thief (of my heart)

-XXIV-

One after the other. Jisoo made sure to go after each of them. She hunted down the remaining spies one by one. The encounters were short, yet brutal, leaving a trail of bloodshed. Her dagger was covered in blood as she pushed the hair from her face, letting out a huff of exhaustion. Only four left.

Meanwhile Jennie was still crying in her carriage on the way back to her kingdom. Chaeyoung and Lisa tried to comfort but nothing they said made it better.

What she didn't realise is that whenever a spy rode after her carriage with a horse of their own, Jisoo and Trojan were already right behind them, stopping them. Whenever an arrow was flying her way, Jisoo already intercepted it. When they plotted in faraway spots across the kingdom, Jisoo already pierced them with her dagger.

At the same time, she still kept the Silla soldier uniform she stole from them, disguising herself whenever she needed information and blending in with them. Waiting for the moment to strike. Again and again.

The carriage rumbled along the rugged road, Jennie's tears continued to flow unabated. Jennie clutched onto a handkerchief, her knuckles turning white from the intensity of her grip. She gazed out of the window, with her tear-streaked face. Memories of their shared moments, the laughter and intimacy they once cherished, now mingled with the bitter sting of betrayal.

If she could throw her aside that easily, she must have never meant anything to her in the first place and she just couldn't accept that.

"Maybe we were just wrong about her," Lisa frowned, rubbing her teary eyes. She obviously also deeply hurt. "Let's burn all her stuff."

"She doesn't have any stuff..." Chaeyoung had to break it to her. "Well, except for this." She pulled out the blue crystal necklace from her neck and pointed towards it.

"Then let's burn that." Lisa already pulled out flint stones from her pockets to start a fire.

Jennie's eyes wandered to the necklace before her eyes popped out. She stopped Lisa and almost surged on top of Chaeyoung in surprise and to inspect it closer.

"Where do you have that from?" Jennie inquired urgently.

"This? Jisoo gave it to me. She asked me to take care of it in case anything happened to her." Chaeyoung explained. "But now that she showed us her real face, we might as well--"

"Jisoo gave it to you...?" Jennie asked again, swallowing. "May I hold it..?"

Chaeyoung raised her eyebrows, slightly confused. Lisa also blinked, not understanding why she was getting worked up over a shiny necklace.

"Uh, yeah. She did. It's hers." Chaeyoung confirmed, handing it to her. "Why do you ask--"

"Then! Then that means... she wouldn't betray us." Jennie concluded, her face lighting up tenfold. Her tears immediately stopped as she sighed in relief, holding the familiar necklace tightly.

"That means, she is a person who can be trusted. Who wouldn't even break the trust of a stranger," She giggled sweetly, her cheeks dusting pink at the thought.

"Girl, are you okay...?" Lisa was starting to get worried. "I think she is turning crazy..." She whispered to Chaeyoung worriedly.

"So there is no way she would betray people she actually loves." Jennie went on. "She is putting on an act."

"...." The two didn't know how to respond to that. Although they would like to agree. It just didn't seem like Jisoo to act like that.

"What makes you so sure?" They eventually asked.

"Just trust me! I would bet my life on it!" Jennie assured them. "Let's proceed as we planned. Chu will come back when she is ready."

They nodded their heads, trusting her intuition.