.ninety three.
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"I thought you might want these. This is all that was left of our brother after you murdered him and tossed him out like some kind of animal."
-
Han's contact in Japan never arrived to lead them to the supposed cottage and the eleventh prince began to think that it had been all just a scam.
It was a common practice for thieves to do that in order to earn money fast. Promise a cottage hideaway somewhere for a high fee, and then run off with the money. But Han had just been so desperate to get the family out of Goryeo safely that he didn't investigate who he was dealing with or if they were trustworthy.
At the very least, he was thankful that they had provided him with a boat that at least got them out of the country. To him, it was worth all the money he had spent. He was a prince and had lots of it after all. Their next step now was to find a nice place in the forest and build the cottage themselves. But he was just one person and he would need a lot of time to do it if he wanted to do it well. Soon Deok offered her help, but he assured her that it was most important to keep an eye on the children. There were six of them and if they were both working on building the cottage, the children might run into trouble.
For the first couple of days they slept on the beach while Han was hard at work. When he saw the dangers that were on the ground below, he thought of a different idea. He had found a big tree, with a big enough crevasse in between the branches that he could build a home in it. He quickly got to work on creating their house with the idea of being as far away from the dangers below as possible.
Soon Deok caught fish while the older kids watched the younger ones and cooked the food while her husband was somewhere in the forest, building their new home. Every now and then she'd pull something from her dress.
It was a small sized painting Eun had gotten commissioned for Hak Soon on her birthday. A portrait of them, both eternally young and royal, with smiling faces. He had given it to his wife as a present for her on her twenty first birthday. Even though Hak Soon could no longer see, she loved those kinds of details. The fact that her husband treated her as though she were a fully able bodied person. She would always be grateful to him for that.
Soon Deok had it now because Baek-ah had given it to her just before they parted towards Japan. He had gone back to the tenth prince's home to find everything was destroyed. But that small portrait remained intact on the ground. The thirteenth prince brought it back with him and planned to give it to his older brother before saying goodbye on the docks.
But Eun never arrived that day.
The general's daughter now slept with the portrait clutched to her chest to provide herself with some comfort. She would never allow herself to forget them. And now, with this small token of their love, she would also never forget what they looked like. She would one day give it to the children as well, and she would have the portrait hung up in their new home. The three older children would have at least some memories of their parents. But she most felt bad for Eunji. She was merely and infant and would never actually meet her parents. Only in a portrait would she be able to see them.
-
The thirteens prince walked into the palace with purpose. There was a present for the king tucked away beneath the pocket of his royal gown. He was let into the throne room easily, and the guards bowed in respect for the twenty three year old prince. He was still unmarried, and had long passed the age of marriage as was the custom in their kingdom. But his father had died right when he turned eighteen. Then his older brother Mu didn't have the heart to force his soft spoken younger brother into a marriage with someone he wouldn't know. And Yo just didn't care enough to put the effort into finding him a bride. If Baek-ah were to find a woman, he would approve because his thirteenth brother was nothing of a threat to his throne.
