.seventy nine.
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"It hurts so much to be left behind like that."
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It was becoming something of a habit for Janmi to stand on a hill outside the tenth prince's home. From that spot, she could see into the backyard of the house, and she could see the family of five now spending time together outside. The five of them with smiling faces, the perfect family, with another one on the way. Jangmi couldn't help but roll her eyes at the fact that their only worry as a royal family was probably producing strong heirs which would potentially inherit the throne one day. They were oblivious to the outside world, their own people's struggles, much less the struggles of people were taken as slaves when the other nations fell.
The princess thought about how that life could have been hers--perhaps if she had been smarter, or maybe even prettier. She could have been the one living a comfortable life with a man she didn't love, but who would be able to give her everything she wanted. She could have given the tenth prince better, stronger children. Children with royal blood from both of their parents. But he had rejected her to stay by his wife's side--a woman who was probably a burden on his life.
Jangmi didn't love prince Eun in the slightest, nor did she even really want to marry him. What she most felt in her heart was a deep jealousy that he was with Minji, someone Jangmi felt was inferior to her in every way. She wanted their life, and it was a life she would have had if her title hadn't been stripped from her. She was basically a slave now. Back in her country, she had mostly sisters, but even then she wasn't the first born. Her eldest sibling, her sister Sarang was the leader of the sisters, though she would never take the throne because she was a woman. Instead, the throne would be for the third born child, her brother Taeho, because he had been born male. Jangmi was third to last born, with only two more sisters who were younger than her. It was anticipated that she, like Eun, would never inherit the throne. She would live out her days calmly with her husband and their children.
When Goryeo was able to defeat Baekje in the final battle, and her country had no more soldiers to defend itself, the soldiers of Goryeo stormed her family's castle. She remembered that fateful day because it was unusually gloomy for a summer day. Her parents had probably sensed it coming and had arranged for the family to hide out in the country side the next morning. But they didn't expect it all to happen so soon and to have their plans thwarted.
It was the middle of the night when Jangmi heard a commotion outside. Then she heard the stomping of careless footsteps through the palace, the crashing of things falling to the ground left and right. She shot up from her bed and woke her two younger sisters--Areum and Sunhee. Each were one and two years younger than her respectively. She instructed them to get on the ground and the three moved the giant wooden dresser in the room to place in front of the door. They heard the screaming of their older sisters as soldiers did the unmentionable to them. The pained cries of their brothers as they were slain before the very eyes of the other siblings and servants.
The footsteps had gotten closer now and Jangmi held her breath, standing closest to the opening and standing protectively in front of her sisters who were trembling behind her. One of the soldiers said to the others that there were probably people inside, but that he couldn't open the door. Soon, there were more joining him in pushing the wooden dresses out of the way.
As they finally got inside the room, Jangmi's sisters started sobbing, knowing what awaited them. Jangmi shot out in front of them and dropped down on her knees, tears streaming down her face. "You can do anything you want with me, and I promise I will not fight. But please, please, don't touch my sisters." She begged and she could feel the hungry looks of the Goryeo soldiers as they looked her over. She was a princess, and she was beautiful, and they had yet not gotten their fill. Days out in the battle fields without their wives were difficult, and they had needs to fulfill.
