“Stand still!” The guards have shouted, Miyoung was still breathless on the floor, her vision blurred from the fatigue and the sunrays up in the sky. The ground was hot and harsh, and if she wasn’t so exhausted she would have stood up just for not feeling that burning ground against her back. But her body complained when she tried to move. “This servant belongs to the palace! We command you to give her to us!”

Please, no. Someone tell her she didn’t run till that point so she could be back to her husband’s hands.

“A servant of the palace?” A voice asked with some curiosity, Miyoung opened her eyes and saw the short man getting closer to her. The man was clearly not from Midsummar as his skin wasn’t tanned at all. It was as pale as any noble lord. Not a single string of facial hair could be seen on his face, and his dark long hair made Miyoung a little bit jealous inside. He wasn’t wearing white clothes of servants or of lowborn people, or any other type of clothes Miyoung had seeing selling on the markets of Midsummar; his outfit consisted of a dark silver color male hanbok with white sleeves and white pants.

When the man bent himself to look closer at her, his figure ended up blocking the sun on Miyoung’s face, an action that she was actually grateful for.

“You’re a servant of the palace?” He asked her curiously.

“Yes.” Miyoung responded.

“And you running away from the palace?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” He asked, interested.

“That’s not of your concern!” She shouted angrily to him, making the boy blink his eyes confused and surprised. His companion beside him ended up chuckling for her answer. Miyoung shouldn’t give explanations to strangers in the streets.

Feeling like she couldn’t stand the heat in the ground anymore, she stood up, wiping the red dust off her clothes.

“She needs to come back to the palace!” One of the guards resumed his orders. “Master Shin will require her presence this evening!”

“For the wedding?” The shortest man guessed.

“The wedding?”

“We’ve heard the Lord Master of the Red Mountains will get married! To the lady daughter of Master Hwang, the Master Chief of the Hwang’s Estate?!” Miyoung widened her eyes upon hearing those words. Was that young man supposed to attend her marriage somehow? Would he be the Master of Kangwon’s Province by any chance? Shin Yunsuk had told her about the visitation of Kangwon’s Estate’s Master for dinner. Was that nobleman that Lord Master in question? “We would like to know if the ceremony would be open to the public?”

“Master Shin will never allow commoners to attend his festivals and ceremonies!” One of the guards answered him, smirking for the boy’s naivety. “Especially common people who don’t belong in Midsummar like you lot!”

“Master Shin is expecting to receive the company of Kangwon’s Province’s Master Lord for this evening!” The other guard completed, firmly. “That servant must return to the palace!”

Miyoung hugged her own arm, afraid of the guards. “Please, don’t.” She spoke up, trying to not make any alarm. “Master Shin already has thousands of servants, why would he miss one simple servant?”

“It’s not only you.” The guards have said. “There are four servants running away from the palace. If a breakout is happening, Master Shin will end up with far less servants that what it is needed for tonight.”

“Wow, four less servants at his disposal, what a nightmare, huh?” The man named Heechul spoke up ironically. Miyoung felt relieved to hear those words from him because at least she could tell he wouldn’t simply obey those guards’ words just because they said so. “Let the servant be. I’m sure the Master Lord of this Region wouldn’t bat an eye for a poor servant that ran away.”

“You don’t respond us!” The guard spoke up, pointing his finger up against him. “We follow the orders of Master Shin only! He requires the presence of all servants in the Royal Palace! Immediately!”

“But why you’re running away from the palace, though?” The boy asked her, lowly, still curious. Miyoung did not like how he was nosy about that.

“It’s not of your business!”

“Hm…” Even though he wasn’t offended by her words, he frowned his brows, finding something weird in the air. Miyoung did not like how those men were actually holding her back to run away to the southern gate. Juhyun might have been there already, she might’ve even been waiting for her! Miyoung had to do something to get herself away from those men and run with Juhyun away from that city.

“If you won’t give her to us…” One guard spoke up, retrieving a blade from its guard. Miyoung stepped backwards, terrified. “Don’t weep when we chop off your heads!”

“Do we really need to resort to violence?” The boy beside her asked them, gently. “A decent conversation is often more powerful than the swing of a sword.” Her Lord Father once told Miyoung the same thing one day.

“Is that how do you treat outsiders around here?” Heechul asked, surprisingly unbothered by the menacing words of the guard. “Stoneguard had given us a warmer welcome than this city.”

“With a wonderful sauna!” The little man added, making Miyoung blink her eyes confused. Why those men didn’t seem so worried about those guards? Why they’ve been acting like meeting the Golden Army of Shin Yunsuk in broad daylight like that wasn’t a problem on its own? Even if they were outsiders, their behavior in the face of danger seemed so different and unique. Any other outsiders would probably bend their knees and obey whatever their commands were. But those men were not giving a damn about those guards.

She was convinced those men might be related to Kangwon’s Master Lord somehow. They