“Do I really need to dress this?” Hwang Miyoung asked when Seo Juhyun gave her a white cotton robe. Sunhee had brought Juhyun, Sooyoung and Yuri to her room in that afternoon, and it seemed the three servants had already settled a runaway plan to make her escape that place. Miyoung only didn’t understand why she had to wear that piece of clothing.

“All servants wear white in Midsummar.” Yuri said. “You know how nobles know you belong to their classes around here?”

“By the color of your outfit?” Miyoung guessed correctly. “It’s the same in Rosegarden. The difference is that our servants wear pale color outfits.”

“Well, here we wear white.” Sooyoung spoke up. “And if you have any chance of escaping this place before Master Shin takes notice of your absence, is dressing up yourself like a servant.”

“What if he finds me?” She asked, afraid. “If he doesn’t recognize me, he could kill me as he could take me from a common servant, couldn’t him?”

“Let’s just hope it is not what happens.” Yuri prayed.

Miyoung gulped, her heart beating crazy for that wild plan. “When he takes notice of my absence, won’t he send guards after me?”

“Most likely yes.” Sooyoung agreed, nodding her head. “We just have to make sure that when he does, we’re the furthest away from here possible!”

“What about you?” Miyoung asked them. “What if he gets you all?”

“We’ll probably end up thrown into the pits to fight bulls and bears.” Yuri added it up.

“But that does not matter.” Juhyun spoke up. “For you are more important, Milady!”

“Juhyun…”

“Rosegarden belongs to the Hwangs! And if you are the last one, then Rosegarden belongs to you.” She said, firmly. Miyoung clenched her fists. If he were a man, everything would be different. People would accept her as their lord. But a woman? Rosegarden has never had a female ruler before. “You need to survive no matter the cost! And then when his days are over, you will be free to marry another man again. And this time one by your own choice!”

Miyoung hugged Juhyun. “Thank you, Juhyun.” “So, I wear this robe and then what? Behave myself as a servant?” She asked for more details.

“Till we managed to get you out of the city, it should be the best option.”

“We will be heading towards the southern gate of the city.” Sooyoung came forward. “And from there, if we head towards south we’d be reaching Stoneguard, the closest village from here.”

“Shouldn’t we go north?” Miyoung frowned. “Rosegarden is up in the north, not south.”

“The very first place Master Shin will send guards to would be the northern entrance gate. He knows you’d be running towards your hometown. We need to go in the opposite direction.”

That made sense. “Okay.”

“After we get to Stoneguard, we can study ways to reach Rosegarden. Does your province have any village on the coast? We can try to go by boat.”

“Only if we go from the Riverlands and cross their rivers. Liu was married to Yi Sundeok, daughter of Master Yi, the Lord Master of the province. They won’t answer to Shin Yunsuk, especially once the news of their deaths reach Riversvale. If we managed to get there, they can help us. I don’t think they will deny any help to a Hwang family member. The Hwangs and The Yi have had a good relationship with one another for years.” Miyoung recalled.

“Great. That’s nice.” Yuri and Sooyoung spoke together.

“We need to find ways to cross Stoneguard and reach any village by the shore of the west coast and get a ship heading towards Riversvale’s port.” She resumed.

“Yeah, sure.” Yuri nodded. “But, first, we need to leave Midsummar alright.”

Miyoung sighed. “Yes, that is the most important thing.”

“We’ll be alright, Milady.” Juhyun spoke up. “Once we leave this place, we’ll be fine.”

“I know.”

~~*~~

Walking through the chambers following Yuri and Sooyoung was an experience Miyoung had never thought to have one day. Running away from his Lord Husband and his palace to save her life was something she would never expect to do, but that was exactly what was happening to her. In order to live, she needs to escape the hands of her own Lord Husband.

Miyoung was really touched by all the actions of those servants to help her run away. Even if she did know they were doing for themselves too, Miyoung couldn’t turn a blind eye on their characters. Even though they were servants to Master Shin, Sooyoung, Yuri and even Sunhee were risking their lives to help Miyoung escape from that evil man. That was really brave of them all.

When the girls reached the chamber at the end of that dungeon, a tall bald man wearing a white male robe, nodded his head. “This way, Milady.” He invited her to go inside.

She looked at the girls beside her. “Is it safe?”

“We can’t do our escape on our own, we’ll need help from a little bit of our friends.” Sooyoung said. “Gunhoo knows about the plan. He is here to guard this place, there is a passage here. We can try breakout from there and escape the palace.”

“And then?” Miyoung asked, anxiously.

“And then you run, Milady.” The