"Your Majesty," Jihyun utters, alarmed as she sees how Akira is already suited up in armour, face sullen as she opens the door to her cell. "Why are you already-" She tries looking around but realizes that she has no idea of the time. "Is it already tomorrow?"

"There has been a change of plans," Akira says, frowning. "Your father lied to you, and we found out almost a little bit too late. They're planning to attack our palace at midnight; that's only a few hours left."

Jihyun scrambles to kneel, afraid of the perception the queen has on her now, before she shakes her head. "I really didn't know-"

"I know," the queen quickly refutes. "Your father fooled you because he had caught up with the game we're playing, and I know that you're still on our side. As an extra precaution, I sent a spy to observe the condition of your father's pact. He had sniffed up on your plan, but if he wants to play this the hard way, we'll play the same. So I need you to be fully on board with me."

Jihyun promptly nods as she stands up, ready to hear whatever the queen has in plan for her.

"You'll be released as of now, so that your father will still think that you haven't caught on his lie. Just act normally, and please, do your best to act surprised when your father shows up at the palace. We need you to be completely taken aback by his sudden appearance." She looks down, already feeling slightly guilty now that there's a possibility that Jihyun's life will be in danger too. She admits that the sudden change has made her feel slightly swayed. "I don't know how your father will react, but even though you'll be by his side during the attack, I'm scared that he has an intention to harm you next." She holds her advisor's stare, "Because I'm scared that he has already felt like his pride is torn after you betrayed him."

"I'll just have to take the chances, then," Jihyun says firmly. "As far as I know, my father wouldn't hurt me-"

"Jihyun," the queen cuts her off, "your father is an ambitious man who is blinded by his jealousy. Once he knows that his own daughter betrayed him, you can never predict his rage. That is why," she looks over her shoulder, and only then Jihyun realizes that Yunho is standing there, already suited up in his own armour, leaning against the wall as he crosses his arms. "General Jeong will look after you. He'll try his best to make sure that your father won't be doing anything to you."

Jihyun's automatic reaction is to look at Yunho, who's looking at her as he nods briskly before shrugging. She addresses Yunho, "I really hope you're going to protect me well."

"It's the queen's orders," he says, "who am I to refute? I'll try."

Jihyun grumbles but doesn't say anything more and Akira chuckles slightly at their banter; she can't guess what there is between the two of them, but there definitely is something.

"Get ready as quickly as you can," the queen says, referring to Jihyun. "Yunho will wait for you and he'll tell you what to do after."

"Yes, Your Majesty," she bows as she's allowed to go out of the cell, and she looks up to see Yunho tilting his head already to guide her to where she's supposed to go.

Akira looks on worriedly, the sudden feeling of nervousness coming to her as she tries to rearrange their plans in her mind. Everything should be the same, it's only the time has been moved forward yet their formation would be similar. She gets out of the underground cell which is now empty, patting the shoulders of the guards outside as she reminds them of their sudden change in plans. After getting the confirmation that they know what they should do once the attack concurs, she goes up the stairs to see Seonghwa waiting for her, leaning against the wall as he twists his ankle, passing time.

Seonghwa looks up and smiles, seeing her alone able to make him feel at ease, even though he's slightly worried of the fact that she's still deciding to go into battle with her condition. He respects her decision of course, though he can't help but to worry as he sees her walking up to her, hand subconsciously placed on her stomach.

"You know..." he starts, eyes travelling to her hand before he takes it, intertwining their fingers.

She knows what he wants to say but she merely smiles, shaking her head. "I'm sticking with my decision to join. We're doing this for our future," she says, tightening her grip around his hand. "For our children."

"Can't you," he pouts, "just give it up this one time?"

She tilts her head, the smile never leaving her face. "If you want me to give it up, I don't want to see you going to battle too."

He pouts as he doesn't say anything, merely playing around with her fingers.

"So you want to fight too, Your Majesty?"

He mumbles, "Of course."

"I'll stay where I'm supposed to stay," she utters. "Plus you taught me archery and I'll have to put that to use. If anything, I'm worried for you. You're more exposed to danger."

He shakes his head as he knocks on his armour. "I'm wearing this, and I'll have Lucida's capable army all around me."

She slightly frowns, remembering the first time she saw Seonghwa on the battlefield. He was merciless, and back then, she had stated that she'd want him as a member of her army. What a turn of events considering he's now fighting for Lucida, together with Lucida's army to protect the palace.

"I just-" she starts, "-just hope that you'll take it easy." She looks at him from the corner of her eyes. "You know, have a little bit of mercy on the enemy. Don't go overboard."

He blinks innocently, pretending as if he doesn't understand what she's pointing out. "I'll be mild," he says anyway before he grins. "But if anyone ever does disturb my wife, I'll beat the living daylight out of them."

"If I ever call out your name," she says, "you better come."

He springs into salute. "Yes, Your Majesty!" He grins as she laughs and he extends his arms. "If not for the armour I'd hug you."

"Hug me after all of this is over," she whispers into his ear before cupping his face. She leans in for a kiss, and he smiles as she latches her lips onto his.

He places his hand on her neck, sighing against the kiss as he feels how warm she is, someone who feels like home to him. As she pulls back, he kisses her forehead then proceeds to squish her cheeks.

"Ah, I can't wait for all of this to be over. We can taste the donuts Sara wanted to make and we can try our best to become good parents to our children."

She chuckles, already loving how he's looking forward into the future. "Deal."

He clears his throat as he knocks his forehead against hers lightly. "Let's protect our palace; let's fight those bastards and make sure everything will go back to how it is."

She nods and he lets her go before he envelops her hands in his for one last time, kissing the back of her palms.

"Shall we?"

He nods with determination before they turn to make their way towards the main foyer, where the soldiers are already waiting for further instructions from their rulers. He looks at Yunho, who is observing his subordinates with a stern expression, knowing that the general won't ever let anything slip from his view.

They are already tense as it is; from the sudden change of plans to the fact that there is a possibility of them losing the palace no matter how prepared they are. All of the available soldiers have already been deployed, and their capacity is used to its maximum. If anything goes wrong, they don't have any backup; even then Seonghwa and Akira had made sure that only those who are fully capable would be joining them. They don't want to put anyone or anything at risk more than they can.

Their automatic reactions are to bow their heads as soon as they see the rulers, but Seonghwa is quick to correct them as he remembers how his position was exposed the day Nyla had attacked their palace because they had bowed to him out of habit.

"I hope," Seonghwa starts, "you remember that on the battlefield we're all the same." He chuckles, "I know it's a habit, but please don't bow to me every time you see me."

It takes a while for them to get used to his order, but they eventually nod. "Yes, Your Majesty!"

"If we got that down," Seonghwa smirks, "let's get down to business."

All of them immediately station themselves at their respective places, spreading out according to the strategy they have put in place. Every one of the soldiers have been given their duties to protect a set area of the palace, so they're only focusing on the area they're assigned to while making sure that no part of the palace is left out. Even though they're expecting an attack, the other palace staff are let to continue on with their duties, to mimic a normal day as much as possible, with a set guarantee that they'll be protected.

Nodding once to his wife, Seonghwa watches as Akira gets escorted by another soldier; a young, new soldier named Minhyuk. He lets her go with a somewhat heavy heart, but he trusts that her position would be safe for her, and Minhyuk would be there to keep a lookout for her. After she disappears from his sight, he turns to Yunho who's waiting with Jihyun.

Yunho is seemingly deep in conversation with Jihyun, reminding her of what she'd need to do once her father's party has come to the palace.

"Your Majesty," Yunho addresses him. "They would be coming in any time now."

"They're probably already making their way here," Seonghwa replies. "Just be prepared."

Yunho and Seonghwa watch as Jihyun also goes to take her place, agreeing to make sure that everything is as natural as possible. It doesn't matter whether her father has caught on; they're going through with the plan anyway.

"It's an honour to be working with you," Seonghwa extends out a hand, prompting Yunho to shake it.

"Same goes here," Yunho smiles.

Both of them move to two points where they'll be able to see the main front doors, but their positions are hidden. From afar, Seonghwa nods as he pushes out a thumbs up, and Yunho can't help but chuckle, feeling like the king is his partner-in-crime now. The general gives a thumbs up too, and Seonghwa nods in satisfaction.

Seonghwa glances at the clock, counting down in his heart.

Any time now.

No more mistakes, let's finish this in one go.

Both Yunho and Seonghwa wait for the horn that will signify that their palace is under attack once the first signs of any break-ins could be identified. Their hearts beat wildly in their chests, as if it could hammer against their armours. Instinctively, their heads turn to the same direction when the familiar sound of the horn is blared throughout the palace.

Just as the clock strikes midnight, the doors burst open and their enemies come pouring in, having their own formation locked as they head for different directions. Still shielded, Seonghwa and Yunho watch as the opposing party pour in, pretty sure that there are already others taking different routes to break into the palace, but that is all under their consideration. What the general and king will focus on is the foyer and as far as their eyes can reach, backed up by multiple archers placed on the upper floors.

Seonghwa looks up and he unknowingly smiles as he sees Akira stationing herself on the topmost floor, her bow already directed down. He moves his attention to Jihyun who's approaching her father who is trailed by at least 20 men, possibly more, behind him. Together with Yunho, they wait in silence as they observe what Jihyun's father is planning to do.

"Father," Jihyun approaches him, trying to appear calm, even though she can already feel her whole body shaking. She can only hope that she will not make it obvious, and she knows that she has people protecting her. "You came earlier than you promised."

Sir Seo smiles a rather mysterious one before he bellows, his screeching laughter echoing throughout the foyer. "You always have to take the enemy by surprise, Jihyun. Even the horn they blared sounded so pitiful and sudden, they must have been panicking by now." He extends his arms, "Now where are they, my princess? Are the king and queen sleeping in their room, completely oblivious to the destruction the palace is about to face? Bring me to them, my princess."

"Father," she repeats, unsure of whether her father is really oblivious to the fact that their plans have already been read or that he's simply playing along. "If you'd only turn your pact back-" She stops talking as her father grabs a chunk of her hair, pulling it roughly as he hisses.

"How dare you lie to me, my princess?" he says it full of malice, tugging at her hair roughly as she's starting to cry as her hands fly to her hair to rip his hands off. "I clothed you, took care of you and I only asked you to take care of one thing. Yet you couldn't even do that for me?" He pulls her hair again, dragging her body to one side before he slams her to the floor, her body skidding as she stops it with her hands.

Her tears drop to the floor as she feels her chest tightening, the very person she was said to only trust is the one who had hurt her.

Yunho clenches his fist as he sees Jihyun treated that way and as he looks to Seonghwa for permission, as soon as the king nods he reveals himself from his hiding place. All he gets is laughter from the group as it seems pitiful, how he seems to be the only one guarding the foyer with his armour and sword as defence. He ignores them as he crouches next to Jihyun, helping her to get up as he stands in front of her.

"How dare some lowly peasant touch my daughter," Sir Seo says, looking out to grab Jihyun from behind Yunho, but the general grabs his arm, stopping him in his tracks. "How dare you-"

"No, how dare you trespass into the Lucida palace," Yunho says calmly as he feels Jihyun grabbing onto his sleeve from behind, her hands shaking as she sobs quietly. "How dare you treat your daughter like that. You, as a father especially should be protecting her and not hurt her."

Sir Seo only looks at the general full of spite, before his mouth moves to instruct those behind him. "Kill him." He stares at the latter, "Without mercy."

"Yes, sir!" is the starting cue for the action to get down in the foyer.

Yunho grabs Jihyun's hand before slightly pushing her away when a sword glints at the corner of his eyes, but he unsheathes his own sword before he ducks, the blades clanging against each other as he uses all the force he has to push it back. His opponent staggers backwards, and he uses the momentum to land a slap across his face, before spotting his weak point and driving his blade through the latter's body. He grits his teeth as he feels the blade going through his opponent's body and bones, squelching sounds can be heard as he pulls the sword back. He watches as the body falls in front of him, then looks to the back to see Jihyun at a safer place, body trembling.

Seonghwa takes this as a cue for him to jump out of his own hiding place, holding the sword with both of his hands as he swings it towards the first five people he goes through. He hears and feels clanging of the blades against his armour, all of them narrowly missing his soft flesh. He knows his irises are changing to red as he lifts up his sword, headbutting one person to push him back he pushes the blade from above, killing the person in an instant as he aimed for the vital organ.

Akira who's watching from above, can easily spot her husband as she hisses with his every move, slightly cringing as she can see how he's turning into a beast on the battlefield. Holding her bow, she slightly scratches her cheek as she knows the other soldier with her, Minhyuk, is already too in awe over how Seonghwa has changed into a different person. She watches as he uses two of the opponents' bodies as leverage before flying momentarily in the air, landing a roundhouse kick to two separate people. Unknowingly, she puts a hand over her stomach, as if trying to protect the eyes of her unborn babies from seeing how brutal their father is.

"Your Majesty," she hears Minhyuk saying, a slight tremble in his voice. "Has His Majesty always been like that?"

She chuckles awkwardly. "Kind of." She whispers, "I think that was the first time I fell in love with him. When he killed a man." She says it with a straight face that Minhyuk only looks at her from the side, slightly scared. As she realizes what she said, she laughs silently as she waves her hand. "I'm just joking." She opens her palm as she shields the side of her face, hiding her face from the scared, young soldier. "What the heck did I just say?"

At the foyer, Yunho and Seonghwa are quickly bringing down the men who came together with Sir Seo, both of them being ruthless and this is starting to make the leader of the pact restless. He didn't expect the king and general of Lucida would make such a great pair when fighting; he clearly underestimated them.

Yunho advances forward as his yellow blood drips along his arm, having his head split open by someone driving something hard against it. Still, he's unfaltering even when someone drags him from behind. He elbows the person hard, using the momentary confusion to give a satisfying kick against the latter's head, crashing him down onto the floor before the general purposely stabs the tip near his face. He makes the latter scream as he thought the general was going to drive the blade into his face. The general smirks before lifting up his foot, smashing it against the latter's face, silencing him as he falls unconscious.

Seonghwa decides to keep back his sword, and he cannot lie that he's slightly itching to use his bow as a weapon. He looks up and spots Akira looking at him, so he winks for a millisecond before turning his attention back to the battlefield, pulling out the daggers he kept near his legs, one in each hand before he spins them. With his fingers, he beckons any of the opponents to come to him, and he smirks as they're provoked.

They charge towards him, but he merely shakes his head as he quickly locates their weak spots, any part that's unprotected before stabbing them, fully immobilizing them as they fall to the floor. He steps on them, using their bodies as a stepping stone before stretching out his leg to fully slam it into someone's face, almost battering them as he sees some teeth flying out. He grimaces, but staggers forward as someone had slapped his head from behind.

Gritting his teeth, he turns around, only to see Yunho looking at him with a panicked and apologetic look.

"Sorry," Yunho manages, "I really thought you were the enemy."

His eyes go wide as he utters, "Jeong Yunho-" but he doesn't get to finish the sentence as he sees someone speeding up to Yunho from behind, so he pushes the general to the side before baring his own dagger, stopping the person in place as he pushes the blade into the latter's skin. "Not a good idea," he whispers into the opponent's ear as he falls to the ground.

They thought they were done with the whole group but they forgot one person as they hear screaming coming from Jihyun, and they turn around to see her being held at knifepoint by her own father.

"Jihyun," Yunho utters.

"Don't move, or I'll kill her," Sir Seo says. He watches as some of his members regain their consciousness, and he gets even more confident that he will gain the upper hand.

Seonghwa and Yunho freeze in their spots, realizing that some of their opponents have started to stand up, ready to fight again.

"Take off your armour," Sir Seo says calmly, "then fight my men. We'll see how good you are without them, or I won't hesitate to kill her."

Seonghwa's eyes briefly shoot to some of the archers stationed there, but he knows that firing arrows right now would only lead to more confusion and the possibility of wrong targets. He knows that much, at least. He can see how Akira has loaded an arrow on her bow, and is aiming at Sir Seo, but she's only waiting; he knows that the archers will only interfere when it's absolutely necessary.

Jihyun only shakes her head, tears streaming down her face as she manages one by one, even when she feels her father's hand gradually tightening around her neck. "Please- don't listen- to him- just let me- go-"

Seonghwa turns to look at Yunho, waiting for the general's decision. He knows that he'll be following whatever the general decides on, so if he'll be taking off his armour, he'll follow suit. He watches as without faltering, Yunho rips off his armour, making a point to throw it down to the floor loudly. Shrugging, the king follows suit as he glances at Akira, who's only looking at him worriedly, but he knows that she trusts him enough for this decision. He stretches out his hand, dramatically letting the armour clang to the floor.

"Bring it on," Seonghwa utters, grinning, "assholes."

They require no further orders from their leader as they are provoked even by the king and general's nonchalance towards their separation from their armours. They are quick to surround the two, who are forced to have their backs pressed together against each other.

"I was just wondering," Seonghwa says over his shoulder to Yunho, "that the night I got drunk, do you actually remember everything I said?"

"I remember everything you said as clear as day, Your Majesty," Yunho replies, his eyes flitting to track any movements. He makes a point to see whether Jihyun is still held hostage, and sighs in frustration as it seems that Sir Seo has not a drop of sympathy towards his daughter who betrayed him.

"Well then, looks like I have to make you forget that embarrassing night. I can't hold my drinks well, you see."

"I can very much tell, Your Majesty."

Seonghwa and Yunho push themselves off each other as they charge at their opponents, with the king smiling as he reminds himself that he has not an armour to protect himself now, but it's alright; he's used to it anyway. Yunho on the other hand, is calmly pushing the three bearing down upon him, using the hand gripping the handle of his sword to hammer the opponents' bodies down.

Sheathing back his sword, Seonghwa uses his bare hands to grab a hold of two men's hair, cringing at how coarse they feel as he utters, "You guys really need to use some shampoo once in a while. Ah wait," he grins, "you don't have wives who can shampoo your hair for you, do you?"

After the comments he directs his energy to drive the heads against each other, slightly skidding back as someone bares the pointed tip of a sword towards him. He kicks the sword away, stealing it before slashing the tip across the person's neck, blue blood spurting out of the wound.

Akira watches from above, sighing as she brings a finger to her mouth, unknowingly biting one of her nails as she mutters under her breath, "Damn that's hot."

"Did you say something, Your Majesty?" Minhyuk quickly leans over to her, scared that he might've missed out on the orders she's giving him.

"I said it's hot," she replies before she grimaces, "the weather."

Minhyuk looks around before saying, "It's winter, Your Majesty."

She blinks before she nonchalantly shrugs. "My body's not used to winter." She waves her hand around as she chuckles, "Forget about it."

Seonghwa is relentlessly chasing after one person to the other, but as he hears Jihyun's voice shouting, "General Jeong!", he realizes that Sir Seo has let go of Jihyun and is already heading for Yunho next. He turns around but gets held back by two of their opponents, the time slowing down as all he could hear was Jihyun screaming, begging for her father to let Yunho go.

"Who are they messing with?!" Akira shouts and this is a cue for the archers to start firing, aiming for those around Seonghwa first.

She directs the bow towards the person who's charging at her husband, gripping the bow until it almost breaks as she fires, rage building up inside her as she sees how unfair the battle has tilted to. She takes a deep breath as the two arrows that she fired lodge inside the body of their enemy who is going straight for Seonghwa. Then she turns towards Sir Seo, trying to take aim but she knows that she's not skillful enough to be aiming straight for him without having a possibility of hurting Yunho in the process.

Seonghwa looks up, shaking his head to her so that the archers will stop firing as Sir Seo struggles with Yunho on the floor. He crashes to the floor as he hears Akira shouting at him, almost too late as someone had bashed his head from behind, their energy almost spent up as the two of them had fought nonstop against the throng of Sir Seo's pact.

Seonghwa's head spins around as everything mixes up around him; Jihyun's cries for her father to let Yunho go, someone cursing at Lucida and the rulers. He rolls to the side as he barely misses a blade aimed at him. He kicks his opponent away, but his heart clenches as he hears a blade being driven through someone's flesh.

Everything falls silent as they turn towards the source.

Yunho closes his eyes as his chest feels heavy, someone lying on top of him and he opens them to see a sword stuck on the person's back. White blood smears his hand as he shakily brings them to the person's face, holding it. He can feel tears pooling in his eyes as he sees the person opening their mouth, but only a croak comes out.

"Ji- Jihyun..." Sir Seo stutters, face in disbelief as he realizes that he had stabbed his own daughter, among the chaos he was trying to kill the general of Lucida.

"You hurt your own daughter," Seonghwa utters as he stands up, intending to grab Sir Seo, but the latter quickly staggers backwards, running away from the foyer as if trying to run away from the fact that he had driven a sword into his daughter's body.

Seonghwa looks back to Yunho and to Sir Seo, trying to figure out what he's supposed to do now but as he's about to approach Yunho and Jihyun, the general shakes his head as he growls.

"Catch that scumbag," Yunho utters, arm slowly wrapping around Jihyun's waist, hand shaking.

Seonghwa nods once as he grabs back his sword and swipes up his armour from the floor, already looking to chase down Sir Seo.

As soon as the king disappears from sight, Yunho quickly sits up, slowly bringing Jihyun in his arms as his tears finally drop, as if the emotions come crashing into him at once as he realizes the situation. Trembling, he brings a hand to the part where the sword has pierced her skin and into her flesh, but he knows that taking it out would only make it worse.

"I told you..." Jihyun says, smiling with her pale lips as she's losing blood. "I'll kill you if you die."

Yunho cradles Jihyun in his arms, one arm supporting her from under as another holds her face. He can only let the tears drop as the flashes of the last time he lost the person he loved when he couldn't even touch her, yet now it hurts all the same as he sees Jihyun becoming weaker in his arms.

"You said you're protecting me, you jerk," she utters slowly. "But why is it the other way round?"

With Yunho and Jihyun in the middle of the battlefield, all around them arrows whizz past as the archers finally have a clear target on the enemies. Both of them deafen their ears to the bloodbath resulting from the arrows lodging into flesh, stuck in their own bubble.

"I'm at least useful now aren't I?" she says, hand slowly clutching onto his shirt. "Ah, I really thought I'd be able to go on a date with you before I die. Now you're going to regret it."

"Please," Yunho finally manages, "don't say anything more. Save your energy."

Jihyun chuckles as she mulls, "Look at Jeong Yunho rejecting me even when I'm on the verge of death." She smiles, "In what life do I have to live to be able to hear that Jeong Yunho has finally fallen for me?"

"Don't," Yunho breathes, "go."

Jihyun smiles and closes her eyes as the tears fall, her brain slowly registering the pain on her back. It might only be her imagination as she feels his arms wrapping her in a light embrace, his lips brushing against her cheek as he cries, his tears wetting her face. She wants to say something more but she feels like she has lost her voice as she merely smiles, thinking that at least his face would be the last thing she sees.

Even until the end, I won't be hearing you say it, will I?