Chapter Ninety-Three
 
“Intruder!”
 
The intruder cursed inwardly when she realized one of the guards had spotted her. She quickly leaped towards the other direction, intending to escape without having to hurt anyone, only to find many more guards approaching her from that direction.
 
“Damn it.” She surveyed her surroundings and noticed that there was a large garden nearby. It had many large rocks which served as decorations.
 
Looking around, she realized the guards were about to reach her. Without further ado, she quickly turned and leaped towards the large garden, secretly hoping that those decorations could hide her from the guards.
 
However, unfortunately for her, just as she stepped into the garden, her arrival immediately startled a woman who was enjoying the beautiful night scenery by herself.
 
The woman gasped in surprise when the person dressed in fully black entered her vision. Before she could figure out what was going on, the commotion outside had already answered her doubt.
 
“You––” The guards were shouting ‘intruder’. This person over here must be the intruder they were talking about!
 
The intruder leaped towards the woman urgently and covered .
 
“I mean no harm! Please don’t scream.”
 
She was only here to look for that person. Who knew the palace could be so confusing? She lost her way even before she could find her destination.
 
“There he is!”
 
The guard’s voice rang in her ears.
 
“Crap!”
 
Panicked, she jumped to the back of her ‘hostage’ and locked her down by clipping her with an arm across her chest. Worried that she would scare her ‘hostage’, she leaned near to her ear and whispered, “I’m sorry, but please help me! I promise I won’t hurt you!”
 
“High Priest Seo!” One of the guards exclaimed upon recognizing the ‘hostage’. “Release our high priest immediately!”
 
High Priest?
 
The intruder looked at the woman in her embrace.
 
She didn’t look like she was any older than her, but this was not within her concern since, apparently, this woman seemed to be an important figure in the palace. She might be of some help to her.
 
“Come any closer and I’ll kill her!”
 
“You––” 
 
The woman in her embrace spoke just as the guard was about to speak. “Everyone retreat.”
 
“But High Priest Seo!”
 
This high priest seemed really important to them. The terrified expression on the guards’ face was more than enough to explain the importance of this woman in her arms.
 
“Listen to the High Priest. Everyone retreat.”
 
This voice belonged to a third-party. The intruder watched as the guards split into two groups, providing a line of gap for a man to walk through.
 
She tensed up uncontrollably. This man dressed differently from the others. His clothing looked expensive, and his aura screamed royalty.
 
“But Prince Yongh––”
 
The prince stopped the guard from talking and said something to him. He then averted his gaze back to her, with an undecipherable smile on his face.
 
“You may take our high priest with you. We shall leave now.” With that, he just turned around and walked away, along with the guards who were initially chasing after her.
 
Weird, she thought. The guards were obviously worried for this hostage, but their master was treating the situation differently… What on earth was going on?
 
As much as the intruder would like to stand still and continue to ponder on that question, she knew it would be dangerous for her if she continued to stay here. Looking at the woman in her embrace, she struggled with her decision for a second before deciding that she should take her along with her, in case those guards chased after her again.
 
*
 
Her eyes snapped open in fluster and were greeted by the white ceiling instead of the woman in her… embrace? She tilted her head down slightly, only to find a woman with long dark hair resting her head on the edge of her bed.
 
High Priest Seo?
 
She reached for the seemingly sleeping figure and poked her gently on the head. It took less than a second for her to wake up.
 
“Yoona?”
 
There was a disappointing feeling in Yoona when she realized that the sleeping figure wasn’t the High Priest Seo she was looking for. But then again, isn’t this person… ah!
 
“Yuri unnie.” Yoona was embarrassed by herself. How did she even forget about Yuri unnie?
 
“Thank goodness, you’ve woke up!” Yuri had the urge to throw her arms around Yoona, if only the younger hunter didn’t break two bones on her rib. “How are you feeling now––Oh wait, I should get the doctor first. I’ll be right back, stay still and don’t move about, alright?”
 
Yoona wanted to tell Yuri she was alright, but Yuri went out of the door before she could even open .
 
“Oh well…” She laid her head on the pillow comfortably and stared at the ceiling, while allowing her thought to drift away on its own.
 
“I’m sorry, but please help me! I promise I won’t hurt you!”
 
“High Priest Seo! Release our high priest immediately!”
 
“Come any closer and I’ll kill her!”
 
“You––”
 
“Everyone retreat.”
 
“But High Priest Seo!”
 
“High Priest Seo huh…” Yoona mumbled the name to herself and let out a snort shortly awhile. “I’ve been having too many weird dreams recently.”
 
Yuri came back with the doctor and a few nurses soon after, throwing the younger hunter into surprise. She wanted to ask Yuri what was going on, but the nurses had already pushed her out of the ward before she could voice out her query.
 
Soon, Yoona found herself in another room with a large machine in the middle of it. She recognized that machine. It was the X-ray machine.
 
She observed the nurses, who were setting up the machine, beside her. She didn’t need any explanation to know that she was the one receiving the x-ray scanning.
 
But why?
 
Yoona decided to hold on to her questions until the nurses were done with her.
 
*
 
Cleaning up the house wasn’t an easy task, especially when the house was abandoned for almost or more than a century. All furniture had to be replaced and every corner of the rooms had to be cleaned.
 
It was yesterday when Taeyeon and Tiffany returned to their abandoned home. Things looked the same to Taeyeon as before she left, except that, obviously, most of the stuffs broke down easily at gentle touch.
 
Due to resting issue, their bedroom was given the priority to be cleaned up. Taeyeon thought it would be simple until she and Tiffany started to carry and move everything out of the house with their arms. She began to regret for not training up herself physically over the years.
 
She literally dropped to the ground after emptying their bedroom. It was better than what Tiffany had expected though. She thought her lover would be drained after they moved out the bed and cupboard, but she proved her wrong and insisted in moving everything out before collapsing to the ground.
 
Tiffany knew Taeyeon was tired, so she made her rest while she went back to the room and cleaned it up by herself. By the time she came out again, the sun was already in the midst of setting, and Taeyeon was still lying outside their front door, fast asleep.
 
When Taeyeon woke up again, she found herself lying comfortably on a bed. Tiffany was lying next to her, fast asleep. She surveyed the room without getting up from the bed and studied the interior and decoration of the room.
 
They were obviously not in their house now.
 
Puzzled, Taeyeon sat up. She gazed outside the window only to find several people walking on the concrete streets below.
 
They were in a town now?
 
“Taeyeon?”
 
Her sleeping beauty had awakened. Taeyeon turned back to the bed and pressed herself on top of Tiffany’s body gently.
 
“Good morning.” She kissed her on the lips and snuggled into the nook of her neck. She took a deep breath noisily before asking, “Did you carry me all the way here from our home?”
 
Tiffany shivered uncontrollably when Taeyeon’s nose touched her neck. It was ticklish. “You’re so heavy.” She slipped her hands under Taeyeon’s shirt and caressed her back affectionately. “Stinky Taeyeon, you haven’t bathed yet.” Tiffany suddenly remembered she was too tired to change Taeyeon out of her dirty clothes last night.
 
“Bathe with me?” Taeyeon lifted up her head and looked at Tiffany with puppy eyes.
 
“No.” Tiffany rejected without a second thought. She pushed Taeyeon’s head away and closed her eyes. “I still want to sleep.”
 
“Lazy pig!”
 
“Shoo!”
 
Tiffany felt a peck on her cheek before the weight on top of her body was gone. She opened her eyes and watched Taeyeon entered the bathroom lazily.
 
Her eyes were filled with gloominess.
 
Yesterday’s incident was only an indication of the activation of the curse. Tiffany couldn’t think of another way to prevent the curse from taking effect, except to stay as lovingly as possible.
 
The curse usually took place when the lovers were quarreling and etcetera. Stephanie didn’t know about it (obviously) because she was unhappy with Jang Wooyoung right from the beginning. But Tiffany knew. Her grandfather was the one who discovered it and told her father about it, which was why her parents decided to live by themselves in an isolated forest. They thought having less contact with the outside world would lessen the possibility of them having arguments, which was exactly the truth too.
 
This wasn’t a permanent solution however. Her parents would still have arguments occasionally and there were times when the curse got activated. But fortunately for them, they always noticed it fast enough before the curse consumed their consciousness. But unfortunately for them, and for Tiffany, too, the curse still took away their lives and Tiffany was being left to survive on her own.
 
Tiffany let out a deep sigh.
 
Maybe… Maybe she would inform Taeyeon about it after their relationship stabilized.
 
*
 
Yoona finally remembered everything, why she was lying in the ward and why everyone was stopping her from getting up from the bed.
 
They met the mutants during their patrolling. In order to save her, Sooyoung threw her out of the tomb, while she stayed behind to handle them.
 
As much as Yoona wanted to return to the tomb, she knew she had to contact the headquarters instead if she wanted them to be saved. But her communication device just had to break down at this time. It showed no signal and refused to work no matter how many times Yoona restarted the signal function.
 
Having no choice, Yoona decided to make her way down the hill. The panicking her somehow tripped over her own foot and caused herself to roll down the slope instead. She was stopped halfway however when her body clashed into one of the trees.
 
The sharp pain on her rib almost consumed her consciousness, but she wouldn’t allow it to happen because she hadn’t contact the headquarters yet and fortunately for her, the device finally worked. She struggled to stay awake and inform the headquarters about the situation. But it wasn’t long before her body lost to the pain and it took her away. She vaguely remembered seeing Yuri after she fainted, but that was all she could remember.
 
“Yuri unnie…” Yoona called for the hunter upon seeing the latter entering her ward. She was done with the scanning and the nurses had just pushed her back to her room. “Where is Sooyoung?” This was the only question which needed an answer now. Her partner sacrificed her own safety in order to save her, she had to know what happened to her after that… no matter it was positive or negative.
 
It was as though something was stuck in Yuri’s throat, she couldn’t let out a simple sound at all even after opening .
 
How was she going to break the news to Yoona? Tell Yoona that she couldn’t find Sooyoung? Tell her that Sooyoung went missing? How could she… break this unfortunate news to Yoona when Yoona was still lying on the bed?
 
Yuri’s hesitation only verified the unwanted answer in Yoona’s mind.
 
Sooyoung is gone. She sacrificed herself from saving her.
 
Yoona’s vision was somewhat becoming blurry, but she did nothing, not even blinking, to clear those tears which were making a hindrance to her view. She tried her best to suppress the overwhelming sadness that was going to leak out from , but her breathing was too loud that it exposed her enormous grief to Yuri.
 
Yuri rushed towards Yoona and laid herself on her gently, burying her face onto the nook of her neck. “I’m sorry, Yoona. I’ve disappointed you.”
 
Yoona clenched her fist and shut her eyes tightly.
 
It was her fault. She shouldn’t have listened to Sooyoung. She should have just drag Sooyoung out of the tomb with her!
 
“Unnie…” Yoona took in a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “Can you take me to her? I… I want to see her.” Yoona felt an obvious flinch coming from Yuri’s body and next, she saw Yuri moving away from her.
 
“Yoona…” Hesitation was evident on her face.
 
Yoona thought Yuri wanted to reject her request, so she grabbed onto her hand immediately, preventing the older hunter from moving further away from her. “Unnie, please! Let me see her for the last time!”
 
Yuri looked away guilty.
 
“Unnie––”
 
“I didn’t find her.” Yuri knew she couldn’t hide the truth any further. “The tomb was empty when we reached there.”
 
“What do you mean?” Her tears stopped abruptly upon the unexpected news. Yoona thought Yuri found Sooyoung dead or something. “Where is she?” She stared at the face which refused to face her.
 
“She wasn’t in the tomb, neither were the mutants.”
 
“Did you go to the wrong place?!” Yoona wouldn’t believe Yuri. The tomb was full of mutants before she left, and she remembered clearly that Sooyoung was struggling with them after she sent her out of the tomb.
 
It wasn’t a dream, it was real. It couldn’t be that she was hallucinating right?
 
“We found her axe, Yoona. But the tomb was indeed empty.”
 
The young hunter was instantly lost for words. As much as she wanted to argue with Yuri further, but she knew it was futile after the last statement Yuri had made.
 
Sooyoung had gone missing. It was an undeniable truth.