It felt as if heavy tombstones were pressing her down, keeping her pinned underground. It made it difficult for her to breathe or move. The ground was keeping her still warm body still as her heart was screaming inside her chest. Only her fingers were free to move and grab at the dirt which escaped her grasp like sand, so softly slipping away. And as the air grew thin around her, Sunji’s mind started drifting to past memories she had thought buried long before. A man dressed in amour and the vision of a letter stopped her breath as she wailed, refusing to remember the pain which came with them, like a punch in the gut. Or so she imagined a punch would feel, leaving one breathless to count the seconds until the lungs would finally regain their capacity to fill with air again.

And as she remembered Nam Taehyun and her father’s back her, a bonfire of feelings lit inside her chest, chasing the agonizing soul somewhere deep within her. Sunji wanted to scream, but her lips refused to part, her tongue silk soft inside . Only her closed eyes moved under the eyelids, trying to see through the skin and darkness around. And as the fire kept consuming her on the inside she wished the dirt around would just engulf her already, that her flesh would rot and expose her bones so she could finally feel the cool damp of the earth digging into them. But nothing like that happened as she remained trapped under the dirt and stones, their weight only increasing. It was an idle state of the body as the mind travelled at the speed of light through the soft paper of the window, taking her through all the decision she had taken in her short lived life. And as if a veil lifted from her eyes, Sunji finally saw that beyond her fear of entrapment laid yet another one: the fear of being deserted, forgotten all alone. Two men left her before, two had forgotten about her in their death, leaving her all alone in the world, belonging to no one. And she wanted to belong somewhere, have someone she could rush to under the moonlight.

Was someone taking away some of the tombstones? The weight seemed to lighten on her chest. Maybe someone was indeed trying to get her out despite the weights added to her own mass…

››۝‹‹

The doctor carefully checked her pulse before putting her hand back under the heavy cover. “I’m afraid I do not understand what is wrong with her,” he revealed, bowing deeply in front of the two men who were waiting for his diagnosis.

“You’re supposed to be the best doctor in town!” Jungkook’s hand shot to his sword in an instant.

“Jungkook,” Master Jung warned before turning to the old doctor. “Could you explain at least what you found?”

“Right,” the old man cleared his throat and looked at Sunji who lain under the covers, looking peaceful. “Her pulse is only slightly elevated as if she’d be agitated, but otherwise everything sounds alright. Her qi is perturbed by something and that cannot be treated by my medicine. I’m afraid it’s a heart problem.”

“What do you mean?” Jungkook was fast to ask.

“When the heart is troubled so deeply by something external, it can cause the illness of the body.” The old doctor was caressing his beard while looking at Sunji. “Whatever caused this must have affected this child deeply.”

“The poster!” Jungkook mumbled. “I’ll make them pay!” He swore before leaving the room.

“And there’s really nothing that we can do?” Master Jung asked the doctor. “There must be something that can be done.

“Right now we can only wait. Maybe she’ll find the answers she needs in the darkness she’s in right now.”

“Alright,” the young merchant sighed, “thank you.”

A servant led the doctor outside while Master Jung remained inside with Sunji and the old nana whole kept on checking the covers, making sure the young lady was in no way cold or uncomfortable.

“I’m going as well,” he eventually said after taking a good look at Sunji’s pale face. “I need to stop Jungkook from doing something foolish that could affect all of us. Don’t worry too much,” he tried to comfort the old maid, “I’m sure our lady will wake up soon.”

And with that he left looking for Jungkook. And, not finding him anywhere around the residence, he took the road towards the capital, riding slowly. He wasn’t going to stop Jungkook from ruffling some feathers if that would help them get more help for Sunji, but he still went after him just to make sure the man wasn’t going to far.

Just like he thought, he found Jungkook causing a scene in the front yard of the prime-minister’s residence, where, surrounded by the bodyguards of the minister, he was yielding a sword left and right like a madman.

“There, there, buddy,” Master Jung finally dismounted his horse and walked to Jungkook’s side. And placing a hand on the man’s arm, he forced him to lower his weapon. “I apologize for my friend here,” he then continued, “but we have urgent business with your master.”

“Yeah? And what’s that?”

Master Jung’s eyes quickly turned to the cheeky soldier. “None of your business, I’m afraid. Unless you’re Prime-Minister Kim. Now, go fetch your master, will you?”

“And if I don’t?”

The entire group of soldiers chuckled.

They didn’t expect someone wearing silk and having such delicate traits to knock someone out in just a few seconds. And when they figured out what had happened, Master Jung was smiling politely at them, dusting his robe. “I advise you not to continue this foolishness for I have trained in China and none of you is a match for me,” he spoke. “Now, anyone care to call the prime-minister or do I have to get through all of you to meet him?”

“I say we take them all down,” Jungkook suggested, not surprised at his old friend’s skills.

“Master Jung is that you?” A voice called from the front porch of the house. The prime-minister walked into the dim light of the lanterns, clearly surprised. “Move aside, you fools!” He then gestured towards the guards to make way. “What brings you here?” His eyes went from the merchant to the bodyguard as if expecting a third to appear. Clearly, he was expecting Sunji not the two men.

“You!” Jungkook’s hand was faster than Master Jung’s tongue as he grabbed the prime-minister by the chest of his robe. “Because of you she’s now sick! You’re going to pay!”

“What are you talking about? Who’s sick?”

“Jungkook,” Master Jung warned his friend. “Apologies for the late visit, but we have urgent matters. I’m afraid Lady Hwang has fallen ill and that there is no cure to what she has.”

“And what’s that?”

“We don’t know,” he confessed. “But we’d like to get a second opinion from someone with more experience. Could you help us with contacting one of the royal physicians perhaps? We’ll pay,” he added fast, just in case the man in front of them.

“Could you let go now?” The prime-minister frowned at Jungkook’s hand. “Thanks! It’s not a matter of payment. The royal physicians serve only the royal family and live within the palace. Even I don’t have the means to get to them.”

Jungkook cracked his knuckles. “So you’re telling me that they’re all so virtuous that they wouldn’t do anything for some extra money?”

“They’d lose their heads if they did. Look, the rule i