C h a p t e r   2 0

A  e    S  o  o

I can’t feel anything. I’m holding my Uncle on my lap but I can feel something wet on my hand. It’s red and slippery. 

“Uncle?”

This is the fourth time I’ve called his name and all he does is smile at me. His hands are weak but he still holds my cheek, wiping my tears. “No crying Ae Soo.”

I nod wiping my tears away and hold his hand. “Sehun will come back. We’ll save you Uncle. So please hold on for me okay?” He nods weakly and sighs.

“Ae Soo, your Mom... always remember that she’s already gone okay? No matter what you see.. or hear... she’s not that person.. don’t forget that..”

“What are you saying? Mom is long gone Uncle! So don’t talk anymore okay? It’ll make things harder for you!”

He smiles and looked behind me. I follow his line of sight and saw Dad wide eyed with a sword on his hand. “What the are you doing Kang Joon?” Uncle releases a laugh and winced. Dad hurried beside me and stare. “Get up.”

“It’s nice to see both of you together.. I think I’m contented with this.”

“Shut up. Hold on to me and I’ll tend to you.” 

Uncle grabs Dad’s hand and shakes his head. “I’m good Hyung. I miss Noona so bad anyway.”

“UNCLE!” “KANG JOON!” Dad and I say in unison.

“Ah, you’re getting along just fine. See?” He takes both of our hands and smiled. I can’t even see him properly because my tears are blocking my sight. “Hyung, I know that you care..about Ae Soo. She’s your daughter. And she loves you a lot... so take care of her for me will you?”

“Shut up!”

I feel a squeeze on my hand as I cry. “Ae Soo, he’s really a pain in the but... deep inside your Dad loves you. So don’t give up on him okay?”

I shake my head and place his hand on my cheek. “No.. don’t talk that way.. you can’t leave yet.. please..”

He’s starting to cry too but the smile doesn’t fade on his eyes. “I love you a lot Ae Soo and I treated you like my own daughter... so thank you for those times.. I really had fun..”

“NO YOU CAN’T!” I squeeze on his hand even harder hoping that it will help a bit but then it slips away from mine. “Uncle?” I shake him but he’s not responding. “UNCLE KANG JOON!” 

S  e  h  u  n

When I get back to where Ae Soo is and saw her Dad standing behind her with his head hanging low. Ae Soo is hugging her Uncle while staring blankly. I walk closer to her and her eyes dropped to mine. When I hugged her, I kissed her temples but she’s not reacting. She’s like an empty shell. 

“I’m sorry..” I whisper to her. The moment she hears my voice, she cried hard. “We have to let go of him now.”

I take Uncle Kang Joon from her but then, we heard a loud noise. “Get behind me.” Her dad stand on guard in front of us. Chanyeol and Jongin did too. I put Ae Soo behind me and she’s still in daze. The door slammed open and a group of men charged at us. 

“We’ll handle this so you should escape.”

“Are you sure?” The two of them nodded then I felt a weight lighten on my shoulders. I see Ae Soo’s dad grabbing Uncle Kang Joon from me.

“I’ll take him. You should look after her.” He nudges to Ae Soo who’s expression is blank. I hold her hand as we run and it’s frozen as ice. 

“Ae Soo.” She didn’t even react with me calling her name. It hurts to see her like this. I swear I’ll kill Ae Ryu the next time I see him. 

When we’re about to get to the main door, it shut close and Jonghyun appears. “Kang Joon’s gone. You should hand Ae Soo over now to me Hyung.”

“You planned this, didn’t you?” I can feel the dark aura surrounding Ae Soo’s dad. I didn’t realize that he had that powerful aura before. “Tell me, who killed Kang Joon? Is it you?”

Suddenly, it felt chilly then fog started to appear around us. What the hell? “I think our princess knows the answer to that. Am I right Ae Soo?” We all turned to Ae Soo. I gasp seeing her in her Gumiho form. Her eyes are blue and full of tears. 

“Ae Soo?”

“Why? You want him killed? WHY?!!!!” Icicles started flying towards Jonghyun’s direction but he managed to block it. He gives us a laugh like everything is so entertaining to him.

“I didn’t say I want him killed and you know that princess. It's just, he saw something he should'nt have.” Ae Soo’s hand is turning colder and colder as seconds pass. 

“Ae Soo, look at me. It’s okay. I’ll take care of this so calm down alright?” It looks like Ae Soo’s not listening to reason right now because the moment I touched her cheek, she nudged me away which sent me flying against the wall. I wince in pain and try to stand up when I saw her grabbing Jonghyun by his throat and threw him outside. “AE SOO!!”

I run after her and saw her holding Jonghyun against the cliff. “I’ll kill you.”

“You wouldn’t want to kill me. If you do, you won’t be able to save your Uncle.” Jonghyun’s words seemed to get through her and she let go of his neck. He gasps for breath and releases a laugh. “Man that was tough! NOW YOU DIE!”

As soon as Ae Soo turned, Jonghyun pushes her off the cliff. “Ae Soo-“

“DAMN IT!” Her Dad ran after her and grabbed her hand. My whole body stiffen when I saw Ae Soo and her dad fall off the cliff in front of me.

“AE SOO!!!!!” 

“Now that was easy. Both the heir and the head are gone.” I turn to him and changed into my wolf form. 

“You’re dead.”

S e   J o n g

My whole body hurts and my left arm feel so heavy. I struggled to open my eyes. I feel so weak. I find myself in a familiar room. I know this place. 

“At last you’re awake.” I turn to my right seeing Ryeo Won beside me. 

“You-“

“You hurt you’re arm but it’s not broken. It just needs a few weeks to recover.”

I sit up wincing in pain and see myself covered in bandages. “Is this the Dragon clan’s main house?”

She laughs and looks at me in disbelief. “Seriously? You forgot your own home now just because you’re acting as a head of a different clan?” I sigh leaning at my back then I realize something. 

“Where’s the kid?”

“Oh, you mean Ae Soo? You seriously refuse to claim her as your daughter?”

“Just tell me where she is.”

“Well at least there’s a bit of concern.” She stands closing the first aid box and removes the surgical cloves off her hand. “She hit her head somewhere but it doesn’t seem like she was hurt badly. But she’s not talking. She woke up hours ago and she’s just sitting at her bed staring outside. I got Luhan and Yixing staying with her though.”

“Thank you.”

“Oh and about the guy who’s with you? He’s-“

I shut my eyes close and cut her off. “I know. Tell the others that we’re going to have a proper burial.”

“Okay. And what about Jonghyun?” I clench my fist in fury. 

“Let them think that Ae Soo and I died with the fall. I’ll deal with him properly.”

₰  ₰  ₰  ₰  ₰  ₰ 

I managed to get out of bed and headed to where Ae Soo is after eating my dinner. Luhan is there with her and Yixing is talking to her but she’s not looking at them. When the two guys see my presence, they stand to greet me. It turned out that the two of them managed to save us from falling further together with Tao and Yifan. “I heard everything from Ryeo Won. I give you my thanks.”

“It’s nothing Your Highness. It’s our duty to protect you and the Princess. But it seems,” Luhan looks at Ae Soo who’s still blank and I nod.

“It’s okay. Leave her be."

“Understood. We’ll take our leave then. Yixing.”

I hate getting close to her like this but I can’t seem to leave her all alone. She lost the one person who’s always by her side all the time ever since she was a kid. I can honestly say that Kang Joon seemed to be more of a father to her than I am. 

“They brought your dinner. Eat.” I say nudging the tray towards her. She didn’t reply or even looked at me. I guess Kang Joon’s death was that painful for her. I sigh standing and head towards the front door. I stopped before getting out of her room and looked at her one last time. “We’ll avenge his death. I swear to you.”

L u h a n

I actually don’t care about people. But lately, there’s someone who’s making me feel otherwise. I’ve heard a lot about her. They say she’s really pretty and strong. But what I see in front of me is a broken girl who can’t even talk. She just stares outside like she’s waiting for another day to end. I take the tray with me out again and as usual, it’s not even touched.

 “I don’t know what I’m going to do anymore.” I sigh placing the tray in front if the counter when Yifan came in.

“It’s the second day and she still haven’t ate anything.” 

“Yeah, won’t she collapse at this point?” He stops halfway to the fridge and looks at me. “What?”

“It’s just odd. For you to care for someone.”

“Am I that cold?”

He twists the cap of his drink and chugged it in. “Not really. That’s just how you are.”

I find it strange though. But she’s just too broken and I can’t turn a blind eye towards her. “What do you think will they do to her Uncle?” 

“There will be a funeral tomorrow. Does she know?”

“She never talks. I find it hard to tell her. She might break if I do.”

He puts his drink down and looks at me. “She already is.” He then turns behind me while his eyes slowly widen. “Oh sh*t.”

I turn seeing Ae Soo lying on the floor. We both run towards him and I grab her. “Hey! Are you okay?!”

“She’s pale. Take her back to her room and I’ll call Yixing.”

I nod and carry Ae Soo. She’s so pale as snow I’m starting to panic. It’s my fault. I should’ve just forced her to eat. Damn it. The door opens and Yixing comes in. He grabs Ae Soo’s hand to check her pulse. “Is she okay?”

“Her pulse is weak. She still haven’t eaten yet?” I nod. “I’ll heal her for the time being but, this can’t continue Hyung. You know what I mean.”

I nod. He lays a hand on Ae Soo’s chest and his hand started glowing. After a while, Ae Soo’s all and well. I told them I’ll look after her. It’s my responsibility anyway. I hear a soft sigh and see her eyes slowly opening. I was so relieved that it made me stand on my seat and went to her closely.

“How are you feeling?” She scans the place and closes her eyes again. Tears started to flow on her eyes even though they’re shut closed. “Princess..” I remember Yifan’s words earlier. How I’m worrying about telling her about her Uncle because she’s broken as is but... I guess there’s no helping it. “Say, your Uncle will be having his burial tomorrow. He’s placed in a room for now so would you like to see him? He’ll be cremated-“

She gasps and shakes her head intensely while she holds on to me. I know she wanted to tell me she doesn’t want that for him but she’s having too much trouble expressing herself. I can see too much of my past self in her and I hate it. 

“I’ll take you to him.” She nods as she holds back the tears that she’s been keeping inside her. I hold her by her hand as I guide her towards the room where her Uncle is. We stop in front of the room and I let her prepare herself before we go in. “You okay?”

She nods. I open the room for her and leave her some space with her Uncle. She started crying hard again when she got close to him. This is so hard to watch. She cried for a while but she refuses to leave his side. The door opens and Master Se Jong comes in. He looks at me then to Ae Soo.

“You brought her here?”

“My apologies.” I hear him sigh. I disappoint the man that I respect a lot and wait for the final blow but instead, he turned his back against Ae Soo and headed for the door.

“Stay beside her. She’ll need it.”

You’re her father. Shouldn’t you be the who should stay by her side instead? As much as I want to say those words, I can’t. I know this is not my line to step in to and I am just told to take care of the Princess with my life. 

After he have left, I wait for Ae Soo to calm down. She turns to me with her swollen eyes. “Where am I?” She asks with a hoarse voice. It’s a first that I heard it but it’s beautiful. “Why didn’t I die? I fell.. why is it that I’m just bruised and scratched?”

“Your father was holding you when you fell.”

“Dad did? He... saved me?” I gave her a nod and it seems like I just gave her another thing to process. “Oh..” there was a bit of silence but then she talked again. “Sehun, where is he?”

Her life seemed to be a never ending processing to make. I just sigh and spill the beans. “When you fell, everybody got the news that you and Master Se Jong died. That was the plan for now. So you can’t meet people back in your home yet until we’re given instructions to do so.”

“Oh..” she replied shortly. I stare at her, watching her but her eyes are getting more and empty. Then she started breathing heavily with her hand on her chest. 

“Princess!”

“I..can’t...feel my arms..” I carry her back to her room and called Yixing again. 

“You’re hyperventilating Princess. I need you to calm down. Look at me.” He holds both of her hands and stare at her. “Now I want you to breathe in here. Slow breaths. Inhale.. exhale.” He holds the plastic bag for her and helped her to calm down then I felt a hand grip mine.

“What- Princess-“ she’s breathing heavily while holding on to my hand. I look at her and smile telling her that it’ll be okay.

Then I hold her hand back.