What is Lycoris Radiata (Sang-sa-hwa)?

Just as the Hanja characters imply, it is a flower that means 'flowers that long for each other.'

The flower language is impossible love, mournful longing, and sad memories. . . . .

The day the family was swept up in treason and suffered total extermination. I heard news that he went half-mad, scouring the world to find me. My heart ached as if it were being torn apart, but it was clear that if I appeared, even he would be swept away in a horrific bloodbath. Thus, I had to swallow my cold tears and go into complete hiding.

And so, five long years passed.

I know that he visits Mangwoljeong, the place filled with our memories, every single day. I know that he offers his rotting heart daily into those red flower clusters that can never meet.

At the same time... I also know the fact that he eventually buried me deep in his heart and started a family.

The elegant and beautiful wife standing by his side, heavy with child, and his bloodline that will soon enter the world. It was the perfect place by his side that I had so desperately wanted, but was never allowed.

'Right. What was I hoping for, coming all the way back to the capital? Did I hope he would suffer alone, unable to forget me for the rest of his life?'

He offered his rotting, crumbling heart into those clusters of flowers, which are said to long for each other because the leaves and blooms can never meet.

[How have you lived during those 5 years?]

The horrific night of extermination when my parents were beheaded. I escaped from that hell. My limbs were broken and my bones misaligned, and on rainy days, my whole body would ache as if it were festering. I gnawed on grass roots in the fields and crawled through the threshold of death as my wounds rotted and burst.

I had to live. Because if I went to you, you would die. With that one thought, I endured those five years, swallowing tears of blood.