I couldn't find anybody after a while after I checked in on my mother who had fallen asleep with tears running down her face. I needed to talk to my uncle and father, but they were nowhere to be found no matter how hard I looked. That was until I came across that mad woman who looked as if her whole world had crumbled down around her. "No, no this cannot be. Not him, not after all these years…." "Hey! Who are you? Who do you think you are to insult my mother the way that you did! She did everything for you, and you…" "ENOUGH! I don't want to hear her name ever again!" The concubine looked as if she was about to have a nervous breakdown, and it really took me all of my restraint to just leave the woman alone and walk away. That was until she suddenly rushed past me out of nowhere and headed straight for my home, where only my mother was. I tried to stop her, but honestly, the look on her face made me shrink a few inches out of fright. But I still couldn't just let her go and attack my mother, I had to be there to protect her.
"YEON!" "Hui-Jee? What are you…?" Before she could even finish that sentence, the concubine had already slapped my mother clean across the face with such force that my mother would have toppled to the ground and seriously hurt herself if I hadn't caught her in time. My anger was going into overdrive, but no matter how much I screamed and shouted, my voice was not being heard at all as the woman battled out what seemed like years of hatred and resentment.
"Did you know? For all these years, did you know?" "Hwan! Quickly leave and stay with your siblings!" "Why? Are you ashamed of what I am going to say? The truth? After so many years? Are you really afraid of your children hearing the truth about their parents? You hypocrite!" "Mother? What exactly is going on?" "Hwan, I told you to leave! Now!" "Mother!" "Yeon! Look at me and tell me the truth. It isn't true, is it? What your husband told me?" "And what exactly did he tell you? What are you doing here?" "You knew who my husband's lover was this whole time, didn't you? Because you were the one who encouraged it all in the first place." "Hwan! Leave! Now! Or I swear that you will never see my face again!"
My mother had been a strong woman for her entire life; I had never even witnessed her crying at all. But the look on my mother's face told me that something was wrong and that I needed to stay close to her in case something happened to her.
"Did you come here just for this? To stir up the past after all of this time? Why? Are you not living the lavish life that you have always wanted in the palace? Did you not abandon your family for that? So why are you back here after all this time?" "Because you are all living your lives as if I didn't exist at all! Do you have any idea how miserable I was! Did you even care!" "Did I care about the misery you went through? After you stole my life with the only man I have ever loved? After you fed into my insecurities to keep away from him? You took all the credit for everything I had done for him that almost cost me my life over and over again, and even when my brother finally gave you the chance that you wanted, you were the one who messed it all up! And you are willing to destroy this village because no one thinks about you at all? Have you lost your mind!" "Don't act so innocent! You know exactly why I went into the arms of The Third Prince! You must know, since your husband was the one who organised it all!" "What are you talking about?" "Do not act like you have no idea what happened! It was your husband who set me up with The Prince in the first place! He was the one who started all of the rumours that made your brother not trust me! And do you all think that I am treated with respect after being an ex-kisaeng and mistress? A woman who apparently abandoned her loved ones for fame and glory? Do you really not realise how ever member of The Royal Family make my life hell with this fact each and every single day? I am treated worse than a whore in the brothel that I grew up in!"
"You tried to escape your fate if you weren't married on time, and that is why took me from my woman and pretended to be the one who helped me in my most darkest times. And you knew how desperate I was and you manipulated me into betraying my best friend once again. Then you left me as soon as you find him again. But you just couldn't be what he needed and as usual, you only thought about yourself and you started to wear him down when he didn't provide you with the life that you have always wanted. I won't deny that I was the one whom started the rumours and I did set you up with The Third Prince so you would stop making Hwi's life so miserable. But I would have never even thought of that if you yourself did not actually meet up with The Prince a few times in the city in plain sight for everyone to see. So you see, it does not matter what my part in your life was. It was your greed, you're selfish ambitions and you're ungratefulness that kept you away from the man that you proclaim to love. All did was to expose it to Hwi…" "…so you can have him to yourself, isn't that right? You did the same thing to everyone that Yeon met in her life, you turned her against anybody that she came into contact with that wasn't you. And you did the same thing to your best friend…
I was completely shocked into silence as I hid myself near the door to hear everything that was going on, to the point where my knees could no longer support me and I collapsed onto the floor entirely. It wasn't true, was it? Everyone knew about my fathers obsession with my mother, although no one said anything at all about it since she alway brought out the best in him. But my father…and my uncle…was it really true? It couldn't be, could it? I couldn't even think properly; I was in far too much shock to continue listening to their shouting match. I think I was probably out of it for a while when my uncle also stormed pass me with such a face on him that I didn't dare utter a single thing to him at all. The night was getting colder and my limbs were starting to freeze, but the only woman who would care about me enough to bring me home and tend to me was now suck in a war between her husband, her brother and her ex-sister-in-law.
But why? Why would my father do such a thing? Why did he have to interfere in my uncle's life so much? Why did he separate my cousins from their mother? And why was he so obsessed with my mother and her brother? And who was this so-called lover that my uncle had that had ruined my so-called potential aunt?
If anyone knew the answers to these questions, then it was surely my older twin siblings since they were almost a decade older than me. They surely knew things about my parents that neither I nor my younger sisters knew, and I knew that I wasn't going to get any answers from my elders.
I was greeted by my twin sisters who had fallen asleep on my shoulder as soon as I had picked them up. Bo-Geom was the one who fed them, but I refused to let her enter my home since all the adults were surely arguing there, so I helped her make some beds for them before turning to my siblings. "What is the matter Hwan? Why do you look so pale?" Hana always looked after me and cared for me, even if she didn't have to. So I had no problem with laying my head onto her lap just like I did with my mother whist my older brother and my cousins were outside discussing plans about the village. "Sister?" "Yes brother?" "Why is our father the way he is? Not just with our mother, but her brother as well?" She looked at me thoughtfully whilst she began to stroke my hair like she would used to when we slept. Hyuk had always been a deep sleeper, so he had no issues with falling asleep, unlike myself who could barely sleep at all, especially if I was alone. It was always Hana who stayed up with me and told me these fantastic stories until I could finally sleep.
"What is it? Why are you taking so long to answer me?" "To be honest, I thought that you would ask me this sooner. Why are you asking me tonight?" "I have to know right now, that is why." My big sister then held my hands in hers as she began to tell me all about the incident that tore my mother's family from my father for a while and the mistakes he made that changed them all. And when I had heard about what my mother had done for my father without his knowledge, then all of it began making sense, most especially his generosity when it came to his wealth. Even most noble wives were never trusted with their husband' entire fortune and yet my mother controlled it all. And that was why there were so many projects and charities set up in my families' name; even us siblings all had a charity set up in our name and we were responsible for each and every one. Unfortunately, I had been rather less active with my duties, and now I was starting to feel ashamed of myself. It was my mother's hard work that helped my father so much that I was wasting, and I was determined to resolve that. But I still had some doubts…
"Sister? Are you absolutely sure that father has never harmed mother?" "Little brother, I swear on yourself that mother hasn't gotten a single bruise, scratch or mark from our father. All he does is makes threats when he cannot control his temper. What you have seen on our mother's body happened to her a long time ago, even before father knew about it." "Are you sure?" "She's right Hwan, I even asked our mother this morning myself. I trust her, although I understand why you still have doubts like I do." "Did you know about this brother? Everything that happened to our parents and our uncle in their youths?" "Father personally told us himself and our uncle confirmed it. And look at how are parents are with each other; they are like school children in love in their old ages. Even though our mother likes to act youthful, she isn't stupid and she will never stay with an abusive husband, no matter how much she loves him. She's done it before and she can do it again. And speaking of our parents, where are they anyways?" "They were all arguing with Hana's mother-in-law back at our home, even our uncle Hwi was there." "Are you out of your mind! And you just tell us now!" "Mother kept pushing me out, she will not let any of you stay there either!" "You damned buffoon! Watch how I deal with you when I come back!" "Hyuk! Wait!" "Hwan, you stay here with the children and don't you dare leave them alone, no matter what happens!" "Don't even think about it wife! You stay there with Hwan!" "Are you out of your mind, husband! My mother needs me now more than ever! Husband!"
Once again, I seemed to have messed up without even meaning to, and yet only my sister pitied me enough to pull me into her embrace and kiss me on the forehead before she ran off with her husband to save our parents. And it would be the biggest regret of my entire life as not even a few minutes later, the entire village woke up to blood-curdling screams in the middle of the night in my parents home. I couldn't just leave my sisters so I asked Bo-Geom to watch over them, but before I could even make it to the door, I had my older sister reach out to me with her face full of tears and her mouth twisted in horror. She was beginning to scare me, but she had already wrapped herself around me and tried to stop me. I almost did her harm, trying to free myself. But when Hyuk stumbled out of the door, I could already see my parents and uncle's dead corpses on the floor with my so-called aunt being held by her own sons who were also in tears. My parents and uncle were dead with a spear piercing all three of them through the chest, and it was all my fault.