C h a p t e r   36

S e h u n

She’s shaking and wincing in pain. I can’t believe I let her get hurt again. I hug her close to me and tight hoping that it will ease the pain that she’s feeling.

“Se..h..un..”

“Yeah. I’m here. You’re going to be okay. I swear.” I kiss her forehead.

After what happened, we met Luhan and the others. They told us that they safely got the hostages, Fox clan, out from where they are held in. They called reinforcements to take them back home and protect them for the meantime. For now, we’re heading back to the Dragon clan’s territory riding Yifan’s back.

“We’re close. We just need to get Yixing to look after her for a while then plan our next move.” Luhan said to brief us on our next move. As much as I wanted to go after that bastard, I can’t leave Ae Soo like this yet. Not when I heard she told me that the woman who was with Jonghyun was her Mom.

“Ae Soo!” Ae Soo’s dad came rushing to us as soon as we landed. “I was sure I am clear when I said she isn’t allowed to get out of the territory! You should’ve let me know what was happening!”

“We apologize your highness.” Yixing and Luhan said in unison. His eyes then dropped to Ae Ryu.

“Are you hurt?” He asked. I can tell that Ae Ryu’s surprised with those words too because it was the first time they both will be sharing a conversation together.

“I’m fine. I heal easily.” He replied then turned to me. “I have to take a good look a her fox bead.”

“Alright.” I say. I was about to hand Ae Soo over to him when she clings tight on me. “Ae Soo?”

“D..on’t lea..ve m..e”

“I won’t. Don’t worry.” I look back at Ae Ryu and he sighs.

“Goodness. How attached are you to him anyway?”

We head to Ae Soo’s room and Yixing came after a while. I stayed by her side as Ae Ryu and Yixing checked on her. “How is she?"

Looking at Ae Ryu’s face, it doesn’t seem good. Ae Soo’s still wincing in pain then she coughed. All our eyes widen when we see blood from . This is really nod good. “Does that answer your question?” Ae Ryu says.

“She has to get that fox bead back.” Yixing said. “For now, I have to put her to sleep to lessen the pain that she’s feeling now. Her body’s putting on too much strain because of the power that she lost. If any more of this, the princess will-“

“I get it.” I cut Yixing and held on to Ae Soo’s hand. She crying in pain as she looks at me. “You’ll be okay. I’ll get your fox bead back Ae Soo.”

“W..hat h..app..ens to M..om?"

“Mom?” Ae Ryu looks at Ae Soo then to me. “What does she mean by that?”

I was hoping that this wouldn’t come up again because I had a feeling that we’re coming to a point where her life will be at stake and I will have to choose. “She saw her. The woman that your Uncle took with him, that’s your mother.”

Ae Ryu freezes. “But she’s long dead. Right at the moment that she gave birth to both of us-“

“I take it that you get where your Uncle is going with this? He took Ae Soo’s fox bead just so he can be able to resurrect her.”

“Resurrect who?” Just when the situation can’t get any worse, here comes their father.

“Ugh..”

“Ae Soo!” The more I look at her, the painful it gets. “Please, let Yixing put you to sleep”

She shakes her head no. “N..ot u..ntil I kno..w what’s.. goi..ng to happ..en to Mom..”

“Wolf heir! I ask you what she means!” I sigh turning to Ae Soo’s dad.

“The woman that Jonghyun’s going to resurrect, it was Ae Soo’s mother, Ae Ra. It seemed that Ae Soo saw everything when she was held captive. That’s the reason why he wanted Ae Soo’s fox bead and I guess the stone from that island that Ae Ryu has now too.” Seeing that he’s still processing what’s happening, I don’t have time for that right now when her daughter’s going to die in pain. I turn back to Ae Soo and hold her hand. “I’m sorry Ae Soo, but I will try my best for you so you don’t have to worry anymore okay?” I look at Yixing and gestured for him to put her to sleep.

Now I have to try my best and save both Ae Soo and her mother.

₰  ₰  ₰  ₰  ₰  ₰

My father had always told me what my responsibilities are, since I am a clan heir. And because of that I became aware of the number of lives I am holding in my hands which is why I refuse to have someone to protect. Because I believe that it will only hold me down. But ever since I met Ae Soo, I don’t think that way anymore. Having someone to protect makes you stronger. Stronger in a sense that I just want her to smile and be happy. No sad thoughts, not a single feeling of hurt. But I also realized, that me being around her puts her in danger. Ae Soo asked me a question about it once and I have no intentions of leaving her just because of that. I promised that I will protect her whenever she’s in danger and this is the beginning of it. I’m going to save her and her mother.

Our clan leaded the search for where Jonghyun might be with the scent that we have from him. “This is too easy. It’s like he’s luring us in.” I turn to Ae Ryu then to the dark castle ahead of us. I agree that this is too easy. But I don’t have time for that. Ae Soo’s life is in danger. “Let’s search for that lady and take the fox bead out of her.”

“You do know that she’s your mother?” I reply as I jump from branch to branch with Ae Ryu behind me.

“Yeah, I’m good at being heartless. I just hope that guy would be able to do his work properly since he’s the only one who can take Ae Soo’s fox bead out.” I stop on my tracks. I haven’t heard that before.

“Why? Can’t we do that instead?”

“I’m surprised you took my sister as your bride without any knowledge of how dangerous that bead is. One touch from it and it may take your life, Wolf. I am a part of my sister but I’m not strong enough to withstand that and only the head of a clan who took a fox as his bride will be able to withstand that. I exist to protect her so I’m going to put my life on stake to being that fox bead back to her.” When we finally landed at the roof of the castle, our feet started to freeze. “Well now we’re talking. I figured that this is too easy.”

“I can smell it. Ae Soo’s scent.” I point to the part of the castle that is opposite from us.

“Ae Ra’s in there.” Ae Soo’s dad appeared with his fire dragon. “Hop on. We have to take it fast.” Like grabbing something out from our feet, we are able to move again. I’m starting to shiver in fear of how powerful Ae Soo’s family is.

“I’m breaking in-“

“Stop.” He stops me before I even break the window. Before I knew it, I felt something hit me on my side. ”SEHUN!”

I hear them scream my name and my body suddenly felt numb. What is this?

“HEY! KEEP YOURSELF TOGETHER!!” The next moment when I open my eyes, I see Ae Ryu holding me. I can hear Ae Soo’s dad shouting from the top of his lungs and swords clashing together.

Ae Soo.

I have to save her.

I turn to my left seeing Ae Soo’s mom inside the room. I just have to get the fox bead from her and take her back with us. And then everything will be over.

“Damn it! HOLD ON YOU STUPID WOLF!”

This guy have cursed me a lot ever since I met him. I now can say that he hates me. I’ve been stabbed by his Uncle which may be the cue of everything to start. I try to move but I think my blood is gushing out from my stomach. I can’t die here right now. I have to be with Ae Soo. I still have to marry her.

“STUPID! What are you doing?? Don’t move or you’ll die!”

I gasp for air as I force myself to stand and shove Ae Ryu as he try and stop me. I break in the glass and entered the room. Then I feel it. Something warm and I feel comfortable. Before I knew it, I’m engulfed in a light and now in front if Ae Soo’s mom.

“NOOOO! NOONA!” I hear a voice and I know it’s the man that stabbed me before.

It look like we’re now in a different place that nobody can enter. When I sit up seeing Ae Soo’s mom, I stare at her because she’s beautiful like her daughter but I can’t help to choke and spit blood. She smiles at me and holds my cheek.

“You are him. Tell me, what’s your name?”

“You..can talk?” She chuckles and I realize how idiotic I look right now. “Um.. Sehun ma’am.”

“Sehun huh? Let me help you with that first.” She places a hand on my wound. I winced at the contact but then it started to feel a lot better. Before I realize that she healed me, we’re both floating and the world’s moving. “Relax. This is just an illusion.” She says. I stand when I see the person in front of me whose frozen inside a boulder.

“Ae Soo!”

“She won’t hear you because we’re far away. I’m sorry, I used you because I wanted to see my daughter. I took what is supposed to be hers now. I know that’s selfish of me but I just want to see her.” I stare at her as she touches Ae Soo from the illusion but her hand keeps on going through it.

“You know, she did the same thing.” I say. She turns getting interested with me words and looked at me, telling me that she wanted to know more. “I helped her to be able to see you once because she’s dying to meet you. She wanted to know what you’re like because her father won’t tell her anything. Which is why I get to meet her and why I get a chance to love her. I went with her to see the past. My um... My mom is an expert with magic so she told me something that can make us see the past.”

She gives me a warm smile. “Ah yes. The flower?”

I chuckle. “So you know?” She nods. “When she saw you, she cried a lot to the point that her own knees gave out. She cried in joy and sadness because she finally got to see you. She tried to touch you, to hug you specially when she saw the time when you’re already conceiving her and Ae Ryu.” I clenched my fist realizing that Ae Soo’s wish might not come true anymore. “But now, I don’t think I can fulfill my promise to her.”

“You will because you can tell her that I’m happy right now and I missed her too. Tell her that you told me the story of her visiting me in my past and that I love her so so much. Tell her I’m so sorry for being a failure for a mother but I have one thing I can give her and she’ll know that in the future. So rest assured that I can guarantee you both happiness Sehun. I will always be watching you both from afar. And this,” a ball of light came out from her. It’s the fox bead! “I will now return this to you and don’t worry. I won’t die in an instant. I still have time so go and give it to her. As much as I want to go with you, my body won’t allow me to go far. But please do tell her what I wanted to say because you’re the only one who can.”

“Ah! Wait!” When I realized I’m starting to fade away, I shouted, “You are not a failure of a mother! Because you gave birth to two amazing children!”

A e   R y u

Dammit! I can’t find that wolf anywhere! He just disappeared in an instant! “Move!” I slashed a demon in front of me and continued searching until I ran into a woman who’s very familiar to me.

“Ae Ryu.” I don’t know how to react because I never do. I don’t give a damn about things because I know I’m better off leaving them alone. But now, I wonder why I can’t think of something. “Ae Ryu, will you come close to Mom?”

“I-“ What’s wrong with me? I’m used to telling people to go away from me. All of them don’t want me. I already know that my existence is not wanted. So why is it that I can’t tell her to get lost? I can feel my feet moving close to her. My heart thumping hard against my chest. My eyes feeling heavy as they get blurry and wet. Before I knew it, I’m in front of her. She reaches out for my cheek, down to my hands. She clasps it and started to tear up. “You’re long dead. So why is it that you’re crying?”

She chuckles. “I guess it’s because I’m too happy to touch and see my precious son up close. Can I hug you?”

“But I don’t do hugs-“ Even though she asked, she doesn’t care about my answer anyway. I can feel her warmth around me and I feel safe. So this is a touch of a mother? This is what Ae Soo’s been craving for all these time? I gasp and stepped away from her. “No.. I don’t deserve this when Ae Soo has been longing for you ever since we’re born!”

She smiles. “Haven’t you too?” I choked on my own breath because I realized that maybe she’s right. “Ae Ryu, you don’t have to put Ae Soo before you anymore. You both are equally precious to me. But now, I guess you’re more of in the advantageous side. As much as I want to hold her like I did with you, my body won’t let me you know? So I want you to know how this feels.” She hugs me again and planted a kiss on my forehead. “And I want you to show Ae Soo what that feels like okay? Also Ae Ryu, I know that you might be thinking or feeling that your existence wasn’t wanted in this world because it does. I’m glad for you and I know both your sister and Dad is too.” She smiles and pats my head. “So just smile and be there for your sister okay? I named you Ryu because of that. It means to heal. So in my place, whenever Ae Soo’s hurt, I want you to be there to take the pain away and heal her okay? I’m entrusting your sister in your care.”

Her presence is starting to fade and I find myself grabbing her hand. “Will I see you again?”

She smiles nodding. “You will my dear. I will always be with you.” When she faded, I can still feel her warmth against my fingers. My knees failed to support me and my eyes failed to stop the tears that are now falling.

“Thank you.. I’m glad I get to see you Mom..”

Se Jong was staring at the blood bath in front of him. He have killed hundreds of demon soldiers belonging from the Goblin clan because of the rage that he felt. Behind him is Jonghyun who’s now struggling for his last breath.

“I..can’t believe you just killed me.. hahaha..ha!” Jonghyun, despite of his struggle, laughed while staring at the full moon. “Even though... I finally resurrected her... she refused to be with me because of you..”

Se Jong took a seat beside his long time friend despite of what took place just now. “You’re still chatty for someone who’s crossing over.”

Jonghyun laughed. “Hyung.. did you know what she said? She said... even though she was alive.. she cannot possibly take the life.. of your and her child.. she wanted a piece of you to keep living.. the piece of you both..”

“You ought to stop now. Or else you will only hasten your death.”

Jonghyun smiled and shuts his eye close. “Yeah, I think you’re right... but.. Hyung.”

“What?”

“Hold my hand will you?” Se Jong stared at Jonghyun but held his hand despite of the disgust in his eyes. “You’re still a softie.”

“Shut it.”

Jonghyun chuckled. “Thank you.. and.. I’m...sorry.” He said and breathe in his last breath. Se Jong’s steel heart momentarily went back after he felt Jonghyun’s passing. He stands leaving Jonghyun’s body properly on the ground. He was about to leave when he noticed a presence behind him. He unsheathe his sword and pointed it to the woman in front of him. His eyes widen seeing who it was and froze.

“Still alert I see.” Ae Ra smiled as she looks at Se Jong. “Thank you, for stopping him.”

He does not know what to say but instead, he reached out after he dropped his sword and held Ae Ra close as he could. “You.. Are you real?”

“What do you prefer me to be?”

“You’re dead.”

Ae Ra chuckled. “Then that’s what I am.” She gasps feeling weak. The strength that she’s been saving after she took out the fox bead from her body is starting to fade out.

“Ae Ra!” Se Jong managed to catch her before she fell completely on the ground. She reached out to touch his cheek and smiled.

“Se Jong, do you remember that time at the lake? When you told me how you wanted our future to be like.”

Se Jong leaned on the boulder behind him and held Ae Ra close to him. “Yeah.”

“I pictured our family like at that very same moment too. And I thought, ah, I’m cruel to do this to him knowing that I won’t be able to be by his side by that time. I’m so sorry for that.. and I left you the trouble of raising them alone.” Sejong clenched his fist and tears started to fall down from his eyes. Ae Ra reached out to wipe them but they aren’t stopping. “This is a first. You crying in front of me. You hate it when you cry in front of other people.”

“You know there’s two kinds of people for me. You and everyone else.” Ae Ra chuckled. “But I didn’t raise any of them. Kang Joon did. And I also failed to protect him. Your brother... and you too.”

“You didn’t fail to protect him or me. It’s just, our time is just over. But despite of everything, you care for our children now and that’s all that I need. I want you to keep loving the piece of our love because that’s the only thing I ever wanted. For your and my love to keep on going and to leave an existence in this world Se Jong.”

Se Jong was now crying hard and he saw Ae Ra’s body fading slowly. “I don’t want you to go again... I need you Ae Ra.. I love you so much..”

“It’s just for now okay? We’ll meet again. And when that happens, I’m sure that we’ll be together forever.” Se Jong leaned close as his lips meets Ae Ra’s as they both share their tears. “I love you Se Jong. Remember that. I love you more than anything in this world..”

Ae Ra’s voice echoed on Se Jong’s head as her body fades away from his grasp. “I love you too. More than anything in this world.”