"Bloody Vow" [Akatsuki no Yona X Reader]

30 - Respect not power

"(Name) do you intend on resigning?"

It was just her and Soo-won in the room and as soon as she heard the question her entire body stiffened.

There was a long pause, it was quite with only the hum of soldiers practicing and walking here and there, all the normal noises that would always be heard in her room.

Soo-won had visited her for good knows what reason but with this question she knew where this conversation was headed.

Did (Name) want to resign? It wasn't like it hadn't been crossing her mind the last few days.

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

"I don't know." Her voice was almost a whisper.

"You're going to throw away everything you worked to bone for?"

"I don't know."

"Are you seriously considering to quit, (Name)?"

"I said I don't know!" She shouted.

The men left leaving behind a battered (Name).

She was 12 at the time. Young and ambitious. Everyone knew she showed potential.

Slowly getting up the female ran to her room hoping no one saw her on the way her nether regions hurting like hell.

The men had spared her face and every visible corner of her body. They had jeered at her young flesh.

She stared at the reflection in her room.

(Name) knew she wasn't ugly, not by a long shot. Her life as a slave and her journey here was a testament to that. Her face was a major asset.

But her body was a whole another story, it was as littered with scars not much different to the battlefield she had grown up in.

This had proved that her thoughts that coming to Kouka would end this type of harrasment.

There was only so much water could wash off.

Soo-won himself was surprised why he was taking this so harsh. It would benefit him if she resigned. It would be nothing but a win for him. But something stopped him and he knew what it was.

He was 13. The blonde had going to meet (Name) to tell her they were planning on having a secret dinner together when he saw the female running into her room.

He figured maybe it wasn't the best time but knocked at her door anyway.

There wasn't a reply.

"(Name) open the door it's Soo-won."

Normally this was enough for her to come rushing to the door to greet him but this time all that greeted him was silence.

"(Name)?" He called once again his voice laced with worry.

"Soo-won, I'll meet you later." Her voice was normal. Nothing out of the blue.

"We're planning on having a secret dinner today night at out usual time, okay?" He whispered loudly.

"Ok!"

That night Yona couldn't make it maybe for plot convenience but who could know, and Hak said he couldn't be bothered so he didn't come.

It was just the both of them and a fire between them.

"It's sad that they couldn't make it."

(Name) sighed, "It's been a while since we had one of these, I don't know when the next one will be arghhh."

Yet neither of them minded the fact that it was just the both of them.

"I heard that after a few years they might even make you a General!" Soo-won said with a smile in order to get a smile from her, it wasn't exactly a secret that she was aiming for a higher rank.

"I really do hope so." And he got it, and hated what he did get. He got a fake smile.

This struck him, it was weird, and after than she seemed to be a bit more distant.

She leaned to her side, reaching for a glass of juice, her yukata accidently slipping off her shoulders a bit. And before Soo-won could divert his eyes he saw something. The blonde wasn't as innocent as people thought. He knew how the world worked all too well.

"(Name), what was that."

"Uh.. orange juice?" She stared at him like from another planet.

"Forgive me for this but when you yukata moved back I saw something."

(Name) was anything but a bad liar, so the panic in her mind didn't show on her face. "I'm in training, dear, of course I'll have bruises. People are ruthless." She spoke in a matter of fact sort of way.

"I'm not a stranger to bruises, (Name)." He did reach a conclusion, causing a small pain in his heart at the thought. "A-are you in a relationship?"

"What, no! I'm 12 for God's sake, Soo-won! Back off!"

"Then what is it? I know what I saw."

Now the younger was panicking and as she stood up to leave he grabbed her wrist in proper kdrama version.

Soo-won was way weaker than her, but she'll have to hurt him in order escape such a grip and that was something (Name) couldn't do, not to him.

A thought occurred, but that couldn't happen. Not inside Kouka, not inside the palace. Could it?

"Did someone force themselves upon you."

He felt her body tense up visibly.

"Of course not." Her voice a few octaves higher.

"Who did it?"

"No one."

"Who Did It?"

There was silence. (Name) knew it was futile to lie but in reality she had no idea who did this to her.

"When?"

After a long pause she spoke, "Today, about an hour before you came to call me." (Name) gave a sad smile, "I'm used to this, Soo-won. This is just how the world works."

His heart broke as tears escaped his eyes. Is this the world she lived in?

Too this day those words seem to haunt him. Soo-won knew too well that being the only female was hard when she didn't have the power that being a commanding general entailed.

He knew how she fought for her position, how she fought against lecherous men, how she fought against perverse rumours.

"After all that you're gonna give up this power that you worked for?"

"It was never about power, dear, it was about respect."