Sweating under the scorching midday sun, Hye stood watching the hundreds of workers diligently chipping the edges of the flagstones to shape them into small rectangles. Dust motes danced idly in the hot air around them. After noting the good progress the workers had made, Hye walked up the newly built stone stairs that led to the columbarium site.
Hye had carefully picked the best place to build the columbarium site. He had chosen this secluded spot with no village nearby, nestled next to a section of rocky mountain extending from Whitefang Peak. A small creek ran through the middle of the valley that led to Salran Hill. He had stumbled upon this place with Khunbish when he was looking for a water source some time ago. Back then, he'd had the idea that when he finally decided to settle down, he would come back here, build a small house, and live the rest of his life. But since Chinua wanted to build a columbarium, he thought this was the best place for it. It was far from nearby villagers, and the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful.
Hye noticed that the three stone bridges were already built in place. He stopped the lead manager, who was on the other side of the creek, still giving directions to the workers. Hye decided to walk over and talk with him.
As Hye was making his way across the stone bridge to the other side of the creek, he recalled the conversation he had with Chinua. At that time, she had wanted a grand building to hold all the soldiers who had served under her. But he explained to her that building such a massive structure would cost a lot of money, which they didn't have. If she were to build the building she wanted, the common Magoli citizens, who had already suffered, would have to pay more taxes for the next few years just to satisfy her desire.
After reconsidering, Chinua had decided to leave it to Hye to build the simplest columbarium using only her money. He thought it was a bad idea just to have one big building standing alone in the middle of nowhere. So, instead of the massive building she wanted, he thought a columbarium site would look much better than one large columbarium building. By changing from a large building to a site, he had saved a lot of money by improvising and using the plentiful boulders, stones, and flagstones from Pojin Village.
"Advisor Hye," the lead manager said with a smile, walking toward Hye. "You haven't returned yet?"
"Not yet, but soon," Hye said, his gaze sweeping over the bustling site. "Do you need anything else?"
The lead manager shook his head. "The soldiers are helping us clear the bushes and trees. Soon, everything will be in place."
"I noticed that your team had done a lot," Hye said with a satisfied smile.
"Without the help of the soldiers, our progress would not be as fast. It would take years to complete," the lead manager said, a hint of pride in his voice. "Oh, by the way, when you walked up those stairs, did you see the first wall we finished?"
Hye shook his head. "No, I wasn't looking."
"The two hundred and twenty-three niches were already created," the lead manager said. He quickly walked over the stone bridge toward the first stone wall on the right. "Come, this is the first wall."
Hye looked at the grayish stone wall. At the top, neatly carved letters spelled out "The Battle of Hosha City." On the first niche compartment to the left, the words "Your legacy will live on and never be forgotten" were neatly carved. He traced his finger over the carved letters and sighed softly, a pang of sorrow in his chest.
"Is this design to your liking?" the lead manager asked, his voice expectant.
Hye turned and gave the lead manager a warm smile. "I like it very much. Thank you so much for your hard work."
"This is the first time I've done something like this for anyone," the lead manager said with a smile. "If it wasn't for the many mouths of the workers I had to feed, I would not take a single coin from General Chinua."
Hye chuckled. "You've done a lot by giving us the best price General Chinua could afford."
"Advisor Hye!" a soldier shouted from the bottom of the stairwell, his voice urgent. "General Chinua..."
"Advisor Hye, I won't bother you anymore," the lead manager said, sensing the urgency. "If you think of anything you want to change, let me know."
Hye smiled, thanked the lead manager, and hurriedly walked down the stairwell to meet the soldier.
"Chinua got injured this morning?" the soldier said breathlessly.
"What happened?" Hye asked, a frown creasing his brow.
"Chinua was kicked by Terbish, and Khawn had to carry her back," the soldier said.
"What?" Hye was taken aback, his mind reeling. He couldn't grasp why Terbish would kick Chinua or why she would allow such a thing. "Where is the General now?"
"The General went back to rest," the soldier said.
Hye smirked and muttered, "I've got to see this."
The door to Chinua's room was pushed open, and Hye walked in. He stared at Chinua lying on her stomach on her bed, flipping through the book in front of her. He walked towards her and said, "I've heard that Terbish kicked you in the abdomen and you had to be carried back by Khawn." He sat on the edge of her bed. "So, why are you on your stomach?"
Chinua sighed, a soft groan escaping her lips. "Terbish's kick didn't hurt me, but the result of his kick made me stagger back and hit the side of my right hip and lower back on the table. That's the part that hurts."
Hye placed the small wooden container in front of Chinua. "Here," he said, his voice gentle. "Apply this to your wound. It should help with the recovery speed."
"Leave it there; I will have Khunbish or Khenbish apply it later," Chinua said, waving a dismissive hand.
"So, where is Khunbish?" Hye asked, his brow subtly raised.
"He went out on a date with Noor. I think they were still at the market," Chinua said.
Hye looked at Chinua and asked, "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure because I was in the market with them this morning, but I got sidetracked and then went on my own way," Chinua said, a wry smile playing on her lips.
"So, why did Terbish suddenly kick you?" Hye asked, his gaze fixed on her. He lifted Chinua's shirt, opened the medicine container, and began massaging Chinua's lower back.
Chinua chuckled, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Oh yeah, you don't know about this yet. For the past few days, Khawn was acting weird, so Muunokhoi found out that Khawn was secretly watching a young lady by the name of Qinru in the market. Long story short, it turns out that Od thought Timicin liked Qinru, so Od was being nice to her. This made Od's father misunderstand that Od liked her. That misunderstanding went even further when everyone thought that Od liked Qinru. But then came the plot twist when Od revealed he was kind to Qinru because he thought Timicin liked her." She chuckled again, clearly amused. "And guess what? There's a second plot twist."
"Oh, really?" Hye said, intrigued.
"Then it turns out that Timicin thought Khawn liked her. That's why he gave the donkey to her," Chinua said. "Do you remember the donkey incident with Khawn when we returned to the capital from Umusa Kingdom, right?"
"Yeah, I remember. We were short on horses," Hye said, pulling Chinua's shirt down.
"It turns out that Khawn has liked Lady Qinru since that day," Chinua said. "These past few days, Khawn kept buying flowers and giving them to me, which confused the others. But it turned out that Khawn would buy flowers from Qinru just so he could approach her. He was shy, so every time he walked up to her, instead of telling her what was in his heart, he decided to buy flowers instead. That's where the whole story began."
Hye moved the medicine container back in front of Chinua and said, "Thanks to you, I've missed many exciting situations."
"Oh, by the way, how is the columbarium coming along?" Chinua asked, changing the subject abruptly.
"It still has a lot of work before your columbarium is complete, but we are making progress," Hye said.
Chinua closed the book and slowly turned to her side. "Help pull me up," she stretched out her arm to Hye, who pulled her up. She sat on the bed. "Right now, we live in a peaceful time... you know, I actually prefer it this way. No war, no suffering, and everyone is able to enjoy their lives without fear. The kingdoms are getting along with each other. Why don't we all just live like this, in harmony without waging war?" She sighed deeply, a wistful look in her eyes.
"For all rulers in this land to think like you is not possible. Everyone dreams of peace, but to actually have peace, it depends on the person sitting on the throne," Hye said, his voice tinged with realism. "Every ruler has his own greed; it's just a matter of how much he must obtain before he decides that is enough."
Hye peeked over at Chinua. "That's why you are reading poetry instead of warfare books."
"Actually, I bought this book today for you, but since you weren't around, I just read it first," Chinua said, a playful smirk on her face. She grabbed the poetry book and handed it to Hye.
"I have not read poetry for a long time," Hye said with a smile. He took the poetry book and stared at the title. He chuckled. "A Thousand Collection of Love Poems?" He placed the poetry book back onto Chinua's lap. "You can keep it." He stood up and walked to the table, poured a cup of water, and brought the cup to her. "Why is Chinua suddenly interested in love poetry?"
"Reading to gain knowledge," Chinua said simply, a slight blush on her cheeks.
"Chinua!" Khunbish called out as he walked in, his voice cutting through the quiet room.
"Are you done with your date?" Chinua said, a teasing note in her tone.
"It was not a date; Lady Noor asked me to accompany her to buy a present for Chief Behrouz," Khunbish said, sounding slightly flustered. He looked at Chinua and then at Hye. "Khenbish and Zhi are back. Everyone is waiting for you in the meeting room."
Chinua got up from the bed, still feeling sore on her lower back and hip, but she knew that she could not keep people waiting for her. "Let's go see what news Zhi and Khenbish brought to us from the northeast," she said.