Chapter One

Past - Pt. I

Word Count: 1,515

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Somewhere in the beginning of a millennia, an ancient civilization was once ruled the lands of its people with an oppressive, strict, militia regime as the result of their emperor’s tyranny into fulfilling their conquest to a continental domination.

 

 

The people longed for prosperity and peace-- wanted to be free from their shackles of oppression as they’ve looked up to their pink-haired crown princess, Kim Yongsun.

 

 

Kim Yongsun was their source of comfort and joy during their hard times. Her selflessness and compassion towards them resonated their hearts as they constantly showered her with love and gratitude through gifts and letters.

 

 

The princess didn’t mind it; in fact she enjoyed seeing the smiles from their faces.

 

 

Yongsun knew of her father’s misdeeds and deep in her heart she knew what he did was beyond distasteful. She witnessed countless prisoners marching down the dark halls of her family castle as the head commander of her father’s army brought up various leaders from different rebel factions before the crown.

 

 

She understood and sympathized with the prisoners as she foresaw the very eyes her own people have worn for the past several years under her father’s reign.

 

 

As she thanked her people for their batch of gifts, a sound of a large church bell rang throughout the kingdom.

 

 

“All hail to Emperor Kim as he has returned from his victorious battle!”

 

 

Heavy footsteps has marched down on the kingdom’s grounds as common folk stood out of their way for the soldiers, knights, and to their Excellency. Rows and rows of armed forces made their way to the castle as the sole ruler of the kingdom stepped down on his horseback; exuding his dominant stature.

 

 

Naturally, all common folk in the kingdom knelt before him and cheered for his arrival.

 

 

“Long live the Excellency!”

 

 

The tone of their voices felt off to the crown princess. It was superficial; almost monotonous and lifeless to her taste.

 

 

Nevertheless, Yongsun had no other option than to bow down to her father.

 

 

“Welcome back, father.”

 

 

The emperor stood still for a moment as he stared down at his only daughter with stern eyes.

 

 

“I assume the kingdom is in good order, hm?” he asked.

 

 

“Yes,” Yongsun nodded. “The people here have treated me well during your absence, father.”

 

 

“Excellent. Perhaps they can treat as fairly when they welcome our upcoming... guest.”

 

 

Oh, no.

 

 

Two soldiers brought themselves out of their place with a person, shackled in chains and covered with a worn sack on their face. From what Yongsun has observed, the captive had a slender body build; something you would see in a woman than a man as the comparison was evident between the three. With a safe assumption in mind, the princess has also noticed the former was wearing a battle attire of a higher rank. Its material appeared to be in satin with distinctive threads and design, covered in silver-plated chest armour to protect the user from upcoming attacks. On top of that, the captured was also wearing a navy blue cape, draping upon her shoulders although it seemed it's been worn down for quite sometime.. 

 

 

Was their guest came from a royal family? Yongsun thought.

 

 

“Kneel down before his Excellency and Princess!” One of them shouted as he kicked behind the prisoner’s knees.

 

 

The prisoner groaned in pain as her knees jerked; bent down onto the dirt ground, all while their covered face was looking down at the general direction.

 

 

Yongsun was beyond disgusted with the way they treated her.

 

 

“Hey! Could you two stop mistreated our guest here?” She asked while glaring at the soldiers before her. “They're clearly not a threat to fight and yet you must continue on attacking them? How disgraceful!”

 

 

The whole crowd, including the prisoner, was left speechless.

 

 

“Your Highness I--”

 

 

“Enough!”

 

 

Emperor Kim roared, abruptly ended the conversation.

 

 

“I believe the Crown Princess has a point there. We must treat our enemy with respect, and you failed to uphold that basic principle, soldier!”

 

 

“Your Excellency I’m sorry I--”

 

 

“You dare talk back to me?”

 

 

The soldier cowered back as he stood silently, hanging head down in shame.

 

 

“Now,” The Emperor sighed while eyeing his subordinates. “If there aren’t any more oppositions to what my daughter has said, we must welcome our guest.”

 

 

Another soldier from the marching ranks stepped in by forcibly removing the sack from the prisoner’s face, giving the latter a chance to breathe in fresh air.

 

 

It was then the crown princess took her opportunity to look closely at her guest. That was when her heart started to beat twice as fast.

 

 

The dark navy blue hair cascaded down in a low ponytail, tangled in various knots from the ends of her strands. Along with it was a strikingly handsome yet a feminine face, spoke out with a noble ambience judging how defined her jawline and nose looked.

 

 

Yongsun couldn’t help but awed at her guest’s appearance.

 

 

Just who exactly was she?

 

 

“You!” The soldier barked down at the prisoner. “Stand up and state your name!”

 

 

The prisoner didn’t respond as she continue to breathe in the fresh air from being covered in the sack bag for too long.

 

 

“Are you deaf?! Stand up!” The soldier spat out his words in frustration as he roughly grabbed the prisoner’s arm to pull her up.

 

 

“Hey, hands off of her right now! ” Yongsun shouted as she stepped in between the two, pulling the soldier's hand away from her guest. “Can’t you see she’s still trying to breathe?!”

 

 

“Your Highness, the prisoner is our enemy. We must treat her like one!”

 

 

That certainly made the princess boiled. She had enough of their idiocy.

 

 

“Stop it!” Yongsun belted, which left the whole crowd speechless yet again. “You dare to speak so lowly on a person who couldn’t even fight back? This is not a battlefield! You disobeyed my father’s order on respecting other people, even to our enemies!”

 

 

“But Your Highness--”

 

 

“Royal guards!” Emperor Kim roared, interrupted the conversation once again. “Seize both of the soldiers that failed to heed in my daughter’s reasoning and take them away from our kingdom! They’re no loyal soldiers of mine.”

 

 

A pair of guards in a higher rank went forward from each of their Emperor’s side as they swiftly grabbed the two soldiers that showed defiance towards Yongsun and dragged them away.

 

 

The soldiers had no chance to show any form of resistance as they could do nothing but screamed for mercy.

 

 

As soon as they were out of the sights, Yongsun gracefully knelt down in front of the prisoner; whom by the way remained speechless from what happened before her.

 

 

“Are you alright?” Yongsun gently asked while placing both of her hands onto the prisoner’s shoulder. “What’s your name, if I may ask?”

 

 

It took some moments before the latter answered.

 

 

“...Moon Byulyi,” She uttered while looking up at Yongsun.

 

 

The former smiled.

 

 

“Can you stand, Byulyi?”

 

 

Byulyi took a brief moment to heave herself as she slowly propped herself back up on her two feet, afraid her knees would end up giving out on her.

 

 

It didn’t go unnoticed for the crown princess.

 

 

“Oh, dear! Let me help you,” Yongsun offered as she firmly grabbed both of Byulyi’s shoulders to steady her weight.

 

 

Two of Yongsun’s family containers, Wheein and Hyejin, took notice of their liege’s signal and sought over there to help the princess by firmly grabbing Byulyi’s arms from each side.

 

 

“Could you two kindly Moon Byulyi to the top chambers in one of our guest rooms?” Yongsun requested as her eyes pleaded to her loyal subjects. “She’s clearly injured from the mistreatment our fellow... soldiers made. Please treat her well, she had a long day.”

 

 

Both Wheein and Hyejin nodded.

 

 

“At once.”

 

 

They gently nudged Byulyi to move along towards the castle, which the latter obliged. She didn’t forget to give Yongsun a small smile as a form of gratitude for her kindness.

 

 

Such gesture made the princess’ heartbeat twice as fast as before.

 

 

“All hail Princess Kim for her kindness! Long live the Princess!”

 

 

The crowd made an uproar through a heartfelt cheer, a constrast on the earlier cheer upon the Emperor's return. It made Yongsun jumped out of astonishment as she completely forgot there were hundreds of eyes witnessing the whole scene after her fathe stepped into the kingdom from his battle expedition.

 

 

“Go ahead inside, daughter.”

 

 

Yongsun looked up to her father.

 

 

“Father?”

 

 

A small smile cracked from his stern face; a rare moment for the princess to see.

 

 

“Someone needs to look after our guest, after all,” Emperor Kim replied. “I suggest you to get going now.”

 

 

“Thank you, father.”

 

 

Yongsun then bowed before her father and pardoned her leave. She wasted no time as she scurried over to the castle as she was excited to spend most of her time with Byulyi.

 

 

Something about Moon Byulyi got Yongsun’s attention, and she had full intentions to know what it was that captivated her heart.

 

 

It was only just the beginning.

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Chapter 1 is up! Sorry to leave a cliffhanger like that haha.

Comments and feedback are welcome!