Soojin's mother was a hardworking and dedicated lady.

She'd joined penny after penny, all to ensure that her children had a roof over their heads.

Surviving in a Kingdom where Patriarchy was the word, was harsh on a single mother of two.

Looking after Joon Ki was equal to looking after 3 fussy infants.

The problem arose when he crossed the age of 7.

His limbs started paining, muscle growth deteriorated and in an age where one finds themselves jumping around and exerting their energy merrily, Poor Joon Ki saw most of his days indoors, with his mother and father massaging his legs.

What was early diagnosed as a bone associated condition had perspired to Muscular Dystrophy upon being inspected further by one of the most renowned Physicians in all of Baekmin.

It started off with difficulty in raising up from seated positions without support and aggregated to his pelvic region, giving him a waddling gait.

He barely attended lessons and was often seen as a soft target to harass.

His walking aid would be kicked out of his grasp and thrown across the mud.

The notorious group of young boys would then draw pleasure from watching the weak boy crawl on all fours.

Joon Ki never raised an opposition to any of this.

He believed in his power of endurance.

If he'd been given this load, he'd have to shoulder it.

What he didn't know, however, was that it'd get far worse and he'd eventually have no other choice but to endure.

He'd lay in bed, watching his arms and legs grow weaker, watch the muscles shrivel up, felt pain in his arms when he even tried to clench his fists.

Couldn't scratch a spot on his back, couldn't move a finger and eventually, couldn't digest solid food.

He'd even throw up the mashed rice he was fed, all over his Mother's vest.

His vocal cords shuddered with every syllable and chest tightened with every heavy spell of word he'd try and vocalise.

It was drawing all his energy, until the circumoral muscles aka the ones lining his lips grew rigid and even speaking became a task far too difficult.

What was he doing?

While his contemporaries were loving their wives and raising infants, he was having his aged mother clean his excreta and give him baths.

He'd cry at night, face motionless and yet a continual flow of tears streaming down his face, one that'd be mistaken for hyper-secretions by his lacrimal glands.

He was a fighter, his Mother would say.

As she saw him improve under the foreign doctor's jurisdiction.

He'd been gaining all the energy he'd lost in his youth.

She'd started dreaming of a life for him.

She'd be a grandmother, Soojin would be an aunt.

When Joon Ki sat upright after weeks of rehabilitation, his mother sank to the floor, crying out praises for The Crowned Head, her son-in-law, who'd so kindly given Joon Ki a second go at life.

A new direction, she'd say, watching the ends of Joon Ki's lips turn into a smile.

An expression she was foreign to.

"E-Eomma.." He'd spoken, in a hushed low pitched rough tone, as his chin quivered with every syllable he pronounced.

He was getting better, wasn't he?

Incorrect.

Yong Sun's arrival had deteriorated any chances of revival that Joon Ki had.

He was pale, lifeless and his limbs were as rigid as a corpse's.

One that was undergoing Mortis Rigor.

Soojin's mother entered his room after a long day of toiling long and hard and watched his body coated in acupuncture needles as The Practitioner and Nurse sat side by side, engrossed in talks.

Her heart was loosing hope and Joon Ki's eyes screamed 'I'm in pain' and yet his own Doctor was blind to his needs.

"B-Bohoja-ssi, how is Joon Ki progressing?" A wavering voiced draws Yong Sun's attention away from the nurse he was talking to.

He lets out an irritated huff.

The old lady had been getting on his nerves, quite a bit.

She'd breathe down his back, as and when she could.

"Eomeonim, it's been mere days since I've got here..H-He's fine, please stop barging in like this.." He explains, rolling his eyes.

Soojin's mother's eyes are filled in tears and her chest is heaving as she watches blood piercing out of holes the needles that fallen out of.

"H-He looks like he's in pain.." She voices out, walking deeper into the room to watch her son, whose eyes follow her every move.

Yong Sun stands up from his seated position.

"Well, he's been in pain for majority of his life. You constantly questioning the treatments is inducing pain, right here!" He booms, pointing an index finger over his own forehead, between his eyes.

"S-Son, what are you saying? I-It's only right of me to be worried.."

Yong Sun scoffs, towering over the elderly woman.

"Is it right of you to doubt every move of a Royal Practitioner? I shouldn't think so." He chews out.

The helpless woman wrings her hands saying that was never her intention.

"Y-You've got it wrong, Bohoja-ssi. I-I..It's just that he was recovering so well before you arrived.." She speaks, fumbling.

Yong Sun's nostrils flare as he bites down on his lower lip.

"You mean to say, I'm killing him? Well guess what Eomeonim..You can't kill what's already dying!" He roars, walking towards Joon Ki's bed and piercing the fallen needles back into his gaping wounds, causing a tear to roll down Joon Ki's eyes.

"I'm in the middle of treating him, please leave while I'm being polite." Yong Sun states, running a finger over Joon Ki's forearm.

Soojin's mother nods hastily, staggers her way out of the room with one last look over Joon Ki.

Once the door closes, Yong Sun rushes to lock it, tight.

He turns around breathing out a sigh as he walks back to Joon Ki.

"Yah, the old hag really cares about you, huh? Even when you look like this? I'm jealous.." He spits, running his knuckles over Joon Ki's tired cheek bones.

"My Mother only looked at my Dongsaeng, as though he were made of Russian Diamonds. He was really so ugly." He continues ranting.

The nurse, a young girl in her 20s, stands beside him.

She runs the pad of her finger over his arm, teasingly.

"How could she not look at you? You're handsome.." She speaks, cheeks tinting pink.

"Aish, if only she could even see me, now.. She's dead." He responds, creeping a hand over her waist and pulling her torso flush against his side as she squirms shyly.

Her eyes are widened.

"Omo, you must've been devastated." She consoles, palm rubbing over his clothed chest.

He looks at Joon Ki, who's watching the two in close proximity.

"Ssibal, she'd been dead to me for years. It was long overdue.." He mumbles.

The nurse squeaks as he fondles her love handles through her uniform, roughly.

"Y-You're so mysterious!" She cries, eyes all big, lips all pouty.

Yong Sun smirks in response.

"I am, aren't I?" He questions, grabbing her neck and dropping a wet kiss over her lips.

She smacks his chest, pushing him away.

"Aish, not before the patient!" She swats his naughty hands away.

Yong Sun looks down at Joon Ki's widened eyes, pupils all shaky.

"Let him enjoy what he can only see and can't do.." He snickers, running a hand over Joon Ki's head, strands of hair getting plucked out, effortlessly.

The wax in his candle was running out.

It was only a matter of time.

—————

"Yun Ki-ah, you don't talk much before your wife!!" Wang Taeiji chimes out loud, sipping a cup of makgeolli as the couples were seated for a lavish dinner in the Goryeo Banquet.

Soojin had her head bowed down, picking on the slice of beef that had been garnished perfectly.

Yun Ki coughs a little, placing his own cup down, smiling a little.

"Aish, no such thing..I'm just trying to be polite!" He responds, jokingly causing the elder man to laugh out loud.

"Polite, my foot! Soojin-ssi, you should've meet Yun Ki when he was a freshly Crowned King. The fire in his eyes, the way his course voice would crackle..Agh, he was really overdoing the whole authoritative role! It really scared away everyone.." He adds as Soojin smiles.

"A-Actually, when I'd met him for the very first time on my own, I too believed he was nothing short of a Tyrant who drew pleasure out of inflicting pain over others..H-He was really so shrewd!" Soojin adds, respectfully dragging Yun Ki in the mud.

Yun Ki looks over at her, hurt.

"That was before, wasn't it?" He pokes an answer out of her and Soojin smiles back at him, nodding.

"He's become far gentler after getting married. It's really as though a bull has been tamed." Wang taeiji's wife adds, joining in on the fun.

"Eomeoni, not you too!" Yun Ki pouts.

"She's right, Yun Ki-ah! Soojin has really changed you for the better. I remember telling her the very same thing back at The Horse Racing Tournament in Baekmin! You were unrecognisable, back then!" The elderly man praises, clinking his glass with Yun Ki's.

"By the way, you never told us how the two of you met.." The Queen of Goryeo asks, watching the young couple sat before us.

Soojin begins answering.

"I-I'd actually been brought in as one of the C-Concubines in training and—"

Yun Ki interrupts her.

Soojin looks over at the hand he'd placed over her crossed knees.

"No, Soojin-ah..Fate brought me to you.." Yun Ki speaks.

"We'd met before, as well." He completes, causing Soojin's eyes to be filled with confusion.

She'd met The Crowned King before?

-----------Korean Words Used--------

eomeoni = Mother.

Omo = Oh dear.

Ssibal = shit.