Wang So

His soul. His heart. everything was frozen. He couldn't feel anything. Just that same image going through his mind again and again.

His beautiful Soo, so pale, trying to breathe and staring at his eyes as she whispers so softly. Poisoned Tea, and when he look at the face of that wench, he knew. Even if she did directly put the poison in the tea, she knew about it. She will be ruin. Oh she will be destroyed in the way that he had wished to do in the past life.

"Place her on my back," as he crunches down on his knees, and wait for his precious Soo's body to be place on his back. As soon as he place his hand underneath her knees, he stands up and simply exits the room. Not in Damiwon. Soo will never be stuck inside Damiwon again. If she has to stay at a single place for a long time, it will be in her palace, in her home Byul. He took the many hidden corridors inside Damiwon to get out without being seen by anyone.

As soon as Hae Soo gets up, because she will be, she will never leave him again, she had promised. He will start the hunt.

Seol

"Omma, Appa." She knew that it was useless but she could not stop her screams. She just got them back. She will not lose them again. Nor will she be separated from them again. She feel someone's hand on her shoulders. It was her Uncle Beak Ah. It did not matter who it was. They need to take her home.

"Uncle, please," trying to hold back the tears, she begs him. "Please take me to Byul, I want to be close to her." But his face told her that it will not be possible because to them she was a child who should not witness this. Well, they have not met her. She will get what she want.

There. It was risky, but it was the only way.

Young Princes

They could not comprehend what happened. On their way back from the market, their Hyungnim had dropped off a covered cart to the Captain of the Royal Guards before all of them made their way to Damiwon where they knew all the ladies were. Sure, the presence of king's entourage inside Damiwon was a bit of surprise but they knew how much their father love to spend time with Soo so they did not think much of it. But what they saw when they entered the room was something that none of them ever wished to witness.

Their beloved sister-in-law Hae Soo collapsing, struggling to breathe. Poisoned inside the castle. Poisoned when she was pregnant. That was when the brothers truly knew fear. The fear of death because right in front of them, the slightly aloof but warm So-Hyungnim change into a being of ice.

A look into his eyes and you could see that these eyes were of a dead man. And when So-Hyungnim had crunched down and spoke, his voice was so cold. So cold filled with such despair. Then before they could process anything, So-Hyungnim and Soo both of them were gone from the room, and this time, the silent room was filled with screams of their niece. A child crying out for her parents. But how can they tell a three year old that their parents were like that because of poison, no matter how much she wishes to be with them, they could not do that.

"Ji Mong, investigate everyone, royals included. The young princes and the ladies are exempt. Doctor, go to Byul." The King's command. The voice, their father's voice was just like So-Hyungnim when he was angry. The young princes had only heard from Soon Deok just how terrifying their Hyung's voice filled with anger could be, and if it was just like the King's voice right now, they will not blame anyone for being afraid. Then their father turns towards them and speaks.

"14th prince and Princess Yeon Hwa, go to your mothers and tell them that I want to meet with both of them tonight in the throne room. Jung-ah, after delivering the message, you can go to Byul. Princess, you will be escorted by a guard and you will not leave his sight. 13th prince, go to the infirmary and get the doctors. 10th prince, go find the Crown Prince and tell him what happened before going to Byul. Lady Park, alert your father and tell him to implement the barrier. Lady Woo Hee, go to your brother and keep me posted on what is happening. Take your niece…."

"Seol-ah!"

Woo Hee

The commanding voice of the king was lifting her out of shock of watching someone that was her family collapse due to poison right in front of her eyes. Was this what Lady Soo had been like when she had drank those cups of poison at the exorcism rite? Did her Orabeoni also collapse like that and was on the verge of death for over a week based on what she had heard? No wonder. Just witnessing the scene left such an impact that all those incidents of protectiveness towards the Lady displayed by the princes made sense.

But what about Seol? She was so young, not old enough to look at someone's death occurring right in front of her eyes, especially when it was her own mother. Taking a chance to lift her eyes away from the King, who was still talking, she seeks the figure of her niece. What she saw...all she could do was cry out.

"Seol !"

Her niece, Lady Soo's daughter, her three-year old daughter, who must have been hungry had taken a bite out of the biscuits that was specially order for Lady Soo by the Princess. And as her scream fills the room, that young child collapses on the floor. No. No. She will not lose her family again. Ignoring everything else, she runs. Runs towards the other side of the room, where Seol was lying on the ground.

Soon Deok

That scream by Woo Hee, broke her out of the haze. She had killed but it was all in a battlefield, never have she actually witness the terrible scene of poisoning. And her Agasshi had been poisoned. She had no doubt that it was due to a plan that involved a royal and a Damiwon court lady.

The 4th Prince was already on verge of losing control and unleashing his brutal side, that was clear by his voice that she had heard as he exits the room carrying his wife of his back as the Royal Doctor Hong followed behind him a few moments after. But now it was his daughter. 4th Prince's daughter that he had just gotten back from death and now she had been poisoned.

There was no stopping now. The Goryeo palace will witness the 4th prince's brutal temper and the carnage that it leaves in its wake. And she will help him to take his revenge and she knew her father will also help his student.

Court Lady Oh

It was a repeat. A simple repeat on what had happened to her. A pregnant lady poisoned by tea, sent to them by a royal blood who did not want them to be near the man that they sees as only theirs. She knew enough to know that the poison was somehow connected to the Princess. She knew her vicious side and how she had wished to be married to her 4th brother. Not to mention Queen Yoo and Queen Hwangbo, both of them did not wish for their own reason that Lady Hae Soo never bore a child. But in an indirect way, they had hurt the child, the adoptive child of 4th prince, the child that had brighten up the king's mood so much in such a little time.

"Soo-Yeon-ah," why was the King calling her by her name, as she turn towards him and sneak a look at his face, suddenly she knew. The palace was going to be hit by a storm. Because the look on the king's face, it was the expression that General Wang Geon had before going to war. Not to mention his anger was obvious in his voice, even with his gentle tone. "Go to Byul and take care of Hae Soo and my son. Lady Woo Hee, hurry and go take Seol there. I will send So's guards right behind you. Pass along my message to the doctors. If any of them do not survive, it is their heads."

She bows her head to her King, and runs out of the room. She could hear the running footsteps of Grand General's daughter with the young lady in her arms and following behind her with her skirts raised high was the adoptive sister of the 4th prince. There was no time to think, that small child needed a doctor, and the best one was just at the residence of 4th Prince, attending to the wife of Wang So, the mother of the little girl who did not even know that her child of heart had been poisoned by a biscuit intended for her.

Doctor Hong

Doctor Hong had attended to the royals for years, but he could truly say that the amount of times that the 4th prince and his wife had been faced with death was too much. Lady Soo was not even involve in politics in any way, she was the loving spouse of a Wang prince that had been carrying on the royal bloodline. The heavens were truly cruel to both of them. And he knew though his years of studying the human body that it was a blessing that Lady Soo had suffered a poisoning attempt before as her body had built up enough of a tolerance for her to have a fighting chance of survival. It was some superhuman strength that the lady was still carrying her children in her womb and not bleeding. She was fighting for their lives.

And as long as the patient was fighting, it did not matter what, he will not stop helping. He refuses to see that young boy whom he had to clean the scar inflicted by his own mother, lose his happiness. Queen Yoo could not be punished for her crimes to her son or Court Lady Oh, but if she had anything to do with this poisoning, he will stake his own head to acquire proof to get her punished.

"Orabeoni, Orabeoni." As the healing room's door smashes open, his eyes have a flashback to fifteen years ago. A child that was just three years old unconscious with blood on their face. Though this child, it was her face mask that was stained with blood, rushed into the healing room in the arm of someone other than their parents.

"Place Lady Seol on the bed over there." Thank heavens, that Doctor Song and Doctor Jin had arrived. He could not afford to stop his examination of Lady Hae Soo right now. But he could see out of the corner of his eyes, the 4th prince.

The 4th prince that had simply just stare at his wife's figure on the bed in dead silence, his entire body kept still as if he was trying to stop his emotions from ruling his mind. Black mask on his face, quite suiting his current state of mind. But the sight of his daughter on the bed, pale like her mother, broke the ice. The 4th Prince's control had snapped, in a similar way that his father, the King's face looks when he is beyond furious. But he had no time to care about that, right now it was time to focus on getting the lady to drink the mixture of her regular medicinal tea along with the strongest antidote that he had on his person. He had already sent one of the servants to go to the infirmary to get the rest of the supplies that he need.

Wang So

He could feel the cold in his blood. No longer was he, the Fourth Imperial Prince, now he was Emperor Gwangjong. The husband and the father whose treasures were poisoned in front of him, and they will pay. As he feels the burning anger in him simmer down to a cold fire, his mind begins to think, and his eyes sees all those that was gathered in his Soo's bedchamber, the chamber that she hardly uses but the one that had the most space so that doctors could move around without bumping into any furniture. It was time for him to command his people before he will be able to focus on taking care of his queen and princess.

"Doctors, tell my brothers all the supplies you will need. They will get the herbs from Byul, Woo Hee knows them, and I will have Yong deliver the command to the royal infirmary."

"Beak Ah-ya, write a letter to the Hae clan, let them know that their niece will not be able to visit them for a while as she had intended. Jung-ah, go and inform the Captain and the Grand General to have the men ready. They will know what I mean."

"Eun-ah, Woo Hee-ya, Deok-ah, please stay with Soo and Seol, you as well Court Lady Oh. Soo will be happy to hear any of your voice. Tae, do not let anyone that is not anyone near this room without my permission, except for the King, Crown Prince and Ji Mong. San, you also guard this room with your very life with Tae. Heok-ah, get Jae Hee to give you the papers that I labelled "Nobles" from my study and deliver them to the King."