IN THE WEST WING OF THE CASTLE

 

For once in her life, Werewolf Queen Ye Han-Bi felt truly alone. And scared. Her primary ally Princess Ji In had gone missing, and from what she had heard, the Werewolf King’s originally most trusted General had been caught too. 

 

That left only her.

 

If she couldn’t save them all in time, this rebellion and the whole kingdom would be done for.

 

Han-Bi shivered, pacing around her room as she thought hard.

 

She was never one for fights nor plans ; she’s more of a follow-your-heart kind of person, and right now, all she could do was stupidly rub at the gemstone of the ring that Ji In had given her as backup. 

 

Wait that’s it! God how could I be so dumb? 

 

Han-Bi internally chastised herself as she hurriedly pressed on the sapphire, fervently praying that Ji In would respond.

 

The princess had told her before that General Chanyeol had three of these rings made under the guise of them being wedding rings (with the last one meant as backup), but in fact they had another purpose as a tracker as well. When the sapphire set in the ring was pressed, holographic coordinates of each wearer would be revealed on the inner band, but only if another sapphire on the ring was pressed in response. 

 

Han-Bi perked up as her ring shimmered a brilliant blue — Ji In had gotten her message! Steeling her resolve, the Werewolf Queen changed into more appropriate attire before picking up her phone and keying in the coordinates, as well as sending a mass message to her most trusted bunch of men, the rest of the allies, and the remainder of her pack awaiting her orders in the town.

 

Sent : 1-8 1-5 // 1-8 2-1 // 1-5 1-8 3-7 1-3 (It Is Time)

 

 

IN THE SECRET CHAMBER OF THE DUNGEONS 

 

Ji In quietly glanced around the dungeon at the 5 remaining soldiers stationed there guarding them. She longed to update Jongin about what had just happened — that his Han-Bi would be arriving soon to save all their sorry asses, but could not bring herself to say a word for fear of the other guards overhearing and finding out. 

 

She didn’t know for sure if she could trust them. Luckily however, Chanyeol seemed to get the hint the moment she subtly pointed to her ring and pressed the sapphire when it had first showed signs of Han-Bi using it to track them.

 

Gosh, that clever girl! Ji In herself had forgotten about the wedding ring’s purpose after all that had transpired in the last 12 hours. Initially desolate, she was now b with hope and the adrenaline to bust the three of them out of this hell, but could only quench the anticipation with acts of resignation as they played themselves off as surrendering to the Werewolf King, or a fake one, for that matter. 

 

So till Han-Bi arrives with backup, Ji In had to busy herself with tending Chanyeol’s open wounds, gently wiping the blood away as well as bandaging whatever she could with the material torn from her dress. 

 

The princess had tried to do the same to Jongin as well, until she felt herself being yanked to her feet by a guard and pinned roughly against the wall of a cell. Ji In cried out in alarm when Chanyeol was delivered a harsh kick from trying to get up after her.

 

“What the hell do you want?” She growled at the leering guard who barely towered over her, the male currently taking his time to feast his eyes on the beautiful princess.

 

Before he could utter his first word, Ji In rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh before kneeing the guard in the groin and aiming a kick at his stomach. The poor male howled and crouched in pain as Ji In took the chance to slam him onto the floor and proceeded to sit on his back, her hands crossing over each other at the back of his neck so that the chains between her handcuffs seemed as if they were barely seconds away from strangling the flailing man. 

 

“God, what is with the disrespect towards females nowadays? Do you lack interaction with the other gender so much so you DON’T even remember what BASIC privacy and personal space mean?”

 

“And the four of you over there,” Ji In snarled at the other approaching guards who seemed to be planning to target the defenseless Chanyeol and Jongin, “If you so much as move another step, I’ll snap your leader’s head here right off before coming for yours, try me if you dare.”

 

A complete bluff of course, the princess could only imagine thousands of other possibilities this could go wrong. Obviously, 4 of them were enough to take 1 of her, especially when her only two teammates were out of commission. For one, any of them could just whip out their phones or swords right now to threaten the fallen guys and there’s nothing she could do, or they could all come at her at once and she doubted even with her skills she could defeat all 4 of them at once either. 

 

But desperate times call for desperate measures, and Ji In could only keep up the act and hope that their brains were scrambled enough by the current situation and her highly unpredictable personality to try anything. 

 

She looked up in alarm as she heard the rumbling door of the secret passageway open, only to grin in delight as Han-Bi appeared with a dozen guards behind her who immediately engaged in battle with the remaining guards.

 

The latter gifted her with a triumphant smirk as she approached the girl who was scrambling from her sitting position on a passed-out guard to another unconscious male on the floor.

 

“Damn girl, you looked like you were holding up great, do you even need our help?”

 

A scoff was heard as Ji In gently brought Chanyeol into a sitting position amidst the roaring battle sounds in the background.

 

“Your Jongin’s over there dummy,” she chose to reply as an amused smile painted her face from how Han-Bi comically gasped and took off towards a male slowly limping towards her.

 

“NINI!!!” The girl watched as the Werewolf Queen barreled straight into the embrace of her waiting King, sobbing and planting kisses all over him as the male tightened his hug and tears trailed down the sides of his face.

 

Ji In was so occupied with looking at the couple’s happy reunion that she forgot the first and most important self-defense lesson ever taught to her by Chanyeol — “Never turn your back to the enemy”, only realizing her mistake when a shock ran through her body and she crumpled amidst the sounds of screaming and shouting.

 

 

Flashback : Day 37 <6.58pm> (first day of capture)

 

Ji In looked out sadly as fingers reached out and made contact with the chilly glass of the window. 

 

“Damn these bloody handcuffs,” the princess thought, annoyed as hell since they supposedly restricted her from using her powers. Had she had the power of foresight, Ji In could have sworn none of this utter bull would have happened. Her kingdom would not have been wrestled from her barely months after both her parents had died, her most faithful servant and friend would not have been kidnapped and presumably executed, and she would not be marrying some retarded werewolf general in a few days.

 

The princess glanced out of the window and gave a deep sigh as the events of the past months replayed in her mind. She had barely shouldered the burden of the kingdom two months ago when the revolt had begun. Rumor has it that the creatures of darkness like the werewolves and vampires had banded together to overthrow the ruler of Miraleldan due to the discrimination they had suffered from over the past century. 

 

It was just too bad that Ji In had ascended her throne too late, as she had always had plans to remove the stupid caste system and restore the privileges and rights of these creatures. She wanted to grant them with the fairness they ought to have received from the start, only to be defeated when she had barely started implementing the changes to the kingdom. 

 

Far too long. They said she was taking her time far too slowly and they could not bear to wait any longer. A bloody war was declared.

 

That was how she found herself leading the battle as the princess of Miraleldan despite her reluctance to initiate violence of any sort. But what was to come will eventually happen, and Ji In knew that beneath the boiling anger bubbling deep in their hearts, these creatures wanted revenge. They wanted to overthrow the current ruler. They wanted the privileged to suffer and be in their place for once. They wanted justice. They craved power. 

 

Ji In paced across the ginormous room and wrung her hands in frustration at her despondence. It irked her that she was contained in her castle as a prisoner, awaiting the impending doom in her own bedroom, helpless as she watched her people getting rounded up and stripped of their powers as well as dignity.

 

Wait a minute. The room. I’m in my OWN room! 

 

She groaned at her own stupidity as her fingers delicately traced the black and red walls for the small button that would reveal the secret passageway which would lead to the castle library. Not sure what help she would find there, but an escape is better than being cooped up at the mercy of the enemy right? The princess let out a silent gasp as the glove she wore promptly took the color of the wallpaper in her quarters. 

 

That can't be.

 

A frown graced her elegant features as she planted her other hand on the wall and saw that it was perfectly concealed as well. 

 

Why in the world could my camouflaging powers be activated? Weren't the cuffs supposed to be restricting me from using my abilities? Could there be something faulty about the handcuffs then? Or is someone secretly helping and giving me a chance to take mykingdom back? 

 

Ji In didn't even have the opportunity to arrange her thoughts and craft an escape route as she heard the doorknob turning and the door opening slightly while the Werewolf General spoke with his subordinates. 

 

“Treasurer, our funds are running dangerously low. I would need you to collect payment from every single soldier here who have taken our magical stocks for granted when going to war. 3 clam shells per bottle of siren-resisting potion taken. 12.5 cowrie shells for every sword broken. 8.25 conch shells for every piece of armor damaged. Oh you can charge more for headgear by the way. And ...”

 

The General’s voice droned on and on as Ji In scoffed at his detailed listing of the prices the soldiers had to pay. She smirked as the poor treasurer was made to repeat every single piece of information his superior had given, deciding to just round up to the nearest number of shells the soldiers had to give instead, because who the hell could fish out 0.25 of a conch shell? 

 

Something started tickling at the back of her mind as Ji In blended herself against the wall nearest to the door, prepared to spring her risky plan once the General stepped in and shut the goddamn piece of wood.

 

“No no no, it's 12.5 cowrie shells for every sword broken, not just 10.5! If you really mess up the types of shells, then just collect it in the form of phoenix feathers from everyone. Oh and by the way Treasurer, you owe me 33 conch shells for the previous mask you damaged by scrubbing it too hard 17 days ago. If you don't have that many, just pay me in the form of phoenix feathers and you're good to go. As I'm nice, you only need to pay me 32 of them, no more no less. Good day! I expect to hear from you tomorrow!” 

 

With that, the General slammed the door shut in his face and whirled around to admire the magnificence of the