A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first fic for this fandom, in which I'm way too involved for still having quite a few episodes to go. But this bunny plot just hopped into my brain and I wrote it. I don't question my fickle inspiration.
It's set in Goryeo but AU. I tweaked the ages of the characters a bit, made them a little older than when SHR starts. Some relationships got tweaked as well, but I hope the core is all still there.
Main two differences are that Ha Jin became Soo much earlier, and has been living as Hae Soo for years; and that So basically joined the army as soon as he could to escape the Kangs rather than trying to get his parents to let him come back to Songak, and he turned out to be pretty good at it.
As always, thanks to Sandy for helping me with the edits - you do not know how much bad grammar she has saved you from - I'm forever dragging her into fandoms, and I'll owe her Dramionie fics till the end of time at this rate.
Onto the story.
"Do you know anything about him, Unnie?"
Myung Hee paused in the middle of packing the last of Hae Soo's ribbons and hair ornaments in a pretty, carved box. "I've only met him a few times, Soo-yah. I know what everyone else knows."
"He's the fourth son of our King, grew up in Shinju as an adopted member of the Kang Clan, and has distinguished himself in battle," Hae Soo recited. It was the same things she had been hearing since the King announced the marriage three months ago.
She knew there was more, things she had only caught in half whispers when she took lessons at the Damiwon with Court Lady Oh to learn palace etiquette.
Dangerous.
Scarred.
Cruel.
"That's right, a powerful man with two powerful clans behind him." Myung Hee said in a tone that admonished Soo to remember that.
Like she could forget it when everyone kept reminding her of it. Queen Hwangbo barely spared her a glance when the announcement was made. Queen Yoo – Prince Wang So's mother – hadn't even acknowledged her when she had gone to pay her respects; and Princess Yeon Hwa threw it in her face that she wasn't fit to join the royal family each time they crossed paths these days.
"I've asked Jung and Baek Ah and even Eun." Soo said, naming the youngest princess, who most often were in residence in the palace and whom she had befriended over the years.
"Come here, let me brush your hair." Myung Hee said when her cousin paused. Soo complied and sat on a stool before her. "And, what have they told you?" She asked curiously.
"Jung said he's a good fighter and general." Jung had said it in an almost detached, impersonal tone though the 4th Prince was his full brother. However, his voice held a hint of reluctant, begrudging admiration. "Baek Ah said he's hard to get to know, but can be kind if a bit possessive of what he regards as his."
'Wait until you meet him, Soo-yah, give him time. He has seen and done things you and I can't even imagine', Baek Ah had added.
"And Eun?"
"He didn't have much to say, other than the 4th prince had been patient with him when his other brothers had despaired over the fact he couldn't learn the steps to the exorcism rite. Soon Deok-ah does know him though: her father trained him. She said he wasn't like the other officers that frowned upon having a girl train with the rest of the men...that he was fair, and that her father thinks very highly of him."
"The Grand General doesn't give compliments easily." Myung Hee commented, braiding Soo's hair loosely.
Soo nodded but added, "I'm nervous, Unnie."
"Every bride is nervous before her wedding, Soo-yah." Myung Hee pulled her into a comforting hug.
"That's what Lady Oh said too." Soo grumbled, snuggling in.
Myung Hee had been the one source of constant love and support in this life. Once upon a time Hae Soo had had another name – Go Ha Jin – and lived a sad, difficult life in 21st century Seoul.
After the two people she had trusted the most had betrayed her, Ha Jin had gone to the lake to hide and drink her troubles away, but she had drowned instead… only to wake up in the body of 12-year-old Hae Soo as she was pulled from a river that had claimed the lives of Hae Soo's parents when a bridge they were crossing had collapsed.
Those had been confusing times. Ha Jin had been terrified, unsure and lost. She hadn't dared to speak a word at first – which thankfully people assumed was because the ordeal she had gone through – until a newly married Myung Hee had come for her and took her in for good.
Basking in Myung Hee's love, Ha Jin had decided to look at this as her do-over, her chance to live a better life, so she let go of Ha Jin and became Hae Soo. With Myung Hee's tender guidance, and Court Lady Oh's stern discipline, Soo had flourished. And indeed, five years later, she was happier than Ha Jin ever was.
Myung Hee's prince had been kind if uninterested in her at first. He regarded her as another inconsequential member of his household. He paid her more attention now that he stopped seeing her as a child, to be honest. His sister, Princess Yeon Hwa, often tried to bully her but Soo had learned early on that, though Prince Wook was the one with the higher title, her cousin was the one with the money; and the then 13-year-old Hwangbo princess knew better than to cause trouble with her brother's wife.
At least, thanks to Yeon Hwa, Soo had had more or less the education of a Goryeo princess, trained in the feminine arts expected of a woman of this era. And thanks to the princess, Soo had met the young princes.
Baek Ah came and went, splitting his time between his family in Silla and the Palace. He was amusing, kind and always had great stories to tell. Eun and her had had a bit of a rocky start when she caught him trying to spy on the female servants, but after Soo had taught him a lesson in the form of a black eye – that earned her a good scolding from Myung Hee and two hours on her knees holding books above her head from Lady Oh – he developed a case of puppy love toward her. This puppy love had thankfully ended when he married Lady Park Soon Deok a year ago.
Jung was the cocky, youngest prince. He was doted on by everyone from the Queen to his brothers. He was always showing off and getting himself into trouble, and seemed fascinated by the fact that Soo wasn't impressed by him at all.
Her three dearest friends in Goryeo. After tomorrow, they would be her brothers.
"Try to rest, Soo-yah," Myung Hee said after a while. "Tomorrow will be a long day."
-000—
The 4th Prince of Goryeo, Wang So, paced the length of his quarters inside the Cheondeokjeon Palace. At 22, the prince could count with the fingers of one hand the amount of times he had been to the palace since he had been sent to the Kangs as a hostage – and to hide what his mother had done to him.
Every few years the King summoned him for the exorcism rite or other such matters. Usually, it was either his brother Crown Prince Mu, Grand General Park, or Astronomer Ji Mong that went to Wang So to relay the King's messages. Only Baek Ah visited him of his own volition, and that only in the last few years. Largely indifferent toward each other most of their lives, they had become fast friends the last time So had come for the rite.
The 3rd Prince, Wang Yo had been making despairing comments over Baek Ah's Silla heritage, when So stood up for him – having been in the receiving end of Yo's barbs often enough, So had a thick skin, his much more soft hearted 13th brother did not.
After that, a traveler by nature, Baek Ah began making his way every few months to whatever encampments So had been stationed at the time. He brought with him a sense of lightheartedness that was almost alien to So.
So knew of the battlefields, of leading and managing men who didn't care about the scars on his body; who knew of his military prowess and the fact that he always leads his troops into battle instead of hiding behind them like many royals did.
He knew harshness and survival. And had been prepared for an early death in battle since he started to have an active role in the army upon reaching his majority. But, in a surprising turn of events, he had survived winning more battles than he lost. Three months ago, he had repelled the Kithan from the northern territory, decimating their forces in a way they wouldn't recover from any time soon, and expanded the border.
Taejo had been pleased, and summoned So to Songak, He would be rewarded, the king said, with a household of his own… and a wife.
Wang So had been surprised his father found someone to marry him. He was aware of what people said about him and never went out of his way to correct them: he had killed many people, he didn't show mercy in the battlefield, and was scarred in body and soul – all of it true.
His bride to be was an orphaned noble, So found out, with no parents to speak up for her when her clan elders decided to offer her as a potential concubine for the king. No needing another woman at the moment but interested in the alliance, Taejo ordered her marriage to the 4th prince instead.
The elders had been pleased, as being the 1st wife of a Prince was better than being the 29th wife or concubine of an ailing king. Even if the prince was him.
And, of course, it had to be her.
Hae Soo.
He had never seen her in person – the last time he had been in Songak, Soo hadn't been allowed to witness the exorcism rite, or join the banquet after it. His half-sister, Princess Yeon Hwa had been sick and unable to attend, and Hae Soo remained to keep her company (knowing his sister, it had been more like Yeon Hwa didn't want Soo to go if she couldn't go herself).
But So knew who she was.
Hae Soo showed up often in the letters his brother sent him and in the stories Baek Ah would amuse him with whenever they met. Soo lived in Prince Wook's household, a distant but cherished relative of his wife, Lady Hae, who had raised Soo as her own for the past five years. The Hae Soo of Baek Ah's tales was feisty and full of life, kind to everyone she met but willing to stand her ground.
She was beautiful too. So had seen a drawing Baek Ah had made of her a couple of years ago, when she had been fifteen. The dark hair, soft mouth and wide eyes… They had haunted his dreams ever since.
And after tomorrow, she would be bound to him forever.
-000-
On the morning of her wedding, Hae Soo felt a little melancholy. She thought of her parents in Seoul for the first time in years, of how she and her best friend from high school used to walk by a bridal shop every day after class, and would sometimes stop for ten or fifteen minutes just staring at the dresses and planning their whole weddings in their heads.
"Soo-yah," Myung Hee's voice called through the door. "Time to get up."
"I'm awake, Unnie." Soo called back, sitting up as Myung Hee came in, followed by Soo's maid Chae Ryung and, of all people, Lady Oh.
"Time to make you a bride," Lady Oh had said with a smile. In her arms, Lady Oh carried the blue, crimson and gold robes she was to wear that day.
Lady Oh and Myung Hee dressed her carefully, as the wedding would take place in front of the entire court and Soo was happy to let them fuss over her, knowing she wouldn't have much occasion to be with them like this once she married.
Midway through the preparations, a small army of servants came to transport her belongings into the 4th prince household within the Palace grounds, and Soo was glad they hadn't done her make up yet because she cried a little then.
Myung Hee hugged her and dried her face. "Everything will be all right, Soo-yah."
"It's not that," Soo answered, "I was just thinking that I have been very happy here. Thanks to you. And that I'm going to miss you."
"I'll always be here." Myung Hee reassured her.
"You too, Lady Oh." Soo said with a smile. "I know I haven't been a good pupil, but I thank you for all you have taught me."
Lady Oh surprised her by actually patting her cheek and giving her a fond smile, "Live a good life," she said, "That's all the thanks we need."
Soo smiled and nodded.
Whatever happened now, she would give it her all.
-0-0-
Wang So was reaching the end of his patience with all the protocol and preparations before the wedding.
Living with the Kangs as a child, he had been ignored and left to his own devices (on the good days; he was thrown to the wolves on the bad ones). As a military man, expediency and practicality always took precedent.
But right now, So was feeling aggravated. And his brothers were not helping.
"Maybe don't scowl like that when you meet Soo-yah," Baek Ah said idly as he watched his older brother being dressed in the ceremonial robes.
"You are not funny, Baek Ah."
"But he is right," Crown Prince Mu added. "Take it from an old, married man: women generally don't like it when you scowl at them."
"It gets worse the more wives you take." Won added with surprising insight, already drinking though it wasn't even midmorning. "Then it's all petty jealousy and who has better jewelry and clothes. Annoying, really."
"That won't be a problem for our brother," Yo cut in, "I doubt anyone else will agree to marry him, and there aren't that many orphans of..." Yo paused, as if looking for the right word to describe Hae Soo's parentage, finally settling on "...'adequate' bloodlines just laying around. And even his majesty can't go around ordering marriages on a whim without angering the clans."
"Since the Haes proposed the match, that's moot point." Wook cut in. He wasn't that pleased with the marriage either – as the years passed and his wife failed to give him a child, Wook knew he'd needed to take a second wife soon and Hae Soo had been one of the most attractive options - but he knew forms needed to be kept.
"That's not what they proposed at first, though." Yo said wily.
"What's the point of this conversation?" the Crown Prince cut in, noticing how So's expression closed up as he held his temper by only a tread.
Mu had seen So lose that temper in battle and, well, he understood why his younger brother was called the Wolf-Dog; why many in the troops feared him more than what they feared the king himself.
"She's too good for you," Jung said with unusual venom, shocking everyone in the silence that had followed Mu's question.
Tension rose again but it was short lived, thankfully.
"All wives are too good for their husbands," Eun said innocently, "That's what my Soon Deok-ah says."
"And you believe everything your wife says?" Yo asked snidely.
"Do everything she says too." Eun said with a grin and a nod.
"Since Park Soon Deok can beat Jung in hand to hand combat, that's probably for the best, Eun-ah." Won said, pointing the obvious as usual.
"Yah, I know." The 10th prince said, making everyone laugh.
That was the power of the 10th prince, So thought. Sure, Wang Eun wasn't a scholar nor a fighter, politician or diplomat – but he was happy, and could make people around him happy.
A eunuch arrived to inform the princes that it was time and they began to file out. Eun paused a moment next to his 4th brother. "My Soon Deok-ah says she thinks you and Soo will be fine, hyung. And I do, too." He smiled.
-00 -
At first, Soo was too nervous to look at him as he arrived with Baek Ah and Crown Prince Mu. As she felt him stop next to her, Soo dared to look.
For a moment, she was Go Ha Jin again. Her heart seized and her lungs burned. She was back at the bottom of that lake, where it all started. About to give up. Certain it would hurt less if she gave up.
But, as the sky grew dark above her, she had seen his face... and heard a voice she was now certain was his...calling her home.
.
As good an artist as Baek Ah was, Wang So knew right away that his drawings hadn't done Hae Soo justice.
So thought he knew how she looked like but nothing had prepared him for the way she glowed and shimmered. Hae Soo was iridescent.
Her smile when she met his eyes for the first time was blinding. He could feel his own lips curve upward before he knew what was happening; he was feeling at ease in a way he never had before.
This was it—the moment that would forever mark the Before and After of his life. He had just realized his home was a person, and he had just found her.
...
From afar, no one would have guessed that the bride and groom had just met that day. They seemed to be at ease, talking to each other like they were just picking up an old conversation where they had left it off.
Of Hae Soo, it wasn't that difficult to believe, as she was known for being a chatty, cheerful sort of person who would talk to just about anyone. She would often say shocking things that landed her in trouble which she would then charm her way out of.
The 4th Prince, though? No one knew what to make of the usually dour prince leaning close to his pretty new wife when she spoke. He was attentive and interested in everything she said.
Some swore they even saw him smile.
-00-
That night, So watched as Hae Soo brushed her hair in front of the mirror in their room. Due to some misunderstandings, their servants' lack of palace training and the fact neither of them seemed to own that many things, the servants had ended up putting both their things in one room, without bothering to prepare a second one, as it was usual among the nobility.
"I don't mind if it doesn't bother you." Hae Soo had said when he offered to ask the servants to prepare a second room.
It was one of those Goryeo things she had always found odd; that husbands and wives kept separate rooms. She didn't want to be away from her husband.
When So said he didn't mind sharing a room, Soo grinned and pressed her smiling lips to his. She startled him with her easy affection. "I'll change first, if that's all right?"
She had changed into a white sleeping hanbok made of loose, light fabric and now brushed out her hair. She was waiting for him to change as well, not noticing he had been done for several minutes and was just watching her.
"You are beautiful," He said finally. Soo smiled, setting aside her brush. "I have a gift for you." He added, handing her a small wooden box, carved with trees and leaves, and blessings. Soo took it, marveling at the work. "Open it." So urged.
Soo did, finding inside a beautiful hairpin featuring Opal-white flowers, jade leaves, a sprig of berries made of the reddest coral Soo had ever seen and a tiny lapis butterfly. Soo quickly twisted a piece of her hair and secured it with the hairpin.
"I love it, and I'll wear it often." She stood up to join him. "But I don't have a gift for you."
"Your existence is all the gift I'll ever need. Just be my person."
"I am. From this day, until forever. I promise."
So didn't know why she accepted him so easily and gladly; but he knew Soo was sincere and he would build his life on that.
-00—
Bride and Groom didn't leave their new home for the next three days. They seldom left their room, to the amusement of the prince's servants, who had never known him to sleep past dawn.
On the first night, So had set out to learn Soo's body and all its secrets, all the things that made her moan and whimper and ask him to never stop; discovering a pleasure that neither of them had known existed before.
On the second day, So laid naked under Soo as she touched each scar on his body with gentle fingers, asking him to tell her about them, which he did… he even told her about the one on his face, the oldest one, the one he never spoke off.
On the third night, they sat together in the garden, Soo between his legs as he wrapped a blanket over both of them while Soo pointed the constellations to him and told him all sort of stories about them
So knew he would never tire of hearing her voice or feeling her close. They talked and they slept, made love and talked again. Wang So discovered he could be quite chatty after sex, worse, Hae Soo discovered the same and engaged him in all sorts of whimsical, silly conversations he could barely keep track of.
Who knows how long they would have stayed in their little world, if the Palace and their duties hadn't come calling.
So was summoned to court and assigned to review the state of the troops stationed in and around Songak. Hae Soo, meanwhile, explored her new home and set out learn the names of all the servants that lived there.
She soon discovered most of them were either soldiers that had served under her husband, but whom at some point suffered injuries that forced them to leave the army; or they were relatives of dead soldiers, whom So employed in order to keep them from starvation, slavery and other unsavory fates.
And they were all quite devoted to her husband, who treated them fairly, paid them well and even though he was strict, never demanded the unreasonable from them.
For all his external gruffness, her husband had quite a soft heart as it turned out.
…00…
Myung Hee stood with Court Lady Oh as they waited for Soo to arrive. It had been a week since the wedding and no one had seen or heard from Soo; and thus Myung Hee decided to issue an invitation to meet for tea with her and Lady Oh. Soo had sent word that she accepted but hadn't arrived yet…
"It's still early, Lady Hae." Lady Oh said, knowing the worried turn of Myung Hee's mind.
"There she is!" Myung Hee, almost yelled, seeing Soo appear at the other end of the gardens that surrounded the Damiwon.
Soo was not alone though; the Fourth Prince had walked with her all the way from their new home – which backed into Lake Dongji – and was now saying goodbye.
..
"If I can't come for you, I'll send someone to escort you home. I don't want you walking back by yourself, understand?"
"You worry too much." Soo complained.
"You are my whole world." So replied.
Soo couldn't help herself, she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.
..
"Well, they seem to be getting along well." Lady Oh commented with a dry chuckle before adding softly, "I'm so glad."
Myung Hee nodded, relief pouring over her as she saw Soo's brilliant smile. When the Hae Elders had offered Soo to the King as concubine – without telling Myung Hee until after the fact! – she had been horrified and enraged. Her sweet child married to a man almost 40 years her senior? And bound to the palace in that way, under Queen Yoo's thumb? It would have destroyed Hae Soo.
More so, Myung Hee knew it was all partially her fault; for it was her inability to give the Eight Prince children that had put in danger the alliance between the Haes and the royal house, and sacrificing Soo had been the easiest way to secure that alliance.
She had only felt marginally relieved when she learned it was the 4th Prince that Soo would be marrying instead. Sure, she knew of his reputation, but at least Soo would be a first wife, and would remain in Songak for the time being.
"Unnie! Lady Oh!" Soo said happily, wrapping her petite arms around her first and then squeezing a bewildered Lady Oh. "I have so much to tell you!"
"Let's go inside then."
-000-
For years to come, the unconventional ways of the Fourth Prince and his wife were object of Palace gossip.
Lady Soo often wore her hair down, even as a married woman, when in the company of her closest friends, claiming her husband liked it better that way.
They were often seen holding hands, and enjoyed walking through the market without escorts or servants.
Lady Soo insisted on accompanying the prince whenever he was called back to the northern territories or to Shinju to deal with the Kangs.
Gossip among the servants claimed that they even shared a room and a bed like commoners did.
And seeing the Wolf-dog, the deadliest fighter in all of Goryeo, being so openly affectionate with his wife was nothing short of shocking.
Times were peaceful.
King Taejo had died less than a year after So and Soo had married but, backed up by Grand General Park's and So's armies, Crown Prince Mu had ascended to the throne without much opposition.
King Hyejong became a wise and compassionate ruler that saw his people through a draught and steered them back to prosperity afterward. So quickly became his right-hand and sometimes regent, much to the displeasure of Queen Yoo, who hated whenever her middle son did well.
But So didn't care. He had his wife, and his daughter; and the friendship of most of his brothers.
"What is it?" Soo asked her husband one afternoon as they walked around the lake with their daughter, when he had laughed to himself out of the blue.
So smiled and lifted Princess Wang Seol unto his shoulders, causing the three year old to squeal with delight. "I was just thinking of the day we met. I've never understood why you were never afraid of me. I didn't have the best reputation."
"You still don't." Soo laughed. "But I didn't mind, and I still don't. I always knew we would be okay."
"Really?"
Soo nodded, deciding this was as good as time as any to tell him, "Before I came to live with Unnie, I almost drowned." Soo explained. "When I was sinking and about to give up, I saw your face in my mind. And I knew I couldn't give up, because I had to go home. To you."
So smiled tenderly, caressing her cheek. "The moment I saw you, I thought you were my home."
Soo stood on her tiptoes to kiss him lightly, ignoring their daughter's giggling. Before So could deepen the kiss and turn it into something more, they were interrupted by Astronomer Ji Mong.
"Your highness, Lady Soo." The older man said, worry and shock clear on his face.
"What is it?" So asked impatiently, sensing something was about to radically change.
"There was an accident…His majesty is dying; and he calls you to his side."
-000-
A/N: Thanks so much if you have made it this far!
I hope I didn't make people too OoC. Sorry for any typos, misspellings or cultural/historical things I got wrong.
Leave a comments always welcome.
Luv,
Clavie/Otterpuff/Lexiegirlstuff
(I seem to have many names).