular body.
Her pride was unjustly hurt by Kijoon's teasing, and although she didn’t know some of the difficult words or meanings from the scriptures, she had definitely learned to read and write from her adoptive father. Moreover, she was confident in her abilities, especially with the general books Yoon Jucheol had given her, which weren’t difficult scriptures.
Thus, she approached the bet with enthusiasm, but for some reason, she lost every round when Kijoon called out a character. Although the characters weren’t difficult, it had been a long time since she last wrote, and she kept making mistakes by adding or omitting strokes.
In contrast, no matter how hard she searched for even the most difficult characters until her eyes were red, Kijoon flawlessly replicated each one, writing them down exactly as they appeared in the book without a single error.
As the rounds continued, Nokhee found herself nearly naked, while Kijoon wore her small clothes draped awkwardly over his shoulders, looking quite ridiculous. Yet, absorbed in the bet, neither of them noticed the absurdity of their situation.
Suddenly, a cold breeze slipped through the gaps of her thin clothing. Nokhee shivered involuntarily, feeling an inexplicable chill.
Kijoon set the book he was holding down next to Nokhee's writing.
“I won this round too. Please hand over your sokjeoksam (undershirt)."
“How... how can this be..."
“You added an extra stroke."
She was writing the character for ‘eo’ (馭). It was definitely a character she knew well. However, no matter how hard she looked, the book showed four downward strokes, not five.
Nokhee, her face filled with despair and confusion, suddenly glared at Kijoon and erupted in anger.
“...Y-you cheater! You looked at the book and copied it, didn't you? How else could you possibly get every stroke right?"
“You didn't even give me the book during my turn, so how could I possibly cheat?"
“...”
Despite his indifferent expression towards everything, Nokhee quickly found herself at a loss for words in response to the servant's pointed remarks. What he said was true.
Still, her dissatisfaction lingered as she pouted her lower lip. How could he possibly get it right without making a single mistake, especially when she had meticulously searched the book first, calling out only the confusing characters that had many strokes or were similar to one another?
In contrast, she was a fool who got it wrong despite knowing the letters. If she had known it would turn out like this, she would have committed herself to studying diligently instead of neglecting her writing after coming to Hwangju.
But what was done was done. With only the sokjeoksam (undershirt) and the sokchima (underskirt) left, Nokhee asserted her authority to abruptly turn the tables.
"Let's stop. Your master will freeze to death, so just return the clothes you took."
“It's your turn, my lady. Wouldn't it be better to give it one last try and then wrap it up? I might make a mistake this time and lose the bet.”
She didn’t want to take off her undergarments and insisted on stopping the game, but human nature was fickle; when Kijoon casually mentioned it, her ears perked up. However, they had already filled the last remaining sheet of paper with their writings.
“Now that we have no paper to write on, what more can we do?"
"There is another way to write even without paper. Try calling out a character."