Lady Mun-He

Sitting on the floor of the prince's private room in the Cherry Blossom, Lady Hu with her head laid on the captain's shoulders tells the story of her first encounter with the prince "I remember the day the prince first walked through the doors of this establishment" Lady Hu paused for a moment "He was just seventeen and I was just beginning to learn how to run the place. He tried to pass himself as a roving merchant in need of a room."

"Tried?" Captain Gi asked curiously

"Tried and failed miserably," Lady Hu giggled. "He dressed the part and even looked the part, but...he knows nothing of the part. Here was this arrogant young man, waving his money around, making a scene."

"I could never imagine the prince as a loud and obscene person," Captain Gi expressed, chuckling at the thought of Prince Young-Sik, other than his cool demeanor.

"Madame Hu, my adoptive mother, asked what his products were, at first he said he sold goats, then he said it was chickens the next thing you know, he said he owns a goat and chicken poo cleaning business. I led him to one of our rooms to save him from embarrassment, We became good friends after that." Captain Gi laughed out loud at the story he heard.

"Oh my goodness, my sides are about to burst...I wish I had been there to see our friend fumbling his words," Captain Gi expressed

Silence filled the room for a while, Lady Hu was the first to speak and break the silence, "He was our friend, wasn't he?"

"Yes, he was...and he was a good friend," He replied solemnly

Lady Hu shifted her eyes toward the captain. "Calling you Captain Gi is too cumbersome. Can I know your name?" she asked the captain

"Kwan, you can call me Kwan. Also, can I call you anything else aside from Lady Hu?" He asked in return

"Mun-He, just call me Mun-He." She smiled at Kwan, and then they continued to reminisce about the friend that they lost. "I was his oldest and dearest friend, and you...you were his most trusted."

"Did the prince say I was his most trusted?" Kwan asked with deep sadness

"He didn't say it, but didn't have to, I saw it in his eyes, how he trusted you" Mun-He paused for a while "But the way he looked at the country bumpkin...I can't put it into words, but it's so different," She explained

Kwan chuckled lightly, "She held a special place in his heart, a place that only one can occupy."

"Did you know that I used to like the prince? But I gave up when he introduced that girl," Mun-He revealed with a small grin on her face

Kwan furrowed his brow. "Who? Lady Jin-Ri?

Mun-He scoffed "A country bumpkin who is now a lady, but yes...she has this thing that made me think I cannot compete with her"

"She has something?" turning his head towards the lady he was with

Mun-He scrunched her face and spoke, "Or rather, she lacked something that made her shine in his eyes." She revealed in a casual manner

"Lack something?" Kwan scoffed

Mun-He nods her head. "She's shameless. I think being around formal women has fried Young-Sik's brain to the point that shameless women appeal to him."

"You mentioned that you had an adoptive mother?" Kwan asked Mun-He, curiously wanting to know the woman's past

Mun-He sat up straight, then looked at Kwan. "Why do you want to know?"

Kwan shrugged his shoulders. "No particular reason, I just want to know you," he said with sincerity

Mun-He sighed, and then she regaled him with her life story: "I was seven years old when I lost my family." She began to recount her youth, "I was the granddaughter of a retired magistrate, from the province of Kalto gum. My parents died when I was very young."

Mun-He envisioned herself from a time when life was filled with happy times, "Grandfather! Grandfather!"

A distinguished old man with a beard and a mildly balding head. Smiled to greet the young girl. His face is etched with years of wisdom. "What is it, my little cherry blossom?" He asked with a smile

Mun-He held out her hand to her grandfather, "Look, a cherry blossom, the flowers have started to bloom," showing the flower she picked from a nearby tree

"So it did, so it did. Would you like to go to the cherry blossom orchard?" Her grandfather asked, and the young Mun-He nodded her head and smiled. The old man took the little girl's hand and led her to the orchard

"In other cultures, the phoenix, butterflies, and even the sun represent rebirth. In our family, we have the cherry blossoms," the grandfather explained as they gazed at the blossoming flowers. "Despite having a short life, these flowers never fail to bloom again."

The old man knelt beside his granddaughter. "Be like the cherry blossom, never forget to renew yourself even in the darkest of times," The grandfather said to the young Mun-He

"I never understood those words, but I wish I did, because...I never knew I would need it so soon," Mun-He told Kwan, a hint of regret was evident in her voice.

"One evening, I woke to shouting and yelling, someone was arguing with my grandfather," She narrated as she recalled that fateful night.

The young Mun-He got out of her bedroom and slowly crept towards her grandfather's study and listened to the conversation between her grandfather and a mysterious man. "I'm sorry, minister, but I made my decision. I am not going back to politics, and I will dedicate my remaining days to taking care of my granddaughter."

The mystery minister sighed "You realize that I have records of illicit activities and I happened to see your name in one of those pages" The minister cockily threatened

The grandfather only chuckled, "Is that so, minister? What a coincidence since I read a book about illegal and secret activities, and your name was plastered in every sentence and every page of the book."

The minister was surprised. "Where is that record? Give it to me!" He angrily asked

"Somewhere you will never reach if you continue to harass me, I will send those records directly to King Seo-Jung himself," Mun-He's grandfather warned the minister

"This is the last time you will cross me! Do as I say or die!" The minister shouted in a shrieking voice

"Everything happened so fast, the next thing I remember, my grandfather was dead, and the servants were either dead or running away. Our home was in flames, and I was being whisked away by the head maid," Mun-He sadly narrated. "That old lady. Maid Mun became my grandmother Mun."

"Wait...Your family name, Hu, is from your adoptive mother, and the Mun from your name is from the old lady who saved you. What about 'He'?" Kwans asked to clarify his confusion

"He-Lin...that was the name my grandfather gave me" She answered in response to the captain's question "Grandmother Mun, raised me the best she could, she taught me how to read and write, numbers, she taught me how to make my dolls and she even taught me that knowledge is power"

"Grandma! Grandma!" A young Mun-He runs back home crying

An old woman with long gray hair and a frail physique turned around to meet the crying girl. "What is wrong, my cherry blossom?"

Mun-He sobbed as she told her story, "The village chief's son pulled my hair and threw horse water at me."

The old woman pulled a towel from a nearby clothesline and started to wipe the little girl. "Has this boy done to you before?" she asked tenderly, to which Mun-He nodded while still sobbing

"Do you know why he bullies you?" The old woman asked tenderly while she continued to wipe the young Mun-He

"I don't know Grandma Mun, he just does," the young girl tattled to her grandmother

"Well, you better find out the reason why. Because knowledge of your adversary can save you," Grandmother Mun instructed the young girl.

"I followed what she told me, and I used knowledge to take care of this boy who bullied me relentlessly." Mun-He smiled as she was nostalgic

"What knowledge did you use on your bully?" Kwan asked curiously

"Being kicked in the family jewels hurts like hell!" She answered mischievously while she pointed to the captain's crotch. The story made Kwan reel in pain as if he were the one who was kicked.

"I don't think that was what Grandmother Mun meant by that," Kwan replied, his face scrunched like he was in pain

The smile on Mun-He's face disappeared when she told the next part of her story," But we were so poor that we were drowning in debt. I was fifteen when she died, and the villagers decided to sell me, to be a kisaeng to pay our debts to them."

"At first I was assigned to the kitchen, washing dishes and slicing vegetables during the day, and at night I would tend to guests." Mun-He sighed and paused. "For the first few years, Madame Hu was distant to me until I proved myself to her. The Madame went on a trip and left the golden dragon under the care of her oldest employee, Lady Hwan, and I was left to do only ledger work. Everything was running smoothly until one night, I made a startling discovery."

At that time, I was just eighteen, a young girl on the brink of adulthood. I stumbled upon a troubling inconsistency between Madame Hu's ledger and the records kept by the employees. I can still picture that night vividly, years later.

"Hold on... there's a discrepancy of at least a hundred gold coins between Madame Hu's ledger and Lady Hwan's," I thought, rising from the table, my mind racing as I headed toward Lady Hwan's quarters.

"I completely forgot to knock and just walked in," I recalled, the memory sharp in my mind.

"Lady Hwan, I think there's an error in your records..." My heart raced as I caught sight of her slipping gold coins from that evening's earnings into her pocket. "Lady Hwan, what are you doing?"

In a flash, she concealed the coins, stood up, and ushered me out of her room. "It's nothing, I was merely counting my money," she insisted, her voice steady but her eyes betraying her.

"Your money? That cashbox belonged to the counter!" I gasped, my hand instinctively covering my mouth as I pointed at her, my voice a mix of shock and accusation. "You're taking money from the cashbox and pretending the amount is unchanged in your records!"

"Now you listen here, you little brat!" Lady Hwan grabbed Mun-he by the arm and threatened her, "If you say one word about this to the madame, I will kill you!"

"Not if I kill you first!" Madame Hu declared from behind them, "Hwan, release the girl." Madame Hu's voice thundered along the hallway

Lady Hwan quickly did as told, she nervously bowed, and started to explain herself. "M-Madame, I thought you wouldn't be returning until the next day." She looked at the madame's reaction, her nervousness turned to fear when she saw those angry eyes glaring at her. She grabbed Mun-He and accused her, "I caught this girl taking gold coins from the cash box!"

"Silence, you lying snake! I was there, I saw everything; how dare you accuse another of your treachery? It was a good thing this girl caught you, and my trip ended early, or you would continue to steal from me." Madame Hu pulled out her bodyguard's sword and pointed it at Lady Hwan. "I trusted you! How dare you betray me? Get out, leave this place, or I will kill you right here, right now!"

"From that day on, I slowly earned Madame Hu's trust to the point that we became so close she treated me like a daughter. When she learned of my story, she bestowed upon me her family name, and I fashioned for myself a new name using what grandfather gave me and Grandma Mun's name" She sighed and paused for a while "Four years ago when Madame Hu passed away from a weak heart, she left me this establishment through her will and I renamed it to the Cherry Blossom" Mun-He concluded