THE LOST PRINCESS
"Your Excellency." Haek Ga said as he bowed his head.
"Any news from Ilsan Palace?" Galmunwang Baekban asked.
"Her Highness the Queen told me to inform you that she failed in her attempt." Haek Ga replied.
Baekban who was writing something on a piece of paper halted.
"Failed?" He asked.
"Yes." Haek Ga confirmed.
"How is that possible?" Baekban asked.
"I don't know Your Excellency." Haek Ga replied.
"Has she moles and traitors amongst her people?" Baekban asked as he continued to write.
"That's uncertain because only Herself and Bora were aware of that unless someone eavesdropped their conversation and tipped the Princess off because rather than exposing the Queen which would have been close to Impossible and she would have argued that perhaps the maid was the one who did that Her Highness the Queen believes poisoned herself." Haek Ga replied.
"A suicide mission and to have known the perfect ingredients to orchestrate her own danger that first how would she have acquired it in time to save herself from being apprehended?" Baekban asked.
"I don't know Your Excellency." Haek Ga replied.
"Her Highness has cleared her name very well and if I am very right her intention was to widen the scope of investigation from the Palace to as far as the clothing stores where it had been too.
I'm such a brilliant suicidal move she was able to clear herself of any suspicion and has curbed the Queen's diamond plan to try and defame her." Baekban said.
"Her Highness still has a number of opportunities to get back at the Princess." Haek Ga said.
"Which ones shall be most efficient because by clearly defining her intentions in front of the Princess Deokman she has only alerted her and automatically by force having saved her neck the first time she'll become more wary and cautious of her every move." Baekban said.
"Even I am confused Your Excellency, we had one good shot to put down the Princess and silence her along with unpopularising her but that attempt has clearly failed." Haek Ga said.
"Forget it, there is no use crying over spilt milk and if you struck the arrow and missed the target you can not hit the animal in the same spot once again." Baekban said.
"What are we going to do now Your Excellency?" Haek Ga asked.
"I need to talk to Boryun." Baekban replied.
"Yes Your Excellency." Haek Ga said as he bowed his head and he walked out of the room.
Three carts were being pulled in the streets as they travelled from Ganglyeoghan Palace's construction site through the market they eventually halted at the entrance of the Kim Manor.
Seungman who was dressed in a man's clothes halted with the Princess who was dressed like one of the suppliers while she looked up at the plaque that hang on the doorpost.
"Is this it Your Highness?" Seungman whispered.
"Yes." Princess Deokman replied as the doors of the manor were opened and holding a series of baskets the both of them got inside.
They walked across the Courtyard as Princess Deokman led the way to her Uncle's study.
She was well versed with it already and she knew better than anyone else the route to the very place she wanted.
As she crossed over from the Outer Courtyard into the Inner one, she caught sight of her uncle Gukban who stood at the top of the staircase that led to his doorway.
Seeing the two women Damju rushed over to the Princess and picked from her the basket that she was holding while Gukban descended from the height until he was face to face with her.
Seungman stared at the man very well and examined him from head to toe while he hadn't given that much concern towards knowing who it was that was standing beside the Princess.
"Greetings Your Highness." Gukban said as he bowed his head.
"We can drop the formalities after all I am dressed like a commoner." Princess Deokman said.
"I'm afraid it's impossible for me, I am so used to calling you Your Highness that I can't help but forget to accord you with any other title or name." Gukban replied.
"Very well then, if it is your wish." Princess Deokman said as her eyes looked around the whole place while Gukban noticed that perhaps the Princess was bothered by something.
"Your Highness, are you alright?" He asked.
"Yes." Princess Deokman replied.
"What are you looking for?" Gukban asked.
"It's just that I am not seeing Aunt Wolmyeong." Princess Deokman replied.
"She left for the temple very early." Gukban replied, "You know her very well, she has never recovered from that incident she keeps on praying for the soul of our late Daughter." He added.
"I see." Princess Deokman said with a sombre voice while Seungman was rather intrigued by the statement.
"Please come in Your Highness, you must be tired." Gukban said.
"Thank you." Princess Deokman replied and acquiescing with her uncle the two ascended the stairs into his study as Seungman followed them closely from behind along with Damju.
They had arrived inside when the doors were about to be shut with Seungman outside.
"It's alright Your Excellency." Princess Deokman said, "I trust her." She added.
"Her?" Gukban said with surprise.
"She's just dressed as a man." Princess Deokman said.
"Oh." Gukban replied as Damju moved aside and Seungman entered into the room.
It was filled with a series of scrolls and books on their respective shelves and there was a table that was made out of varnished mahogany along with four chairs around it.
Gukban sat down with Princess Deokman while Seungman stood behind her.
"When I heard that you were coming Your Highness, I had to see to it that nobody in the household recognized you.
"Thank you." Princess Deokman said, "I am much more surprised that we met a lot faster than we had expected." She added.
"I heard everything that went down at the Palace, I am grateful that you are alright." Gukban said.
"Thank you and it is because of that I decided to get up and come and see you myself." Princess Deokman said.
"The honour is mine Your Highness." Gukban remarked.
"Apparently, it was Her Highness the Queen whose deeds forced me to end up poisoned in the first place." Princess Deokman said.
"Did she try to assassinate you?" Gukban asked.
"No, Her Highness had the clothes that I had gifted her at the prayer ceremony in Ilsan Palace last week infected with Purslane and the Bangles and ornaments were sprinkled with venom." Princess Deokman replied.
"To try and frame you for wanting to murder her child along with herself?" Gukban asked.
"Yes." Princess Deokman replied.
"Huh." Gukban sighed with a small chuckle on his face.
"Are you as impressed as I was?" Princess Deokman asked.
"Who would have thought that the young naive looking Queen would be so conniving?" Gukban remarked.
"I was just as surprised she thought about such a wonderful scheme it was thorough that had heaven not been on my side I would have by now been demonized throughout the whole of Shilla." Princess Deokman said.
"Come to think of it Your Highness it was a very great scheme." Gukban said.
"At first I thought that Her Highness must have been a dreamy woman but I realized then that she was strong and ambitious like me." Princess Deokman said.
"To expose her is just going to be as difficult much as you may have jumped over her trap." Gukban said.
"I understand that and perhaps her earlier on failed attempts either pushed her to that extreme or I had underestimated her from the very beginning." Princess Deokman said.
"Most probably the latter Your Highness but that well said what is your plan concerning the Queen?" Gukban asked.
"I won't be too reserved and I won't be too hasty as well and I understand much more than anyone that you know people very well I need you help to try and find me either a shaman or a shamaness." Princess Deokman replied.
"Your Highness, what do you need a shaman for?" Gukban asked.
"They thought it best to use the prophecy of the Female Ruler Jin against me so I need to begin by eradicating it." Princess Deokman replied.
"Your Highness, these are priests who know the language of the stars and they can interpret the symbols of heaven." Gukban replied.
"I also need someone who can equally use the heavens and manipulate them in my own way." Princess Deokman replied with a ghastly smile on her face.
"If you say so Your Highness." Gukban replied.
"That's not all." Princess Deokman said.
"What more shall I do for you Your Highness?" Gukban asked.
"I need you to go and get me a piece of land that is rich in crude oil and gather it for me." Princess Deokman replied.
"Yes Your Highness." Gukban replied.
Namo, Seol Mi and Hyang accompanied Lady Wolmyeong as she walked through the doors of the manor and entered the Outer Courtyard having returned from the temple.
She was holding in her hands a beautiful dress and she had embraced it while she walked towards the Inner Courtyard.
Princess Deokman had stood up from where she had been seated and bowed her head.
"I'll take my leave." She said.
"I'll see you out." Gukban said.
"No need, you needn't attract the attention of the others." Princess Deokman replied.
"Alright Your Highness." Gukban said as he bowed his head while Princess Deokman walked out of the study with Seungman following closely behind.
Lady Wolmyeong who was already inside the Inner Courtyard was looking down as she walked and as she slowly bypassed Princess Deokman, Seungman bumped into her and her Sword fell out of it's scabbard onto the ground while the Jade pendant that she was wearing underneath moved and rested on top of her chest.
"Sorry." She said as she bent over to pick up the dress that had fallen from Lady Wolmyeong's hands while Princess Deokman turned around to see what had happened.
"Milady." Her three attendants said as they helped her onto her feet and raising her eyes a little bit she first noticed the sword which was fallen and she picked it up and inspected it.
Gukban had heard something outside he flung the doors open and at that moment Seungman turning around both Lady Wolmyeong and he himself noticed the Jade pendant that was hanging around Seungman's neck.
Lady Wolmyeong shifted her eyes to the sword and read the words that had been written on it while Princess Deokman walked up to her seeing that she seemed to have noticed something about it.
"PROTECT YOUR HONOUR, FIGHT WITH ALL YOUR LIFE, KIM." She said as Seungman turned back around and looked at the woman who this time taking a closet look at the pendant confirmed.
The Buddha on it and the small lotus curvings around.
Gukban was frozen where he stood as his eyes widened.
"Milady?" Seungman said when she noticed that the expression on the woman's face was the most awkward that she had ever seen.
"Aunt, what's wrong with you?" Princess Deokman asked as she held Lady Wolmyeong while Seol Mi, Hyang and Namo identified the two objects.
"Who gave it to you?" Lady Wolmyeong asked as she showed her the sword.
"My father." Seungman replied, "He told me that this sword belonged to me." She added.
Hearing that Gukban staggered.
"Your Excellency." Damju said as he supported him while Gukban waved him away as he slowly descended the stairs while Lady Wolmyeong looked first at him and then back at Seungman.
"Who is your father?" Lady Wolmyeong asked.
"Kim." Seungman replied hesitantly.
"Kim who?" Lady Wolmyeong said as she desperately gripped Seungman by her shoulders and started to shake her.
"KIM MOO MAK." Seungman replied and Gukban who already close enough upon hearing that with his wife they were both shocked.
"Wasn't your birthday about two months ago?" Lady Wolmyeong asked.
"Yes." Seungman replied hesitantly as she was partly eager to know if they knew more about her real identity.
"How old are you?" Gukban asked all of a sudden and Seungman turning to face him she noticed that his cold nature had been replaced by a more vulnerable one.
"I am seventeen years old." Seungman replied.
"Impossible." Galmunwang Gukban said. "KIM SEUNGMAN?" he added.
"Uncle, what is going on here?" Princess Deokman asked.
"Do you know my father?" Seungman asked.
"Yes." Lady Wolmyeong replied.
"How?" Seungman asked.
"Your father worked for me and he was a retainer." Gukban replied.
"A retainer?" Seungman asked.
"Yes." Lady Wolmyeong affirmed while Princess Deokman was startled.
"Seventeen years ago in Chopalhye prefecture on the very day that you were born the Kim Manor was attacked by Assassins and in the collision that followed it was set on fire." Galmunwang Gukban narrated.
"The whole building was gutted by fire and after the scenario two bodies went missing one belonged to the retainer and the other..." Lady Wolmyeong said and she halted halfway barely having the courage to complete her statement.
"...Your Infant child." Princess Deokman completed.
"Yes." Lady Wolmyeong replied as she let go of the sword that was in her possession it landed onto the ground.
"Where is he?" Galmunwang Gukban asked.
"Where is who?" Seungman asked as her eyes became teary.
"Moo Mak?" He asked and Seungman was frozen.
"THE SON OF MY FATHER AND THE BLOOD OF MY OWN, HEAVEN'S CALLING IS TO MOULD ON HIS SIDE FOR ME THE LAST CARRIER OF THE HALLOWED BONE, TO ATONE FOR A SIN SO VILE LIKE THIS, THE REBEL AND HIS HOUSE MUST CERTAINLY BE EXTINGUISHED." Princess Deokman recited the Prophecy.
The massacre at Gokhyeonwangsa Temple and the attack of the Kim Manor in Chopalhye." She added.
"It all revolved on the Prophecy that foretold the advent of the last Seonggol." Gukban said.
"What are you all trying to say to me here?" Seungman asked, "I don't understand.
"The Jade pendant that you are wearing around your neck was given to me by Master Gongsung as a good luck charm to protect you upon your birth." Lady Wolmyeong said.
"My mother died, what are you saying?" Seungman asked.
"You are not foolish Seungman so stop pretending to be." Princess Deokman shouted at her.
"Your father was a loyal servant and he never loved any woman in his entire life at least that we knew of, on the day of the accident where I feared that along with you he had died in that house, it turns out that he is the same person that saved you." Lady Wolmyeong said.
Seungman closed her eyes as the memories of what they had once told her came to her head.
"Your father could have not told you the whole truth." Princess Deokman had once said to her.
"You should never associate with anyone from Seoraebeol because they were the very people that tore your family apart." Moo Mak had said to her.
"My father who raised me, you, him, Her Highness, who am I to all of you people?" Seungman asked in a lowly manner as she shed a few tears.
"You are my cousin." Princess Deokman replied.
"You are our daughter." Gukban added.
"Why would father lie to me, if he saved me he would have brought me back to you." Seungman said.
"Don't you dare speak of him like that." Gukban scolded.
"She is right dear, Moo Mak should have at least mentioned a word to us and wouldn't have kept quiet all these years." Lady Wolmyeong added.
"You don't understand." Gukban said.
"It wasn't his will." Princess Deokman finally concluded sympathizing with Seungman as she drew closer to her Uncle.
"Why?" Lady Wolmyeong asked.
"As you said he was a very faithful servant."Princess Deokman replied.
"What has that got to do with this?" Lady Wolmyeong asked.
Seungman was frozen.
"Someone was worried that they would have killed the child given that they had made their attack on the Kim Manor." Princess Deokman said.
"He would have worried for his master's well being we can say but he swore to protect him with his life so if it was in the face of death they'd still be there together." Princess Deokman added.
Gukban kept quiet.
"She didn't mention her name ever since she got here and I also don't think that you met before so you already knew it." Princess Deokman added.
"That night I saw you run away with the baby." Lady Wolmyeong said.
"Uncle?" Princess Deokman called him.
"I asked him to do it." Gukban said.
Lady Wolmyeong fell onto the ground while Seungman was surprised that her eyes were already gushing out so many years.
"After the prophecy I was warned that they would make a move here in Seoraebeol and attack me and when that happened, I had already arranged for you flight because I knew that I was being watched all the time I needed to do it at the perfect time when everyone was disorganized." Gukban added.
"No " Lady Wolmyeong said.
"To come back to Seoraebeol was my decision to make it look like I was here to avenge your death but in reality I wanted to find out who it was that orchestrated that plot and the mastermind behind it because I knew it was the only way that I could protect you from that misunderstood prophecy that kept those people hunting us down." Gukban said.
"Enough." Seungman said.
"The man who raised me and looked after me all these years, the man that I new to be my father was your retainer." She snapped.
"I always felt guilty each and every time that I had to consequently think about my mother's death and how she perished on the very day that I was born.
I was told that she died protecting me but I just came to realise it at this moment that all those years I grieved for nothing." She said.
"Seungman." Princess Deokman said.
"I am grateful to you Your Highness, you gave me a dream to become a Hwarang and had it not been for you I would have probably died having thought of myself as a motherless orphan all my life." Seungman replied as she wept bitterly.
"How could you?" Lady Wolmyeong asked, "All those years that I sewed and made for her dresses to wear and those days that I went and ignited incense sticks for her at the temple to pray for her soul to be reincarnated and rest in peace.
You never said a word to me you heartless husband of mine, you didn't even try to sympathise with me for the pain of loss that I dragged myself and went through." She added.
"I'm sorry." Gukban said.
"Sorry doesn't make up for the childhood that I have been deprived of and the burden that you made my father bear for seventeen whole years.
He might have hurt to look at me everyntime thinking himself to be lacking in what he was giving me when you could have given me everything.
He loved me so dearly and even when I was sick he'd go hungry just to feed me, I feel so selfish that I disregarded his feelings and I returned to Seoraebeol hoping to realize my dream and just when I am beginning to realize it the whole world comes crashing down on me when I am made to believe that the life I have lived for all these seventeen years is not real." Seungman said.
Gukban tightly embraced her.
"What father are you who leaves your daughter?" Seungman asked as she beat him and tried to resist but barely having the strength to do so.
"You can abuse me or hit me or do whatever you want but don't take it out on your mother because she knew nothing and I kept her in the dark all these years." Gukban said.
Seungman broke free from his grip.
"You tampered with the records of the Hwarang so that no one else would ever have to find out about Moo Mak given that you were a Prince you had Access to the Royal library." Princess Deokman said.
Seungman was losing more and more faith in the man in front of her.
"Not once did you try to even at least think about him on the other side of the country and you though that by doing this you were protecting your family but instead you yourself you were tearing it apart." Princess Deokman said.
"I'd respect you if I had to die as your daughter whom you are proud of and not the daughter of someone else that the world never knew.
My father feared me being resented by another woman he couldn't marry for seventeen years of his life he'd only had me as a daughter and he would say he was content that now I feel like he owes me an entire lifetime.
About how you yourself as my father could give me away with one heart and singlehandedly choose to bury me alive and erase me from existence in my tire lineage I feel you deprived Shilla of so much.
I had to hustle and fight to get where I am right now and no one would look at me because I became a symbol of bad luck and I knew it hurt while other children had their mothers to teach them how to weave or walk or cook and live as a woman but I had none." Seungman said, "You now stand here in front of me and call me your daughter expecting me to perhaps embrace you or call you a loving father do you think that what you did is something that is easily forgiveable?" She asked as she turned around and ran away.
"Seungman?" Lady Wolmyeong called out as she stretched her hand but heartbroken she had already crossed over into the outer Courtyard.
"Let her go aunt, this must have been very hard for her as well and I believe that she needs some time herself to accept it." Princess Deokman said.
"I'll escort you back to the Palace Your Highness." Damju said.
"Yes." Princess Deokman acquiesced as she looked at the two of them before walking away.
"How could you?" Lady Wolmyeong said as she turned to look at her husband who only kept quiet.
"I loved you unconditionally and I fervently cherished you that amongst everyone else in the world I trusted you much more than any other man I ever trusted, you betrayed my trust so brutally that I can't even imagine of there is a possibility of me trusting you again." Lady Wolmyeong added as she also turned around and walked away while Gukban was left looking at the sword that had fallen onto the ground.
He was all alone in the Inner Courtyard and the sky above his head had darkened lightening streaked across it as it was followed by the sound of thunder.
He was unable to move from that spot as it slowly started to drizzle and eventually it rained and soaked him as he raised his head up to the sky.
"Look after this child and take care of her as if she were your own, nourish her and shelter her from every attack and even when she has trouble going to sleep, tuck her in and sing her the sweetest songs or tell her the best stories.
When she falls and gets a wound treat her as you would treat your own child and even when I think that I am asking for so much please, at least if you are not willing in your heart but on my behalf love this child just as I would have loved her." he recalled those words he'd said to Moo Mak.
"Whatever happens ride and even if you hear any screams do not turn around, even if you see fire rising up into the skies do not slow down and even if someone comes in your pursuit do not halt at all.
Take that child as far away as possible and I do not care whether it's Paekche, Sui or Gorguryeo.
Make sure that whatever the case is whether good or bad or even if she becomes stubborn herself and you have to lock her up do it as long as she never comes close to Chopalhye and even worse, she never sets foot in Seoraebeol." he'd pleaded with him.
"From this point onwards you are her father and you do not know me at all." Gukban had said. "When anyone asks you what happened to the child's mother you can excuse yourself and say that she passed on while giving birth to her and you were a widower who travelled to leave that life of morning behind and raise her." He had given him that excuse.
As the rain washed his face those memories had become on his heart something that was the most painful.
"I pushed you away my dear the very moment that I needed you the most." Gukban said to himself as he fell onto his knees and cried out loudly to the heavens.
Seungman was also walking through the streets and as many had moved away she still threaded aimlessly when she recalled everything that had happened to her earlier in the day.
"I asked him to do it." She recalled her biological fathers' confession.
"After the prophecy I was warned that they would make a move here in Seoraebeol and attack me and when that happened, I had already arranged for you flight because I knew that I was being watched all the time I needed to do it at the perfect time when everyone was disorganized." He'd tried explaining himself.
"To come back to Seoraebeol was my decision to make it look like I was here to avenge your death but in reality I wanted to find out who it was that orchestrated that plot and the mastermind behind it because I knew it was the only way that I could protect you from that misunderstood prophecy that kept those people hunting us down." He'd added.
As she was drenched she had already found herself at the entrance of the Hwarang Arena and she raised her head and stared at its arch.
Princess Deokman had arrived inside Her Chambers and there she was immediately joined by Yushin, Alcheon and Gopheung Rang who noticed that she wasn't in a good mood.
"Your Highness, you are back?" Gopheung said.
"Yes." Princess Deokman replied sadly.
"You look rather distraught Your Highness, did everything go well?" Alcheon Rang asked.
"Yes Your Highness, what's the matter with you and where is Seungman?" Yushin added.
"It's actually about her." Princess Deokman replied.
"What happened to Seungman?" Alcheon Rang asked.
"She needs some time alone." Princess Deokman replied, "We were always wondering who her mother was and how she had the sword that King Jinheung ordered to be made for my Grandfather and it turns out that Galmunwang Gukban and Lady Wolmyeong are her biological parents." Princess Deokman replied.
"How is that possible Your Highness, everyone knows that their daughter perished in a fire In Chopalhye." Gopheung said.
"He knew that he was being watched and if my guess is right everything even from the prophecy that foretold the advent of the Last Seonggol, it was orchestrated against him.
He knew they would come to attack him and even worse kill his daughter so he had her sent away with his most trusted retainer Moo Mak and he tampered with the Hwarang records so that he wouldn't be discovered by anyone." Princess Deokman replied.
"He practically had the courage to intentionally erase his daughter from existence." Alcheon Rang said.
"Then why would he come back to Seoraebeol?" Yushin Rang asked.
"Vengeance, he desired to know who it was that sent those assassins against him and he hoped to get even to wipe out any suspicions concerning her Survival." Princess Deokman replied.
"He wasn't right but on one side it was the only way that he could protect his daughter." Yushin remarked.
"Seungman must feel depressed at the moment because she certain got abandoned by her father and lived under a fallacy that her mother was dead all these years, she must have blamed herself given that she was made to believe her mother died protecting her." Alcheon Rang replied.
"Learning that the man who raised her isn't her real father she feels that she owes him an entire lifetime worth seventeen years past his youth because of her he never married to give her a cruel stepmother and invested and sacrificed his back enough times so that she could survive infancy and reach where she is." Princess Deokman said.
"In a day he was a father much more than your uncle could ever be all those years no wonder he was even against her coming to Seoraebeol in the first place." Alcheon Rang remarked.
"I suppose he too was worried her life would be endangered once again by the very people that had desired to kill her when she was still a baby." Gopheung added.
"Learning about it now I can only sympathize with Seungman because she has lived a rough life and had it not been for her coming to Seoraebeol to become a Hwarang, she was nearly doomed to spend eternity without knowing who she really was." Princess Deokman said.
"There is nothing more devastating than that." Gopheung said.
"Wait Your Highness." Yushin Rang said.
"What is it?" Princess Deokman asked.
"If Seungman is the biological daughter of Kim Gukban and Lady Wolmyeong that means that she is a Seonggol." Yushin Rang said.
"Yes." Princess Deokman replied.
"So that means she was a lost Princess all this time." Gopheung remarked.
"Not just any lost Princess but my blood cousin." Princess Deokman replied.