The Strategist had made her way to the Colonel’s tent in the evening to remind the Colonel of the meeting in the night and hopefully to spend some time together. What she had not expected was to see the Colonel fly into a rage. One that no one had ever seen before and that, and one that truly scared Joohyun.

The Strategist felt as though time had frozen as her line of vision followed that of the thrown object. The usually sturdy inkstone was broken into two halves from the great force and the resounding thud against the ground made Joohyun’s heart jump violently in shock.

Stunned for a moment, the Strategist only stared wide-eyed at the Colonel whose eyes were reddening with madness. Joohyun had to mentally calm herself down before she managed to speak.

“W-What happened?”

The Colonel did not reply immediately, and instead buried her still-seething face into her callused hands. Joohyun was really afraid, afraid of her Colonel. Seulgi had never behaved in this way, not even when things went wrong during wars. It was hard to imagine how Seulgi being gentle and sweet to her could be the same person as this furious Seulgi before her now.

“Tell me, I need to know what happened,” Joohyun asked more determinedly this time round, she could simply not stand the atrocity of the situation any longer.

With shaking hands, Seulgi passed Joohyun the letter and then the Colonel went out of the tent.

My Dearest Younger Brother, Seulgi,

Father has misplaced his trust in our uncles and has doomed himself for committing that folly. The trade with the neutral lands claimed by our uncles has been a sham after all when in fact they have been ferreting supplies to the country of Wei’Ya, the sovereign’s military weapons at that too! The Crown has learnt about this incident and has placed the blame entirely on our Father.

Please, you know better than I do the cost for such a mistake. I beg of you to think up of a way to atone for our Father’s folly. I, Kang Minseok will be doing the best I can to do whatever salvations I can. We must keep in touch!

Your Elder Brother, Minseok.

Joohyun’s eyes roved over those words quickly, her heart palpitating quicker with each sentence being read and a lump forming in as she envisaged the repercussions. The Kang family… their empire had fallen and not only that, the head of the household, Master Kang, Seulgi’s father, faced the possibility of execution and all this was resulted from the actions of the other Kang family members. It was no wonder Seulgi had raged earlier.

Then, remembering that the Colonel had went out of the tent alone, she stuffed the letter into her own tunic and ran out after the Colonel’s trails. Seulgi, where are you! Joohyun’s mind screamed.

A pair of patrolling soldiers saluted to Joohyun but her mind was in too much of a fluster to acknowledge them as she whipped her head in all directions in search of her Colonel. It frustrated her that she could not call out for Seulgi, not when they are now back in camp. Joohyun was beginning to feel fear creep into her heart before she remembered she could ask, surely it would not be odd for the Strategist to ask for the whereabouts of the Colonel. Of course it would not!

“Have you seen the Colonel?” The Strategist tried to sound calm as she asked another pair of passing patrols.

The patrols nodded and directed the Strategist to the horse stables.

Feeding the stallions listlessly, Seulgi knew it would only be a matter of time before Joohyun found her in this place. Yet, there was a part of Seulgi which hoped that the Strategist would not find her, not yet, not now. However, Joohyun still did and the comfort she offered came in the form of a warm embrace.

“Nobody will be here but us, I made sure of it,” Joohyun whispered. “You don’t have to say anything, Colonel. I will help you, I want to help you. I know the source of your anger but please, stay rational.”

Seulgi really wished she could say something but there was nothing she could muster. For the first time ever since she entered the military, Kang Seulgi, the respected Colonel, shed tears. The hold around her waist tightened as Joohyun pressed herself further into Seulgi’s back. Helpless, Seulgi felt so helpless about her family, about her future with Joohyun, about herself. Just what have she, Kang Seulgi, been striving so hard for when all these can turn into ashes so easily.  

Then, a voice in her head reminded her that there was no use moping. This was the reason why Seulgi had enlisted in the first place. All those vile Kang family members of hers who could not wait to distil her father’s power. Have they never thought that doing so would do no good to any of them? Frozen family assets… Seulgi almost wanted to laugh at that idea. Ultimately, a rift within the household only benefits outsiders.

The Colonel squeezed her eyes shut tightly as she pondered over what she could do. Nothing came to her mind. Then, her eyes popped open when she heard Joohyun’s voice again.

“I will be with you no matter what.” Joohyun said again, her voice was trembling but there was resoluteness in them.

Seulgi’s tears stopped flowing immediately, as if stemmed by those words from Joohyun’s lips, those beautiful lips which Seulgi was suddenly yearning for. The Colonel turned sharply, grasping the Strategist by her shoulders tightly as she dove in for a deep kiss.

Seulgi felt suddenly apologetic when she learnt that Joohyun had been crying along with