Ecstacy of Love (vsoo)

36. Sometimes we have to choose humanity over blood.

Edited

Jimin's POV

As I rode back towards the Park Mansion, the weight of everything I had just learned about Chaeyoung hit me like a flood. She was torn between loyalty to her father and the truth that had been buried so deeply in the past. But I couldn't let her or anyone else live in denial. The truth had to come out-no matter the cost.

Inside her room, the quiet sobs and muffled hiccups pulled me out of my thoughts. Chaeyoung was still the girl I knew, the one I had loved when we were younger, but everything was different now. The innocence we once shared was long gone, replaced by this unrecognizable person filled with fear and uncertainty.

I could see the weight of her choices crushing her as she hugged the person she loved-her father. And in that moment, I knew she was trapped. Trapped between a love that could destroy her and a truth that could save her.

"I shouldn't have hidden it... but I didn't want to lose Appa," Chaeyoung whispered between sobs, her voice trembling.

Her words cut through me, but I held my ground, trying not to show how much they hurt. She handed me something-an old letter, yellowed with age. It was the proof I had been searching for, the thing that had taken so many lives.

This letter had changed everything. Chaeyoung's mother had been the one to find it first, the letter that exposed her husband's betrayal. She had kept it hidden, knowing the consequences of revealing it. But in the end, it didn't matter. Minister Park's hunger for power was too strong, and he couldn't let such a dangerous truth remain in the shadows. He killed her to silence her.

And then he went after my parents. I could still see their faces in my mind-still hear their screams as they tried to save her. But there was nothing they could do. Nothing anyone could do. I had watched it all happen, helpless and confused.

I had been just a child, unable to understand the full extent of what was happening, but now, as an adult, everything was clear. And I couldn't pretend it didn't matter anymore.

I looked down at the letter in my hands, my fingers trembling as I turned it over. The truth was in this paper, the words written in black ink, and they were damning. It wasn't just Chaeyoung's father who had to answer for this-it was all of them. Minister Park had made a deal with Minister Bae to topple the throne, to seize power by any means necessary. He had gone so far as to sacrifice his own wife, the woman he had claimed to love most, just to protect his ambitions.

"I know you love your appa, Chaeyoung," I said softly, my voice gentle, trying to ease the pain that was so clearly overwhelming her. "But sometimes we have to choose humanity over blood. If we let the wrongdoers go free because of who they are to us, we become just as guilty as they are."

She cried harder at my words, her small frame shaking against mine. I could feel her pain, her desperation to hold onto something-anything-that might keep her father from being exposed.

"But your eomma was doing the right thing. She was trying to protect us all by keeping the truth hidden. But she also knew that justice had to be served," I continued, my heart aching for her. "You have the power now to finish what she started. Don't hide the truth for your father's sake. Don't let him continue to harm others just because of the love you have for him. You need to give justice to her... to all of us."

Chaeyoung pulled away from me, wiping her eyes with trembling hands. She looked at me, her face pale, her lips quivering. She had always been so strong in her own way, but this burden was breaking her. She had been forced to carry it for so long, alone. But she didn't have to carry it anymore.