.twelve.

They arrived at the palace and were greeted by General Park--Hak Soon and Soon Deok'ss father. He had returned from the battle fields for the ceremony and he informed them that he would be leaving again in the morning. General Park linked arms with his wife and Minji and the family walked past the front gates of the palace. He led them to their assigned spots, near the front where the King would be sitting with his family. 

Most of the other noble families were already there when they arrived. Minji waited anxiously for the ceremony to start, and she couldn't help but crack a smile when she saw the princes--particularly Jung. Soon Deok smiled wide too, but for another prince. The one Minji didn't get along with, the one who was her sworn enemy. Prince Wang Eun. The princes took their places and there was a series of rituals, followed by a performance which would show the princes as the heroes, chasing away the evil spirits so that they could start off the new year on the right foot.

Everything had been going well when several men dressed in black showed up to attack King Taejo. The palace guards immediately took action to protect the king, while some of the princes fought back as well. Minji couldn't help but think how brave Jung was to step forward and fight, while Eun hid behind his younger brother Baek-ah.

From out of nowhere, someone threw a sword at her feet and shoved her forward. They had done the same to Soon Deok. "You two are the general's daughters and have been training to be soldiers your whole lives. Do something!" They urged them. 

Knowing her condition, her sister stopped her by placing a hand on her arm. "I'll take care of this." She said, and rushed forward to help the princes. Her father joined her soon after. 

Minji had been standing with her mother, with a sword at her feet. With her father and sister gone, someone else picked up the sword and shoved it into her hand. Minji was surprised at how heavy it was and how she was barely able to lift it. It was one of the palace guards who had seen her there and knew that the general's daughter knew how to fight. But this was a different person and Minji hardly even knew how to throw a punch, much less how to carry a sword. Despite her protesting she was shoved forward where she collided with one of the attackers whose face was covered by a mask. 

The assailant quickly got on his feet and was about to strike her with his sword. Minji closed her eyes tight, feeling her end coming, when instead she heard metal clashing with metal. She opened her eyes to find Jung had stood in the way to protect her. With his sword, he pushed the attacker back and easily subdued him, slicing him across the chest. He then turned toward Minji and offered his hand. 

"What are you doing here?" He was out of breath from the fight, but he still found a way to tease her.

She took his hand and he helped her get back on her feet with ease. She rolled her eyes at him playfully and dusted herself off. "I don't remember how to fight after my accident. But someone recognized me as the general's daughter and tossed a sword at me. Next thing I knew I was in the middle of the fight." She explained with a shrug of her shoulders. She had given up on trying to lift her sword and let it drag on the floor now.

He heaved a sigh and quickly picked her up like she weighed nothing more than a feather. He had placed her over his shoulder to allow him to still be able to hold his sword while Minji blushed madly at the sudden contact. He hurried to the stairs to the palace, where the Queens and the King were sitting, full of worry. Baek-ah and Eun were there too, surrounded by guards. Jung hurried over to his brothers and set Minji back on her feet in front of them. "Take care of Hak Soon while I help our brothers fight off the intruders." Jung asked of them and Baek-ah agreed with a nod of his head.

The thirteenth prince grabbed her by the arm and pushed her behind him. The force of his push had sent her tumbling into the tenth prince's arms, who repelled her like she was a deadly disease.

Jung returned to the fight and Minji watched him the entire time, eventually asking the older of the three boys. "Why aren't you out there helping them?" She eyed Eun with curiosity.

"I never learned how to fight." He confessed to her, his eyes also concentrated on the fight taking place below. "My grandfather never taught me, and then when I started visiting the palace to see his majesty more often, they tried to teach me, but I didn't want to learn anymore. It didn't catch my attention the way it did with Jung-ah."

Minji understood that perfectly. The real Hak Soon was apparently good at fighting at martial arts, while that was something that didn't interest Minji. The difference was that in that life, everyone thought she was Park Hak Soon and would probably continue to rely on her for things like that. She would have to get Jung to teach her how to fight so that she could keep up the act that she was the general's daughter.

Within a few more minutes, the intruders turned and made their escape after one of them had injured the Crown Prince. King Taejo had called to him with worry until it was revealed that it had been Wang So who had taken the Crown Prince's place. The fourth prince soon left the palace to chase after the intruders, leaving the crowd of people who were there to see the ceremony in dead silence. 

With the fight finally over, Jung returned to Minji's side and ran his hands up and down her arms to check for any scratches or bruises. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine. Are you hurt?"

Her hand reached to touch his face which was sprinkled with crimson red blood drops. She wiped them away gently, in case there was a scratch on his face. He gave a shake of his head as well. "Its not my blood." He assured her.

Now that the moment of tension was past them, Baek-ah wiggled his eyebrows at them. "Aren't you two getting a bit comfortable with each other recently?"

Minji felt her face go red as a beet.

Jung coughed awkwardly. "Why wouldn't we be comfortable with each other? We're friends."

Baek-ah was about to make another remark when one of the palace guards approached the group of teenagers--the three princes and the general's daughter. "Your majesties," He bowed his head before giving them the news. "Your father King Taejo has announced a lockdown to ensure the security of the royal family. All nobles are allowed to leave, but the princes must return to their palace bedrooms at once."

He left the four of them and Minji's expression dropped into a frown. "Now we won't be able to go out to the festival."

"Who says we can't?" Jung shot her a grin.

"That guard just said--"

"Shh." He said, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her close. He had to lean down to whisper in her ear. "Pretend you're leaving with your family and meet me by the palace gates when everyone has cleared out."

Minji nodded her head and whispered back, "Can I bring my sister? You can bring one of your brothers." She offered, hoping that he would bring Eun, since Soon Deok had a crush on him and Minji had promised to help. He nodded his head in agreement and the three brothers went up the stairs and into the palace, disappearing from sight.

Minji returned to find her family.

-

Soon Deok and Minji were trying to find their way through the dark. The palace had cleared out and they had waited about a half hour before approaching the front gates. Everything was quiet now, as if the incident from earlier hadn't happened. 

"Why are we here after dark, Hak Soon?" Soon Deok wondered, struggling with her dress underneath her armor.

She wasn't used to wearing dresses and would much rather wear something more comfortable under her metal armor. But it was an important ceremony and she needed to dress up to look her best. Minji was surprised that even in a dress, her sister had managed to kick some serious ass when the princes were being attacked at the palace. Now it was time for them to enjoy themselves as the teenagers that they were.

"Jung invited us to go into the village to see the peasant festival." Minji informed her, then added a bit of information that she thought would interest her sister. "I told him to bring one of his brothers." She wiggled her eyebrows at Soon Deok.

"He has like twenty brothers." Soon Deok pointed out. "How do you know he'll bring the right one?"

Minji was quick to come to her own defense. "Only nine of them live in the palace. That's like a ten percent chance that he'll bring Eun." Her chances were actually even better because Jung got along best with the two brothers closest in age to him--Baek ah and Eun. 

The girls didn't wait long before they saw two men approaching them. Soon Deok kept her hand on her sword just in case, since they couldn't see who they were in the darkness. As they got closer, they saw that it was Jung and his older brother Baek-ah. Both princes were dressed in regular peasant clothes, a stark contrast to the elegant outfits they wore when they were in the palace. They had put great effort to avoid being recognized as princes. Minji could practically hear her sister's heart drop in her disappointment when she realized that Eun was nowhere to be found. The two boys greeted the girls with a hug, and Minji whispered into Jung's ear.

"Why didn't you invite Eun too?" She asked the question through gritted teeth to stifle her voice.

Jung eyed her with confusion and a hint of jealousy. "Why do you want him here?"

Minji soon clarified, looking to her sister as she spoke. Soon Deok stood off to the side awkwardly. It wasn't that she didn't get along with the youngest of the princes. But she was really looking forward to spending time with Eun that night. "Not for me. My sister Soon Deok really wanted to spend some time with him."

The fourteenth prince found himself heaving a sigh of relief. "Oh. Well, I did ask him if he wanted to come with us. But he said he was tired and wanted to go to bed. I think he was just scared about the lock down and didn't want to go out. It took me a great effort to convince Baek-ah to come along. He wanted to stay home too." He had left out the part where Eun had made his final decision when he found out Minji would be there. He thought the general's daughter was the cause of all his misfortunes. 

Having heard their whispering, since they weren't being very discreet, Baek ah said to the two of them, "I wanted to stay home for a different reason. Night time is the only time I get to practice music lately. His majesty has given me too many tasks in the day time that leave me with no time to practice."

Minji smiled at him apologetically.

Without saying more, the four teenagers walked together to the village which was nearby.

-

a little update for this story before i go to work tomorrow. i have to get up at five in the morning. but its okay. i like that schedule because i get to leave work pretty early. i finish an eight hour shift at 2pm.

so that's nice bcause i have the entire rest of the day to myself.

i hope you're all enjoying your summer. have a wonderful week as well. and stream ko ko bop. exo's new album is lit.

-clary