Everything is quiet.

Everyone seems to be meditating as they familiarize themselves with the strategy, their last meeting to go through everything to make sure that nothing will go wrong. Lucida's soldiers are lined up in their respective rows, their eyes following the three upfront; the king, queen and the general, all three looking at them with unreadable expressions. The only person they can probably guess what their emotions are is the king; grey is dominating his irises as they know he's worried for the outcome.

Jongho and Jihyun are standing at the side, the latter looking way out of place as she stands there, barely even understanding the strategy they outlined on the board. She's too busy glancing at the general anyway, but Yunho is too focused on the rulers and the soldiers under him, realizing at the sheer gravity of his responsibility alone. Anything that happens tomorrow to his soldiers will all point back to him, and he'd rather have no slip up and no casualties.

He can't take them anymore.

"I hope that everyone is clear with what we're planning to do tomorrow," Seonghwa speaks up. He clasps his hands. "I know that I might not be the king that you wanted, but allow me to try my best. I'll prove to all of you that I'm trying my best to be the king of Lucida."

There is a murmur of voices among the soldiers, but all of them pledge their loyalty towards him and Akira almost immediately, even though they're not white-blooded.

"A lot is at stake," Akira says as she tries to look at each and every one of their faces. "I used to be the leader to some of you." She makes a point to find the faces of those who used to be her subordinates. "I was harsh on you, just because I was given the chance to become a general at a young age. I was heartless, and I barely cared for what you felt. But now," she presses her lips together, "I want you to know that even though we'd ask you to fight with all that you have, your life matters too. If you find that running away is better for your life," she smiles, "then run. You won't be charged with treason."

A ripple of laughter travels through the group. Even Yunho looks down at the floor as a smile creeps up to him, tickled by the fact that what she said was fully true; from her behaviour back then as the general, to the fact that they would be charged with treason in the past if they ever decided to run away.

"Just to remind every single one of you and us, of course," Akira says, as she feels Seonghwa's hand placed on the small of her back. "They're being brave in attacking the very foundation of our kingdom; our home. If that doesn't make you angry, I don't know what will. Use that as your motivation to fight, but remember that you life always comes first; don't try to be a hero when things don't seem favourable on your side. I want you to be proud of who you are; it doesn't matter if our bloods are yellow, blue, crimson, white or black. We're all humans in the end, and what determines our worth is how we act with the chance we're given to live our lives. Having yellow is not and never will be a sin. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Their voices echo through the empty hall, and both the rulers nod in satisfaction.

Yunho looks on, having a mixture of feelings as he looks at Akira; the person whom he treats like a younger sibling and a best friend, who used to lead an army, is now seemingly a natural at leading a whole kingdom alongside her husband. Unknowingly he smiles, touched by the fact that even Seonghwa looks on proudly, both men watching as she carries on her duty with confidence. For a flash his eyes naturally move to Jihyun, but the latter quickly looks away as she realizes that he had caught her looking.

The general looks to the front, towards his subordinates as Akira passes the meeting on to him. He notices how Seonghwa and Akira are secretly giving him thumbs-ups, supporting him in his position from the side. He inwardly chuckles as he gestures towards the plan, and then to the two rulers.

"I believe Their Majesties have said everything that I wanted to say," Yunho starts. "Follow the plan, remember every single detail that we have discussed and make sure to remain at your positions at all times. This is what you've been hearing ever since you became a part of our army." His eyelids flutter. "But this time around, you need to remember that we have new rulers who are willing to join forces with us, and not only watch from their own comfortable places as we fight for them. You need to remember that this time around," he pauses, looking at Akira, who nods encouragingly at him, "we're humans. We're not merely a group of brainwashed soldiers who follow every single thing we're ordered to. We have feelings, we're capable of being hurt. Fight for the palace, but remember to take care of yourselves too. Understood?"

"Yes, general!" Their determined voices echo throughout the whole hall again, slightly flustering Jongho and Jihyun who are not used to it.

When Seonghwa sees that Yunho has finished with his message, he steps up, bowing his head down, much to the soldiers' surprise. In any past with the Lucida rulers, they wouldn't be caught dead bowing to servants like them.

"Your Majesty-" one of them speaks up, concern evident in their voice, "-what are you doing?"

"I'm asking for a favour from all of you," Seonghwa says as he lifts his head up slightly, the corners of his mouth curving upwards. "Since I'm a newbie in this, please do take care of me."

Akira resists the urge to roll her eyes as she hears how innocent her husband sounds like when she's pretty sure she remembers him being on the battlefield as if he was at a playground. One thing for sure, she knows that she'll be seeing his eyes burning red tomorrow; all those regrets towards Lucida are definitely going to be channelled into the attack tomorrow.

"Please don't worry, Your Majesty," one of the archers says. "You're practically a master in archery, and we believe that you'd be fitting yourself right in. In fact, we probably have a lot to learn from you."

"Thank you." Seonghwa bows again, but when he retreats to Akira's side, he silently suffers as he feels her pinching his waist.

"Since we've gone through everything and made it clear about what we'd expect for tomorrow," Yunho utters, "remember to get some rest from now on and be calm. Just follow what we've planned, make sure you're ready both physically and mentally. Most importantly, remember to take care of yourselves. You're not alone; we are all fighting for the same cause, and that is for Lucida."

When they have given their agreements, they are dismissed and the group files out of the room orderly, until there are only the five of them left.

"Can I have a talk with all of you?" Seonghwa asks, referring to the general, Jongho and even Jihyun.

Looking at each other, they only nod before the king invites them to have a friendly chat at the garden. He requests for them to wait for him there, before he turns to Akira and grabs her hands.

"You can go and rest if you feel tired. I just wanted to iron some things out with them, since I know that there might be some things that I missed while I was down with the curse." He cups her face, pouting. "You must be tired."

"A little bit," Akira says, but she tugs at his sleeves. "But I was thinking of practicing archery more after you're done talking with them."

He blinks before he nods. "If you want to. I just didn't want you to exert yourself if you're already feeling tired." He winks, "My wife and babies need plenty of rest."

"While I can still fight," she utters, "I will. I'll be at the archery range, alright?"

"Sure, I'll come right after I'm done talking with them." He places a brief kiss on her lips before walking out of the hall.

He breaks into a jog so he could arrive at the garden faster, not wanting to let the others wait for him for too long. He smiles as he sees them sitting at the garden, already having tea served to them before he joins them.

"I hope you don't mind us talking out in the open even though it's cold," he utters. "I think it'd be more calming to talk outside."

"We don't mind, Your Majesty," Jongho speaks up, subtly glancing at Yunho and Jihyun who only nod, agreeing to him.

"I'll just get right to it," Seonghwa utters. "All the while I was down with the curse, I know that I've probably missed a lot of things." He looks at Jihyun, "I wanted to apologize for treating you harshly and not listening to what you had to say." He lets out a short breath, "Akira is the rational one now that she has listened to what you have to say. Because of that, we're getting valuable info from you."

"Please, Your Majesty," Jihyun quickly says as she shakes her head. "This is the least I can do after trying to follow my father's orders."

He nods, one corner of his lips shooting up before he turns to the other two. "I apologize for not being there most of the time, but thank you for being by my wife's side through everything." His eyes rest longer on Yunho, "Words can't explain how grateful I am for my wife to have people she can trust by her side."

Yunho holds Seonghwa's stare, but he finds it overwhelming, feeling like he's merely charading as someone trustable, someone who's fake. Still, he tries to brush the feeling away now that he knows he has gained Seonghwa's trust back, and both of the rulers have forgiven him for what he attempted.

"I hope that there will not be any more bad blood between us," Seonghwa says, referring to all three of them. "If there's any feelings of dissatisfaction, or anything that I did to any of you, say it now. I want those who're fighting tomorrow stay true to their intentions and not change their minds."

"Your Majesty," Jongho speaks up and all three turn their attention to him, wondering what he's planning to say. "When I first met you in Nyla, I remember how cold you were to me and how you never wanted anything to do with Lucida. It took a lot of effort, but when you finally warmed up to me, I understood why you were so against our kingdom. So to see you fighting with us, is a huge honour. To have any bad blood between us, now that's just stupid. We're lucky to have you as our king." He resists the urge to add how much of a monster Seonghwa could become once he's on the battlefield, as he realizes that Jihyun must not have known about it; he doesn't want to scare the advisor more than she already is.

Seonghwa chuckles, picking up his own tea, memories of Jongho's first arrival to Nyla coming back to him, how perverse he was to the younger. Years later and it took the general from Lucida to completely destroy the hatred he has towards Lucida. How ironic considering now he's the king of the kingdom he once hated, and is now fighting on the same side as their army.

"I was really cold to you, wasn't I?" The king smiles, before looking at Yunho and Jihyun.

The general and advisor are sitting side by side, but it seems that both of them are avoiding as much as possible from looking at each other, that even their knees are facing in different directions. Seonghwa chuckles inwardly as this; remembering how intent Jihyun was to flirt with him yet all he could give was nonchalance.

"And the two of you..." Seonghwa refers to Yunho and Jihyun. "Akira and I have told you that we don't hold any grudges on any of you. If you still have them, let go of your guilt. It's unnecessary and would only burden you. Go through tomorrow with them on your minds, and not the two of us."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Yunho replies slowly first, followed by Jihyun who glances at him as she nods while repeating the same reply.

"That was all I wanted to say really," Seonghwa says, finishing his tea in one gulp. As he swallows he says, "I really would like all of you to go through tomorrow without any ill feelings or regrets towards us."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the general repeats again before he stands up, bowing towards Seonghwa before Jongho follows suit. Jihyun glances towards the two before she awkwardly scrambles to get up, doing the same albeit more slowly.

Seonghwa only chuckles before he stands up the same, reciprocating their bows before he says, "I'll be at the archery range with Akira." He smiles. "We'd like to practice a bit more for tomorrow. As for all of you, please take some rest."

The three keep their heads down until the king has disappeared towards the direction of the archery range, before Jongho is the first to lift his head up as he turns to the other two.

"The boys were asking whether both of you'd like to join them," Jongho says simply.

"For what?" Yunho frowns. He glances at his watch and notes that it's almost five in the evening. The reminder from the king and queen asking them to take a lot of rest keeps ringing in his head, and that's all like he felt that he would do before he'd have to be alert by the time midnight comes.

Jongho chuckles. "Well, I would say that this morning we had a bit of a heart attack trying to find San because he wasn't there in his cell. Apparently he just wanted to go out, they went to town and brought back some ingredients for donuts. Sara said she's good at baking them and wanted us to try them."

"Ooh, I love donuts," Jihyun says, but shrugs. "But I don't think I'll be able to join you." She glances at Yunho but quickly turns away when he looks back. "I'm not allowed out of my cell unless necessary until tomorrow is over, remember? So I have to go back."

Jongho presses his lips together. "That's too bad though." He looks at Yunho, addressing him, "Maybe you can bring those donuts for Jihyun once she's done baking them."

Yunho looks at Jihyun from the corner of his eyes, where the latter is merely ignoring him as if she's not interested in him. "Sure," he utters. "I'll join you and maybe I'll bring the donuts over. It's not a promise."

She huffs, already walking forward to return to her cell, but slowly as she knows that she has to be accompanied by the general anyway. It's funny how she likes and hates the fact that the general has to be with her all the time if she's outside of her cell, at the same time.

Jongho looks at Yunho then to Jihyun, tilting his head as he sucks in a long breath before puffing up his cheeks. "Did something... happen... between both..."

"Nothing happened," Yunho quickly says before he does a small wave, "I'll join you guys after I send her to her cell."

Jongho shrugs, too lazy to press on further. "Sure, whatever you say, general."

Yunho walks over to Jihyun, who's waiting for him as she crosses her arms, tapping her foot as if impatient. But still, she obediently follows him as they walk back to the cell, only quiet even though she keeps looking at him from the side, as if waiting for him to say something. He doesn't, only guiding her to the underground cells where San isn't there anymore and Jihyun is left alone.

The general opens up the door for her before tilting his head to ask her to get in. He only holds the door open without even looking at her, so she sidesteps him before obediently going inside and waiting for the general to lock her up. When he does and is about to turn around without saying anything, Jihyun stops him for a moment.

"General Jeong," she says, approaching the bars as she wraps her fingers around them. She squeezes her face in between the bars as she signals for her eyes so that the general would come closer. "Tomorrow... even though I'll have to pretend as if I'm on my father's side, I hope that you'll believe me that I won't change my loyalty."

Yunho tilts his head back slightly, the corner of his lips shooting up briefly. "And why are you worried that I would think otherwise? You should be saying that to Their Majesties, not me."

"I just-" she shrinks back, slightly pouting. "I don't want to lose the trust you have in me." She mumbles, "I don't want you to think badly of me. I still like you."

"You still what?"

"I still hate you," she shoots back. "I hate you deep in my heart and deep in my bones, to the very core."

The general shrugs. "Fair enough. It doesn't matter if you hate me, as long as you don't change your loyalty because of that hatred."

She grumbles, her hands already turning into fists as all she feels she wants to do is knock him in the head. But still, she knows that's not a feasible thing to do considering how he can probably knock her out in less than a second. She just had to fall for the general.

"You'll be released tomorrow," Yunho says, "because you need to be by your father's side as he still believes you're working for his purpose." He looks down, "That means you'll be exposed to danger."

She blinks before a small smile plays on her lips. "Are you saying what I think you're going to say, General Jeong? Are you worried for me?"

His expression remains unfaltering as he relays, "Just don't die. It'll be a headache to deal with you."

She gasps before shaking her head. "Can't you be more... soulful in saying that?" She mimics him, "Just don't die. Tch, how worse can you say it?"

He merely stares at her for some time before he sighs. "Don't get hurt."

She releases her grip around the bars before waving her hands in front of her face then closing her eyes. "You know what, forget about it. Once tomorrow is over, you won't see my face again." She opens one eye to see him still staring at her, but there's a prominent difference in his eyes.

"I don't want to hear any news about you getting hurt, or worse."

Her face slowly breaks into a smile. "Now that's better."

"If that's settled then I'll be leaving." He glances at his watch. "Since there's a possibility that we might not see each other again after tomorrow, I hope you can take care of yourself."

"Ah, General Jeong," she complains. "You're making it really sound as if we're not going to see each other again."

His face remains serious as he relays, "We're all trying to be positive that our side would win. But in the worst case where your father's pact would win," he gazes at her, "that means you'll follow your father and we won't be on the same side anymore. If that happens, I hope that you'll live a good life and even though it might be hard, I hope you can do what makes you happy."

"General..." she remains speechless at how serious he looks; as if he's really setting the time that this will be the last where they'll get to talk to each other like this.

"I'm merely stating a fact," he continues, "because it's not guaranteed that we will win tomorrow. Just remember to take care of yourself."

"Yah!" she finally screams, startling Yunho to a great degree until he loses his demeanour and puts a hand over his chest.

"Why are you shouting?" he breathes.

"Can you stop having that stupid, hopeless mindset? When I say that I'll move out of the palace so that I will never see you again, I lied. I'll stay in the palace after we have won so that I can see your face every fucking day. I don't care if you rejected me, I'll still continue to have that stupid one-sided love even though you'd ignore me every single day." She pushes out her lower lip, slightly trembling as tears well in her eyes. "You better not die tomorrow. I'll kill you if you die."

He blinks, perturbed that she had shouted at him and cussed all in one breath. Slowly, he puts his hands at his side as he manages, "I was just-" he glances at her, "-trying to be realistic."

"That's being negative," she shoots back. "You have to believe in yourself, Their Majesties and your own army. All of you are capable of defending the palace." She nags, "And you're not dying! I won't let you die on my watch."

He can't help but chuckle, finding it slightly funny how she looks so furious behind the bars, when obviously he has the upper hand. "Why are you so angry?"

She doesn't answer as she merely plops down on her mattress, face down. Still quiet, she pulls the blanket over herself until all of her body is under it.

"I'll try not to die," he utters simply. "After the attack tomorrow," he smiles, "I'll look for you."

"Can you stop-" she manages, "-saying something that could make me get the wrong idea?" She pushes her head out from under the blanket as she turns around. "It's not funny because I'm the only one having all of these feelings." She sniffs, "But still, I'm the one who's being too self-absorbed." She turns her body around, wrapped up in her blanket as she throws up her arms. "Never mind, I'll just, you know, learn how to take signals. You just wait," she points a finger at Yunho, "once I move on from you, you'll be the one regretting it."

He chuckles again, shaking his head. He doesn't say anything more before he turns around, intending to leave the underground cell. She thinks he's done with her but the door remains open, before he sticks his head out from behind the door.

"Maybe," he starts, "you're not the only one." Then he merely leaves her with more questions as he clicks the door shut.

"Yah!" she shouts at the closed door, her voice bouncing off the walls as she screams into her pillow. "Jeong Yunho, what is that supposed to mean?!"