Seungwan woke up with no sensation registered in her right arm at dawn break. It was not surprising since Joohyun was sleeping on it, again.

A lazy smile wended into Seungwan’s face as she tried to move her arm from beneath Joohyun and massage some feeling into it. A prickly sensation soon crawled up her arm but the smile on Seungwan’s face remained as she revelled in the angelic sleeping face of Joohyun’s. Even now, Seungwan still found it unbelievable that she had found love, so much love in someone in this lifetime. Joohyun stirred a little and murmured something in her sleep as she so often did the past few nights and Seungwan, with renewed feelings in her right arm, cradled Joohyun gently.

Joohyun had woken up a few minutes later, rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes and clinging onto Seungwan’s arm.

“Time to get to work.” Seungwan said as she pinched Joohyun’s cheeks lightly and got a pout in response.

They had just arrived in a new village a day ago, one that was further away from the city. The construction work they had planned for this village was numerous, overseeing the building of a bridge, planning and cutting a path through the woods which would link them to their adjacent village.

Simply put, the village was lacking in many things but aplenty in lands and young children. Seungwan was nearly hit in the face by a ball made of rattan and to her massive surprise, Yeri was playing   amongst the village children.

“What are you doing here?” Seungwan asked as she strode over to Yeri.

“Behaving like a child, can’t you see?” Yeri replied with a smug smile on her face as she juggled the ball with her legs expertly, garnering attention from the other children who were very much younger than her. Squeals of awe broke out from their lips and some were even clapping and jumping excitedly at Yeri’s display. Seungwan too, might have been amused and indulged in this flamboyant show if only she was not feeling bad for Jaehyun and the other organisation men who must have been scrambling to look for Yeri.

“Does anyone know you are in this village?” Seungwan asked in a flat tone.

Yeri returned a cheeky smile and wiggled her brows. “What do you think, Seungwan?”

Wearing a look of disapproval, and too distracted by Yeri’s playful antics, Seungwan had not noticed that Joohyun had made her way towards them and realised only belatedly when Yeri had released a gasp of surprise at the sight of Joohyun before breaking her conversation from Seungwan and leading the other children away.

“Who is that?” Joohyun asked curiously and Seungwan’s body jerked in surprise.

Seungwan chided herself for her lack of awareness to her surroundings.

“That is Yeri.”

Joohyun craned her neck to try and catch a glimpse of the younger girl who appeared engrossed in her game with the other children and saw a smile slowing forming on Joohyun’s face. A really pretty smile that made Seungwan smile along as well.  

“She really feels like you,” Joohyun spoke with nostalgia.  

“Charismatic and adept at games?” Seungwan asked snobbishly.

Joohyun slapped Seungwan lightly on the shoulders and said, “cut the arrogance and get to work.”

**

Sehun awoke with a start to the sounds of roosters crowing.

It was yet another day and there was no news from the palace. Something was amiss and he knew for certain now. Sehun had thoroughly regretted agreeing to Seungwan’s plans for him to set out on this mission. The messenger who was supposed to bring news back from the palace was late by three days.

He quickly sent out two letters, one to Chanyeol and the other to his father, the Great Khan. The Prince then set about to plan for alternatives. If the situation was as he has feared whereby, the minister and his aides, has been compromised then he had to think up of something else. He could not afford to let his mission fail, not after spending the past two years on it. Perhaps he should not have been so ambitious and execute his moves so rapidly. He was beginning to admit his own mistakes of trying to accomplish something complex with careless haste.

After he was done, Sehun pinched the bridge of his nose as a small headache thrummed. Maybe he should get himself out of this tent and help out with whatever he could in this village, this Han village in a land that does not belong to his Father Khan, not yet. That thought made him bitter once more.

Right after he exited the tent, he was greeted with a sight of his sister melding seamlessly with the Han people and felt his anger brought to a simmer.

Seungwan spotted him as well.  

“Really, brother? Have you gotten too used to the comforts of palace-living? You used to be the earliest amongst us,” Seungwan spoke as she walked over with a small spring in her steps.

“And remind me when did you start learning about architecture in the palace?” Sehun retorted with a scowl on his face. 

Throwing her brother a weak smile, Seungwan said, “I learnt many more things outside of the palace, including the people here. So… I would recommend that you come on more excursions like these with us.”

Sehun sighed heavily and shook his head in disapproval of his sister’s ways. He had greater matters to worry about than to banter with his younger sister at this point in time. In fact, it struck him suddenly that he should be worried for Seungwan’s safety as well. If his plans were messed up, Seungwan would be in grave danger as well, perhaps even graver than him because Seungwan had no clue about his political schemes.

Sehun had to think of a way to ensure his sister’s safety regardless. That was what his father had expected him to do.

**

Kyungsoo was down in the dark cell again, together with Jongdae. This time round he was determined to coax an answer out of the Minister. The Minister held out for a few moments as he witnessed the first of the blades stuck through a distant uncle’s chest, together with his family. They were executed in a swift, cold-hearted fashion and Kyungsoo felt the column of his throat tighten.

Jongdae however, seemed to have a stronger stomach for such violence but his patience was wearing thin as he waved over the next family to be executed. Finally, they noted a spark in the Minister’s eyes, signs of breaking but not yet.

Kyungsoo looked away again, as cries of pleas from those to be executed filled the room.

“Minister, let’s not make this too difficult for both yourself and us. Even if you do not care for your own life, surely you would for your family’s. Tell us, who else is in the same party as you? You must have a bigger sponsor, we have managed to intercept several letters of yours with correspondents talking about this bigger sponsor. If you tell us, we would reduce your sentence and the rest of your family members would be spared,” Jongdae drawled in a bored tone.

Kyungsoo watched with impassive eyes. Never in Kyungsoo’s life would he expect himself to feel so conflicted. Many a times he has been told by older officials that he was too young to understand things and he refuted them but right now, he truly understood those words. Kyungsoo did not like using methods which involved killing people. He believed in Seungwan’s ideals and that ideal involved bringing people happiness regardless of their race and respecting all lives. That meant, Seungwan would have abhorred the idea of taking innocent lives.

There was another cry of plea from a woman and that was when Kyungsoo then decided to speak.

“Why the reluctance, Minister? If you think this individual can protect you then you must be wrong. It has been a week and there has been no assistance offered to you, not even to your family. What has this sponsor been doing? What else could be more precious than your own li