The Cruel King, the Wolf King, the Murderer. Gwangjong knew what foul names he was called behind his back. He knew the other epithets as well: Bastard King, Dead King, Soulless, Heartless. He did nothing to stop them.

His ministers could whisper and his family could hate him, but that did not deter his path. In any case, Gwangjong knew the Queen was the reason names like "Soulless" and "Heartless" ran amok.

She had hated him after the birth of their first child and son, the First Prince. Gwangjong had refused to see her. He had been hunting when the birthing began and when a messenger came with the news, he had scoffed before continuing to hunt, shooting a sparrow out of the sky and handing the dead bird to the messenger. "Give that to the Queen and tell her not to bother me again," he had commanded, spurring his horse forward. He had felt nothing when he laid eyes on the squalling infant offered up to him by the triumphant Queen. He had not even bothered to hold the babe.

The boy was named Wang Ju by his father. The Queen had smiled at the name, finally knowing that her husband would at least be a good father if he was not a good husband. "Ju," to rest and rule, or perhaps it was "Ju," the descendant. The Queen had been proud… until Gwangjong wrote out the characters for the Prince's name. "Ju," the liar and the one who hides. He had not made an effort to see the boy after that day.

Their second child had been born in the night, but Gwangjong was too far to hear the Queen's labor. During the final months of the Queen's pregnancy, he had moved her chambers to where the Dowager Queen had resided when she had lived. When a messenger had arrived to inform him of the birth of a second son, he had returned to sleep, telling his guards not to allow anyone into the chambers unless the country had fallen. Gwangjong had refused to meet or name the Second. He later heard that the boy was named Hyo Hwa- a clear declaration that this child belonged to his mother's clans. Gwangjong did not attend the boy's funeral when he died only two years after birth.

The rest of his children were girls whose names and faces escaped his mind. Gwangjong left the Queen to raise their children, knowing that they all hated and feared him. He did not care.

On the birthdays of his children, when bells were struck and laughter echoed throughout the castle, Gwangjong recused himself and did not attend the festivities. He sent the same gifts to his children each year: one necklace and one scroll of poetry. He cared not what they did with either. He did not even know what the gifts looked like; they were purchased and sent by a servant.

Every month, when the moon was at its fullest and the stars were at their brightest, Gwangjong left whatever he was doing to sit beside a certain tree beside the lake. Servants, Ministers, soldiers, and nobility alike had been aghast when they had heard the King had sat on the plain ground, but none could do anything about the matter; the land around the tree was protected on the night the moon was fullest and no one could get near enough to see who sat by the tree.

When Gwangjong sat beneath that certain tree, he took with him a jug of sweet wine, a plate of honey glazed Yakgwa cookies, and a sheet of paper with two lines of poetry written on it. The King did not enjoy sweet food, the entire palace knew. But on that night, he drank honeyed wine and ate cookies after offering them to his only wife and queen.

Sworn to secrecy and threatened with death, his bodyguards could only listen during the first two years as their king cried against that tree, his body wracked with sobs and his cold demeanor disappearing. "Soo, Soo, Soo," he cried. Sometimes, he would begin to cry as he knelt beside the tree, other times, he began to tell a story before his voice cracked and tears fell, marring the makeup on his face and forcing him to wear a mask when he chose to return to the palace the following morning.

Only once did the King visit that tree outside of the brightest moon. On the twelfth day of the month of the Horse, he stood by the tree in the bright sunlight and did not utter a sound. On this day, the tree was not protected and any were free to go as they wished.

It was on that day that Gwangjong stood beside the tree, breathing in fresh air and swaying softly with the wind. He wore blue and white- colors not usually worn by the King- and his hair he loosened. For on that one day, he was no longer Gwangjong, but Wang So.

On the day of the sixth year since Soo had passed, Gwangjong met a small child with big eyes and clumsy feet. Even with large, childish cheeks, her chin was too angled and her nose too pointy. She smiled and laughed and sat down on the ground where Wang So stood, touching the grass.

So then saw his brother rushing toward them, bowing as he collected the girl in his arms. "I apologize, your Majesty," Jung declared, protecting the girl with his body. Fear was the only thing So saw on Jung.

And the pieces placed themselves in So's mind. The dates, the child, her age, and… her. The too big eyes that stared into one's soul, the clumsy feet that knocked into him, and the hairpin that was too expensive for a child of any birth below nobility to ever own. She had her eyes and lips, and So's nose and chin.

Seol, she was named. Snow. The purest snow, Soo had named their daughter after.

Gwangjong knew that he could not claim the child as his own no matter how much his heart yearned to do so. He could not bring Seol into the palace to live with him as a Princess. He could not take her far away on adventures he would have taken her mother.

Instead, when Seol came to visit, under the pretense of returning love to his forgiven brother, Gwangjong became So once more. He held the girl's hand, walked with her, and spoke with her. He kissed her little cheeks when she fell and cried, and hugged her when she was sad.

One week every half year, Seol would come with her father to the Capital. They would also visit once every two months, but for only a day, and also when So invited them.

During those visits, So felt his liveliness return. He lavished gifts upon Seol and doted on her, smiling any time she called for him. "Uncle, Uncle!" she would cry, pointing at frogs, cats, and clouds that looked like dogs. So had forbidden Jung from referring to him as the King when Seol was around until she was of a certain age. To her, he was an uncle with a big house.

The Queen was furious, but what could she do? The child cried "uncle" to the King and he only smiled and obliged her every want and need. He left the castle on her birthday to visit her in her home and give her gifts that Jung tried to refuse. He knew her full name. He knew her day of birth. He knew what her favorite color was; what food she liked; what she disliked; what she feared; what she loved. The Queen could only watch in defeat as the King doted upon his niece more than any of his direct descendants.

Of course, there were whispers. Why would a king love his brother's child more than his own? Why should the king send a gold dragon statue and a tame wolf pup to the girl when he only gave his son a necklace and a scroll on their birthdays?

Perhaps a deal had been struck between the brothers. Perhaps Gwangjong would marry the girl once she grew and in return, he would forgive his brother of sin. Perhaps the King found his own daughter hideous to look upon. Perhaps the stars foretold her fate. No one but the King and his brother knew their true relationship.

So watched his daughter grow and flourish. He watched his features diminish and Soo's features rise in their daughter as she grew taller and even more beautiful. He glared at the letters sent by Jung when she had first been caught running off with some boy. So resisted sending a militia to protect her from boys.

When Seol turned sixteen, she sent So a poem for his birthday and a painting of Soo's tree and the lake behind it. So commissioned a frame for the painting, keeping it in his bedroom. The poem, he folded and placed inside his robes, over his heart.

On her eighteenth birthday, So secretly tripled the dowry Jung had set forth for her to take to the man she loved- a noble from the Wol Sung Kims who had been fostered in Jung's household. So attended her wedding even when he had ignored the marriage of the Crown Prince and a Princess'. He attended the festivities and later sat by the tree and told an animated story to Soo about their daughter and how much she had grown.

Two years after Seol's marriage, So accepted an invitation to visit Wol Sung and met Jung there. His younger brother presented him with a baby boy, declaring Seol had given birth to her first child.

Tears fell from the King's eyes as the little boy with Soo's round eyes frowned at him. The King pressed a kiss to his grandnephew's forehead, holding the baby close and rocking him gently.

"Name him, your Majesty. A boy's grandfather should be the one to name him," Seol said, her smile endless. So looked up in shock as Jung bowed his head with a small smile. "Name your grandson, Father."

Chun, So named the boy. "Chun," the heavens and the sky. The same sky Soo and So had spent gazing up at, he named their grandson after. Unable to bestow the Wang name or princehood upon the baby, So named him and hoped Soo would smile.

Seol only visited so often after the birth of her baby, but each time, she brought Chun. She would walk with So and Jung, Chun in So's arms. They would speak of the passing months and visit Soo's grave. There, they sat upon a blanket and So held Chun against his chest.

Four years later, Seol, Chun, and Jung stood by the King's bedside as he wrote a declaration, abdicating his throne to Wang Ju.

A smile on his face, Wang So kissed his brother's cheek and then his daughter's forehead, wiping her tears. He hugged his grandson and whispered his final words, "At last. At last. I go to her at last."