Powerful (Michaeng)

Seppuku

...Haru was standing at the door, with a serious expression, staring at Chaeyoung, who trembled all over every time she saw him.

The warlord had returned.

Chaeyoung lowered her eyes and tried to return to her tasks. Haru closed the door and, without saying anything, entered the house.

A tear rolled down the young Korean woman's face. The presence of General Myoui always unsettled her. She couldn't even concentrate on what she was doing anymore.

Every time her eyes met the man's, and his gaze was filled with hatred and contempt for her, the only thing that came to her mind was that this was the last image her family had while alive: the cold and merciless look of their killer.

/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/

Mina was sitting next to the desk in her room, looking at the ring Yoshiro had given her when they got engaged. Everything happened so fast. Life was really fragile. A few months ago, they were together and happy, planning a life for two, with children, a spacious house, and trips to tropical places in the summer, and now there was nothing left, and the young man was dead.

She was so distracted that she was startled by a knock on her bedroom door. She placed the ring on the desk and went to open it, hardly believing her eyes when she saw that Haru was there.

"Father?" She didn't know what she felt: her father was haggard and pale, his eyes somewhat sunken, and he seemed ready to collapse emotionally at any moment, but at the same time, she couldn't forget that he was a murderer of innocent people.

"Forgive me, daughter." He practically murmured, and then suddenly hugged her and started crying. Mina was paralyzed for a few seconds when the man started crying, his head resting on her shoulder. Mina had never seen her father like that, and it saddened her even more, and then she also began to cry and returned Haru's tight embrace.

Kimi, upon hearing her husband's voice, appeared and, also crying, joined the sad family embrace.

"I failed you, Mina." Haru spoke softly, feeling like the worst person in the world, especially for feeling he had ruined his daughter's life forever, destroying all her dreams and plans by sending Yoshiro to his death. "That area was one of the safest in all of Nanjing, I never imagined an ambush there..."

"It's not your fault, my love." Kimi consoled him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

Haru appreciated his wife's effort to try to make him feel better, but that feeling would hardly leave him.

Mina was uncomfortable, feeling bad for everything that was happening, for her parents' suffering, but at the same time, she couldn't forget the harm they had caused to so many people.

"Forgive me, daughter, please." Haru spoke to Mina again. "I love you very much, you are the most precious thing I have in this life, and I would never do anything to hurt you, you know that, don't you?"

"I know, father." Mina replied uncomfortably. "It wasn't your fault; it's the nature of war." She sighed. "A lot of innocent people always die."

"But it shouldn't be like that." The General replied, not realizing that Mina was speaking more about his victims than about Yoshiro. "I failed, I promised you I would bring Yoshiro home, and I failed... I failed you, I failed him, I failed the Kita, I failed everyone." In his entire life, Haru had never felt such great guilt.

"Come, Haru." Kimi took her husband's hand. "You're exhausted; I can see it on your face. Come rest a little."

Haru said nothing, just followed Kimi to the couple's room, where he sat on the bed, still desolate.