Hae Soo

She had truly missed these fun time with the 10th Prince. Just as she was leaving with Chae-ryung to the doctor to obtain medicine for Unni, 10th prince had came over for a visit and decided to accompany her. Just walking down the market was so much fun with her childish friend. It also had the side-effect of preventing her of thinking too much about what the 4th prince was doing, and how the visit with the Hae clan was doing. Whether he was taking care of his health or not? But he was not a child, even though she worried, she trusted him to take care of himself enough to not to overdo it so soon after his recovery.

"Soo-ya," turning towards the 10th prince who had many games in his hand, she smiles. Just seeing him smiling, she had truly missed her friend. Smiling in return, she asked Eunnie-nim if he was going to buy all of those things. As the prince look down at his hand and now seemed to be deciding what to buy, she could hear the voice of Chae-ryung thanking the herbalist for the medicine.

It was still hard for her to face Chae-ryung because she had conflicted feelings. Her gentle side reminded her that the reason she did these things was because she loved someone. On the other hand, Chae-ryung was behind so many conspiracies that harmed both her and the 4th prince and those that they loved. One thing that Soo knew was that she did not want her to die or to be killed, but she could never trust her again. Especially now when her and the prince had to be careful so no one can suspect they had some hidden knowledge. Secrets lead to death. It was that simple in this time.

"What are you doing, let me go. Don't you know who I am?" Turning her head to where the shouting came from Soo saw the 14th prince being forcefully dragged away by the commoners. The gang of the one handed-man. She didn't even think, she told both Chae-ryung and 10th prince, who she knew could not fight, to get help and start to follow after the gang of thugs. Ignoring the voices in her head that were scolding her for putting herself in danger or how anger Prince So will be when he finds out.

Two running individuals

Chae ryung and the 10th prince both started to run back to the 8th prince's house as fast as they could, but halfway through they split. Chae-ryung running straight to the main residence knowing that the 8th prince will help her lady. The 10th prince on the other hand, remembered that there was someone that will want to know about the danger that Soo will be in more than his 8th brother. So-Hyungnim.

He knew that they would be arriving back in Songak this afternoon, and he also knew which route they will be taking, having asked Ji Mong beforehand. He had planned to take Soo there later and meet up with his 4th brother and Baek Ah. So the 10th prince turned and start running to the opposite direction from the 8th prince's residence towards the other end of town. Running as quickly as he can. Luckily for the 10th prince, just after he had ran out of the marketplace, he saw two horses with two familiar riders.

"Hyungmin, So-Hyungnim," Eun ran up to them as fast as he could, screaming loudly to catch their attention.

"Eun-ah, why were you running?"

"Is something the matter, Eunnie-Hyungnim? Did something happen to you?"

"Not…" taking a deep breath so he could speak again, he look up to his brothers who were looking confused, "it's not me. Hyungnim, it's Soo. Soo ran after them, I tried to stop it but…"

"What….who did Soo ran after? Never mind, Eun-ah get on my horse, tell me what happened as you show me where she went." Taking the offered hand, the 10th prince climbed onto his Hyungnim's horse.

"She ran out of the market towards the woods. After Jung-ah. He was being dragged by the thugs. I think they may be someone there to help them already but.." The 10th prince felt his 4th brother suddenly tense up, then he sped up his horse and went straight through the market, the people on the ground jumping out of the way so quickly to get out of the path of the 4th prince.

Hae Soo

She was once again back in the same situation. Holding onto the 14th prince while watching the 8th prince fight the thugs. Then just when they had thought they were safe, more thugs appeared and they were greatly outnumbered. And 8th Prince was tired, 14th prince was injured, and herself had been pushed hard to the ground, and this time she had scraped her knees and blood was slowly running down her legs hidden underneath her skirt so she will not be much help. And the chance of 4th prince arriving to save them was deadly low. As Soo knew he was still not back in Songak after going to visit the Hae clan. It looks like this time, the three of them had to make it out of this mess themselves. She felt the 14th prince leave her side and join the 8th prince in the fight against the thugs. Princes with no proper weapon against thugs who seemed to have multiplied in number that had sticks, knives and swords.

"Ah…." Soo screamed as she felt herself being grabbed from behind and now there was a blade against . The fighting princes have stopped their movements after her scream and were quickly taken down. "What are you doing? Don't you know that you will be killed if you hurt the princes? Think of your family, do you want them to die?" She frantically tried to convince them to let her go but all her movement did was led to her being held even tighter with a large hand blocking .

"She is an innocent just let her go, if you have any grievance against us, let me take you to the King, you can talk directly to him." Now Prince Wook was trying to plead with them, no she refused to be in his debt once again. Not when she did not truly know if the 8th prince in front of her did not have a chance of desiring the throne. The act of him saving her will come back to haunt her. That was what she learnt through watching those videos. She had to think calmly.

Even if was covered, she still had her hands and legs. If she kick her captor then bite him maybe she can be freed. She said she will be strong, now this was a chance. Concentrating on making it hard as possible, she kicked the shin of her captor, and at the same time, she reach up to take a hold of his arm, and bite him as hard as she could. The moment she was free, she starts to run. Back to safety, out of the woods, but she forget that she was injured, and that her knees were bleeding and her sides also were sore so she felt herself fall forward and now she had to break her fall using her hands, also bruising them in the process. She could not hear the yelling around her nor the sound of fighting all she cared about was surviving. She was finally going to get married soon to her prince, no way was she going to die because of some small time thugs.

"You wench, die.." and as she turned she could see a sword heading her way. And the screams of the 8th prince shouting her name, 14th prince telling her to run reach her ears. But all she could do was stare at the upcoming sword, frozen. Then she blink, and she saw a different sight. In front of her, she could see a vision of her wolf prince in front of her, who had blocked the sword strike of the thug with his own sword by connecting the owm.

When she blinked, she realized it was not a dream. Prince Wang So, her lover was really in front of her. Attacking all the thugs with his sword, not slashing them but using the sword as a tool to get all the thugs to fall unconscious. There also was 10th and 13th prince crouching down beside her trying to get her to come to her senses. But all she could see was the vision of her lover fighting to save her. But eventually, the shaking of her body annoyed her so much, that she turned to the person who was shaking her with an annoyed expression. What was wrong with giving her a moment to admire her future husband? When he looked so dashing like a romantic hero from fairytales? But of course, Eunnie-nim did not understand that and was just worried about her.

"Soo-ya, are you alright?" Now it was the 8th and 14th prince who were coming towards her. Though both of them looked exhausted, it did not look like they were bleeding. Giving them a silent smile and a nod, she turned her head back to where the 4th prince was. He seemed to be talking to the one-armed man with his sword by his side and whatever he said had that man and his crew of thugs caused them to run away from the scene. Then finally she could see the 4th prince's face, and he did not look happy. Oh no, Soo knew that he was angry.

"Injuries ?" Yep, that cold voice was the voice of a furious King Gwangjong, not the 4th prince. When Soo along with all the princes just shook their head, the 4th prince put away his sword, before he starts to talk again. "Wook-ah, Baek Ah, go back home, Wookie's wife will be worried. Eun-ah, take Jung with you to the palace to my compound, I will meet you there. Lady Soo, come with me, I will take you back." Soo could see that the Jungie-nim was going to protest to what his brother was saying, but then So-nim glared at his younger brother. "Jung-ah, if you do not do as I say, I will take you straight to the King and you can explain to him why you were attacked today." Well, a threat of telling a parent will always work no matter what time period. So Jung-nim reluctantly went with the Eun-nim and climbed up on a horse with his brother. The 8th prince was constantly shooting her glances, but did not protest when Baek Ah-nim went with him and got on the same horse as him. Now, the 4th Prince crunched down to the ground and helped her up by supporting her shoulders. She shot him nervous glances as her fiance helped her walk but he was just looking straight ahead. Yep, now she was in trouble. She was not looking forward to what will happen when her prince learn that she had hurt herself on her back as well as her legs.

Wang So

It was only due to his inner strength that he did not start to yell at Soo for putting herself in a harm's way. Not to mention how he was going to handle his youngest brother when he went back to the palace. But he had learned that there was no way for him to ever stop caring for Jung no matter what. Now all he could do was to try to build an actual relationship with his young brother. But first, he had to let Soo know just how much she had worried him. Looking ahead at where the other set of riders that were heading towards the Hwangbo residence, there was now enough distance between them that their conversation would not be overheard. Taking a breath, he opened his mouth to speak, but Soo beat him to it.

"Hwangjanim. I know that you are angry. I should have thought about another way. But you know me, I run straight into trouble without realizing it. Besides it was Jungie-nim. He's my friend and I didn't want him to get hurt. Please let go of your anger. Huh, hun." Now Soo was pouting at him, knowing that he could not stay angry at her for long. He let out a sigh and smiled back at her.

"Don't ever do that again, I will not forgive you for putting yourself into danger again. If your body ok? No injuries right?" When Soo avert her eyes from his, he knew that she was hurt, but she will not tell him. "Where? Don't even try to hide." Once again with the pouting lips, Soo pointed her finger at her back and her knees then her hands. Grabbing her hands, he saw a few scrapes but no broken skin. Gently running his hands over her waist as well as her knees, he could not feel a cut, just bruises.

If he had known she had been injured, he would have done more than scare the thugs off but he did not want to kill in front of her either so in a way, it was a good thing. He will have Ji Mong send the royal doctor for her to make sure that she was alright. Looking ahead he could see a large group of people running across the bridge to reach the side of the 8th Prince. Stopping the horse, before the bridge, he tied the reins to a nearby tree before helping Soo off the horse. Wrapping his arms around her as a support, Wang So escorts his lover towards where her cousin was waiting. Well only with them, would a day of celebration turn into a rescue mission of save her from trouble.

At 4th Prince's Private Compound

The servants were really surprised, when the 10th prince came to the residence escorting an injured 14th prince with him. But they didn't ask questions and quickly helped the 14th prince undress and apply ointment onto his wounds. They were glad that the 4th prince's residence had an assistant of the royal doctor always present. As the prince had just gotten over a really bad case of illness with no side-effects shown yet, it was one of the things that the Astronomer Choi insisted that the 4th Prince allowed. So what if the assistant was treating the 14th prince instead of the 4th, all of the household members were happy at their place of work and the 14th prince was the younger brother of their master. Afterwards, the servants set the two princes up in the receiving room with tea service and left them alone.

"Why should I be here? I am leaving."

"Jung-ah, sit. You don't want Hyungnim to be angry."

"Why? I thought he didn't want me around. He sent me away so why should I care about him?"

"Jung-ah, you left without even protesting that you hated him. Do you really hate him? Why? He is your older brother. And he is not that scary, he saved all of us don't that mean something to you?"

"I'm thankful that he saved us but why should I not hate him? He makes Eomoni and Yo-Hyungnim act different, I don't like it."

"But Jung-ah.."

"It's ok, Eun-ah. I know how he feels."

"Hyungnim, you are back. How's Soo, is she ok?"

"Yes, Soo is fine. Baek-Ah stayed at their house to explain to Lady Hae what happened. Now, Eun-ah, thank you for staying with Jung-ah but can I talk to him alone?"

"Hyungnim, you can't be angry, Jung doesn't mean it, he is just confused. Don't fight….otherwise….otherwise I will tell Soo that you were fighting with your brother."

"Warning received. Eun-ah, hurry home, your mother will be worried about you." Then with a glance between the two blood brothers, the 10th prince slowly left the room. As soon as the door closed behind them, the 4th Prince went to the side of the room and take out a bottle of alcohol and cups from inside a cupboard then went back and sat in front of the 14th prince. Placing two cups and the bottle of alcohol on the table between them, he began to pour the alcohol as he starts to speak.

"Your body?"

"It is fine. Thank you for your help, now I would like to leave."

"I saved your life today. In exchange, accompany me for one drink session together. Then you can leave and never talk to me again if you wish." Seeing that the 4th prince was serious, 14th prince reluctantly sat down, and accepted the drink poured by his brother.

"You know I tried to hate you. Anytime I got to see Eomoni she was always holding you, telling you stories. And me, she won't look me straight in the eye. You, the maknae prince. But I never could. I could make it so I never thought about you or Yo-Hyungnim, and erase all of my brothers from my mind. But my heart, your heart is such a scary thing. It can never stop caring for you. Never stop seeing you as my younger brother, who I may get furious at and want to hit and will hit, but never kill. Never kill my feelings." Refilling the cups, 4th extended one more cup to the 14th.

"When I was sick, I sent you away from that room. Why? Because I knew that you were forced to be there. Just like now. You hate me, if giving a reason you will pick up your sword and kill me, but you stayed anyways. To repay a debt."

"Yes, I was forced to come to your room, but I never wished to kill you. Just in front of you I don't like who Eomoni or Yo-Hyungnim becomes, you changed everything." This time, it was the 14th who pour the drinks.

"I made a vow to not go back to Shinju ever again that day I arrived in Songak. Do you know what I went through? Crazy Concubine Kang cares about me for a day thinking I was her son than she will realize the truth so she will beat and lock away the monster in front of her. Monster? I? Aren't they the one who left me in that wolves den, and all I could do was fight so I could live."

"So Eunnie-Hyungnim saying that you killed all the officials in Shinju?"

"A lie, a rumour spread to get me to be seen as a monster. But did you know Jung-ah how much I want just for once for Eomoni to touch my face, but she never will. Because of this scar. The scar I got on the funeral night of our Tae-Hyungnim. Held as a hostage to stop the King's marriage but only one who rushed to my aid was the Crown Prince. Pheya and Eomoni did not notice that small child, who got scarred because of their fight. But I can't hate them, I hate this hideous face of mine, but the one that gave me that scar, I could never completely kill, rather I wish just once for that person to look me in the eye. Jung-ah, don't be a tool. Live your life well but pray that you will never have to fight for Eomoni's affection. Me, to her I am just her flaw, disgrace and shame. But you are not. Study books and the sword so you can survive the palace, and no one will use you as a pawn."

"I never had a proper conversation with you. All I heard was your reputation and your inhuman actions."

"It is true that I am like an animal in a way. I have a crazy temper and hold grudges for a long long time. You can say I am like a crazy wolf-dog in that aspect. Today when I fought those thugs, I had almost lost my temper. Jung-ah, am I an animal for wanting to protect someone?"

"No, that is what being a man is about."

"Huh...you are cute Jung-ah, my cute dongsaeng."

"You are not as terrible as I thought..Hyung."

The back-to-back banter continued through the night between two blood brothers who till now never had a proper conversation before. People did not know that this conversation will finally allow the spoiled prince to start thinking on his own, and actually see that his absent brother was not at fault for all the changes in his life.