Body & Soul 🇰🇷 Part 2

Chapter 198: Hyuk

As soon as Chul wrote to me to inform me how everything was going I decided to get ready for the Palace the next day. I came home to mother who was busy with Hwan who was crying yet again non-stop. I looked at my mother who told me what the problem was with a sad look on her face and I immediately ran to my wardrobe where I had my father's old sword and his scabbard. I laid the scabbard on top of him and as soon as he got my father's scent he stopped crying and actually pulled his first smile as he played with his new toy. I was so focused on him I didn't even see that mother had snatched the letter from my pocked. I waited for her to explode for the first time, to lecture us on how reckless we were being, but she just chuckled instead "so that's what my girl is doing? Pressing on her father's weakness? That's how you want to get rid of Nam-Kyu?" "It will work mother, don't you worry" "I'm not too worried, I taught you both you how to observe people's situations, their characters, their wants, needs and even facial and body language for this reason. You father doesn't believe that he is strong enough without his family because he's never had one before and doesn't realise that fighting for us can make him stronger instead. He believes that the things that happen to him makes us better off without him..." "...and that's why you taught us all of these tricks? Because you knew that he would need us to help him?" "Yes my love, why do you think I stopped objecting to him educating and training both of you in the palace? Don't misunderstand me, if you didn't have to be in that hellhole then I would never have let you step foot in that place, I would have even ran away with you both a long time ago" "because of what happened to your father? And because of what my father and uncle are planning in the palace?"

She looked at me with genuine concern, which was something I hadn't seen so often. I know people thought my mother didn't really care about us whence didn't get over emotional like everybody else but the truth was that she was overly confident about us, and with good reason. We had been hiding our real talents from the royals for our entire lives and we always had to match our skills to the people around us. The only person who saw our true potential was my uncle and Chief Park; I had wanted to surprise my father soon but with all of this mess going on I guess I had have to do it randomly, when the situation called for it. "Hyuk, tell me honestly, do you and your sister want a future in the palace?" I took Hwan into my arms before I responded "we can adapt to any situation just like you taught us to. My cousins are brighter than the royal children but they want to settle in our grandfather's village. Hana wants to as well but I know she'll stick around for my sake. The princesses have no standing on their own so they need her. And as for me; I want the royal family to not be able to function without me just like my father and my grandfather, but I want my private life to settle in my grandfather's village also." She just sighted but I knew she would't dare impose her own plans for me like every other parent did. My mother was special; she was like our older sister and she taught us so much as such an early age it felt like we could take on the world anytime we wanted to. My father was also unlike others; he didn't set us on a specific path and didn't really teach us any family traditions, apart from not taking in any concubines or mistresses. I knew that was why they didn't shy us away from the kisengs that my aunts grew up with and were surrounded by, so we were shown their lives to treat women with respect. Honestly, no matter how much we complained about how...overly affectionate my parents were, we all wanted the same marriage as they did. Husbands and wives usually only put on a united front when it came to family image, but to be honest my father trusted my mother with absolutely every part of his life and my mother helped him out as much as she could. She even took over my father's dream of opening up the school in her father's village and was already starting to look for teachers who believed in gender equality, and believe me in the 15th century that was rare.

"So what's the next part of your plan then?" A s if she didn't already know, she was just letting us take charge now that she had a newborn to look after. We both looked over at him, this was pretty much the longest time he had been quiet unless he was asleep. He was still smiling non-stop at my father's scabbard and I now had a new reason to carry on, even if it meant provoking my father's worst emotions. He was most definitely strong enough to bring us all back my himself he just needed the motivation. "I know what to do but I'm just...a little scared for your sake. How far...would father go...when he get's jealous over you?" The smile on her face was the last thing I expected, I thought she would be cowering in fear. "He'd loose his mind with fear, and his fear will trigger him to push himself out of his own self-pity, his self-worth and we will all be together again." "mother...why...why did you choose father when he gets like..." she looked at me with concern again "what have you and your sister heard? Tell me the truth" she must have already had some idea when I planted my eyes to the floor. She just sighed before pulling me into her embrace "a man who had never experienced love before will do everything he can to make it happen when he finds his mate, and will do anything to keep it going. You father just has a lot of demons his own father instilled in him when he isolate him for years and made him sin to reach their goals. He has a lot of guilt in him that he cannot forgive himself for, and it's mixed up with his need to be loved and prove himself. He wrestles with these demons everyday and shows it to me because I was a witness to all of it." "So...on one hand he has guilt and on the other he uses it to get your love? But mother..." "Hyuk, I have been in love with your father ever since I met him when I was 5 years old and I have loved him everyday since, regardless of what he does to me or what he puts me through. If that is the way my soulmate expresses his love for me then I will take it tenfold until the day I die and even beyond that." I was quite for a while; with everything that was going on I hand't had a chance to keep up with my own...friend for a while and I was sure that she was wondering what was going on. "mother...with my fr-" "do not keep her in the dark, just because that happened to my brother and his sweetheart, they managed to work it out because she kept herself informed of the whole situation at the time. Do not let what I going on effect your whole life, I will not let it no matter how many responsibilities I have to take on. In fact...she came by earlier and is actually waiting for you in the fields. Go on but do not stay out any longer, we both have an early start in the morning" "what about my brother?" "Now that Ihwaru is demolished, Hwa-Wol and her family will move back to the village but they will need time and she has agreed to look after him for as long as we need. But he will come with us, do not worry." She gave me a smile before I made my way to the field, already feeling like my burdens were lifting themselves slowly.