I am on the horse with Chang. Holding his sides which I am trying to not blush for. Muyeong, his guard, is riding in front of us.
He keeps talking about his family and beef.
Muyeong turns his head smiling and says, "I would appreciate some beef, too your highness."
Chang stops the horse from moving and says, "How strange."
'What does he mean?' I think.
"Pardon?" Muyeong questions.
Muyeong continues, "How can you say you find this strange I just want to see my pregnant wife is that so unusual?"
Chang answers back, "That's not what I speak of... It's too quiet. I do not even hear the sound of insects."
They both went quiet. The sound of the river next to us was heard.
I turn my head around to look around me. My heart starts beating faster with what I've seen. I grip Chang's sides. My breathing went faster.
Muyeong lifts hisself up on the horse to see up ahead and says, "Your highness there is a house up ahead."
Chang moves his horse forward to get a better view of what Muyeong sees. They're both not realising that I'm panicking.
They raced their horses to the front of Jiyulheon.
The front of the place had sharp bamboo sticks on the roof, pointed towards the inside of Jiyulheon. There was a table and a hay bale holding the door of Jiyulheon closed.
There was blood on the bamboo sticks.
"I think we found the place. But it looks odd for a clinic." Muyeong says.
"What is the blackish red thing on the stakes? Is that blood?" Chang questions.
I started getting flashes of that night.
"Wait here, Your Royal Highness." Muyeong gets off of his horse and walks towards the walls.
I slid off the horse and staggered towards the building. I slide to my legs and try to calm my breathing.
Muyeong moves the table and the hay bales off the door but sees that more wood is connected to the door keeping it locked. Muyeong takes the wood off and walks towards Chang.
"Your Royal Highness, it is locked from the inside. I shall climb over the wall."
Chang looks at Muyeong climbing over the wall. He slides off his horse and goes towards me. Chang holds my back and says quietly, "Breathe Kwan. 1,2,3. In and out. You got this."
I did exactly what he said and was finally able to breath normally.
Chang lets go of my back and looks at Muyeong. I see Muyeong disappear over the wall.
I pull Chang's sleeve to which he looks at me. I quickly signed to him, 'We need to leave your highness.'
"What did you say?" Chang said.
Just as he said that, Muyeong opened the doors to the gates.
Through the doors you can see blood splatters everywhere. As Chang starts walking towards the door, I race to him and hold his sleeve for dear life.
When we reach the inside of Jiyulheon, I pause and let go of Chang's sleeve. I take in the view in front of me. Everything that I once knew didn't even look the same. It looked like a war passed through here. Up close the bamboo spikes were drenched in blood. I remembered the face that I saw through the gate.
We walked more into the place I called home for the last three months. Chang stepped on something which made a loud noise. We all paused for a second before continuing to walk forward.
I pause for a second and fall into step with Muyeong. I use my thumb and pointer finger to grip Muyeong's sleeve.
We walked up the stairs of the main building. I was remembering Yeongshin and I talked here, well him talking and me signing. I kept my eyes down to not look at anything. We were walking through the room carefully.
"They must've suffered. Something terrible took place." Muyeong whispered. I let go of his sleeve and continue to carefully walk ahead.
"Is Physician Lee here? We came all this way. We must find him." Chang said to Muyeong.
"Is anybody here!?" Chang said in a raised voice.
"It's dangerous. Stay close to me, Your Royal Highness." Muyeong said to Chang worridely.
I stepped over a loose board that broke under my foot. I screamed and fell on the dirt ground. I skidded a little on the ground. My heart rate spiked.
"Kwan!" Chang and Muyeong yelled. I heard them both running towards me.
"Are you hurt Kwan?"
"Are you alright?"
I scream more and crawl backwards crying.
"What's wrong Kwan?" Chang said.
I point to underneath the floor board. To people's bodies covered with blood and dirt.
Muyeong kneels down to check underneath the floor board. Chang softly pulls me up on my feet and moves me towards a standing chair. He motions for me to sit down to which I do.
I breathe in and out. Those people were my only family and they are dead. I started crying.
"What is it Kwan?" Chang questioned.
I grabbed his hand. With my pointer finger I wrote on his hand, 'family'.
"Family?"
I nod my head to him sadly.
He looks at me sadly and motions for me to stay there.
A few hours later
I'm currently looking away from the scene in front of me. I can hear the dragging sound.
"Pull!" I hear the man yell at the other men.
"Why is it so heavy?"
"What?"
"Quick grab on!"
"One, two push!"
"Push!"
"Push!"
I take a quick glance at the bodies being carried to be covered. Chang moves my head away from the view.
"You don't need to see this Kwan." Muyeong said to me.
Muyeong walks away to talk to a man in uniform.
"What brings a high military officer all the way here from Hanyang?"
Muyeong answers back, "I heard Physician Lee was good, so I wanted him to examine my brother."
'He is lying. Why?' I thought.
I see Muyeong and the uniform man looking at Chang.
"He may appear to be healthy but he is not well." Muyeong whispered to the man.
I started to giggle.
"What about the lady?"
"She's my daughter. She wanted to be with her uncle so I brought her along." lies Muyeong.
Muyeong continues with the lie, "My brother and my daughter rushed out and forgot their identification tags. Please understand."
"It's alright. When you arrived here, did you see anyone suspicious sir?" the man asked.
"I only saw the corpses." Muyeong said.
A man jogs up to the uniformed man and says, "Sir, we have pulled out all the corpses hidden under the deck of each building. We counted 48 in total."
The uniformed man nods and says, "Okay. Load them up on the wagon. Take them to the magistrate's office."
The man nods and walks off.
As the uniformed man walks after the man, Muyeong walks towards Chang. They both are far out of reach that I can't hear what they are talking about.
They both walked towards me.
Chang kneels down in front of me and says, "Kwan, we are going to leave. But we need you to stay. You should rest."
Before I can disagree Muyeong adds, "You need to rest. Your wounds are still fresh and you look like you haven't gotten any proper sleep in days."
I hesitantely nod.
They led me to a room that was semi clean. I laid down and signed to them, 'be careful'.
"How about you mouth what you're saying to us? Can you do that?" Muyeong says.
I nod my head. I mouth to them, 'be.. careful'.
Chang says, "Don't worry we will be. We will come back to get you Kwan."
I nod my head again and wave them goodbye.
I lay my head down and keep my tears in.
I close my eyes and drift off to sleep.
A few more hours later
I gasp awake to a yank on my arm pulling me up.
"Shut up stupid girl. You will listen to me and answer me honestly." harshly says the man.
I nod my head. This man is way scarier than any man I've met before.
He dragged me to the shed looking building. He pushes me down to the ground.
"Now, where is Lee Chang?"
I shake my head to his question. He pulls his sword out and puts it to my neck. I put on a calm facade to make him more angry.
"I'm going to ask one more time. Where is the Crown Prince?"
I shake my head again and mouth to him, 'I don't know'.
He pulled his sword away from my neck. In the process he cut my cheek. I hissed and covered my cheek.
He moved to the corner of the room and waited. I hear the horse hooves hitting the ground and walking. I push myself up more to run but the man strides to me and grabs me. He wraps his arm around my neck.
"Stay still and be quiet." the man harshly whispers.
He moves his other arm to grab a patient's book. He opens the book with one hand and starts skimming through it.
The walking came closer to us. Then the walking stops behind us.
"Is this what you came for?" the man says. He closes the book and throws it down on the table. He turns us around.
I end up looking at Chang in the eyes.
"You travelled all the way here to Dongnae?" The man moves me forward a bit to grab something from inside his garment.
He pulled a paper out and said, "This is His Majesty's command." He opens the paper and reads, "'Upon interrogating the 89 scholars who distributed propaganda, it was uncovered that the mastermind behind it all was the Crown Prince. Bring the Crown Prince to the Royal Investigation Bureau and get the whole account of the conspiracy.'"
The man crumbles the paper and says, "I shall obey His Majesty's command and take you to Hanyang. I will not bind you since you are the Crown Prince of this nation, after all."
Chang looks over at the door and sees two soldiers standing by the door.
"Please follow me quietly." the man continues.
Chang answers back, "Does this nation truly have a King?"
The man answers back, "What do you mean?"
Chang says, "Why did you call Physician Lee to Hanyang?"
"He's a specialist at treating smallpox." the man says.
"Then what did he use the resurrection plant for? Tell me the truth. Did my father pass away?" Chang yells at the man.
'Resurrection plant? I've never heard of such a plant. It sounds like a wonderful plant.' I thought.
"Of course he did not, Your Royal Highness. His Majesty is still alive. He will be fine until the Queen gives birth."
'This man is lying. It has it written all over this voice. I hate when people lie.' I thought angrily.
"Do you want to covet power that badly? Is that why you committed acts that someone who serves the King must not do? Do you want it that badly?" Chang says angrily.
"What have you done, Your Royal Highness? You were only lucky to be born as the son of the King. You have done nothing. And yet, you always looked at my father and me with that look you have now. As if you were saying, 'I am different from you disgusting insects.'"
I thought, 'Chang would never think that you dirty-.'
"You are correct." Chang answers back.
'Nevermind what I just said. But this man is still a dirty roach.' I angrily thought.
Chang yells after a deep sigh, "You are insects. You scorned the King and the royal family. You brought misery upon the people! That is what you, the Haewon Cho Clan, have done."
The man angles his hold on me to rip up the crumbled paper and throws it on the floor. He then says, "You told me to strike you, did you not? I shall grant your wish today."
The man throws me down to the ground. I lose all my breath that I struggle to breathe.
The man takes his sword out and aims it toward Chang. The two men standing by the doors close them.
Chang continues to speak, "You said I was simply lucky? No. I was chosen. With the power bestowed upon me by my father, I shall punish you." He takes his sword out of its sheath.
The man says, "You cannot kill a person with that sword." Then immediately after clashes his sword with Changs. Chang dodges out of the way. Chang slashes his sword at the man to which he also dodges.
I frantically search around for something sharp. I can hear the clashing of swords. I see a sickle on the table and grab ahold of it.
'Okay Kwan you got this. In and out.' I thought.
The sound of wood breaking made me look over. I see Chang almost getting hit by the man's sword but slashes and dodge out of the way. I strike the sickle and it cuts the man's cheek to jaw.
He stops and looks at me. He takes off his hat. He looks at us and slashes faster. I strike my sickle with his sword as Chang dodges out of the way. Chang's sword hits the man's sword while I dodge away from the blades.
I get shoved backwards and end up on the floor. I see Chang cartwheel away from getting hit. I get up quickly to see Chang slam into the shelves. I strike my sickle at the man. He hits his sword with the sickle.
I angrily strike again with force. The man hits me in the face and grabs my throat with one hand. The sickle already away from my hands.
"You shouldn't have done that little girl." taunted the man.
Chang hits his sword with the man's sword. I fall to the ground and see the sickle across the room. I hurriedly got the sickle just to see the man break Chang's sword. Chang rolls out the way. I run and hit the mans sword.
I get in front of Chang and hit the man's sword. I left myself open that as I went to hit again the man's blade was at the throat.
"You should not have been born, neither of you." the man says.
I hear a rumble and take a step back. The man looks in the direction of the noise. Chang moves me so that I'm behind him. The sword now pointing at his neck.
The man looks at the soldiers and gives them the look to check the noise. They move towards the noise.
The box starts making more noise. The two soldiers move the box over. One of the soldiers starts hitting the lock on the box till it finally opens. The thing in the box runs at the soldier and bites into his soldier. The man screams while the monster growls.
Chang moves me more behind him securely. Everybody pointing their swords at the monster besides Chang and I.
'It's the monster I saw and heard that day.' I thought. I whimpered louder for Chang to hear me.
When he turns his head he sees me fearfully looking at the monster. He moves my head into his shoulder. I hear something get stabbed and someone getting rammed into the shelf.
Chang moves slowly backwards away and I shuffle my feet at the same time.
I hear another growl and a slash. Then hear something hit the ground. Someone else gets thrown to the ground. I hear their painful groans.
Chang pushes me towards the doors. I see Chang pick up a brick and hit the monster in the face. The man holds his bleeding neck and staggers towards us. The man then collapsed to the floor.
The other soldier quickly walks towards the doors. Chang picks up the bloody sword. But looked behind Chang when they saw the once alive man now dead. The man screeches and growls while looking at Chang.
The soldier takes this moment to run to the doors while shoving me in the process and exiting the shed. Chang slashes the monster and disenbodies the head from its body.
I open the doors. Chang and I look at each other.
"Are you okay Kwan?"
I shakily nod my head.
I mouth to Chang, 'Monster... Physician Lee.'
When I mouthed that, I cried. Chang crawls to me and hugs me while rubbing my back.
He stops and lifts us up.
"Let's go." He holds his hand out to me.
I grabbed it and we both ran towards the forest.
While running we both tripped and tumbled down the hill of the forest. I land on my back and Chang is on top of me.
I blushed for our positions.
We get up quickly and continue running through the forest. We reached the water just to see Dongae on fire.
'All those people...' I thought.