“Do you hate me so much that you don’t even want to see me? Or are you afraid that I might drag you in if the guards capture me? I want to know what you really feel.”

Jaejoong turned around to look at the girl and advanced towards her. He grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to him, leering at her with a smirk. “You’re curious about my true feelings.” He laughed. “Fine. I won’t reject you tonight since you are so interested to know about my feeling. But can you handle talking about true feelings?”

With that he put his hand around her neck and lugged her closer to kiss her. Faye turned her head away and shoved him away with a push.

“Why? Did you expect more from me? Did you really think that I love you?”

“Even without your harsh words, I get your message. Loud and clear. This is my first time getting frustrated over myself being so useless to someone. I have never felt so pathetic ever since I was born. Thank you for showing how useless I am.” She took Jaejoong’s hand and put the packets of medicine on his hand. “These are some medical herbs for your injuries. You can throw them away if you find them useless.” With that she turned around and walked away.

Jaejoong steeled himself not to turn around to look at Faye but he could feel the pain in his heart and he clutched the packs of medicines closer to his chest. “Faye, I’m sorry.”

Faye kept telling herself not to cry on the street “Keep cool. Don’t cry! Faye Shim, you shouldn’t be crying over this ungrateful vampire!” But her tears didn’t seem to listen to her command, they came streaming down her face and she burst into tears eventually in the middle of the street.

---

Faye’s grandfather was walking around the marketplace nervously. “Aigoo…” He patted his chest like he had seen something scary and then he started recalling the night when Gwi killed Crown Prince Daejung and his trusted advisor, Seo Kang Joon.

**Flashback**

Gwi was Kang Joon’s blood and his scream ripped the quietness of the night.

Faye’s grandfather was there and witnessed the whole killing process. Little Seoeun came out from the hideout and made his way to his father. “Abeoji! Abeoji!” Seoeun cried when he saw his father lying on the ground, dying away.

Suddenly his father’s eyes darted open and hit his son to the ground, grabbing him by the neck.

“Abeoji, it hurts!” Seoeun whimpered.

The turned Kang Joon just went down to bite his son on the shoulder.

“AHHHHH!” Seoeun shrieked.

And then a mysterious figure came to fling the vampire off his child. The mysterious figure was none the other than, Jaejoong.

“ARGHHHH!” Kang Joon flashed his fangs at Jaejoong and growled.

Jaejoong did the same and grabbed Kang Joon by the neck, pinning him on the ground. “Look at me! Come back to your senses! Where is Prince Yunho’s diary?”

But Kang Joon was too far-gone to give Jaejoong an answer. Jaejoong had no other choice but to reach for his hawthorn dagger and stab it into Kang Joon’s heart, killing him.

Faye’s grandfather witnessed Jaejoong’s killing and quickly ran off to hide, clutching the diary to his chest.

**End of Flashback**

“Aigoo!” The old man cried and quickly went off to wait for Faye at the street that led to their house.

“Harabeoji!” Faye greeted when she saw the old man.

The old man grabbed her hand and dragged her back to the house.

“Harabeoji! I can explain everything. Eum Seok Gol scholar got hurt because of me yesterday so I decided to bring some medicines to him.”

“The person that you were with at Hwayang-Gak is the Eum Seok Gol scholar?”

Faye’s eyes went wide when she heard the old man’s reply. “Harabeoji, how did you know…”

The old man got flustered and diverted the topic away. “The person who is looking for Prince Yunho’s diary and the person whom you have been working for, is this person. Right?”

“Yes.” Faye nodded.

“You are coming with us to Tamna!”

“Waeyo? I thought I told you I am not going with you!” Faye shouted back.

“Are you not going to listen to your harabeoji?”

“You are not my harabeoji in the first place!” Faye thought loudly in her mind. “Harabeoji, can you tell me what happen? What did you see at Hwayang-Gak? And how did you know that I was there? Did you follow me?”

“Stay away from that scholar!”

“Wae?” Faye asked.

“Just listen to me and stay away from him! He’s a dangerous man!”

“Anyway I am going to do so without you telling me.” Faye replied and went off to her room after that.

---

“Kim Jaejoong saw you?” Gwi chuckled. “Believing that his dead lover had come back alive, his heart must be bursting in happiness.”

“Since I lured him to my house, he should probably know that I am the Prime Minister’s daughter by now.” Yoona replied.

“No matter how much his mind tried to tell him, Kim Jaejoong won’t be able to shake the thought that you are his beloved Dana.”

Gwi held his hand out to caress Yoona’s face. “Even when I look at you, you really do look very much like the woman who gave up her life to save him.” And then he closed his eyes to move closer to Yoona.

“I trust that you will keep the promise you’ve made to me.” Yoona hissed through gritted teeth.

“Of course I will. The position as the Crown Prince’s wife belongs to you eventually.”

“If I were to see him the next time, I would bring him to where he used to live.”

---

Jaejoong was sitting alone in his library when Junsu brought the one-armed merchant to him.

“What is it?” Jaejoong asked.

“Master, he said he wants to go back.” Junsu reported.

Jaejoong looked towards the merchant who gave him a bow.

On the other hand, Dongwook was still assigning his men to look for Donghyun when one of them came back, bringing him the news that the one-armed merchant has come back.

Donghyun was sitting before Dongwook. “Your highness, I don’t know where is Prince Yunho’s diary that you are looking for. However I am holding another piece of evidence.” Donghyun handed a scroll to Gong Yoo. “This is an appointment letter. The person who made me to testify against Crown Prince Daejung was the minster at Hongmoonkwan.”

“Are you talking about Gong Chang Sun?” Dongwook asked.

Donghyun nodded. “This letter was written by him, stating my appointment to be a translator in China. This is helpful to you.”

Gong Yoo read the letter and verified the handwriting. “This is indeed my grandfather’s handwriting.”

“We will have an uprising in two days time. Prepare for it.” Dongwook replied.

“Yes, your highness.”

Donghyun’s mind went back to the moment when he begged Jaejoong on his knees.

**Flashback**

“Let me live for a few more days. Prince Daejung was accused of being a sinner because of me. I want to restore his name from the false accusation and then I will kill myself for the sin that I had committed. Please let me pay back the debt that I had owed Prince Daejung.”

Jaejoong squatted before the merchant. “Promise me one thing. Don’t tell the Crown Prince about my identity until I personally appear in front of him. Can you do that?”

**End of Flashback**

---

Another cart of dead bodies were brought out of Gwi’s lair and were ready to be burnt when the guards discovered that the bodies were missing, and were replaced by soldiers’ uniforms stuffed with straw.

Back in Jaejoong’s library, Jaejoong was standing over the pile of dead bodies that he had collected from the palace, and then his eyes fell upon the body of the king’s consort.

…

“Master, why did you choose to keep the consort corpse?” Junsu asked.

“I have found out that the Crown Prince is going to announce his identity as the Lustful Scholar to the public, and the day he revealed his identity would be the day I revive this corpse. With this way, no one would think that the Crown Prince’s words as a lie. She would come back to life the moment she drink my blood. The people would see her transformed self, including her turning into a pile of ashes under the sun.”

BoA nodded in agreement. “In this way, Gwi won’t be able to interfere.”

“Yes. After that, I will tell the Crown Prince that I share the same goal as him.

The next morning the townspeople were getting ready for work when one of them discovered the cart full of dead bodies. “AHHHHH!” The man fell to the ground when he saw those dead bodies. “No way… could that be the doing of a vampire” The man shrieked when he saw the puncture marks on the dead soldiers’ necks.

Faye’s grandfather was also at the marketplace when he saw the cart of dead bodies. At the same time the royal guards have arrived to clear the bodies from the scene.

---

“You have to stop it! They have already started to find out about your existence. If you were to ignore this, the situation would worsen.” Prime Minister warned Gwi.

“A dead person cannot talk. I will kill whomever that is going around sprouting nonsense about me. And tha includes the King and the Crown Prince that you hate.” And then he pointed at the sketch on his left. “I want you to catch this man. If you manage to catch him, I will make you the next king.”

“Did you say the king?” Prime Minister Im asked.

In the king’s chamber, the dead bodies were lying before the King. “Just like Gwi said, the man who is behind all these is pretty formidable. Because of him, the Lustful Scholar’s words are revealed to be true.”

Advisor Gong Chang Sun nodded and sighed. “The casualty rate will get higher. You must find a solution. This will only end if I bring the Lustful Scholar to Gwi.

---

Dongwook went to the temple to visit his mother.

“If you miss your mother so much, you should have come here sooner.”

“I thought you might return to the palace if I don’t visit you.” Dongwook told his mother.

“I just want to stay here to pray for your father and you so I will stay here for the rest of my life.” And then the woman looked up at her son. “Crown Prince, I want you to promise me something.”

“Please say.”

“Please don’t let me outlive my only son.”

Dongwook went silent at his mother’s reply.

“Lunch is ready.” A voice spoke.

“Yes, please come in. I have someone to introduce to you.”

A lady came in. It was Yoona. “I’m sorry to disturb. I didn’t know you have a guest with you.”

The older woman laughed. “He is not a guest. He is my son.” She turned to look at her son. “Please greet her. She has been a good companion to me for the past one year. I am very grateful to be able to meet her here.”

“Thank you for taking care of my mother,” said Dongwook.

“I should be the one greeting you.” Yoona bowed. “If not because of your great care, I wouldn’t be able to return home healthily.”

“Your parents must be very blessed to have such a modest and beautiful daughter like you.” Dongwook’s mother commented.

---

Faye was browsing her brush-painted manhwa, Night Scholar, when Sehun knocked on the door. “Noona, are you asleep?”

“No, Sehun.” Faye replied.