Chapter 18

Windwalker
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Chapter 18


 

The village wasn’t very large, and despite it being the middle of the day, there didn’t seem to be too many people around, though there were people, which was a good thing. Hwayoung had a handful of coins left—she doubted Kyungsoo nor Soyi had any, and even Baekhyun was unlikely to—though Hwayoung figured that it could pay for a day or two of a stay in an inn, given that the village had any.

 

The four of them must’ve looked strange walking through, but no one paid too much attention as she trudged down the dirt road, alert and trying to sense if there was anything wrong. The place seemed peaceful enough, but there too much caution wasn’t a thing.

 

Presently, they came across a slightly larger two story building that read inn in faded letters at the front. The door to the interior was closed, but it looked to be in presentable quality, so she nodded towards it. “We can rest there for tonight,” Hwayoung murmured back towards the group.

 

Kyungsoo eyed it, obviously suspicious. “Are you sure an inn would be the best idea?” he asked. “Would it really be safe?”

 

Baekhyun stepped forward. “If we don’t linger here for long, it should be,” he replied. “I don’t have money, though.”

 

Hwayoung shook her bag lightly so they could hear the coins rattling. “I don’t know how long it’ll last us,” she warned. “I mean, we can definitely stay at the inn for a night or two, but I don’t know about after that, and we also need supplies.” She raised an eyebrow. “If you all want luxury and sleep two people per room, then maybe we’ll run out in a day. But if we all fit in one, we can last for a while longer.”

 

Kyungsoo eyed the group of them as if she’d proposed the most terrifying idea ever. Hwayoung wasn’t sure if he was horrified by the prospect of sharing a room because they wouldn’t fit or if it were actually that horrifying having to room with Baekhyun and Soyi (and, more specifically, her), though he didn’t vocalize it.

 

“Any objections?” Hwayoung asked.

 

There were none. Soyi didn’t seem particularly fond of the idea either, but she didn’t say a thing and instead gave a quick nod.

 

Hwayoung turned to Baekhyun instead. He seemed to be the most responsive out of all of them, given that Soyi and Kyungsoo both either didn’t seem to think they needed to input their opinions or had nothing else to say. “Do you think it’s safe to go for an inn?” she asked. “I don’t… know if an innkeeper would recognize us, but my eyes would definitely give me away as Marked and your hair would too. I’m not sure how many people recognize Kyungsoo.”

 

“Not many.” Kyungsoo cut in there, leaning over slightly. “I don’t think a lot of people knew what I looked like before I… tried to kill my brother, and even after that, it would’ve been hard for him to spread the information further. I’ll go pay for the room. I look the most normal out of all of us.”

 

Hwayoung glanced at his arms, where she could nearly see the runes climbing up, peeking around his wrists. It was a unique mark, at least from what she’d seen—not a lot of other people ended up marked in the way Kyungsoo was—in fact, she wasn’t too sure if she could think of any. Then again, so many Marked had been hunted down and killed that there was no telling of what could’ve been.

 

She brushed off the thought, a bit irritated. Kyungsoo was occupying much more of her thoughts than she liked, and, once again, Hwayoung reminded herself that at the end of the day, he was still the prince, bastard son or not. His brother had killed her family, killed her brother, and countless others. Maybe it wasn’t him, but at the same time…

 

“So it’s set?” Kyungsoo straightened, then gestured at her. “I’ll pay for the room. How much money would it usually be?”

 

Hwayoung handed him her bag of coins. “It should be half of that, or less,” she replied. “Tell us the room number after you’re done and we’ll find a way to get up there. Then we can maybe find something a little better to eat.”

 

Everyone seemed to agree with that, so, after a little more time of walking down a relatively empty and quiet road, they came across a building that read inn in letters that were crumbling.

 

Kyungsoo stopped in front of it. “Are you sure there’s going to be people in there?” he asked. “Also, this doesn’t look like it’s worth half a bag of coins. A quarter at most.”

 

She rolled her eyes. “Just go inside,” she said. “We’ll watch you out here, and if something goes wrong and the owner seems to recognize you, leave.”

 

If the instructions were insufficient, Kyungsoo didn’t say, but he turned towards the wooden door of the inn without another word and headed inside.

 

With the prince gone, Hwayoung found herself looking around the town, or at least what was visible down the road. It was a bit larger than she’d expected—they had been walking for a decent amount of time before they’d stumbled across the inn, but it might’ve been because the town was more spread out than anything. The plains had gradually turned into foothills, and buildings were scattered sparsely around a vast area.

 

It definitely hadn’t been kept in top condition. Maybe the town had been well off in its prime, but most of the country had suffered a blow after the blood fever, and this was no exception. The inn had definitely seen better days, and from the way it was looking, Hwayoung wasn’t even sure if there was anyone inside manning it.

 

To her relief, Kyungsoo appeared from the doorway in a couple of minutes. He nodded at the building as soon as he approached them. “Innkeeper’s inside,” he informed, “though he isn’t doing much, and I think… well, he didn’t recognize me, but he was pretty shocked people were actually coming to stay. I told him we were travellers passing by, and it turns out there’s been so little people in this area that it’s practically become a ghost town, so he didn’t ask for much money. We have two rooms.”

 

Hwayoung wasn’t sure if that was a relief or if it should’ve brought some sort of bigger worry. “Ghost town,” she echoed instead. “We saw a couple of people.”

 

“No one passes this way, apparently.” Kyungsoo shrugged. “His words, not mine. He mentioned something about the crown prince once attacking this town, but that was years ago. I guess they never rebuilt it to… what it was before?” He glanced around, a frown on his face. “Can’t imagine what that was like.”

 

Hwayoung couldn’t either, but whether or not it was a ghost town or not, lingering didn’t seem to be a very good idea. She gestured down the road. “We can come back tonight to rest,” she told them. “Maybe we can split up and see if we can get any food?”

 

***

 

It was nice eating something that wasn’t food from the forest for a change, even though Hwayoung was pretty sure the restaurant they had stopped by had seen better days. Baekhyun decided to go with Soyi (or maybe it was Soyi who would only go with Baekhyun, Hwayoung wasn’t too sure) so she ended up with Kyungsoo. To her relief, neither of them said much, and by the time they’d arrived back at the inn, Baekhyun and Soyi had already taken one of the rooms, leaving her standing in front of the second wooden door trying to figure out how in the world she was going to share a room with Do Kyungsoo without one of them tearing out the other’s throat.

 

Then again, Hwayoung couldn’t think of any arrangement that would work. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo would get along fine sharing a room, but Soyi probably didn’t trust her (and it would be downright awkward). She was fine rooming with Byun Baekhyun, but Kyungsoo and Soyi seemed even worse than her and Soyi. Technically, she’d already spent a good amount of time around him, but even then…

 

He pushed open the door, apparently not having any other complaints (or not voicing them). A bit grudgingly, Hwayoung followed behind him.

 

The interior wasn’t very large, nor was it fancy. Still, it had been a while since she had been in a proper room, actually protected from the elements and with a door separating her from potential dangers, even if it didn’t really mean that much, really, it felt a bit better.

 

Hwayoung dropped the rest of her belongings on the cot at the side. It wasn’t large, there was no fancy mattress, but it was a bed nonetheless.

 

Kyungsoo hadn’t claimed his spot yet, remaining at the door and scanning the interior. She sat down, watching him. “Different?” Hwayoung asked, and he blinked, turning to look at her.

 

“Pardon?”

 

“Different,” she repeated, “how different is this from the palace?”

 

Part of her expected Kyungsoo to bristle and snap at her, especially with the fact that she’d brought up the palace and his life as a prince, which always seemed to be a trigger. He didn’t, though, just tossed his bag haphazardly on his bed and shrugged. “The last time I was in a room, it was at least eight times the size of this one and the bed was larger than both of these combined. There was also a mattress. And eight pillows.”

 

“I’m sorry we couldn’t find any better living quarters, your highness.”

 

He didn’t budge. “Contrary. This is much nicer. At least there’s some peace and quiet.”

 

“Peace and quiet?”

 

“Yeah.” He began unpacking various items from his backpack. “Back in the palace, there’d always be servants. The forest… was too open. At least there can be some quietude here.”

 

“I’d argu

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anitaklr24
#1
Chapter 23: I read again the last update because I wanted to remember the story, and I think that I will read the story again soon.
I still don't know if Chanyeol is an ally or foe jajaja.
Dedehb
#2
Still wainting for you :) Every plot you come up with is pure gold
Tasmiahritu70 #3
I started it today and already hooked. Looking forward yay
Osekop12 #4
Congrats on the feature!!
WhiteWolf16
#5
Chapter 2: A runaway prince and a severely wanted outcast, how fun. I quite like this story so far :)
WhiteWolf16
#6
Chapter 1: Sounds so interestingggggg
WhiteWolf16
#7
I've read Cutlass, and it was amazing, and now this one caught my eye. The minute I read the description, I clicked on it cuz it sounded familiar and very enticing. And when I saw the whole blood fever thing came from the Young Elites, I flipped. Marie Lu is literally my favorite author!! I didn't think anyone else on this site would've read her books! I've read all her series and now I know I have to read this. Can't wait!!
Kpoplovergurl
#8
Chapter 23: Why'd it take me so long to read this?! I'm glad I did cause this is fantastic 👏
I'm loving so far!
Dedehb
#9
This story is pure golden!
woahkourtney
#10
Chapter 23: Plot twist: Chanyeol's the tracker 0_0