He tries a few times to unscrew the cap of the bottle but due to his bandaged forearm and the pain shooting up every time he exerts force, he finds it hard to do the simple task. After a few unsuccessful tries, he finally gives up. He decides he would rather be thirsty than torturing himself with the sharp pain emanating from the wound on his forearm. After getting treated by the doctor in town, he realizes how Yeosang's medicinal skills are far superior; it usually only takes a few hours for any wounds he touches to heal. He has no rights to complain, because he doesn't want to let the other palace occupants to know that he's injured. He has made sure to keep extra precaution by wearing only long-sleeved shirts; he wouldn't want the people in town to be questioning him on why his forearm is bandaged.
After the incident yesterday, he tries to avoid from going to the central forest for the time being. He is still shook by it, and although he barely admits it, he's scared for his life. No words could explain how grateful he was when Wooyoung appeared out of nowhere and saved his day; he can't bear to think what would happen if he were to fall from the tree. He could be paralyzed or even worse... die.
He knew Wooyoung was frustrated by his decision to keep it a secret, but that was the only decision he could make right then. He doesn't want to alarm the rest with the distasteful news, especially Yunho and Akira. They had been through so much but it seems that their trial is only beginning; Nyla only appears to be a stopover and the queen is making sure that they would remember that they're still residents of Lucida.
He has only spent his day milling about in town, having no place else to hang out besides his house and the palace. Trying to avoid questions from both his family and the palace occupants, he figures that the town is his best bet. He had never felt so bored in his life; no one to talk to, no goods to bargain. He has only been observing people from the side as he sits down on the stone bench, and his eyes are starting to get tired. When his eyelids are starting to get heavy due to his lack of activity and movement, he figures it won't hurt to catch some shut-eye in the middle of the busy streets. They can't attack me when there are a lot of people, can they?
He wants to drift off to sleep, but he only finds himself closing his eyes and resting his head against the wall. He is still aware of his surroundings and he can hear people's feet shuffling to sit beside him and leave shortly after. He keeps his position, but only then his ears catch a conversation that makes him interested. Still pretending that he's asleep, he tries hard to capture every single detail of the dialogue. The two people conversing seem to not realize that he is there, or rather they think that he can't hear anything because he's asleep; they're talking about the palace occupants of Nyla and the two new settlers - Akira and Yunho.
"Did you hear about it? The palace has taken in new residents again and this time they're from Lucida," the first person starts. It's a woman's voice, a familiar one but he cannot quite place it yet. "Did you see the two of them at the ball? They say that they're a general and a lieutenant from Lucida. Isn't it foolish of the palace occupants to be accepting someone with such positions from Lucida? I don't mind if they're commoners or noblemen from the other kingdoms, but servants of the queen? And Lucida?"
"Someone also passed around the story that the girl has black blood," the second woman's voice offers, putting emphasis on 'black'. "Can you imagine? Someone from Lucida with that kind of blood? It still amazes me how easy it is for the young masters to accept people like that into the palace."
"Maybe they are trying to uncover who the Shadow King is," the first person speaks up again. "What if Lucida is trying to take over Nyla? We're going to be doomed."
"No one is getting doomed," Mingi opens his eyes and stares at the two. He finally notices why the first voice seems familiar; it's Yeosang's sister, Yoojung. She's sitting with what he assumed is another nobleman, because that's the only blood colour that she will mingle with. "Kang Yoojung what do you think you're doing spreading rumours about the two of them?"
"I-"
"Because you can't get your hands on Park Seonghwa and she could?" he cuts her off and snorts. "Since you can't fight against her you're starting to get people around to hate the two of them?"
"But they're not rumours, they're true! You know that whatever I said was true," she replies quickly, afraid that he will cut her off again. "Why would you take someone like that into the palace? The Shadow King-"
"Do you know who the king is?" Mingi snaps.
Yoojung only blinks in response, and even her companion is starting to leave, not wanting to get involved in the heated conversation.
"You don't, do you? So that means the secret is still safe even when they're around."
"But they're from Lucida-"
"Even if they're from Lucida, they're not as spiteful as you. Even if they're from Lucida, at least they don't think they're so high up just because of some damn blood colour. In fact, you would be better off as a Lucida resident than a Nyla resident. At least you'll feel at home when you live there since you care so much about the damn colours," he spits, leaving Yoojung scrambling alone to get up from the bench, putting an end to the conversation.
Looks like she won't be spreading anymore rumours about them.
---
Making a decision to come back here involves a lot of considerations, but it seems that they didn't take anything into account. Driven forward by the nightmares they experience and the constant reminder that the queen is still there to haunt them, they choose to step back into the abyss they've been desperately trying to claw their way out from. They didn't even inform anyone else about their plan of coming back here, including the palace occupants.
They can only hope that they are able to make it out alive.
Spending their lives walking into battles with requisite strategies planned out and carrying them out successfully, the general and lieutenant are now walking back without bothering to have a single plan to refer to. Despite having no idea of what they're planning to do and how it's going to end, they're walking with such fortitude that the residents are looking on with such amazement. Both from the fact that the escaped general and lieutenant are now in the kingdom, and that they show no evidence of distress, making no effort to hide away their faces.
If people say that that the two soldiers have lost their minds, they are probably right.
Their eyes finally lay upon the palace they grew up in, the sole witness of how their friendship was formed and then broken. From the distance, they see the balcony of the queen's chamber, but the doors are closed. The guards at the arched entrance only look at them silently and the two understand the situation they're in: the queen has not given any orders to them, so they won't do anything. They won't act unless instructed to do so - that is how powerful the queen is.
They stop in front of the giant doors and are invited in, as if the queen has been waiting for their arrival. Royal servants quickly come to their side, accompanying them as they make their way to the queen's chamber noiselessly. The two share no conversation ever since they stepped into Lucida: they figure that they will have a lot to say once they face their queen. The beloved. The door of the queen's chamber seems to be welcoming them as they stand in front of it, and they share a knowing look as one of the royal servants knocks on the door.
"Your majesty, the general and lieutenant are here to see you," the servant announces.
"Let them in," the queen's voice booms from inside.
They part ways with the royal servants at the door, and they catch sight of the queen sitting by the window, looking out. She turns her head slightly so that they can see the left side of her face. She purses her lips before gesturing towards the small table with four chairs surrounding it, "Sit down. It seems like we have a lot to talk about."
They obey the queen, and as another knock comes, three cups of tea are served in front of them. Akira and Yunho eye the tea before looking at each other, and then turning back to the queen, who has already taken place in front of them. The queen drops a sugar cube into her cup with her slender fingers, stirs the liquid and then returns her sharp gaze to the general and lieutenant.
"What brings back the two of you here? You should keep on hiding when you had the chance. Now that you're here, it's only a matter of time before death comes. Why waste all your effort to escape when you're walking back here on your own will?" she asks snarkily. "I'm disappointed to have such stupid soldiers under my wing."
"Call us stupid but you're the one who cannot give us up. We're simply making it easy for you," Akira shoots back. "After all, it's always our job to help out the queen."
"You imbecile!" the queen shouts. "Ever since you stepped into Nyla you think you're all great."
"Your majesty," Akira enunciates. "You were the one who sent me there on a quest. You were the one who instructed me to go there and I was simply carrying out your orders but you tried to kill me. And when you failed you couldn't accept it. You live your life always wanting things to go your way, but in the process you lose what you could've kept. You lost us."
The queen cackles. "Lost... both of you? Akira, I am simply throwing you back to where you belong; I want to see you die in a kingdom where all this fucking chaos started. In a kingdom where you should have been in."
The general glowers when she registers the queen's reply. "Where... I belong?"
"Where do you think you belong? Here? Akira, you never even belonged in Lucida in the first place. You're an outsider with the dirtiest blood I've seen yet you're allowed to live in the palace. But-" she scoffs, "-we were children who mingled without caring for the colour of our blood."
"We never did," Yunho says slowly.
"You're right, we never did," she repeats. "But of course, there was a moment where everything changed." She takes a sharp breath, "The incident that took both of my parents' lives away, do you even remember? As I held both of them in my arms, I couldn't stop crying and I kept on shouting their names. But did you know whose name my father called out? It wasn't mine. It was yours," she spits, looking at Akira full of disgust. "At that moment he told me everything and I finally understood why you suddenly came into the palace, why you are allowed to live even if you have black blood, especially why you seem to be in my father's favour. Have you... ever wondered who your parents are? Where they are now?"
The general doesn't answer. She wants to hear everything that comes out of the queen's mouth without being disturbed.
"Both of your parents died," the queen's eyes glaze over but she drops no tears. "Your mother was a commoner from Nyla and your father..." she trails off. She pronounces the next sentence painfully, evident in her eyes, "...was the king. My father."
Yunho's jaw drops as he hears this, while Akira's shoulders slump, not believing every single thing that comes out of Emira's mouth. Both of them are rendered speechless, and this spurs Emira to continue.
"The king went for a visit to that damn kingdom, Nyla," she enunciates the kingdom name with so much hate, "-and he happened to fall in love with a commoner- your mother. I know my father got married to my mother because he was forced to, they were never in love. And I was born. I barely got any love from him because I'm not the child he wanted. He wants to have a child with a woman that he actually loves. So he fell in love with your mother, and she ended up getting pregnant with you. But my father - he's the king, he can't go around marrying a lowly commoner. You were born and your mother came to the palace, begging him to take both of you in. My mother was furious and she ordered the soldiers to kill your mother in front of everyone at the palace. But she spared you, because they won't kill a baby. You were taken in, but you were given to the servants to be taken care of. You grew up not knowing where you came from, and the king swore everyone to keep a secret about your blood colour. We grew up together because I was too young to understand the disgrace behind your birth and I never cared about your blood. I never did," her tone is weak.
"On the day my parents died, I found out the truth on why you're special. I was supposed to be his only child. Even though you're a result of an affair, the king always favoured you more. I never understood why, but when I found out, I wished I never had to listen to it. I was crying for them, but the king kept on mentioning Akira, Akira, Akira. We grew up side by side, not knowing that we are related. It would have been better if the king let the secret die with him, because look at us now. Every time I look at you, you remind me of my cheating father. You remind me of that revolting man who only knows how to satisfy his own desires but never cared about the family he had back home."
In the end, it's always her fault. Hongjoong is wrong; she's not born because her parents love each other until they would break the tradition. She's born because the king had an affair to satisfy his own needs; she is the result of a scorned relationship.
"Then why did you decide to kill me now? Why not immediately after you found out about the truth? You had all the power when you became queen."
The queen hesitates for a moment. "Because even though I was angry at the fact... I cared for you. I cared for both of you and Yunho. How could- how could I kill someone that I've spent all my childhood with? But as time goes by, I started loathing seeing you coming back from your battles, your black blood dripping on the floors. Your blood is a constant reminder of what the king did. There was no particular reason on why I decided to kill you only now, but I guess it was because you were too good as a general. I wouldn't want to lose my loyal and good soldier at first, but then that feeling is overpowered."
"Will you... be happy once you see her die?" Yunho gently asks. He doesn't want to evoke any unnecessary emotions, so he has to keep his tone in check.
The queen takes a deep breath. "No." Her eyes shift from Yunho, then to Akira. "Of course I won't be happy. Nothing is able to make me happy now. Killing her is only a way for me to feel satisfied seeing the result of my father's affair gone." The queen takes a sip from her cup and they stare at her as she puts it back down. Her lips curl into a smile before gesturing to their cups. "Why don't you drink yours too? It's going to get cold."
If they ever did have a plan to push the queen off the throne, the time should be now. Both Yunho and she should be working together to overpower the queen in front of them, because this is the moment; only the three of them are in the room.
However, only the opposite is happening.
Their hands should be reaching out to the queen, but their hands are going for their teacups instead. They wanted to kill her, for her name to be the last one on the list of their victims, so that they can finally put their titles as a general and lieutenant to rest; but it seems that they are the ones who are about to drop dead in front of her.
After hearing the queen's revelation, only guilt washes over them, especially over Akira. They understand the reason behind her actions, and the queen is merely a child hurt by her father's thoughtless actions. The thoughts of killing her just so they can finally be free from her grasp... is banished in an instant. They stare at their own teacups and as if on cue, lift them to their lips together.
She breathes in the scent. Darjeeling. The tea she was served when she first joined tea at the Nyla palace. She then thought back to the palace occupants and wonder, how are they doing right now? Then she thinks back to when Seonghwa mistakenly thought that darjeeling was earl grey and laughs inwardly. Park Seonghwa, how would he feel once I'm gone? We didn't tell them where we went... would they ever wonder where we are when we don't get back on time for tea?
They won't have to worry anymore; because once the two of us are gone, Lucida will finally leave Nyla alone. That is how it is supposed to be.
I shouldn't have gone to Nyla in the first place, because look at what I've done to them. The queen wanted to throw me back to where I belonged, but I never really belonged anywhere. If there is one place I belong to, it's the place where all my victims meet.
Death.
But even then, I don't think I belong there. So where... do I really belong?