I winced as the woman cleaned my wounds with a hot rag before applying a medicine and wrapping clean bandages around them.
"You know, Your Majesty" she begins. "I really wouldn't advise you attending today. I don't think it's good for you to walk or even stand for a long time."
"I have to go. And I must stand strong along his side."
"Please don't over do yourself." She says as she bows and walks out of the room, and two more ladies walk in to help me dress.
I start walking to meet Soo-won and find him at the gate right before we were supposed to walk in.
"I'm going to accompany you in to help hide your limp." He says. I nod my head and he holds his arm out.
"How long will this take? I don't think I can stand for a long time without putting pressure on my wounds."
"It shouldn't be long. You don't have to walk in with me, you can find somewhere to watch without standing." He suggests.
"I'm going to accompany you as if I would any other event. It's just going to be slightly more difficult to execute considering the situation."
"You wouldn't have been injured if you had stayed in that room like I asked you to." He says monotonously.
I turn my head towards him, my eyes filled with anger and hurt. He looks down to me as I step away from him. "If I had stayed in that room you would have been killed. You knew I was the only one who could fight him. I just wanted to protect you."
He faces the gate again. "Yet you turned your sword to me."
"One, you chained me up in a room. Two, Hak would have fought me if I had pointed it at him. I knew you wouldn't fight me, because you couldn't. And if you had fought me, Hak and Yona would have escaped. Which if you hadn't figured that out, was my goal. But you had me tranquilized ruining my plan, which made me have to run off with them to ensure that Hak lived. Because if you do not recall, you said you'd kill anyone that hurt me, so me being with him kept him alive." I explain angrily.
"But he's not alive now is he?" Soo-won points out. His tone held some sort of resentment in it.
"No," I say sourly. "He's not."
"I don't want him or Yona brought up by you anymore. They're dead. Leave them that way."
"I'm starting to wish that I died right along side them." I mumble angrily.
His eyes widen as he tenses at what I said. "Meissa-'
"Your Majesty," a man interrupts.
We turn our attention to the man.
"We're ready to begin." He says and Soo-won sighs. "Another minute or two."
The man bows and exits. Soo-won turns back to me. "You said you wouldn't die." He said angrily.
"I won't, but I want to."
"Why are you choosing him all of the sudden? He's dead and even now you choose him. Am I not good enough for you anymore?" He was frustrated.
"I loved him!" I say trying to hold back tears. I would not cry in front of him, I'm too strong.
Two guards start to push the gates open and we jump into place. Him standing strong and tall, making himself look as much like a leader, and I by his side with my arm hooked through his looking pretty and obedient.
"Do you not love me?" He asks.
We take a step forward. "I'm not doing this right now, Soo-won." I whisper. Men surrounded us on either side as we made our way towards the steps Soo-won would have to walk up to get his crown.
When he approached the steps, I bowed and stood off to the side. That way when he walked away, I would exit with him. He walks up each step gracefully and when he reaches the top, he bends down and the crown is placed on top of his head.
I felt a stitch pop from where they had to sew my more serious wounds, and tried not to flinch. I could do this.
I returned my attention to my brother. I loved him more than anything in the world. But he was different now. His personality had changed and I didn't know how to react to it.
The clans were paying respects to him and it was Mun-deok's turn. He and Soo-won exchanged words and Keishuk yells to Mun-deok at something he said. But it didn't seem to bother Soo-won.
"But a god that only watches has no meaning to me." Soo-won announces. Another one of my stitches pops and a woman appears beside me.
I turn my head to meet black eyes that gazed into my own.
"Kiyohime." I whisper.
She smiles and places a finger to her lips. "Shh.." She says and taps on her forehead. "I am a part of you. No one can see me but you so I wouldn't speak much or they'll think you're crazy."
I bite my lip. I wanted to talk to her but how could I do that right here?
"You really need to be careful Meissa. I can only fight death off for you for so long. You're bleeding badly."
I tensed at that.
"I need you to hurry and heal. You are susceptible to issues like this, infection, you name it. It wasn't very smart of you to attend this ceremony in your condition."
I had to though. I had to do it for Soo-won.