The Throne

九

"Your Highness, I'm okay, really--"

"Your Highness?" Lee Chan repeated, after that he let out a loud gasp as he looked at Mingyu with wide eyes in complete shock.

"...Ah, yikes." You sucked your cheeks and looked away.

Mingyu pressed a finger on his lips before Lee Chan could say anything. Obviously after hearing Mingyu's title, the younger man complied and mimed zipping his lips. At the same time, Jisoo came in very panicked. He immediately tears off some of his clothes and wrap it around your hands to stop the bleeding.

"For God's sake, it's dangerous, what were you thinking?" Jisoo scolds you while pressing another folded cloth on your shoulder.

"I'm fine, it'll heal in no time, reallyAAAKH--" You cried out when Mingyu poked your shoulder with one finger. What's embarrassing is he didn't even put any pressure on it.

"What was that for, Your Highness..!? It hurts--"

"It is hurt, that's why stop acting so tough." He replied while sighing deeply.

Jisoo's face scrunched up as if he could feel the pain on his own shoulder. He almost didn't recognize Lee Chan's presence until his shoulder bumped into his.

"Oh, and you are?" Jisoo asked while scanning the young man, to see if he's hurt or not. Both Jisoo and Lee Chan introduced themselves after they see each other.

"You two take care of Y/N, Dokyeom and I will look around for a bit." Mingyu said as he got up, he brushed the sand off his hands then said again before you could complain, "That's an order."

"This way, sir." Lee Chan invites you and Jisoo to come along. When you walk to his house, you see the faces of the villagers who are much more relieved, but also confused about what they should do now. The rest of the robbers will definitely come again to avenge today's incident.

Mingyu saw a drop of blood drip from the tip of his sword. Although he often used his sword in practice, it was the first time he had used it in a real fight. He still remembered the vibration his sword gave when it penetrated the enemy's flesh. As he thought, he hated it. He hated the feeling, the look of blood splatters, he hated admitting the fact that he almost took someone's life personally with his own hands.

Dokyeom, on the other hand had been checking the robbers one by one to see if there were any survivors to interrogate. Unfortunately there aren't any. He then watched Mingyu from afar, surely knows what his master was thinking, so he decided to approach the troubled Mingyu.

"I still remember the first time I got blood on my sword." Dokyeom said softly while standing next to Mingyu.

Compared to Dokyeom's, Mingyu knew that his sword was nothing. Dokyeom's sword was covered in blood, from the tip up to the hilt. It made him wonder if Dokyeom had ever felt the same way.

"That must've made you feel uneasy." Dokyeom said gently.

"More like, it makes me wonder if I'm doing the right thing."

"Depends." Dokyeom shrugged, "Depends on the reason why you draw your sword."

"The reason." Mingyu murmured to himself while staring at his swords, "I did it because we were attacked, and Y/N was in a difficult position--"

"Then that's reason enough." Dokyeom smiled as he patted Mingyu's arm as a friend, "What other reason do we need than to protect?"

Mingyu was at a loss for words for a moment. The blood on his sword felt like a terrible sin at first. But after hearing Dokyeom's words, wouldn't it be a bigger sin if he didn't protect when he had the chance? Moreover, that incident was also a wake up call for him to become stronger. Luck might be on his side this time, but he couldn't rely on luck forever.