Mingi and Hajung continue to wrestle, the woman hardly any match for her large son. He's no longer a little kid that she can toss around or push aside. She can't intimidate him or control him. Her weaknesses reveal themselves trapped beneath him.
"Song Mingi, release me at once! How dare you ridicule your mother like this?!"
The prince grunts and forces her back down just as she manages to slip away. "No, you coward! You've hurt enough people!"
"Hurt? I didn't hurt them. I disciplined them. Pain is beautiful and necessary! I put them in their rightful places just like he told me! Father said—"
"Grandfather is gone!" Mingi interjects.
Hajung freezes for a moment, wide-eyed. Mingi desperately continues, "Mom, all of those 'lessons' and 'discipline' that you cling to... that's abuse! Grandfather abused you, manipulated you, broke you. None of this was for you, it was for him. He made you do his bidding. And I know he still haunts you even now. So does Dad."
Hajung looks to the side where two ghostly figures bore into her soul. One is handsome and warm, begging her to do what's right. The other, much older, is stone-cold and ghastly. He warns of detrimental consequences if she disobeys and insists that he knows best. Her evil angel and heavenly devil that reside on her shoulders reveal themselves in their true forms.
Her late husband is the angel she's denied, and her father is the devil who has seduced her.
"N-No... Go away," she mutters, lost in illusion. Her head snaps back to Mingi, and she screams, "I know what I'm doing!"
"No, you don't! That's a lie you tell yourself so you don't have to accept the awful shit that happened to you! Mom, open your eyes! Look at what you've done!"
Hajung trembles madly. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Go away!" She stretches her arm across the floor to reach her dagger.
Moving faster than her, Hongjoong skips over and kicks the blade away. He scoffs, "Are you so desperate to deny the truth that you'd kill the only person with any compassion left for you?"
Tears stream out of the Queen's eyes like thin trickles from a faucet. Mingi gazes down at her, his gray orbs full of hurt. There's really no hope left for her at all.
Hongjoong continues to berate her. "My mother never intended to harm you. She still wanted you to repent and have a chance to be a better person. I know because that's the kind of person she was. And you killed her when she was the only bit of happiness you ever felt. You've lost, Song Hajung. I'm not talking about today. You lost the moment you allowed yourself to be locked behind closed doors."
Feeling her body go limp, Mingi rolls off of her and exhales, letting his own tears soak his dirty face. His mother lies there sobbing to herself, seemingly still arguing with the spirits surrounding her. Yunho watches the whole thing unfold with a heavy heart to match his partner's.
Mingi shifts his weight and pulls his mother up to rest in his arms. He tenderly brushes her mussed hair away from her salty skin and caresses her cheek. The latter's hand clutches onto his jacket resignedly.
"Mingi..."
The prince hugs his mother for the very first time. "I'm sorry, Mom. I'm sorry you could never be the mother I wanted you to be. I'm sorry I could never be a son capable of saving you."
Swallowing thickly, Mingi pulls out a vial from his pocket. It's something he prepared with Yunho and Seonghwa on the way to Seoul Island. It's the best solution in his eyes, for he cannot bear to see her get ripped to shreds. Popping open the lid, he angles the rim to her lips.
YOU ARE READING
Precious ◈ | Seongjoong/Yungi ✓
أدب الهواةSeonghwa has fully accepted his role as the "Pirate King's lover" and his new lifestyle aboard The Wonderland. Yunho and Mingi are finally together. However, a new label has been given to their conflict with the Tyrant Queen: war. While taking on th...
