Twist of Fate and Turns

The Last Straw

"Say Father, my Seol," said fourth prince Wang So as he was giving his daughter her tea in a bottle while sitting on the bed.

"Your Highness, she's not even a year old yet. You can't expect her to say father already," his wife, Lady Soo while trying to hide the smile that she had on her face.

"I know, but I really want to hear her say it. And you know how smart she is; she's not even a year old, and she's already crawling, not to mention trying to stand!"

"Well, considering how much you spoil her, she needs to be moving around. Did you not hear the physician say that she's much too chubby?"

"He's just jealous because his daughter isn't as beautiful as our Seol is."

"Your Highness..."

The couple looked at their beautiful daughter, as she crawled all over her parents' bed. The princess was a bright and happy child, much like her mother. She had soft, white skin, and chubby cheeks that her father was in love with. She was a very chubby baby, mainly because So let her try everything. He'd bite off pieces of his food and give them to her; he'd order to have snacks brought to the room all the time... And every time Soo yelled at him, he just said he loved watching her eat. It's not that Soo didn't love watching her daughter eat, but after the physician said that she was too chubby (or overweight), she worried for her daughter's health. She could only sigh, and remind So repeatedly not to give her food yet, only milk or porridge. As she was crawling around the bed, Seol banged her head on the railing, and burst into tears.

"Aigoo... Come here, Princess," said So as he picked up his crying daughter, "That must've surprised you more than it hurt, didn't it?" He slowly rocked her, and soothed her back, which caused her wailing to calm down. He sat her on her lap, and she played with her father's hands. Seol looked up at her father, and smiled widely at him with her toothless grin.

"Da...Dada," she said with a happy face, as she snuggled into her father's chest. So's and Soo's eyes widened, questioning if what they heard just now was what they thought it was.

"Wh...What did you say, baby girl?" He barely managed to form a sentence, but his daughter had fallen asleep in his chest. The couple would have wait for a few hours until Seol woke up from her afternoon nap.

A couple of months later...

"Wahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

"Please stop crying, Seol... Tell mommy how she can make it better please..." A nervous Soo said, as she rocked her crying daughter back and forth. Seol had a rash all over her body, and they looked like boils. She had a high fever, and felt like she was on fire. This had been going on for the past two weeks. She wouldn't stop crying because how painful it was. Soo was close to tears herself, feeling helpless that there wasn't anything she could do to make the pain go away for her baby. She wished that she was the one that was ill instead of Seol, anything to make the pain go away for Seol.

"Wahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Seol continued to cry in pain, and her face was turning red because how hard she was crying. The poor princess was in pain, and no one knew why. She refused to eat anything, and normally fell asleep, exhausted after crying because of the painful boils on her body. The royal physicians and the nurses tried everything they could, using different types of herbs and teas to heal the young princess, but nothing was working.

Then suddenly, everything went silent. Seol stopped crying, and lay still in Soo's arms. She looked as though she was sleeping. But everyone in that room knew. The young princess had just passed away in her mother's arms. Soo knew this too, but she refused to acknowledge it. She held Seol close to her and caressed her daughter's cheeks, "Seol, my love, wake up... Mommy's here to see you. You need to eat, my darling... You haven't been able to eat for the past couple of days. Wake up... Wake up please... Please..." Her words were shaken as her tears rolled down her face, and her screams grew louder as she cried, holding her still daughter in her arms.

"Your Highness..." All the royal physicians, nurses, and even attendants were crying as they bowed to mourn for the dead princess.

"Fourth Prince So! Fourth Prince So!!" An attendant rushed to So, who was just coming out from a meeting with the king.

"What's the matter?" He asked as he looked at his attendant who was out of breath.

"Your Highness, Princess Seol... The princess... She just..." The attendant was unable to continue his sentence as the tears began to fall, "Please kill us, Your Highness!" He fell to his knees in front of the Fourth Prince.

So caught on that something had happened to his daughter, and ran past the attendant to Seol's chambers. When he arrived there, all the attendants and guards were on their knees, crying their eyes out. He rushed into Seol's room. When he opened the door, he lost strength in his legs and fell to his knees. There was his Seol, his beautiful little angel Seol, laying lifeless on her blankets. She still had the red boils all over her body, and her face, but she looked peaceful, as if she was no longer in pain. And Soo was sitting there, looking empty, with tears streaming down her face as she looked at her daughter.

"Soo..." He said as he approached Soo, and held her in his arms.

"Your Highness... She's gone... Our baby's gone... We... I couldn't do anything to save her, and now s-she's gone..." Soo's voice cracked as she tried to speak, her tears covering her eyes once again. So held Soo in his arms as she cried, but he couldn't say anything to comfort her. He looked at his Seol, and the tears rolled down his face, as he remembered all the wonderful times that they had shared, and the wonderful times that they had now lost.

The funeral of the young princess was a sad one. Her parents watched as their daughter burned in the flames, and felt their hearts being torn as they spread her ashes. Soo was barely standing, So holding onto her. The young couple had tears rolling down their faces. Everyone, even the emperor, had tears streaming down their faces. The three young princes, BaekAh, Eun, and Jung all had tears rolling down their faces. Their niece Seol was gone; their favorite niece Seol was gone. They had no words of comfort for the couple. There was nothing to say. What could they say to a parent who just lost their child? Orphans are children who lost their parents, and widow(er)s are men or women who lost their spouses. But what word was there to describe parents who lost their child?

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Screamed the attendants as the coal burned their skin.

"Confess, and this pain will stop," the minister of war said sternly to them.

"AHHHHHHH... We really don't know..." One of the maids managed to form a sentence. The Fourth Prince So had requested a thorough investigation on the death of his daughter. The royal physician had told him afterwards that the young princess had been poisoned, not at once but little at a time. He demanded to know who dared to poison his daughter and why. He had all Seol's attendants and maids arrested, and questioned them until some sort of answer came out of their mouths. The interrogation had been going on for days, and they still had nothing.

Just then one of the attendants tried to speak, "Eight... Eighth Prince Wook..."

"Stop the torture," Fourth Prince So got up from his seat, "what did you just say?"

"Eighth prince Wook sent tea... herbs from Ming, saying that they were for... For Princess Seol... We were only following orders, Your Highness... We really didn't know... Please kill us, Your Highness!" The attendants screamed as his tears streamed down.

"Tea herbs..." So's eyes grew huge, as he remembered the tea herbs that Seol favorite tea was made of. He ran into the cupboard where they were kept, and brought them back to the interrogation grounds. He showed the attendant the tea leaves, and had him smell them, "Are these the leaves that Wook sent?

"Yes, Your Highness... Those are the leaves..."

So ran to the royal physician, and handed the man the tea leaves, "Are these what killed my Seol?"

"Yes, Your Highness..." The physician said as he looked at the leaves, "These are poisonous leaves. It doesn't kill a person right away, but comes slowly through boils and a high fever. It takes longer for it to take effect on adults, but because the princess was so young, and how often she drank it... It didn't take that long to take effect..."

So fell to his knees as the tears poured out. If only he suspected something sooner. If only him and Soo didn't give Seol that tea... Then maybe Seol would still be here with them...

You will pay for this, Wook... I won't forgive you for taking my Seol...