Hae Soo

She hated the gods at that moment. Why can't they ever continue their blissful and peaceful time. And why was it always her prince, Wang So that was getting hurt to save her? Looking at the face of her pale husband on the bed, she reaches out with a cloth to wipe his sweat away from his brows. His pained face. Was this the face that he had when he was poisoned, because the only time she had been able to heal his wounds has been with the arrow wound on his arm. But she was here now, and he was not alone anymore. Not this time. Hae Soo ignored all the sounds around her, just concentrate on providing comfort for her prince. She knew that he will not die. He can't die because he was stronger than anyone she knew.

The royal chamber of 4th prince in the main palace

The room was filling up quickly. Soldiers from the royal army were stationed both inside and outside the room. No one was allowed to enter unless they had passed a body check. The assassination attempt on the King was a secret to the majority of the palace occupants, especially all the Queens as the mastermind for the attack at the exorcism rite has not been found yet.

The King was sitting at a chair, right beside him standing was the royal doctor checking his pulse, but Taejo's eyes were firmly on the bed. Ji Mong was standing near the King, but he was also staring intensely at the bed.

The bed where just a little less than a month ago, the same individual has been close to death's door due to sacrificing himself to save his brothers. Now, that same person had used his own body as a shield against arrows aiming at his father and his newly wedded wife. It had just been two days since their wedding, and this was the scene. The husband, Wang So once again bedridden with injuries, and his wife, Hae Soo, silently sitting on the bed, wiping his sweat.

The King was worried for his daughter-in-law. After the guards have rushed into the room, the King had noticed the silence behind him and saw that his son was on the ground unconscious on top of his wife, who was shaking him and the places he had been struck with two arrows were bleeding. The guards had quickly lifted the prince off the ground, and had carried the prince on to the royal chamber where the prince had previously stayed when he was sick. Following the guards without registering her movements had been his daughter-in-law. The moment the prince was laid upon the bed on his stomach, the King had witnessed a sight that he will never forget.

His 4th son's wife was the one that was stripping away his clothes, and as the doctor has not arrived yet. She had ripped her own skirt with her hands to get a cloth and starts to clean up the blood. The King had been clearly been able to see the tears on Hae Soo's eyes but she did not let the tears fall down, just silently cleaning the blood away on her husband's body. When finally the doctor arrived, the King had personally wondered if there were shortage of doctors in the palace, that it took so long for one to arrive after being sent for. As the same two royal doctors Song and Jin that had attended to his son through his poisoning, the King saw that his daughter-in-law did not move away from her spot. She had simply took a hold of the wet cloth on the table and had start to clean her husband's face. She still has not spoken was just staring at her husband.

Suddenly .the doors to the chamber were yanked open and rushing into the room, ignoring the guards that tried to stop them were the princes. Crown Prince Mu, Wook, Eun, Baek Ah, and Jung. The first person that the Princes encountered were Ji Mong and they fired their questions at him.

"Ji Mong, is Pyeha alright?"

"Ji Mong, Pyeha? What about Hyungnim?"

"Ji Mong, is Hyungnim alright?"

"Ji Mong, is Pyeha alright? What about So and Hyungsunim?"

"Ji Mong, Pyeha? Hyung? Noonim?"

"Ji mong, how is Soo?"

"Hwangjanim, please calm down," Ji Mong was startled with the sudden questions but he regained his composure and answered the prince. "Pyeha is alright. 4th Prince shielded both Lady Soo and Pheya from the arrows. But the 4th Prince had been struck with arrows to his shoulder and side, the doctors are attending to him. But Hwanjanim how did you hear about this?"

"They were at my residence, when Hae Soo's attendant came to inform me about the incident. Chae ryung did not want my wife to know about the incident as to not startle her. I did not inform my mother or sister yet. But if the King is alright, and so is Soo. I will go home now and relate the new to my family." The 8th Prince Wook after catching the eyes of the King, bowed to him before exiting, and the 9th prince followed him.

The moment 8th prince and 9th prince was gone, the other princes moved, bypassing Ji Mong. All of them were happy to see their father well and sitting, so they simply bowed to him, before the younger princes rush towards the bed, while the Crown Prince went to stand near the King but just like his father kept his eyes on the bed where his younger brother was once again fighting to survive. Ji Mong went out the room to get the report from the investigators, he knew that it will be some time before the doctors will be ready to update the family on the 4th prince's condition. If they want to prevent any more incidents, they had to gain information about the conspirators fast.

The silence filled the room and all the occupants in the room were either staring at the royal doctors or were touching the 4th prince's bed in some way, silently trying to lend him strength. All the princes were angry. Their older brother was back in this situation again, when he finally had a chance for happiness in his life. He had just gotten married two days ago. And his wife, their sister-in-law and dear friend, Hae Soo, they had never seen her so quiet with her devastation so clear on her face. Right now, there were worried about their brother, but it was only a matter of time before they would be demanding answers, or looking for someone to blame and they could hunt down.

An hour later

The royal doctors were finally done, and now they stood near the bed facing the silent King. The 4th prince's wife and younger brothers were all on the bed in some way, and touching the prince in some way, his wife was brushing his hair and the 13th brother was cleaning his face, while the 10th and 14th prince held onto one of their brother's hands tightly.

"Pyeha, the 4th prince as you already know had not completely recovered from his previous poisoning in terms of physical strength, thus he had not been fast enough to dodge the arrows more efficiently, but the amount he had dodged them were enough to save his life, as otherwise it will would have been at instant death, especially with the poison that had been coated to the arrow head. We have cleaned the wound, took the arrow out and have treated with herbs and gave him an antidote for the poison. The 4th prince will be fine as long as his body can continue so it can focus on fighting the poison." Everyone let out a sigh of relief, the 4th prince will survive he will just need to rest, and they were all here to make sure that he kept resting so he could continue fighting. After the doctors exits the room, Ji Mong now makes his report.

"The shooters were situated on the roof of the palace walls near Damiwon, and there were traces of them on the roof of Damiwon. I suspect that there is a hidden entrance into Damiwon that is being used to get in, so we are searching for that right now. We know for sure that there were four men, three of them were the shooters, and one must be the one that found which room all the targets were in. What we cannot find out is why they target Lady Soo? She is a newly wedded member of the royal family. But we are looking for anyone that have a grudge against both the Hong Ha Jin Hae clan and the King. There were also reports by one of the nearby maids that right before the shooting, they heard a sound, that must be what the 4th prince heard and look around and found the assassins through the window."

"The main bath." that was Lady Soo who had not spoken till now finally spoke. Everyone in the room turns towards her, where she was still silently brushing her husband's hair. "There is a cave that connects the main bath at Damiwon and the public bathing area. It is easy to find from both ends, you just need to find a hole. I was in that place before when Chae Ryung showed me."

"I will have the guards investigate the gate. In the meantime, Lady Soo I think you should rest, you need to change and dress so the 4th prince will not worry." Ji Mong urges her. Lady Soo looking at the pleading faces of all the people around her, slowly gets up from the bed. Then just as she was about to get off the bed, everyone heard a sound.

CLANG

Turning towards the sound, they saw a hole in the paper window and there was an arrow heading towards them. Everyone sprung into action, but the most surprising was that the 4th prince who had been sleeping till now had briefly woken up and in a second, had pushed both his wife and himself down on the floor, as his younger brothers surround them forming a barrier around them with the 14th prince standing front in a defensive stance. Quite similar to how the Crown Prince Mu was standing in front of Ji Mong and the Taejo. Once again it was just in the nick of time, as there were arrows on the bed where the princes and Lady Soo were. Multiple arrows.

"Lock-down the entire prince's quarters. No one that are not already in here are allowed outside. No one should enter from the outside even all the other princes and queens. No one without my direct command" Emperor Taejo orders as he stands up and he made his way to the protective bundle made up of the bodies of his sons, and right in the middle was his 4th son, So now breathing harshly, seconds away from losing consciousness with his head is in his wife's lap. Twice that was twice in one day that someone dared to harm his son. He could no longer contain the tiger inside of him. We will execute everyone that was connected to the mastermind. If he could not kill them, he will give them the harshest punishment possible. Someone had woken up a sleeping tiger. That too a father who had seen his son almost die three times by their hands.