"I live for the dream that my children will be born free," the princess breathes. "That they will be whoever they want to be, and that they'll never ever have to carry a sword wherever they go."
"I live for you," Jeongguk answers. Simply because, he...
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WHEN SAERON WAS a little girl she used to wait out at the top of the castle walls whenever her father would lead expeditions outside of the kingdom. Rather than filling her head with pastel colours of hair ribbons or the ruffles of the many little dresses rotting away in her closets, she often found herself wondering if there was a way to have a war without death; to conquer without having to destroy.
Watching as her father's troops return to the castle with mud and streaks of red painting over their bodies like a second skin, she found herself wondering even more, but the solution was never within reach.
Some people must die for there to be change.
Some people must be sacrificed for others to live better.
Because the human heart is selfish, stubborn. It is greedy and arrogant.
She remembers sitting by the fireplace in her father's lap one day; a little girl with so little knowledge about the world outside the safe walls of the palace; remembers asking him why people would kill other people if life was so precious. She never understood the point of war; why people would rather die than just agree for peace.
She didn't get a proper answer for that other than a dismissive "you'll understand when you're older." And it is only when she grew older and watched blood drain out of a soldier's lone corpse with her own eyes that she realised—the weak will fall; the powerful will rise. Only the winner can claim victory while the others lose their lives
Life. Life is a struggle.
Kill before you get killed. Eliminate the threat before it arrives.
Maybe when she closes her eyes, she can imagine a world without bloodshed or savagery;
but reality is often defeaning.
"We have no responses. None! None from Erest or Karrstad. King Taeyong must have something against them. It has been hours since we sent out word. Why else would they remain silent?"
"So, all this time when we were preaching on and on about unity and alliance, those were just words spoken over tea? This is... outrageous! A scam!"
