The golden flecks of the morning sunlight drowned the room in a yellowish hue.
The guards were more alert due to Maehwa's escape attempt last night. The residence was drowned in an air of celebration.
Amidst the hum drum of preparations the air of helplessness inside the room grew thicker as the evening sky swallowed the morning glow.
This reminded Wonwoo of every cult movie he ever saw, even though the situation was totally not on their side, he tried to use the references of those movies.
Jeonghan's glance flickered as he moved towards Wonwoo
"Ya...today we will finally find the man behind all these mysteries. Who do you think it will be?"
Wonwoo pondered for a bit and slid his hands into Mingyu's palm. "I have no idea."
Jeonghan's eyes grew bigger
"Is it Prince Sangwoo?"
"He is a nuisance but I am sure it's not him. It must be someone who was plotting since your mother's disappearance."
Jeonghan took in Wonwoo's confident gaze and whispered "How can you be so sure?"
"It's just a gut feeling."
Seungcheol moved closer to them as Jeonghan pondered "It would be weird if it was the King."
Mingyu couldn't help but chuckle at the crown prince's predictions.
Both Jeonghan and Wonwoo gave him the side eye and continued their banters but all of a sudden Wonwoo gasped
"It makes sense though if it's the New Queen or Prince Iseul."
Jeonghan cocked his brows in surprise
"Aren't you close with Prince Iseul? And why would the Queen allow a huge investigation about the disappearance case if she was involved?"
Mingyu noticed Wonwoo's grave expression and moved closer to him. Wonwoo sighed as he took in those droopy raven eyes and responded
"I am so lost at this point."
Seungcheol spoke up for the first time since last night. He had a sleepless and restless tone "All we can do now is wait, get our hands on those swords and try to protect as much girls as we can. Mingyu and the Crown prince can fight with me while Prince Wonwoo can move these girls to a safer place."
All three of them seemed to agree with Seungcheol's plan.
But when the night finally crawled out Nabi came back and moved all four of them into a different room and locked them. It didn't take much for Jeonghan to understand what was going on. When Nabi went back he might have asked about the three extra maids to the perpetrator.
Nabi had a black mark on his face, it was obvious he was hit badly for messing things up. His eyes were filled with venom when he recognized Mingyu and Wonwoo.
He gestured to the guards to tie them up and growled as he locked the door "Our Lord will deal with you rats after the sacrifice. For now stay put."
They became more anxious as they realized what was at stake. Jeonghan was sure Seungcheol would manage to help them get out of here alive somehow but he was not so sure if they could save all those girls.
Mingyu was the most anxious amongst them all as he suddenly started hyperventilating screaming about Jangmi.
Wonwoo and Jeonghan were the only ones who were collected while Mingyu and Seungcheol were blinded by their rage.
They struggled for almost an hour but finally managed to get out of those ropes. Mingyu finally started to calm down when he was free and his body moved towards Wonwoo automatically.
Jeonghan wanted to hatch a plan but Seungcheol rushed right into breaking the lock and attacking the guards outside.
For the next few minutes things were a mess, Wonwoo blindly followed Mingyu's lead as he stumbled his way out of the fight. He had to agree both Mingyu and Seungcheol were efficient in their work and the crown prince made sure no one was alerted of their escape.
They walked back to the room where they were before but the girls were nowhere to be seen. Mingyu and Seungcheol were the most anxious ones to find those girls before the sacrifice. Wonwoo felt like he was walking in a fever dream as he ran through the halls drowned in the red hues of the numerous lanterns.
A tinkling sound grabbed all of their attention as they walked past a room. Jeonghan's expression grew ugly the moment he heard the sound, he moved towards the door and tried to peek inside the room. Wonwoo followed suit and did the same. A lady in opulent clothes was roaming around the room in a hurry. There was something uncanny about how her feet were moving hurriedly.
Wonwoo stole a glance towards Jeonghan who was now paler than before his eyes unmoving. Wonwoo followed Jeonghan's line of sight and he gasped when finally he realized who possibly the perpetrator might be.
Seungcheol seemed to have noticed too, he moved closer to Jeonghan and patted his head like a baby.
The red hues of the lanterns were dancing eerily on that lady's headpiece. Her hairpin shined everytime the light hit it, Wonwoo knew that hairpin, the same hairpin that tormented him in his dreams urging him to remember something that he can't recall.
Seungcheol whispered to Jeonghan and managed to drag everyone away from that door "My Lord! Please let's find the girls first. It might not be her."
Jeonghan stumbled into Seungcheol's arms as he let out a sob "It's her clothes and her hairpin. If she was alive....why?"
The stoic guard pulled Jeonghan into a corner and hugged him tightly embracing every sob he let out.
Wonwoo decided to let them be and moved ahead with Mingyu to find the girls.
Mingyu looked back at Jeonghan and swung his restless gaze again on Wonwoo "Who is that lady?"
"It's either the crown prince's mother or someone pretending to be her by doning her attire."
Mingyu had so many questions but finding Jangmi and others were more important so they rushed ahead in complete silence as Mingyu immobilized every guard in their eye view.
After running in circles throughout the residence they found their way back to Jeonghan who was still crying in Seungcheol's arms.
Wonwoo more or less figured out there had to be a secret passage or some underground basement where the sacrifice will take place like all cult movies.
He moved closer to Jeonghan and patted his head as he tried to soothe and reason with him how it might be someone pretending to be his mother. After a while Jeonghan was able to collect himself with a newfound rage to kill anyone who possibly harmed his mother.
Wonwoo explained his cult movie theory to his company and Jeonghan was quick to figure out that a possible hidden room might me in that same as the lady they saw a while ago.
After hitting, turning and twisting everything inside the room to no avail they felt hopeless. Wonwoo sat down on a chair to rest but much to everyone's surprise a clicking sound resounded the whole room.
There was a doorway inside the bedframe which led into a huge tunnel underground. They walked through a maze of pillars and lanterns flooded in a bloodish tint.
Wonwoo felt like he was inside a Dungeons and Dragons gameplay as the stones of the tunnel soon metamorphosized into a huge wooden shack adorned with smudges of fresh blood. Their blood ran cold the moment the stench of blood reached their senses.
They desparately prayed that they were not too late as a bloodied mess and huge fires came into their eye view. After two left turns from that wooden shack area they found themselves in a huge circular room. They all squatted near one of the many red curtains and gazed all around the room searching for Jangmi and others, much to their relief all of them were very much alive but terribly frightened.
Wonwoo's eyes landed on the heaps of sheeps dead around the girls laid in a weird circular pattern while most of the guards surrounding the whole space were wearing obscure masks.
That same jingling sound danced through the whole space as the attire ruffled in front of them. Her glared travelled with unnerving intensity as she removed the curtain behind which the four of them were hiding.
The three of them gasped as Wonwoo took in the distorted expression of the lady. They were once again tightly tied up in a rope and thrown near Nabi's sword. The girls all screamed and cried. Some were begging Nabi to not kill the princes while some were wailing for their own death which was approaching so soon.
The girls who were not chosen for the sacrifice were clad in red and were made to chant an uncanny prayer as the hairpin lady and another man in mask sat at a higher ground observing everything.
There was something so familar about the way the man sat that troubled Wonwoo. He felt his head pounding heavily against his skull and the pain was almost maddening, he felt blood trickling out of his head. Mingyu's concerned eyes soon turned into eyes filled with burning rage as he realized it was Nabi who hit Wonwoo.
Nabi spat as he smirked towards Wonwoo "Don't stare at our lord."
Wonwoo couldn't help but roll his eyes at this cult shit going on around him. He reassured Mingyu as he took in his eyes and bumped his shoulder with his shoulder.
No matter how many times he told the others that he was okay, but in reality he felt dizzy and the pain was getting unbearable every moment. The rituals kept happening in a daze as they kept trying to break free.
As soon as midnight came crawling out of the womb of the evening a few red curtains were dropped to reveal a broken spot in the stone celing letting the moonlight fall just right into the huge fire in the midst of the circle.
The hairpin lady walked right near the fire and suddenly sliced her palm. It filled the girls with a new terror as the lady began speaking some nonsense about immortality.
By the time she was finished a girl was dragged near her, the lady raised her arms to slice her neck but Jeonghan interrupted her. His voice was laced with poison as he glared towards the lady
"Do you really think Lady I Jun that killing these innocent maids will give you what? Immortality? "
The lady scoffed and spoke in a lazy annoyance as her gaze fixed on the maid she was about to kill "Crown Prince. You are talking to the Queen of your kingdom don't call my name so carelessly, I am no longer the noble consort."
In one spin of the dagger she sliced the neck of the maid which let the whole room rise in an uproar with wails and screams.
Seungcheol screamed and cursed as he threatened to kill the Queen while she kept killing one maid after another letting their blood into the fire.
A terrified Jangmi was pushed near the lady as she struggled to escape the tight grip of the Queen.
It was impossible to escape the rope with Nabi and others holding them into place.
Wonwoo screamed in annoyance "So pathetic."
This seemed to have unsettled the Queen. She fixated her cruel gaze on Wonwoo and asked him with gritted teeth "What is so pathetic?"
Wonwoo smirked, he finally got to her
"It's pathetic isn't it that you are wearing the first Queen's attire and her hairpin trying to imitate her?"
This enraged the Queen, she pushed Jangmi away and stormed towards Wonwoo.
Wonwoo continued to distract everyone's attention as he eyed Seungcheol almost managing to break free from the ropes
"Killing people every year to become immortal? That's delusional and pathetic. If you wanted to imitate the first Queen, you should have donned her kind personality along with this attire. With that ugly expression you just look like a bad second grade item."
The expression of the Queen turned ugly and cold, she raised her dagger to kill Wonwoo but Mingyu kicked her away in time.
This made the man sitting above in a higher pedestal rush towards the Queen. He pulled her up and unsheated his sword to stab Mingyu.
Mingyu knew kicking the Queen was a bad idea, he was not able to move because now Nabi held him down, his only option was to accept his fate. He glanced towards his prince and took in those warm eyes filled with worry and smiled at him and closed his eyes accepting his fate.He waited for the cruel stab of the sword piercing his body but it never hit him.
It was Wonwoo who positioned himself in front of Mingyu the moment the sword was about to hit him.
The man in the mask finally revealed himself as he looked at Wonwoo in disappointment and pulled out the sword "Wonwoo you could have been useful to me but you decided to support Prince Jeonghan. Too bad you are going to die now."
Wonwoo knew today was not his day. His head's pain was nothing compared to the pain he felt in his abdomen.
Mingyu pushed Nabi away with all his strength and broke free from his ropes. He took Wonwoo in his arms as he whispered with all the love and care that everything will be alright. He caressed Wonwoo's face as tears started to well up in his eyes.
Wonwoo fixed his gaze towards Prince Iseul and smirked "Still I win. My guess about you was right."
He knew his life was a borrowed one and it was ending as it was supposed to end long before when he fell from that building but still he longed to live now to tell Mingyu everything about himself. He took in those raven eyes which were now crying for him, he felt happy that someone was there to mourn him, to care for him and his pains. He managed a weak smile as he whispered "I love you Mingyu.....and definitely not like a friend or a brother.....ah....b.....but as a lover."
Mingyu managed a small chuckle as he pressed his hands in Wonwoo's abdomen to stop the blood flow "Hyung..I think this was already established when I first kissed you."
Wonwoo smiled as he for one last time looked at those perfectly gorgeous canine teeth grinning towards him in love. He felt dizzy with each breath and soon his consciousness left him.