Byul felt an odd warmth seep through the back of her clothes, with the tip of a foreign brade lightly grazing the length of her waist; looking down, the back of her gown was camoflauging the blood that pertruded from the thickness of Kai's tunic. His eyes were brazen with overpowering shock and astonishment; his handsome features instantly contorted into pain and soon he was disgruntled, holding onto Byul more for support rather than possessiveness. Short, hallow gasps of bated breath eminated from his parted lips as he began to choke for the limited oxygen. Byul stood still, however, looking behind the falling man and to the Chinese man that stood after Kai's tumbling frame.

The foreigner was hostile, even as he withdrew the blade from Kai's abdomen. "Wufan.. or Kris." His timbre was low and almost threatenin and his glowering gaze fell upon Byul. Lu Han instantly step in front of her, holding his subject back with his demeaning gaze, before his eyes fell upon Kai's withering body. The latter looked up at the sympathetic blonde, irises glimmering with a fearful disdain. 
"B..Byul." She crouched down pitifully, the hem of her gown grazing past Kai's cheek as he lifted himself warmly against her, leaning onto her shaky body with panting huffs. "It hurts," he whispered weakly, palming his wound the best he could in order to slow the bleeding. The redness of his hands were blanketed with the crimson liquid, staining his tanned skin with the ugly colour. As odd as it was, the tan of his face was slowly diminishing into a deathly pallor, a close symbol to death. His lids were heavy and drooping half way into eternal slumber and his lips were parted, desirous in uttering a few more profound confessions, but his tongue was against it, as it was tied and stubborn.

"I loved you," he finally mustered. "I always admired you from my father's court, and the day I received the letter appointing my title as your vassal..." He took a deep breath, as if it would help ameliorate the pain. "I was so happy, Byul."

"I'm sorry." It was all she could say to him, all she could do to show him she acknowledged his love for her. Her hands rans smooth circles aross his chest to ease the heaviness it bore; fingers crawled up his paling features, caressing every small bit of his cheek and jawline before running through the silkiness of his jet black wisps of hair; his eyes fluttered closed, but his breath was still runnin; he drew in a dreamy intake of break, basking himself in the coldness of Byul's butterfly-like touch. "Promise me..."

His words choked at the last bit, and tears stung at his eyes just a bit as he struggled to breathe. "Pr..Promise me... yo-your..." One concluding sigh, and Kai was limp in Byul's arms, exhaling for the last time until his next life. "Your happiness."

Lu Han laid a comforting hand upon the nape of Byul's neck, catching sight of the somber expression crossing her awe-stricken visage. "I promise." Quiet, like a mouse, yet tender like a mother's love. From the corner of her eye, Byul caught a glimpse of Kris bowing before her with his sword sheathed into its buckle; his head was hung low in honor of the fallen knight laying within his arms, and when he stood back up he apologized remorsefully. "I was given orders to protect Her Majesty Byul."

Disorder immediately erupted from the Round Table knights. "That's our job! Who told you to do so?!" Sehun hollered outrageously, hissing at the brunette soldier. The youngest thrashed mercilessly under Chanyeol's and Baekhyun's hold, roars of furious anger eliciting his swollen lips.
"Because of you we lost a knight! An honorable knight that would've done anything for not only our Queen, but our kingdom! And because of you, he's gone! We lost a brother to you filth!" Sehun seethed, continuing his incoherent rant. Tears streaked down his features as Suho restricted him forcefully, pulling him down to his knees and holding his arms behind his arched back. "You son of a bastard! Rot in hell! You're a damnation to this country! To this nation! Just o back to where you belong and don't bother our Queen anymore!" Sehun cried, glaring at Lu Han.

"Silence."

Byul stood up promptly, having laid Kai onto the tomb bed her serfs had brought in. She wiped off any excess blood from her hands and tugged at her wrinkled attire. "I don't want to hear another word from you, Oh Sehun," she commanded blankly. She glared at Sehun, and the latter didn't dare to utter even a single whimper. 

"My Lady, you can't possibly --" Kyungsoo stepped back in response to Byul's instantaneous glare. 

"It's my fault," she whispered quietly. The onlookers were silent, speculating her meticulously as a melancholy song hung in the air. The sounds of heavy pants and low breathing ensued and soon, Byul was drowning in her own burdening thoughts. "It was my fault Kai died so don't blame Lu Han or Kris; I was selfish and made Lu Han swear to protect me forever," she confessed, "so he was only doing what he would do for the one he loved." She bit her lip at the feeling of Lu Han's arm encasing her waist. Then, she winced as she heard the sound of swords being unsheathed shortly after. "I.."

"Traitor."

She glanced up from behind her teary eyelashes, peeking up at the stunned Suho. "You're a traitor," he elucidated painfully. "You swore us your liberty, honesty, and dignity.. and this is what you do to us after all we've done for you?" Suho shook his head contemptuously as his glare hardened upon Byul's vulnerable state. He grimaced, and shrugged off Kyungsoo's warning hand. "You ought to be beheaded yourself -- for treason and in order to repay for an innocent man's life!"

"He was about to hurt your Lady! My man saved her and this is how you're going to treat your trustworthy Queen?!" Lu Han bellowed incredulously, throwing his arm forward in order to create distance. He kept Byul tightly secured in his free arm, with his other holding onto the hilt of his blade. "You should be thanking me rather than punishing me by threatening Byul," Lu Han growled. "If it weren't for my orders or for Kris' execution of the man, Byul could've been hurt, and you would've had to execute Kai anyways!"
"Kai had not intention of --"
"Kai was deluded by his own fantasies and was delirious! He wasn't lucid, nor was he thinking!" Lu Han argued back attentively. "The second he withdrew that sword on his own accord, and drew it upon Byul, you lost him," Lu Han concluded harshly.

"That's a lie!"

"Stop!" Byul screeched, tears staining her distraught visage. 

"Shut up." Baekhyun stepped forward, pointing an accusing finger at Byul. "You have no right to tell us what to do! We don't follow the orders of a traitor!"
"Baekhyun is right!" Chanyeol piped in agreeably with the nod of his fervent head. He withdrew his sword and planted it at his side in a defensive stance. "You're nothing but a dirty traitor! Who are you to tell us to stop? Do we have to listen to you?"
"Some Queen you are," Suho spat. "Leaving your own honorable men for a nemesis."

Lu Han's grip on Byul tightened. "You don't have to welcome her here, then," he stated plainly. "She's more than welcome at my kingdom." Lu Han was about to step forward to push through the crowd when Byul was snatched from his arms and he had three swords tipped and aimed at the hollow of his throat; his eyes looked around: Kyungsoo, Suho, and Baekhyun. Sehun had Byul in his grasp, futile and unmoving as he himself had his own sword placed at the edge of her neck. 

"If she's going anywhere," Sehun breathed lowly, "it'll be meeting Kai in the afterlife."

"You can't --"

Sehun cut Lu Han off incredulously with a snort. "I can't what? I can't kill somebody? I've killed tons of people; tons of children; tons of the eldery. I've plundered through villages, living to take others lives. I was a born assassin and was brought into the court of the Queen to ease my horrendous influences. Don't think I can't return to my old ways just because I have an attachment to Lady Byul," Sehun guffawed sarcastically. "It takes exactly one second to behead somebody," Sehun murmured, tucking a strand of hair back behind Byul's ear eerily. "A Queen or not, I can behead somebody."

"Sehun," Byul whimpered.

"As I said," the youngest seethed through his set of gritted teeth. "You're not going anywhere. You'll be meeting hyung in the after life," he promised huskily, "and you're going to apologize to hyung and you're going to promise him the eternity of your lifetime to make up for the unjust act of murder committed upon him."

"Sehun --"

Bang.

Shrieks. They coveted the ballroom and soon everybody was in a frenzy. Gunshots rang about furiously, echoing in thundrous claps as the clanging of swords posed as the background track to the musical symphony of anguishing screeches and fearful wails. Everything was in disarray, but the only thing Byul could focus on was the lifeless body of Oh Sehun at her feet, his blade having been kicked away by a fleeing eliteman. Byul's chest heaved up and down quickly and deeply as she scanned the crowd for his hitman.

Her eyes locked with a mysterious brunette in the corner. Yixing. His eyes were dark, but they promised her one thing: her safety. Just like what Kris had ensured her.

One minute she's being pushed along with the fleeing crowd, and the next, she's pulled away and brought into a dark room where Lu Han is awaiting her with a readied saddle and horse-riding cloak. The warm arms encased her once again and the blonde's lips meet her forehead in a reassuring peck before he leaves the room silently to let her ready herself. She turns to the side to receive the offered assistance. 

Xiumin.

"You're going to be safe, now," the young man ensured her with a promising smile.

He's wrong.

The second she exits the dark room in her cloak and riding boots, Byul is snatched away once more, but this time by Ho Dong. His breathing is heavy as he lugs her effortlessly into the direction of the castle -- the completely opposite route from Lu Han's awaiting posse. They take several turns and make coutless twists before he pulls her into a secluded room on the third floor. Ho Dong gruffly throws her against the wall, his eyes flaring with frenzy as his nostrils flared with incredulous insanity; his eyebrows furrowed as he searched Byul's flickering irises. 

"My Lady." He grunted hoarsely, pulling himself toward her. She takes a step back with every forth step he takes, until her back is up against the brick of the wall and she has no means of escape.

"Ho Dong, please --"

"I'm sorry, my Lady."

And that was when Byul saw it, gleaming under the weak candlelight. Ho Dong had a dagger.

And Lu Han and his men were nowhere near to save her.