"Yah! Bring my money back you fools! Yah!" Soohyun hiked up her skirt higher and ran after the four thieves who took her bagful of coins. She was already nearing them but as she was crossing another clearing, it was too late for her to notice a young farmer who seemed like carrying some goods to sell at the market. She tried to stop, trying to avoid the man but then she tripped and fell down to the ground.

"Agashi, are you alright?" The man settled his baskets to the side and pulled her up. "Agashi?"

"My money! My money!" Soohyun stood up again.

"What?"

"Those four men! They stole my money!" Soohyun started to run away once more while the man could just follow her with his gaze.

"Aisht... Poor lady... She's quite familiar though. Wait... Isn't that... Isn't that Lee Chanhyuk's sister?" The young man was still deliberating whether to follow the girl or not but before he could even make a move, he heard someone calling him from behind.

"Song Mino sunbaenim?"

The man turned around to where the voice was coming from and quickly recognized the man.

"Choi Taehyun-ssi? What are you doing here?" He asked and immediately straightened up when he saw a general standing behind the young man.

"He's General Lee Harang, from the Northern army. The queen treats him as family. General, this is Song Mino, a member of Sungkyunkwan's student council.

"Oh... Good afternoon, General."

Harang just retorted with a nod. His eyes roamed the area, considering the possibility of the crown prince passing by the place.

"What are you doing here?" Taehyun asked his senior, not wanting to be asked the other way around.

"Ah, I was about to sell these to the restaurant over there but I chanced upon a woman who was running after some thieves."

"Really?"

"Yes. Can I ask you a favor?  Can I leave these to you for a moment?"

"Ah that... But actually... We were also in a hurry—"

"Please take good care of these crops. I need to follow the girl. I think that was Lee Chanhyuk's sister."

"W-what?" Taehyun was mortified. That girl? Caught in another trouble?

AGAIN???

"Yes. I need to at least stop her. She was chasing four thieves. That's dangerous!" And with that, Mino quickly ran towards the direction Soohyun took, leaving Taehyun slack jawed.

"Taehyun, let's go. We have no time to take care of these," Harang said but Taehyun was still in surprise learning that it was, again, Lee Soohyun who was caught in another trouble.

"That girl is really something," Taehyun shook his head. "What a walking disaster,"

"Choi Taehyun-ssi!"

"Yes, General, sorry," Taehyun fixed himself and faced Harang. "Let's go,"

"The crown prince!"

"Yes, let us find the crown prince."

"No! I mean the crown prince! Right there!"

"Omo! Where is he going?"

*************

"Jungjeong Mama... The King is here to see you,"

Dara immediately stood up on her feet and fixed herself, somehow trying to find her composure upon hearing the servant's announcement. She uttered a hushed 'Come in' and it didn't take long for the king to show up himself in front of him.

"Jeonha..." she bowed, not just trying to pay respect but also to try to  hide her worried look. It has been hours but the crown prince has not returned yet, not even Harang nor Taehyun with any message, and she knew that the king will be enraged once it reaches his knowledge.

"What took you so long? You did not come back to my room." The king stopped right in front of her and held either of her arms.

"Huh? Ah... That was because I have not visited prince Jinwoo yet. I was planning to prepare something with Lady Gong for him but I could not decide."

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

"What a relief. I was worried I offended you because of our talk about Jung Il Woo..."

"No... No... That's not it. Don't think too much about it."

"My queen..." Jiyong squinted his eyes at her as he carefully studied her face. He tilted her chin up so their eyes met but the queen was quick to look away.

"You are not telling me something. What is it?"

"W-w-hat are you talking about, jeonha?" Dara tried to pull away but Jiyong was holding her impossibly tight.

"I know you all your life, and for you to look this bothered—"

"I'm fine. Please do not worry much about me."

"Sandara...."

Dara heaved a sigh of defeat for she knew that the king would seriously not let her go just like that. If he calls her by her name, then he was using his power as the king over her.

"How do I even start? I just don't want you to worry over things."

"To the point of keeping it all to yourself? I thought we already both agreed that we are going to be honest to each other all the time?"

"I know... Just promise me, you will not be mad."

The king narrowed his eyes on the queen, wondering how bad of a secret it was for it to possibly make him mad, but he has to make a promise.

Fine, he was not sure he would not get mad but they both know the fact  that he could not stay really mad at her for too long.

"Very well, then. Tell me what has been bothering you."

The queen took a deep breath as if taking in the strength she needed to tell it to the king but the moment she opened her lips to speak, the Chief Eunuch spoke from outside the chamber.

"Jeonha, Jung-jeong Mama... Forgive me for my sudden intervention but this is such an important announcement."

Jiyong snapped at the door right where his eunuch's shadow could be seen. "What was it that could not wait???" His voice was empathic that it also startled the queen.

"Jeonha, please, this is urgent. I'm begging you to come with me,"

"Maybe you should go..." Dara backed away and forced an assuring smile. "We can talk later,"

"But... Sandara..." Jiyong felt helpless and torn between hearing what the eunuch has to say and waiting for Dara to talk.

"Fine. I'll be back soon." He decided with a sigh. Dara nodded in understanding and gave him a light peck on his cheek before backing away.

"I'll see you later then,"

*******************

"We have to find the person who did this." Seunghyun clapped the dirt off his hands and stood up from the floor. "There were small light footprints on the ground. The culprit was a small man."

"Could be a woman," Sanghyun answered. "Who would do such a lousy attempt to enter the Royal Library like this?"

"Do not belittle a woman's ability, my friend." Seungri tapped Sanghyun's shoulder. "Remember, your noona took the hard path to be the country's queen."

"Moreover, the person is quite skilled for him... Or her... to have been able to sneak into the hallway without the guards noticing." Seunghyun said. Seungri was about to say something more when they suddenly heard an enraged voice behind them.

"He's here," Sanghyun fixed his hat and headed out of the Library.

"The royal guards will all be dead if we don't stop him immediately!" Seungri ran after Sanghyun followed by Seunghyun and they have all been right all along.

The king's temper should not be tested at times like this. They know Jiyong. And right now it will really be hard to deal with him.

"HOW COULD AN INTRUDER GET INTO MY LIBRARY WITHOUT ANY OF YOU NOTICING IT???"

The guards were all hanging their heads low in shame and fear before their king. No one has expected it to come for everyone was busily paying attention to the last day of the deceased seer's wake.

"Minister Choi, have you inspected the place? Have you checked out if there were any books missing?"

"Yes and fortunately, everything was still intact. I think the intruder realized that what he has been looking for couldn't be found here,"

"The Seondaewang's Code!" Seungri raises his hand as he chirped in but immediately lowered his voice after seeing the king and the two Ministers glaring at him.

"I mean... What if the intruder was searching for it? What if he was aiming for it? Remember... Master Wu had warned you about it, Jeonha,"

Jiyong looked away, carefully digesting Seungri's words and though he was afraid to admit it, the Minister was making sense.

"I'm afraid what Seungri said was true, Jeonha. We have to be more careful," Seunghyun seconded Seungri's opinion and it made the king worry more.

"It's happening. And we cannot deny Master Wu's declaration." Jiyong answered before turning to Seungri.

"Replace Lee Harang's post in the Northern Command. I need him by my side."

"Yeh Jeonha!"

"And the three of you... Make sure to further investigate on the matter and bring the culprit to me,"

“Yeh, Jeonha!”

Jiyong looked at his guards and suddenly noticed someone missing. “Where is Chief Security Officer Hong? Where is your commander?”

The guards could just look at each other in confusion. When did they last see him?

“He was with the crown prince, Jeonha!” One officer answered. “He went to see the Crown Prince,”

“The crown prince?”

*********

"Come back here you coward!"

A shoe flew from nowhere and just in time as one of the thieves looked back at the girl who was chasing them, the footwear hit his face making him trip over the rough road.

"Gotcha!" Soohyun's lips curved up to a smirk and she crouched down to grab another pebble or stone to throw at the culprits but when she looked up, the other three were starting to run back to pull their member up.

"Uh- oh," Soohyun stood up and stepped back when she saw two men advancing to her. She prepared herself for she knew the men were already enraged.

"Give me my money back... And I promise you won't get hurt," she said, flexing her neck and cracking her knuckles in a very unwomanly way. The men scoffed.

"Look at what we have here," the man holding her bag of coins advanced forward and smirked at her. "Seems like it's going to be more fun now,"

"Aisht," Soohyun rolled up her sleeves and pulled up her skirt as she prepared herself to fight. "You don't know what you are getting yourself into, ahjussis."

"Really now?" The first man asked but not too long he started to sprint his way towards her. Soohyun ducked down and was about to grab some dust from the ground, ready to haul it over to the bandits but then someone arrived and spoke behind her.

"Leave her alone!"

The men were all startled for a while when a young man suddenly appeared. He was holding a bamboo stick, the one he used to carry the sacks of goods from their farm to the downtown market. He then ducked down but his eyes never left the men.

"Lee Soohyun-shi? The younger sister of Lee Chanhyuk?"

"H-h-ow did you know me, s-s-ir?" Soohyun turned to him and her eyes widened when she recognized the man. "Earlier at the marketplace... It was you!"

"Aisht. What has been your brother doing? Is he studying again? How could he leave his sister roaming around without a servant?" Mino ticked his tongue but immediately grabbed the only weapon he has tighter as the men went nearer to them.

"On the count of three, run."

"But my money!" Soohyun hissed back.

"Meet me at the square. I'll hand it back to you,"

Soohyun eyed Mino from head to toe with distrust. She put all her effort to save that money and she could not just entrust it to a stranger. She smiled at Mino.

"Kind Sir... Don't you b