Chapter 14 – [1805]

Chuho strode through the unpaved road, accompanied by the twig performing a circus in his hand. He hummed a nameless upright song to himself as he eyed only the stick. Once Chuho breathed in the air, that carry a scent of bark and heat in the atmosphere, he barely noticed the group that was approaching him head first. When he finally sensed their presence he came to a complete stop with annoyance in his eyes. As he lock gazes with one man, the older instantly spoke.

“Well, well, well, did you get lost again little rat?” The man of five asked. The male was in his early thirties yet aged due to his poor health. Anyone could tell the man was a heavy drinker as he reeked of alcohol even across from the plain and had dark, unhealthy skin. Chuho balanced all of his weight onto his right foot and placed his hands on his hips. In front of the older group, he wanted to appear just as intimidating.

“Gwakjin, don’t you know this is our territory?” Chuho asked the lead with no hesitation. The man now identified as Gwakjin heaved a careless grunt then craned his neck.

“Why should I care when you dirty Black bandits always enter our territory anyway?”

Chuho shook his head and waved his twig at the group, as if pretending to cast a spell on each one of them. “Get. Out. Of. Here. Now.” He said, each word resting on each man.  

“You brat, it’s good that I met you here. Today I'm going to catch you and eat you with pepper. Catch him!” Gwakjin demanded, a sign that launched his men toward Chuho with no delay. The teen clicked his tongue before reacting to the party, by taking off at full speed. Chuho who was used to the location’s setting easily skip around and pace himself down and up hills. The plains however did Chuho very little justice as anyone can see clearly a mile before them. If Chuho wanted to escape from their sight, he’d either have to hide in the trees, bushes, grasses, or run a few miles ahead of the pack.

Chuho chose the latter. Afterall, running was his speciality.

The deer stood still, nibbling the trimmed grasses under its hooves. The hooves that could have gotten it to safety, but couldn’t when its predator was Wootae. As a teen, Wootae’s looks has enhanced and sharpen over the years. His silky black hair had grown longer and a handful of his locks were tied into a ponytail behind his handsome skull. He was dressed in scarlet red and brown fabrics, something different from his usual black wear. In Wootae’s hands was a bow and arrow, his arrowheads has been tinted with snake venom and frog’s poison. With the arrowhead poisoned, the deer clearly wasn’t going to be a source of food. Wootae peered into the pupil of the deer that never saw a glimpse of him.

Wootae was about to fire his arrow when a larger hand hovered over his on the bow’s handle. Wootae pivot to see Daniel, the man wore an unreadable face but the youth knew the man's thoughts—Daniel didn’t want this deer dead. “Follow me,” the lad whispered. Wootae eyed his prey once more before obliging to his teacher’s words and lowering his weapon.

It was deeper in the middle of nowhere where Daniel was crouching over the dead leaves, some snapped twigs, fallen branches, and peeled barks. Wootae was standing behind Daniel, uninterested in what the Englishman had come across. As the younger scanned the time of day, he noticed the sun was still high up. “Wootae.” Daniel called, pulling the teen’s attention onto him. “Look here.” The foreigner said as he held up a cross section of a tree’s trunk. There, Daniel stood and showed the rings to Wootae. “Do you see these annual rings?" Without waiting for a reply the man continued, "Many people believe you can read the tree’s age based off of these rings, but that’s incorrect. Do you know what it is?” Daniel followed the eyes of Wootae and could see how the teenager's eyes followed the piece to him.

It appears Daniel has found a subject Wootae doesn’t know about.

Thus the lad happily smiled and explain it, “You see, by looking at these rings, you can tell the drought versus the rain season. A tree’s trunk growth depended on water, but the droughts will delayed its growth. Professionals look at these seasonal patterns and compare it to a larger scale and timeline. That’s when you can decide what year did the tree really grew and lived through. So rather than its age, they guess which era the tree lived in.”

“And who has this timeline?” Was Wootae's question. It has been a while since Wootae had personally asked Daniel a question and thankfully Daniel knew the answer.

“Foreigners.”

It was no surprise how unlimited the twenty-seven-year-old Daniel’s knowledge of nature was, after all the fellow was from a family of cultural anthropologists. However, in Daniel’s case, he had fallen in love with the Korean culture and wished not to return. Thus, led to his kidnapping and saved by the assassins race some time later. It was then that Daniel had the opportunity of meeting the child, Wootae.

Sweat trickled down Chuho’s temple under the humid sky. The lad had failed to get a mile ahead of his attackers, but had succeeded in leading them into a woodland. Woodlands would provide more hide-outs and definitely more slippery slopes that would slow down his much older chasers. Chuo managed to hide in between a bushy area with slanted trees that has grown leaning. As he catches his breath he could hear the noisy small party approaching.

“Hurry!”

“Don’t let him out of your sight!”

“Faster morons!”

“Damn it this stupid brat!”

Chuho heaved a sigh when he could hear them tumbling down the empty path left for them. “That was too close, why are those bastards getting faster and faster?” Chuho asked and shut his eyes as he leaned his head backward against the trunk. “Or,” he said with heavy pants, “could it be that I’m getting slower?”

With no one around to answer his silly thoughts spoken aloud, Chuho rested for a moment. Then the reasonance of movement triggered his attention—the sound of dried leaves rustling around was coming from a direction just before him. It was then that Chuho noticed a pale hand, reaching out from behind a tree. His eyes grew twice its size as he kicked the leaves and tried to shrink his body against the tree. The male couldn’t utter a sound as the hand continued to feel the ground.

“H-help….”

Chuho heard the whisper but couldn’t bring himself to face what’s behind the tree. It was when Chuho noticed that the hand stopped moving and dropped in its place. The youth then circled around cautiously to see the owner of the hand. A white boy with visible bruises laid on his stomach, covered in dead leaves. “O-oh, h-hey.” Chuho called to the boy, “W-what is this?” He asked himself before looking around, making sure his attackers haven’t backtracked and that luckily a bypasser could help him out with the unconscious stranger.

Back at the palace and specifically in the Crown Prince’s room, Changwoo was trying to ease the boy's tension, “For today let’s celebrate, you’re a year older today.”

“So is someone else,” Junseung comment, putting a stern expression on Changwoo’s face.

“Junseung, the King is doing this because you’re his son. Even I know his majesty’s heart. Don’t be stubborn and just enjoy today.”

Junseung heaved a heavy sigh. Changwoo was right. “Fine, but only if you give me a present.” There Junseung held out his clean palm.

A smile came aboard Changwoo’s face, thinking the Crown Prince was pulling one of his rare jokes, “A present? Don’t you already have everything?”

With a disappointed expression Junseung lowered his hand, “What kind of a friend are you? You want me to listen to you but you can’t even give me a present?”

Changwoo kept his smile, “Then, what do you want? Tell me and I’ll get it for you.” Junseung didn't kill any time to answer.

“Your sister,” he answered with a toothy smile, Changwoo blinked at the answer.

“My sister?” Changwoo’s repeated the words at a much slower pace than the prince.

“Yeah,” Junseung answered before readjusting himself, “I heard that my good friend you, Oh Changwoo, has a little sister. However, she has never visited the palace before because she’s just a girl. Right?”

Changwoo nodded, there were no lies in the Crown Prince’s words afterall, “Yes, but what about her that interests you?”

Junseung shook his head in disbelief, “She’s my friend’s sister so why can’t I be interested? Who knows, maybe one day she’ll become my queen—”

“You’re not allowed to promote just any wives as your queen. She has to be a princess Junseung.” Changwoo said, the smile leaving his face.

“You think I don’t know? That’s why, if I marry her and become king then I’ll just change the rules about that—”

“Please don’t speak of my sister that way.” Changwoo said, breaking even the Crown Prince’s playful tone, “Eunmi is my only sister and I want her to marry whoever she wishes to.”

Junseung blinked at the realization. Awkwardly he cleared his throat before proceeding, “Ah….Sorry, I didn’t mean to get ahead of myself….Sorry, Changwoo….”

Changwoo breathed in easily, “It’s nothing. I’m just a little protective of her, that’s all.” The room fell into silence when the atmosphere became cumbersome. Six years ago, Changwoo wouldn’t have cared whether any men came to Eunmi or not, but after the incident and because of Eunmi’s too cheerful personality, Changwoo became very chivalrous.

The small party shifted gears and location, and was getting the Crown Prince ready to greet his guests. Many maids were working around Changwoo and Junseung. Behind a curtain, two lasses were putting on Junseung’s dark red attire for him, Changwoo was sitting outside of the dressing room and examining the knife in hand. Apparently Changwoo wasn’t allowed to carry a mature sword yet and so he carry a knife to pass time with. “Changwoo, once the party is over, should we go for a round of swordplay?”

Changwoo detached his eyes from the knife. “Sure, should I ask father to bring your sword from the house?”

“No, I’ll use yours.”

“What?” Changwoo was confused by the prince’s words. “Then which sword will I use?”

“You can use my father’s.” Junseung said, referring to the King’s, causing Changwoo’s eyes to widen.

“Junseung, you mustn’t joke around—”

“I mean it.” Junseung said as he removed the curtain that hid him away from Changwoo’s sight. Once their eyes locked, Junseung added, “I will ask him during the celebration.”

Junseung had led Changwoo and Chun to the outdoors, trying to create some good memories before hitting the significant event of the day. Chun and four maids stood under the shade meanwhile Junseung stood closer to the view before them. The Queen’s garden was still as beautiful yet empty as always. “Changwoo.” Junseung began, which made Changwoo approach him from behind, with careful steps in order not to disturb the Crown Prince’s words. “If one day I get a Princess, I would want to show her this garden. I want to show her how beautiful, peaceful, and everlasting it is. Just like the people I’ll have to look after, I’d want to look after this garden and the princess too. When that day comes for me to be responsible for everyone, I hope you’d have become one of my men as well.”

Changwoo smiled briefly, “The King’s people will become your people one day. When that day comes, I’ll be by your side to secure the safety of the people.”

Junseung couldn’t help but smiled along. “Let’s hope that day comes quickly.”

Once the crew left the garden side, a head poked out from behind a bush. When the group was confirmed to be gone, a young lad stood up. He was handsome to the eyes and tall, just like his father, King Minho.

“Your highness, Youngtae!” A voice called from the side. Earning all of the lad’s attention. “It’s here!” A pretty maid called. A wide smile spread across the man’s face as he kept his hands clapped behind him.

“Coming!” He hollered back to the maid who waited with a warm eye-smile.

End of Chapter Fourteen.