“What did you say?!” King Jaehyun asked with surprised tone. Yeah, he couldn’t believe what his minister just said. “Bring them in!” He commanded

Moment later, two men entered the room and bowed politely to the King

“Is that true?” King Jaehyun asked the messengers from Daejun impatiently

“True, Your Majesty. King Jiyong stated that he postponed the invasion” one of the messenger said, and all the eyes were on him now. “His Majesty King Jiyong would like come to discuss his offers tomorrow” He continued

King Jaehyun looked at the young man in disbelief. King Jiyong would come to discuss his offers and delayed the invasion? That was something new. Absolutely new for it was never happened before.

“What kind of offers?” King Jaehyun asked again

“The King didn’t say anything, Your Majesty” the messenger answered

King Jaehyun looked at his advisor. The old man beside him gave the king a nod as his agreement

“Fine. Tell your king, we will be waiting for him” King Jaehyun stated. The two messengers nodded. Then they bowed and left the room

“This is weird….” King Jaehyun mumbled. He fell into his deep thought, wondered what the young mighty King’s real purpose

Princess Chaerin sneaked into her room. She has a ‘secret door’ in her room. a secret alley she found when she was little girl which connected her room to the hole near the royal garden. She usually use that alley to sneaked out from the guard and explored the village outside Bonhwa’s castle

She headed to the bathroom and stripped her black ninja clothes one by one

“Ouch…” Chaerin shrieked in pain when her clothes scratched the new wound in her arms. She sighed when she saw the big purple bruise on she just got

“This must be when he tripped me down….” She picked a small towel and wetted it, then carefully rubbed the wet towel to her bruise, tried to ease the pain. While she rubbed her bruise, her memory automatically recalled their encounter before, when she sneaked into the Daejun’s King’s tent

The crown princess remembered the sharp glare from a pair of his cold eyes, the cocky smirk from his plump lips, and the excellent movements from his lean body

Chaerin finished her bath and sighed again. “That bastard is really skilled”. Yeah, she hated to admit it. But that was a fact… The young King who was about to take her Kingdom was a really skilled combatant. A great warrior…

“He’ll be hard rival in the battle tomorrow” Chaerin said to herself while put her clothes on

“Chaerin…”

The princess surprised when she heard his father’s voice in her room

“Omo!!! What’s Appa doing here?!!” Chaerin said panicky and exited the bathroom in a rush. She jumped into her bed hurriedly and covered her whole body with the blanket. Seconds later, the King entered her room with Haena the maid.

“Chaerin-ah…, are you sleeping already?” King Jaehyun walked closer to Chaerin’s bed. Chaerin, she closed her eyes tightly, pretended to be sleep

“Seem’s like she’s already sleeping” King Jaehyun said to Haena

“I think so, Your Majesty. Princess Chaerin already stayed in her room since she came back from your room” Haena informed. “Maybe because she needs to go early in the morning tomorrow…” Haena added with slightly sad tone

King Jaehyun remembered what he told to Chaerin before. “Nah. She won’t go anywhere”

“Pardon me, your majesty?” Haena asked confusedly

“Actually, I’m here to tell her that the situation has changed”

Haena looked at the King with her confused look

“They’re delaying their invasion. King Jiyong will come tomorrow and make some offers” King Jaehyun told the maid who had served him since 30 years ago

“Tell Chaerin when she’s awake” The King stated and left the room.

“Y-yes, your majesty…” Haena bowed and escorted the King exited the room

Under her blanket, the crown princess’s eyes were widened

“What?” she muttered and sat up abruptly. “What he’s actually planning?” Chaerin, somehow sensed that something worse was coming

“You have to sleep, your majesty. It’s late already” Seunghyun reminded the King who was sitting near the river

“I’m still enjoying the breeze and the clear night sky” King Jiyong answered. His eyes were still glued on the necklace in his hand.

Seunghyun knew Jiyong so well. He knew Jiyong loved to be alone sometimes, just sitting and watching the night sky. The king loved to see the sky. That’s why Seunghyun decided to leave

“Then, I’ll go first, your majesty” Seunghyun said, about to left. But Jiyong suddenly called him

“Seunghyun”

Seunghyun turned around. “Yes, your majesty?”

“What do you know about Bonhwa’s royal family?” King Jiyong asked out of the blue. Seunghyun frowned, a bit confused about the sudden question

“Bonhwa’s royal family?”

“Yeah. Like… the next heir?” King Jiyong asked more specifically. Seemed like he had something in his mind

“I’ve heard that King Jaehyun has no son. His heir in a crown princess and I heard that she’s skilled in martial arts” Seunghyun explained. He didn’t realize that his King had something in his head

“Skilled in martial arts?” King Jiyong tried to hide his surprised tone. His mind was now focused on the attacker

“Yes, Your Majesty. As the heir to the throne,I heard King Jaehyun raised his crown princess a little bit different from the usual princess.” Seunghyun cringed, feeling weird with his words choice

But Jiyong seemed like didn’t care about the way Seunghyun explained to him. He got the point already…

“Get your feet off of my land or I’ll kill you”

That attacker’s words flashed in his mind again as his brain connected every clue

‘She said my land…. Now I’m sure who she is’

King Jiyong thought. He smirked mysteriously

“Is there any problem with that, Your Majesty?” Seunghyun asked, sensing something strange on the King’s smirk

“Nah” Jiyong stood up. “Let’s rest. We have very important things to do tomorrow” He said and left Seunghyun to his tent, still with the smirk in his lips

“He’s planning something…. I know, there must be something behind the delayed invasion. But what is that?” Seunghyun mumbled. But then he decided to let it go and went to his tent

“What is his real intention?” Queen Maya asked her husband worriedly

“I don’t know, My Queen… let’s just see” King Jaehyun answered. They both looked straight into the Hall’s entrance, where the delegations from Daejun were already walking in

Seunghyun stepped forward and bowed, gave his salutation to the King and Queen. Then the King gestured them to sit

“I’m Choi Seunghyun, highest commander of Daejun’s army” Seunghyun introduced himself. “As what we informed last night, our king, The great King Jiyong would like to make an offer for the King of Bonhwa”

They went straight to