About

Gold, silver, treasures, and silks laid in the palm of my hand; the overflowing love of my parents and the deep affection of my brothers. My father, far from keeping me from education because I was a woman, even provided me with a private tutor. Every day was happy, and there wasn't even a small pebble in the fields of my life. Then one day, my house was burned down, and my parents and brothers were all killed. Having escaped the disaster because I was out buying books, I encountered my mother, who was barely clinging to life in the courtyard where the chaos had erupted. Giving me the rings and ornaments from her fingers, my mother told me to reveal this senseless crime and urged me to leave quickly. I had no choice but to leave, shedding tears as I went. I hid on a remote island, even dressing as a man to conceal my identity. The island was peaceful. It was quiet yet cozy. Then one day, I found a boy washed up by the waves on the beach. Perhaps he had been harmed by the typhoon two days prior; I could not pass by the boy, who looked to be about the same age as my older brother. I cared for the boy with all my heart, and for the boy who had lost his memory, I taught him everything I knew. My lonely island life became less so because of him, and while spending such peaceful days, Because I was disguised as a man, soldiers swarmed in one day to inform me that I had been conscripted for war and tried to take me away. However, Gyeol blocked me as I tried to leave the room, cornered me, and spoke. "I will go in your place, Master. However, please make me one promise. If I return alive... you will become my woman." I nodded with tears in my eyes, and Seo Gyeol left for the battlefield in my stead, prepared for death. Three years passed. No matter how he had been washed away by the waves, not a single word of him was heard on the island, which the soldiers knew about. I believed he had died in the war and performed memorial rites every year on the day he left. Then one day, the disciple I thought was dead returned to the island as a cold-blooded Emperor who had usurped an empire larger than my own homeland. In the front yard where golden banners fluttered, he looked at me not as a boy, but with the eyes of a man. To claim the wish he had promised before leaving.