Soo huffed and puffed as she made her way up the mountain. She was tasked with bringing the 4th prince his lunch and she couldn’t fathom why he had to take his meal on top of a mountain of all places. Why couldn’t he go back to the 8th prince’s house and eat at a table like a normal person?

“I mean, why doesn’t he eat in his room? Why make all the trouble? I knew I didn’t like him…he’s going all out to make things difficult for me. Gosh, I’m tired!”

As she stopped to take a break, she looked up to see the view of the 4th prince’s back. He was sitting there by himself, looking out onto the horizon.

“Yesterday, he made such a commotion but now he sure looks innocent from the back…and actually lonely.”

Soo laughed wryly before So turned around to look at her, and she stopped laughing immediately in shock, afraid of what he would do if he actually heard her laugh. He looked at her silently before quickly turning back around. She wrinkled her nose before approaching him. When she arrived by his side, she set the basket down with a large thud and spoke in a sarcastic voice.

“Your meal has arrived.”

As she lifted the lid and set it aside, the 4th prince spoke

“Leave it there.”

She forced a smile and asked rhetorically “You would like to eat alone in peace? Please do that…”

She struggled off the rocks with a huff and meant to walk away but stopped and looked back at him again. After some thought, she grimaced and stomped her foot before returning and taking a seat right where she was before.

“I have to take back the empty bowls. Why don’t you eat quickly?”

She started to fix her skirts as she waited before hearing his low voice.

“About yesterday, you did not see anything. Be careful of what you say.”

She rolled her eyes and spoke over her shoulder in disbelief.

“I wouldn’t talk about it even if I could! I can’t believe it, even though I saw it myself.”

She twiddled with her fingers before adding “I have my own issues. I don’t have time to go around talking about other people.”

Soo grumbled under her breath before complaining.

“Every time I see you, you tell me to forget I saw you…”

He did not respond so she started to look around from where they sat and couldn’t help but make small conversation.

“By the way, is it better if you eat out here? Oh, are you looking at the palace over there? That will eventually be your home. Why must you stare at it while eating?”

There was a pause before he spoke.
 

“If it is a home, I should have a family.”

“Huh? I heard that your mother, father, and brother all live there…but now that it’s come up…”

She turned around abruptly and surprised the 4th prince, who was shocked she was looking at him straight on.

“Why did you do that yesterday?”

She was referring to why he was covered in blood, injured, and pushing down the stone towers that stood in the courtyard of the 8th prince’s home. His lips floundered at a loss for words, clearly uncomfortable with answering before retorting with a question of his own in a raised voice.

“You! How did you get into the palace bath that day?”

Soo knew she had dug herself a hole and quickly racked her brain to think of something to say.

“Huh? Oh…Oh…I…Chae Ryung says that the chicken is the best!”

She said before reaching into the basket and grabbing a piece of the steamed chicken. Soo knew that it was rude to take his food, and if Myung Hee was there Soo would have been scolded. From her peripheral vision, she could see the 4th prince look at her and the chicken in disbelief but eventually realized he wasn’t going to get anything else from her and started eating too. The rest of their meal was silent, save for the sounds of the chewing or the occasional breeze that would blow, and Soo wished time would pass faster so she could escape this awkward situation. 

Eventually they made it down the mountain, but Soo continued to trail behind the 4th prince, with the basket slowing her down and her long skirts getting in the way.

At one point, she set down the basket to gather her skirts and the 4th prince turned around to look at her, tilting his head in the direction of home. She sighed and looked down at the basket before dropping her skirts and standing up, waiting for him to continue walking as he had.  When he continued to stand there staring, she wobbled past him, still struggling with the heavy basket and skirts.

What she didn’t notice was the 4th prince trying to take the basket away from her, but she kept on trailing further and further away. As she took a breather and let out a huge sigh, he couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

Ha Jin opened her eyes in shock, breathing hard as she looked around the room. She must have fallen asleep by accident because her lights were still on. Sitting up, she wiped away the tears and took deep breaths to calm herself down.

“Why am I like this? Seriously, who is he to me that I am like this?”

She turned to her nightstand to grab the journal and jotted down as much as she could about the dream. Bringing lunch to the 4th prince. Looking over mountain towards palace.  Afterwards, Ha Jin laid down and was thankfully able to go back to sleep and did not have any more dreams till the morning. 

The next day was the last day of their boothing at the Goryeo history exhibit and Ha Jin was glad to bring the profits back to Ms. Oh’s shop. As she and Min Ji organized their display products on the table, they started chatting as they always did. 

“I’ve been having the same dream for almost half a year. It’s about a man with a long scar on his face like this,” she said, tracing the line on her own face. “He hides it with a mask like this,” she continued before covering one eye with her hand. “He was dressed in olden day clothes too.”

She didn’t reveal that it was the 4th prince. That would be too wild…who would be dreaming about a prince like she did?

“It’s because you nearly died,” her Min Ji said bluntly. Ha Jin looked at her in shock before Min Ji continued.

“You nearly drowned, passed out, then woke up months later. I’m surprised you’re doing okay. I don’t know if I would be the same.”

Ha Jin made a sound before retorting “I’m perfectly fine now.”

Min Ji smiled before stepping away to fix one of their banners. When she was out of earshot, Ha Jin muttered under her breath “I don’t know why when I dream about him, I end up crying so much…”

She looked over from her booth to see a man lecturing about make-up from Goryeo in the distance. A little later as she was adjusting a display, he walked up to her.

“Hello,” she greeted before bowing and standing up to look at him.

He didn’t say hello back but simply smiled and kept staring. She smiled and waited for him to speak. Eventually he did and she let out an internal sigh. It was going to be one of those days, wasn’t it?

“Is your last name Go?”

“What? Oh, yes I am Go Ha Jin.”

“Did you know that the last name Go was Hae in the Goryeo era?”

“Oh, really? We happen to be selling make-up from the Goryeo era. That’s a funny coincidence.”

The man looked at her with a glint in his eye before speaking. “There is no such thing as a coincidence. Things only return to their original place,” he finished matter-of-factly.

“Yes?”

He stared at her a bit more before sniffing and looking over at their booth. “It smells a lot like roses here.”

Ha Jin smiled stiffly before turning to grab a product from the stand. “Ah, that’s because our products have a lot of rose oil in them, especially this serum here. It’s made with Bulgarian rose oil in houttuynia cordata extract…”

“Bulgarian rose oil, You didn’t use that, did you?”

What was this voice she was hearing?

The man looked at her with concern as she stared back at him blankly and looked around in shock as she got ahold of herself.

“Are you all right?” he asked her.

“Huh?” She said as her eyes darted back to him. “It’s nothing…” she stared at the serum in her hand before trying to continue again. “This serum is good for your skin if you use it regularly.”

She panicked and set down the scrum before grabbing a BB cream that was nearby.

“Oh, did you know they had something like BB cream during the Goryeo era? Men use it a lot these days,” she said as she opened it and was about to squeeze out a sample before another voice rang in her head.

“You had better prepare yourself now. I will never let you go.”

Ha Jin staggered as a scene of her putting make-up on the 4th prince flashed across her vision. Why was she putting on make-up for the man with the scar? She had never seen her face in these dreams before. She was starting to get dizzy and heard the man say something about resting. Min Ji rushed over and helped her stand up before telling her to go home and rest. Ha Jin apologized to the man and gave Min Ji a grateful look before walking off to the locker room to change.

When she finished changing out of her uniform, Ha Jin walked towards the exit before the large banner advertising Goryeo paintings caught her eye. Today was the last day after all, and she hadn’t had time to peruse all the exhibits because she was manning the booth. Maybe taking a look wouldn’t hurt. She was feeling better now anyway.

As Ha Jin walked through the area and viewed the paintings one by one, nothing really peaked her interest until she came to one with a man who was dressed in white with his head tilting up towards the sky and one hand stretching out as if he was catching rain. 

She was hit with another flash of the same man looking back at her as the rain fell with his hair matted around his face and the beginnings of his scar peeking out from under the make-up. This was followed by the same man in black royal robes at the top of the stairs. As the scene faded away, another one came to her. 

She was being painfully whipped after taking the place of her maid who was accused for stealing a hairpin. However, the 4th prince stepped in and stopped it from continuing.

“She is mine. I said, she is mine.”

Ha Jin turned to look at more paintings as the visions, no, memories continued to play in her mind. She was taken back to the memory of where she helped the 4th prince cover his scar. That was why he was able to participate in the rain ceremony

“You had better prepare yourself now. I will never let you go. The moment you touched my face, I decided I would never let you go.”

Her eyes finally landed on a portrait of the 4th king, which depicted the man in her dreams exactly. Of course, he was sans scar but his facial features and eyes were all the same. The way his eyes were drawn reminded her of how he used to stare into her own.

It wasn’t a dream. None of it was ever a dream. Everything she had seen while asleep were actually memories. While Ha Jin was in coma, she had gone back in time to meet the 4th prince as Hae Soo and helped him become king. She remembered looking up at him after their coronation ceremony and thinking he would no longer be remembered in history as a bloody monarch.

She finally looked at the informational placard next to the portrait and read about his legacy. The slave emancipation, the houses of mercy, the medical licensing exam, and the donations to the poor. She next read how his empress Hae Soo was cherished dearly and was involved in the making of many of his policies. His successor was Gyeonjong, the eldest son, and the rest of their children including Wang Seol, Wang Hyo Hwa, Wang Aji, Wang Mun Deok, and Wang Bo Hwa were listed.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for leaving you all…”

Ha Jin felt herself crumble as she dropped to the ground in tears, her entire body racking with sobs. She had left them all behind, the 4th emperor, and her children. How did they live after she left? Would she ever be able to meet them again? The tears continued to stream down her face and she hid her face in her hands.

She could hear the whispers behind her but no one approached her. After sometime, she heard the clacking of dress shoes drawing closer to her until it stopped right beside her. She could see the polished leather from between her fingers and when they didn’t move, she looked up to see a dark blue and white polka dot handkerchief being offered to her.