Chapter 96: Eomeoni (Mother)

I told Seon-Ho that it was best for him to stay the night in his mother's room so he could get some closure for his mother as he kept evolving into the man that he was born to be with the ambitions that he possessed. He looked conflicted at first but he had become mute from the moment I took him to his mother's family home. I stayed with the elderly lady who turned out to be his mother's nanny and the only person alive that was connected to her. Nam-Jeon didn't even spare his mother's lover and he along with his family had been locked up on a falsified charge. He spent hours in her room and barely came out to eat. In the meantime I sent my belongings to my brother who had met us there unbeknownst to Seon-Ho who looked torn between sulking with me and wanting to be there for his best friend who he still loved. I urged him to wave the white flag finally as there were still parts of Seon-Ho's life that was best left to my brother. I had done my bit and I used this as an excuse for them to patch up their relationship. I filled him in on everything before I sent him to the room he was in and I hoped for the best whilst worrying myself out of my mimd for him. I started packing up everything I could find just in case he wanted to bring it home with him.

Hours went by and soon the sun had disappeared into the night by the time my brother came out of the room looking somewhat relieved. We spent a little time together before he had to return to our village to do something or another for the prince. We ate together, walked together, talked and just held onto each other before it was time for him to leave again after he managed to delay his trip just for me. We made a plan of how we would spend out time together in these last 3-4 months before I was officially to move into the palace and I even stated planning my brother's wedding, much to his amusement.

I didn't see Seon-Ho for the rest of the evening until the next morning when he came out looking broken and yet more resolved than ever before. He barely ate any of the breakfast that his mother's nanny made and in the end I had to force feed him a bit before we were on our way to the village. He had ordered a carriage for us instead of continuing on horseback for the rest of the journey...and that should have been my first clue was to what was to happen in future.

He still didn't utter a single word and I left him alone, waiting for him to talk to me if he wanted to. Despite her unfortunate end, his mother was one of the most beautiful women that I had ever laid my eyes upon and she was a devoted mother who loved her son, so much so that it literally killed her to part from him. That was one of my first meetings with Seon-Ho unbeknownst to him; I remember following her around everywhere I could after my mother's death because I wanted her to see me, to recognise me as a daughter. I was still thinking about her when I realised that the driver had stopped somewhere that was a little out of our way for our route. I tried to go outside to see what was going on but Seon-Ho stopped me, more than once. I looked over at him only to see a dark look on his face that I recognised from his father when he was in the worst of moods. In any case, I should have been fearful of him if it was any other man that looked at me the way he was in that moment. I was completely arrested by his look before he pulled me towards him and he hugged me as if he was holding onto me for the last time. I fully embraced him, thinking that he was ready to open up to me about his mother finally but I was very wrong. The minute he got his arm around me he started dragging me outside with one hand; we appeared to be on the outskirts of the village and we were headed into what looked to be an inn. Every time I wanted to say something or protest he would only tighten his grip onto me until I had no choice but to stay quiet.

I didn't even feel that I was ill myself until I suddenly collapsed into his arms. We were still somewhat affected by the bad weather last night although I seemed to be in a worse condition that himself. He dragged me up to our room and only let go of me when we were alone and went to lock the door behind us. He kept looking at me in such a state of conflicted emotions that I didn't know that to say to him until he made his way towards me and he picked me up in his arms before laying me into bed as gently as possible and wrapping me up as tightly as he could before he went out for a while, most likely to get me some medicine. Before he left he warned me not to leave or speak to anyone at all, but now that I had opened his eyes about the lies his father fed him for over a decade, I now had another mission. I could already see it in his eyes that he was going to spiral for a good while. And I knew exactly who he was going to take it out on, but I had no idea of the lengths he would go to... torture me until he picked himself up. Would he follow me anywhere I went? To lord his new power over me and get the answers that only lead up to more questions? Just thinking about it made me shiver in fear more than my illness, which was soon leaving me in and out of consciousness. But no matter what happened from here on out, I had to make him aware of one more painful truth that will change his life forever...and my brother's...and mine as well.