Chapter Fourteen

Alone

Yeonhwa flinched as her carriage entered the gates of the palace. There were bodies everywhere - EVERYWHERE. She gagged at the sickening smell of blood in the air and was sure she would burst into tears - if not for Joonmyeon soothing rubbing circles on her back. Her heart seemed to beat faster as the carriage came to a stop. When Joonmyeon helped her down, her knees almost gave up. She could not turn back to look at the destruction and obliteration that had been done, and she prayed to God that Yifan was not part of the pile of bodies stacked in the perimeter of the palace. The moment she entered the palace, all her guards were seized so only Joonmyeon and herself was able to walk into the room where the throne was. Joonmyeon was bounded by the guards and they were, however, accompanied by several, disrespectful guards, who were undoubtedly Huang Zitao’s men.

The first thing she noticed when she entered the room was Huang Zitao, sitting with a smug smile on the throne. She wanted to kick him off of it, but she knew that would probably do more harm than good. And then she saw a sight that broke her into a million tiny pieces.

There he was, a man who was once so strong and powerful, all tied up and beaten to the point where he was almost unrecognizable if not for his piercing eyes, still fighting to survive. His arms were tied up above his head and his long hair was chopped off to uneven bits. His upper lip was torn and there was a trail of dried blood down the left side of his face, although Yeonhwa could not tell where it originated. His clothes that were once made of the finest silk in China were now down to dirty and torn rags. This man, the Emperor of China, her husband, her Yifan, was now down on his knees under the non-existent mercy of this devil called Huang Zitao.

“Ah, Your Highness, how lovely it is for us to join us.” sang Tao, who descended the throne in an obnoxious manner.

“What have you done? Let him go!” Yeonhwa hissed between sobs.

“Oh? You mean him?” he pointed to Yifan,

“We had to punish him because he was a bit too stubborn.” Tao chuckled.

“HAN YEONHWA, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Yifan’s voice suddenly roared through the room like thunder.

“My oh my, would you look at that? Looks like your man still got a lot of spirit in him.” Tao smirked.

His expression, however, immediately changed into a cold, ruthless one as he spoke his next words.

“Hit him.”

Yeonhwa screamed in protest as she watched the guards hit Yifan hard with a whip. She saw how his skin tore and how blood seeped through it. He was repeatedly hit on the same spot and Yeonhwa could not bear to listen to his screams of pain and anguish. She immediately kneeled in front of Tao.

“Please,” she begged.

“Stop hurting him, I’ll do anything…”

Zitao’s eyes widened before his mouth curved into a smirk. He circled around Yeonhwa like a hungry vultu