Before Soo opened her eyes, she knew that she was no longer at the palace. The damp smell of earth permeated her senses, and she knew that she was in some sort of shelter in the forest. As she slowly awakened, she could feel the throbbing of her head. It was times like these that she wished she had access to modern medication. 

Blinking blearily, she finally saw her surroundings. True to her predictions, she was in a rundown cottage of sorts, with walls made of tree trunks lined together. It was small, perhaps only twenty paces in length and fifteen paces wide. As she sat up, she could feel the numbness on the side she had been laying on. Her hands were tied together in front of her body, and there was no source of light aside from the candle in the corner. 

She took another closer scan of the space, trying to see if she could find any tools that would help her escape. Although she was alone in the cottage now, there was no sign of when that would change. Thankfully, she could still feel the concealed dagger she always kept on herself in case of emergencies. That meant that they had not searched her body, or touched her other than for transport.

Getting onto her feet slowly, she walked around to get the feeling back into her legs. Eventually, she realized that they had left nothing useful in the cottage. She also tried to open the door, but as expected it was locked from the outside. She could only wait until someone came to her to get any answers. Still, they grossly underestimated her; she quickly pulled out her dagger to cut through her ties. It took some time, but she managed to unbind herself. 

She didn’t know how long she waited, but the candlestick had nearly burnt out before she noticed light showing through the cracks of the wood. Daylight was dawning, and she tried to see if she could find any clues of what was surrounding her. Eventually, she heard some footsteps approach, and she stationed herself in a corner, facing the door. 

She had expected someone to step into the cottage, but the door was only opened slightly for them to slide in a bowl of food, before it was swiftly locked again. She rushed to see if she could recognize who it was through the cracks of the walls, but it was to no avail; they quickly left as they arrived. That evening, more food was slid through the door, in addition to a newly lit candle.

This same schedule occurred the next day as well, and when they left after giving her food in the morning, she assumed that they would stay on this schedule for the time being. Looking once more around the cottage, she tried to find the weakest part of the wall before she started to cut away with her dagger. It was only wood afterall, right? Surely she could cut her way out of the cottage.

Still, it took some time and even then she was only barely through one trunk of the tree. The hours came and went, but she kept trying to cut her way through the walls. She eventually ate what was given to her that morning in between attempts at escaping. When it was dark again, she heard the sound of footsteps again, and she hurriedly hid her dagger and wrapped the ropes around her wrists, sitting with her back against the damage she had exerted on the wall.

The door opened once more, but this time she was able to meet the eyes of her captor. His face was masked, and she did not recognize his eyes. He simply glanced at her before replacing the bowl from this morning with another one. He walked over to the burnt candle and lit it again before moving to exit the cottage.

“Who are you?”

He paused in his steps but remained silent, eyes still looking at her.

“Who has commanded you to do this?”

Again, Soo’s question was met with silence. In earnest she tried to elicit any response from the captor for more information.

“If you are doing this out of manipulation, I beg of you to release me. The 4th prince shall demonstrate mercy if you do so.”

The captor widened his eyes slightly. Soo hoped she had done the right thing by assuming that. Surely if she had been left untouched and unwatched for most of the day and night, this captor did not truly wish to harm her. Perhaps she could play that to her advantage.

“Should I be returned safely, I will make sure that you will remain unharmed. My husband will also insure this. If you are doing this out of desperation, or whatever it may be, I implore you to stop. There are better ways than this. As the 4th princess, you have my word.”

The man seemed to hesitate before he simply turned and left, locking the door behind him. Soo let out a breath that she did not know she was holding, and listened carefully until the footsteps subsided. Untangling the ropes once more, she decided to eat and gather strength. Once she was done, she turned back to her escape and began cutting away again. Just before dawn crept into the sky, Soo had managed to create a hole large enough for her to crawl out. After doing so, she carefully replaced the cut logs into their positions, and left quickly to hide herself among the foliage not far away. 

She did not recognize the area, and planned to see which direction her captor had come from. Perhaps she could find her way back to the palace then. Going down the road blindly would not do her any good; if she ran into her captors, she would only be locked away again.

It had been many hours since she took her post and the sky was beginning to darken again. Just when fatigue seemed to catch up to her, she was startled awake by the sound of hooves upon the dirt path. Crouching even lower behind the bushes, she peered through the leaves to see who would come along the path. To her surprise, it was So who came upon his horse. Soo was so relieved to see him, but wondered how on earth he had ever found her. He was not due back at Songak for another week!

Soo watched as So lept off his horse and quickly cut down the door with his sword. After a brief look inside, he turned away from the cabin and rushed back to his horse. As he did so, Soo stood up from the bushes and tried to make her way back to the dirt path. Before she could even take a step, So turned around quickly having heard the sound of leaves rustling, sword ready at the point. However, when he saw Soo, he immediately sheathed his sword and made his way to her, taking her into his arms in one motion.

“Soo ya!”

Soo let out a laugh of relief, returning his embrace.

“So ya, how did you ever find me?”

His response was to only hold her tighter, and she decided that question could be answered later. Although others may not see it, she knew that So had been frightened, worried sick for her safety. Even now as he held her, Soo could feel the thundering of his heartbeat, and the cold sweat upon his cheek.

“Is Seol safe? I didn’t see her before I was taken away.”

“Yes, she is fine. Arang and Eun Bi have faithfully been looking over her.”

“What a relief….I’m sorry for making you worried, So ya.”

So scoffed, and Soo knew that he was going to be fine.

“How can you even think about apologizing when it was not your fault?”

“Still, I worried you, and for that I am sorry.”

So pulled back slightly and looked at her in disbelief.

“You were knocked unconscious, captured, and imprisoned out in the forest for days! How are you not frightened?”

“Perhaps the younger version of me would have been. I would have cowered in that cottage by myself. However, that is not the case.”

Soo showed the dagger So had gifted her, now worn dull from hacking away at the wood.

“If it were not for you, I would have never escaped by myself.”

Now that So’s fear had slightly abided, he looked at Soo with amusement and pride.

“You cut yourself out..”

“How did you know?”

“I noticed part of the wall was not whole. Very smart to replace the logs you cut out. Not many people would have noticed that right away.”

Soo sighed and shook her head, hiding her dagger back among her skirts.

“And here I was thinking I could impress you for once.”

So pulled Soo back into his arms, and let out a chuckle.

“You always impress me. It’s one of the many reasons why I married you.”

“Always the smooth one…”

So smiled before leading Soo back to his horse, and helping her onto it before he joined her. 

“We should head back to the palace as soon as possible. Everyone else has been worried sick too,” So said as he pulled on the reins.

“I’m sure Yeon Hwa didn’t miss me. For all we know, she’s probably behind this.”

“Everyone that we care about has been worried sick,” So corrected with an exasperated smile.

As they made their way back to the palace, Soo finally felt the fatigue upon her, and as she leaned against So, her eyes slowly fell shut. The last thing she remembered was So speaking to her.

“Rest Soo ya. When you awake, we will be home.”

And so she slept, her eyes closed to the world racing by her.