Promise- Minsung

Chapter Sixty Two

King Lee had sent General Jeon and General Kim back to the Lee Kingdom to get more soldiers, so they had disappeared from the base on their mission. In the meantime, Master Sang-hyuk and King Lee, along with Master Kang who had arrived to join the fight, were preparing battle plan after battle plan, tactics to be used on the battlefield.

With all the action at the base, Minho was very busy. But he always found time to go to Jisung, Hei-ran and Yeong and send them all his love. If he died out there, he wanted his kids to know that he loved them and that he was always willing to die if that meant they were going to live safely.

Jisung was feeling rather pessimistic about the entire war preparation. Perhaps it was because his husband was going to be on the front lines in just a few days, or maybe it was because he was just uncomfortable with all the handsome, sweaty soldiers parading around Minho. Either way... not good.

One night, five days before the troops were to march to meet the Southern Kingdoms, Master Sang-hyuk called Jisung and Minho to his study.

When they arrived, he was sitting at his desk facing them. "Oh, come in," he said softly as he motioned for the two of them to come and join him. "Come here, you two."

Minho bowed while Jisung stared coldly at his father. However, both went and sat down in front of Master Sang-hyuk's desk.

"I'm glad that you two ended up together," he said suddenly, his head bowed. "It makes me happy to see you and your family together.

Jisung snorted. "Oh really?"

Master Sang-hyuk looked up.

"You like watching our family so much, but you never thought about your own all these years?"

"That's what I called you here to talk about," Master Sang-hyuk folded his hands in his lap. "If any one of us ends up dead on the battlefield, I want you to know the reason you're married and the reason why I chose you."

That shut Jisung up. This was one topic that he and Minho were still both very interested in, despite having no problem with their marriage at all any more.

"It is not that I didn't want you to end up with a woman," Master Sang-hyuk started. "It's just the fact that I have no care in the world what the gender of your partner is. I did not care whether you had children or not. I simply wanted someone to stay by your side and cherish you no matter what."

Minho and Jisung shared a glance before nodding slowly.

"When you came to see Jisung as a baby all those years ago, I felt drawn to you," Master Sang-hyuk turned to Minho. "You were such a sweet, caring boy you see. And I could tell you loved Jisung, even if it was just a toddler's infatuation with a baby."

"But... at that point you already knew I was a boy, why not cut off the deal?"

"I was going to... once we had a girl you see, but I found that at least having an agreement with the Lee Kingdom, even if it was between the two of you, was better then not having one at all. And then..." he sighed. "Your mother was killed and I was nearly killed as well."

"But you were still alive this entire time and in contact with both the Lee King and Master Kang, you could have called it off."

"By the time I woke up, the masters had already claimed me dead and pronounced you the heir to the throne. There was little I could do, since I was still injured, so I went to the Lee Kingdom to see the Lee King."

"You did?" Minho's eyes widened.

"And we agreed that it was time for us to make an agreement. Even if we needed to force you to get married in order to keep you together, it needed to happen. When the time came for this fight, you two needed to be together so you could fight together."

"And what if we really had hated each other? What then?" Jisung demanded. "Was it just that you needed us alive to fulfill your own plans? Did you not consider our own feelings?"

Master Sang-hyun chuckled as he stood up from his desk, Minho and Jisung's eyes following as he walked around to look out the window. "If you two had truly hated each other so much, we would have sent in Min-hyung, but we were lucky. You were already in love with him, and he was already in love with you."

"That was just by chance," Minho whispered as he winked at Jisung, who flushed red.

"So, in conclusion," Master Sang-hyuk turned back to face them. "I sincerely apologize for all the pain and suffering that I've put you through. I've been a horrible father and a horrible leader for the most part, and I'm sorry."

He bowed deeply to the king and his husband.

Jisung and Minho once again looked at each other.

Minho stood up and slowly nodded to Jisung, who stood up as well.

And before Master Sang-hyuk, they both bowed. "Thank you."