From the story they have heard and the warnings that come together with it, to some extent they expected an adventurous endavour. However, as they tread on the path and hike up the mountain, their journey has been nothing but anticlimatic thus far. They haven't even come across any other living soul, be it a person or a wild animal. It seems as if the birds don't even want to settle along the path they've treaded. It has been quiet; no significant conversation is exchanged between them besides the occasional question from Suria towards Bulan to confirm the location of their final destination. Suria acts as the guide because she's accustomed to the route, while Bulan tells her in detail about where the couple lives from what she knows. The two men follow behind them, their lips shut tightly. Bulan had wanted to work up a conversation with Seonghwa, to try and make an effort to have any type of communication with him. It proves to be hard because Seonghwa had insisted on plodding side by side with his brother - and the road they are on cannot fit in more than two horses beside each other. So now she's left sulking behind Suria, who's maneuvering her own horse, because Bulan does not know how to ride one. She is only left as a pillion, lips pouting and eyes darting over her shoulders to catch a glimpse of her prince, to which the said prince doesn't even glance at her direction.
"This is the last stretch we have to pass through before arriving there," Suria announces. She only makes sure that they're still following behind; she doesn't wait for their reply as she instructs her horse to continue moving.
The stretch isn't a long one; they find themselves stopping a few metres from a single cottage in under 3 minutes. Every description that Bulan has been telling them fits perfectly; there's a bench positioned outside just beside the door, hanging flower pots lining the sides of the roof, the cracking sky blue paint of the walls, the faded roof tiles and the small transparent area on the roof to let sunlight in. Although the house is the only one there, erected on a desolate land, it still feels inviting. That is why Wooyoung finds himself unmounting his horse, drifting over to the door, as if in a reverie. Whatever questions he had about his birth could possibly lie inside that cottage and he feels like he is in a rush to find out. He doesn't hesitate on knocking on the door, determined to end the mystery of his birth.
He feels a mild grip on his shoulder, and to his left he senses the presence of Seonghwa. As he looks to him, the older slightly nods as if to say, don't worry, I'll be right here. He gives a nod back, before focusing on the door once again. He trains his ears to catch any movement from inside, but all he hears is stillness. Maybe no one is actually-
The door swings open to reveal a young boy of around 7 years old, staring curiously at the guests in front of their door. He must have expected someone else, because he steps back and is about to shut back the door in a hurry. He looks scared, as if he's done something he shouldn't and he doesn't want his parents to find out. He is about to slam the door but Wooyoung hastily jams it with his foot, hissing in pain when it almost crushes it.
"Wait-"
Wooyoung is as equally shocked as the boy, because he feels like he's staring at a younger version of himself. Besides the fact that Wooyoung's hair is coloured in ash brown and the young boy's is black, they could pass off as siblings. Or maybe they are.
"Yeohan is your father not coming in?" a voice emanates from the inside of the cottage, gradually becoming louder as the owner moves closer to the door. It is a voice that makes Wooyoung slightly tremble, a voice that he has never heard but knows that was what he has been missing for the rest of his life.
"It's not father. It's someone else and I'm scared," the boy hides behind his mother, carefully peeking towards the newcomers.
"Who is it honey-" the woman stops speaking and as her eyes lay upon the young men, her eyes glaze over. She blinks a few times, trying to take in the faces in front of her and her lips slightly tremble. Her mouth is open but no articulated words escape; only a strangled gasp is heard. The boy hugs her even tighter and she crouches so that her face is of the same level as the child's, before instructing him to stay in his room until she calls him out.
"Are they bad people, mother? Are we in danger?" the boy looks like he's about to burst into tears but the mother gives him a reassuring smile and a pat.
"Nothing's wrong, dear. I just need to talk to them for a while. You still haven't finished reading the book, the ones with the dragons and knights, have you? Why don't you finish that up and you can tell me all about it, Yeohan?"
"Yes mother." His curious eyes still stay glued to the crowd before he decides to obey his mother, his thin legs bounding over the wooden floors. They soon hear a subtle thud, signalling that he is indeed already in his room.
"May I help the two- four of you?" she quickly corrects herself when she notices that there are two ladies idling behind. They came in a group, but it appears that only the two men are keen on coming close to the cottage. She avoids the gaze of the shorter young man - one that makes her heart ache as she returns them.
"Are you perhaps... Min Haneul?" Seonghwa returns with a question.
There is a slight change in her posture. "If you came all the way here to ask us for help, I'm afraid we can't do that. We left the practice a long time ago. It's better if you return back to where you came from before it gets dark."
"Please, we need to sort some things out. It was hard for us-"
"The baby boy. The dead child," Wooyoung cuts Seonghwa off. "Are all the rumours true? If you are indeed Min Haneul, I need to hear it from you." I need to know whether you are my mother - that I am indeed the child.
"Why... did you come here?" She knows it's no use to hide it anymore - she's never known to be the best of liars. She feels the tears pooling before cascading down her cheeks, the image of the young man in front of her too much to bear.
When Wooyoung sees her like this, it pains him. There's an unspeakable connection that he feels as soon as he lays his eyes upon her, that her pain becomes his too. He still needs to confirm it; there is still no definite proof that the woman is his mother. He sees it; how his lips and nose are the same as hers, how her features morph into his. But it's still not enough. He wants to hear it from her mouth, saying how he is the child they abandoned on the palace's steps 22 years ago. He wants to know the reason why he's left all alone in Nyla, when the child that opened the door could live with them, calling them as his parents. He wants to know why he was left questioning his own being, the blue blood his only clue that got him nowhere. He wants to know why he had to grow up feeling empty without a blood-connected family. He wants to know why the moment he arrives here, he wanted to get angry but couldn't.
"Please," is the only word that manages to come out of his mouth.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." the woman chants through her sobs, wiping away the tears with the sleeve of her dress.
Then Wooyoung does what he has wanted for so long; he embraces the woman and pulls her into a tight hug. The woman sobs into his chest loudly. Seonghwa understands this and he steps back, giving them the privacy they need.
"I need to know one thing..." Wooyoung says. "The blanket you wrapped the baby with." He doesn't elaborate further, hoping to confirm it with this one.
"Purple," she sobs. "Fleece with yellow ducks on it."
He closes his eyes and heaves a sigh of relief; no one would know besides the palace's occupants. There might be outsiders who saw them 22 years ago as they went to Nyla, but it was unlikely they would remember such a small detail. But that's not the only confirmation he has; as he hugs the woman, he knows that she is his long-lost mother. He just knows.
They stay tangled with each other until the woman's sobs die down. She pulls back before tipping her chin to look up at the young man in front of her, cupping his face. "You look so much like your father. Your name... what do they call you?"
"Jung... Wooyoung. They named me Jung Wooyoung."
---
It's his father. The figure that he had been missing all his life is standing in front of him, tall - his face a mixture of grief, guilt and happiness. The emotions roll into one, his face so identical to Wooyoung that he is left wondering where his parents had been all along. The inside of the cottage feels like home; the ornaments arranged on the fireplace mantel, the depressed cushion from being sat on too many times, the wooden floorboards creaking when they are stepped on a particular area, the sunlight sifting through the curtains, the smell of freshly baked cookies coming from the kitchen. It's a feeling he can never get back at the palace. And these are the faces he has never seen before but he believes that they are related to him by blood. The giver of his blue blood, right here in the living room with him.
Seonghwa had asked whether he would like the older one to follow him inside, but he assured him that he would be fine on his own. He needs the time alone with his parents. He has so many questions for them, ones that have followed him ever since he was left on the palace's steps. So many whys. He expected himself to get angry to them for abandoning him, but the feeling never came. Instead as he rests his eyes on their wrinkled faces, he sees himself as a mixture of their faces, he finds... peace. As if looking at them puts him to rest after a 22-year long run to an unknown destination.
His father - Min Garam - gives him a good few minutes of staring, as if trying to absorb every feature of the young man in front of him. His son... his eldest son had come back to find them, even when they had left him behind 22 years ago. They wronged him in every way, yet here he is, smiling through the tears and looking stronger than ever. He is no longer the weak child he embraced as he was born, no longer the baby boy that cried relentlessly because every part of his body hurt. The baby had grown up to become a handsome young man, bringing together an air of confidence with him.
"The rumours... the stories... are they all true?" Wooyoung asks. "That I was supposed to be dead."
"Don't say that," Haneul says softly, but there's a firmness in her tone. She has wiped away all the tears, but it does seem that she will break down again soon. "You are our precious son that deserves life as much as anyone else."
"Then why did you..." he was thinking of using the word 'abandon' but even that is too painful for him to say. "...leave me at the Nyla palace? What was the use of bringing me back to life when you're just going to put me away? I don't understand."
"Because we don't want people to come looking for you, attack you," his father adds, his hands balled into fists as he remembers the time. "People can be so cruel when they want to; all the good deeds you have done for them goes missing once you make a mistake. But to us, bringing you back was not a mistake. Only the others are not willing to accept it."
"It's not something natural," Wooyoung rebutts.
"We know we had crossed a line we shouldn't have, but we love you too much to care about that. You were the light that came into our life 22 years ago, and we couldn't have let you pass without even uttering your first word. We realized how everyone else would start aiming at you once they found out the truth, and we didn't want that. We had to send you away, so that the people wouldn't find you. They chased us out, we had to move here where no one lives. We didn't want you to get hurt, so we sent you to Nyla. We know how the people in the palace are kind enough, kind enough to disregard the blood colours, kind enough to take in a parentless child. It pained me to have to put you down once again just right after I held you again in my arms, but I had to. Every single day we thought about you, whether you are living alright, whether you have enough to eat, whether you are being treated with respect."
"We wanted to come back to find you after everything settles down and people have forgotten about us, but we couldn't. We thought that you might had forgotten about us, happy in the palace. We wanted to find you, but we were the ones who built a barrier between us and our child. After time went by, we accepted the fact that we can never claim ourselves as your parents because we don't deserve the title, but never once did we forget you. We're always sorry. It was selfish of us because in the end, it was you who suffered."
It's enough for him to hear, for him to accept the fact. The words they utter are full of love and sacrifice, that he doesn't question their intentions anymore. All the doubts he have before dissipated into thin air, replaced with a longing feeling of wanting to spend time with them, just like children do with their parents. He wants to feel like a young child again, hanging on to them like he won't let go.
"The child in the room," he suddenly says.
"He's your brother. He was born 14 years after you were," his mother replies slowly, studying his expression.
"Min Yeohan... is it?"
"Yes."
"Did I... have a name?"
"Yes, yes you did. Min Yejoon."
He chuckles, changing the mood in the room. "I'm so used to Jung Wooyoung that the name sounds foreign to me."
"Min Yejoon or Jung Wooyoung, you're still our child."
His mother brings his younger sibling out from the room, to which the young child cautiously looks at him. As Wooyoung lifts his hand to wave a greeting to him, the young child asks, "Are you my brother? Mother and father always talk about you, cry for you and say that they wish you were here together with us. Now that you're back, will we be a happy family once again?" His innocent questions bring tears to Wooyoung's eyes and without even answering, he hugs the younger child, patting his head while doing so. Yeohan reciprocates his actions, patting his brother's back and mumbling about wanting to eat dinner together.
22 years had passed, but he's grateful it's not too late for him. His faceless parents have appeared before him, bringing a complete family with them. He's happy that they're still alive, welcoming him back with open arms and giving him a younger brother he never knew he wanted. This is what he had been waiting for since he was left at Nyla. Maybe it's different from what he had expected, but he doesn't even know what he had expected. This is more than what he could ask for. He was given a second chance at life, and he's going to spend it wisely. He silently says a thank you to Mingi, who has led him to his parents.
He has found his family. He has found home.