Taeyeon nervously curled into herself on the bed in the Chambers of Jiyong's room. This place was familiar and yet unfamiliar to her at the same time. The colours, black and gold, reminded her of the gentler and happier times she shared with Jiyong before he demon king possessed him.

More tender, happier, memories.

Part of her wanted to question herself as she looked down at the translucent nightgown she wore, flimsy and made to seduce, displaying the arching curves of her body.

How many times had she sold her body in this lifetime?

Taeyeon gritted her teeth angrily at her own helplessness.

She closed her eyes.

She needed to be stronger. No, make herself stronger. Politically and physically.

Perhaps….she should ask Yuri to teach her some yoga and stretching exercises before doing the more advanced physically challenging stuff like drawing a sword or even swinging one. She tilted her head and sighed.

“I see you're making yourself quite comfortable in my bed.” She turned her head slightly, smiling softly at Jiyong, whose eyes glowed a golden hue as he crossed his arms.

“It is quite a comfortable bed after all.” She stretched lazily, watching carefully as his eyes followed the curves of her body. It irked her and yet prided her at the same time that her femininity had such power over someone like Jiyong and the demon king. Perhaps it was just because Jiyong had some left over romantic notions for her, or maybe it was just that the demon king thought more with the tool between his legs than his mind. Either way, it was good for her. To be able to use her body momentarily as a weapon, of course.

Though...she would have preferred if the possibility of the former and not the latter had been higher.

She inclined her head towards the demon king.

“I thought you're going to take your fulfillment of the conditions you wanted tonight?” She asked a little innocently.

Jiyong chuckled.

“Why should I?” Perhaps I should take my time with you. Tease you endlessly and physically in your body but never truly taking you as mine, until I've learnt enough secrets and feel that I should take you.” He grinned maliciously at her, sliding a hand up her chest and buttocks. “It would be a torture for you--”

“As well as you too.” Taeyeon retorted.

“Oh. I can always find other ways to find release. You are not the only woman here, you know.” Taeyeon fought down the bout of jealousy rising in her chest.

“You're so easy to read, my dear Taeyeon. You're jealous at that thought, just like how I  presumed you would be.” Taeyeon swallowed.

“I love Jiyong. Of course I'm jealous as his wife and woman.” She retorted back angrily. The demon king in Jiyong's body raised his eyebrows.

“Oh?”

“Then perhaps you should entertain me on your tragic love story, while I shall do...whatever I please.” Taeyeon started as his hand crept between her underskirts, and grazed the soft supple skin of her thighs, her body jerking in a reflexive reaction to the intimate touch.

She took a deep breath.

“Where would like me to start?” He obviously had not been expecting such a question from her, for his ministrations stilled beneath her skin, staring at her incredulously.

“You're willing to tell me?” His tone was largely surprised, and a cute smile crossed Taeyeon's lips.

“You're interested, and I rarely have people listening to my love story. “ She pouted. “So why not?” She touched his hand gently. “So what would you like to know?”

He stared at her hungrily for a moment.

“You're an intriguing specimen for a human, Kim Taeyeon.”

“As are you, my king.” She responded back smoothly. Goosebumps rose over her skin as the demon king chuckled---in Jiyong's voice, lowly in her ear.

“Tell me then.” He paused hesitantly. “What is love?” He watched as astonishment crossed her face, and his face flushed deeply, the red tinting across the pale skin of Jiyong's face. “It's not that I don't know what love is. It's just..” He stopped abruptly as she tried not to smile.

“You're laughing at me “ He complained.

“I am.” Taeyeon grinned, bemused. “Because you're being cute.” Surprise flit across Jiyong's face. “And you're blushing.” She teased, watching as the demon king scowled and turned away childishly from her face.

“A demon king is not cute! I am fierce! I can kill you with just a single hand!” He snapped, catching within his wide hands.

“I know.” Taeyeon lifted her chin, looking at Jiyong calmly. “But you won't kill me.” His fingers tightened more around her neck. “Because you want to know more about the son you never had.” Emotion flickered across the demon king's face.

“He wasn't treated well, wasn't he? “ He the dragon necklace dangling on his necklace carefully. “He was my son. I could feel the amount of pain he went through.”

“He still is your son.” Taeyeon insisted, failing to notice the darkening look on Jiyong's face.

“Taeyeon. He's gone.” The dangerous glint in his eyes flared, and Taeyeon squeaked, shuffling back slowly. Alarm and regret crossed the demon king's eyes.

“No no. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!” Guilt strained across Jiyong's face.

“It's okay. You just lost control for a while.” Taeyeon said in a small voice.

“Right. “The small smile Taeyeon gave him was enough to send a spark racing through his veins.

Taeyeon.

The whisper of his son's voice in his soul was enough to send the demon king paling in his skin.

“Maybe we should do this another day?”Taeyeon echoed tentatively at the sudden queer look on his face. “If you don't mind.” She added quickly after.

“Right. Another day.” Frazzled by the sudden onslaught of feelings in his son's human body, the demon king agreed. “Let's rest. “Unfamiliar fondness stirred in his chest as Taeyeon shot him a gentle smile from the corners of her lips, before snuggling into the covers gently, pulling them close to her chin.

The demon king froze as he felt his fingers draw upon the covers gently, bending to plant a soft kiss on the girl's forehead. His fingers, hot and heavy, smoothed the covers over Taeyeon and brought his mouth close to her ear.

“Sleep tight, my Princess.”

Bewilderment filled the demon king as Taeyeon hummed softly in agreement, tossing a little of their shared covers.

Whoever did those actions just now---that wasn't him. His eyes darkened.

It looked like he needed to do something about that remnant soul of Jiyong clinging to his body.

~~~~~

“We have trouble.” Taeyeon barely managed to shrug on her shift as Sooyoung burst into her Chambers, announcing her loud arrival with her obnoxious voice.

“Alright,” Taeyeon mumbled slightly, gently pouring herself a calming cup of camomile tea. “I never expected any of our expeditions to go through smoothly.” She sipped the honeyed tea with pink lips. “What went wrong and what are our casualties?”

“Well, it's not that bad yet.” Her sister answered back wryly, dropping to the seat beside her. “Sha's been stepping up in cutting off our allies. I received news from my cats all over the castle and in the citadel. And this came from Hyoyeon through a raven this morning.” She handed Taeyeon a neatly folded piece of parchment.

“I take that you took the liberty to smoothen out the paper Hyo sent you.” A smile creased on Taeyeon's lips as she raised an eyebrow at her younger sibling. “The Hyo I know isn't as neat as this.”

“Well, truthfully, neither am I, but a paper spotted and smelling of horse droppings is a tad too slack for anybody.” Sooyoung sniffed, visibly miffed. “I just made it more aesthetically pleasing.” Taeyeon hummed lightly, unfurling the paper with slender fingers. Sooyoung watched as a dark cloud crosses her sister's face, and then she crumpled the piece of paper within her hands, quickly throwing it into the fire burning in her fireplace.

“It's bad, isn't it?”

“It seems we may have been a little slack with our admission requirements into our cause. Hyo was being followed. As soon as she realised it, demons came after them. Wendy and her barely managed to escape.” Sooyoung ahhed.

“So that explains the horse droppings. She must have been too all over the place to have composed this letter in one place at one sitting.”

“Send a warning to everyone who left the citadel, I need the Ravens about this to reach them as quickly as possible.” She paced the floor nervously. “Oh, and call Seo here. I need her for her...more spiritual skill.” Sooyoung raised an eyebrow.

“I thought you were the most opposed to Seobaby training and honing her skills.”

“I am.” Taeyeon snapped, “But since Fany isn't here to make a truth serum I'll need her to vet with her powers if people are telling the truth.” Sooyoung's eyebrows shot up this time.

“What? Why?”

“I'll be doing the screening of each new member and old members. Myself.” Taeyeon's lips thinned measurably. “It's annoying but necessary, unfortunately.” Sooyoung hummed.

“And with Sha making travel into the citadel and capital even more difficult, I guess I'll have to find ways to smuggle Hyo and her band of kids in.”

Taeyeon bit her lip, contemplating silently if she should simply hand the map over to her sibling. Sensing that Taeyeon still had something to say, Sooyoung delayed her sipping of her drink and prompted.

“Anything else you might want to tell me?” She hinted lightly, watching Taeyeon carefully from the corner of her eyes. Taeyeon sighed gently, unlocking a chest drawer and drawing out a piece of parchment.

“It's a map of the palace and citadel.” Taeyeon said lowly. “Jiyong and I made it when we were kids. We used to explore the ruins and get into trouble, remember?” Sooyoung's eyes widened, quickly unfurling the long map.

“My God.” She gasped at the intricacy and detailed drawings of the whole map. “I didn't know you could draw so well.”

“Well, I contributed to the left side,the one much closer to the Kim Family Mansion. Jiyong took over the palace side.” The map was unbelievable. From simple things like the cobbled streets and greenery to the exact amount of buildings and streets, it was a map made from the experience of one who had truly understood the city itself.

“If you're giving this to me to use, aren't you afraid Jiyong would know about these places and hence the demon king would know?” Taeyeon coughed slightly.

“Jiyong left the capital when he was ten or so remember? This was the only thing I had to pass time and the only thing apart from the pendant that I had that I could remember of him. So I made it much more detailed than it should be. Why do you think I snuck out without all of you so many times all on my own, sometimes even right in the middle of palace banquets?” Sooyoung grumbled at her.

“I thought you were just going through a phase!” Taeyeon chuckled.

“No phase lasts that long, Soo.” Her pale finger trailed a deep winding but narrow path that burrowed deep into the palace. “This tunnel has been unused for a long time. It's connected to the drainage system of the citadel, and look.” She traced the path of the drainage system, long and unused since before the previous two Kings and past two centuries after the citadel changed it's income system to one more of trade and lucrative business rather than agriculture. “It's been locked down for such a long time that unless you've explored the ruins of the city, you wouldn't be able to know of it's presence. Most of all, it leads to one place the most convenient for us to smuggle them in.”

“The most dangerous too.” Sooyoung quipped. “If they managed to relocate to my brothels, perhaps it would be much easier--”

“No. Sha would be specifically watching all of us and the places we are intimately connected to in order to sieve out those we're smuggling in. It would be much more dangerous to smuggle them through places that we know best.”

“But our old mansion!” Sooyoung said incredulously. “You must be crazy! Ever since the demons took over that place, no one in the right mind has ever dared to step anywhere close to it, save for the occasional transports of trade items with the demons. “

“And that makes it the best place for us to smuggle them in. “Taeyeon sipped her tea nonchalantly. “The most dangerous place for humans to step foot to, none would even imagine us starting to smuggle our men in through their trade items. It would also be the last place that Sha would think of checking since the Mansion is now his territory. He underestimates us hence he won’t believe we’ll have the guts to smuggle our allies under his nose. The trick would be how we would get them into the trade items. The rest would be easy. We know our way around the mansion, having growing up in it, it's as easy for us to navigate even with our eyes closed. The drainage system is connected partly to our mansion too, so if we can just get them into the mansion, the rest would be quite easily taken care of. Of course, we would need to alternate the places used. There cannot be a fixed place for us to smuggle our allies in, or else the possibility of us being found out might just be higher. Listen carefully Soo. This is what we need to do. Make sure your little kittens keep close tabs on Sha and his team close enough but not enough to slip up and alert him to our presence. We need close tabs on him to be able to judge when to shift our allies. When he starts to suspect his own mansion and our movement there, we need to know of his suspicions before hand. That way we can redirect his attention to other inconspicuous booths, like normal traders or even high ranked officials that frequently trade around and order trade items. That way we will confuse him with the multiple possible connections that we might possibly have.”

“That would make him extremely paranoid.” Sooyoung grasped the thought threads that Taeyeon had wanted her to understand.

“Well hopefully, all our allies would have already been transferred safely into the capital and by our side then. Lets hope that his paranoia wouldn’t catch on that fast.” Sooyoung nodded curtly at Taeyeons words.

“Thats the best plan currently, I would suppose.” Sooyoung grumbled. “Not that I’m approving of this...its just that there's no other better plans. Currently.” She pursed her lips to show her displeasure. “You can be sure that I’ll carry out whatever currently needs to be done in order to ensure our allies and sisters’ safe return to our side.” Taeyeon grinned at her annoyed younger sister.

“When have I never trusted you?”

“Always!” Sooyoung huffed. “You're the one that always says, Oh Soo, you can't go all on your own, you're too young, too unskilled, blah blah blah.” Sooyoung flapped her hands in Taeyeon's direction.

“Well, you're only 16.” Taeyeon raised her eyebrows. “That's young.”

Sooyoung growled.

“Hmph, and you're old.” Taeyeon raised her eyebrows again. “And eyebrowless. That's one more that I have from you.” She preened. Taeyeon flung a pillow at her sister.

“My eyebrows are very well drawn, thank you very much.”