••●••
Today, he was not going to use a wooden sword.
"Feet light." Lord Jongseong reminded him as they both trained with each other. "Don't stiffen your knees."
"I'm not." Jungwon replied, aiming his sword on the target. "Keep your hands heavy." Jongseong said. "Feet light."
"And don't stand too straight." Jungwon replied, a smile forming in his lips as the young man fell on the ground. "You're dead, Lord of the Roses."
The younger offered to pick him up and Jongseong could only smirk, brushing off Jungwon's hand as he rose by himself. "So, would you give a shit about tourneys now?" He asked.
Before Won could answer, the Lady Mother arrived at the yard with a proud smile for her only son. "certainly, my lord, he would win tourneys in the future."
Jongseong shrugged, picking up his sword. "It would also be a pleasure to fight alongside Lord Jungwon, my lady."
Lady Yang gave her final smile and said. "Leave us for a moment." The young lord bowed, exiting the Evenfall yard.
"So, your juvenile games did help you all along." She said, fixing her son's coat. "Feral."
"You already put a stop to it, remember?" He said, earning his mother's derisive grin. "Alright." She sighed. "I'll let you play another game, then."
Won's brows furrowed. "I want you to take so much part in this game." She said.
"I don't seem to understand your charades, mother."
Lady Yang took a step closer, holding his hands. "Your sister is dead."
Right at that moment, something inside him started to come apart at the seams. It can't be. He trembled, suddenly releasing his hold on the sword. He looked away. "No, no, no, no."
"Wonnie-"
"I said enough with your fucking farces!" He forcefully shoved his mother's hand.
She stood her ground, harshly cupping his cheeks. "Your sister is dead whether you believe it or not! Dead! Found on the Little Roots! Defiled, raped, butchered. That was what she decided for herself!"
"E-eru..." His tone softened as he held back the tears.
"Listen to me, Jungwon." Mother said. "This word still hasn't reached the ravens yet. It should never reach the ravens. She was to be betrothed to the Prince of Witherhall. Your sister, Eru... You know she ran away. She shouldn't have. She never wanted this, she never wanted to marry a broken mute prince. But our family wanted to seize the Mountain of Gold and the Four Seas. It was known even before she was born. But she never wanted that to happen. She betrayed us and ran away with her paramour. Now she is dead and we could no longer get a hold of what the Nishimura's own. I don't like that."
"What would you have me do?" Jungwon asked desperately, his sanity slowly slipping away in his fingers. "This is madness."
"Jungwon." The lady mother said. Looking at her, he knew since then what she meant. Won turned away, tightly holding his head. "Fuck!"
"We need to do this, for gods' sake! This is for our house! I don't want us falling apart. Jungwon!" She grabbed his wrist once more.
"Please, not my Adi."
"I've been enduring your company with that slut for far too long! It is about time you shall make use of her."
"No, please."
"Pretend." She said. "In the next few days, she is the Lady Yang Eru. She will be trained and designed to be Eru. So start pretending that she is."
"I can't."
"You don't love her. I'm sure of that. You are sure of that. You only want someone you can call your own. You don't imagine yourself living a life with her because you know full well it's just not right. You only want someone to own because if you do love her, you'd use every power to take her out of that whorehouse. But you didn't. Because you don't love her and you could most likely endure watching her being fucked by thousands of men in that house. We can use her. And if you like, you can take her as a mistress. You can take as many mistresses as you desire."
Jungwon couldn't say anything else. "Please, not my Adi."
"Remember this, my son." Lady Yang said. "Nothing matters more than our house, more than our power, more than our survival."
"Give her to us. That is all I ask."
