Hey guys! So for some weird reason, I can't get the bold font to go away on my computer... So this chapter will be entirely bolded and I want to apologize for that! Thank you for waiting as well, and for all the new subscribers and comments! I really appeciate it - I've got so many deadlines coming up for University that I'm practically buried beneath them! Please leave a comment and let me know what you think x 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Hye-ri waited inside the small hut for what could have been hours. Byung-yeong and the Crown Prince were in charge of taking back their beloved eunuch, no matter what the cost. Although Hye-ri was itching to step outside and watch the sunset from the palace walls, she knew that she must keep her ground.

Her fingers dipped into the bowl of water resting on the wobbly planks before her. Soon it would be tainted red. Her knuckles tapped the wood firmly to check that Byung-yeon’s makeshift nest wasn’t about to break under the weight of two people.

When the creaking of the door flooded into her ears, Hye-ri glanced down from her small tower. “You’re safe!” She spotted Sam-nom’s prisoner outfit. It was strangely fitting for his thin frame, almost as if it were a hanbok. “Is everything alright?”

Byung-yeon grunted. For once in her life, Hye-ri was unsure of what it meant.

“Eunuch Hong, I’ve already set up some blankets for you.” She gestured to the pad of pillows and fluffy sheets on the rice mat below her. “I hope it’s comfortable for you.”

Sam-nom instantly dove into them, but the suspicion on Byung-yeon’s face was clear even from the height. “Where did you get those?”

Hye-ri’s tongue clicked on the roof of . “From a friend.”

Byung-yeon had to turn away to hide his scowl. They were obviously from Yoon-sung. He wasn’t sure if it was the bitterness of the thought that they had been alone together, or the fact that his back was stinging worse than the crack of a horse whip.

Without a word of hesitation, he began to undress himself. Sam-nom and Hye-ri both watched with careful eyes as his black garments flew from his sore body. They may have admired his tone, had it not been for the uncomfortable spread of bruises and cuts across his back. He looked like an oil paiting; he was so splattered in color. The marks twisted around his arm until they reached the top of his neck. There was a particularly large slice down his spine, twisting Hye-ri’s stomach into a dirtied dish rag.

She hadn’t taken note of her audible gasp until she saw Byung-yeon’s eyes glance upwards. His face was expressionless, but she knew that he was hurting. There was no way for him not to be.

“Kim Hyung.” Sam-nom’s voice was low. “Did you get hurt again because of me?”

He turned away without sympathy. “It’s my job. It’s not because of you.”

Hye-ri’s brows came together. He was abnormally bitter.

“That’s not right. You always worry about me.” The bashful eunuch dug his small toes under the covers. “You saved my life and nursed me all night when I was ill.”

Hye-ri dipped her head over the edge of the indoor balcony. “He did that?”

“I already told you... that wasn’t me.” Byung-yeon's voice was insistent as he pulled his shirt back on.

“If it wasn’t you, who could it have been? The only ones who live in Jahyeongdang…” Sam-nom's voice faded somewhere with the plausible thought that it could have been the Crown Prince.

Hye-ri’s memories took her to her backyard, where Byung-yeon had wrapped her wounds countless times. “It sounds a lot like you, though.”

Sam-nom smiled. “See? Hye-ri can’t be the only person you’re nice to.”

His cheeks flushed darker than his cuts, but before Byung-yeon could say anything in protest, Hye-ri waved for him. “Take your shirt back off. How am I going to dress your wounds with that on?”

Byung-yeon obediently climbed the ladder upwards. His shirt was still over his shoulders, his fingers hesitant to pull it off in front of her. He knew that she was only playing nurse, but he could not bring himself to do it. “Perhaps I can take care of it myself.”

Hye-ri’s face fell to the floor. “You’ve kept me waiting for three hours. Let me do it.”

Sam-nom seemed to be off into another world if the smile on his face was anything to go by. Hye-ri peeked down to make sure he wasn’t going to gossip about this tomorrow morning, but his back was already turned to prepare for sweeter dreams.

When she returned to her friend, his shoulders were bare once more. She was able to examine the wounds more intimately now, the purple hues of them growing as time passed. “I hadn't imagined that it would be this bad.” She introduced the rag to the cool water. “You should have told me. Yeong could have taken someone else with him.”

Byung-yeon shook his head once, barely reacting when she touched the open wound near his neck. “It’s my duty to protect him.”

She nodded without argument. He was right; that was what he prepared his entire life for.

The two of them sat in silence for a short time. Hye-ri continued to bring the rag from the bowl to his chest, the humid summer air slipping through open cracks of wood and forming beads of sweat along her hairline. She knew Byung-yeon was watching her, but was too focussed on grounding herbs to take notice. Once she placed the final piece of cloth across his upper stomach, she motioned for him to spin around.

When his back was facing her, she felt as if she could speak more openly. “How does the salve feel? Are the leaves stinging too much?” Byung-yeon shook his head. Of course it did not hurt him. What did? “You really took a beating. When I was watching you in the woods, I wasn’t even aware that you had been struck-”

He turned his head slightly so that she could see his lips. “They’re not all from today.”

Hye-ri dropped her hand. “Oh, right. Of course not.”

There was little she could do for the bruises. After his cuts had been properly suffocated into a tight bandage, she was forced to look at what nature itself could only heal. She recalled when her mother used to press her lips against Hye-ri’s knee every time she fell. She had sworn that a kiss would make the pain go away, and maybe because Hye-ri was a foolish child, she believed it.

“What are you thinking about?”

Hye-ri almost laughed when she confessed. “My mother used to kiss my bruises when I was a child. She promised me that it wouldn't hurt anymore."

“Was it true?”

Hye-ri began to twist a strand of his ponytail between her fingers. She was unsure if he could feel it. “To be honest, I can’t remember. Now that she’s gone, I’d like to think that it was.” Hye-ri would have kissed the bruise at the bottom of his neck just then, had it not been for Sam-nom possibly waking up. She constantly found herself needing to touch him, in any small way, to remind herself that he was still there. 

“Hye-ri.” Hearing her own name felt unusual. “I’m sorry if I’ve seemed somewhat-”

“Bitter?”

“For lack of a better word, yes.” He turned around to face her, and she caught sight of just how black his eyes were. “My nerves these days are…” His eyes darted away from her, his lids flickering too quickly to express comfort.

She slid his hand over his at the risk of being caught. “You have nothing to apologize for. You should sleep; you’ll feel better in the morning.” Byung-yeon was facing her now. “Sometimes you have to take care of yourself first.”

He nodded, quietly moving to his usual bannister. It dawned on Hye-ri that she had never seen him lying down to sleep, most likely out of fear that he would need to spring into action at any moment. That was something she could understand in his line of work, but it also made her question how many times he would actually be required to do so.

“Are you leaving?” It was more of a proposition for her to stay than a question.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” she whispered too softly for even a roof moth to hear. Hye-ri laid on her back in her own pile of makeshift sheets. She was unsure of what Sam-nom would say should he awake, but they were luckily too far out of view for him to see them now. She patted the spot beside her ever-so-lightly, the sound enough to crack Byung-yeon from his trickle into sleep. “Why don’t you try laying down?”

Byung-yeon glanced at her suggestive hand on the empty space beside her. “It would be back for my back.”

Hye-ri was unable to suppress her laugh. “And leaning against a pole isn’t?”

Byung-yeon hoped the moonlight hid his rosy cheeks. “I’m used to this.”

Hye-ri couldn’t resist smiling as she shut her eyes for rest. “Oh, alright. But if you get cold in the night, don’t come asking for my blanket.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

The following morning, Hye-ri had still not woken up. Byung-yeon was preparing himself to meet the Prince, but had to retie his shirt three times due to the distraction of her sleeping body. He even leaned over at one point to check if she was still breathing.

As he left to head to the main courtyard, he couldn’t resist laughing to himself. How could someone so energetic in life sleep so peacefully? She likely wears herself out, he thought with a smile.

Sure enough, the Prince was waiting beneath the roof of the shooting range. When he caught sight of his friend from the distance, he quickly made his way over. Whatever Lee Yeong had to say, he wanted it to be quick. Byung-yeon could read his friend’s body language perfectly after all their years together.

“How is Eunuch Hong? How are you?” His head fell to his shoulder. “You seem surprisingly fine.”

“I am.”

Yeong smirked. “Hye-ri’s still in the palace, isn’t she? She’s like a bird. She can fly over just about any gate.”

Byung-yeon tilted his head down to hide the slight pink rising in his cheeks. “Eunuch Hong has already made his way to the main building. I thought I saw Yoon-sung chasing after him. Apparently he was rather helpful in getting Sam-nom settled last night.” Byung-yeon couldn’t deny that he had noticed his friend’s abnormally heightened concern for the boy, but there was another thought pressing on his mind that made the entire situation plausible. He was convinced that the eunuch was a woman, but did not have the heart to announce it out of fear for her safety.

“I should find him.” Lee Yeong was already beginning to walk away.

Byung-yeon stood his ground. “Eunuch Hong or Yoon-sung?”

The Prince waved an uninterested hand over his head, disappearing like a fly into the distance. There was still much that needed to be said. The Crown Prince’s affection for Byung-yeon's roommate was now made aware to the entire palace. Not a soul would fall asleep without questioning the Prince's uality, particularly the Queen. She was keeping her eye on the throne for her own child, searching for any way to uncover a flaw in the current Prince. Byung-yeon had wanted to warn his friend that she would likely request for a medical examination soon, making sure that these eunuchs were all truly who they said they were.

And yet, Lee Yeong didn’t have the time to listen. He didn’t seem to have much time for anything anymore when it came to the strange little creature. There was no trace of jealousy in this thought, but only concern. His friend was digging a grave big enough for the two of them to fall comfortably asleep in, but Byung-yeon was not offering to toss in the dirt.

He himself was plagued with the idea of Hye-ri’s marriage, but had little ability to change that. Suppressing his fear of seeing her with another man took more strength than fighting an army of Chinese, and he felt the delicate plaster of his heart beginning to crack. If his closest friend was not there to listen, who could he speak to?

Leaving the court was impossible without the King’s consent. If Lee Yeong was to be the next King, Byung-yeon likely already had his answer. And truthfully, he was unsure if he even wanted to leave the court for the sake of a woman. It was not a thought he had ever grown accustomed to thinking. 

Byung-yeon was locked in a maze without an exit. The only thing that seemed to still his mind was the delicate slice of an arrow, and so he made his way to fetch his bow.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

When Hye-ri had awoken at the break of noon, she found herself alone in the hut. The ramifications that awaited her at home were only going to get worse with each passing minute, and so she made her way back more swiftly than a jay.

Her father was in the field working, his hands and feet stained brown from the mud of the Earth. When he spotted her cracking through the broken tree branches, there was little sign of annoyance on his face.

“Where have you been?” Hye-ri did not answer. She stood like a toddler about to get scolded. “You don’t need to answer; I already know.”

“My friend was in danger. I understand that this is the last thing that I should be doing when I am engaged, but my nature is to-”

Her father tossed a radish into the barrel and motioned for her to follow. They walked together in silence for some time until reaching the edge of the hill. There were three tree stumps fit for the whole family, reminding Hye-ri of the hole in her heart that only her mother could fill.

“Sit. I want to talk to you.”

Hye-ri did as she was told.   

“Now, I realize that I have not been able to personally ask you about how you feel towards this marriage. I understand that these situations often go without the opinion of the child involved, but it has not sat right with me for quite a few days.” Hye-ri was beginning to note the wrinkles at the edge of her father’s eyes. It seemed that he had grown older overnight. “Perhaps our relationship is abnormal without your mother being here. I feel more like a friend to you and Na-ri than a father at times, and have been ridiculed for that.”

Hye-ri bit her lip. “I’m sorry, father. We never aimed to embarrass you.”

He laughed, his teeth spreading apart against the delicate greenery behind him. “You have never once embarrassed me. You have always made me proud and there is not a moment in my life that I would change with the exception of your mother leaving us. And that is what started me thinking… The love that I felt for your mother overpowered the fact that our marriage was arranged. She was just what I had wanted, more than I had wanted, and I’d like to think that I never took that for granted."

Hye-ri rested her head on her father’s shoulder. “She knew that. She loved you just as much.”

“Unfortunately, I want to give that to you more than anything, but I worry that with our income, I would be unable to.” She watched his fingers knead around one another. “Our situation grows more difficult as Na-ri gets older. Your dance brings in good pay, but I worry that with your age you will be shunned if you do not marry soon. In truth, Hye-ri… I have a simple question for you.”

She felt a seed of fear hatch inside her stomach. “Yes?”

“I know you get angry when your sister asks you, but I need you to be honest with me. I’m your father, after all.” A bird’s chirp broke the silence. “Are you in love with Byung-yeon?”

Hye-ri’s back snapped upwards into a rigid position. Her first instinct was to laugh off the question and run, run anywhere and everywhere to get away from the suggestion. But she found herself unmoving. The sun was at its peak for the day, the beams of it a happy influence on her increasingly dark thoughts. “We’ve always been friends.” She wasn’t sure that was a proper answer.

“That’s not a proper answer.”

Damn it, she cursed inwardly.

“Father, I don’t understand why you’re asking me this all of a sudden.”

He shrugged. “Because I care about you, Hye-ri.”

She sighed heavily, the palms of her hands dripping beads of sweat that damped her skirt. “Let’s just pretend that the answer to your question is ‘yes’. Even if I have feelings for Byung-yeon in my heart, how could I act on it? He is a fighter for the Crown and the Kingdom. He has duties that both you and I know he will never break, not even for the love of a woman.”

“I notice that you didn’t point out the fact that he may not have feelings for you in return.” He tried to grab her eye contact, but Hye-ri turned away. “Did he say something to you?”

“Not in so much as words.”

The implication of what happened was clear. Her father could feel his chest tightening with the realization that their emotions went much deeper than his own mind could fathom. “Hye-ri, my only advice to you in this moment is to speak with him directly about it. Once you hear what he has to say about the situation, you’ll know what it is that you must do.”

Hye-ri nodded. Her father asked if she wanted to follow him inside for dinner, but she requested to be alone for a while. If Byung-yeon said that he could not marry her, the only options left were to give her hand over to a stranger or be an outcast for the rest of her life. She was uncomfortable with the thought of the maids of the palace fawning over Byung-yeon for the rest of his life. She was even jealous of his ability to bask in their kind words and praises when she may be stuck under the thumb of an unloving partner. 

What made her most uncomfortable was the belief that she already knew his answer, and that hearing it in words would ultimately break her heart.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Two days had gone by without seeing Hye-ri. Byung-yeon truthfully was counting. As he rested on his perch with Sam-nom below him, he was not ready to have his mind taken away from her.

Sam-nom’s small fingers were busy working at creating puppets. He had a new mission to bring a eunuch and maid together that he had overheard whispering their confessions in the palace. Obviously, it was not his place to do so, but he would intervene nonetheless. He was quite good at that.

Just as he stuck his finger with a needle, Sam-nom shrieked. No harsh words came from up above, scolding him that he was foolish and needed to stop sewing dolls like a woman. “Kim Hyung… Are you worried about something? You’re not making fun of me.”

Byung-yeon could hear Sam-nom’s voice, but his mind was too fixated on an image he did not want to fully draw out. Hye-ri was taking the hand of someone else, her thin fingers unfitting into his rough ones.  

“Sewing is the best way to get rid of unnecessary thoughts,” Sam-nom tried again. “Could you help-”

“Be quiet.”

Sam-nom’s lip twisted into a snarl. “I didn’t think you would help me anyway.” He raised the distorted doll proudly. “This isn’t even as easy as you think! You probably can’t even put a thread through a needle.”

Byung-yeon let an audible sigh fall from his lips. He saw what the kid was doing. He was partially trying to get someone to do his work, and partially trying to lesson the dark atmosphere of the place. Byung-yeon was always surprised by how easily the eunuch could read him. Quietly, he made his way down the ladder until he sat opposite the boy. Sam-nom was about to announce his gratitude, but Byung-yeon’s hand halted all words.

“Don’t speak to me while I work.”

His fingers plucked the doll away like a greedy child, moving swiftly to readjust the pin that Sam-nom had incorrectly set. Once that was fixed, he went about his way attaching the arm. At most it took him five minutes, and he could see the eunuch’s gaping mouth from the corner of his eye. As he pulled on the final thread, and explanation followed. “Hye-ri used to rip her dress while she was dancing. I would help her repair it.”  

“You are really amazing. You know how to use every part of your body!”

Byung-yeon stared at the boy blankly, unsure of what he was referring to. “Blow out the candles so that we can sleep.”

“Wait, Kim Hyung! When a man puts a thread through a needle… shouldn’t he finish the project?” Smiling sheepishly, another doll was ed in the guard’s direction.

Byung-yeon whipped out his knife in annoyance, slicing the top of the candle and turning the whole room dark. Sam-nom screamed in horror, but not to the guard’s surprise. “I’ll do it in the morning. Just leave it.”

“What’s with you these days? You’re always off in another world.” The following words were not meant to come out but frustration had another agenda. “It must have something to do with Hye-ri. If you’re trying to hide your feelings for her, it’s not working very-”

Byung-yeon shouted through the darkness. “You should watch what you say! You should be reminded that you're only a eunuch. I could get you out of here before you even understand where your robes went. Understood?”

A long silence followed. Byung-yeon suspected it was safe to make his way up to his loft, but when he got there, Sam-nom’s voice trailed after him. “What I wanted to say, in more delicate words, is that you can about it with me.”

“Talk about what?”

“The Crown Prince told me that she was getting married.”

Byung-yeon’s eyelids fell shut. He imagined that he was by a river, completely and utterly alone. There wasn’t even a breeze in the air. “Who are you making those dolls for?”

“There is a forbidden love in the palace.” Sam-nom’s voice was filled with wonder. It only emphasized that ‘he’ was actually a ‘she’. “Since they can’t say their words directly, I’m helping them do so by way of puppets.”

“A forbidden love?” Byung-yeon snickered. “The only love in the palace that isn’t forbidden is between the King and Queen. Otherwise, it would just be best to forget about it.”

“That’s the problem,” the eunuch urged from below. “We can’t just forget about love. If we feel it, then it’s real. How can you just put it aside like it’s nothing?”

Byung-yeon’s fingers reached towards his face. It was dry, but why did he feel as if he were about to weep? “Because we’re trained to. We’re told not to love. We’re told that it’s wrong. If we want someone else in our lives, our livelihood must be sacrificed. It’s all we’ve ever known and making puppets won’t change that.”

The two of them may have fallen asleep on that note, but just before they trickled into their dreams, Sam-nom made a confession.

“At least I’m willing to try.”