Taeyeon scrunched up, her head in a state of pain she hasn’t remember feeling in a long time. She groaned, lifting her hand to cover her forehead, as if that gesture would make the uneasy feeling go away. She sat herself up, still feeling dizzy and a little airy. When her fingers touched a cold liquid on the floor, Taeyeon frowned, confused. She didn’t remember dropping some Soju there.

When she opened her eyes to see what it was, Taeyeon felt her heart sunken in her chest. A vivid red liquid was tainting her fingertips… there wasn’t any wine in the room. And she didn’t remember ordering wine for that night even. That red liquid couldn’t be anything else than blood.

As if she had suddenly been struck by lightning, Taeyeon quickly stood up, startled. Her eyes widened out when she saw the two gisaeng girls on the floor, with their hanboks smudged with blood. Dead.

The two gisaeng girls were dead.

Taeyeon gulped, her mind still processing what her eyes could be seeing. Why the girls were dead? What the hell even happened when she was asleep? Were they attacked? Were they violated? Could Lady Miyoung-

Lady Miyoung!

Her eyes looked for the lady around the room, to which they found at the very entrance of the room, leaning her head against the closed door. “Lady Miyoung?” Lady Miyoung didn’t move. She stood there, facing the door, her back turned towards Taeyeon. She had some stains of blood in her hands and clothes as well. “Lady Miyoung…”

Taeyeon closed her eyes, gulping. “What happened, Lady Miyoung?” She asked, feeling uneasy in the stomach. “What happened when I was asleep?” Lady Miyoung didn’t answer.

Taeyeon noticed the hair-band she used to keep her hair tight in a bun was on the floor. She brushed her fingers over her own hair and suddenly her hands moved straight away to touch her chest-binder beneath her male clothes just to check if it was still in place. It was. It was in place. But the fear of what they could’ve seen put Taeyeon in despair. “Lady...Miyoung? What did you see?”

Miyoung stood quiet and Taeyeon covered her face with her hands. “Please… don’t tell me that…” Taeyeon sighed, feeling her shoulders get heavy with guilty and shame.

“I’ve killed them…” She spoke up, her voice ringing in a different tune to Taeyeon’s ears. It seemed distant and a bit cold.

Taeyeon lifted her face to her. “What?”

“I’ve killed them…”

And that was when Taeyeon realized Purpose was on the floor, just beside Miyoung’s feet, with the filler of the blade soaking in blood. A chilly and cold feeling assaulted her soul. “You… k-killed them? What you mean...you killed them?”

Taeyeon was feeling so distressed, her brain was barely comprehending what she was even hearing. “Why did you... kill... them off?

Miyoung didn’t answer.

Taeyeon’s chest started to hyperventilate. “You can’t… you can’t kill...gisaengs girls, Miyoung!” She budged, moving, getting closer to the lady in front of hers. “Were you out of your mind? Gisaeng girls are property of the Estate! You can’t hurt them! You can’t even touch ‘em without permission! You can’t just...straight up kill a gisaeng girl! Are you insane?”

The lady was still silent, with her back towards her. Taeyeon got angry. She grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around, forcefully making Miyoung to dare look at her.

Miyoung’s face was completely blank, her eyes dark, cold and distant. “Why did you do it? Why did you kill them? Why did you feel the need to do that?” She repeated the question. “Did they hurt you?” She asked, worriedly. Miyoung didn’t answer. Taeyeon was in doubt if that woman was even in her full senses.

Taeyeon closed her eyes, her hands trembling a little bit. “Did they hurt you? Did they do anything to you? To me?” Miyoung was still silent, it was starting to piss Taeyeon off. “Tell me what happened!” She begged.

“Nothing.” Miyoung said, monotone. “Nothing happened.”

Taeyeon scoffed, not believing what she was just hearing. “What you mean nothing happened? Are you telling me that you’ve killed those women for nothing?” She hissed, trying not to speak too loud so people couldn’t overhear them from outside. “Are you aware of the consequences of what you’ve done?” She asked, and it was quite clear that Miyoung wasn’t, because she refused to speak still. Taeyeon was running short of patience with her. “Are you even listening to me?”

Miyoung lifted her eyes to look at her. Taeyeon noticed Lady Miyoung scanning all the features in her face with her own very eyes. “Are you okay?” Still silence. “Miyoung… what happened?” Still silence. “Why did you kill them?” Taeyeon asked again, in hope that time around, the lady would answer her question. She didn’t. Miyoung kept silent still. Taeyeon gulped, feeling somewhat angry with the lady in front of hers. “We need to get out here!” Taeyeon said, firmly. “We need to get out of this place, as fast as possible! If that Madame Cho finds out we killed those maidens of hers...we...we are ed! Whole Joseon will be after us!”

Taeyeon closed her eyes, the migraine in her head just in levels she has never seen before. She felt the need to kick the table. Or the door. Or Miyoung’s face. She was so angry, Taeyeon felt like she had just run a marathon.

She sighed, looking back to the gisaengs on the floor. What should she do? Should she hide their bodies away? How could she do that?

Taeyeon thought for a second and given the rush she was in, it seemed to be the best plan she could have at that moment. She dragged their bodies closer to the beds in the corner of the room. Moving them around in a hassle effort, Taeyeon managed to get them under the covers after a while, pretending they could be a couple, sleeping in there.

From inside her clothes, she retrieved a handkerchief and proceeded to wipe the blood stains from the floor, the table, and the dining set. Her white tissue quickly shifted its color, becoming vividly red.

Once she was finished, she took a minute to look around the room to see if any spot was missing. There wasn’t any. But that wouldn’t matter much, as Taeyeon was aware that by the morning, tea-brewers would come to their room and find the gisaeng girls dead on the bed.

They had to leave that place immediately. If they had any luck, they could escape the house during the night without anyone seeing.

“Let’s go… We need to get out here!” She called, urgently. “Let’s find Heechul and Seohyun, get our horses, and leave!” She grabbed Purpose from the floor, wiping the blood from the blade and putting it in its sheath. “And you…” , she pointed her finger at Miyoung. “Don’t you dare pick my sword up again!” Taeyeon left it, gritting her teeth, a little angry at how Miyoung dared to use Purpose for that silly act of hers. Taeyeon adjusted the sword around her torso and reached to the corner of the room to get her satchel and bag in order to leave.

But Miyoung didn’t move from her spot. Taeyeon sighed, still mad, and grabbed her by the arm, dragging Miyoung with her. “What are you doing idle there? C’mon! We gotta leave!” She called urgently. “I swear to God, this is the last time I ask for a drink in this ing trip!” She bared her teeth, angry with the whole situation.

She opened the door of the room as silently as she could, and looked both ways to see if there was any gisaeng girl nearby. When she didn’t spot any, she left the room, still dragging Miyoung’s by the arm with her.

The part of the house they were in was in complete silence. Taeyeon didn’t know for how long she stood unconscious for, but she was sure it was way past 3 am. It was complete darkness, all the torch-flames already off and the only thing helping Taeyeon to even see what was ahead of hers was the moonlight, high on its peak that night. There wasn’t a single soul awakened at that time and the somber atmosphere around the place was giving her the creeps.

They had to be extremely careful. One wrong step and they were done for. Madame Cho sure would have connections with powerful men all across Joseon, maybe even with the court, and if she finds out Taeyeon and Miyoung were responsible for the deaths of two girls belonging to her house, their whole plan could fall apart in just a blink of an eye. Taeyeon’s only hope was that she and Miyoung were miles ahead off distance from that house by the time Madame Cho figures out what happened to her maidens.

When they found Heechul and Seohyun’s guest room, they didn’t waste any time in waking them up. Taeyeon pressed her finger against her own lips, shushing them in order to make them silent and not making any noise.

“Shh, keep quiet. Don’t make any noise.”

“What is going on?” Heechul asked, frowning, confused.

“We need to leave this place, let’s go!” Taeyeon called, gesturing with her hand to make them move. “Quick! We gotta leave before someone wakes up!”

“Why?”

“I’ll explain later. Get up! Up! Move!”

“Can’t we wait till morning arrives?”

“No! We can’t stay here any longer! Let’s go!”

Heechul complained one more time but eventually got up from his bed. Seohyun didn’t make any objections but Taeyeon knew she was also tired and exhausted and in need of a good night of sleep as well.

“I’m sorry for such a sudden turn of events but we gotta go! We need to get our horses and leave this house as soon as possible!”

With Heechul and Seohyun already following her, Taeyeon grabbed Miyoung by the wrists and dragged the woman with her. All they had to do now is leave that gisaeng house for good.

~~*~~

“Where do you think you are going?”

Taeyeon heard one gisaeng girl ask them when they reached the front gate of the house. The girl was holding a torch up with her hand in order to see what was ahead of hers. As the girl approached them and placed herself in front of Taeyeon, the flames of the torch illuminated her face up, to which the gisaeng girl frowned.

“Aren’t you the lit’le lord that arrived today? The Lord Commander of the Joseon’s Army?” Her torch lifted up a little higher to the side, and she spotted Ginger just beside them. “Why are you leaving our house at this hour?” Taeyeon gulped, not knowing what to answer. “Are you trying to run away from Madame Cho without paying us what you owe?”

“What I owe?”

“You think you can come here, use our services as you please and then leave in the middle of the night without paying us?”

Taeyeon blinked. “I..uh-”

“You used our tea-brewers services, our saunas, our stables and our theater! Not only you, but your Lady Wife and your servants too…” She said, wiggling the torch to illuminate Miyoung, Seohyun and Heechul’s faces. “Everything in this house must be paid accordingly!”

“Look, I’m sorry, okay, but…”

“Madame Cho will know about this…” The girl screeched and Taeyeon felt despair fall above her soul. “MADAME-” Before the girl could yell, Taeyeon used her hand to cover the gisaeng’s mouth.

“Okay, okay, I’ll pay, alright? But don’t wake everybody up! Please!” She asked. “How much I owe you?”

“ONNFFmm…” Taeyeon sighed and retrieved her hand from , letting the girl finally speak. The gisaeng exhaled, trying to not make any further noise. “One hundred and forty-five.”

Her eyes bulged out. “What? One hundred and forty-five? Are you insane?” How could one night with all those services at that house cost that much? Its cost was higher than Taeyeon’s own bounty price. And that was when she was an enemy of their estate!

She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s ten per night. And you already spent one.”

“A third of one night.”

“We don’t do fractions here, M’lord. Either you slept here or you didn’t. And you did. The four of you. So it’s forty per night. And the access you and your company had to our services sums up to a hundred.”

“What about the five? Where did it come from?”

“It’s for you touching me.”

Taeyeon gritted her teeth. But she had no choice. If she wanted to leave that place without causing any commotion, she had to pay the price the girl was asking. Taeyeon sighed, getting a couple of rings of money from her bag, and taking the correct sum, she finally handed it to the gisaeng girl guarding the gate. “There.” She said, distated. From all the money they had when they stole Kim Chang-Min to a single ring of coins totalling 50 was not what Taeyeon had in mind. But that was the situation they were in.

The gisaeng nodded her head. “Thank you for your stay, M’Lord. Madame Cho and the Flower of the Desert welcomes you at any time.” She said, seemingly pleased with the money she just got.

Taeyeon rushed to leave that building as fast as possible. She didn’t want to make any loud noises so she purposely didn’t mount Ginger, pulling the reins of the horse to make him walk beside her. Heechul pulled the second horse alongside him.

The one pulling Miyoung was her own handmaiden, Seohyun.

~~*~~

The chilly air of the desert night was gritting Taeyeon’s face. Her long hair completely loose, blowing on the wind, as she forgot to pick her hair-band up after the hassle of cleaning up the room and covering the bodies.

She was so desperate to leave that place that she didn’t realize she had left the accessory behind. And now the hair getting on the way to her face was making her a tad angrier.

“So… How long are we going to walk in this desert for?” Heechul asked, a little tired.

“Just a little longer.” Taeyeon answered, assertive, still pulling Ginger with her.

“Shouldn’t we set a camp so we could at least sleep through the night?”

“No!” She quickly denied, not liking how everything was going wrong that day.

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