I had been through some things in my life with a half-present mother, a single father, a powerful uncle and a well-known aunt who had raised me as her own half of the time. But my father had been with me since the moment I was born and he had never left my side apart from my studies in the kingdom. And this village was pretty much all I knew until my uncle took us in and helped to educate us, to train us, clothed us, and fed us so that my father could have more time to focus on the people that really needed his help. Bu he still visited us, he still wrote to us every single day and sent us gifts whenever he could. Myself, my brother and Hyuk had inherited almost everything from our grandfather and we swore to do him proud. He wasn't too optimistic about my choice of bride due to the close relationship, but I could tell that he was very grateful for her round the clock care for him since my mother fell ill and bed-ridden after some years. She almost took just as good care of him and my brother than myself, but I didn't mind as long as they were taken care of. At first, I did almost feel bad for her being the only girl in our family to take care of three grown men. But luckily for me, my wife and my father always had a very close and strong bond, and she was more than ready for the challenge. My father needed care in his old age, and my baby brother needed an active mother figure in his life or something close to it to guide him, since I couldn't do it alone. And ever since I married my wife, my brother had been completely spoiled by her in such a way that I didn't really have to take care of him ever again. Hana was somebody that had been catered to for her entire life; but she made our meals pre-planned, the house was always clean when we came home, our bedrooms had been completely renovated, and we all had a mountain of new clothes waiting for us since she took charge of her mother's embroidery business. And she was a damned good cook at that, so my father needn't have any worries ever again. The last memory that I had with my family all together last night when Hana had cooked beef for us so tenderly so that the food practically melted in our mouths so my father didn't have to chew so hard with his already fragile teeth. He was so happy with the food, that he didn't even hold back on the wine this time and he got merrily drunk as my wife got him ready for bed. "Thank you my daughter for this." "You do not need to thank me for anything uncle, I am just doing what I am supposed to do." "And you do it quite well, despite putting on your portrayal of a spoilt brat." "What can I say, I like to put on a show." "You couldn't be any more like your mother if you tried."
"What do you mean?" "She also hid her true nature from your father for a long time, but he found it out eventually. And when he did…" "…he fell in love with her?" "Yes." "Wasn't he angry with her?" "Of course he was, and he was determined to make her pay for it…." "But that was when he fell in love with her. But why?" "He wasn't just in love with her. She turned out to be everything that he lacked for his entire life, she was everything he needed and wanted. And that is why he will never let him go." "My father lost his mother at a young age, isn't that right? And his father…." "She saved him from a murky future under his father's rule, and he didn't even know it until years later." "So he has a lot of guilt towards my mother? That is why he keeps her close? And is faithful to her?" "Exactly. But let's not talk about that anymore, you should go to bed and tend to your husband instead of this old man." "I do not mind, you know I don't. I will not leave until I tuck you into bed myself." "Daughter…" "You know it is pointless for you to argue with me." She even wiped his face with a wet cloth every single night so that he wouldn't get too hot in the winter and she had a fire lit close to his bed in the winter before she tended to my brother next.
"Go to bed Geom, and don't even think about hiding the dinner wine in your bed chambers, or I swear that I will empty the bottle out all over your bedroom and have you clean it up without any help at all." "But noona…" "But you can have a piece of dessert before bed, and this is only when you organise all of your scrolls so you do not trip over them in the morning. If you do this for me then I will cook your favourite breakfast in the morning instead of your brother's, ok?" "Alright." "And I will pick up some food for you tomorrow, make sure that you share it out with my brother's, ok?" "I got it." "I mean it Geom." "Ok ok, goodnight noon-a."
My father, my poor father; what on earth did he do to deserve this sudden death? And what did my uncle do? He was a good man who helped everyone around him just like my father. Us children were educated because of him, we were clothed because of him and it was thanks to him that we all got new experiences and endless possibilities not only in the city, but in the palace itself. He didn't hesitate to train us with his own son's and didn't treat us any differently from him. We all ate together in the same room, we bathed and played together endlessly and our uncle alway brought us to the palace to encourage our studies and show us off a little as the grandchildren of one of the greatest swordsman of all time. It was because of him that we were so successful today and I barely even got the chance to thank him for not only that, but giving away his favourite child to me that he couldn't bare to part with. I had been planning to give him the news of my promotion in the military and I was going to give him that honour since he was a warrior himself that survived the Liadong war many years ago. I looked over at my poor wife who looked like she had encountered a nightmare upon seeing her parents dead bodies and I had to contain my grief for at least a few moments as I picked her up in my arms and I took her back to our home just as she had passed out. Hwan and Geon were completely frozen on the spot, so I let them grieve in peace before returning to that confront her once and for all before we even tended to our own mother.
"Son! Son…I…" "How dare you?" "Chul?" "HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU KILL MY UNCLE! HE WAS MY LIFE MENTOR AND I COULDN'T HAVE BEEN AS SUCCESSFUL AS I AM NOW WITHOUT HIM! HOW DARE YOU KILL MY FATHER! YOU ALREADY ABANDONED HIM FIRST, SO WHY DID YOU HAVE TO KILL HIM! AND MY AUNT…" "I didn't! I didn't kill anyone!" "My poor aunt, my beautiful aunt who raised us as her own. She loved us. She loved me. Hwan and me are the youngest children so everybody loves them. She loved Hyuk because he is her own son. But she loved me like no-one else did! She paid attention to me! She educated me herself! She spent time with me when I was lonely, she nursed me when I was sick, she helped me when I was being bullied because of you! She listened to me! She talked to me! She gave me the clothes off of her back and she gave me everything I had ever wanted and more! She even entrusted me to her precious daughter! And this is what you do? You take away the only parents I have ever known! WHY!" "She isn't your mother! I am!!" "My mother! Is that supposed to be a joke? How are you my mother? What have you ever done for me? Have you even thought about what this will do us? My aunt loved him the most because she is her youngest nephew! Now what will he do without here doesn't even have a wife and my father had yet to entrust him to the plans of the village! What support does he have now! Tell me! Why did you do this to him! To us!"