Thank you all so much for the love! I had such a fun time writing this chapter, and I know that so many of you were waiting for it! So please enjoy, and leave a comment to let me know what you think! 

The lantern festival of Joseon was a sight to admire. It was possibly Hye-ri’s favorite time of the year, aside from those rare weeks where work was limited and dancing was on hold. These were both times when she could enjoy doing absolutely nothing, a time when her mind was free of its inhibitions and worries.

She had saved up a few coins to buy a lantern weeks before, the money untouched in her small pouch. When she left Byung-yeon and headed across the pond’s bridge, a cheerful young girl caught her eye.

“Ji-yeon!” The girl spun around in surprise, her beautiful eyes far too big for her face. Hye-ri wagged her sister’s friend over with one finger until the girl stopped at her side. “Give me your prettiest lantern; I’ll pay you double for it.”

Ji-yeon smiled, her small arms wrapping around Hye-ri’s waist. “I haven’t seen you in so long!”

Hye-ri smiled, patting the girl on the head and taking care not to ruin her braid. “You look well, Ji-yeon. You must be making a lot of earnings by selling those lanterns. Have you found Na-ri?”

The girl’s enthusiasm was obvious in the amount of times she nodded. “Once I sell all of my lanterns, we’re going to play on the banks together. Will you join us?” As she spoke, she handed Hye-ri a beautiful pink one. There were small flowers etched on the sides, a detail Hye-ri had never seen before.

“Thank you, sweet girl.” Hye-ri handed her the entire pouch. Although the thought of purchasing yakgwa was tempting, the money was a good sacrifice for such a beautiful lantern. “I’ll be sure to find you soon; go on and sell some more lanterns to that gentleman over there.” Hye-ri crouched down and pointed towards Lee Yeong. After all, his pockets were lined with gold. “I’m sure he would love to buy some.”

The girl ran off faster than an autumn leaf falling at the crack of winter. Hye-ri smiled against her nerves, the image of Byung-yeon trickling back through her mind once she was alone. Her fingers gripped onto the lantern tightly, her mind racing with what she might write.

“Every time I see you these days, you’re thinking an awful lot.” Hye-ri turned to face Yoon-sung, her face wearing an unimpressed expression. “You knew I was here.”

“I saw you just a moment ago. Are you going to make a wish for a fruitful family progression?” There was mockery in her voice, but she hadn’t realized how harsh the words sounded until they slipped out like snakes. He seemed taken aback by her brutal questioning, as she had once been so soft and blushing in his presence. “I’m sorry,” she intercepted quickly. “I didn’t mean for that to sound so crude.”

“I won’t take note of it.” He smiled, as he always seemed to do. “You must not have come alone. Is your sister with you? I don’t see Byung-yeon anywhere nearby, but I suspect he can’t be far off.”

“He’s not.” Her reply was too swift. “He’ll be back soon.”

Yoon-sung nodded. It was the first time Hye-ri noticed the distracted look in his gaze. He appeared to be searching for someone, but before she could enquire as to whom, he took a step forward. “I hope you enjoy the festival, Kang Hye-ri. Make sure that your wish is a good one.” Without another word, he bounded across the bridge. When Hye-ri followed his path, she noted that it ended with Sam-nom. That strange eunuch seemed to be making friends everywhere.

Raising a brow in confusion, Hye-ri turned away from the scene with guilt lining the edge of her stomach. She knew that she should not have said those things to a nobleman of Yoon-sung’s rank, but perhaps she could not deny the pent up frustration lingering towards his in-affection after all those years. Hye-ri found herself gripping the edge of the lantern more tightly, her solitary presence no longer so joyful.

She stared down at the blank canvas as the happy cheers and shouts of game-players flooded into her ears. What is my true wish? She asked herself. What is the one thing that would make those around me happy?

With a heavy sigh, she came to her answer. She quickly made her way back to Ji-yeon, scribbling a somewhat desperate request on the beautiful paper. It was a wish that reflected the deepest part of her heart, one that she had perhaps not yet acknowledged. Looking up from the pink parchment, an intruding hand was suddenly not so far away from her face. She jumped back in alarm, her eyes flickering towards the face of the gift-giver.

Byung-yeon wore a smile so natural and handsomely that he might be mistaken for the Prince were it not for his black robes. Hye-ri struggled to find the words to match his happiness, embarrassed that he had somehow been reading her thoughts. “How did everything go?”

Byung-yeon still had his hand outstretched. “These are for you.”

With a gentle poke, his fingers met her collarbone. She finally gazed down, the delicious scents of honey, flour and sugar filling her senses. He was offering her a small parcel of yakgwa, a gesture not often missed by lovers on occassions such as the festival. With a steady hand, Hye-ri plucked the small gift from him. It was as if he had read her mind. Or perhaps it was a simple gesture of his appreciation.

“I could hear your stomach growling from a mile away.”

Her fingers began to peel off the gold ribbon as he spoke. “You didn’t need to do this…” Without wasting a second, she shoved an entire cake into , her eyes closing in bliss when the soft mouthful met her tongue. “But then again, I’m very glad you did.”

Byung-yeon laughed loudly, even catching the attention of other guests nearby. Hye-ri raised her own eyebrows in surprise, her smile growing to match. “I wanted to buy them for you last year, but I couldn’t find you after you ran off with Na-ri.”

“So, this is a gift that’s a year overdue?”

“And a year in advance.”

A promise that you'll stay safe, she thought to hereself. It was only then that his eyes flicked down to her lantern, the wish she had written still wet from the ink.

“What did you write?”

Hye-ri’s eyes grew wide in fear as she pulled the lantern closer. “If you read it, it won’t come true.”

He cocked his head to the side. Hye-ri thought it was annoyingly charming. “I don’t remember that ever being a rule.”

“That’s because you never make a wish.”

He smirked, the corner of his mouth curling up. She rolled her eyes when her heart reacted at the small gesture. “I do make wishes, just not on paper.”

“Perhaps you should. They’re probably more likely to come true.”

He reached out to snatch it from her. “What secret do you have that could really be so big?”

Unsure of what else to do aside from shove him, Hye-ri did the only thing to protect her heart. She let go. Floating above them was her lantern, its secret desire now available for everyone to witness. Curious heads turned up to the sky, surprised that someone had been so eager to set their desire free before the proper moment. It was slowly turning with the wind, the possibility that Byung-yeon could read it now alarmingly clear. His eyes were darting about the dark sky in an attempt to scan the front, but Hye-ri stepped in before he could do so. Both hands reached for his jaw, firmly keeping him in her grasp in an attempt to redirect his attention. Their noses brushed against one another with the sudden intimacy, but Hye-ri kept her gaze focussed.

“You have ink on your nose,” she lied. “It must have been my fault. I’m sorry.”

Byung-yeon stared at her from only inches away. The warmth of her hands on his jaw was unable to be ignored, and if anyone was looking, he would be happy to lie and say that she was his. “Do you mind getting rid of it for me?”

Hesitantly she pulled down her sleeve, the corner of it rubbing against his nose to rid itself of the fake marking. “How did the meeting go?” She whispered now that she was in such close proximity.

"Exactly as expected.” His eyes trailed towards her lips. “Thank you for waiting.”

“Can you go home then?” Hye-ri took a minor step back. “I mean.. can you be finished and come meet Na-ri with me, or is there something else that you must do?”

Byung-yeon suddenly wore a mask of sadness, very much unlike the one he wore with the Baekwoonhwe. “I want to join you. I really do, but unfortunately I need to retrieve something. If I don’t leave soon, the others might be after what I’m looking for and I…” He tried to keep the story vague out for fear of eavesdroppers. “I might run into a bit of trouble along the way.”

Hye-ri didn’t like the sound of his plan, but she had no place to tell him what to do. It seemed that his entire youth, teenage years and now adulthood had led to this secret civil war. He was fighting for the right thing, and that brought Hye-ri some comfort. “You have to leave now.” She could read the answer in his eyes. “Thank you for coming here to tell me that you were safe.”

“I also wanted to buy you those.” A slight redness spread across his cheeks.

Hye-ri took his hand in hers, their palms fitting perfectly against one another. He thought that if he were to hold her, their fingers would fit like a puzzle box. “Can you do me a favour? When you finish your next duty, will you stop by my home on the way back to the palace? I don’t think…” She almost didn’t finish her words, but knew that she would lose a part of herself if she did not. “I don’t think I will be able to sleep knowing that you might be in danger.”

Byung-yeon smiled once again, his eyes darting up to grab another look at her lantern. Hye-ri did not stop him; it was much too far away now. It only resembled a firefly in the night sky, its light slowly flickering as it was engulfed in stars. “Once I’m finished, I’ll meet you in the back of your house. I’ll prove to you that everything is fine.” He nodded once in an effort to convince himself. “Everything will be fine.”

Hye-ri smiled as he headed off, but when his back was turned she let out an uneasy sigh. Her own eyes darted up to the lantern she had so frantically scrawled upon, the wish she had written now a long-gone plea.

Please keep Byung-yeon safe... not only for Joseon, but for me.

~.~.~.~.~.~

Byung-yeon did not come. In fact, he could not come. During the robberies of the merchants houses, he had been attacked. During the raids, he had lost his mask and perhaps some of his dignity along with it.

The worst part was that he had been seriously injured. Darting through the empty stalls of the lantern festival, he had been attacked by the enemy and was bleeding far too profusely to stop anywhere along the way.

It was in his best interest to make his way back to the palace before Sam-nom returned to their abandoned lodging, where he could dress his wounds in peace and sneak off once again to meet Hye-ri. Of course, it would be far later than she had intended, but after hearing her request he was fearful that she truly would stay up all night waiting for his reassurance. 

When Sam-nom made his way into their home shortly after midnight, Byung-yeon had to stop dressing his wounds and urge the eunuch to sleep. He didn’t wish to seem so brusque to the strange little man, but luckily such a nature came easily to him and the eunuch followed his harsh orders without questioning. It took everything not to cry out in pain as Byung-yeon sealed the bandages longways down his arm, the deep cuts stinging worse than a long kiss from the sun. 

When Sam-nom was finally resting, Byung-yeon made his way back out into the cold. He knew it was a foolish idea. He was still being hunted after, he was still wounded, and the walk was certainly not a short one. However, had he gone to Hye-ri's house earlier, he may have been followed. That might have put the Kang family at danger, which was blood on his hands he could never wash off. 

He was forced to stop several times along the forest trail in order to adjust his wrappings. Walking at a brisque pace was only making the wounds open slightly, but he was comforted by the fact that he would not faint from blood loss.

Well, he suspected as much.

There was a small candle flickering from the hanok’s porch when Byung-yeon made his way out of the woodland path and into the Kang's backyard. The girl was nowhere to be found, but Byung-yeon was a man of his word. He would simply wait. He had yet to break a promise to her, unlike the man she had once tied her heart to.

He trudged his tired feet up the wooden steps, suddenly unafraid if her father were to hear. Perhaps her father's conclusions were not so far from the truth: they cared about one another.

Leaning against the white exterior, Byung-yeon sighed heavily and only hoped the blood on his back wouldn't stain the walls. The heaviness of his eyelids was suddenly obvious, and he let them close with a single release of his breath.

Kang Hye-ri had only stepped inside to fetch some water and upon returning through the back door, nearly screamed at the ghostly sight of her friend. He had already awoken at the sound of the back door opening, his hand now pressed firmly over to stop her sounds of surprise.

“Be quiet,” he urged. “I’m sorry that it took me so long.”

He slowly released her, falling against the wall less elegantly than intended. With a wince he tried to hide the shooting pain coursing through his body, but could no longer bear the weight that was pressed upon him.

Hye-ri noted the paleness of his skin. His hair was free from its tail and matted from sweat, stray strands dancing into his dark eyes. She could barely see their pupils, could barely read them as his lids flickered in and out of consciousness.

“Byung-yeon…” She reached out for him, but could see bandages slipping through the arm of his gown. “What happened to you? You shouldn’t be here right now! You need to go to a doctor, or rest in the palace-”

He rolled his back onto the wall, his eyes closing once again. “I had to see you.”

Hye-ri could not hide the look of horror passing her face. “No, Byung-yeon... You should have rested. I would have understood; I would have thought that-”

“You would have thought that I was dead.” He stared at her with a darkness in his gaze. “It's the truth. That’s why I had to come here. I'm alright, I-”

Hye-ri moved in front of him. Her shaking fingers parted the hair away from his eyes, gently tucking them behind his red ears. She knew it was an awfully intimate gesture, but her instincts were unable to be resisted. “You’re not alright. You’re not-”

He quickly snatched her hands together in his. They were warm and engulfing, and as her palms pressed together in the peaceful prison of his fingers, she once again caught sight of the abyss in his eyes. “You’re right. I’m not alright, but not for the reason you believe. I’ve been a part of this society for much longer than you realize. This rebellion, this fight for a better Joseon… It’s the entire purpose of my being alongside serving Lee Yeong.” His eyes were unfamiliar as they darted aimlessly acorss her round face. “That’s all I’ve ever known, and I was content with that. And yet lately, my mind strays. I begin to think about death and the afterlife and not what that might bring to Joseon, but about what I might lose should I die. I feel selfish and erratic, as if I’ve lost a sense of who I wanted to be. And though it seems like a crisis and I’m constantly alone with these thoughts in my head, I’m not unhappy.” In a moment of boldness, his fingers strayed from Hye-ri’s hands. They wrapped around her wrists and trickled even further down her forearms, the softness of her skin propelling him further into his confused state.  “I don’t know when you suddenly began to linger constantly in the back of my mind, tracing every worry that I have with your words of concern, but it's true. I can't seem to get rid of you.”

“Byung-yeon, I-” Hye-ri’s heart was pounding too loudly for her words to seem comprehensible.

“I think it was always like that, but I had been too young and naive to allow myself to feel anything. Perhaps it was because you were so fixated on Yoon-sung, that your heart was so tightly wound around his finger.” The words might have stung had they not been followed with a new confession. “So, the answer is ‘no’. I’m not okay, but not because I’m injured. My pride is being destroyed by a longing to live, and I can’t understand what that means.”

Hye-ri watched his head fall. It hit his chest with a thud, the silence of his monologue an unpleasant welcome to the still of the night. Hye-ri tilted his chin upwards to make certain that he was still awake, surprised to find his gaze still entirely loaded.  Although she wanted to laugh with joy that he had not fainted, she couldn’t help replaying his words in her mind. “You don’t know what you’re saying. After all, you’ve probably lost a lot of blood.”

Byung-yeon was disappointed. In his head, he had been so thankful to spill his heart out to Kang Hye-ri. He didn’t know what sort of outcome it would recieve, but everything as of late seemed to taunt him in regards to her. Her dance, her doe eyes, the freckles across her nose, the thought that she would soon marry... Inwardly there was a desire for her to share his feelings, but with her disbelief he realized that his affection had not been expressed elegantly enough. When it came to strong emotions, neither of them were entirely good at reading the other.

“I didn’t come here because you had to see me.” Byung-yeon’s arms slid around her waist, pulling her to him. He was tired of being afraid. “I came here because I had to see you.”

Her body met his as they fell against the side of the hanok, his scent and warmth intoxicating her. Pressing his mouth to the crown of her head, he left something akin to a kiss in the thickness of her hair. Her whole body shook with the intimacy of the gesture. Although she knew that he could feel her hesitation, everything felt unexplainably perfect. Of course it was against the guidelines she had been instructed on in regards to men, but Hye-ri could not resist bringing herself closer into his lean body. His waist was smaller than she had anticipated, and the muscles of his stomach much firmer. There was a tightness in his embrace that suggested a longing for intimacy. Byung-yeon has always been a loner, she thought, but is he simply just lonely? She felt safer wrapped in his arms than she had anywhere else, a sensation that seemed ten years overdue. That was all she wanted, after all. For Byung-yeon to be safe.

A small noise from the inside of the house startled them both. It was a grunt, or rather the noise of a very tired father awaking from his rest. Hye-ri pulled back from Byung-yeon, her body instantly cold at the loss of him.

“You have to go.” Her hands fell on his chest, either in an attempt to push him away or to bring him near. “Before my father finds you.”

Byung-yeon said nothing as he disappeared back in the crowded mess of trees. He left without so much a word or touch. Hye-ri wasn't entirely sure if she had properly read the emotion of his eyes, but it mattered little. When her father appeared on the back porch, she was already alone in the darkness of the early morning.

“What are you doing out here?” His voice was groggy from unfinished dreams.

“I needed some air.”

“You have work tomorrow,” her father mumbled. “Try and get some sleep before the sun rises.”

“Yes, father.” Her voice turned to smoke in the coolness of the night, the words chasing after him as he trickled back inside.

Try and get some sleep before the sun rises.

But for Kang Hye-ri, the sun had already seemed to rise.