Thinking about it, Yeonwoo’s appearance could indeed pass for a woman’s.
Then Chuncheol spoke up with suspicion.
“…What if he’s actually a woman?”
“What?”
Gapdol looked at Chuncheol with disdain.
“Spit! Got some weird ideas now? How would a woman get in here?”
“Think about it. His looks, his stature. Wouldn’t it be stranger if he wasn’t a woman?”
“…….”
“I discovered these guys camped out in front of your barracks.”
“What?!” Yeonwoo exclaimed in surprise, looking back and forth between Gapdol and Chuncheol, who forced a strained smile.
“No, I was just worried about Hong Yeonwoo, so…”
“I’ll deal with this matter separately. Have you been in the food storage recently?”
However, Gapdol shamelessly lied.
“The food storage? It’s off-limits to everyone but the manager. Why would I go there?”
“Just answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”
“Yes…”
Gapdol shrunk under the sharp gaze of Biyeong, who had already gathered information about him through Sunduk.
“Let me rephrase my question. Did you two take grains and liquor from the food storage?”
“No!”
“Absolutely not!”
Gapdol and Chuncheol simultaneously denied Biyeong’s accusation.
“Really? Then how do you explain your footprints in the storage?”
The day Gapdol and Chuncheol raided the storage was during a heavy downpour. Their muddy footprints were imprinted on the storage floor.
Despite the evidence, they stubbornly denied everything.
“We don’t know anything about that!”
“We don’t know!”
Biyeong’s handsome face crumpled in anger at their shameless attitude.
He called out to Sunduk.
“So, you’re going to deny till the end. Sunduk!”
“Yes!”
Sunduk appeared with several bundles of grains.
Seeing them, Gapdol and Chuncheol turned pale.
“These are from your barracks. Will you still deny it?”
When their barracks were searched, grains and liquor from the storage were found. It was evident they had been pilfering consistently.
With undeniable evidence, they couldn’t back out anymore.
Biyeong looked down at them coldly.
“Stealing military supplies is a capital offense.”
“We deserve to die!”
“We deserve to die!”
Gapdol and Chuncheol prostrated, begging for mercy.
The commotion woke other soldiers, who gathered around the scene.
“What’s going on?”
“Those two caused some trouble, it seems.”
Gapdol and Chuncheol blushed with embarrassment, but their lives were their priority.
“Did you two put the liquor in Hong Yeonwoo’s water bottle too?”
“Lord! We’ll do anything you ask! Just please spare our lives!”
“Spare us, please!”
Biyeong’s eyes gleamed sharply.
“You almost killed someone and now beg for your life?”
“If you spare us, we’ll do anything!”
“Really?”
Biyeong opened one of the grain sacks, spilling its contents on the ground.
His voice was low, filled with anger.
“Eat it.”
Gapdol and Chuncheol immediately kneeled and started picking up the grains, willing to do anything to save their lives.
Biyeong, silently watching, opened his mouth.
“Who told you to use your hands?”
“What…?”
“Huh…?”
Gapdol and Chuncheol, picking up rice, looked up, bewildered.
Biyeong glared at them with a murderous look.
“Eat with your mouth.”
Gapdol hesitated. He glanced around to find more soldiers than he thought surrounding them.
The thought of crawling and eating like a dog in front of so many eyes filled him with shame.
“That’s a bit…”
“Are you deaf? Didn’t I tell you to eat?” Biyeong barked.
Gapdol and Chuncheol quickly bowed their heads and began to eat the rice off the ground.
Yeonwoo, watching this, tugged at Biyeong’s sleeve.
“Training Officer, if it’s because of me, you don’t have to do this.”
“How can I overlook what they did to you?”
“I’m safe, aren’t I? I’m really fine.”
Yeonwoo smiled reassuringly.
Seeing her smile softened Biyeong’s heart.
How could she be so lenient towards those who endangered her life?
“If that’s what you wish. But…”
Then, a slight tremor was felt from Yeonwoo’s hand on Biyeong’s sleeve.
Despite appearing calm, Yeonwoo was the most frightened.
Biyeong’s anger cooled down, seeing her true feelings.
He sighed deeply, then continued.
“I will hold them accountable for the rest of their misdeeds according to military law.”
“Thank you, Training Officer.”
“Both of you, stand up!”
Gapdol and Chuncheol quickly got up at Biyeong’s command.
Biyeong ordered the surrounding soldiers.
“Take them, administer 100 lashes, then hand them over to the authorities! They’ll be charged for embezzling military supplies, attempted murder, and aiding and abetting.”
100 lashes was the maximum punishment possible.
Just 60 lashes could kill a healthy adult. Even if one survived 100 lashes, they’d likely be crippled.
Gapdol and Chuncheol, shocked, screamed.
“You said you’d spare us!”
“100 lashes?!”
“It’s your punishment for lying and disrupting military order. Would you prefer I execute you right now?”
Biyeong threatened, hand on his sword.
Gapdol and Chuncheol hastily shook their heads.
“No, please! Just spare our lives!”
“You thought you could get away with embezzling and nearly killing someone? Despicable. Take them away!”
As the soldiers dragged them away, Gapdol and Chuncheol struggled futilely.
They were selfish, valuing their own lives above others’.
“Lord! Training Officer! Please spare us!”
“Lord!”
They cried desperately, but no one sympathized.
Once the spectacle ended, the soldiers dispersed.
Biyeong turned to Yeonwoo.
“They suspected you were a woman.”
“So, that was why…”
Yeonwoo finally understood why Gapdol and Chuncheol had been lurking outside her quarters. The thought of what could have happened if Biyeong hadn’t intervened was horrifying. A chill ran down her spine, realizing the peril of living disguised as a man in the army. The danger was far greater than she had imagined.
Biyeong comforted her with a gentle voice, “I’m sorry you had to go through this.”
“Why would that be your fault, Brother?” she replied.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they can’t harm you again.”
Although Biyeong’s intervention had saved her this time, it was merely luck. There was no guarantee he would always be there to protect her.
“Thank you, Brother,” she said gratefully.
“It’s my duty. If you need help, just ask.”
Biyeong would always be ready to help Yeonwoo, but she knew she couldn’t rely on him forever. She was a soldier of the Gwangho Army and needed to protect herself.
Yeonwoo inadvertently thought of Geon. From their first encounter to the recent events by the river, he exuded a strong, dominant presence. She wanted to be strong like him.
Silently clenching her fists, Yeonwoo resolved to become stronger.
‘I need to be stronger…’
Strong enough to protect herself.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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