Sakura_Charmash

First born princess of Goryeo is promised to Silla in marriage. What has begun as a promise between families becomes a pact sealed in blood when her betrothed is mysteriously killed. Now what binds Seol, the lady Ha In of Goryeo to Silla is a blood debt – to turn away from it would be to topple the country into irreparable chaos.
Yet, her heart lies with another.
Raised from obscurity of illegitimacy, fate of concubine - born last son of northern Kang clan rests on the emperor’s grace. However, being tasked with the guardianship of the imperial princess is the last of his worries. In the whirlwind of emotions that she brings along, it is not just his title that is at stake, but his heart and a secret that he had brought from a grave of a different time.
Theirs is a fate from an age gone by, but a love impossible to attain. Theirs is a story written upon dying stars.
***
From inside: 
The snow caressed him in a way she yearned to; fluttering against his lashes, tangled up in his hair. She has always felt home in north, in the valleys that filled themselves with her namesake and with this man beside he, arrows slung over his shoulder and laughter in his eyes. Silla and her betrothed would never take that place.
Seol opens her mouth; it is now or never.
“Don’t say it,” he cuts her off, a hand stretched out for a lonely snowflake to perch upon. It turns translucent against his roughed palm.
“My hand isn’t made for snowflakes,” he sounds joyous, as he always does – when she is weeping within. His eyes remain resolutely elsewhere.
“I’ve been summoned to the garrison,” he continues in that same flat tone. “My last duty here will be to deliver your highness to your betrothed.”
She is unaware of the tear that has escaped, until an ice cold thumb brushes it off.
“Don’t cry,” he says then and she sees the laughing spark in his eyes for what it truly is; longing. “It breaks my heart.”
 ***

Snow n' Starlight

Further away from Shinju they move, the less signs of winter become. There are still lingering traces of autumn in fields, frozen grounds and last wilting flowers. Nights are punishingly cold, biting winds stealing any meager warmth flames would provide. Indignity and unfairness of it all bear deeper than those on Seol's conscience.

Beom is extracting his own personal vengeance from Seo, and vicariously from her. She would never live this down. This disgrace and helplessness. She wonders if Yong is going through a torment of similar kind, where his ego is getting beaten and stripped as hers was. Or, she thinks with a daring heart, if his torment had more physical nature.

She has seen the wicked pleasure in Beom's eyes during the brief mention of her brother. If anything Beom regretted failing to have his hands on Yul, which in turn made her fear for Yong, and for the twins. The poor children, dangled on the face of so much uncertainity without a warning.

Torment - III