In Another Life

The End of an Era

Five years passed by in a blink of an eye. Heeseung and Mingyue had been crowned King and Queen of Lazica had two kids, Eunwoo and Baiye.

Heeseung sat next to his wife. They both watched as their children played in the toy room. Mingyue smile, resting her head on his shoulder. They didn't speak, just enjoying each other presence. They now loved the sound of quietness because their nights had been filled with constant crying.

"Mommy! Daddy! Look at my artwork!" Eunwoo ran over to his parents, showing off his drawing of the Lee family.

"This is amazing, Bub! Maybe you and your mother can draw together." Heeseung said, smiling down at the colored in picture.

"Can we hang this up?" Eunwoo asked.

"Of course we can, where would you like it?" Mingyue asked, crouching down to be eye level with her son.

"Can we put it in the play room? I want to look up and always see it."

"You got got it Kiddo." Heeseung ruffled Eunwoo's hair before taking the picture to hang it up.

Eunwoo and Baiye were successfully tucked into their beds and hopefully asleep for the night. The two parents just returned from their kid's rooms. Heeseung had read Eunwoo a book and Baiye wanted to fall asleep with Mingyue.

They spent their time revising documents for the kingdom. They thought that it would be best if they were parents during the day and served their kingdom during the night. Mingyue and Heeseung just wanted to be present in Eunwoo and Baiye's life, just like Heeseung's parents had been for him.

It was around two thirty when the tired mother was heading off to bed, but a bright red wax seal had caught her attention. "Heeseung, what's this letter?" Mingyue asked.

The letter sat on his desk, it was yet to be opened. "I'm not sure, can you open it, Love?"

She nodded, taking the letter opener to break the seal. Something seemed off putting to her although she couldn't place her figure on what it was exactly.

"Are you alright?" Heeseung made his way over to his wife. He hugged her from behind, looking over her shoulder to see what the letter read.

"I feel like something's wrong Heeseung."

"It's all going to be okay, should I open the letter to relieve some anxiety?"

She nodded, handing the letter over to her husband, "But I don't understand why it was in our room. I-"

"Mingyue, get Eunwoo. I'll get Baiye." Heeseung said urgently. They both sprinted to the different rooms getting each child. Mingyue's heart was racing when she heard the first shots fired.

Eunwoo was crying frantically and Mingyue tried her best to calm down her child, but nothing was really working until she began to hum a lullaby. Eunwoo's cries were quieter, as Mingyue also tried muffling the noise by letting her son cry into her shoulder.

No words could explain how nervous Mingyue was. She didn't know what was going to happen to her and her son, or Heeseung and Baiye. She just hoped that Heeseung was able to get to Baiye's fast enough.

Shots kept firing and it didn't feel like it would stop any time soon.

The door to Eunwoo's room were forcefully opened as a group of soldiers marched in. They certainly weren't Lazican soldiers because they had completely different uniforms.

"They're dead. The King and the Princess. Have you found the other two?"

Her heart stopped. Baiye, her little girl, was dead. Her Heeseung, the man she loves, dead. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't. She didn't want the soldiers to hear her and she wanted to be strong for her son.

"Split up! Search the rest of the castle for all I care!"

Most of the men left the room, only two were left in there. They were searching every nook and cranny for the Queen and Prince.

They later found that it was a planned attack by a Kingdom in the Northwest area. The Lazican soldiers arrived in time to save Mingyue and Eunwoo, but it was far to late for the other two.

"Come here, Dear," Haewon held her arms open for Mingyue. The widowed Queen was now forced to rule alone. She asked for Haewon and Hajoon's help, but everything really rested on her shoulders. She had to do everything alone now.

Mingyue and Heeseung used to do everything together, but they were separated by the curtain of death.

The grieving woman had to plan two funerals, one for her husband and another for her daughter. When they were buried, her heart shattered. She would never get to see those two again. She would never get to hold Baiye in her arms. She would never be able to give Heeseung one last goodnight kiss.

Mingyue hugged Eunwoo, she held onto him with all her might. She felt that if she let go, Eunwoo would leave her too. Eunwoo hadn't tried to get free from her tight grasp, he also didn't want her to let go. He lost his little sister and his father that day, and in a way, he also lost a part of himself. He could see how his mother gradually weakened.

Even years after their death, she barely smiled unless it was at Eunwoo, Haewon or Hajoon. She wanted to show them that she still loved all of them, it didn't matter how painful it was looking at all three of them. They all shared characteristics of the man she loved.

"Eunwoo, do you want to help me out with these papers?"

"Sure mom," Eunwoo said. As he grew, Eunwoo turned into a carbon copy of Heeseung, except for his eyes which were the same vibrant amber as his mothers.

The two sat in the library, working for hours on end to get all the papers done for a festival in the village, the time was almost midnight. Eunwoo had really stepped up to help Mingyue with everything.

She never wanted to be a queen, she wanted to go back to her life of being a baker. If she knew that this would've happened, Mingyue knew that she wouldn't change a single thing because she wouldn't have been able to marry the love of her life, nor would she be sitting with their son right now.

"Mom, it's midnight..."

Mingyue smiled at her son, holding his hand and bringing him down to the kitchen. The mother had made a cake the day before, it was for a birthday.

It had thirteen candles, burning brightly in contrast to the dark night. "Happy birthday my little angel. Today you would've officially been a teenager. I can't believe that it's already been a decade since I've seen your beautiful face."

Mingyue and Eunwoo cried, both of them didn't want to eat the cake, but they did anyways. On this sad day, Baiye was supposed to turn thirteen, but she would forever be frozen at three.

Not even a year later had Mingyue passed. She died from a weak heart that had still been stuck in the past. Her grieving never ended. If she had opened the letter, could Baiye and Heeseung be alive? But that didn't matter now. She was finally reunited with her Love and her beautiful daughter.

Eunwoo was left alone in the cruel world, having to rule a kingdom without his mother by his side.