Born the first two child: the eldest son was deprived of fatherly love and the eldest daughter with overflowing affection. Wook was the middle child who has been conferred with zero to none attention. He's not lacking with love because he was given nil. He's not affected by affection because feelings were, but an excuse to his abandonment. 

The house was in dead silence, as the little Wook cried his heart out after he was forced out from the nine-months temporary haven of him, inside the tiny stomach his mother tried to bury, times, before she finally gave up and pushed him out of her body. Was she smiling? Was she crying?

As he grew up and reminisced the memories of his childhood, he wondered, the expressions on his mother's beautiful face. Was she happy that he was born? Wook thought, even an ounce of happiness could perhaps made him the better version of his current self.

And he recalled the anecdote by the nanny who watched him growing up:

"That. We shall see." Lord Noe responded and left his wife behind.

--

The tale of his nice father and a nicer mother - a truth he wished to deny. A monster was born. He caused nothing but pain to his mother. A monster like him, shall never be pitied, shall never be loved.

Under the same roof but of different feelings and thoughts, little Wook experienced growth differently from the rest of his same age peers.

He heard Dalchun's laughter when Lord Noe picked her up and gifted her with so many interesting things post his trip as Right Minister. Stood him from afar, thinking, "When did things went wrong?" to himself. And so he asked once to his mother, upon a rare opportunity he had to meet her, "You tried to kill me when I was still in you? Why am I still alive?"

Madam Noe cried. She asked, repeatedly, "Who told you so, Wook-ah?" She sounded shock, and that was not what Wook was looking for. She knew this, she planned for him to be unborn.

"The nanny." Answered Wook short.

"I...I never did so, Wook. W-Why, I-I, W-Wook... I-I..." He heard his mother's quiet sobbing. He was confused. Why were she acted this way? Was she sad because he's still alive? "W-Wook, I-I...L-l..."

She must be sad.

Sad to give birth to a monster like him.

Sad that he can't make her happy.

Sad that he's not Woong, or Dalchun.

"Mother... I understand..." and he walked away...

That was the last time he met his mother before he was sent away to the subsidiary family.

If only he stayed for a second longer, he would be able to hear words he longed to listen the most.

Wook, I love you... said his mom as tears fell from her eyes.

He cannot even answer if someone were to ask him whether he loved his family, or not. How can you love something so meaningless and unimpactful to your life, right? To feel is to mutually has something in common. The only evidence they were a family was their blood. But it never grant him emotional attachment not it endowed him with compassionate parent-ly love.

One thing he cherished the most was the variety of sword classes he could attend, and attended. Wook, he's a fast learner and a genius. He strategized well and he's aware when to attack and when to keep silent. 

He played by himself. No friends allowed, said the little Wook when someone his age tried to approach him. He trusted no one, not even himself, explained Wook to his brother Woong once, when he was asked about it. When Woong chose to follow their Uncle Noe and Dalchun playing hero as she's always was - Wook was sent to a subsidiary family to doll him up as a Geisha.

He despised the idea. Not the idea as a Geisha but the concept of him entertaining others with his body. He thought, if the family could sacrifice him as the pawn, he, can do the same too, right?

Thus he schemed a surprise, for the close to extinct Noe by massacring the entire lineage of the subsidiary family. Stood him alone, in the middle of bloody corpse of different range of age. Crimson red liquid splattered all over the place and his body, wet with tears and sticky hemoglobin. He smiled and walked away from the scene. instructing the sole witness to clean up after everything and to inform their Uncle Noe, the otherwise tale of the story. 

Said Uncle Noe on behalf of his brother, "Wook is in good hands. Worry not. He will return later." But Wook was gone, and Uncle Noe assumed, the assassin had kidnapped the Second Young Lord. He was beyond satisfied. Dalchun can be simply sold off and Woong was a puppet he gradually would play with the moment he became the Lord of Noe.

Wook on the other hand, took a sweet time of him, to travel all over the places. Feeling not even an ounce of guilt, he utilised the gold left by the subsidiary family to fund his adventure. Until he realised, he was never alove. A group of hidden guards were closely on his tail, keeping up with his movement from South to North and East to West.

"Who are you?" Greeted him unexpectedly.

A tall guy who seemed like the leader of the group appeared, bowed down and said, "We have always admired your expertise. But to tell about the humble us, at the moment, we have no power to do so. Are you willing to explore the truth?" Suggested the man.

"It seems interesting. Lead the way, please." He responded.

The men was part of a secret organisation, created by the previous royalty who was cruelly murdered by a group of greedy aristocrates. Despite the Queen's effort for revenge, the case was buried with no suspect till the end of its investigation. The previous Lord Noe, the father of Wook's father, in short, Noe Wook's grandfather was the head of the investigation. He and a group of undercover managed to infiltrate into the enemy's base and found a crucial clue about the murder but they were later silenced by the opposing Ministries. 

That was also how the Noe ended up living in seclusion for years before Lord Noe, Wook's father, managed to make a name of himself and been granted with capabilities to assist the current royalty. Unfortunately, he met with a similar tragic as his own father.

Wook was not interested in revenge for him, there was never a family to begin with. But the idea of not being himself and of being able to be whoever he wanted to, with different personas and personalities, enticed him to say yes.