Dan’s whole body felt sore. She thought she was lucky because they didn’t ask her too many questions and that she didn’t need to do anything right away. The clothes they gave her were a bit baggy, but it was okay. 

Dan looked around the room with curious eyes. In the corner, she saw a very old looking bookshelf. 

‘Is this the room of the person who used to work here before?’

It seemed like a very good room for a mere servant. It took her a moment to look around with the light from the lantern that spread throughout the room.

“Hmm… I’m too tired.”

Perhaps it was because she finally released the tension she had felt since earlier, she let out a long yawn and tears ran through the corner of her eyes. Dan unfolded the quilt by the old man and curled up on it. The soft duvet was very fragrant to the extent that she felt sad that she had to lie down on it. After sleeping in the cold and uncomfortable barracks throughout their trip, she felt happy as if she had climbed on the clouds as she laid down on the soft blankets with clean clothes.

While stroking the soft blanket, Dan suddenly remembered the bamboo barrel in her arms. It was the only thing left to her by her unknown mother. While traveling a long distance, it was something that she had not separated from her arms. Dan pulled out the bamboo barrel and looked at it. The bamboo barrel had a small mark with an unknown meaning in the middle of its lid. The moonlight flowed down over the old traces, giving it a soft glow. When she opened the lid, there was an old piece of paper inside. Nothing was written on it, it was just yellowed paper. The only thing that the paper had was an indescribable pattern engraved on its corners. The pattern was different from the one on the bamboo barrel’s lid so it seemed that the barrel and the paper were different.

‘For what reason did my mother leave me this?’

It was a thought that came to her mind every time she saw it but it was a question that would never be answered. Her memories from when she was three years old had long since disappeared from her head. 

Dan asked quietly, holding the barrel in her arms again, “Mom, will I have a good time here?”

There was no one to answer her back, but as she imagined it, she remembered a voice saying, “Well, yes.” Using that voice as a lullaby, she finally lowered her heavy eyelids. 

‘Let’s worry about it tomorrow. There is nothing that can be solved by worrying ahead of time.’

Dan soon took a deep breath and fell into a deep sleep.

➽───────────────❥

A small shadow flickered on the wall enveloped in deep darkness. Gyul, politely knelt down.

“Finally, you have come to my side,” Lee Seon said with a satisfied face. As soon as he heard that Gyeol had come to Hanyang, he had prepared to meet him without delay. “I know that you have suffered a lot.”

“I greet His Highness.”

“You have been wandering for far too long.”

“It’s just that I inherited my family’s ill reputation. How can I return back to you?”

Lee Seon’s eyes clouded with that determined answer. Before becoming the crown prince, he had no choice but to watch the decline of the Seo Clan and be branded as traitors. 

The Seo Clan was an uninhabited family that had protected Joseon from generation to generation so the fact that Seo Hyeon-deok (clan head) plotted a rebellion made the whole country shake up. However, Seo Hyeon-deok had vehemently denied this but was silenced by a letter found in his room. It was a letter that was supposedly to be sent to his aides, asking them to cause rebellion with the enlisted unit that he had raised. The handwriting and the seal was undoubtedly his. The situation became even worse because he was actually preparing soldiers to reinforce the insufficient military power in the border area. Plus the false testimonies of the bribed privates, in the end, Hyeon-deok was immediately sentenced to death.

But what kind of fate was this? Five days after Hyeon-deok’s death, it was revealed that he had been falsely accused of his crimes. A man had appeared who said that the letter had been forged. After appearing out of the blue, imitating Hyeon-deok’s handwriting and confessing to all of his sins, he ended up taking his own life. Hyeon-deok, who usually helped countless poor people in need with his kind demeanor had weighed down his conscience and he felt remorse. The bribed private soldiers who gave false testimonies also confessed and committed suicide two days later. However in the end, the person who had instigated everything was not revealed and the court could not do anything. Moreover, horribly, within a few days after Hyeon-deok was framed, his family also met a mysterious death. Although he was no longer framed, the world had already abandoned the Seo Clan. In the end, Gyeol had no choice but to leave to the outskirts with his uncle, who was a military commander in Pyeongan-do.

Lee Seon, who believed Hyeon-deok’s innocence from beginning to end, always had a heavy heart because his martial arts teacher had died and his young son had no power while he lived in the outskirts. He knew the man was innocent but he couldn’t save him. He was just a powerless crown prince and he could not deal with the court officials. So, after taking the throne, Lee Seon immediately decided to call back Gyeol to Hanyang. And after waiting, his plan had finally been realized.

“Now, I will keep you by my side.”

“...”

“The situation isn’t good yet, so the position of a judge at the training center would be best. But to honor you, I will raise your rank of General to the rank of General Commander.”

Despite the King’s promise to elevate his dignity, Gyeol didn’t answer and just stared at the floor. His eyes were darker than before. For him, Hanyang was a place he would only return to once a year, for the ancestral rites of his father and their family. If it wasn't for their name, he would probably have only wandered around the borders until he died. The feeling of being tied up here again after losing all of his family was indescribable. How could he define the boiling feeling in one word? Mourning? Resentment? Or revenge? It was so deep, hard and sad that no words could define it. Like an endless thirst that could never be quenched. Like a wounded and weary beast waiting to reveal its fangs in the dark. So, how could he manage this with class or something like that? Even if he overthrew the whole country, it wouldn’t go away.

“Please forget all about the past and work hard here for me.”

Gyeol exhaled without shaking so that even a small breath did not show his emotions. Then he hid everything deeply on his face, “Yes, Your Highness.”

Only he knew what he was hiding.