Chapter 217

Tang Ha-ran’s heart sank at Jin Ja-gang’s words.

“Is, is that so?”

She tried to act calm but her heart kept pounding.

“That’s good then. Come on, kill me. Don’t do useless things like massaging my legs, just kill me.”

Jin Ja-gang looked into Tang Ha-ran’s eyes.

“Are you serious?”

Tang Ha-ran felt suffocated. She felt wronged, lonely, and disappointed. Tears filled her eyes as if they would fall at any moment.

Without time to hold back, tears burst forth with a wail.

Tang Ha-ran didn’t know she was such a crybaby before. But now it didn’t matter anymore.

Tang Ha-ran screamed.

“There’s no way I’d want to die, you fool!”

“…What?”

“I missed you. I wanted to see you once more before dying. But… but how could you come here saying you’d kill me? Waaaaah!”

Tang Ha-ran cried loudly without trying to hide her tears.

Jin Ja-gang looked troubled.

“No, I think there’s a misunderstanding… I didn’t come to kill Miss Tang.”

“Waaaaah. You just said you’d kill me!”

Tang Ha-ran cried so pitifully that Jin Ja-gang was truly flustered.

“That’s not it – I meant if you said you wanted to die, then I would do that for you.”

That made Tang Ha-ran even angrier.

Tang Ha-ran stopped crying and looked at Jin Ja-gang with an incredulous expression, then silently sobbed.

Jin Ja-gang spoke in an awkward tone.

“Please don’t cry.”

“I don’t want to.”

“……”

Sniff, sniff.

Jin Ja-gang was at a loss.

“So…”

Tang Ha-ran looked at Jin Ja-gang with tear-filled eyes.

Jin Ja-gang’s heart ached.

No, his heart aching wasn’t just today. It had been for several days.

Jin Ja-gang actually hadn’t escaped. He knew that with his injured body, he couldn’t flee far even if he tried to escape.

So he left traces pretending to escape the outer courtyard while actually hiding inside the Tang family compound.

After learning that Tang Ha-ran was imprisoned in the underground prison, he infiltrated the prison. He had been there for several days, bringing Tang Ha-ran meals daily and watching over her.

The sight of Tang Ha-ran in wedding clothes weighed heavily on Jin Ja-gang’s heart.

Jin Ja-gang watched Tang Ha-ran for days as she didn’t eat, crying and immersed in sorrow.

What was the reason for this?

Jin Ja-gang was confused.

Was it because she was expelled from her family? Was it because she was afraid of dying like this? Or…

Was it because of him?

Unable to know this, he couldn’t appear before Tang Ha-ran.

But judging that watching any longer would put Tang Ha-ran in danger, he decided to come forward. This was also an action that involved great risk for Jin Ja-gang.

To approach Tang Ha-ran and have a conversation, he had to kill all the guards on one floor of the Jeol-ok prison…

Jin Ja-gang waited for Tang Ha-ran to calm down, then asked.

“Can you stand up?”

“I don’t want to.”

“I wasn’t asking whether you liked it or not…”

“……”

But suddenly Tang Ha-ran’s body twitched.

“Ah…!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Ugh.”

Tang Ha-ran bit her lower lip and raised her shoulders. She began twisting her body this way and that.

Jin Ja-gang sensed something unusual was happening.

“Hah…!”

Tang Ha-ran let out a moan through her clenched teeth.

She kept crossing her legs, not knowing what to do, and eventually began letting out strange moans. Her face also turned red.

Tang Ha-ran trembled all over.

Jin Ja-gang tensed up.

Could someone have used poison in the meantime?

If there was a master skilled enough to poison without him noticing at all nearby, it would be serious.

Jin Ja-gang immediately raised his internal energy and sensed the surrounding qi.

But except for Jin Ja-gang and Tang Ha-ran, he felt no human presence at all.

“Are you alright, Miss?”

“No, no…”

Tang Ha-ran spoke as if she couldn’t bear it.

“My legs are so numb…”

“What?”

Jin Ja-gang’s mind went blank at the unexpected answer.

Tang Ha-ran was at a loss, with tears even welling up.

“Ahaha, ahaha. My legs are so numb. I can’t move them.”

Of course! After not moving for so long, now that blood was flowing, her legs had to be numb!

Jin Ja-gang realized he had been thinking too seriously and couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Hahaha…”

Even though it was something that could easily happen in daily life, why hadn’t he thought of that?

It was probably because Jin Ja-gang had been living a life far removed from ‘everyday life’ until now. And in other words, it meant that ‘everyday life’ had occurred in this moment that seemed completely unrelated to ordinary life.

Thanks to Tang Ha-ran.

Jin Ja-gang quietly looked at Tang Ha-ran.

Tang Ha-ran’s face turned bright red with embarrassment. She could tell better than anyone that Jin Ja-gang’s gaze had become gentler than before.

* * *

Jin Ja-gang removed the Tang shoes Tang Ha-ran was wearing and massaged her feet.

Tang Ha-ran asked embarrassedly.

“Aren’t my feet too big for a woman?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen any.”

“That would be strange in its own way if you had.”

“If I had to answer, they seem much smaller than a man’s.”

“Well, of course…”

Tang Ha-ran’s feet were small and white. Being a martial artist, her toes were hardened with calluses, and there were wounds and calluses on the front joints of her big toe and second toe corresponding to the ball of her foot, and on the edge of her foot from below the ankle bone to her little toe.

Feet are very important for martial artists. The strength that allows them to maintain stable posture in any movement comes from the lower body, and in emergencies, feet can substitute for hands. Therefore, there were many cases of training barefoot on gravel or in shallow streams.

But it’s different among civilians. A woman’s feet were a sensitive area that could only be shown between married couples, a symbol of sexual intimacy.

So Tang Ha-ran was curious about what Jin Ja-gang, who was pressing her soles, was thinking.

Of course, if she asked carelessly and he gave another strange answer, it would only upset her.

After mumbling and choosing her words for quite a while, Tang Ha-ran spoke playfully.

“Now I have no choice but to marry you.”

Tang Ha-ran was very curious about Jin Ja-gang’s reaction.

Unexpectedly.

Jin Ja-gang was much calmer than before.

“I remember coming here with that intention from the beginning.”

Jin Ja-gang’s tone could even feel emotionlessly cold.

“Do you know what it means for a woman to allow a man to touch her body and show her feet?”

“I know.”

“Ah, so you did know.”

“What do you mean?”

At that moment, Tang Ha-ran burst into laughter.

Jin Ja-gang looked at her strangely.

“Why are you laughing?”

“I won’t tell you.”

Unlike before, Tang Ha-ran was smiling with an extremely happy expression.

Jin Ja-gang was puzzled, unable to understand the reason, but Tang Ha-ran didn’t erase the smile that appeared on her lips for quite a while.

So that’s how it was. This man had massaged her legs and feet even knowing what it meant.

And he had even gotten angry.

Telling her to stay still.

Tang Ha-ran mumbled with her lips pouted while smiling.

“How unsophisticated.”

“…?”

Jin Ja-gang shook his head as if he couldn’t understand Tang Ha-ran, who had been acting and saying incomprehensible things.

* * *

Tang Ha-ran finished her breathing exercises and stood up.

Her body felt much better.

“It’s not the best condition, but I can move about sixty to seventy percent of normal. I’m so sorry to you. If I had known you would come, I wouldn’t have just neglected myself like this.”

“Then are you now determined to leave this place?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Tang Ha-ran swallowed the words she wanted to add.

‘If I’m with you.’

Tang Ha-ran quickly changed the subject, afraid her thoughts would show on her face, and asked.

“But how did you get in here?”

Tang Ha-ran was most curious about this. From what Jin Ja-gang said, it seemed he had been here for several days.

This place was located in the outer courtyard but was truly the Tang family’s prison. It wasn’t a place where Jin Ja-gang could just enter and act as a guard.

Moreover, where Tang Ha-ran was located was the third underground level.

Having to go down through several levels made it even more difficult to come here without anyone knowing.

So she couldn’t help but be curious.

If he could enter, it should also be possible to leave.

“You probably don’t want to know.”

“Tell me.”

When Jin Ja-gang hesitated to answer, Tang Ha-ran added.

“If you say you don’t want to or won’t tell me, I’ll never look at your face again for the rest of my life.”

Fortunately, Jin Ja-gang answered without much fuss.

“I killed the guards and waited.”

“Not killed and entered, but killed and waited?”

“When the guards disappeared, they hurriedly gathered people temporarily, so I entered then.”

Even in prison, people are needed to do odd jobs or guard the prison. You can’t do without people.

It was already a chaotic time with the Library Pavilion fire. The reporting system to superiors would have been confused too.

So he used that gap to become a guard himself and enter openly.

Tang Ha-ran was surprised that the Tang family’s work processes were so lax, and amazed again at Jin Ja-gang’s boldness.

“But since several guards died, it would arouse suspicion… no, since you said it was temporary, when they make it official…”

“By now that would have happened. I heard they were replacing guards with people of clear identity. It would be time to find the sudden death of guards suspicious.”

This meant Jin Ja-gang had given up his last chance to escape and came to find Tang Ha-ran.

“Then even though we’ve been making noise until now, no one came because…”

“Probably because they know I’m here.”

“By now they’re probably blocking and guarding the entrance to the Prison.”

“Probably. But to be precise, since I sealed the Prison from inside, it would be more accurate to say they’re waiting without entering.”

The two were essentially trapped in the Prison.

Tang Ha-ran scratched her forehead.

“Because of me, you missed your chance to escape.”

“You don’t need to be sorry. This is also my choice.”

“Yeah. You’re just foolish.”

Jin Ja-gang smiled calmly.

“I don’t know why being called foolish sounds good to hear.”

“Because you’re a fool.”

Tang Ha-ran felt happiness seeing Jin Ja-gang’s smile.

“It looks good when you smile looking at me.”

Jin Ja-gang, feeling awkward, sat down.

“Let’s sit and wait for a while. They won’t be able to enter easily anyway.”

Tang Ha-ran’s heart raced.

The quiet prison.

Inside the prison with only the two of them.

It was time for just the two of them without interference from anyone.

Tang Ha-ran sat beside Jin Ja-gang and hesitated as she was about to lean her head on Jin Ja-gang’s shoulder.

If not now, she might never be able to lean on Jin Ja-gang’s shoulder again.

But if now was the last time…

Tang Ha-ran sat with her back against Jin Ja-gang’s back.

This was Tang Ha-ran’s will to become someone who could protect Jin Ja-gang’s back.