My whole world came crashing down around my head when I saw my parent's and uncle dead, and the woman who was obsesses with both my father and uncle next to them with blood all over her face and clothes. And even with all of this evidence on her, I really could not believe that she had the damned nerve to plead her innocence over and over again. How could she do that in the face of the people that she had just killed? And who was it for? Herself? Or that damned Third Prince of her's that tried to kill my family over and over again? But right now, I wasn't in the mood to hear her side of the story, I just wanted that witch out of this village before she brought any more damage to us. And i could not let my families hard work that spanned over decades go to waste. But before I could do anything about it, Hyuk had suddenly emerged of nowhere and held me in his embrace as hard as he could with his tears running down my back. I was angry, and I had every single right to be, but I had never in my life seen my brother in such a way and I knew that I had to be patient, for now at least.
"Go to our sister's brother, and stay with them until they wake up. I will take over from here." "NO! My parents are dead and that woman is just standing there! I need to…" "YOU WILL OBEY ME! GET BACK TO OUR SISTERS. NOW!" As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. My younger sisters were the priority now, and after the sudden death of my uncle, all of the decisions of the village were now being decided by Geom, who was still so much more level-headed than the rest of us in this moment thanks to my mother's teachings. But as I made my way to them, I had started to formulate a plan in mind that was only getting more and more violent and impossible by the minute. My father was right; I was way too impulsive to think anything through properly, and had no idea what Geom was planning right now. And I needed to find out. I tried to hang back, but I was caught too many times and it looked like all of the men were loosing all patience with me, so I had no choice but to go back in the early hours of the morning. But nobody could stop me the next time, and I would make sure of that.
"Brother? What is going on outside? Where is father?" Both Eun-Jeong and Eun-Ji came up to me to ask about the father that they followed around everywhere as soon as he was home. "Brother, what is for breakfast? Where is mother?" I was still so numb that I could't even register that it was daylight until my sister had mentioned it. Spring had turned into Autumn overnight and I couldn't feel anything anymore; not the strong breeze that made its way throughout the village as if it was taking the souls of my parents with them, I couldn't feel the coldness in the water when I bathed myself, I couldn't taste anything at all and I couldn't feel the warmth from Hana that I always used to as she pulled me int o her embrace once again as soon as she had settled the twins. "Don't even think about it, little brother." "What do you mean?" "You have to respect Geom's wishes for what he wants to do with that demented woman. You have to respect my husband as well, just like I have to." "So we just let her get away with it? My parents are dead! Our parents are dead!" "And so is their father! And their mother after she heard the news of her husband's death! Our beloved uncle who has been a second father to us! But Geon is in charge now and we have to respect him." "Geom is just a boy." "Geom is only a few years older than you are, so you still have to respect him." "The longer that she is here, the longer she puts us all in danger. Who else is she going to kill? Uncle Moon-Bok, Jeong-Beom and Chief Park are all dead, so she cannot harm them. Then who is she here for? My uncle's sons?" "I will find out what I can , but you need to respect their decisions and just help out with the funeral preparations." She knew deep down that I wasn't going to listen to her, not this time. But she was stuck between her maternal family and the one she had married into, so not even she could say anything even if she wished to. I felt her pain because of how much she loved our father; he was always a king in her eyes and she was a princess in his. Not even our twin sisters now got the amount of love that he had for Hana, even though he was the one who asked mother for more children after me. Before, I wouldn't care about who I hurt with my words and actions and I would throw my temperamental issues back into my father's face since he was the one whom I had inherited my behavioural issues from. I would do anything I wanted, everything he hated and constantly go against his word. But I couldn't do that anymore; I wasn't a child anymore with a mother who constantly defended my actions. Hana was married off, but thee were still 4 siblings in total. I couldn't let Hyuk be burdened with all of us, just as he found his own woman just a few hours ago and was surely looking for comfort from her. My father was right, it was time for me to stop holding onto my brother's robes and following him round everywhere. I had to take up my father's job in the palace to provide for my little sisters, and my older one as well. I had to grow up and fast, and only then could I figure out a way to save all of us.
I waited for my brother and cousins to arrive the next day with my sisters after Hana had painfully explain to them what had happened. And Bo-Geom was a massive help to all of us, and kept us fed and sane. And I gave myself enough time to go through the stages of grief that I needed to go through. The villagers were left in a panicked state, and my cousins were left to deal with that. And Hyuk had no choice but to go back to the palace to scout for news on the missing concubine, so we knew what do to next. Before he left, he came home to check up on all of us animist especially the twins who hadn't stopped crying all day out of confusion and fear. He propped them up against his legs and he personally hand-fed them just like mother did to all of us with tears constantly falling down from his face. Eun-Ji was the most sensitive one out of them and tried wiping his tears away, whereas Eun-Jeong just buried her little head into Hyuk's lap and stayed there until Hana took them away for there baths and bedtime. Hana had managed to make them their favourite foods and was being nice to them for the first time in their lives since she had no choice but to take them in. I could only thank Buddha quietly that Chul and Geom adored them equally, otherwise they would have had to lead pretty difficult lives without any female role-model at all. They also welcomed them home as soon as they arrived and they both picked up each girl and practically buried their faces into their little necks. "Are you going to look after us now, brother? Or should we go somewhere else?" Eun-Ji bravely asked with tears rolling down her face, but she was shaking with fear and it was enough to almost broke Geon down.
"Come here sweetheart." Chul replied quietly and he placed her on his lap so carefully as if she was a little glass doll. "I promise you that I will take good care of you and your sister. I will raise you, I will educate you, and I will put you on the path that your parents wanted you to be on." "We don't want to be burdens on anyone." "You are not, I promise you that you aren't." Geom replied with a weak smile on his face as Eun-Jeong buried herself into his neck. "I just want a nice husband like father. Eun-Jeong wants to be a school teacher." "Well then, we will do everything we can to make you the prettiest bride in the world. And Eun-Jeong will become the best teacher in the world, just like your father wanted to be." "Do you promise that you will never abandon us? Like our parents have?" "No one chooses to die, Eun-Jeong. Only god can decide that." "Then I hate him for taking them away from us! And my uncle Hwi! He promised to make our wedding jewels for us with his own hands!"
It was a gut-wrenching scene, and my cousins were barley able to control themselves in front of the girls, but they tried the best that they could. But as everyone surrounded the twins and kept on reassuring them, I and already said my temporary goodbyes to them last night when they both clung onto me in their sleep. The older twins were identical and they both took after both of my parents, but the younger ones looked just like my mother. And I was going to miss them terribly now more than ever, but I needed my answers from that witch and I wasn't going to rest until I had them. Who knew the fate of the rest of my family if I didn't deal with her now? And I knew that ever was going to hate me for this, but I was already used to doing stupid things just to isolate myself from everyone else for practically all of my life, so I could take it one last time. So as soon as everyone had their backs turned towards me, I made a beeline straight to the only abandoned building left where I knew the murderous concubine was being held. I got past the villagers who were supposed to be patrolling her with my own secret method that I had been using for a while now, and I got the concubine out of there in the only carriage that the village used to get her the hell out of here.
The concubine looked as if she was trying to wake up from a very bad nightmare and she kept shivering just like she did when we caught her red-handed. She didn't even seem to have registered that I had dragged her out of the village and I was taking her to some unknown place in the middle of the night and we crossed the border and we made our way to the city.
"Stop! Where are we going? Where are you taking me? I need to go back! I need to be with your Uncle Hwi!" "Are you crazy! Do you really think I am going to let you anywhere near him! After you killed him!" "I have told you all over and over again that I didn't kill him! I didn't kill anybody! It was your father who killed himself, along with the Seo's…" "Do you really expect me to believe that! My father is devoted to my mother! His only close friend is my uncle! So why would he kill them!" "Because your mother is unwell! She was going to forget him all over again, and he couldn't let that happen! He can never let her go, and he couldn't leave your uncle behind either as usual! So he took them both with him!"
As much as I wanted to tear this woman apart, I couldn't deny the fact that my mother had been acting unusual lately. She started to look a little lost, she couldn't remember what she had done during the day when we were all busy and she had started to wonder off alone when she was on her own at home. The last time that happened, my father got so angry that we neither of us dared to approach him for the rest of the day, even hours after he found my mother. Even Hyuk didn't dare to interrupt them when father took mother to their bedroom as usual and stayed there all night long. It…it couldn't be true, could it? Because if it was…
"You're father has you all brainwashed with his generous persona. But everyone also knows how he is about your mother. He did took every single advantage he could to marry her, and he will not let her go, even in death." "What…what are you talking about? What did he do to my mother?" "If you spare me, and bring me back to the village, then I shall tell you everything."