The Choice of The Universe

Han woke up with a deep sadness in his heart and a few tears in the corner of his eyes saying "mom". As he sat up in his bed, he felt the longing for his mother deep in his heart. Was this real? Or was it a dream?

He put his head in his hands and thought for a while whether the dream he had was real or not. When he finally got over the effect of the dream, he started to examine his surroundings. The first thing that caught his attention was the oil lamp hanging from the ceiling.

He and his mother had never had such a luxury. They always slept in the dark unless the moonlight illuminated the night. After looking at the oil lamp for a while, he saw Neva, the lady-in-waiting sleeping on the opposite couch.

...

She got up from her warm bed in the middle of the night and came to burn the incense of this invader. In fact, she had joined this journey to accompany the young lady of the house. Her valuable master would retire soon. To fill her vacancy, she became her student and began to closely follow all the tasks she performed.

But this invader appeared out of nowhere and ruined all their plans. Now, instead of taking care of the young lady, she had to take care of this invader. Because she didn't want to do this, she has a hard time waking up from her sleep. She reluctantly left her warm bed in the middle of the night and came to this invader who took her bed from her while she was half asleep and half awake.

She hung the gas lamp in her hand from the ceiling. While the light of the lamp was dimly illuminating her surroundings, bridesmaid Neva was having a hard time not falling asleep. She resisted sleep and approached the invader's bedside and managed to light one of the incense sticks there.

When she finished burning the incense, she sat on the opposite couch and looked at the invader who took her bed from her for a while. Now she wanted to be in his place and sleep. The warm armchair bed seemed to be calling her. But she couldn't sleep here. She put her hand into her pocket and searched for the sergen herb leaf that neutralized the effect of the incense.

But the leaf wasn't in her pocket. She thoroughly rummaged in her pocket but couldn't find the leaf she was looking for. When she reached into her other pocket, it was too late. The incense showed its effect very quickly. Bridesmaid Neva could no longer resist sleep.

She knew she had to get something from her pocket, but she couldn't remember what to get. If she got some sleep and rested, she would definitely remember what she was looking for. That's why bridesmaid Neva lied down on the couch and surrendered herself to the irresistible sleep...

…

Looking carefully at the bridesmaid Neva sleeping in front of him, Han paused for a moment and was confused about what to do. He was sure that he had seen her before. But he didn't really remember whether he saw her in his dream or in reality.

This woman lying on the couch and sleeping without any blanket was definitely in a deep sleep. Han didn't understand why the woman was sleeping here, but he put his own blanket on her so that she could sleep more comfortably. Then he wanted to get out of this small and narrow space.

When she opened the door and went out, the looks of the guards who had gathered for the morning training immediately turned to her. Everyone was wondering about this wounded man who subsequently joined the convoy.

Although Han was disturbed by the looks turned to him, he didn't want to get back into the car. He calmly sat on the car's steps and faced all the looks turned to him.

- (The head guard) Where are you looking? Haven't you see a man before? Go back and do your job.

When they all complied with the chief's instructions, the head guard started the morning training. After five minutes of warm-up exercises, there was a ten-minute run. And then everyone took a sword and formed a double line and started sword training together.

Blocking and vertical slashing, blocking and horizontal slashing, blocking and punching... Everything was done together according to a certain order. When the movements, performed in a show-like manner, were completed, everyone was separated into teams of two upon the instruction the head guard.

What they had done alone a moment ago, now they started doing it against each other. When the opponent made a vertical slash, the other one would block and make a horizontal slash. When he blocked the horizontal slash, he attacked his opponent's stomach with a piercing move.

They were doing the same things over and over again. As Han watched them from the sidelines, he remembered the training he had done with his mother. His mother was tall. Their heights were not this close to each other.

Moreover, his mother would never expect to be attacked. She would immediately attack and use her tall height to her advantage, winning every match. Still, every once in a while he would kneel down and be the same height as Han. That's when Han could win one or two out of ten matches.

Realizing that Han was sitting on the step of the car and watching his subordinates while they were doing their morning training, the head guard left his subordinates and came to Han.

- Good morning. You're up too early. (When he noticed Han's strange looks, he softened his fait accompli speech a little.) Your wounds haven't healed yet. You needed to lie down and rest a little longer. But you woke up very early. (He paused for a while for Han to answer, but no sound came from him. Realizing that the conversation would not progress like this, the head guard did not continue the conversation further.) Okay, don't tire yourself out. We'll talk again when you get better.

The head guard, who was disturbed because the content of the conversation did not develop as he wanted, returned to his subordinates and took out his anger on them.

- What the hell is this? What do you think you are doing? Are we training children here? Swing them faster. Hit harder. I want to hear the sound of the swords. Liven up a bit.

Han's confused looks had not improved yet. He couldn't believe how he could understand the speech of the man who had just spoken. He had never met a human before, but he could somehow understand their language. Could he talk like them? He had to learn this as soon as possible.

While Han was lost in thought, the carriage door opened violently and hit him hard on the waist, causing him to fall…

…

Bridesmaid Neva woke up to the shouting of the head guard. When she could not see the injured invader in her bed, she panicked and hurried to report the situation.

Acting so hastily resulted in the head of the family harming someone he was trying to heal. The thought that the punishment she would receive could be her dismissal from the position of the maid of honor caused her to experience a sudden panic attack, and she stood motionless on the step of the carriage for a while.

…

Han, who fell to the ground, quickly pulled himself together and straightened himself, but the few wounds in his lungs that were about to heal reopened from the impact. The momentary bleeding from the convulsed wounds caused a cough, and Han began to cough profusely, holding his chest.

His coughing, which was getting louder and louder, activate the blood in his lungs, and eventually the blood came out of his lungs and headed towards his mouth. Realizing that he was going to vomit, Han leaned forward and then vomited all the blood that came into his mouth.

…

Han's back was turned to the bridesmaid Neva. That's why the bridesmaid Neva did not see Han vomiting blood. When Han leaned forward, she thought he would fall. She felt guilty for hurting him. If he fell down again now, she would feel even worse.

 That's why bridesmaid Neva quickly got down from the carriage step and grabbed Han's arm, pulling her towards him. During this tugging, Han coughed a few more times and forced all the blood out of his lungs.

When he got free from blood, his coughing stopped and he felt relieved. But while he was vomiting blood, someone kept pulling him. When Han turned to see who this impertinent person was, he and bridesmaid Neva made eye contact.

This woman appeared before him again. While his angry gaze surrounded the bridesmaid Neva, at the same time, he was wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.

…

Bridesmaid Neva suddenly flinched when she met Han's wild and angry gaze. This invading man in front of him, with the blood on the corners of his mouth and his angry gaze, resembled a wild tiger that had just eaten its prey.

She had couldn't look into Han's wild eyes any longer. And when she tried to turn her eyes away from him, she saw the pool of blood on the ground. She was now certain that the punishment given by the head of the family would lead her to death.

The fear of death growing in her heart caused her to have a panic attack. Due to the panic attack that started again but this time was more severe, bridesmaid Neva could not stand and fell to the ground on her knees.

…

He had been watching her since he left Han's side. Although he had taken his anger out on his subordinates, he could not leave this injured young man unattended. Moreover, he had been sitting on the step of the carriage watching their training since the training started.

But then, with the door opening, he suddenly fell to the ground. After that, events developed...

What surprised the head guard the most was that the bridesmaid Neva got out of the carriage. Why was bridesmaid Neva in the carriage? She had to get up at night, change the incense, and return to her own tent. But somehow she seemed to have spent the night in the same carriage with this strange man.

Why did this happen? What did he miss? Before the head guard had a chance to think about cause and effect relationships, he saw bridesmaid Neva fall to her knees. It was obvious there was something there. He immediately left his subordinates and walked quickly towards the bridesmaid Neva.

The subordinates, who realized that something was strange when the head guard left them, noticed the situation immediately and they abandoned the training and followed their chief...