It seems I lost him… him too
It seems I lost him… him too.
Did I commit a sin for fate to punish me with such cruelty?
Choi Yoonah was standing in the middle of the square, her left hand resting over her swollen belly, and her right arm holding her one-year-old daughter tightly to her chest.
Her eyes were wide open, yet they saw nothing… as if time had suddenly stopped.
His body was hanging from the trunk of the tree.
A single arrow, straight, embedded in his heart.
She did not scream.
She did not cry.
She did not move.
Her body froze, and her soul seemed to slowly withdraw from her.
She was waiting… just waiting.
For him to open his eyes.
For him to smile with that calm smile.
For him to tell her that this was nothing but a heavy joke.
For him to come down from the tree, approach her, kiss her forehead and whisper:
«Yoonah… you are the most precious thing I have».
But the silence was harsher than any scream.
«S-… Sion?»
His name came out of her lips hoarse, trembling, barely audible.
She took a small step toward him, then stopped.
His white hair, which she had always compared to snow, was stained with blood.
The whiteness had turned into a deep crimson, as if the blood had swallowed everything.
And the black cloth…
The cloth that always covered his eyes… had fallen.
For the first time, she saw her husband's eyes.
Red eyes, the color of blood.
Beautiful… painfully so.
How many times had she wondered about their color?
How many times had she asked to see them?
And here they were before her…
Yet they did not blink.
They did not look at her.
And they carried no life.
She reached out her hand, wanting only to touch his face.
One last touch… a silent farewell.
But—
Whoosh!
An arrow passed by her.
Then another.
A sharp scream tore through the air.
It was Suyon.
Yoonah quickly looked at her daughter, only to find her small cheek wounded, with a thin line of blood running down her skin.
«Suyon!»
She hugged her tightly and screamed with a shattered voice:
«Who are you?! What did I do to you?!»
No one answered her.
The arrows continued to rain down.
Fear swept over her all at once.
A mother's instinct overcame grief.
She ran.
She ran with all her strength, one hand holding her belly, the other clutching her daughter.
Her breath was breaking, her body screaming in pain.
«No… not now…»
She felt a sharp contraction.
Labor had begun.
But she did not stop.
I will not lose you.
I will not lose the last thing left of him.
She ran… and ran…
Until she reached the edge of a cliff.
She stopped.
She looked down… a black abyss with no visible bottom.
Then she looked behind her.
The arrows.
The black shadows.
People dressed in dark clothes, their faces hidden behind masks, only cold eyes visible.
Her voice whispered, broken:
«Please… O Lord… protect my children…»
Then—
She threw herself.
Her body fell as she held Suyon tightly to her chest.
At that moment, the arrows stopped.
The men slowly retreated and returned toward the tree… where Lee Sion's body hung motionless.
As for Yoonah…
She lost consciousness.
And her soul sank into a sea of memories…
Memories that were more painful than the fall itself.
---
She landed on something soft.
She felt a faint sting in her body, but her mind was no longer able to interpret what had happened.
Suyon was crying loudly, her small body on her mother's chest, her voice piercing the darkness.
As for Yoonah… she saw nothing.
There was nothing around her but darkness.
And Sion's face.
He was standing in front of her, as he always had, calm, silent, looking at her.
She wanted to call out to him…
But her voice did not come out.
Then—
The voices overlapped.
«Do you hear that?»
A strange, distant voice.
«Yes… it seems to be coming from the hay cart.»
«Let's go check.»
Yoonah whispered inside herself, utterly exhausted:
A hay cart…?
The footsteps drew closer.
The sound of feet on damp ground.
Then a muffled cry.
«Ah!»
An elderly woman said in shock, placing her hand over her mouth:
«It's… it's a baby!»
A man bent down beside her, his voice tense:
«Wait… there's something under the baby.»
He gently lifted Suyon, and their shock deepened.
«My God…»
The old woman said with a trembling voice:
«It's a girl… a grown girl.»
The man asked in confusion and disbelief:
«How did she get here?»
The old woman leaned closer, looking at Yoonah's body covered in dust and hay, then stopped at her swollen belly.
«Maybe… she fell from the cliff.»
She paused for a moment, then added worriedly:
«Look… she's pregnant.»
The man looked around, the cold wrapping around the place.
«Come on, we can't leave her here. The weather is freezing.»
The old woman nodded quickly.
«Let's take her to the hut.»
The man carried her carefully, while the old woman held Suyon, who had not stopped crying.
They entered the small hut and lit a small fire.
They laid Yoonah on a simple mattress on the ground.
The old woman pulled an old blanket and gently covered her body.
She leaned down, wiped the dirt from her face, and brushed the strands of hair stuck to her cheek aside.
She said with a voice full of pity:
«I wonder… what happened to this poor soul?»
Yoonah did not move, even though she was conscious.
But a tear slipped from the corner of her eye,
As if her soul had heard…
But her body was no longer able to respond.