Dark Embrace [Hoseok FF] [SOF Prequel 0.2] ✔

Chapter 13

(READ AFTER SOF CHAPTER 31 AND 32)

Even though Hoseok had departed with his personal squadron, his letters started to be delivered at a fixed time to Aaya.

It was either Hoon Chul or Ha-Ru, Hoseok's most trusted men who brought her the letter in the evening and right before she retired to bed.

Aaya was still trying to settle in and didn't know who to trust, so even in the face of the both men being extremely polite and cheerful, she did not interact. She would turn around when they came with the missive, let them talk, inquire about her day.

For six days without fail, both Hoon Chul and Ha-Ru came to visit her with a cheerful voice, brushing aside her cold welcome. They chatted with her, asking if there was anything they could help her with, trying to lure her for a tour of the large manor with several buildings and houses that consisted of Hoseok's home where she resided in.

When Aaya would not respond, they would place the rolled up letter on the table and depart.

Once she had been sure of their departure, Aaya would then creep forward to snatch away the letter and run inside her inner sanctum to read.

I saw you when you stepped up to that boulder by the clearing. To me, you appeared like a ghost. But when you refused to go, everytime that I tried to harm you, When you kept asking me my name in that honeyed voice of yours, not afraid of me, even though I appeared that way. The way you kept trying to take care of me, I started falling in love with you then. When I finally told you my name, it wasn't because I felt guilty for hurting you. It was because you are the only one in this life who truly wanted to know my name. When I agreed to go to that hut with you, it was because by that time, I knew, I didn't need to know your appearance to know that you were going to be important to me. Strong, fearless, yet delicate and kind. No one such as you exists. That was when I thought, the only one who does, should be mine.

You were sent to me, you had to have been, when I had made peace with death. Fear, jealousy, hatred, corruption, respect is all that I have ever experienced from people around me. As my reputation grew, so did the distance between me and the society. No one wanted to know me, the real me. The me that perhaps I did not know, as that realization of self had not appeared.

You questioned me, laughed with me, cared for me. Loved me, despite knowing who I was.

Is it truly strange that I fell in love with you?

Her General did not know how to write romantic letters. Nor did he know the etiquette of writing one. He never addressed the letters, nor did he ever sign them off. His letters had always been straightforward, direct. He wrote what he felt, he wrote, what he wanted to say out loud, but couldn't.

His letters were poetically poor.

His letters, were precious to her.

The nights were the worse for me. During the day, my senses would only be filled with you. The way the smallest thing pleased you, if something upset you, the way your voice would change. The way you knew what I could do but were gentle. I followed you the day you found the bodies. I expected fear, revulsion or hatred. What I never imagined was the pure goddess venturing in the carnage of rotting bodies to see why I killed, or who they were. Your senses were troubled, yet you wanted to know the truth about me. Then you came back and gave me a sword.

Did you know what I did the night after I buried the bodies? I followed you home. I asked the guards to look after Tang and I followed you. In your household, I waited until sleep claimed the light of the lanterns and darkness ruled, but still I could not enter your room. I did not have the courage to. I found myself unworthy. That was the night I decided to change, to be worthy of having your name linked to mine. Every night, I dreamt of a life with you. Every night, I yearned to have you. Even if you asked me to never touch you, even if you remained veiled, I still wanted you.