Author's Notes:
Angst and might be tears inducing.
You're been warned.
***************************************************
Kim Go Eun, with a broken heart and sad eyes, found herself in a beautiful garden by a lake.
Someone was waiting for her with a smile.
It was Sung Kyung. Her maid, her best friend, and her sister.
"It's true! My lady! You really come to visit me!"
Sung Kyung looked pretty in the best dress she had ever seen on her.
Instead of a cold autumn day, they were sitting together on a summer day.
She was happy. With Sung Kyung she played all the games they used to play as children.
The weather was lovely, the flowers were blooming, and there was nothing whatsoever she would need to fear of.
********************************
In the bedroom, the doctor felt that the Princess's temperature had risen again. She decided to do another series of acupuncture treatment.
********************************
The days that followed were agony. Min Ho began to wonder about everything he had done in his life. Did everything lead to this? Would it be better if he didn't force her to marry him? She would still be living peacefully with her family, marrying that scholar Park Jin Young in the future. Not like this. Her maid had to die to protect her, her body was torn by a spear, and now she had to fight death so early.
Jo Yeong reminded him to eat on time and rest.
He could only be persuaded to leave her side for a few minutes before coming back again to hold her hair, dabbed water on her face, caressed her hair, and begged her to wake up.
The doctor watched with a pitiful expression. It was hard to believe that she was looking at the Grand Prince of Joseon, formerly known as the cold-hearted, cruel royal, now the hero of the nation.
He didn't look like one then.
He looked like a lost soul, his star would leave him soon.
************************************
The day of Park Hae Soo's execution had arrived. Min Ho had requested to witness the death himself.
"Wait for me" he said to his wife, "I'll be home again soon. It would be better if we could eat lunch together afterwards, My Lady. It's been a while, don't you think?"
He kissed her forehead and eventually left the room.
Kim Go Eun remained sleeping, missing to hear another plea her husband had uttered.
************************************
She was having a marvelous time. That day, she played her gayageum while Sung Kyung sat beside her, drinking lotus tea.
Everything was so beautiful, even the air smelt nice.
"Sung Kyung-ah?"
"Ne, My Lady?"
Sung Kyung had returned back to the habit of calling her "Lady" instead of "Princess," like she used to do before she was married.
"How long have I been staying here?"
Sung Kyung smiled calmly, "Only a little while, My Lady. There is still plenty of time for you to play more songs."
Go Eun smiled back, "Ahrasseo."
**************************************
Park Hae Soo had never thought Min Ho would be there for him.
He felt glad to see his former friend again.
He was sitting in a room wearing clothes made from rough fabric, far different than those awe-inspiring clothes he used to wear, with long chains bounded his hands and legs. He still could move around the room, but not any further.
The emperor had ordered him to die by drinking poison. Before that, he was given a luscious meal. The last meal was commonly given to criminals who happened to be a high-ranking officer within the empire.
"This is a nice surprise. I would never have thought you still have solidarity for me."
"I'm not here because there is any solidarity left in me. I'm here to see you die. I consider it a reward of my hard work."
The smile Hae Soo had on his face was immediately wiped away.
Trying to gather what was left of his dignity, Hae Soo ate his meal, talking as if they were sitting together in another party.
"Stop pretending you're such a good guy. You did enjoy taking Im Jin Ah that night didn't you? If you're such a good man, you wouldn't touch her at all."
"I didn't sleep with her. I have someone much better. That courtesan doesn't even fit to wipe the dirt off my wife's shoes, so why would I take her?"
Hae Soo swallowed in difficulty.
"You didn't sleep with her?"
"I didn't."
Hae Soo wished he could sense lie in Min Ho's demeanor. But what he saw was only disgust on his face.
He was furious. More than to Min Ho, he was more furious to himself. Why?
Because he had really considered this conniving traitor as his one and only friend.
"We had a great time together! We did! We did, right?"
"What good time? Those were the times when I had to pretend to stoop down as low as you!" Min Ho answered coldly.
"There must be a time when you honestly agreed with me! Your brother is a hypocrite, right? I'm sure, deep down, you want to dethrone him," Hae Soo sounded like a lost man by then, hoping to hear what he wanted to hear at the last minutes of his life.
"You killed. My father. All I've ever wanted was to abolish your clan!"
Completely furious, Hae Soo tried to mess that whole composure, that expression of hatred on Min Ho's face.
"I should have finished raping your wife! I really should have!"
Jo Yeong stepped forward and punched Hae Soo. Hard.
"She tasted—so good, Min Ho-yah. So good. I wished I had time to bury myself inside her. I'm sure that will feel even better!"
Jo Yoeng hit him again, with the back of his sword shield this time, making Hae Soo fell from his chair.
His mouth bleeding, he still continued to spew foul words, out of his hatred and desperation to that man he thought was his friend.
"I'm glad I killed her slave, though. She seems so attached to her. What a foolish way to behave. I'm sure she cried and bled her heart out, didn't she? Knowing her pet died?"
Min Ho sat passively as Jo Yeong took the wooden chair and hit Hae Soo's body as hard as he could, breaking it in the process.
Hae Soo gasped in pain but didn't stop.
"And I know she's dying too. Your wife. I did it, right? I took the only one you can't bear to lose. Ha! Serves you—right! Even after I die, I still win. Because you won't be living happily. You'll die out of grief because your precious wife would be in the underworld with me!"
"Hold him," Min Ho ordered, as he took a cup full of the poison, mixed into soju.
"She's going to die, Min Ho-yah. I've killed her!"
"Drink up," he said, bringing the cup to Hae Soo's lips.
Hae Soo struggled and spat him in the face.
Min Ho wiped his face.
"I said, DRINK UP! DRINK UP, YOU FILTHY BASTARD!!!"
Jo Yeong twisted Hae Soo's arms as Min Ho forced the man to drink his poison. He tried to kick him and shutting his mouth.
Fed up, Min Ho took the whole porcelain jug of soju and poured it all on Hae Soo's face until he gasped for breath and had to swallow a lot of it.
Once done, he threw the jug to the floor and it crashed to splinters.
"My wife is going to be fine!" he said vehemently.
"I've never seen you as anything else besides an arrogant, foolish villain. I spent years trying to control not to stab you. But I want the whole country to know that you are nothing but a liar, a robber, a rapist, and a murderer!"
The poison started to take effect and Hae Soo felt as if his skin was being peeled off, and his throat was pricked with needles.
"My wife is going to be fine!" Min Ho repeated, more to himself than to anyone else.
Hae Soo coughed violently and vomited blood.
"Your son and wife will be working as farmers. And your sister, the Queen, had committed suicide last night, leaving a letter to the emperor, begging to be forgiven for all her sins!"
Hae Soo convulsed and fought for air.
"And for your information, spending time with you have made me sure of one thing. All of my life, I've only wanted to achieve it. To be a good man that can be useful for others. You and me are different, do you hear me? We are different!!!"
Hae Soo held his throat desperately, as he felt as if his organs were being torn to shreds with sharp swords. He regretted that he still could hear everything Min Ho had said, though. He didn't miss hearing even a single word.
He wished he did.
"What a pathetic sight. Can you please die, now?"
Park Hae Soo whimpered once, grew tense, and then stopped moving on the floor, his face was the best painting of a painful death.
******************************************
"Sung Kyung-ah, are you going to be alone here?"
"Hm? They said I will be visited by several people, Lady, but yes, most of the time, I will be alone here."
"Do you want to me accompany you?"
Sung Kyung beamed.
"If you can do that, I will be so happy."
*****************************************
The doctor felt Go Eun's pulse, and was terrified to feel that her heartbeat grew slower, and fainter.
She ran to the guard standing outside the bedroom.
"Call the Grand Prince. Tell him to come home. His wife is dying!"
The guard was astonished. But bowed and ran to inform the Grand Prince.
****************************************
The guard galloped with a horse to the prison of Hanyang, but Min Ho had left. He galloped again to the imperial palace, the guards there admitting him because he was wearing Min Ho's symbol in his uniform and screamed, "Let me in! I need to find my lord now! This in an emergency!"
He was saved from the usual checking at all gates and found Min Ho, who was walking to the main hall, going to report about witnessing Park Hae Soo's death to the emperor.
"Your Highness! My lord! You must—" he gasped for breath, "come home – right now. The doctor – said – the Princess – is dying!"
Min Ho ran to the guard's horse, climbed it, and galloped as fast as he could to his palace.
**************************************
"What happened? How is she?" he asked, barging into the bedroom.
The doctor bowed to him, her forehead was touching the floor.
"Her pulse is weakening, Your Highness. She doesn't have much strength left."
He dragged himself to her side, kneeling and holding her hand, interlaced their fingers.
"Leave us," he ordered.
The doctor and her assistants left the room.
Tried as he might, he couldn't see any difference from her than how she was that morning.
Her hands felt small and limp in his.
He placed a finger under her nose and felt that she was still breathing, but fainter.
"Is this true, Go Eun-ah? Are you leaving me?"
He climbed the bed and held her in his arms, placing her on his lap and cradling her body with his arms.
"Maybe I shouldn't have forced you to marry me. Look at you. If you didn't marry me, you won't be like this. You would still be happy with your good family. You won't know the cruelty of this world."
"I'm selfish, Go Eun-ah. Please forgive me. Forgive me for falling for you the first time I laid my eyes on you. Forgive me for the pain I gave you to make you agree with our marriage. But you have made me the happiest of men. You are everything I'm not. You're the purity I thought has ceased to exist. Most of all, I wish you could forgive me for not regretting anything. I would do it all over again to be with you."
"Please listen to me, Go Eun-ah" he begged, looking down at her closed eyes.
"Please grow old with me. Please. I beg you, I beg you. You're the light of my life. If you die, my life will be so dark. I don't know what I will do if you die. Answer me. Look at me with those eyes I love so much. Should we not meet at all? Is everything we have a mistake?"
**************************************
"But you see, my Lady, it is up to you, not me. You are facing a crossroad now. Your heart and body are in pain. You have to choose to continue to live or to leave the world now."
Go Eun frowned at Sung Kyung.
"My Lady, maybe all the things we know in fairy tales and stories are all real. Because The Sky had sent the men who recorded Destiny to me."
"The men who recorded Destiny?"
"Ne. They have told me some things."
"What things?"
"That destiny is forever changing."
"Jeongmal?"
"Ne. Destiny is made from people's decision. Once done, it cannot be changed. Like me, I am destined to die to protect you, because that is what I want," Sung Kyung reached out for her hand.
"Don't feel guilty, My Lady, please. You did no wrong. If you die and I am unable to protect you, I would end my life and follow you anyway."
"But Sung Kyung-ah.......that is so unfair!"
"I don't mind losing my life for you, My Lady. I am proud to do that. I have done my purpose to live. Unlike you, you're not done yet."
"I'm not?"
"Of course not"
"Why? What should I do?"
"My Lady, when you met Grand Prince Min Ho, he was also facing a crossroad in his life."
Go Eun hadn't remembered Min Ho at all during her stay with Sung Kyung. Then, the remembrance of him charged her like a physical hit in the chest.
All of a sudden, she realized where they were. They were sitting in the open pavilion by the lake, the place where she met her husband for the first time.
"When he met you, My Lady, he was so close to the darkness. No matter what he believed, he was exhausted with all the evil he had witnessed, and he almost became one too.
Although your beginning with him was not as lovely as other love stories, he needs you. Meeting you has strengthened him. Meeting you crystallized his beliefs of the good. That was your purpose, My Lady. To guide him. Always."
"What will happen if I leave him to stay with you now?"
"The darkness will own him, I'm afraid. He will turn to be a beast, worse than Park Hae Soo could ever be. Because he has the power to do that. People will follow him. He will kill his own brother and nephew, seizing the throne with cruelty. Countless people will die and suffer, My Lady. Because after you die, he'll completely lose faith to everything that is holy and right."
She started crying, all her love for him overflowed. It killed her to hear about this possibility.
"He will lose his soul if you decide to leave him, My Lady. Entirely."
Every piece of memory she ever shared with him, from the song she played that day by the lake, to their fights in the beginning of their marriage, the first night they spent together, and all the sweet words he had said to her as he held him every night filled her being, filled her to the brim.
"What is your choice, My Lady? If you stay here, you are free from harm. All your memories of the world will be erased. And he will be a cruel tyrant that lives to torture people. Or will you go back to your husband and save his soul?"
Leaving him and forgetting everything they've been through?
No.
"But what will happen to you, Sung Kyung-ah? Will you be alright here, alone?"
"I won't be alone, My Lady. I will see your life from up here."
"Jeongmal?"
"Ne"
"..........Then I will go back to him"
Sung Kyung nodded. "I know that's what you will want. You only have to state your reason, and then you will go back to him instantly. You must know the reason of everything you do, especially this decision. So, My Lady. Why do you want to go back and save his soul?"
"..............because I love him"
Sung Kyung smiled widely at her, the most beautiful smile she ever gave.
"Farewell, My Lady. Let us part for now and meet again when it is finally your time. I didn't live in pain, for I have lived for you. Farewel, dearest Lady, farewell."
****************************************
It felt like waking up from a long nap. Everything was blurry. Was it warm or cold? She didn't know. But she could hear, she could hear a sad voice, begging, pleading, questioning.
"Please grow old with me. Please. I beg you, I beg you. You're the light of my life. If you die, my life will be so dark. I don't know what I will do if you die. Answer me. Look at me with those eyes I love so much. Should we not meet at all? Is everything we have a mistake?"
His voice.
Him.
"No.......we're not....... a mistake........."
The room turned to be silent, until he realized it was because he had stopped speaking.
Did he hear right? Was she answering him?
She was indeed awake. She looked tired, as if she had just arrived from a terribly long journey.
"Go Eun?" he asked, aghast. "Go Eun-ah!"
Her eyes fluttered closed and opened again.
"We're not..........a mistake. We're right since the beginning."
He could not believe what she was saying. She was awake and talking to him.
"Go Eun-ah! You're back! Please stay strong! Stay with me, Go Eun-ah. I need you."
She nodded.
"Is this real? Are you really—" he found his eyes were wet and it was hard to speak. He touched her cheek and made her looked at him again, "Stay with me. Can you do that?"
She nodded again. "Yes" whispered. She had no strength for more words but she slipped her fingers into his. It was a lose hold, but a hold nevertheless.
In only several minutes, he had died and was reborn again.
She was his life. If she stayed, he would continue to exist too.
"Jo Yeong-ah!!!" he shouted.
The loyal guard came running to the bedside.
"Call the doctor. The princess has woken up!"
The doctor was elated to find the Princess was very much awake and was responding to her words well.
"Would you eat something, Your Highness? I beg you. I know you feel terrible, but food will give your strength back. Some soup? Would you, Your Highness? And then we can start giving your medicine again."
"Ne" she answered shortly.
The doctor dashed to prepare the nutritious food and medicine, while Min Ho continued to hold his wife.
"Gamsahamnida. Jeongmal gamsahamnida, for not leaving me,"
She blinked to see him clearer. He had lost weight. There were shadows under his eyes.
He must have been so worried.
"Yeobo.........."
"Sarang-ah.........." he called back, kissing her hand gratefully.
"Were you really worried?"
"Yes. But it doesn't matter now."
"Mianheyo. I'll be a better wife from now on."
He broke down and wept on her shoulder, sobbing in relief.
She used all her strength to circle her arms around him and held him until all his tears and agony flew out of him.
************************************
True to her word, Go Eun tried hard to recover, finishing her meal and drinking all her bitter medicines. She could walk again after a few weeks, and finally could read her books again when Min Ho read the reports of the final conclusion of the Park clan's case.
It was a great experience to see her getting better. He was more than delighted. She became more than just his wife. She became his best friend and confidant, someone he could discuss his troubles and worries with.
As the aftermath of Hae Soo's execution and many of his allies, the Emperor chose many scholars to fill in the vacant positions.
This time, the person must have a clean background and wealth of his own to avoid corruption and other negative practices.
For the first time since Jung Jae became the emperor, he could finally say that he trusted everyone in his court.
Go Eun sometimes still had nightmares and woke up in the middle of the night crying for her dead maid. Despite that, everything was going for the better.
The first moment she was declared healthy enough for a trip, she went to pray at Sung Kyung's grave, accompanied by Jo Yeong and two dozens of guards.
"You're the bravest woman I know. Rest in peace, we'll protect your Princess with our lives, like you did before us."
Those were the words Jo Yeong had said on Sung Kyung's grave.
Like the lost pieces of a puzzle, everything fell into place.
Except for Jung Jae, the Emperor of Joseon.
He was satisfied that Min Ho's name was cleared then, and he was praised as the savior of the nation for his work to investigate the crimes of the Park's clan.
It was unjust how Min Ho had to pretend as the enemy for five years, although he was the one who gave the order.
Nevertheless, there was one thing he needed to ask to his brother. He was sure their father would disagree, yet Jung Jae was determined to have that discussion with his brother.
Deciding that it was better to be sooner than later, he ordered his guard to summon the Grand Prince.
*******************
Min Ho found that his lady just got back from her morning stroll, her cheeks red from the exercise though her breath created a fog of smoke.
It was a cold winter.
"Are you warm enough, my Lady?"
"Ne. Don't worry, My Lord, I'm wearing layers and layers of robe".
It was a glorious winter morning, and he decided it was the right time to discuss with her.
There was something he had been craving for a long time.
Everyone who worked on the Park Clan's case had been rewarded handsomely. He believed he had a right for his reward too.
He was going to request it to his brother the first chance he got.
"Come inside, Lady Go Eun. I have something to tell you."
"You are? What is it?" she asked, following him into the sitting room.
"It's something I really want, but I need you to agree on this, or else there's no use to it."
"Ne? This sounds serious, Prince."
"It is," he affirmed, pulling her by the hand, making her sat down in front of him.
"Go Eun-ah......there's one thing I've been wishing to do for a long time."
"A letter from the emperor!" Jo Yeong announced.
He halted from speaking and asked Jo Yeong to come in.
Please come to the imperial palace. I need to consult you about an important matter.
Min Ho folded the letter again after reading it.
"Perfect timing," he said.
"Go. We'll talk later," Go Eun said.
"Hm? Oh, aniya. You need to hear what I want to do first, even before the emperor."
"Ne? What could be so important?"
He told his wife in a low tone.
She couldn't be more surprised than that for her entire life.
*******************
Author's note :
After rereading the banquet scene again, I think this is the heaviest fic I've ever written. At least that chapter.
I started Unmasking Souls because I wanted to try writing with a historical background. Also I want to try writing action scenes and death. And remember, I wrote this originally a decade ago.
I want my readers to feel the inevitability. Some things must happen, no matter how you don't want it to happen.
Thank you for following Unmasking Souls since the beginning, including the super angst chapters.
I'm very angry because people in South East Asia, including me, couldn't watch Yumi's Cells season 2 legally. Have you finished watching the first two episodes? It's really good. I was angry, sad, worried, happy and giddy with Kim Yumi. Kim Go Eun is really a brilliant actress.
I'm falling for Park Jin Young as well, because he's really super charming as Yoo Bobby. Maybe I should try watching his drama, The Devil Judge.
I think I'll also post tomorrow. Hopefully.
Now I have gum problems, lol. Feels like I have several ulcers in my gum. I'm gonna visit the doctor tomorrow, since it's really painful.
But I'm sure I'll be ok.
See you soon!