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To those who have dared to be a beacon of light in the bleakest of moments
“Evidence is always before us; it is more a matter of whether we notice it.”
I wanted friends. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to trust.
I am tired of being the elder sister, were the words within. When I expressed my objection for the first time today, Father gave me such a look of disappointment that I felt my entire world tremble. Why does he only see my disobedience, and not my desperate love for him? To live near home, to be close enough to care for my parents in their old age—I wish I could cry, I wish I could fall apart as little sister often does, and still be loved and understood. But I cannot. My parents do not love me when I am weak, when I fail them, when I err. Who am I, if I am not the perfect daughter?
“You will not always be the wisest, nor the strongest, nor the bravest. That is why we need friends. They will guide you down the right path, no matter how dark it grows.”
He stopped one emotion—overwhelming grief. But, you see, when you numb one feeling, you numb them all.
“You are not dead.” “Disappointed?” “Terribly.”
There are too many sorrows in life to feel each too deeply.
“History moves its course, Young Mistress Iseul,” he murmured, flipping the page of his journal. He took up his calligraphy brush again. “But it is the youth who point the current in its direction.”
“The ability to exercise your judgment is invaluable, especially during times when anxiety threatens to sweep you into a current of indecisions and dangerous conclusions.”
She may look unafraid, but truly, when I first met her, I thought to myself, ‘Here is the loneliest girl I have ever seen.’”
“The path we are to take will be littered with death. Freedom will always come at a cost.”
“Of course I am afraid, but what I fear most is regret.”
“Sisters bicker and quarrel. They despise and love each other. You cannot stand each other, yet when the other bleeds, you bleed, too. That is family.
“I swear,” he whispered in a low voice, as though to himself, “the next person to harm you will die by my own hands.”
“What does it matter what I wish?” he said quietly, striding up and brushing a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “You said no, and I will receive your word as a royal command.”
“Many often find it irrationally difficult to do what is right.”
We mortals exist for but a season, and yet we love as though we are bound by eternity.
Life has been and will always be painful and lonely, and the only way to make this life endurable is that we all work together, for each other.
