Prologue 

Spring

War has ended ten years ago.

Hostilities, anger, pain, and bitterness were left buried alongside the people who had fought. Peace reined the country for two decades and every family starts anew.

Titles of lords and ladies multiply in the developing city as maids and footmen did. Stone mansions rivalled wooden homes as the country continued to rise up once again.

And as the sun rises and sets, the difference of two castes heightens. There were only the rich... and the poor.

An hour away from the hustle of the city stood a handsome orchard in a peaceful countryside, with a lake not so far away housing carps and trout and a number of koi. The line of cherry blossoms stood a few feet from a beautiful bricked road. The place was a photograph shaped into reality.

 

Some says it was dream, some says it was heaven itself.

For a young boy of nine, it was the norm. The place he resides in was nothing but a house, a shelter that shields him – a home perhaps, but nothing more. It is most especially not a paradise, more like a training ground, a place for him to shape himself as to what he would be in the future.

Carrying the pail half his weight, he strutted through the line of shrubs and bushes towards the beautiful house. Smoke from the chimney was clouding his view of the skies. His eyes rounded and his lips pouted as his stomach whined loudly.

He hurriedly walked back, not minding the small splashes escaping his pail with nothing but dinner in his head.

Cabbage soup and roasted chicken was almost a feast for him, his hands were greased and his mouth full as he stuffed his stomach with the food.

The woman sitting opposite him, an infant cradled in her arms looked at him with a soft smile. Her brown locks were hidden from her cap, tightened by a yellow ribbon. Her dress was still hidden behind a soiled apron as she helped herself with dinner. The baby on her chest slept soundly like a child cuddled on soft pillow and blankets.

He smiled back at her as they both finished their meal.

“Watch what you eat kid.” She murmured softly as he cleaned their small table. “You are watching your figure. Remember, no muscles, no fat.”

He nodded in understanding as he finished his delectable meal.

As the night goes deep, he helped the woman to her bed, tucked her baby and settled on his own small chamber at the attic of the cottage. His room has but a window, showing a beautiful framed image of the skies at morning and at night. The cold breeze did nothing as the chimney end was at one of its wall. The gaps of the logs provided as his drawers of leaflets, papers, and readings, those that were dropped by travellers from cars and carriages that he had studied secretly.

He has charcoal as his pen, and little by little, he taught himself to write.

His future was sure. He knew where he was headed for and soon, he has to leave the house he had accustomed himself with for four years.

The beautiful and kind lady who takes care of him was doing it for a cause. She was not his real mother; nevertheless, she was almost one. Until she had her real baby, a boy with beautiful pink cheeks and skin as white as snow. He felt her drift slowly as the baby starts to grow, and most of the time, she was quiet towards him.

“Do not grow close to me. You’ll leave soon anyway.” She told him when he arrived first at her cottage. She was young back then, more beautiful and kind. Her eyes were soft and gentle but she forced him not to care for her, especially love her. She would never be his mother.

MOTHER – the first word he learned to write on his crumpled sheet using a piece of coal. His letters were ragged, but he knew, he wrote it right.

Despite her forcing him not to care, despite her getting indifferent towards him, he had cared for her, he loves her.

Even if he was nothing but a payment of a debt.  

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A/N: Hi! Here's the new story I've been blabbering about in Twitter. I'm sorry if I just posted this now. I've been quite scared of this story because I don't know if everyone would like it. Just imagine this as a different Korea, a bit of 1920-ish London time. I invented this so yeah.

Anyway, updates for this would be slower than Attention because I promise 4k+ words per part. This would run along ten to fifteen chapters. (I hope)  No this is definitely longer.

I love you all. Do tell me what you think about this okay!?