Blood Moon Rising Over The Plains - Chapter 4: Overpowered (6)

I’d met a few people and mixed bodies a few times, but it wasn’t as pleasant or fun as this. That was all. It was so bad that I understood why the android robots and artificial intelligence hadn’t recommended it.

“[Both in that village and when you willingly embraced me…]”

“Huh?”

“Could it be that [the Celestial Realm] has no concept of [premarital chastity]?”

“[Premarital chastity]?”

This word was too difficult to pronounce. Seeing me narrow my brow at the tangled pronunciation, Temujin helpfully broke down the word and explained it.

“Not doing ‘this’ before marriage.”

Ah, premarital chastity. I nodded, rummaging through my memories. It was such an old concept that I was confused about what it originally was.

…Hmm, was it called patriarchy? I think I heard that in the very old days, women couldn’t choose to marry on their own.

In that environment, women had to maintain their virginity until marriage, and if they didn’t, whether it was rape or just violence, they were beaten. Thinking about it again, the old days weren’t all that good.

“Woman meets man she likes. Man meets woman he likes. But can change. Feelings change. Woman and man—same? Free?”

I couldn’t express ‘equal’ with a suitable word. Frustrated, I crossed my arms and tilted my head. Temujin took out his hand hidden inside his sleeve and held mine.

“…Does that mean my feelings will change too?”

“Yeah.”

There was no reason why they wouldn’t. Temujin’s eyes coldly looked down at me.

I had never really seen anyone get angry at me before. Even in the first village I arrived at, even though I frequently ran away, no one showed this kind of anger.

“Is that your answer?”

“Yeah.”

Why was he asking the same question again? Confused, I looked up at Temujin. Temujin crumpled his face and abruptly let go of me, standing up. I swayed and sat back down, catching my balance with the hand that grabbed my arm.

Thump, thump, thump!

Bang!

Temujin stomped loudly and slammed the door open and shut before leaving the room. I sat there awkwardly, tilting my head.

I got up and wandered around the room, lost in thought.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t guess why Temujin was so angry at me. Why? Isn’t it natural for feelings to change? There must be such facts in their history, too. Especially in this place where women’s rights are weak.

I had seen the state of the courtesan village, where women were treated poorly. People freely hit them or treated them only as tools to satisfy their desires. The women accepted their fate and moved their bodies to survive in it.

I had even seen a woman being dragged down the street by the hair by a man who appeared to be her husband. The villagers passed by indifferently.

This was probably an era where polygamy existed. Since this was where the king was, it was considered the king’s duty to have multiple wives and create many successors.

Moreover, this was a stratified society. Just from the stories I knew, there were power struggles between the secondary wife and the main wife, and they risked each other’s lives to make their children the successors.

Apart from the problems between women, I had heard several stories of husbands killing their wives, or vice versa. Perhaps it was because of such a past that marriage disappeared in the future.

Hmm, now that I think about it, we talked about marriage too. No, there was no reaction at that time, so was premarital chastity the problem? But didn’t he guess that when he first saw me in the village? He wouldn’t have acted that way if he had no experience. And he wasn’t wearing proper clothes when we first met.

Then it seems like nothing else is a problem, and the change in feelings is the problem… Ah, could it be that? Because I denied it to his face? Well, the men here have a lot of pride. I nodded, guessing why Temujin was angry.

Then should I apologize? How? I groaned and plopped down on the bed. As I relaxed my body, it fell backward, and the soft silk blanket wrapped around me.

The relationship with Temujin was both easy and difficult. I thought everything could be solved if we could just talk, but the emotions I was just learning were more complicated than I thought.

It was hard enough to keep up with my own changes, but trying to keep track of Temujin’s changes as well was exhausting.

“Noah, what do you think is the reason Temujin is angry?”

—Marriage is a system that disappeared 98 years ago. In the past, marriage was done with someone you loved.

“Doesn’t love change too?”

—There may have been unchanging love as well. In fact, many things are recorded in past history with the emotion of ‘love.’

“Was Temujin angry because he thought it was unchanging love?”

—There are many definitions of love, but it basically means a feeling of cherishing and valuing a person or existence very much, or such an act. In love between men and women, it means a feeling of longing or liking between men and women, or such an act. Or it means a feeling of being attracted to sexual charm, or such an act. And it means an object that you ardently like.

I don’t know about the others, but I think I know what it means to be attracted to sexual charm. But can’t you see someone as a sexual object without being attracted to this thing called love?

—If Temujin felt ‘love’ for Master, it can be inferred that it means an object that he ardently likes among the various definitions.

“An object that he ardently likes—”

He was always a fiery person. That intensity of exploding emotions, including his body temperature. What would it be like if such a Temujin came to ardently like someone? If he poured all those feelings into one person.

There was a time when Temujin poured out his emotions to me. That day when the blizzard was raging when I first tried to escape, the memory of that time was so bad that it still made my heart ache.

If that’s what love is, then being loved is very scary.

“But I don’t like Temujin being angry.”

Hmm, yeah. Should I say sorry first when I see him? If the reason is different, let’s ask again. Temujin will always answer, as always.

* * *

What? Feelings change? What does she think I am!

Temujin, who had stormed out of the room in a fit of anger, strode loudly and ruffled his hair roughly. The multicolored beads strung in his hair collided and rattled as they tangled in his fingers.

From the beginning, he was a man who had never properly had a woman. Arrogant and terrible, a beast soaked in madness, and many other nicknames. He didn’t deny it, but rather thought it was a suitable modifier for himself. She was the first woman he had ever been interested in!

Starting with the end of the war, how to get rid of the clan leaders when he returned to Mongolia, and then show her the highlands and the Tehnu River, which is considered a beautiful scenery! He had all sorts of thoughts!

While others would take two or three more wives, he would only look at Yeojin, one person. For the first time, such a feeling sprouted. But feelings change? Isn’t that ignoring his feelings?

‘We live together? If you get tired of it, goodbye? Say hello and I’ll go somewhere else.’

He thought he understood everything, but Yeojin was still thinking of running away. Someday these feelings will change, and she intends to leave at that moment.

Bang!

Temujin, his anger rising to the top of his head, punched the wall. With a reverberation, the earthen wall made of soil caved in and crumbled.

“Oh my, what happened again that you’re smashing the castle like that?”

Buka, who had been following Temujin closely, asked with a sigh. Temujin glared coldly at Buka. Temujin was at least a head taller, so Buka felt intimidated when they clashed like this, even though he wasn’t short.

Buka swallowed hard at Temujin, who didn’t seem to be in a better mood than usual. He was just trying to calm him down for a moment, but it was colder than he thought.

The sharply raised eyes were like a hawk’s when it was hunting prey. Sharp fangs like animal teeth were revealed and hidden between the snarling, distorted teeth.

“It’s none of your business.”

“Is it because of your wife?”

“……”

Buka sighed at the other’s silence. Among the self-willed tribe members, the Khan, who was unique, had recently been focusing on the foreign wife he had met this time.

“I thought she couldn’t speak, so she wouldn’t do anything to bother the Khan, but I guess not.”

Those words were the problem. Temujin, feeling frustrated, punched the castle wall again. As the debris of the soil fell in droves, Buka sighed and shook his head, stopping the Khan with words. He knew that if he stopped him with his body, his body would end up like that.

“You’re going to smash the whole castle.”

“If you don’t shut up, I’ll tear your mouth and throw it to the dogs to eat, so keep talking.”

“……”

The Khan is a man who does what he says. Buka closed his mouth for the safety of his mouth. Bang! The wall collapsed again.

He used to punch rocks all the time when he was in Mongolia. I thought his personality had become milder after he got married, but it seems that personality hasn’t gone anywhere.

“Hoo.”

It seems like the venting time is over. His face is better than before. Buka secretly took a breath. Still, it ended quickly this time. At least he doesn’t try to fight the elite soldiers during the war.

Of course, we can’t turn dozens of elite soldiers into wounded soldiers when the summit is just around the corner.

Temujin roughly wiped the dirt-stained hands on his clothes and walked back the way he came.

If she doesn’t know his feelings, he can express them until she knows. Would she like it if he gave her a bouquet of flowers? Or, since she’s never seen animals, he could give her a small rabbit or squirrel.

Buka, who had been following Temujin, clicked his tongue as Temujin walked away faster than when he had come. He thought that a lovers’ quarrel was like cutting water with a knife, and it seemed he didn’t need to intervene.

Thump, thump.

“Yeojin, I’m coming in.”

…Was Khan always such a polite person? Where did he learn to knock? Can a person change this much just by taking a wife? Buka shook his head, clicking his tongue. Besides, Yeojin? Did he even give her a name?

Click.

The antique golden door opened. But all that greeted Temujin was an empty room.

Rustle—

The red cloth of the bed fluttered in the wind that came in from the open window.

“Don’t tell me she ran away again—”

Buka, who had been guarding the room just like Temujin, opened his mouth. A table full of leftover food, silk blankets strewn across the disheveled bed, and a pair of uniquely shaped shoes thrown underneath.

“Find her now! She couldn’t have gone far! Block the gates! Hurry!”

“Y-yes!”

At Temujin’s shout, Buka hurriedly ran out of the room. Left alone, Temujin gritted his teeth and picked up the shoe lying under the bed.

* * *

Thump!

Bang, I don’t know how many times I’ve hit my head. Not only is my vision blocked, but my mouth is gagged, and my arms and legs are tied so I can’t move an inch. As if that wasn’t enough, it’s like they put me in some kind of sack, with a smelly, rough cloth wrapped around me.

After a few questions were answered in my conversation with Noah, I was waiting in bed for Temujin to come, but suddenly, an intruder broke in through the window and tied me up before I could even figure out what was going on. If only my mouth was free, I could activate the safety alarm.

Now that I think about it, the safety alarm only reacted to dangers to my body. Someone suddenly taking me like this wasn’t a target for the alarm.

Maybe, in the old days, they called it ‘kidnapping.’ From the start, isn’t kidnapping the act of forcibly taking someone who can give you what you want in order to achieve a desired goal?

What could they possibly get from me? It doesn’t seem like they intend to harm me. My feet are cold because I don’t have my gravity shoes, but there’s nothing seriously wrong with my body.

Where are they taking me? Why are they taking me? Could it be because of my exotic appearance? Many questions came to mind, but no particular answers emerged.

Are they thinking of selling me to a place like the courtesan village, like in that village? I slowly blinked my eyes in the dark. I didn’t care before, but now I really hate it. Temujin’s face lingered in my mind. Hmm, he would hate it.

I have to say I’m sorry, but will I ever see him again? Ah, maybe he thinks I ran away? Yeah, that could be it. I have a record.

The last time I saw Temujin, he was very angry, so he might never want to see me again. What if he’s already tired of me?

For some reason, my heart hurts. I even have plenty of antibodies to prevent getting sick. Besides, Noah, who should be reacting to health abnormalities, is quiet. It came back normal when I had a body scan a while ago, too.

Drip, drip, this time it seemed like my tear ducts were broken. Not only was it soaking the blindfold blocking my vision, but tears were streaming down my forehead and to my ears.

I thought I was used to meeting and parting. It was actually very easy for me in the past.

If I’m this hurt just imagining being abandoned by Temujin, it would have been better if I had never known emotions.

But I wanted to say I was sorry.

It hurts. And it’s frustrating. Ah, is this what love is like?

I missed Temujin so much. I longed for him. Even though it hasn’t been long since we parted.