"That was the scariest thing I have ever done in my life and I can't believe I actually agreed to do it," Yeosang complains as he leans back against the chair. "Thankfully the shield actually managed to stop the arrow or else I could die. I never want to try that again."
"Let's hope we won't face situations like that again," Hongjoong utters as he sits on the edge of the bed. "Choi San, won't you wake up now? You've been lying on this bed for almost a year. We've managed to catch the bastards who did this to you so won't you open your eyes? Don't leave us hanging like this." He reaches for San's hands and wipes them with a wet cloth, cleaning them.
Mingi watches silently as he leans against the wall of the room, arms crossed. Ever since Akira and Yunho left the palace, so much had happened that it seemed that nothing went right for them. They don't say it out loud but they know - the events that happened after was a punishment for them kicking the two out heartlessly.
"We're being punished because we were cold towards them, aren't we?" Mingi vocalizes to the two conscious people in the room; Hongjoong and Yeosang. San stays unmoving. "They were doing their jobs as soldiers, yes, they did kill his father but-" he stops, mulling over his next sentence. "-they killed him because he stole the gold bars. We were hypocrites for reacting like that only when we knew that it was Jongho's father. Today, they didn't hesitate to chase their own men; Yunho had killed off the one he's chasing and Akira fought until the end to take down her opponent. Without them, our plan could go awry."
"What are you trying to say?"
"I'm trying to say that they were doing what their jobs required them to do. Punishment for thieves in the palace is execution, and unfortunately Jongho's late father made a mistake and they caught up to him. They could choose to run away today when things go south at the ball, but why did they even bother to chase their own soldiers?"
"What about Jongho, then? Have you ever thought about what he feels?" Hongjoong asks.
"Did you forget what Jongho said, or are we pretending to be deaf to whatever he told us because of our pride?" Mingi replies through gritted teeth.
"They didn't simply leave me alone," Yeosang suddenly butts in, specifically looking at Hongjoong, when he sees that the two are about to get involved in another argument.
Confused, the two turn to look at him.
"Akira stepped in to fight them off when I was almost beaten to death. When everyone else only looked at the scene, she jumped in and drove them away. I wanted her to turn around so I could see her face, but she only sprinted off and left me."
This time, Hongjoong shuts his mouth.
"Akira and Yunho... they are the kind of people who do things that are right. She could choose to keep quiet about Jongho's father, but she admitted it herself, in front of all of us and apologized profusely. We saw her regretting what she did, it was clear in her eyes, but we chose to ignore it. We never took into account their feelings; we never stopped to ask the reason they had to do it. Yes, they were killers. But why did they kill? For fun?" Yeosang asks rhetorically.
"Are we... going to blame them for whatever happened after they left?" Mingi asks next. "We have wronged them in so many ways, we knew that they were only carrying out the queen's orders, but we chose to kick them out because we did not want to accept the fact. We pride ourselves so much in treating everyone kindly but in the end, those two people from Lucida are the ones with hearts purer than ours. We are hypocrites at best, and we had never even tried to ask them for forgiveness this past year, even though we had so many chances to do so. Because we never wanted to admit that we made a mistake; we were too full of ourselves that we never even looked back once to them."
After both of them took themselves away from the palace, Jongho was the one to leave the palace a few days after. He brought his luggage and his guitar with him, claiming that he wanted to go back to Lucida to his family and that he might never return to Nyla in the near future. Just as he was about to step out of the palace, he stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the rest.
They were doing what they were supposed to do, weren't they? he had asked. My father stole the gold bars... and it was his punishment. I might not see them anymore after this because I won't be returning to Nyla for the time being, but if you were to ever see them again, please tell them that I no longer blame them for my father's death. He waved at them with a smile, disappeared, and they never heard from him again.
Then, only 6 young masters were left at the palace.
They had found out that things were not going well between Wooyoung and San; Wooyoung had regretted that his words were what caused San to step on the throne in order to save Akira and Yunho, and that San had blamed him for it. San had to step on the throne rather involuntarily and he could not turn back. They refused to talk to each other, each with their own ego and the rest didn't know what they could do to break the tension. They were shocked when Wooyoung announced one day that he was going to leave the palace for a while; he told them not to worry about him and to not come looking for him. He had left, the fight between him and San staying unresolved, and he had never returned since.
Only 5 of them were left.
As if the sudden departure of the two young masters didn't leave them lost, they received another news that had left them speechless. Choi San was left to die in the central forest, his head bashed from behind and the culprits long gone. He was almost dead but Mingi found him by accident, bringing him back to the palace while desperately trying to mask the white blood dripping out of his wounds. It was a warning to them, to the Shadow King, from Lucida because to them - Choi San was the reason for their queen's death. Her most loyal soldiers had wanted to avenge her death. San was left in a comatose state for almost a year, staying still in the heavily guarded room. The remaining four men entered the room every day with the hopes that he would finally wake up, but up until this day, they left with negative results.
The annual ball they organized this year, with the message that they would reveal on who the king is to the public, was only a way to drive out the culprits that almost killed San. They never had the intentions of revealing on who the king is, because their current king is now unconscious, but they needed to have a decoy to make it believable. Yeosang was chosen because they are of similar height and built, and the culprits would want to go for him again if they were to receive the news that the king was still alive, ready to reveal himself.
The plan they had for the ball was merely based on luck; so many things could go wrong. They were lucky because the attackers had gave the first shot even before Yeosang managed to take off the mask, so Seonghwa and Hongjoong would have a reason to fight back. In the chaos, the guests weren't aware that the arrow had pierced through a body filled with crimson blood, so the man behind the mask wasn't their king.
After the chaotic event, the residents were more worried about the safety of their kingdom rather than the reveal of their own king; the palace had sent off a representative to announce to the whole kingdom that there should be nothing to worry about, as they had managed to capture the culprits. Seonghwa had taken down the archer that aimed for the decoy, while Hongjoong took out one of the soldiers. Yunho killed one on his own, while Akira faced the last one.
The worry rippling through the whole kingdom was finally put to rest, and it was another day for the identity of the king to be kept under wraps. It was as if the attack during the ball enforced the rationale of having a secret king rather than a public one; that people will never question on why their king never reveals himself.
"Park Seonghwa, where is he right now?" Hongjoong enquires. He puts down the damp cloth that he used to wipe San's hands and stands up.
Yeosang and Mingi look at each other, refusing to answer.
"Is he off crying somewhere again?" he utters. "Has he not given up on the flowers yet?"
"You know they're precious to him," Yeosang starts to defend the gardener.
"I didn't say anything about it," the blacksmith says. "I'm just asking because I'm curious."
The doctor relaxes as he hears this and utters an apology. "Sorry; too much has happened and I'm not feeling the best." He rolls his shoulders. "I'm still feeling a bit shaken by what just happened."
"It's fine," he sighs. "All of us needs to rest after what happened." He turns to San, "Although I do hope that's enough rest for him right here." He smiles weakly. "Choi San, that's enough sleep, don't you think? Wake up now, you have a kingdom to rule."
---
Her face is wet with tears; they roll down to stain the pillow. Why am I crying in my sleep? She fights to open her eyes but they remain shut, and only after she sobs for a good few more minutes, she manages to lift her eyelids. She expects herself to be lying down in her small bedroom behind the library, but she wakes up to an unfamiliar setting. There is something wound around her head and as she lifts up her hands to touch her head, she sees that both of her hands are bandaged too. As she struggles to sit up against the headboard, she feels a numb pain in her stomach and she finds it wrapped up, the cloth soaked in black.
It's only when she comes to her senses does she realize it wasn't an unfamiliar place; she's in one of Madam Eurielle's empty rooms and Yunho is sleeping at the foot of the bed, his head buried in his arms as he breathes steadily. Not wanting to disturb him, she lifts up her legs - the only part of her body that isn't bandaged - slowly and let it dangle on the edge of the bed. She had wanted to get off the bed noiselessly, but the moment she steps her foot on the ground, the numb pain in her stomach turned into something sharp and she plummets, clutching her stomach.
She did a bad job in wanting to leave him alone when she feels a pair of muscular hands gripping her arms, helping her to get up and sitting her down once again on the bed. His face comes into view as he levels his eyes with hers; his forehead creasing as he sticks out his lower lip.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asks, swatting his face away lightly with her hand.
"I'm just making sure that you're really alive and I'm not dreaming," he says, a smile slowly creeping up on his face. "It's nice seeing your eyes open after a long time."
"You're making it sound as if I haven't opened them in years."
"Not exactly years but four days, and that felt so long."
She looks at him, devoid of any emotion.
"You were unconscious for four days and we were really worried about you," he explains.
"What happened?"
He looks at her, his smile gone, the corners of his lips quickly coming down. "Akira, did you lose your memories when you hit your head? Do you remember who I am?"
"Akira... is that my name? And who are you supposed to be?"
He widens his eyes as he hears this before he stands up, shaking her shoulders lightly. "You can't leave me alone like this! What's going to happen to me if you don't remember who I am? Who's going to name the puppy that keeps following me around? You told me that we will-"
He stops short when he hears her chortling slowly at first, but soon it turns into fits of laughter. She clutches her stomach both due to the pain from her wound and from laughing too much. He looks dumbly at her before realizing that she had managed to trick him and his jaw drops in disbelief because he had fallen for it.
"Akira Hwang!" he shouts angrily, hands on his waist as she keeps on laughing. "You made me worried and you have the heart to laugh at me? Stop laughing!" he whines.
"Fine, I'm sorry," she says, but there are still remnants of her laughter before it completely subsides. "Of course I remember everything that happened. We went to the ball where there was an assassination attempt on the king, we chased them and I..." she trails off. "...I fell into the water but I couldn't swim back up because I was badly hurt."
The memories are cloudy because she remembers someone reaching out to her to bring her back to the surface, but she can't be sure if the person was really there, or it was only her desire making her hallucinate.
"Who took me out of the water?"
He doesn't answer immediately, but gives a response by sighing heavily. He throws his vision across the room and returns it to the bandages wrapped around her head and arms. "I took you out of the water..."
Her heart drops. So she did hallucinate.
"...was what he told me to say to you. But it's ridiculous because how could I jump in the water on time to save you when I was practically on the other side of the building?" He smiles weakly. "He told me to keep it a secret because of who-knows-what reason, but I can't see you getting hurt any longer." He pauses and rubs his nose. "Physically or emotionally. I know you still love him... Akira."
No more lies.
"Park Seonghwa shot your attacker and killed him, he was the one who jumped into the water to bring you back up. He carried you all the way from the pavilion to the sick bay. He cried non-stop when he saw you unconscious, muttering how you could stay conscious if only he came earlier. The other boys had to bring him away from you because he couldn't stop crying when he saw that you still hadn't woken up. In the end, they asked me to bring you back here because they couldn't stand hearing his cries. He... looked stupid," he smirks, but then his features soften. "But if that doesn't show how much he still cares for you, I don't know what does. Oh dear," he massages his temples. "Whatever I said was too cheesy I think I'm going to throw up." He pretends to vomit to make her laugh, but she only stares at him in incredulity.
"Thank you, for telling me the truth," she says. She suddenly stands up and looks back to him, "What is the date today?"
He thinks for a moment. "It's the 31st of Sardonyx."
"Were there any flowers on the doorsteps?"
He shakes his head. "No flowers yet for this month."
No flowers yet... and today is the last day of the month. If there are no changes to the routine, she should be getting the flowers today. She leaves the room without saying anything else to Yunho and runs past the living room, past Madam Eurielle who just emerged from the kitchen, who is surprised to see that she has waken up.
Her curiosity is greater than the physical pain she's currently experiencing, and she is out of breath as she swings the door open. She steps out, letting her bare foot touch the hot sidewalk and she looks immediately to the steps in front of the library.
A small little girl, probably around 7 years old, with flowers in her hair, is skipping while humming a children's song, her hands holding a bouquet of flowers. The little girl looks at the address of the library and as she nods her head, she puts it down. She is about to skip away from the library but Akira catches up to her, crouching so that she will be able to talk comfortably to her.
"Little girl, who are those flowers for?"
"I don't know who they are for, the man only asked me to put it down in front of the library and so I did."
"Where is the man you're talking about?"
She points to somewhere behind her, but when she follows the finger, she sees no one. Maybe he had left.
"Can you tell me how the man looks like? I live here and I want to know who sent these flowers."
The girl looks up, as if trying to conjure up an image of the man. She lifts up one hand and tiptoes as she muses, "He has blonde hair, and he's very tall. He has a nice smile and he was very nice when he asked me to send the flowers. His eyes are very pretty, they can change colours. One moment it was blue, but when he talked to me it changed to yellow and when he was looking at the flowers, it was a deep shade of purple."
The flowers.
She sends the little girl off with a 'thank you' and a smile before she picks up the flowers and breathes in the scent. It's a scent she is accustomed to for as long as she stayed at the Nyla palace, but it's the first time she lays eyes upon the colours of the flowers. It's the flowers that are only grown in the palace and nowhere else, because the only one who can grow it lives there. For each month for the past 11 months, she has been getting different types of flowers, but she cannot point out on who the sender could be, but as she hugs the 12th bouquet close to her chest, her heart happily sings a melody that she hopes would reach him.
The delentines have fully bloomed again.
---
Hongjoong had taken out a ring from a box he had kept on top of his wardrobe and scrutinized the inscription on the jewellery - Kim Hongjoong and Lee Haera - before he makes the ring as a pendant of a necklace, and loops the chain around his neck. It's his wedding ring that he had personally moulded and he had always kept it away; he always got sad whenever he looked at it. Every time he did look at the ring, he would think back to his wife, their unborn child and then he would start blaming the soldiers. The cycle would repeat until one day, Seonghwa snatched the ring from him and threatened to throw it away if he could not settle down and accept that she was no longer there. Seonghwa would always be the one who kept things in order and was always deemed the most mature out of all of them - both due to his age and wisdom.
Though right now, as he, Yeosang and Mingi watch Seonghwa bawling his eyes out again because of Akira, he thinks, who the hell said that he's the most mature? He's crying his eyes out because of a damn girl since four days ago.
"Can you stop crying? She didn't die," Mingi utters, irritated. "Aren't you tired of crying everyday for the past four days? Your tears could water your whole damn garden, and you would still have a lot more left. I know that it hasn't rained for a week but you don't have to do that."
"Doesn't your head hurt from all the crying?" Yeosang asks, smirking. "You're going to shrivel up because you lost so much fluid from crying."
"All of you are so mean," he sniffles, pulling out a tissue and blowing his nose. His eyes and nose are red, the tears on his cheeks dried up. "I told you guys to leave me alone, but you were the ones who came looking for me. I was minding my own business-" he blows his nose once, "-crying and you had to come knocking at my bedroom door. I know she didn't die but she's unconscious and I could've done something-"
"That's why we came looking for you, you idiot," Hongjoong utters. "Because Yunho dropped by this morning to tell us that she has woken up. You can stop crying your eyes out because she's alive and kicking."
"Well, she's hurt in a few places but she's now able to get up and walk. If you're done crying, maybe you'd like to go and visit her now that she's awake; unless she kicks you out." He puts a finger to his temple before muttering under his breath, "Now that I think about it, she might do that considering how you were a jerk to her when she left the palace."
"What?"
"Nothing."
"What Yeosang meant was-" Mingi adds, "It's better if you go see her now that she has waken up."
"We'd like to see her too but we don't want to overwhelm her since she's still hurt. We'd like to apologize to her and Yunho, but it's better if you go there first." There is a ghost of a cheeky smile playing on Hongjoong's lips, "Since you miss her so damn much you couldn't stop crying."
[Note: Some are probably confused but in this story I named the months according to their birthstones (I never really mentioned it anywhere) so Sardonyx is actually August. Also the only other time the name of a month is mentioned is in chapter 30 ("Emergency") where Wooyoung announced they will be holding the ball. Sorry for the confusion ^^"]