The door finally opened, and the woman stepped out. Gguk nearly toppled forward in his haste. “How is she?” His voice cracked, and he hated how desperate it sounded. His feet carried him into the room before the woman could even answer. Heart pounding so hard he swore the lady must hear it.And then he saw her.Princess Vaani was lying on a straw mattress, pale and still, lashes pressed against her cheeks as if even her body was too weary to hold them open. She didn’t look like the sharp flame who barked orders and shot hawks out of the sky. She didn’t look untouchable, radiant, terrifying. She looked breakable. A porcelain figure set down in a shack that could barely hold itself up. It was the second time in the past 5 hours when he realised how human she was, how delicate she was.“She’ll be alright,” the woman said gently, noticing the way his hands shook. “The wound spared her organs. I stitched it. But she’s lost blood. She’ll be weak for days. She’s on sedatives for now. But wh
Zane adjusted the blonde wig with a flick of his fingers and grinned at his reflection in the polished bronze mirror. Yeonho’s uniform fit him snugly, the weight of the sword at his hip both foreign and delicious. He puffed out his chest, strutting around the dorm room like a peacock who’d stolen another bird’s feathers.“So,” the kid, Tae, the nervous little physician—whispered as he scrambled to keep pace. “Did anyone recognize you?”Zane flashed a wide smile, revealing his gums. “Not at all,” he said, smug satisfaction dripping from every syllable. He turned on his heel dramatically, letting the cloak swirl around him. “I was nervous at first, sure. But now?” His grin deepened as he tapped his chest. “I feel invincible. Perfectly capable of carrying myself. After all…” He sprawled across Yeonho’s bed as though it were a throne, folding his arms behind his head. “All those years in the mafia paid off.”The young physician blinked, frowning. “Ma…phia? What’s that?”He almost wanted t
The kick landed hard enough to knock the air out of him. Do-won’s body folded in on itself, collapsing to the cold stone floor like a broken reed. His lips split against his teeth, and the sharp taste of iron flooded his mouth.The voice that followed was colder still."Oh, how I wish your mother had died before you were born." The king’s hiss lanced straight through him, deeper than any kick could. A second blow cracked into his ribs, sharp, relentless. He coughed, a ragged sound that spilled blood onto the tiles. His hands trembled as he tried to push himself up, but his body wouldn’t obey.“What… did I—” he gasped, his voice trembling. “—do?”Another kick slammed into the same spot. Pain flared white-hot. His father did not strike once or twice; he struck again and again, until Do-won felt the world blur at its edges and his chest rattled with blood.When the assault paused, it was not mercy. It was calculation.The king crouched, seized his son by the collar, and dragged him uprig
The forest had never felt so endless.The royal guard, Kim Gguk, shifted from one foot to the other, leaning against the horses where the princess had ordered him to stay.He tried to look calm—dutiful, obedient—but his insides had been chewing themselves raw for the better part of an hour. The shadows between the trees stretched long and crooked, like black claws reaching out from the earth. Every gust of wind cut through his clothes, nipping at his skin, but it wasn’t the cold that made his teeth chatter.It was the silence. The kind that pressed in on his ears and made him feel like something was waiting.She had been gone too long.At first, he had consoled himself. It’s fine. She’s fine. She’s Princess Vaani. She doesn’t need me. He repeated that over and over. She wasn’t like the noble ladies who fainted at the sight of dirt under their nails. He’d seen her loose arrows with a speed that made his jaw drop. She could hit a hawk in flight, probably blindfolded if she felt like sho
Zane watched the ceiling like it owed him an explanation.The silence of the room had teeth. It was the kind of quiet that made your stomach growl conspicuous, a shameful, traitorous sound that echoed off the screens. He counted the bruises on his patience and found them wanting.He’d been nearly alone since Yeonho’s grand act of betrayal, and not a single glimpse of Dr. Tae since he’d woken up.He used to complain about the others constantly hovering around him, getting on his nerves, breathing too loudly, existing too much. Yet now, with their absence, he almost missed them. Almost.If they trusted him even a fraction, he would’ve gone to find them himself. He’d have marched straight out of his quarters to demand answers—or at the very least, to remind them he wasn’t their prisoner. But no. After his little escape stunt, they had decided he was better caged than fr
The underbrush gave way beneath Vaani’s hands as she pushed forward, but what lay beyond was nothing. No footprints pressed into the damp earth, no snapped twig to betray a hurried retreat, no glint of blood to mark a wound. The forest devoured its own secrets far better than the palace ever could—no velvet drapes to slip behind, no servants whispering in corridors, no calculated noises to mask an escape. Even Min, nose sharp as truth itself, lifted his head in uncertainty. He snuffled at the air, then flicked his amber gaze toward her with a look that said more plainly than words: I don’t know.Frustration came in two strikes. First, the emptiness—how swiftly the attacker had vanished without trace. Second, the question that scratched at her thoughts like a nail against glass: who knew this place existed? Who had known to come here at this precise moment, when she was with Yeonho?She told herself she should be systematic, careful, the way she had been trained—to notice small disrupt