The lamp burns faintly, casting wavering shadows on the paper screens. She, still weak, rests against her pillows. Yi Sun-sin sits as always by her bedside — straight, silent, his gaze fixed on the door as if standing guard.
After a long silence, she breaks the stillness.
— "My husband… why do you stay here, day after day? Does war no longer call for you?"
He turns his eyes slightly, his austere profile half-shrouded in shadow.
— "War can wait. Your survival cannot."
She looks at him, her trembling lips shaping a tired smile.
— "Then… you were afraid of losing me."
His dark eyes turn toward her — cold at first, as if to silence her. But his silence stretches. His hand, resting on the armrest, tightens.
— "Yes."
A single word. Sharp, dry — yet heavier than any declaration.
She closes her eyes, tears tracing her cheeks, and whispers,
— "I thought I was only a duty to you… a vessel for your clan."
He leans closer, his shadow falling across her face.
— "You are my duty. But the day I thought death would take you, I realized that burden had sunk deeper than I cared to admit."
He turns away at once, his face hardening again.
— "Rest. Don't make me repeat such words."
She smiles through her tears. She knows he never will.
But that night, behind the iron mask of the general, she finally heard the truth — he had been afraid to lose his wife.