I Will Find You - Prologue

1506

Yi Heon, deposed ruler of Joseon, lay on his side staring at the torn piece of paper, the last page of his journal, the damned book that had whisked her away, his breathing ragged, heart beating sluggishly in his chest.

His clothing was bloodied and torn, but it didn’t hurt. Nothing hurt but his heart. The still beating organ inside his chest that should’ve died with her. His heart—he should’ve died the moment she closed her eyes in his arms. Or at least when she’d vanished, disappeared forever in the night sky, enveloped by the golden ribbons of letters from his damned journal.

But he didn’t die. He was still breathing, his heart was still beating, his soul was still screaming her name, and his arms were empty. If that wasn’t divine punishment for all the atrocities he’d committed in his mother’s name, he had no idea what it could be. He’d betrayed his mother’s memory and gone against her wishes, and the Heavens were punishing him by ripping the only woman he’s ever loved from his arms and from his life.

Ji-young was his heart, his soul, his home, his everything, and she was gone.

Gone from his arms, gone from his life.

Forever.

She wouldn’t keep her promise to return to him. She couldn’t. She was dead. She died in his arms.

Yi Heon closed his eyes, praying for eternal sleep, to leave his mortal coil behind—without her, there was nothing left for him in Joseon.

2025

Ji-young took a deep breath and read. “My dearly beloved, if you were to read this someday, may you come back to my side.”

She closed her eyes, the words hitting differently than the first time she read them on the plane. Then, she’d dismissed them as a sappy romance novel. Now, she knew it was a lover’s plea, Yi Heon’s plea for her to return to him. To keep her promise.

She slowly opened one eye, then the other, but she was still in her bedroom. She was still sitting on her bed, alone.

No! It had to work. She promised him she’d return. She had to return. She needed to return to him. She couldn’t leave him there. She promised!

Just as she’d done the first time the blasted book actually worked, she traced the letters on the yellowed paper with her finger as she read, slowly, meticulously enunciating each word. “My dearly beloved, if you were to read this someday, may you come back to my side.”

Nothing.

“It’s not working,” she whispered brokenly, tears trickling down her cheeks. “Why isn’t it working?”

Then, the epiphany. She was in the plane toilet when she time-slipped. She might as well try. Third time’s the charm.

She rushed into the bathroom, centered herself, and opened the book, even though she knew his plea by heart. She had to do it right. She had to make it work.

“My dearly beloved, if you were to read this someday, may you come back to my side.”

She closed her eyes, hoped, wished, prayed to whoever might be listening, implored...But when she opened her eyes again, nothing had changed. She was still at home, alone, her arms empty but for his journal.

She slowly crouched, tears streaming down her eyes as realization dawned that it was over. That he, her beloved, was forever lost to her.

1506

The torn piece of paper, resting whisper-light on the dethroned king’s extended arm, started to glow…