Chapter 2

The streets were swarming with soldiers.

It was already inconvenient enough to travel with her eyes. She had to keep her head down, hide behind the hood, avoid people, and travel before it was too light. And as Hwayoung peered out into the night sky at the streets, busier than usual (though this time because of the guards), she felt undeniably mad at Do Kyungsoo.

And apart from that, undeniably curious too.

This was probably the most drama the royal family had gone through in years, and that was really saying something. There had been rumours that the current king had been poisoned by an insider a year prior, but the king had already been ill in the first place. But this? A bastard prince trying to murder his brother the night before the lunar festival?

Shaking her head, Hwayoung moved away from the window. The lanterns that were hung up for the festival were still there, glowing blood red in the night, though the streets weren’t busy with people like it should have been. On the night of the lunar festival, the ones who lived in the Second Sector wouldn’t sleep. The night was about celebration and fun. But this — with the soldiers patrolling every street and everyone with their doors locked in fear of the soldiers — this was new. The crown prince was definitely determined to catch the prince.

Which meant she had to find him before the soldiers did.

Hwayoung didn’t know much about Do Kyungsoo — he would have to have some sort of skill in order to evade the soldiers for so long and get out of the palace alive after an assassination attempt. But he was still a prince, and from what she knew, royalty barely even left the palace. The prince wouldn’t be able find his way around the Second Sector well, and he’d end up getting caught by guards if he stayed any longer.

She glanced out at the window again. It wasn’t too bright outside, and Hwayoung had spent at least a year going in and out of the Second Sector already. She knew it better than the guards did, and definitely better than Do Kyungsoo. Moving at night was her safest option.

As quiet as possible, Hwayoung gathered all the belongings she had in the inn. She’d have to leave the city soon — hopefully after finding the prince — because there were just too many guards. She couldn’t make a move at the crown prince, so staying in the capital was useless. It was safer to leave.

The innkeeper had fallen asleep with his head on the counter, snores filling the empty room. The door was wide open, and thankfully, the street was empty when she exited the inn.

It would branch out into other streets, and then into the main street. Hwayoung knew the Second Sector by heart, but it wasn’t enough to avoid guards. They were absolutely everywhere.

But the guards weren’t her worries.

Where would a lost prince go? Hwayoung scanned her surroundings. If everyone knew what his face looked like, where would he hide? Out of all places…

She turned down one of the smaller streets first, staying in the shadowed part of the road and away from the glowing lanterns. The windows of all the houses were barred and the shut, and the doors locked tight. No one would be dumb enough to anger a guard, nor would they take in a prince looking for a place to stay. Not with the price on his head. The people in the Second Sector would sell him out in a moment.

So where…

She remembered when Sehun had first brought her to the Second Sector. They’d been so young back then — she was thirteen, he was fifteen, and they’d been fleeing from the soldiers. It had been like that for years. Running, hiding, being found and then more narrow escapes. They’d always been the ones being chased, until one day he really got caught.

Sehun, who’s eyes were like a reflection of hers when she looked at them, Sehun who used to steal her dolls from her when she was little, Sehun who was mean to her but still bandaged her scraped knees when she got hurt, Sehun who’d been forced to grow up too fast after the soldiers had started hunting the Marked — what would he do?

It was painful to think of her brother. Still, every time she did, it made her walk faster. Avenge my family. Kill the crown prince.

Another corner. Still no guards.

If I were a prince, I’d…

In the distance, Hwayoung could see the walls of the Second Sector, huge, rising in the distance. No one went in or out of the city without being inspected. No one went out without going past the people who guarded the gates. Unless they could actually climb over the wall – which was impossible, there was no going out.

She made a sharp turn towards the direction of the walls.

The first group of guards that Hwayoung crashed into weren’t a very big group. She heard them before she saw them, and before they could actually spot her, she ducked behind a wall. Technically speaking, she could take out five guards, but definitely not without a noise. And the last thing she needed was to find the prince with a trail of guards behind her.

The one that was speaking sounded young. He had pulled his helmet off and was shaking his head.

“The crown prince thinks he can find prince like this?” he grumbled, “That kid was skilled. I’ve seen him fight before, and that was when he was pretty young. If he tried to kill his brother and escaped the palace alive, we don’t have any chance in just catching him like this. Even if we find him, he’ll just kill us.”

“Didn’t the crown prince threaten us too?” another voice answered. “It makes sense he wants to find the prince, but he’s blowing it out of porportion. This sort of thing is bound to happen in the royal family, don’t you think?”

“Watch what you say.” This voice was quieter, to the point where Hwayoung couldn’t tell if they were getting closer to her or not. She her daggers. “The crown prince is merciless. If what you’re saying gets out, he’ll kill you.”

She could see their shadows on the crowd, gradually stretching away from her. She waited until they were a fair distance away before she let out the breath she was holding.

By the time Hwayoung reached the area of the castle walls, the amount of guards had already tripled and her hopes of finding Do Kyungsoo had dropped. There was no way any sane runaway would hang around the walls, and she’d end up getting caught if she ventured too close. Some of the guards had bows and arrows, so even if she managed to summon enough wind to fly away, she’d be shot.

Groaning to herself, she turned the other way, down a small alley that was quiet compared to the other ones. The full moon still hung in the sky, bright, though the clouds were beginning to drift over it. For a while, she sat behind the alley, but there was no other alternate Hwayoung could think of except going back into the inn and resting. She wasn’t getting anywhere.

Just as she was going to leave the alley, something moved behind her.

It had been years of surviving on her own, with countless close shaves with countless faceless guards. She definitely wasn’t a stranger to danger, but the knife flying towards her at such a dangerous speed was terrifying and Hwayoung didn’t even have time to move. At the last moment, she managed to summon a gust of wind to knock it off course, but even then, the tip of it glazed her side.

By the time she had her daggers out and pointed at the person, he’d already turned and broken off into a run.

The first thing Hwayoung noticed was the absence of the royal emblem on his clothing, the one all the guards had on. The second thing she noticed was the cloak he was wearing, somewhat similar to hers, pulled up over his head so his face wasn’t visible. He was running quite fast, though Hwayoung didn't need to see his face to know who he was. 

The prince.

She broke off into a faster run after the figure, who was rapidly opening the distance between them. He turned down one alley, almost skidding into the wall, and Hwayoung wille