Contrary to the order the captain gave, she wasn’t arrested per se, but led to her own palanquin, her servants forced to join her on foot. Jungkook was right outside the small window, trembling with fury. He was holding back only because, right before disappearing inside the palanquin, Sunji’s hand transferred him her calmness, her eyes ordering him not to follow whatever violent thoughts were passing through his mind. So he only walked by her side in silence as the soldiers led the way over the hills and through the small forest, all the way to the capital.

“We’re here,” the captain of the guards made them come to an abrupt halt. “Help Lady Hwang out and show her in,” he added while jumping off his horse. And with that he walked away while Jungkook helped Sunji out.

“Where are we?” She asked a nearby soldier who turned red.

“The Commissioner’s Office, my lady.”

“Very well,” she sighed, her eyes roaming around the red wooden building, “let’s go inside.”

But the moment Jungkook moved forward, two soldiers stopped him.

“Lady Hwang is to wait alone,” they informed her, their hands on their swords.

“If you value your lives, you shall move aside,” the bodyguard hissed, his hand swiftly drawing out the sword which made the other two mirror his moves. He was prepared to strike them down.

“Jungkook!” Sunji called out to him, keeping her back him. Accompanied by soldiers in their crimson uniforms, she looked like one led to slaughter. “Stand down,” she said on a steady tone, “I’ll be back.”

“My lady…”

››۝‹‹

The walls were full with all sorts of torture devices, some made of wood some of metal, all horrific to the eye. Sunji’s heart skipped beats like a heavy drum as she followed the soldiers inside a room. It wasn’t a cell with bars, yet she felt the intention of confinement in the way the soldiers posted themselves at the entrance, leaving her alone. It was an office with a long table and some petition chests under lock sitting on top of it. Shelves with stacked books allowed Sunji to calm herself down while reading their titles: Mencius, Confucius and other Chinese scholars screamed at the injustice done to her. She too wanted to scream. Instead, she sat down on one of the chairs and, draping her cloak over her knees, she waited in complete silence while keeping her posture straight. If it were a game,  she too could play.

Perhaps it was part of a plan to make her wait till she grew thirsty. The sun was setting outside when someone finally entered the office where Sunji was waiting.

“Lady Hwang, my apologies for the long wait.” It was the same young Captain Park who had arrested her.

“I too am sorry, captain Park,” she looked him straight in the eyes, “but I choose not to believe you. Making a prisoner wait till they get hungry and thirsty is part of an ancient torture scheme. Why do you underestimate a woman’s culture?”

The captain stared at her long before looking away embarrassed. “It is true what I have heard of you, Lady Hwang, you do not hesitate to make a grown man feel embarrassed. Now, shall we discuss the accusation brought against you?” He finally sat down across the table from her and opened one of the yellow petitions. “Here it is said that on the day of the banquet held by His Majesty, you were seen in a less appropriate company while wearing garments not fit for a lady such as yourself. How do you respond to these allegations?”

“I am the last remaining member of the Hwang household and thus its head. The people I choose to surround myself with is none of your concern, captain. Perhaps, just like you yourself and your fellow soldiers look for the warm company of performers, I too longed to surround myself with their joyful chatter,” Sunji straightened her dress and adjusted the pendant dangling from her top. “As for my attire, it was nothing like described. Perhaps you would like to see it for yourself to understand my anger towards such an accusation?”

Despite having a direct order to proceed with the accusations, under Sunji’s stare he felt like giving in to her. “Very well, I shall see the attire in question. Where is it?”

“Have my bodyguard come in and I will tell him to bring it,” she did not move an inch from where she was sitting, despite the man already standing up from his place.

“Bring in the man waiting outside! Make sure he bares no weapons!” The captain ordered his second in command. “Also, make sure the girl from the kitchen brings in some tea,” he added with a whisper, only slightly glancing at Sunji whose stubborn eyes looked only ahead.

Left alone with her again, captain Park felt pity creeping in each time his eyes fell on Sunji. So young and yet already drawn in such games…

“I do not want your pity, captain Park,” her eyes moved only slightly, putting on his their full light. “I am not guilty of anything and I can prove it. So do not pity me for having been accused of such silly things.”

“That is not the reason why I pity you, Lady Hwang,” the man heard himself saying despite being completely taken aback by they way she read right though him. “I pity you because I know you are innocent and yet I do not believe you shall walk away unharmed. But I do have my orders to follow, just like you have your fate.”

“And who has taken such a great interest in me that they wish they alter my very existence? They must have great power indeed to be able to order around the captain of the Royal Guards h