A Twist In Time?

CHAPTER 11

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As the King finished his lunch early, he stood up and said,

"I'll be leaving now, I have a few pressing matters to attend to, until then please enjoy the food."

Everyone nodded, standing up and bowing to him as he left. They took their places again, eating in silence. Ha-yoon and Hyun-bae finished a few minutes after the king left, and waited for Min-young and Hye-ri to finish their lunch. Yun-hee and General Kim also finished, standing up to leave.

"We'll be taking our leave now, Your Highness, please tell His Majesty that the food was delicious."

The Duke nodded uninterestedly. The other two girls also finished their food and stood up to leave. They bowed to the Duke who just smirked at Min-young and she winked back. This didn't go unnoticed by Myung-dae who was looking at them. He rolled his eyes at the sight and sat, frowning. Tae-shik stood up and said to get Myung-dae's attention,

"I'll be leaving now."

He walked away. Myung-dae stood up as well, deciding to leave too. 
Outside, General Kim and Yun-hee were riding back, when Yun-hee spoke up,

"I don't get good vibes from the Duke."

Sung-hoon nodded, agreeing to his wife.

"His gaze and way of speech are the opposite. It's just his aura."

Yun-hee sighed and said in a low voice, still enough for him to hear her,

"I must leave for my hometown in a few days' time. I'm sorry for telling you on short notice, An urgent matter came up."

Sung-hoon frowned, his wife seemed to be going to her hometown a lot. That's not a matter to be curious about, she goes back just after she returns to the Kingdom of Nightspire.
He nodded quietly. Yun-hee looked up and saw it, she smiled lightly.

--IN THE FOREST--

Tae-mi, Yun-ho and Ji-han were packing up for their night trip to the Flovers' clan village. After they were done, Just as they were about to go out, Tae-mi stopped them and said,

"What's the plan Ji-han? I hope you have a plan"

Ji-han looked at her and said with a little disbelief,

"Of course I have a plan Tae-mi, I'll explain it you both on the way, We must leave now or we'll be late."

Tae-mi nodded and Yun-ho followed quietly. They reached the stables and saw that there were only two horses. Ji-han smirked at Yun-ho who seemed confused at first,

"I ride solo. You both gonna share, sorry"

Ji-han said with a playful smirk while Yun-ho rolled his eyes playfully, quickly climbing onto the horse. Tae-mi blushed and smiled a little. Yun-ho moved a little back for her to sit since he was a lot taller than her. She chuckled and climbed up as well. 

As they were riding, Ji-han slowed down a little to catch up with the other two and said, loud enough for them to hear.

"Listen up, Him-chan only wants me, he probably will expect me to bring backup, but I'm not gonna do that. Also he must've installed a lot of guards near the place where they have kept Eun-cha, so Tae-mi, you're gonna distract the guards while Yun-ho gets Eun-cha."

Tae-mi frowned a little, and said

"Why should I distract those scumbags? I'm her best friend!"

"I know you're her best friend- Woahh there!"

He cut himself off as he saw the cliff ahead and pulled on the reins, urging the horse to stop which it did. Yun-ho let out a relieved sigh.

"You both okay?"

He asked, quickly checking on his friends. The other two nodded, slowly backing away as the cliff started to crumble a little. As they backed away to a safe distance, They turned around to go back the correct route. Tae-mi spoke up again after a few minutes.

"You were saying."

"I was saying I want you to distract the guards because Yun-ho could heal Eun-cha of her bruises while you hold off the guards, that way we'll have another person on our team to fight if we have to."

Yun-ho nodded understandingly. Tae-mi huffed and agreed, she knew he had a point. Yun-ho leaned in from the back to whisper in her ear, giving her goosebumps

"Are you jealous Kang Tae-mi?"

He asked playfully. Tae-mi widened her eyes at the closeness and snapped back to reality when she heard Yun-ho chuckle and sit up straight, tugging on the reins to catch up on Ji-han. She quickly said, a small blush on her cheeks,

"No I wasn't, I was just worried for my friend you dumbass!"

Yun-ho laughed at her response. She smiled as they rode.

--2 HOURS LATER--

Ji-han pulled on the reins, making his horse come to a halt. Yun-ho pulled on the reins too, confused as to why they stopped. Ji-han scanned the place and said, turning to Yun-ho who was busy admiring a sleeping Tae-mi. He chuckled and said to grab his attention,

"We should camp here, the horses need energy to run after dawn, we still have a long way to go."

Yun-ho nodded, and got down, slowly guiding the horse to a nearby tree. He made sure not to wake Tae-mi up. After he knew the rope was secure, he jogged over to Ji-han who was getting his bags off the horse to reduce weight. He noticed Yun-ho and said,

"I'll stay up for the first half of the time and guard, you can take rest and then we'll switch roles. wake Tae-mi up if you feel sleepy."

He smiled and patted his friend's shoulder, walking over with his bags and swiftly going up the tree to check if it was safe. He jumped down and said,

"Let's keep the bags up there, and sleep down here since I don't like sleeping on trees"

Yun-ho laughed and nodded. They both spread a blanket on the ground so that it was not as prickly. Yun-ho walked up to the horse on which Tae-mi was sleeping on and carefully brought her down, carrying her to the blanket and laid her there. He looked at her sleeping face and smiled. Before sleeping he made sure that all the weapons were within reach incase of an attack and then looked over at Ji-han who smiled at him, mouthing a 'Good Night'. He nodded, smiling back and closed his eyes, drifting to sleep.

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