Yixing had brought the Queen as quickly as he could to the nearest safe hospital. The institutions were run on traditional herbal medicine but it served the people very well. They took her to a private room at the top of the hospital in a special wing for the rich and famous where she had been resting for the last few days. The chief of medicine had done thorough assessments, noting her depressive state as Yixing informed him, and disappeared for a while before a team of nurses helped the pale and frail Queen to sit up, giving her three bowls of medicine to drink - which Yixing insisted on testing first to make sure there was no funny business, even if the area they had ran to was one controlled by rebels.

"No one is to know of the Queen's presence here. It is for her own safety." Yixing reminded the doctor, who nodded sagely.

"We take privacy very seriously here. You need not worry, the Queen of the Northern Territory will be shielded from any publicity here. We also don't want to draw attention to ourselves, not with this war going on."

"Thank you, sir."

"No problem."

Jisoo wasn't even sure what day it was any longer. Yixing said she had tried to drown herself at Mamazet, but she didn't remember anything - all she knew was that she felt like death warmed up and just wanted to be healthy again. She had to get back to work with Yixing - he didn't have her skill set to go it alone and he surely couldn't face entire military units by himself. The word they had received from General Lee was encouraging. His next-in-command had also sent news that they had successfully taken over a group of towns and villages in the south of the country, General Lee and his men having taken care of the north west. Slowly, but surely, they had taken over the west and south of the country. Only the capital, the north and north-east and eastern sides remained.

Almost a year had passed since the war began. Jisoo knew enough about war to know that the worst was yet to come in terms of tragedy, death and destruction, but it wouldn't take long to get to the capital and overthrow the palace. General Lee had been working tirelessly in order to keep in contact with the palace in the far west of the Northern Territory - making sure they were kept happy enough and distracted enough to not notice Jisoo's double disappear for a few days every couple of months. Thank goodness Revenet was a comparatively small nation - it didn't take long to slip back up to the border and send the decoy away again, accompanied by one of General Lee's many men. She had realised that the war would be going on for much longer than 2 months and had devised the safest route to the border in order to keep the illusion up.

Jisoo blinked, her whole body feeling heavy. Would she be able to make it this time? Now was not the time to be sick - why had she done that to herself? She missed Namjoon very much, but she couldn't abandon what she had started. Was she just looking for an excuse? No, no. It was simply a momentary lapse of judgment. That was all. Emotions could be overwhelming at times, and unexpectedly so. Grieving wasn't something one could get over in a matter of weeks. She had forgotten that it could hit you out of nowhere when you least expected it. A punch to the gut, knocking all the air out of you in one go.

A week had passed and Jisoo was not feeling much better despite taking all of the medicine the doctors had prescribed her. She was shocked after catching her own reflection in the bathroom mirror - her skin looking pale, dark circles under her eyes, a sour expression plastered on her face after days of bitter medicine, still feeling like a sack of crap and no progress. Touching her face, she flinched at the dryness of her skin.

No, no... this wouldn't do.

There was a country to run, a war to win.

Clutching the white fabric of her hospital robes she stared at herself for a moment, the dull oil lamps darkening her eyes. There was one of the darkest spells she had yet to try, for she had no reason to before, but now seemed like the right time. The medicine was too ineffective - she would be bound to the hospital for weeks at this rate. Leaning back against the wooden stall, she bit her thumb, averting her gaze from the mirror, her nostrils flaring as she battled with herself over whether or not to go through with it. She could try to go to another hospital, but there would be no guarantee that she would be able to make it there safely. She could demand stronger medicine, all of which Yixing was testing first, but she suspected the doctors there might be purposely giving her ineffective medicine to prevent her from carrying on.

Okay, it was decided, then.

Venturing slowly and haphazardly out into the hallway, Jisoo kept herself hidden as much as possible and made her way down a quieter hall. Approaching the stairwell, she-

"Your Highness!"

Jisoo spun on her heel, the wave of fear washing over her quickly followed by relief upon realising it was Yixing.

"Your Highness, where are you going?" he whispered.

Jisoo looked down for a moment before meeting his gaze.

"I need you to be a lookout for me and turn a blind eye."