(Dont jump to the last please 😭😭)

Suhan sat still. In his hand, his mobile was spinning fast, his actions unconscious.

Lady Areum pointed toward the cupboards, "The General could not completely follow his maiden's wishes. All of his letters, which the Maiden had cherished, all the jewels he had given, all of it was entrusted to her Nana, who kept it preserved."

Suhan glanced at the cupboards, not asking the Lady to fetch the evidence, so she continued,

"The Maiden's Nana and the General's trusted brother made this compound over the one that burnt down. The main temple has the ashes of both the Maiden and the General.

The family of the little boy, who grew up to be a doctor, was entrusted with the legend of the binyeo by their Nana. It was passed down, that this secret would be guarded and buried until the Binyeo found its way to the temple, with someone who wanted to know the truth."

"That's oddly specific." Suhan spoke after a long while.

"Those were the instructions left by the Maiden in her letter. She believed in the legend. Unlike you." The old woman took a dig.

Suhan ignored it. He had to, because truthfully at that moment, he was a mess. "If that is all, you may leave."

Lady Areum cast a shocked look at him, "Young Master! Learn some manners! Is this the way you treat someone?"

"Lady, trust me." Suhan patiently replied, "I am being extremely respectful given the circumstance I find myself in. Your job is done. You will be well rewarded for it. But know, that this is my legal property, and right now, I need to be alone."

The older woman saw the white lines of strain around his eyes and asked just one question, "What are you going to do to this temple?"

Suhan pushed back the chair and stood up. Putting on a genial smile, he walked forward towards her, "I'll help you out."

Stunned and astonished at his behaviour, the old woman could only gape as she was effectively walked out of the gates of the temple by the Master.

Once she was gone, Suhan stood on the grounds.

A sense of unrealism shrouded him, he could not get over the tale. Ever since the auction, this strange anxiety had developed in him.

He recalled, as soon as Hobi had seen the Binyeo in the auction of the Gala, without hesitation, without a pause, he had asked him to buy it.

His cadence, his intonation, his aura had changed, once Hobi sat in the audience and the story progressed. Speaking the words, the way he did, was impossible for a hybrid without receiving an education. The Hobi he knew had changed into a completely different man in that auction.

Then there was the jewels.

Hobi was the one who had come up with the idea, taking charge of the project.

The one thing, Anya had shared with Suhan regarding Hoseok's worry was that he had been constantly plagued with the anxiety of Anya fearing him.

The one who had taken the punishment Anya had given Jimin the hardest, had been him. He had detested Anya taking pain for a mistake not committed by her. Her suffering pain for their mistake or for them, it was poorly tolerated by Hoseok, a shadow of what happened to the Maiden.

The more Suhan recalled, the more unreal it got. He was at a complete loss at how to take this. He didn't know what to do. More than that, he didn't know if this kind of a past was only shared with Hobi or-

Taehyung! He was behaving oddly too!

Suhan clutched at his head, sitting down then and there. His mind whirled, his emotions were drenched in sorrow, his protective instincts were riled up, while he felt helpless. Learning the truth, hadn't helped at all.

What was he supposed to do? More than that, how was he supposed to process the heavy torment she had been through?

The unreal pain of the learnt past, the understanding, the recognition of just how much they had suffered, choked Suhan.

Worse, because the figures of the past were no strangers.

Just imagining his sister's face, burning in that Inn caused him to break out in a cold sweat of shaking, destructive fear.

The past was making him lose the sense of the present, a knot of rope constricting around his throat. He did not want to visualize how her sister burned and died. He did not want to think about his brother taking his own life, sitting lonely under a tree.

Increasingly, Suhan felt confused and lost, until his cellphone started ringing.

Grasping at it as an excuse, he glanced at the ID. He paused for a second, before he recalled something else.

Accepting the call, he cautiously said, "Yes?"

"Where might you be?" a deep voice asked Suhan.

Interjecting a false playfulness in his voice, Suhan answered, "Anya didn't tell you? Ah well, I have come to enjoy my appetite of-"

"Did you go to find the origins of the Binyeo?"

The pause was all the answer that the hybrid on the other line needed. He sighed, "I was afraid of this."

Clutching the phone to his ears, Suhan uttered just one word, "Explain."

Yoongi chuckled on the other side, "Memories are best left buried Suhan, don't you understand that? What good can the past do, when the present is where we are living? Do you think these attempts at your life or our Vrâg's problem or the unknown enemy of Master will be wiped away if the past come into light? Will it help in any manner?"

Suhan kept quiet. Every word Yoongi spoke was the truth. The past, the one he had found out was itself a period that the ones who lived through wanted to leave behind. That pain was over after death. What good would it be if it was raked over again?

"What should I do?" he asked the Jaguar, genuinely wanting his help.

The answer came at once, with a pause.

"Destroy it. Completely."

For a second, Suhan froze. Then he absorbed what was said.

That reply caused a relaxation to the building tension Suhan had been experiencing. A lightness filled him, his breathing getting easier. "Damn Jaguar, are you not a smart one."

"Whatever. In return just put in a good word for me to Master, will you? All this work she has us doing is going to break me down."

"But, how-"

"-did I find out? I'll let you in on a secret Suhan." Yoongi had a sly humour in his voice, "Your soundproof walls aren't soundproof enough for us." He hung up after saying that.

Ah. Nisa.

Smiling, Suhan looked back at the temple grounds.

A lot of history had taken place here.

The place was drenched in a profound tragedy with its sorrow touching anyone who had been involved in it.

Suhan walked towards the Temple and paid respect to the altar.

The Dark General and his Pure Maiden were dead. Their story was filled with more blood than happiness.

But his sister, his brothers, his family was alive. They were happy. And it was his duty to keep them that way.

15 hours later, Suhan boarded the flight back to his house, his need to hold his prickly sister and annoy her pulsing strongly in his heart. More than that, he wanted to take the Python hybrid out to have fun. He needed more laughter in his life.

In those 15 hours, Suhan had had the ashes in the temple spread across the mountain, all the letters, jewels burnt and destroyed. The safe unlocked and the old papyrus leaves torn. The temple and the trees would be demolished soon, with an open contract as to which business to be created on top of it still undecided.

As for the Binyeo, Suhan smiled, he had taken extreme pleasure in breaking that 30 Million worth Binyeo.

After all, according to him, it had accomplished its job.

It had travelled through all those lifetimes to make him aware about the hidden sides and possibilities which could be at play. It had done its job of opening him to a side he had no idea about. If he knew, then that danger, would no longer remain unseen.

The General and the Maiden didn't have a family to rely on, but his sister and her pack?? They had.

Him.

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Never again would the Warrior and his Maiden meet,
Hoseok would never shelter his Anya in his embrace,
They were born. . . Just to fade away.
Their love, locked in the hearts of those who witnessed their days. . .

For even when the souls meet as new lives,
The sacrifice of the Princess for her General,
The emotions which consumed them,
Would never accompany their first gaze.

That, was their true Death.
That was the night, they had truly died, never to be awakened again.
They left, destiny pulling them apart,  without leaving any trace. . . . .

As Suhan left behind the history,

The sighs of the tall Warrior of the past, for the longing of his maiden, their separation causing a throbbing pain through time which pulsed in the air, their story remaining unsaid. Buried forever.

They had lived.

They had loved.

They had. . . . existed. . . .

Their identities, gone like the sand blowing over the dunes, forever.

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Sooooooooo. . . . . .

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This ends Hoseok's Prequel!

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