“Your majesty, this is treason. We had seen the flyers that were distributed by the Lustful Scholar and his group; it’s obvious that they’re the traitors who defended Crown Prince Daejung who was killed for treason. Please order to arrest him as soon as possible and…”

The king cut the prime minister off before he could finish his sentence. “And are you going to ask me to dethrone Crown Prince Dongwook who is the son of Daejung?”

“Your majesty, I am sorry to say this but the son of a traitor gaining succession to the throne will result in a massacre in the palace.”

“Are you trying to tell me that you are going to stand against me?”

“But…”

“ENOUGH! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR THIS AGAIN!” The king slammed the book on the table. “You are all idiots! I have been planning to build a new palace for years but it is still far from completion. And all of you only know how to say ‘no’ or ‘you can’t or dethroning the Crown Prince all the time! And yet you call yourself my officials! What is this?”

“Your majesty, I’m sorry to say but we had already spent a lot of money in building this new palace…”

“Deputy Prime Minister, if you are talking about budget, I would advise you to stop all those corrupted officials first before you come to talk about the budget!”

The court officials started whispering among them upon hearing the king’s outburst.

“If I can’t finish the construction of this new palace, I will kill all of you first! I want the construction of the palace to start today and I’ll be watching over the progress, so you better make sure I see it moving!” The king ordered.

“Yes, your majesty! I will see through the construction project!” One of the officials said.

---

“His majesty is ignoring all our advices and is focusing in building the new palace and his succession.” The Prime Minister was in Gwi’s dark cavern, reporting the morning court session to Gwi.

“10 years ago, he was named as a ‘Sage King’. But what happened now?” Gwi muttered, looking back the Daejung’s body. “His sadness over losing his son must have been extremely traumatizing for him.”

“His death was justified. How dare he betray his father and steal the diary? Although you said you had gotten rid of the secret plan, we did not know what had the Crown Prince done with the diary.”

Gwi put the book down and took the bag up to sniff the scent from Faye’s cloth bag. ‘If I were able to find this man, I might be able to meet Kim Jaejoong.”

“Why don’t we distribute his portrait…”

“Leave it. We will definitely meet again.”

---

“What is the update?” Jaejoong asked.

“There is a person who claimed to have seen the son of the owner of the paper factory at Pyongyang Fortress, so I’ve already sent some people there. He may be the person who had seen the Lustful Scholar.”

Jaejoong got up, wanting to leave the study room but Junsu blocked his way out. “Master, if the bookshop is located outside the city, it may take at least two hours to travel there. You shouldn’t go out in broad daylight! I will go on behalf of you!”

Jaejoong smiled and patted Junsu on the shoulder. “I am expecting some publishers to arrive tonight to produce the books from Jeonju. I want you to help BoA to do the necessary preparation.” With that he left the room and made his way out to look for Faye.

Faye was squatting outside of the house, drawing circles on the ground.

An amused look appeared on Jaejoong’s face when he saw Faye squatting outside of the house like a pitiful puppy. “Do the people from your era do such thing outside their houses?”

“Nope! Only me! Muahahahaha!” Faye laughed. “FWAHHHHH! You look good in your black robe man!” Faye punched his arm lightly. “I am so going to make you the male lead of my manhwa! Hurhur!”

“Manhwa?”

Faye nodded. “I am a manhwa artist. I draw to earn money. Ehhhh… Never mind! You won’t understand anyway! Let’s go! Let’s go! I still need you to bring me there!”

“I thought you say you will bring me there?” Jaejoong raised a brow.

“I will bring you there with your guidance in the direction. Hehe! Don’t forget! I am not from this era and it’s impossible for me to know the place! Be glad that I have the address of the place with me. If not, you can forget about finding that bookseller!” Faye stuck out her tongue at him and marched out of the house like a robot.

BoA appeared out of her hiding place and watched the two leave together. She signaled the man forward when the latter gave her a nod, and headed out to follow Jaejoong and Faye.

…

The two entered the forest with Jaejoong leading the way but Faye couldn’t stop turning her head back to check if there’s anyone following them.

“Are you afraid of being attacked again?”

“Of course. I can fight any human but definitely not a vampire. DUH!”

“I thought you are not afraid of them?”

“It’s not that I am not afraid of them. I just believe in their existence and that doesn’t mean I am not afraid of them.”

Jaejoong nodded and continued walking.

“Anyway I want to thank you formally for saving me twice! One at the Hwayang gak and the other in the forest. At least I can still keep myself alive to go back to where I come from.”

Jaejoong stopped and turned to look at her. “Do you not miss your family back there?”

Faye let out a sigh and smiled. “Of course I miss them but since I’m stuck in this era for now, I should try to see what I don’t get to see back there. It’s a new learning experience for me. See! At least I get to dress like a man and do things that I don’t get to do when I’m a girl.” With that she started doing her Muay Thai moves in the forest.

Jaejoong smiled and stared at her until she stopped and tilted her head to the side, looking back at him. “Why are you staring at me in this way?”

“Because it’s beautiful?”

“Huh?” Faye was confused.

“I’m saying your heart is beautiful.” Jaejoong smirked and started walking again.

---

Faye was leading Jaejoong through the busy market street when Jaejoong sensed someone tailing them. He stopped and turned around to check when a man stopped by a book stall and picked up a book to read.

The moment Jaejoong turned and walked away, the man went on to tail the duo.

“Beautiful! Beautiful!” A man spoke in Mandarin. “These are the real deal! Really! Hello-hello!”

“We are here! That’s the man we are looking for.” Faye pointed at the single-armed merchant in front.

“Ahjussi!” Faye called out.

“Aigoo! Aigoo! Sehyun-ah, what brings you here?” The older man asked excitedly.

“I came to buy something from you with my customer!” Faye said.

The older man looked at Jaejoong through his sunglasses for a while before he led the two into his store.

“Be careful with the steps.” He said as he entered his store. “The book, which is not in here, won’t be in this city.”

“Ahjussi, what about the diary of Crown Prince Yunho?” Faye asked.

“Ahhh… I have been looking for it but it was nowhere to be found. By the way, who is Crown Prince Yunho? Is he from China?”

Faye turned to look at Jaejoong helplessly.

“If I don’t know about this, I think you can safely assume that this book does not exist at all. You can try looking for it but I can’t help you much then.” The older man said as he made his way to the door.

Just when he was at the door, he turned to look at Jaejoong’s backview. “Who is this guy?”

“You can go now,” said Jaejoong.

“It’s okay. I can stay and search for the diary. Ahjussi may have missed some of the books since there are sooooooo many books here. Hurhur! As for you, you can leave for your business.”

Jaejoong stopped and looked at her.

“Don’t give me that look. I have nothing to do so I might as well stay here to look through the books. If the diary is not here, I think I will have to comb the entire Goryeo! I have a dog nose.” Faye pointed at her own nose. “I used to find things that others couldn’t find back in my time. So you don’t have to worry.”

“Thank you but I would like to look for it alone.”

“Araso! Araso! You just don’t want a dog barking at you all the time. I understand! I shall leave before you kick me out.” Faye waved her hands and headed out the bookstore reluctantly.

Once alone, Jaejoong went through the books with his vampire speed but to no avail.

---

“Damn it! It’s going to rain soon and why is this route seemed to be so much longer than just now?” Faye muttered as she took the same forest route back.<