She hides her face and hair under the hood, hoping that she won't stand out too much and won't attract any attention. Madam Eurielle is feeling under the weather, and she had asked for Akira's kind help to shop for her groceries at the market. She was unwilling at first for the fear of bumping into any of the Nyla's young masters in town, but she doesn't have the heart to say no to the lady who has been nothing but helpful to her, so she figures that a quick trip won't hurt.
She makes sure that she has the list of items to be bought at her disposal and she keeps repeating them in her head, so that she'll be able to grab whatever she needs the moment she finds them. The lesser time she spends in town, the better. She decides against bringing Golden with her because they for sure would be able to spot her horse and her trip wouldn't be as successful.
She walks to town, hands in her pockets as she grips the money Madam Eurielle handed over to her. The first thing she spots as she merges with the crowd in town is the wish fountain; one that indeed made her wish come true. She sees two people making their wish there, but she chooses to only pass by them. She figures that the charm won't work twice because she already had one granted, so she ignores the sign claiming that anyone's wishes would come true. She makes her way to the market, already checking off a mental list as she sees the items she needs one by one from afar.
Potatoes, check. Milk, check. Broccoli, check. And pears... okay, she found it. She hears an uproar arising from the central square but she deafens her ears towards the noise as she picks the best-looking onions. She wants to pay for the onions but even the sellers are distracted by the noise. It takes a few waves of her bills to finally be able to catch the old man's attention.
He mumbles, "Looks like some youngsters having a fight. There are three people against one, that poor young man doesn't look like he can get up." He returns her change.
She doesn't comment anything as she drops the onions in her paper bag, with them being the last on the list, and shoving the change in her pocket. She pays no heed to the fight because it's none of her business; all she wants is to return back to the library as soon as possible, check up on Madam Eurielle and get buried in the book she picked up this morning.
She is already heading for the direction of the residential area as she pretends to be blind towards the unfair fight. Her hand aches to help the poor young man who has bled on the ground, smearing the stony floor with his crimson blood, and his body is sprawled on the ground like a broken doll. But she doesn't want to get involved in a fight she's not supposed to, and she wouldn't want to attract any sort of attention. The onlookers are only standing by the sides, being witnesses to the skirmish that's happening between the three youngsters and their one opponent, who's currently too weak to fight.
None of them offer any help; it's either they're scared or they don't bother. Akira is not the former; she would break their bones if she could, so she's conflicted when she sees the victim bleeding on the ground. The perpetrators are not done with him as they kick him non-stop, causing the victim to only be able to shield himself weakly with his arms held above his head.
She is about to turn away but stops dead in her tracks when she sees the man on the ground with his arms up trying to protect himself and she gets a good view of the left side of his face; she sees the birthmark. Kang Yeosang. The palace doctor is currently being beaten up by three people, and he couldn't do anything about it.
So will she do anything about it?
Wooyoung's words ring in her ears: If we happen to see each other in town, just move on. Don't bother to try and pretend like we know each other.
She has to pretend that she doesn't know him- but is it wrong to help someone who's currently being beaten to death even though you don't know the person? She debates with her conscience and her choice to be ignorant. Time is ticking; another second she takes to decide is another kick to the frail doctor's body.
Seeing the fragile state of Yeosang on the ground, she wastes no time in deciding her next move. Tightening the string of her hood around her face to make sure it doesn't fall off and putting down her paper bag somewhere safe, she sprints to the central square, passing by the bystanders. She jumps off the ground and lands a kick on the back of one of the offenders, causing him to fall forward and the other two to be looking around in frantic search of the sudden appearance of another threat. They finally ignore Yeosang and gang up on her, and she does a little gesture to ask them to come for her instead.
They follow her lead, and soon it's a one versus three fight, but instead of Yeosang, Akira is leading the one-man show, clicking her tongue in displeasure when they throw messy punches and kicks, missing her body every time. She might have thrown away her title as the general, but it's obvious that her skills are going nowhere. Weapon or no weapon, I survive.
She eyes her opponents, who seem to be surprised that their new victim turned out to be a good fighter, and she notes that they're no longer strong to fight. The one with the red hair drops to the floor first, writhing in pain as he clutches his stomach at the place where she kicked him, while another one that has a visible stubble runs away while screaming in pain and the last one shakes his head frantically, lifting up his hands in surrender.
"The next time you try to pick up a fight, don't be a coward and fight fairly. Don't fight three against one, that's not nice," she hisses to the remaining two and they say nothing. Their only response is by running away from the mess they created in the first place.
She looks over her shoulders to see Yeosang still sprawled on the ground. When she sees that people are starting to crowd around him to help him stand up, she steps away, making sure that her hood is still securely placed on top of her head.
"Wait," he suddenly croaks as his body was held up by a person, his arm draped across the helper's shoulders. "Thank... you for... helping me."
She doesn't turn around for fear of him recognizing her and only waves him away from over her shoulder. She is ready to step away but his voice stops her again, asking her to wait for a moment.
"How... can I repay you?" He wipes the blood from his mouth with his sleeve before he tries to advance to her, but it proves to be hard because his steps are unstable. He stays rooted to the spot, hoping that his rescuer would turn around. "You're the only one who stepped in to help me when I was almost gone; there has to be somehow... I can repay you." He winces as pain shoots up his torso.
With her back still directed towards him, she keeps waving him away, but it's obvious that he won't budge. Knowing that she cannot afford to say anything, she decides in a heartbeat to escape; she sprints off, making sure to grab the grocery bag with her. She receives another desperate call from Yeosang for her to stop, but she pays no attention.
If we happen to see each other in town, just move on. Don't bother to try and pretend like we know each other.
Yeosang staggers forward to hold on to his saviour, but the person proves to be too fast for him. Before he can call out again, the figure disappears behind the row of sellers, bringing together the evidence of the act of rescue, leaving him behind with cuts and bruises all over his face and body.
---
Hongjoong is just about to carve the name of the buyer on the handle of the dagger he's moulding as requested when he hears the distant screeching of a carriage's wheel stopping. Intrigued, he puts down the dagger before opening the door to his hut, trying to outstretch his neck to look past the garden. They are not expecting any guest to come to the palace, so he finds it unusual that a carriage is entering the compound. When he finally sees the carriage, his forehead creases as he notes that it's one of the shuttle carriages that go to and from town. It could be the other palace occupants who just returned from their trip to town, but he still finds himself closing his hut door and making his way to the carriage out of curiousity.
The carriage door swings out and a single person alights it; Yeosang is holding a luggage with one hand while his other hand is busy pressing on the wound near his temple with a white cloth. He fishes around his pockets for change to give to the coachman, and he bows to him as it leaves.
"What on earth happened to you? Your pretty face is a mess," Hongjoong greets him with a slight pat on the back. "Who did this to you?" He pulls back Yeosang's hand from his wound and as he inspects it, he shakes his head in disapproval. "If I ever get their hands on them-"
"Don't worry about me, it's nothing," but his expressions show otherwise when he keeps on wincing as his body hurts in different places every time he tries to move.
"Look at you lying straight to my face. You look like you're going to bleed to death if you don't get those wounds treated."
"That's why I'm going to." He looks expectantly at the blacksmith. "If you don't mind, can you help me bring my luggage to my room? My arm feels like it's going to fall out of its socket if I ever try."
Hongjoong shows his agreement by quickly picking up the luggage, and he leads the limping doctor to his room, before helping him to lie on his bed. "I have a lot of questions," the blacksmith starts as he looks at the luggage. "How did you go out with your horse and a healthy body but come back with your luggage and a bruised body?"
"It's a really long story."
"The dagger can wait," he decides. "You better tell me who did this to you."
The blacksmith helps Yeosang to gather his medical supplies on the bedside table while the latter is openly struggling to treat himself; it's always easier when you're the doctor instead of the patient. Hongjoong wants to help him, but he says that he can manage on his own. After a few painful wraps of bandages and dabbing of medicines on the wounds, he finally leans against his pillow, sighing in relief as he feels the medicine taking effect. Hongjoong waits patiently beside him as he takes a chair, ready to listen to what he had been through.
"I mentioned that I went back to my house because my parents requested me to come back for a while," he says.
Hongjoong nods, agreeing to his words.
"I wondered what it's for but I came back to see my fiancee and her parents are there too. It turns out that she wanted to break off the engagement because she said she already found someone else that she genuinely has feelings for. Both of our parents are furious because they found out that he's a commoner."
"And what was your reaction?"
He lifts his shoulders in a dismissive shrug. "I told her that I'm happy for her and that I don't mind the engagement being broken off because it's not like there was a purpose anyway."
"You really said that in front of the elders? You were really digging your own grave."
"That's why I'm here with my luggage because my parents just kicked me out of the house and said with their whole chest that they're disowning me. Because apparently breaking off my engagement with her means I'm being a shame to their bloodline. They even took away my horse because it's a present from them so now I don't own one, which was why I had to come back here in a shuttle carriage. "
"That... escalated quickly."
He puts up a finger. "And that's not even the last of it. When I went through town, somehow feeling calm because I'm finally released from my overbearing parents, I saw these three assholes harrassing a girl, who is clearly trying to push them away but they were being annoyingly insistent. I kind of threw my luggage to one of them and they started beating me up because of that."
Hongjoong takes a moment to process what he's hearing. "That's..." he trails off. "You really went through a lot today."
"I did," the doctor leans back and closes his eyes.
"And how did they leave you alone in the end?"
Yeosang opens his eyes slowly but his mouth feels heavy. He doesn't know why he doesn't feel like sharing about his mysterious rescuer. He presses his lips into a thin line before uttering, "I guess they somewhat felt that they're just wasting on me so they just left after a while. It took a bit of time but at least I'm not dead."
He looks at him full of doubt. "They just left you like that?" But he doesn't question it further and starts nagging. "You should at least learn how to defend yourself. You can't have a mouth that spits out whatever is on your mind and an impulsive body if you don't even know how to fight."
"Alright, alright. Since now I have nowhere else to stay besides the palace, I'll learn from any of you. I need to at least know how to hold a sword, right?"
"Yes, instead of just crushing leaves to make medicine you need to know how to crush your opponents."
"Sounds violent and I don't think that's where I want to go."
"But at least-"
"Alright, alright," he says again, trying to drive Hongjoong out of his room. "I need to rest so-" he gestures towards the door, "-with all due respect Mr. Hongjoong, please leave and thank you for your help."
Hongjoong rolls his eyes but he complies, banging the door loudly as he leaves, earning a loud 'hey you're going to break the door down' from Yeosang. The latter leans back once again. He rakes his fingers through his hair, finally realizing the severity of his situation. His engagement was broken off, his parents kicked him out and he was beaten up just because he wanted to help the girl. And his saviour...
"Where did you run to?" he asks to no one in particular; it's only him thinking out loud. Then he mutters again, "No... where did you run to? One year... and a lot has changed, but you never seem to. Are you really as heartless as they say... or was it because you were only doing what you're supposed to do?"