Prologue
Not too far from the capital, yet not quite near it either, lay the village of Guryong—a land blessed with rich, fertile soil. It was known across Joseon as the kingdom’s greatest granary.
And within this small village lived the richest man in all the land.
Every stretch of earth in the area—every patch of soil where grass dared to grow—belonged to Master Han, the head of the Han family. If he had wanted to, he could have built a mansion with two hundred rooms without a second thought. His wealth was that vast.
But by royal decree, he was forbidden from indulging in such luxury. So, begrudgingly, he lived in a house with only ninety-nine rooms.
All of it—every field, every coin, every brick—belonged to Han Seok-jin.
He had everything a man could want, except for one thing that always lingered in his heart: a government post.
Seok-jin was the sort of man who could think of ten ways to grow his fortune before even getting out of bed. But when it came to scholarly study, nothing stuck. No matter how hard he tried, the words on the page just wouldn’t make sense.
Still, money spoke louder than titles. Everyone bowed their heads to him and called him “Your Excellency,” even though he had never held office.
His ancestors had served in high government positions, and it always gnawed at him that he hadn’t. So, he poured all his ambition into his three sons.
His plan was simple.
Have the eldest, Jin-woo, pass the civil service exam and restore the family name. Let the youngest, Jin-ho, grow the fortune with his clever mind and natural knack for trade. That way, the Han family would wield unmatched power and prosperity for generations.
As for the second son, Jin-seo—if he lived quietly in the background, what harm would that do?
It was a fine plan. Reasonable. Elegant.
Until Jin-woo failed the exam. Again and again.
Seok-jin couldn’t afford to waste more time. So he turned to a new idea: marriage.
He arranged for Jin-woo to marry into a noble family with deep roots—none other than the household of Lord Gong, a powerful military official who had once held the highest rank.
Talks of marriage went smoothly. Everything was falling into place.
But then… the unthinkable happened.
Jin-woo, his eldest son, fell from a horse and died.
Seok-jin felt fear—not of loss, but of failure. If the marriage alliance fell apart, so would his dream of lifting the Han family to new heights.
If he could still marry Lady Yeon, Lord Gong’s youngest daughter, into his family, all would not be lost. A government post might never come, but his family’s name would be secured.
So, Seok-jin did what only a desperate man would do: he proposed that Jin-seo, the second son, marry Yeon instead.
Jin-seo was gentle in appearance, more scholarly than his elder brother, and had a refined nature. But he was painfully shy—so shy he could barely speak in front of guests. He was also slender, delicate, and lacked the commanding presence expected of men.
Still, rumors had it that he got along rather well with a courtesan named Moran, which irked Seok-jin, though not enough to stop it. He figured Jin-seo might at least learn how to enjoy life.
Later, he thought, he could arrange a marriage to a modest noble girl. Nothing extravagant.
But Jin-woo was gone, and Yeon would still become his daughter-in-law—just not through the path he’d intended.
Surprisingly, Lord Gong raised no objections. The marriage talks progressed with speed, matching Seok-jin’s urgency.
The handsome son of the richest man in Joseon, and the beautiful daughter of the greatest military household—gossipers across the country couldn’t stop talking.
On the day of the grand wedding procession from the capital, the villagers’ jaws dropped.
Lord Gong, sending off his motherless daughter, spared no expense. Land, servants, and treasures followed the bride.
The eight-carriage palanquin that carried Lady Yeon was extravagant. The trail of maids and porters behind her seemed endless.
The Han family’s wealth, already immense, became even more overwhelming.
The villagers still said, even nine years later, “The meat we ate at that wedding still greases our bellies.”
Even the stones on the roadside gleamed, slick with that memory.
It had been a wedding that shook all of Joseon.
Seok-jin believed it was fate’s blessing. He felt so fulfilled, he didn’t even need food to feel full.
But perhaps—just perhaps—his relentless pursuit of power had offended the heavens.
Three months and ten days after the wedding…
One day, Jin-seo disappeared without a trace.
After drawing so much attention with his grand wedding, he became the center of a new scandal: the vanishing groom.
Jin-seo Han.
A man both present and absent.
He became the most talked-about man in the kingdom.
Seok-jin, clutching the back of his aching neck, sent search parties into the mountains and rivers. But there was no sign of him.
Perhaps it was karma—for prioritizing status over mourning his eldest son.
While descending from a temple where they’d prayed for Jin-seo’s return, Seok-jin and his wife slipped on the rain-slicked road.
They both died.
And in the wake of Seok-jin’s death, all that remained was an unimaginable fortune—still undivided—and the third son, Jin-ho, whose heart had grown dark and twisted.
And now…
In the vast 99-room mansion, one woman lived alone.
Lady Yeon, now twenty-seven, once considered a candidate for queen, daughter of the great Lord Gong.
Of the entire mansion, only her private quarters showed signs of life. The rest felt hollow—soulless.
Only the breath of beasts lurked—those who craved her fortune.
“Isn’t this practically abandonment? Her husband ran away nine years ago!”
“Who knew someone could envy a fortune so little?”
“Sure doesn’t look like the life of a noblewoman, does it?”
Nine years should’ve been enough to forget.
But Lady Yeon, left behind in the house of Joseon’s greatest tycoon, remained on the lips of every gossip in the land.
