The Girl of an Old Mansion

12. Si-ri's Dilemma

The old mansion might look quite horrible and unfortunate from outside but from inside it possessed a good fortune in the form of its owner, Si-ri.

In all these times she had actually made it livable and turned the awful and gloomy looking mansion into a beautiful house from inside. The mansion is really big and spacious. It is said that years ago the royal family of Noam built this majestic mansion for their amusement purposes like hunting, enjoying the beauty of nature, etc. But the walls of this majestic mansion had seen the cruelest death of one of its Kings. Nobody knows what happened on that fateful night, as per the guards King Woo-jin returned to the king's chamber at night after dinner but the next morning when he didn't come out, the guards decided to check and the moment they entered the chamber their eyes were pouring the grief of their Kind King's death.

Even the royal physicians couldn't diagnose the cause of his death. It was a strange death, all the nerves of the body had turned black and lips oozing blood. Since then this mansion was abandoned by the royal family and in folks the rumour prevailed that the mansion is haunted by a witch. Nobody ever tried to come near the mansion.

"That boy Min-ho surely has some guts". Si-ri thought while turning the pages of a book with a faint smile.

"I don't know much about people, since my childhood I have only interacted with my parents. I don't even have friends but my father educated me. Being a girl who is prisoned in a mansion, with no connection with the outer world but I am glad that I got to know about the world through my books."

"Father has always told me that the world is a blend of different types of people, some are good and some are bad. Not every person you like is a good person and not everyone you hate is a bad one."

"I used to ask him how to distinguish the good ones from the bad ones?"

"He would always answer, from my experience the most genuine person is the one who is always open to help other people without being selfish and greedy. However, it is difficult to find such a pure soul in this chaotic world."

"If we talk about the bad ones, nobody is born bad from birth; it is circumstances and sometimes people's own selfishness that make them bad." Si-ri recalls her father's words.

Si-ri thinks about Min-ho and quickly jumps to the conclusion that he is not the right person.

"That boy came to this mansion only to fulfill his selfish needs through the silly deal with his friend."

"I still remember his words before he left, "Tell me if you want any help from my side." Like I don't know about his intentions, I know very well now that it was just for formality, selfish people like him never help anyone."

"Why am I thinking about him all of a sudden? Huh..! Let's practice calligraphy."

Si-ri had learnt lots of skills such as painting, cooking, reading, writing, and stitching. There was a small library in the mansion where Si-ri spent most of her time reading about the history of other civilizations as well.

There is also a basement in the mansion. It was made by Lord Yong for the safety of Si-ri in case a state of emergency were to arise. Lord Yong is a wise man, he knew that keeping Si-ri in his home could cause trouble. Mi-sook would easily detect the presence of Si-ri therefore, he settled his wife and Si-ri in the old mansion far away from the reach of the world. When Si-ri was fifteen years old Lord Yong's wife left the world battling an incurable disease.

Si-ri's condition was pathetic after her mother's departure. She did not eat anything for five days wailing in grief and memories of her mother. It took Si-ri almost a month to come out of the trauma of losing her loving mother.

Lord Yong too was saddened with the death of his wife but he did not allow Si-ri to become weak. He knew since the beginning that a long battle was waiting for her in the future.