On that day, I stood in front to the side of our queen, matching gazes with my fellow partner, Jonghyun. Our shared gazes shared no other feeling other than trust and devotion. We trusted each other to protect our queen as much as we trusted to protect each other. That was the theme in our castle and it was one of great nobility. However, inside me was a completely different feeling. I was feeling nervous, on edge, and ready to snap at any moment. It didn’t help when Sir Aaron came walking down the carpet that Jonghyun and I were standing in front of. Our queen was standing to our side and had motioned Sir Aaron to come forward. When he passed by me and Jonghyun, I saw it again in his gaze. His intentions were not to cherish and protect our queen. I couldn’t resist my gut feeling this time, yet I remained perfectly still, as that was the polite way in our queen’s room.

The knight approached our queen and bent down to bow politely. I saw our queen slowly press her hand above his head.

“I will now add Sir Aaron to my elite team of knights. He will be loyal and protecting of only me as well as become a trustworthy partner to the other knights on my roster.” Our queen lifted her hand and placed it on his shoulder. “Welcome, my new knight.”

Sir Aaron slowly rose up and only said one sentence that seemed to make the whole room freeze. “Have a nice fall.”

 Then I found myself dashing toward the window behind our queen’s chair as she had just been pushed toward it. She was taken aback as I saw on her face and it made my stomach turn over. I reached out toward her but I was too late. I could only watch as my beloved queen fell out of the large window and down into the hazy fog created by the snow outside. I could not see her fall nor hear her screams, for she remained completely silent and never took her gaze away from mine.

Then I heard the sickening sound of a sword getting pushed into a body. That body landed with a thump on the floor and soon I could smell his salty blood. It made rage and panic run through my entire body and I immediately turned around and ran for the changing room. As I passed by Jonghyun, I only caught a glimpse of his wide eyes and clammy face as he stared down at the knight he just impaled. Avoiding looking at the blood myself, I kept my gaze focused ahead of me and on my queen, praying that she was still alive or that what I had just witnessed was just a horrifying dream…

“So that’s why you ran out into the blizzard wearing only that baggy cloak?” Minki asked, eating the last of the beef he cooked over the fire.

I nodded, brushing the sides of it slowly. “There was only one thing on my mind then as there is now; I want to find my beloved queen and bring her back to the place where she feels the most comfortable.”

“How do you know she’s not dead?” Minki asked.

“I saw her.” I responded quickly. “Before you brought me in here, I saw her figure. I know she is still alive, and I will find her if it takes me many days or weeks.”

“Wow.”

“What?”

“You really love her that much.”

My face flushed red. “I-I prefer not to use that word as it is not the proper word to use.”

Minki raised an eye at me. “Then what is the word?”

“I’ve told you many times! Respect and a vow to protect at all times!”

“That’s pretty much love.”

“… of course.” I sighed, rubbing my forehead. “I forget you are unfamiliar with the role of a knight.”

“I guess I am.” Minki sighed and stood up, stretching his arms. “I think the blizzard is starting to slow down now. We can get going.”

I had been waiting to hear those words for a while and was overjoyed once they were said. I immediately stood up and made my way toward the cave exit. “We must move quickly!”

“You don’t want a thicker coat? It’s still pretty cold out there.” Minki asked from behind me, but I was too energized to give him a coherent answer. I simply kept moving until the wilderness was presented to me. Snow was still falling in fat chunks but the wind had disappeared and my vision of the surroundings was much better than when I first ventured out.

“Excellent.” I breathed.

Minki joined me at my side. “Where are we going first?”

I thought for a moment and then nodded. “We’ll just start walking and then whoever we find first, your bewitched friend or my beloved queen, is who we will focus on rescuing.” I felt a bit disappointed thinking about not finding my queen first, but my words were spoken and it would be foolish of me to take them back so quickly.

“Okay.” Minki agreed and started walking before me. I quickly joined his side and we walked for a while, sculpting out the wilderness and occasionally dodging some buried rocks covered by the blizzard. There was a beauty to the fallen snow that was in good company to our searching, but it never really got to me. The more I thought about the condition of my queen, the more anxious I became about finding her. I wanted to do so many things when I saw her, the first one simply apologizing for Sir Aaron’s devilish deed. Although the more I thought about that, the more I felt that my queen had indeed overlooked Sir Aaron’s darker gaze. I knew she was a very intelligent queen…so how could she not have simply seen such a look in his eyes…?

“Uh, Minhyun?” Minki’s voice cut my off from my thoughts and I looked at him questionably. He was staring ahead and pointed. I turned my head in the direction he was pointing and almost chocked on the cold air.

There she was. My beloved queen. Standing with her back turned to me, admiring the fallen snow spread out across the land.

“M…my queen.” My voice cracked as I took a step forward.

My queen tilted her head to the side and then turned around to face us. She was as flawless as I last saw her without any scratch to be seen throughout her entire body. She stared at me with such serenity that I could feel tears forming at the sides of my eyes.

“My queen!” I couldn’t move my feet anymore and immediately fell to one knee with my head lowered. “It is my biggest relief that you are standing there completely fine after such a long fall.” I waited, expecting to hear her footsteps come closer to me and to feel her soft hand rest upon my head like she’s always done, but only silence prevailed throughout the next few seconds.

Confused, I slowly lifted my head, meeting my queen’s eyes once more. She was still looking at me, but there was a subtle change in her gaze that only puzzled me more.

“Minhyun.” She said. “I knew you would come find me like this. You are indeed a noble knight.”

Her tone of voice made my confusion grow. She sounded almost…too calm.

“And I am pleased to inform you that there will be another knight added to my roster. One that I presume you and Jonghyun will work with closely as you do with each other.”

“…but my lady.” I managed to speak. “He tried to murder you! And Jonghyun already disposed of his body back at the castle!”

My queen chuckled. “Oh no, not Sir Aaron. I have found a much more loyal knight than I dare say even you.” Her eyes remained on me as another figure emerged from the side. He was a little stockier with short, dark blue hair and had such a hard yet dead gaze that it sent shivers down my spine.

I heard Minki gasped from behind me. “D-Dongho…”

I turned to him with widened eyes. He was staring at the man with nothing but surprise and fear in his eyes.

“It brings me much pain to break up such a sturdy friendship, but I simply could not resist.” My queen said.

I slowly turned back to her. “M-my queen…why would you do something like this? This…this is not who you are!”

My queen smiled in such a dark way that it made me sick to my stomach. “I’m afraid I haven’t been truly honest with you, my knight.”

“W-what…?”

“You see, I too felt a kind of dark vibe from Sir Aaron when he presented himself to me as a knight to be, but instead of sending him away, I decided to use him to my advantage. And when he took the opportunity to murder me, I simply went along with it and was able to get away and find a new knight, one that I could make even more loyal to only me.”

My entire body felt like breaking down. “I…what…?”

“I’ve simply gotten much stronger. My powers are growing and I must use them accordingly.” My queen lifted her hand and a small flurry of snow gathered above her open palm.

“So… you were the only who caused the blizzard?” I managed to croak out.

“That’s correct.” My queen dispersed the snow and it fell to the ground in front of us. “I needed some cover, didn’t I?” She straightened up. “Now, enough talking. I must get back to my newly crafted castle not too far from here.” Her eyes landed on Minki and a soft, curious smile formed on her face. “Minhyun, bring your new friend too. I wouldn’t mind adding him to my roster as well.”

I stood very still and said nothing.

My queen then turned her eyes to me. “Minhyun? Did you not hear my order?”

My gaze was focused on the ground in front of me for a moment until I tilted my head up so I was meeting her gaze. “Yes I heard. But I’d rather not follow it.”

“Excuse me?” My queen’s expression remained unchanged.

“I know my queen, and my queen would never do something as heartless as you have done. You are simply not my queen, so I will not follow your dark order.” I said, my gaze hard.

“I’m sorry you feel that way. I truly am.” Nothing in her face indicated that she felt sorry as she turned to the man next to her. “Kill him and bring the other one to me. Don’t keep me waiting long.” With that, a flurry of snow enveloped her entire body and she had disappeared just like that.

Minki’s friend’s gaze didn’t ever leave either of us and once the queen was gone, he started running towards us, drawing his sword in the process. I drew my sword quickly and deflected his sword before the blade could touch my chest. He fought rough but coordinately, easily tiring me out after only a few minutes. Then I felt his foot crash into my central rib cage and it sent me falling to the ground, gasping for air and dropping my sword. Then I felt his foot collide with my chest again, making me scream out in pain. Squinting my eyes up at him, I saw his sword raised above his head and a feeling of dread ran through my body. But before he could press it down into my heart, another pair of arms wrapped around his neck and caused him to stumble backwards.

“Dongho, stop!!” Minki yelled, tightening his grip.

His friend grunted a little, trying to pry his arms away from his neck. Just when it looked like he couldn’t find a way out, his heel flew backward, colliding with Minki’s lower leg. He yelled in pain and his arms loosened around Dongho’s neck, who took the opportunity to turn around and punch Minki square in the face. He fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes and remained dangerously still.