A\N: Greetings, and apologies for the late update. No, this story hasn't been abandoned. Sorry everyone, I had half of the chapter written when I fell ill, and the aggressive winter hasn't been helpful on my recovery. However, I finally manage to finish, and it's here, it's ready, it's longer than I expected it to be. In fact, it got so I big that I had to split it. Which means that you'll have a double update tonight!
Enjoy your reading! :)
She doesn't see him for a while.
She wanders around the gardens, trying to clean her lungs after spending too much time in the shadows of the palace. She stops by the gazebo near the lake every time she can, hoping to catch him there once again, but her attempts are fruitless.
She hopes to see him, and walks around every place he might be, except the throne room. She's desperate, but not eager for another spar or heartbreaking conversation before the public's eyes.
She stops by her praying towers more often than ever. She piles stone after stone, but this time she does not come up with any words to say. The only thing that exists at the moment is her silence and her hopes that the heavens can somehow see her heart and listen to her quiet desperate wishes.
She wishes he could forgive her for being like this.
She wishes she could forgive herself for being like this.
She wishes they were in a different place, a different time. A different situation and a different background. A different future that didn't weigh on her as the grasp of death over her grew stronger.
She wishes things were simpler and he wasn't forced to do things that made him become crueler and colder.
She wishes that, if she cannot have a different present, then maybe their lives can be eased a little bit. Maybe they could have trustful people around them. Maybe his own family wouldn't throw him away over and over again.
She wishes, and then she feels miserable that that's the only thing she can do.
Some days are colder and lonelier than the others, and on these days Hae Soo also regrets.
As she walks closer to the hallways of the palace, seeking for cover from the aggressive wind, she feels the dread spreading over her body, her grief starting to pull her down, her loneliness accentuated in the echo of the empty spaces that once were so filled up with laughter.
She decides to take the long way back to her room, where she is certain the shadows will be darker. But she regrets coming to that part of the palace the second she hears someone calling to her.
"I heard a rumor that you'll be leaving us soon." The queen is smiling like usual, but this time she actually sounds happy. As if just the idea of the place without Hae Soo's presence was everything she could ever ask for.
"Who told you that?" Soo tries not to sound intimidated, not to look too small next to the woman dressed in bright colors, expensive jewelry and complex hairstyle.
"I don't think it matters. Does it?" The other woman tilts her head a little, letting the answer hang in the air.
It couldn't have been him! He said he wouldn't let go of me, he said he'd fight for us as well!
Maybe he got tired, the weakest side of her was convinced he's finally got enough.
She's just trying to get to you, the wisest, strongest - smallest - side of her refused to cry. You know him. You know he won't send you away like this.
(So she feels worse just for doubting him in the first place.)
Soo takes a deep breath and tries to focus on her distaste for the woman next to her so she won't start crying once again.
"I don't enjoy fake pleasantries, Hwanghu. I'm sure you know that by now. So tell me, what do you want?"
"Want?" Daemok laughs, but Soo notices that her smile is as empty as always, "I'm the queen of Goryeo! Is there anything I don't have yet?"
"Then, please, don't let me bother you any longer," Hae Soo says, trying to contain her hostility and get rid of her at the same time, "Please return to your empty quarters and keep feeding on your wrong rumors, as you just confirmed I'm not leaving." She feels satisfied to watch the queen's smile leave her face, even though she's not half as confident as she sounds.
Yeon Hwa's eyes flash with hatred, and Hae Soo's feels relieved. She prefers that people show their true colors while talking to her, rather than the sweet subtle stabs that were so common in the palace.
"It's amazing what the king's favor does to a person." The woman's voice is filled with despite and arrogance, so Soo cannot hold her retort.
"Or lack, thereof." Her statement makes the queen narrow her eyes on her.
"Still haven't learned your place…" Daemok reprimands as she walks closer to her, in a threatening manner, "Look around, Hae Soo. Your feeble love is already withering. It's just a matter time until one of you let go first. Gripping to a driftwood in the middle of a sea storm takes a lot of courage and strength, but in the end it's pointless, and changes nothing."
Had it been before, Go Hajin would have been able to handle it. Had their circumstances being different, even if she had fought with her king, she would have been able to get back to the woman in front of her. But now, with a weak heart, a weak state of mind, and the memory of his eyes when they last talked, Hae Soo can't.
She can only stop the tears from falling, and that seems to put the queen in a good mood once again.
"No smart retorts this time?" she laughs, using her own words as daggers, "You should have accepted my generosity back then. You'll leave the palace soon, in shame and humiliation, and I'll be watching you from the top of the walls."
.
.
- - -『◆』- - -
.
.
She cannot pretend the queen's words don't affect her.
After the nasty woman leaves her, glad for bringing someone else down again, Hae Soo's misery seems to tenfold.
This time, however, she cannot blame the queen for anything except for telling the truth. That was her reality, and she could not run away from it.
(Not that she was trying to.)
Anyway, the queen's words hurt because they were true. And apparently the other woman also knew that they would hurt more than any of the previous statements and remarks she had ever bothered to direct to Hae Soo.
She feels worse after realizing that that was the first time she could not forget Yeon Hwa's words, and keeps repeating them over and over again in her head.
(Your feeble love is already withering. It's just a matter of time until one of you let go.)
"It's not!" She screams at nothing. She yells at no one. Now that she's alone, it's safe to deny the undeniable and to let the tears pour out of her eyes. "It's not…", she whispers weakly, holding onto one of the pillars so she doesn't fall down to her knees.
Their love is not withering, she's sure of it. It's already dead.
It's already dead, and all that's left are the weak embers of what was once a bonfire, that always give the false hope that it can be lit and burn again, but only gets colder and colder, until the ashes are all that remain.
Their love is already dead, and she was the one to pull the flames out.
(The queen is right. Her decision to stay is a futile one, and it will change nothing.)
She adds one more saddening issue to her counting. One more regret to her pile of stones. One more restless and lonely night to her expectations. One less reason to believe.
.
.
- - -『◆』- - -
.
.
(She erases the queen's words. She forgets them. She's already got her hands full, she doesn't need more reasons to feel cold and alone and empty).
When the night falls and her feet are tired from pointless walks, she goes to her small room and remembers when she believed her life in there would be easy. When she vowed to be by his side and help him to be seen as the wise and brave man she knew he was.
Was I that naïve?
Ever since her decision to stay she has tried a different way to see things. Instead of replaying bad memories in her mind, she forces her mind to recall the good ones as well. She grasps every single one of them as if they were her lifetime - which they were somehow - and prevents the bad ones from coming.
(One's regrets, however, cannot be kept away for too long. Hae Soo knows that. Hae Soo knows that if she continues to build a wall of concrete to keep the bad things away, instead of dealing with them properly, the dam will eventually crack, succumbing to the strength of the water, and she will be dragged away, until she drowns in her own misery.)
She focuses on the good memories, knowing that sitting alone while doing so isn't the best way to overcome all the things that keep pushing them apart, but with no other resource at hand.
Even her own dinner, that starts to cool down in front of her, makes her remember the last time they had it - with both of them upset with each other, him leaving before he even ate half of his rice bowl, and her losing her strength to hold on to him.
Soo pushes this memory aside and remembers other times they shared a meal. The first time they had a pacific conversation when she carried his dinner up a mountain. The quiet day they spent on Baek Ah's property and she had to feed him because his arm was not good enough yet. His first days as king, when they would sit around a table with Baek Ah and be the closest thing to a family.
She wishes she had valued those moments more. Mundane occasions when he would come to have dinner just to spend time with her.
Maybe if I wish hard enough, he'll walk through this door.
She's reprimanding herself for having such thoughts and clinging to false hopes, when the door opens and he does walk through it.
"I'm sorry I've been missing," he says hurriedly as he sits in front of her at the dinner table, "The ministers wouldn't let me go until we finished an important treaty."
She takes a moment to register his presence. Then another moment to register his words. Then another one just to comprehend the entire situation as a whole, to grasp why he's sitting in front of her as if that was the most ordinary thing in the world right now.
"You haven't avoided me?" She assumes that's what he means when he apologizes for his absence in the past few days. He's been busy, and that reason is so commonplace right now that she thinks he might have forgotten their last conversation.
"Why would I do that?" He sounds a little bit hurt as he furrows his brow.
Because I'm a horrible person who keeps hurting you.
She shakes her head and pinches herself a little bit to make sure that this is real, this is happening, and she did not go through another time travel back to the days she longed so much.
However, she continues confused and shocked, not yet used to the view of him sitting peacefully with her after such a long period of distance and conflicts.
"Why are you here?" It's all she can think to say, and that seems to amuse him, based on the way his face lights up.
"Is it okay if I join you for dinner?"
Yes, he's definitely amused. That does not seem to put her at ease though.
"I thought you were busy."
"I am," he shrugs slowly and she wonders when was the last time she saw him so relaxed, "but I still think I should do this."
His request sinks slowly into her mind, her senses still wearing the surprise off. She's a little unbalanced, and when she finally assimilates all the things that happened in less than two minutes she starts panicking.
No, not right now. Not yet. Not when I'm still so full of negativity. Not when just a small talk can escalate to another fight. I can't face him while I'm like this. I'm not ready, I'm not ready, I'm not ready.
"Pyeha, you don't have to." He opens his mouth ready to protest, but she's quick to stop him, "No, please. It's not wise."
"It is not wise. But it is what I want to do." His eyes twinkle a little and her conviction fades away a little.
"Pyeha…"
"You can either allow me to join you, or I can order you to do so." He says in a definitive tone, but that does not stop her from coming up with other excuses to be left alone for the present.
"I don't have a spare set of dishes..."
At this moment the doors of her bedroom open once again and a court lady walks in with a tray on her hands.
"Pyeha," she says as she bows, "The set of dishes you asked for."
"Right." He smiles and tells her to come closer.
The woman moves quickly and silently, but Hae Soo just keeps staring him all the while she places the utensils carefully on her table, and then gathers her tray and leaves.
"You look troubled." He breaks her stupor, his plate and flatware still untouched beside his hands, "Did someone come to tell you something?"
"What?" His question surprises her once again.
"Was it the queen? One of the ministers? You can tell me."
He sounds urgent and genuinely worried. She cannot, however, for the sake of her own life, bring herself to tell him.
"No, that's not it," she mumbles while fumbling with her hands.
"Then what is bothering you?"
His voice is sweet and caring and it overwhelms her with attention and support. But she can't handle it, she can't feel comfortable having this kind of conversation with him.
I don't want you to see this weak side of me, who keeps wanting to give up on us.
"Why are you doing this?" she sighs and blinks hard to hold back the tears that are threatening to fall.
He looks down at her hands, that are shaking and fidgety and leaving her uncertainties and worries evident to the whole world.
"I told you I would not let you fight alone. I gave you time for yourself, but since we came to the conclusion that this kind of method is not working, I decided to come up with a new one."
"You can't do this," she mumbles weakly, even though she puts a reproving tone in her words.
"I'm king," he raises an eyebrow and smiles amused once again, "That should mean I can do whatever I want, correct?"
"Pyeha…"
He moves around the table and gets close enough to her to squeeze her hand and then letting it go before things got awkward for her once again.
"We used to talk all time back then, didn't we?" His gaze is lost in the memories of the past, "Sometimes we'd talk through the whole night, and we only realized it when the sky started to clear."
"Pyeha…"
She feels her conviction and resistance begin to fade with his words
"I really enjoyed all of those talks, Soo-yah. And I miss them. I'm sorry for stopping them and shutting you out. I don't want us to be strangers, I don't want us to fight our ghosts alone, pretending that we're strong to resolve all of this on our own. I want us to trust each other, like we did in the past." he turns his eyes to her then, and they seem to drink her in, "Let's talk about things again, important things, trivial things, things that bother you, things that make you smile, things that you wish you could tell me, but you're afraid of how I'll react. Open yourself up to me, and I'll open up for you."
She can't say a thing, just stare him in a mist of shock and wonder, so he presses on.
"Besides, we do need some ally while living in a place like this, am I right?"
She looks down. Not because she's afraid, or angry, or sad. Actually, she's so happy and filled with hope - so much more than when she decided to stay at the palace - that she feels she's about to explode from it. She's so happy that she needs a moment to get used to happiness once again.
"So now I'm also your ally?" This time she's the one amused, her eyes locking firmly into his.
His smile is the biggest then, and it eases some of the pain she's been through.
"You're my biggest ally, Soo-yah. You have been since the beginning."
.
.
- - -『◆』- - -
.
.
He tries his best to come visit her, but their meetings aren't as frequent as she hoped for.
His absence, however, doesn't hurt her as much as it used to.
When the queen's last words to her start to weigh her down, all she has to do is play their dinner in her mind, how he smiled at her after asking her to share her burdens to him, and she can find some sort of comfort in that place.
(It's not dead. If you add fuel, the fire is not over.)
She starts a new prayer tower, this one for herself, and hopes it's not too late for her to go back to her previous self, instead of this new Hae Soo, who distrusts everyone, who shuts everyone out.
She also builds another one for him, hoping she didn't hurt him to the point of severing permanently their bond, even though he's the one reaching out for her this time.
The ties around them are yet too thin, and she uses all her resources to strengthen them. To start the foundations so they can rebuild their relationship, the right way.
This time they are under the shadows of an old tree, she's sitting on one of the huge roots, and he's crouched down in front of her. Her knees had started hurting a while ago, but she didn't want to go back yet. So they remain resting for a while under the shadow in the pleasant weather.
"Are you sure you're alright?" he's not happy with her decision, and would much rather carry her back to her room where they could spend the rest of their day free day, "It's a little windy today, you might get worse."
Her sickness is just a temporary one to his eyes, as she had had no courage to tell him yet everything about her condition. One more thing to feel guilty about.
"I'm fine, Pyeha." She forces her smile to look peaceful and her voice to be calm. But he's too close and too attentive, and it's not easy to deceive him.
"Stop saying you're fine," he reprimands her, "Allow yourself to not be good from time to time."
She sighs and looks away. He's right, she's not well. And it's not only her frail heart that worries her.
"I'm not fine, Pyeha," she resigns, "But the wind does not harm me."
He has asked her to share her burdens with him, but up until now she's been quiet, relying more on his presence by her side than on his support and promise to help her to solve her problems. And he can't hide that her silence bothers him.
"Had it been before, would you tell me?" his voice is small and a bit sad.
"Had it been before, we wouldn't be this distant." she smiles, but they both know that this one is a mournful one.
"I'm deeply sorry." his proud head falls, but she's quick to touch his shoulder and reassure him.
"It's not your fault. Really," she tightens her hold for a second, trying her best to convey her feelings to him, "I'm truly grateful for what you've been doing for me."
"But do you think you'll ever trust me again?"
"I trust you." At his expression of disbelief, she puts more conviction in her words, hoping that there are no longer misunderstandings between them, "I'm serious, I trust you. With my life. You're also my biggest ally. I actually don't trust myself."
"You think this is a mistake."
"No, I don't."
"Then tell me." He looks at her, eyes full of urgency and hurt, as his plea falls from his mouth.
"It's hard." she brings her hand back to herself, fidgeting her fingers once more.
"Why so?"
"All this mess shouldn't be out. It's like... I'm too messed up! You shouldn't see me like this! I'm so lost in this that I'm afraid you'll run away if you find out too much… I…" she fights to come up with better words, to clarify the way she feels inside, the fear and despair she's constantly facing, but fails, "I don't expect you to understand..."
"I do."
"You do?" she looks at him and see that his eyes are soft.
"That's what falling in love with you felt like."
She thinks of that she made him go through the years, and despite feeling relieved for him being able to understand her mess of words, she also feels guilty for being so difficult in the beginning.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't. If anything, I should be the one apologizing." At her confusion he sighs before elaborating, "I'm sorry for Chae Rung."
"I know." She looks away from him, and he looks away from her. She would wish for them not to talk about such matters, afraid that it would push him away, but he was irreducible about talking this over.
"I wish there was another way."
"Me too."
"Do you still blame me?"
"No, I don't," she speaks truthfully, "I couldn't have. It's not your fault that she decided to do what she did."
"But?"
"But I wish you hadn't done what you did."
He takes a deep breath, and straightens his posture, bracing himself for the conversation that was about to happen. She just looks at him, waiting for the words he's been thinking, but that never really came out of his mouth.
"Chae Rung was a traitor."
"She was my little sister," she shakes her head vigorously, tears already pooling in her eyes, "She didn't deserve to die like that."
"What about me?"
"You didn't deserve to be tied to a seat like that." she blinks hard and hopes that the tears would just go away, "It's because of it, isn't it? The throne. I know you, and you're not like this."
"I'm a fair person, and I believe the guilty ones should be punished." his eyes are ruthless, and she fears he's going to raise his voice before he melts down once again, "Soo-yah, she was a criminal."
"She was my friend! And we could have saved her! Baek Ah told me you were suspicious of her, that it was because of it that you were trying to send her away." Her tears fall then, and she no longer tries to keep them inside. "Why didn't you tell me? Why did it have to be so cruel? Was it really necessary to be in front of the rest of the court ladies?"
"It was. It is the law." His definitive tone only stirs a hidden anger that's been subsided ever since she first faced the social system of Goryo.
"The law was supposed to protect the people."
"Innocent people." He cuts her emotional argument with an anger of his own, "Chae Rung killed my brother, prevented Eun-ah and his wife from escaping, how can you defend her?"
"Because of the ninth prince. He manipulated her, and you know that. He didn't even bat an eye after she passed away, and her death is his fault, Hyejong's poisoning is his fault, the ambush on the tenth prince is his fault, but he's still walking around freely and acting like nothing bad will come to him." She remembers his indifference after she confronted him, and her anger boils enough to stop her crying, "Why the law does not apply to him? Because he's a royal?"
"Yes."
"So you'll do nothing..."
"That's not what I said."
She was about to raise her voice, to start another pointless argument. His sudden statement, uttered in such a decisive and resolute voice.
"What?"
"He's not the only one. Won manipulated Chae Rung, but there was someone above him giving orders." His eyes turn colder, and she sees how much he also dislikes the machinations of his brother, "I know who he is, but I need proof to convict him. And if I do something to Won now, he'll manage to escape."
Had it been any other day, she would have feared his look. Had it been any other day, she would have wondered if he was changing and turning into the bloody tyrant she always feared.
Her main goal after her vision on the rain ritual was to avoid him from ever punishing his brothers. But after all that has happened, she can understand his motives to convict his father's son.
"So you promise all the guilty ones will be punished?" She breathes. The anger and the tears gone.
"Yes. Will that make you feel better?"
"I don't know. But knowing that I did not lose you, and I can still reach you, makes me feel less distant from you."
"Are you still mad at me?"
"I wasn't mad."
"Am I still a source of sorrow to you?" He rephrases his question, "Can you see me with better eyes now?"
"Are you still mad at me for grieving for her?" he furrows his brow as if he found the question odd, "You keep asking me not to defend her."
"Right. And I still mean it." His expression softens, and his voice gets a lot more gentle, "You may still love her and miss her, but please, don't try to pardon her sins. Chae Rung wouldn't have wanted that. I know because I wouldn't want you to pardon mines."
"Pyeha…"
"I, as Chae Rung, have made terrible mistakes in my past. I did those things, but your love won't wash me clear."
"I told you…"
"And no matter how many times you say that you don't really care about my past, I still have to bear the consequences of my mistakes."
"You had no other option to act."
"Neither of us did."
She sighs resigned and nods quietly, his words make her grief less rigorous, untangling the big knot that had been blocking her throat.
"When did you become wise in this matter?" She can help but smile in wonder, and he smiles back.
"Ever since someone told me that the higher you are, the more responsibility you have."
"That's easy to say…"
"Yes. And I should know that better than you."
They sit in silence for a while and his smile fades before he speaks again.
"I'm sorry for how things went. You're right, it was cruel, but that's how this world has always been."
She looks down at her tangled hands resting on her lap, remembering what Oh Sanggung had told her about a person like that living in the palace. She then realizes that whenever she went in the entire country, she would face things like that. Whenever she went, her heart would find it too much to handle.
"How did people even manage to live in a time like this?" she says to herself, not noticing she had started to speak out loud.
"What?"
"No, nothing…" She looks up and tries to come up with a different topic, and then remembers the other issue that they should solve, "I guess I should apologize as well. For your mother."
"You don't need to feel sorry for her at all…."
"I didn't understand you," she explains before further apologizing "I'm sorry, but I couldn't. I still can't. I'm sorry."
The effect on him is almost instantaneous. In the space of one second his posture goes from relaxed to stiff, and his expression goes back to cold eyes and thin lips pressed tight together.
"Could you understand Jung?" His voice barely comes out of his chest, and the hurt in his eyes almost makes her regret bringing up the subject.
"Yes. But it's not like that," she says as steadily as she can, not dropping the matter until it is settled, "It's not that I didn't want to, I did. I still do. I've been trying, but I can't."
"Is that why you chose Jung's side?"
"There were no sides. He's your brother and he just wanted to see his mother."
He chuckles bitterly.
"Unfortunately for him, his mother was also mine," he tries to keep the good mood, but the feeling of betrayal that came to him in the night his mother died still claws on his heart, "I told you already. I was denied her my entire life and just wanted to be by her side before she passed away. You really can't understand it?"
"No, I can't."
He nods to himself silently, looking away from her, before standing up abruptly and turning his back to her.
"Let's go inside. It's getting colder."
She holds his hand before he starts to move, desperate to not let him go away and fortify the wall between them.
"One of my prayer tower is for my mother." she says with her most gentle voice, never letting go of him, "She was my best friend and my protection. You know that, right? Before, I always knew that if the whole world turned its back on me, she would be by my side. If my most trusted friend broke my heart into a thousand pieces, she would be there to pick them up and make it whole again. If I ever went too far and became a monster in the eyes of everyone, she would still love me. She was all of this to me," her tears fall down again, this time for the mother she hasn't cried for in a long time, "So when I lost her, I could only feel alone and defenseless in the world. And I couldn't even say goodbye. She was everything to me, and I didn't get the chance to say goodbye. When I heard of you and your mother relationship, I couldn't understand it. I still can't. I still can't understand why a mother wouldn't love her own child in any way less than unconditionally. After I lost eomonim the only thing that allowed me to move on was the memory of her. I can't understand what is like living without it. I can't understand everything about the way you've been living. I can understand being rejected, and betrayed, like you're the worst person in the world, and the pressure to be something you're not. I can understand the despair of just wanting to live, and I can understand the helplessness of doing something that you regret, or not being able to do anything at all. But living without the love of my mother and having to do what you did, I'm sorry, but I really can't understand." She feels miserable and lost at the same time, just by remembering the lonely boy he used to be, "Do you blame me for this?"
"Is that why you called for Jung?" He asks with his back still turned to her, "So he could say goodbye?"
"Yes. I also didn't want him to have any more grudges with you." She feels his resistance fade somewhat and decides to push a little further, "Will you tell me everything? About your mother?"
"Maybe another day."
She tightens her hold, desperately trying to pull his impassive form closer to her.
"You were the one who said we should talk about things."
"And you were the one who kindly reminded me that there were things we would not be comfortable to discuss."
"Pyeha…"
He turns to her then, and she sees that, despite looking tired and drained, he's not angry nor mad, and absolutely not about to push her away.
"Another day, I promise." At his reassurance she releases his hand, and he crouches down before her once again, "And it's not that I don't want to tell you, I'm just not ready to relive all of it right now. So, can you wait a little bit more?"
"Yes," she says eagerly, allowing relief to wash over her body, "Oh, and I'm sorry for calling Jung behind your back that day. I should have come to you and try harder to talk."
"In your defense, I wasn't being too rational back then."
"But it still wasn't very nice." she refuses to let him refuse her apology, "It pretty much shook up everything between us. Whatever was left, anyway."
"Yes, it actually did."
"Then, do you hate me any less now?"
He raises his eyebrows in astonishment, his eyes a little skeptical.
"You really think that anything in this world can make me hate you to begin with?"
"So you forgive me?"
"I've forgiven you long ago, Soo-yah."
She feels another knot untangling of her heart, and she wonders if they would have to have more conversations like this until all of them were gone.
"It's hard to open up." She doesn't fear to admit that out loud, "Was it like this to you?"
"Yes."
He stands up again and helps her to get onto her feet, their time of freedom coming to an end.
"How did you manage to overcome this? To become strong enough to live in the palace without breaking apart and still being good on the inside?"
"You clearly never had to deal with yourself."
He smiles, amused once again.
"What are you implying, Pyeha?" she narrows her eyes at him.
"I didn't open up for you," he says as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "You broke down the doors and barged in."
Never mind that his words would have made her pout and hit him before. Right now, they bring a huge grin to her lips.
"And I would have done all of it again."
A\N: I spend more time studying grammar rules and looking for translations to Portuguese expressions than actually writing. And yet, I still fear that my fics are full of mistakes. If you find them, tell me.
Next chapter will be edited and posted when I get back home from college!
...
sandufus
Yes, this is me, fluffy flirts in a moment, heartbreaking fights in the next one. Did I mention that I'm a dark and terrible person? Just feel glad that I haven't killed anyone yet! And while, er... physical intimacy is needed (YES IT IS!), it might take some time till they get there. And hey, this time they had a better ending, right?
...
Daoine
Slowly getting to heal their relationship. Yes, Hae Soo has always had a lot on her plate, and the death sentence was a major on everything that came afterwards. Perhaps that's the reason why she told him to marry Yeon Hwa. Hopefully their conversations will bring them back to better terms and she won't be forced to make any other sacrifices... Don't make her pregnant, you say?
...
Vero Diaz
This is the result of many sleepless nights, and a broken heart after too many Scarlet Heart: Ryeo feelings.
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myrka1296g
Sorry for taking too long, but I hope that the chapter is enough to make up for being late. SoSoo's life is still kind of sad, but they're getting better little by little, so maybe your heart won't break as much as in the past chapter. And yes, there is still something missing from SHR: a second season! A glimpse would make me happy. but I'm still grieving the loss of so much potential for a sequel.
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Guest (on chapter 1)
Hae Soo is the one who takes the hardest. Not because she goes through more than everybody else, but because that life is not hers. She lived 25 years in the peaceful Seoul, and then is thrown to the ruthless 10th century. Their cruel lifestyle is common for people of that era, but for Hae Soo everything is a shock. And is not like she ever stopped loving So, it was just hard for her to be by his side. However, their lack of conversation just increases the distance between them, and when she found herself pregnant and about to die from stress, she has no other choice.
Their fall down wasn't anyone's fault, it was just the inevitable ending to a tragedy they never asked to be a part of.
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Rito Dey
Don't worry, they're on the way. :)