Eternal till next

In one of the most adorned chambers of the Gu mansion, belonging to Marquis Gu and His wife Marquess Ryu,

A heated argument intensifies between him and his daughter (Yin) over her firstborn child, Mi Rae, a gentle looking girl yet very fierce in action.

Known all over the town as the damsel with a price tag, No one can afford her even when she is just averagely beautiful,

Available to no one, all the boys in the town can only wish in their dreams because looking at her directly might call for unwanted circumstances.

it is rumored that she is not the truthful heir to the Gu clan as the origins of her birth father nullify her position, But is all of this true?

Don't her brothers qualify to be the heirs?

The father and daughter know better.

And because of this baseless rumor that has spanned in every ear for over a decade, Mi Rae's mother, Lady Yin, is desperate to seal off a marriage proposal that she believes will change all of the misconceptions.

But how?

Marquis Gu is not interested at all, he only raises his voice more warning her to watch her mouth and intentions.

"If you can do this to your own child, then expect the same for yourself at one point in your life."

He tells her but she gets more defensive claiming to be looking for a bright future for her daughter,

Lady Yin presents her fears of the girl running the family businesses and the possibility of getting engulfed in family wars which makes the Marquis more surprised,

A child she barely sees even in a day?

Marquis Gu shakes his head in disbelief doubting whether his own daughter had come in with the right mind,

He does not buy any of her cheap talk as he is fully aware of the deceit behind her facade but he pushes along, fearing to offend his wife.

Yin goes on to read him several different profiles and the similarities between both families but Marquis only shows more contempt as he keeps laughing at every bio read to him,

"Where do you get these kinds of boys?"

Marquis asked Yin while continuing to laugh and the teasing exploded,

"None is like even husband material, all sound like job seekers or rather the matrilocal type ."

Marquis snorted, scratching his eyebrows with a wide smile all over his face

"Keep reading."

Marquis implored Yin to continue but she was now fed up of his teasing,

Yin put aside the profile papers and moved closer to Marquis with watery eyes that almost wanted to fall out,

She started to beg him to at least be fair and honor any of these families,

"Honor?Let them go to the temple for that."

He told her while jesting back to his working table where more profiles waited for him to go through.

However, when he saw they were quite a number, he rolled his tongue through his mouth feeling disgusted at all these names of men he didn't even know, some even sounded like pet names.

Off he pushed them to the ground and replaced that part of the table with his drawing items.

He moved his attention from her and put it to his drawing, she felt despised and embarrassed at the same time.

"Why do you always hate everything I do?"

She asked him while keeping a distance knowing very well what he could do, he was not the type that tolerated family feuds or any kind of drama.

And when he roared into laughter at hearing her mocking question,

She shamefully got into a fit of rage and that is when both started firing harsh words at one another,

But Yin had to be careful as she had been out of favor with him for a long time.

She softened her voice one more last time in hopes he would eventually give in but had her offers turned down vehemently.

"The boys you are choosing are not my type."

Marquis banged the table next to him in anger, making it so clear to Yin that she was wasting her efforts,

He wanted to yell at her for being adamant but lowered his tone in regards to the neighbors.

"This is not just about the honor of my family but also business-wise."

He reminded her openly without being polite

"You do not go out there to get me a dozen families that have nothing except a desire for a good bride."

His tone was now so commanding that whoever passed outside to wherever they were heading hopped to the next pavement to avoid being questioned as to why they were hanging around at such a time.

He continued to let her know his requirements for a future son in law but they were so ridiculous, so ambiguous, almost next to impossible,

As Mi Rae was listening to their conversation this whole time, she squirmed in her seat as her grandfather whom she calls father a hundred percent of the time kept pouring out awkward demands for a potential groom,

Lady Yin was now quiet as Marquis Gu spoke fast, it was like he wanted her to cram every bit of detail he spewed.

"Bring me a boy who is at the top of the world in everything and is willing to serve my daughter every day for the rest of their lives."

Then a sound of something like porcelain breaking was heard up to the next quarters but it was better not to interrupt them as both were hot heads in their own way.

"Father, isn't that too much?"

She asked him in a wary tone still hopeful he might wake up from his dreaming (as she assumed).

Marquis answered "No" in such a confident way that crushed the wall of faith Yin was building,

A moment of silence ensued between them and a fear of the unknown went through Mi Rae as she could not guess what was going to happen next, one thing she was sure of her father was his ability to put her in the right marriage.

There was no need for her to think deeply about it again except to pray for the best when the time came.

That silence went on for some minutes which made Mi Rae feel uneasy and prompted her to have a look through the side door.

Slowly lowering her head to see through the tiny cracks, Mi Rae saw an image she had never seen,

Both parties standing facing one another holding documents in their hands,

"What else is going on here?"

She wondered realizing the possibility of herself being only a tiny fraction of the deeper issues they had with each other,

There was a blade like relationship between them for years, almost everyone had given up on them except for marquess Ryu who was still trying to mend both their hearts.

He pulled up another document in anger and showed it to her face,

"Read this"

When she seemed defeated, he pulled another one from his drawers and told her to read it too,

But Lady Yin could not do it instead she started to weep in front of him asking why he hated Mi Rae's brothers so much,

"What have we done father that you can not recognize us?" She asked him and likewise, he asked

"What wrong have I done? Everyone in this house lives in luxury."

Mi Rae was her first child but things looked like she had come from another womb, there was even no resemblance at all which made the nurse have a hard time explaining this thing to everyone.

"Was there a swap?" She kept receiving this question even when Mi Rae was grown now,

"That is Lady Yin's child, she should be responsible for the lack of resemblance."

This is how she warded off everyone who kept asking on that Matter.

Marquis Gu was now very tired of the conversation going on between him and his daughter,

He didn't hesitate to remind her of the biggest challenge she had with her own self,

"You are equally her mother, so don't talk to me about parenting when you are doing the opposite, we will discuss everything after I come back from my mission."

Since he was the head of the house, the only choice she had was to obey his final words.

But before she could leave, she pleaded with him to spare the boys something to which he responded

"After I come back from the capital but for now, you can move back to your chambers."

It was already night time and that was enough for her to understand that nothing was going to go as she had planned.

Gathering some courage to walk out boldly, Yin wished Marquis a good night and a safe journey Incase he was to leave early next morning.

Mi Rae knew she had won, feeling excited and finally hugging herself with joy running down her heart. She rushed back to her seat feeling spooky about the whole thing knowing her father would have to spend more than a month away from her.

Would her mother take advantage of that?

"hmmmm." she held her chin before being interrupted by the sound of the opening door,

"Mother" she stood up as per the norms and greeted her, but lady Yin with fierce looking eyes, only got closer to take a good look at the small fox she gave birth to eighteen years ago.

"I was wrong to underestimate you."

Yin spoke it straight to Mi Rae's face but Marquis sensed her presence at the door and chose to remind her where she was supposed to go,

"Yin, I wonder what you are still doing there, Go to your place now and be mindful of what you want to do."

She smirked straight into Mi Rae's face and warned her not to play with fire.

"You will never outsmart me."

She then replied to Marquis in gentle way as though he didn't not know what she was capable of,

"Father, I was just finding out how my daughter is doing, please pardon me, I will get going."

She walked off towards her place of rest without even looking behind.