NOVEL NEXT Chapter 586
I got caught.
Since I came here to be recognized as a son-in-law of the Zhuge family, I expected that there would eventually come a day to speak about it.
But I never imagined it would be today.
‘How much do you know?’
She said “not just one fiancée but fiancées.” At least it meant that Hwayrin and Im Ha-yeon had been caught.
Could So-hee have been caught too? I couldn’t let my guard down. The Chilgok County where I’ve been acting as a mediator is part of Hubei Province after all. If the Zhuge family’s intelligence network was in motion, then it was possible they knew about So-hee too.
“Mother.”
I suppressed my surprised feelings as best as I could and spoke.
“Wait a moment.”
“Yes?”
My mother-in-law raised her hand to stop me and turned her head to look at the door.
“It’s Hyang. Mom told you to stay outside, didn’t she? She never said you could eavesdrop.”
“…….”
Of course, there was no presence at the door. Did she just say that on a whim? My mother-in-law’s brow furrowed, and she spoke again.
“If you keep doing this, mom won’t sit back either.”
“……Ah, I haven’t heard anything yet!”
Was it really there? With a bang, I heard the sound of Miss Zhuge retreating. As expected, my mom was one step ahead.
My mother-in-law let out a small sigh and turned back to me.
“Ha… Let’s take a walk for a bit.”
——
The place we headed with my mother-in-law was Man Geum Garden, which I had visited before.
As soon as I entered the garden, I was welcomed by the fresh autumn weather that made the chilly early winter feel irrelevant.
A neatly trimmed garden, similar to the garden of Man Geum Battlefield, where the autumn flowers bloomed vividly, holding onto the last traces of autumn and playing around.
This would be the perfect place to enjoy the autumn scenery that I had missed while being busy with life.
If only I weren’t feeling like a cow dragged to a slaughterhouse.
“Even as I age, coming to Man Geum Garden feels like being at my hometown. I used to love strolling in the garden my father decorated.”
With a nostalgic look on her face, my mother-in-law spoke as she gazed at the scenery.
“The more I see it, the more it feels like I’m in the mansion of Lord Man Geum.”
She didn’t jump straight to the main topic. Was she trying to ease my tension? I forced a stiff nod.
“When my father brought up the blind date, I was half in doubt. A blind date with someone with black hair, after all.”
“……”
So that was the warm-up before getting to the main point.
“Just because he has black hair, the other guys can’t see his worth properly. If it’s someone like our daughter, it could shake his resolute heart. If father didn’t just boast, he wouldn’t have told me to go on a blind date.”
“I’m always thankful to Lord Man Geum.”
The more I listened, the less I could believe that Lord Man Geum had such a high opinion of me.
“At first, I was also half in doubt. I was led to go on a blind date, but it’s still my daughter. Even if she can’t say she dislikes it, she knows how to express it clearly.”
I could easily imagine how Miss Zhuge expressed her intentions.
“Miss Zhuge is quite skilled at escaping, isn’t she?”
“She’s the kind of girl who fled from every match that her husband chose for her. What’s different if her grandfather picked it out? I thought she would come back soon. Then… my expectations failed spectacularly.”
For the first time since entering Man Geum Garden, my mother-in-law looked back at me with a warm face.
“……”
“My father eventually brought up living together with my daughter. If my husband had heard that, he would have charged right in, but in the end, I nodded. My peculiar daughter, wanting to stay by a man’s side without any thought of coming home, was something I had never seen before.”
“Mother……”
“My daughter really likes him. What does black hair matter? As a mother, I should support her love. I secretly prayed that she would pass the successor test and return proudly, holding hands.”
“Is that so?”
Even though her son-in-law had black hair, she supported her daughter’s love. There probably aren’t many people in these Central Plains who would do that.
Given that she is the matriarch of a noble family like the Zhuge family, she has a progressive mindset.
Mother-in-law, you truly move me.
“I never expected that there would be other fiancées.”
We are in the Zhuge family, not the Sichuan Tang Family. My mother-in-law’s smile pierced my heart like a dagger.
“Mother… I can explain.”
To be precise, my engagement with Hwayrin came first. I mean, I was forced into this match. Honestly, this isn’t a matter I should be arguing about; it’s a conversation for Lord Man Geum, my father-in-law.
If they start to bring up Hwayrin’s engagement, I would feel a bit wronged.
“That’s not everything.”
“I have committed a grave sin.”
Honestly, I had no excuse to give.
——
“…That’s how it happened.”
I was planning to wait ten years until my fiancée recovered in the Tang family. But when Lord Man Geum threatened me with the only asset he had, the bookstore, I had no choice but to go on a blind date.
I explained the circumstances leading up to the blind date and living together.
“What a reckless threat. Just like a father.”
“Now I can understand Lord Man Geum, but at that time, I was filled with nothing but confusion.”
“I understand. I thought my father was out of line too when I heard the facts.”
You heard it?
Could it be that my mother-in-law knew about Hwayrin’s situation? If she approved of living together even in that context, then…
“Did you perhaps know? Then…!”
“If my daughter was living with someone else while getting engaged to another woman, I wouldn’t have let it slide.”
“…….”
My mother-in-law is skilled at playing mind games.
Kang Yoon-ho actually created another fiancée while dealing with my daughter. What kind of father-in-law would praise their son-in-law for this?
Naturally, I had no words to say before my mother-in-law.
“How can you have two fiancées? If we include our daughter, doesn’t that make three?”
To be exact, there are four fiancées, Mother-in-law.
“I would have firmly opposed if I had heard that there was already a fiancée.”
“Indeed!”
“And while living with our daughter, you brazenly brought another woman into the picture. Have you ever thought about how much our daughter must have suffered?”
“…….”
“There’s a limit to our daughter’s kindness. If my husband had done something like this when he was young, it wouldn’t have ended with just pulling on his hair. Do you understand?”
“I’m always sorry to Miss Zhuge.”
I took advantage of Miss Zhuge’s kindness while Im Ha-yeon was being pursued by her clan. Although Miss Zhuge agreed understandingly, it’s undeniable that she wouldn’t so easily excuse this if it were any other woman.
“What do you plan to do? This isn’t some marriage scam. I feel like I’m hearing for the first time in my life that a man who hasn’t even married has three fiancées.”
Mother-in-law, calling me a marriage scam artist. Although I have to use all my fingers to count the women I’ve promised, it feels a bit hurtful as a son-in-law.
I glanced at my mother-in-law’s face, which seemed half worried and half resigned.
Regardless of how complicated my relationship with Miss Zhuge and the circumstances around our blind date were, my mother-in-law’s inquiries were valid. A son-in-law who came to say he wants to marry somehow ended up saying that he would marry other women too.
How could I explain this?
The only thing I could say to my mother-in-law was to express my resolve.
“I promised to take responsibility.”
I said, looking at my mother-in-law with a serious expression.
“To take responsibility?”
“At first, I tried to push away both Miss Zhuge and Im Ha-yeon. I only wanted to save Im Ha-yeon, who was the daughter of my brother, and for Miss Zhuge, it was to reclaim the bookstore. I thought I was doing fine enough to ignore the affections of both. I kept telling myself that.”
“That didn’t work, did it?”
I nodded. With a wry smile, I couldn’t hide the affection that followed.
“Unbeknownst to me, the two joined hands and laid siege to a corner of my heart, making it impossible to push them away. And so, I made a promise. That I would take responsibility. That I wanted to.”
Only when it reached the point where I could no longer ignore the feelings of both did I finally bow my head. If they were willing to accept a guy like me, I would want to take responsibility.
“It was unavoidable. Isn’t that far too irresponsible to say?”
That’s true. Thus, I had no choice but to show it.
“I risked my life to save Im Ha-yeon. I truly came close to death several times.”
“……”
I didn’t know how much my mother-in-law knew about what happened with Im Ha-yeon. But I can say for sure.
I really came close to death many times, yet I kept my promise until the end.
“If Miss Zhuge were in the same situation, I would risk my life as well. Because I promised to take responsibility.”
Miss Zhuge is the same. Mother-in-law.
“Did you come to the Zhuge family to bear that responsibility?”
I nodded and looked at my mother-in-law with determined eyes. If she were to say to give up on the other women, I would firmly refuse.
But.
“Yes, no matter what happens, I came to take responsibility for Miss Zhuge.”
Just like any other fiancée, I would be responsible for Miss Zhuge, and I wanted to show my unshakeable resolve.
————
What would she say next? My mother-in-law’s brief silence broke with a deep sigh.
“Haa… Alright. Let’s keep it a secret for now.”
“A secret?”
“Let’s keep it a secret from your husband. No one in the family should know until all this is over.”
“Are you saying we should keep it a secret among the three of us?”
“Yes. First, get agreement from the Elders’ Council and obtain permission to marry from your husband. You’ll return holding hands tightly. Once your father regains his senses and gathers himself, let’s set an auspicious date.”
A date? No way. I couldn’t help but ask in surprise.
“Are you talking about a wedding date?”
“Did you think that I would want to maintain an engagement indefinitely after being recognized as a son-in-law?”
“About that…”
I had indeed thought about getting recognized as a son-in-law and delaying the wedding until things were settled.
Since it had been planned this way, I couldn’t help but show a perplexed expression.
“The fact that there’s a promise made to marry another woman isn’t something you can overlook easily. Especially not when there are two more as well.”
“……”
It could easily lead to another broken engagement. As I was feeling quite flustered by her valid point, my mother-in-law smiled and spoke to me.
“So hurry up and marry her. Show me a grandchild.”
“Uh, mother?”
“Wrapped in a cloth. Bring me the face of a smiling grandchild, then tell your husband.”
“About the fiancées?”
“The fiancée you promised to marry in ten years, and the stories of the greatest thief in Hubei province. Once you share those in front of a laughing grandchild, it could all end with perhaps a broken leg.”
It’s a classical but sure-fire method, like the tale of the fairy and the woodcutter.
The Zhuge family holds the foremost position as a prestigious Martial Arts family in Hubei Province. If I want to be forgiven by my father-in-law for having a harem, I guess I have no choice but to show him my grandchild’s face.
“Is there perhaps a way to avoid the broken leg…”
My mother-in-law averted her gaze.
“……”
There’s none, huh?
“Are you really okay with this, Mother?”
Having a son-in-law with other fiancées. Even if I plan to tell my father later, how would my mother feel about it? I carefully asked.
“You promised. That you would help.”
“……!”
“He’s the man our daughter loves. Even though I’m not thrilled about the complicated relationship, it doesn’t seem to be by choice. It seems that there’s no one better than you, from what I can see.”
“Mother…!”
“Just get married. Once you take our daughter as the first wife, I’ll help you with the rest.”
I would support you like a son.
On the day we first met, with that very expression, my mother-in-law told me. She understood it all. But only on the condition that she is the first wife.
As the matriarch of a prestigious family and as a mother to her daughter, I couldn’t find the words to express my disbelief at her generosity.
“Mother, once I get married, this will be my second time.”