.eighteen.

Minji cried out in a high pitched scream and jumped in fear when the stick she was holding was easily knocked out of her hands by one of the attackers. Now the two teenagers were surrounded and had no way of defending themselves against them. The attackers flung themselves at the two, attempting to hurt them and Jung used himself to shield Minji from receiving any injuries. With weapons of their own, they hit him without mercy until both dropped to the ground with Jung still covering Minji. "Are you okay, Jung oppa?" Minji asked her husband-to-be with worry.

He winced in pain, as a wooden stick collided with his shoulder, but was quick to reassure her. "Don't worry, Hak Soon-ah. I'll protect you."

Hajin watched from in between the bamboo trees until she saw another stick on the ground, instantly considering the same idea that Minji had. She picked it up, her hands closing around it tightly, and was about to run into the clearing to join the two teenagers when she felt a hand on her shoulder holding her back. She turned her head slowly in fear but was comforted when she saw someone familiar. The eighth prince stood behind her with Chaeryung by his side. "Stay here, I'll deal with them." He instructed firmly and though Hajin wanted to protest, she was held back by her house servant who grabbed a hold of her arm gently. 

While the men continued their assault on Wang Jung, his older brother Wook stepped out into plain sight and fought against them to divert their attention away from his younger brother. The men tried to gang up on him, trying to surround him and intimidate him, but he was stronger and faster than them. 

As a prince he had trained in martial arts for a long time, like most of his brothers, and he knew well how to fight. He had managed to take out all of the attackers without even getting winded until there was only one standing--their leader who shot him a taunting grin. It was clear that he had a trick up his sleeve. "Its not wise to be overconfident, your majesty." He said to the eighth prince. Somewhere off to the side, Minji and Jung were on the ground. The fourteenth prince was battered and beat up, was barely able to move, but he wouldn't let go of her. He was willing to put his life on the line for her if necessary.

From the surrounding trees, more men appeared, about twenty more of them. Each of them was armed with sticks and other weapons. Hajin gasped by Chaeryung's side. She knew there was no way he would be able to take them all out on his own. 

But he didn't have to.

From behind the two girls came someone else. A prince dressed in black from head to toe, and a mask that concealed half of his face. As he entered the clearing as well, he said with a smirk. "You are right about that." He said, agreeing with what the man had said to Wook about being overconfident. He was riding his horse and looked down on them with a menacing expression on his face. It didn't take much for him to intimidate everyone there.

The other men in the clearing whispered in fear about him. The wolf-dog, they called him and they all wouldn't look him in the eyes. They were too afraid because they had heard the stories. He had once taken out an entire den of wolves and burned down a whole mountain. He never hesitated to kill anyone who stood in his way, and they didn't want to suffer the same fate.

"Even after seeing me, you choose to stay?" He questioned them, a deadly serious tone in his voice.

It served to send a chill down their spines.

They didn't think about it too long and they all scurried off like rats within seconds, leaving their leader alone once again. He shot the princes a glare, swore that this wasn't the last they'd be seeing of him, and walked off, leaving them finally alone.

Wook hurried to his younger brother's side and helped him back on his feet. He wrapped an arm around him for support. "Are you hurt, Jung-ah?" He asked, noticing the way Jung could barely even stand up.

"I can endure it." Jung assured him with a nod of his head.

But there was pain reflected on his face and as he continued to hold onto Minji as well. She could feel his soreness and his tiredness, he was leaning on her, using her for support to stay standing up. Now she was the one holding him and helping him, letting him lean his weight on her though she was smaller than him. Hajin hurried to their side too and asked if they were okay once the danger had passed. Jung reassured her with another nod. 

When the others had left them alone for a moment and stepped off to the side to talk about the incident, Jung scolded Minji. "I don't want you to put yourself in danger for me again." He told her, wincing as he took a few steps with her. She slowed down significantly to match his pace. "I will be the one to protect you form now on. Since you will be my wife, I will always treat your life as though it were mine."

She rolled her eyes at him playfully. "I couldn't just let them hurt my fiancé."

"Pyeonce." He tried to repeat the word, and a hint of a smile flashed on his lips. But since it was a borrowed word, he wasn't exactly able to pronounce it properly. "What does that mean?"

She heaved a sigh and reached up to pinch his cheek between her thumb and index finger. "Its a word to describe a man who will be one's husband. You're my fiancé."

He smiled at that with satisfaction.

-

The group returned to the palace as the sun began to set over the horizon, with Minji accompanying Jung all the way to his room to make sure he had gotten back safely. He and Minji had been in the changing room with So while Jung changed into a robe to sleep in. Then she would help him get into bed before returning to her own house. 

As Jung slid out of his peasant robes that he wore whenever he went into the village, Minji nudged him, clearing her throat and looking towards his older brother Wang So. She urged him with her eyes to thank him for having saved their lives in the clearing.

"Ah," Jung started with hesitance and awkwardness. He didn't want to apologize, and felt that it was burdensome to do so since he didn't really get along with his older brother. But for Hak Soon, he was willing to lower himself before anyone. "Thank you for what you did for us today, hyung nim."

His brother was quick to reply with a sharp remark. "You should be more careful next time. I don't want to have to come save you and your little girlfriend again."

His words made Jung's blood boil in an instant and his hand balled up into a fist. "You know what? I didn't ask you to help me. I could have taken those guys on my own."

"Oppa--" Minji tried to interfere.

But Jung didn't listen to her So scoffed, clearly unwilling to avoid letting it turn into an argument. "It looked to me like you were having trouble."

"You don't know anything." Jung said through gritted teeth, eyes full of a deep resentment. He and his older brother didn't get along and the last thing he wanted was to owe him anything. His pride wouldn't let him be grateful to his brother because he had been poisoned against him by his mother and his other brother.

Having been pushed to his limit, So balled his own hand into a fist and launched it at his brother, hitting him in the face. Jung stumbled back and was ready to fight back when their mother entered the room. She had heard the commotion from outside and jumped to her youngest son's aid. Pushing So back, she hissed a warning onto him, "Stop! Don't you dare touch him." Her shove had been light, but the venom behind it had been enough to send him stumbling back onto a table behind him. More than the physical pain, Minji could see that what hurt him more than anything was his mother's rejection.

"Mother," Jung tried to intervene, feeling a momentary lapse of pity for his brother. Minji was grateful that at lelast Jung wasn't totally heartless towards his brother. "Don't be like that. If it wasn't for So, Hak Soon and I would probably be dead by now."

"Don't try to defend this animal." She spat with a hatred, not feeling any remorse and not holding back. And looking towards Minji with disdain, she added, "You need to stop seeing the wrong people, Jung-ah. They only get you into trouble. This girl isn't good for you either."

Minji wanted to fire back with a response, but she didn't have to because it had been Jung who jumped to her defense. "Mother, I don't want you to disrespect the woman I will marry."

His mother opened her mouth to protest, outraged by the way he had spoken to her, but spotted something under his robe that made her worry and change the subject. "What happened to you here, Jung-ah." She tugged the material of his robe to the side to uncover deep purple bruises that were forming on his skin.

"Its nothing." He pulled his robe back in place.

The queen wouldn't let it go. As she continued to fuss over him, Minji excused herself from the room. "I should go. I'll see you tomorrow, oppa. You know where to find me." She waved goodbye at him and offered a small smile. 

He had begged her to wait, to stay a little longer, but she left the room quickly before he could convince her. It was already getting late, the moon had risen high above in the sky, and she needed to return to her house before her parents and her sister could worry.. She made her way down the hallway and walked without any real sense of direction until she remembered that she didn't know her way around the palace. It had been Jung and So who led her through the complex hallways of the palace until they reached Jung's room. 

She was wandering the halls for several minutes when a door opened and she jumped back startled. She was immediately met with a sleepy tenth prince who yawned and stretched his arms over his head. He was wearing a silky white robe and his eyes were littered with the desire to sleep, and yet he was standing right there in the hallway. It had been a fortunate turn of events because now she had someone to direct her out of the palace. 

He was surprised to see her there, but still did not act like his usual self. Since the incident in which she had been blind for a few days, he was a bit nicer to her. "What are you doing here, wench?" He asked her sleepily.

By now the nickname didn't bother her, since he didn't call her by it with disdain like he used to. Now it was like they were almost friends.

"I came with Jung oppa. But now I'm going home." She informed him with a sigh.

"How are you getting home?" He asked her with a underlying tone of concern. He quickly added in an attempt to sound nonchalant about it. "Not that I care but its a bit late to be going home all by yourself. Aren't you like...twelve years old?"

"I'm fourteen." She corrected him. But as his question really sunk in, Minji bit down on her lower lip. "I didn't think about that."

"I'll go get my horse." He said with a sigh. As a thought popped into his mind, he instead informed her, "Maybe I'll just walk you to your house. Its not very far from here."

Minji gave a shake of her head. She didn't think it was a bad idea. "We can go on your horse." She assured, in case he had been having any doubts.

"No." Eun quickly crinkled up his nose, rejecting the possibility. "I don't like going to the stables at night. A few years ago Ji Mong once told my brothers and I a story about how there was a headless horseman who appeared there at night and well, one time Jung, Baek-ah and I went to see if his story was true. I had nightmares for weeks."

"But was it true?" She wondered with curiosity, raising an eyebrow at him in question.

"It wasn't." He confessed to her. "But we did hear some strange noises, and I couldn't sleep for days."

She rolled her eyes at him playfully, poking fun at the tenth prince's lack of bravery. "So you, the biggest coward in this kingdom, are going to walk me home?"

-

honestly guys, i haven't been entirely satisfied with the way i have written the last three chapters for this story. the thing is that i have worked for seven days straight without any rest days. my one rest day is tomorrow, then i work thursday and friday, and then i have saturday off. so im looking forward to that.

but im so tired that i can't concentrate properly. like, i have all these ideas but making them a reality is really hard because im so fucking tired.

so because of that, my updates have been trash, and im sorry.

thank you for still reading and supporting me though. it means the entire world to me.

-clary