FORMAT AS FOLLOW: Italics - Past | Straight (but really gay) - Present

 

TW: Contains scenes that are graphic and upsetting. Read with caution.

 

Perhaps the weather curse placed on Haseul also affected Yeojin, yet manifested differently. Maybe Yeojin was cursed to absorb water. This time through people’s eyes.

The (ex?) handmaiden should’ve been crying her eyes out but she sat in still silence, blankly staring at the brick walls of the bleak dungeon.

Forced into the grimey dungeons of the Council’s estate, Yerim would be detained during Hyunjin’s trial. The verdict would determine whether Yerim would be tried as an accomplice. Withholding valuable information from the council was a very serious offense.

(Hyunjin’s murder was a slap on the wrist in comparasion.)

Above ground, the rest of the castlehold awaited their turn for testimonies. Hyunjin would not be appointed a representative, her rights waived at the first limb she tore off. Jinsol would be standing by to ensure nothing happened to Hyunjin as the hearing proceeded. Much like seneschal pro-tempore Hyejoo was doing outside Yerim’s room right now.

(The council chose Knight Minkyun from their personal troop to watch over Yerim. Hyejoo kept an eye on him more than she did Yerim.)

“Do you know what you’re going to say when it's your turn?”

“Not really,” Yeojin shrugged. “Teacher Vivi should have taught us how to give a proper character statement, huh?”

Yerim bit her tongue to how Yeojin omitted another teacher’s name.

Even if Yerim hid her true identity from Yeojin, it was nothing compared to keeping a family secret from a sister. One that could’ve provided answers to her career path. One that could’ve bonded them. One that could’ve helped her feel closer to her musical ancestors whom she felt zero relation to. One that could’ve helped her feel less alone.

Yeojin was specifically told to remind Yerim not to eat anything the council provides. She couldn’t help but stay longer. Loaves of bread inside her pillowcase and fully filled bowls underneath her bed, Yeojin would have rejected that Yerim was the monster the court kept labelling her as. Wolves had a bottomless stomach.

She was normal, handmaiden Yerim.

But Yerim whimpered and Yeojin couldn’t deny it. 

She couldn’t unimagine the dungeon they were in. She couldn’t unremember the scene of Hyunjin dismembering someone. She couldn’t unroot Yerim and Hyunjin’s family tree.

“W-Why wasn’t I allowed to know? Why did Teacher Vivi get to know this side of you but I wasn’t?”

Yeojin felt jealous of Vivi. Not only did she have all the intel but Haseul and the physician were on great terms now as well.

Yerim sighed and turned to the ex-squire.

If there was one person who would get her out of a funk, it was her. Hyejoo tried with a boring game of “I Spy” but maybe Yeojin’s siren genes of keeping others entertained prevailed.

Maybe it had nothing to do with her identity.

Maybe it was just Yeojin.

Normal Yeojin.

“I didn’t want things to change between us. I wanted to tell you when we were kids but the attack and my parents and…”

She wanted Yeojin to see her as just Yerim.

Mythical biology aside, they were still themselves. There were so many questions to ask and memories to reanalyze but Hyejoo could only distract Minkyun for so long. Time was running out, Yeojin wasn't even supposed to be allowed this close to her right now.

(“I spy something light grey.”

“The fourth brick from the torch eight rows up?”

“Nope, third brick from the torch six rows up. Your turn.”)

Yerim knew yesterday’s events could segue into unmasking Hyejoo’s identity. With the treatment they were getting - her skin paling from lack of sunshine - this was proof that Hyejoo’s secret needed to be secured longer.

“Are you mad at me?”

“I’m not gonna lie, I’m trying to be. It’s kind of making me mad that I’m not mad,” Yeojin scrunched up her face for emphasis.

Yerim wasn’t one to express emotions in public if they weren’t of happiness or giddiness. If Hyunjin could rip a person - albeit a favor to society - to shreds when her buttons were pushed, who knew what Yerim was capable of as well.

With how violently Yerim was trembling, Yeojin was for the first time in her life, afraid to reach out. But this was her best friend.

Her not-fully-human best friend.

But wait, she wasn't fully human either..

“What about Haseul? Are you mad at her?”

Heart twisting inside - Yeojin didn’t know if she wanted to ask Vivi if that was normal for her species - Yeojin wept into her hands. With strength she wasn’t afraid to hide anymore, Yerim plopped Yeojin into her lap.

For nearly her whole life, Yerim had been told to suppress her feelings. Her parents and then her sister explaining why they needed to keep things in. The younger Dong had never allowed herself to fully cry the way Yeojin was bawling right now. When denied squire status, Yerim let herself shed a few tears. At Heejin’s disappearance, she was first to get back to her chores. When her parents died, she skipped to town two days later.

Stacking tragedy after tragedy inside of herself.

“Y-Yerim,” Yeojin’s eyes bulged. “You’re squeezing too hard.”

“I am?” 

“Yes, but it’s okay,” Yeojin was between reassuring Yerim or running away. “Really it is.”

A knock.

“Yeojin, it’s your turn to give word for Hyunjin,” Hyejoo announced.

Nodding in solidarity, Hyejoo escorted Yeojin out. Minkyun’s hawk-like eyes tracked her every move. Yeojin pretended to trip so Hyejoo could slip in slices of fresh bread that Jungeun snuck into her own meal to pass onto Yerim.

Yerim never noticed the kind act as she willed herself to calm down with deep breathing techniques taught to her by her mother long ago.

---

Jinsol’s debut mission was a test of character. She paid attention to the newsletters and petty rumors of the small village. The territory Hyunjin led them to had almost zero wolf sightings. So they hunted game for dinner - and also to bring something to the castle for new chef Heejin to cook since meat was scarce.

Elongating her neck upwards, Jinsol searched for a sign of edible life.

“Does that actually help?” A teenage Hyunjin asked, copying her aunt. She groaned as she heard something crack.

Their first comedic moment since they rode out, Jinsol and Hyunjin fell into a comfortable laughter at Jinsol’s habit.

Hyunjin was instructed to take the queen to the safest lands. Everyone anticipated a royal’s debut as a knight. Hyunjin followed without question. They were testing Jinsol’s resolve. Seeing how serious she was in this endeavor.

Hyunjin remembered her first dud mission after being reinstated after her bar room brawl. Minho brought her to the Cursed Caldera to find a miracle worker that existed in fairy tales.

“Wait,” Hyunjin held her hand up as her ears picked up a rustling.

She picked up the sound earlier so listened longer than necessary.

Jinsol watched in awe as Hyunjin expertly reached for her bow and shot an elk in two tries - the first one looking clumsy given Hyunjin’s skill set.

---

If there was one family that could lie for you, it was the Has. Forging identities sharpened their tongues and acting chops. The council banked on the Has’ suspicions of Hyunjin’s wolf-like behavior, especially reacquainting themselves with her before and after her agility and strength sharpened.

“Before they left for Im, she reassured Jiwoo and I by telling us not to wait for them and to stay healthy,” Sooyoung clutched her shirt in her fist.

Sooyoung was lucky the council’s walls were comically thick. Hyejoo wouldn’t pick up her sob story from the dungeons.

Looking up with (fake) tears in her eyes, Sooyoung snuck a reassuring look towards Hyunjin as she sat in a lone chair in front of an elevated bench. Way too elevated with how far everyone strained to see them. A usual suspect would be chained up but they took extra precautions with this case. With insistence, Vivi set up Hyunjin’s restraints, conjuring a ring of white fire around Hyunjin with the necessary spell materials provided by the council.

Vivi made it wider than customary, not wanting to hurt her. The flames barely Hyunjin’s shins.

“When she arrived in tattered clothes after searching hours for her long lost love, I was surprised she had mustered her strength to carry in my almost-unconscious Hyejoo.”

Jinsol sat behind Sooyoung in a cheaply made chair. The queen may have been busy on the day of the memory, but she swore she remembered Hyunjin and Hyejoo neck and neck in a race back to the castle after the Kim kingdom attack.

Facing away from the council, Hyunjin didn’t hide her bewilderment, unsure whether to thank Sooyoung or laugh.

“My. Poor. Hyejoo,” Sooyoung’s index finger flicked away a stray tear.

As Sooyoung dramatized her limited memories with Hyunjin, the Jung kingdom Head Knight and queen eyed the council’s reactions, hoping enough of them would be convinced to bring Hyunjin and Yerim home.

---

Hyunjin made do with as little water Jinsol left in the basin, having scrubbed her hands vigorously. In a hurry, Jinsol flung her jacket off of her. Hyunjin caught it midair and bundled it with hers to stow in her bedroom she shared with her sister.

Even without a wolf kill this time around, Jinsol needed to absolve herself for enacting the council’s vendetta against wolves. Years ago, Jinsol shared the same sentiment but the passion faded when she experienced what the job entailed.

Hyunjin raised an eyebrow as she heard someone barreling down the halls.

“Yes Yerim, I brought you something,” Hyunjin sang out as she opened the bathroom door.

Palms out, Yerim was ready to accept whatever Hyunjin got from her from abroad.

(She was still peeved that Hyunjin brought her in a hug and said “my presence is your present.” Yerim specified she wanted tangible things from then on.)

This time, Hyunjin had a physical item. Jinsol had to stop by an “old friend” - Hyunjin knew it was an alchemist - and pick up something - Hyunjin knew it was for Jungeun. A wiz behind the boiling pot, this man branched out into different endeavors besides medicine making.

With the right ingredients, he made candy - from simplistic Wonka Bars to Everlasting Gobstoppers - as a side job and happily sold a batch to Hyunjin.

With Chaewon’s 18th approaching, Hyunjin wanted Yerim to receive a little gift before Chaewon’s mountain of presents. Chaewon would be spoiled with whatever Jinsol picked up from the Western kingdoms on their next mission out.

(Jungeun would prefer candy over a rapid fire crossbow any day.)

“Go check my pockets,” Hyunjin’s smile didn’t disappear until a skipping Yerim was out of her hearing range.

---

“Did you know this whole time?”

Haseul raised her head from its comfortable home on Vivi's shoulder to look at the physician’s face. Tunnel visioned on making amends with her sister, Haseul was exhausted from chasing Yeojin around the manor. Luckily Vivi convinced her to take a seat and catch her breath.

An ungodly wail made its way behind the doors. Was Sooyoung crying?

Hyunjin was undoubtedly guilty of manslaughter, but the charges of fraud on her docket were momentous. Neither Haseul or Vivi could imagine the punishment if she was found guilty of all of them.

“I did.. Well not from the very beginning. When I first agreed to work for the Kims, I didn’t think secret keeping was part of the job. Queens Hyelim and Yubin knew I was a healer descendant, that was the main reason they chose me to come in. But there were things I was asked to keep secret among the staff and even among the royal family themselves...” Vivi’s sigh caused Haseul to rise and fall with her.

Haseul sympathized. Queens Hyoyeon and Jessica spoke in whispers when they weren’t arguing or negotiating with constituents.

“...then Jungeun and Jinsol together.”

Haseul sympathized again. She was sealed with Jinsol’s secret crush as Vivi was with Jungeun’s.

“And then of course my feelings for you...”

Haseul didn’t want to sympathize but knew she played a part in that as well. She didn’t want to jeopardize their friendship and without Vivi saying it aloud, she knew that was why Vivi kept the Dong family secret from the castlehold as well. 

This was the first time in days the co-teacher wives were truly alone. They wished for better circumstances - the golden ornamental bench they were on was far from comfortable - but they indulged. 

“I’m sorry for keeping secrets from you, Haseul,” Vivi knocked her head lightly against the musician’s.

“Don't be, I’m guilty of that too,” Haseul gently replied back.

"Let's try not to have any more secrets, hm? We are married after all." 

Haseul could feel her heart skip at that fact, "That we are." 

Closing their eyes and leaning in, an earthquake shook the two new lovers out of each other’s presence. Thankfully it wasn't a real earthquake. Fresh from the murky dungeons Yeojin stomped in and paused at the sight of those she wished to ignore. 

“How is she holding up?” Haseul choked out.

Having Yeojin visit Yerim to calm down was a mistake, Haseul and Vivi both thought to themselves. A thought they would keep a secret from the livid girl marching down the corridor.

A grudge stewing in her, Yeojin pursed her lips.

“Yeojin,” Haseul pleaded. “I asked…”

“I HEARD!”

Vivi’s uncharacteristic glare towards Yeojin greatly contrasted Haseul’s anguished face.

“Sirens have impeccable hearing I believe,” Yeojin gritted her teeth.

For the first time in her life, Haseul couldn’t find her voice. She had learned from their mother - in bedtime stories she now knew were real - that sirens had terrible hearing due to water pressure and having to learn to tune out other sirens’ calls. But Haseul stowed that fact away until Yeojin was ready.

No more words were shared between the two siren descendants as the council’s courtroom’s doors opened.

Sooyoung made her way out, engulfing Jinsol in a hug, her hands weirdly placed over Jinsol’s mouth. Pushing Sooyoung off of her, Jinsol ushered Yeojin. The queen only glanced worriedly at Haseul as Jinsol’s mouth was full, chewing and gulping something quickly.

Haseul couldn’t be more thankful of Vivi taking her in her arms as she collapsed from heartache.

---

“I thought you only needed to wash your hands for twenty seconds?”

Chaewon and Jungeun extended their necks behind the turn in the corridor. The hall led to the downstairs washroom where Jinsol was cleaning herself off after a mission.

The two hadn’t welcomed Jinsol home with open arms. Chaewon had grown out of the homecoming ceremony and Jungeun knew that Jinsol didn’t want her to see her come home from these missions. While the people in the villages celebrated Jinsol’s rise to knighthood, the royal family absorbed the toil Jinsol exhibited behind closed doors.

“What did you hear?” Jungeun chewed on her lip, wincing as she could hear Jinsol scraping the pumice stone across her skin.

Chaewon represented their family in village affairs and was in town for the newest flavor release from one of the cafes: pumpkin spice. Cups filled and laughter joyous, Chaewon didn’t miss the rancid gossip about her mothers. If it wasn’t about Jungeun, it was about Jinsol. 

(She feared what they would say about her once she took the throne.)

“Four werewolves this time around.”

Jungeun sighed, nails digging into the grout on the walls.

“Do you think she really kills all those wolves, Mom?” Chaewon looked at her mom who kept her eyes on her hygienic wife. If Jinsol continued this, she’d have no skin left.

Jungeun picked up on her daughter’s doubts. She held them as well. But they wouldn’t know unless Jinsol told them. She never specified if she was faking tasks and they never asked.

Not knowing was safer, all three Jungs reasoned.

Either way, they scorned the council for turning Jinsol into something she was not.

---

If Sooyoung was an expert in the pathos approach to argumentation, Jiwoo had logos down pat.

Having snarfed down a sample of Jungeun’s cooking that Sooyoung snuck her, Jinsol wasn’t sure if her stomach was rumbling from eating too fast or from following Jiwoo’s rambling.

“Hyunjin is a respectable distinguished knight.”

The last reasonable thing that left Jiwoo’s mouth.

“She exercises a lot. On missions and her free time. Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't maim troupe leaders without reason,” Jiwoo strutted the courtroom, ink smudged on her hand from drafting her testimony beforehand.

Between Sooyoung’s passionate speech and Yeojin’s monotone recollection, Hyunjin may see the outside of this courtroom.

Sure, she might have killed a troupe leader but no one from his faction demanded justice.

(In fact, they were miles away, celebrating a better life.)

The council may have lost their go-to events planner but they weren’t (publicly) mourning him.

(Jinsol hoped they wouldn’t add him to their collection next door.)

“I believe all that’s left is for me to talk,” Jinsol placed her hands on Jiwoo’s shoulders, stopping the handmaiden from another thesis.

But their air of hope dissipated as the doors opened and introduced a person they would’ve never thought to see.

Especially not in this lifetime.

The sharp intake of breaths from above told Hyunjin to continue holding onto her faith.

The woman she thought she would love longer than the time they had together looked her dead in the eye and wondered why it had to come to this.

---

Jinsol didn’t understand why she was summoned for a private lesson. She wanted to be treated as any other knight.

Hyunjin couldn’t provide her any answers either. From the absence of horses and carriages around her, Jinsol wondered how the other squires would arrive at such an isolated location.

‘Cobra Kai’ read the storefront overhang.

Upon entering, Jinsol was immersed in darkness. Sparsely placed candles emitted a dusty red glow. Wooden pells and target flour sacks hung around the room. The room looked newly refurbished.

“We’ve been expecting you,” two gruff voices called from a location Jinsol couldn’t map out.

“Hello,” Jinsol answered, feeling smaller than she ever did.

“Do you know why you’re here?”

Jinsol shook her head, unsure where her voice had gone.

“Good.”

Barons Kreese and Silver emerged from the shadows, their stature towering over the queen as they smiled menacingly down at their prodigy.

---

First to give testimony, Chaewon allotted her free time to roam the council’s estate. She was here on personal matters a few weeks ago and now the grandeur of it made her stomach churn.

While her heart was calling for the dungeon, she could not shake off the sting of betrayal. If her best friend could conceal something that major for so long, who is to say anyone else didn't also keep secrets from her? Maybe her other best friend did too.

(And she was right. Chaewon petulantly skipped over the fact that Haseul kept that secret from Yeojin as well.)

Chaewon coped by distancing herself from everyone.

The council’s prized trophy room didn’t gleam with golden goblets or bronze statuettes like the other rooms. Instead, taxidermied animals were tacked onto armatures or nailed on floor mounts. Beady lifeless eyes stared back at her and although inanimate, managed to follow her around the room.

It held creatures Chaewon had only read about in textbooks or heard tales of from their former court musicians or current physician. (Which now Chaewon knew were actual personal accounts.) If it weren’t for the exaggerated features added post mortem, some of them would’ve looked like average humans.

A twelve-foot tall skeleton of a creature long deceased.

A siren, their tail drooping and scales dull.

A banshee, their canines cracked and eyes sunken.

A troll, the mold on them greener than their rubbery skin.

A witch, their noses sharpened and moles glued on haphazardly.

A vampire, the only empty spot in the stuffed room. 

(Haseul and Vivi should never visit this room.)

All with plaques of the names of knights from history lessons Chaewon slept during. Important Knights that had buildings and roadways named after them. But Chaewon could never remember what era they lived in or even how they perished. Underneath each knight’s name was their birthplace - Gong, Bae, Kang, Oh, Byun - kingdoms Chaewon never heard of.

Working her way around, a sharp smell burned Chaewon’s nose. Remembering the gas leak self-inspection song - Haseul made them memorize it as punishment from making a homemade slingshot from her garters - Chaewon covered her nose quickly, accidentally striking the titanium frame of the enormous map on the wall with her elbow.

Shifting it back to position, Chaewon sniffed again to detect that the smell was squid ink. Her hand was stained blue and black from the still-drying map she had tilted. Underneath was another map of similar size yet much older.

Then another. Then another. Each one more tattered and faded than the previous.

Only strong enough to peel the top layer, Chaewon saw that the sheet underneath had identical topography to the map above. Except the kingdom names were plenty and unfamiliar. The borders of the Jung territory didn’t stretch as far as it did today, sharing lands to the northern mountains with Byun and Oh.

Realization dawned on Chaewon on where she had seen those names and she pressed the map into place hastily.

Making her way to the entryway, Chaewon didn't register her own quivering as she was seeing double or quadruple of the same thing. The animals were starting to look the same. The last few displays were all of the same species.

Werewolves.

Lots of them.

Her foot tripped on a mount in her rush to leave the awful room and she stared up at the most recent addition to the prizes.

A werewolf. Much larger than her or the other wolves in the room. Leaner. Musculur. Eyes sunken and telling stories Chaewon wasn’t sure she wanted to hear. Eyes glass and hollow, their sunken eye bags showing an animal deprived of a full, relaxing life. Perhaps a life on the run.

She looked down at the name associated with them. Chaewon saw the plaque next had the same name as well.

The only plaque name with a royal title and hailing from Jung.

Queen Jung Jinsol

And the next

Queen Jung Jinsol

Eyes stinging with tears and bubbling with nausea, Chaewon bolted.

---

“It’s dead! It’s dead! Auntie, stop!”

Hyunjin tackled Jinsol to the blood-stained snowy terrain to stop her. The wolf died from Jinsol’s close range arrow. But that didn’t stop Jinsol from leaping off her horse, landing dangerously on her ankles - it would sprain but Jinsol couldn’t feel a thing.

All she could feel was rage inside her body. Rage she didn’t know she possessed.

Hearing one growl, it triggered something animalistic in her. Looking down at what was once a living and breathing creature, Jinsol shrieked. She did that. Jungeun would be so disappointed. Chaewon wouldn’t be able to look at her. Her mothers, wherever they may be, didn’t raise her to be like this.

“HYUNJIN, I KILLED IT!” Jinsol wiped away the blood on her face, now seeping into her clothes, and conscience.

“I KNOW. I KNOW.” Hyunjin had a hard time holding Jinsol together. The queen had put on an alarming amount of muscle with her few weeks of training.

Their second mission out and Jinsol had a kill count.

“I-I-I don’t understand. It didn’t have any control. It was like it-like it was-like it was bred to kill. To kill. It was bred to kill,” Jinsol swallowed all the air as she could, feeling she was being held underwater.

Hyunjin understood it as Jinsol psychoanalyzing the werewolf she massacred.

(Years later, Hyunjin learned in the tunnel that newborns had no control, she would credit Jinsol correctly.)

Maybe in a way, the queen was right.

But at the moment, the monster Jinsol was thinking of wasn’t the one whose entrails stained the snowy hillsides but the one she let take over herself.

---

“Shhhh it’s okay. I got you dear. I got you,” Jungeun smoothed Chaewon’s hair down as a helpful handmaiden cleaned up the food Jungeun dropped to catch her distraught daughter.

Second to testify, Jungeun spent her time in the council’s massive kitchen to destress. Jungeun wasn’t allowed to be in the room with Jinsol as the council feared to be outnumbered. (As if there weren’t fifteen of them.) With Jiwoo’s help, she would sneak Hyejoo and Sooyoung meals for Yerim and Jinsol. 

She focused on her daughter, who had unfortunately come across the council’s demented trophy graveyard. Jinsol had told her vaguely about that room and she remembered her mothers telling her never to enter it as a child. She remembered signing off on field trips for schools to visit the council, most likely saving this room as their highlight.

“Mom, they...they...mom said she didn’t but they…her name...it’s there...”

“Shhhh, catch your breath first,” Jungeun fought her tears as Chaewon resembled her shakes and quivers. 

Jungeun had unfortunately looked into the room that Chaewon left open and could piece together what her child was trying to say. While the deceased wolf couldn’t hurt her, Jungeun battled her internal response to shrivel up inside at the mere sight of it.

Its mangly positioning made it look like a poorly constructed model than a wolf that used to share their lands. One leg was shorter than the other and thread dropped from its poorly sewn together arm sockets.

“Mom...I don’t believe it…” Chaewon hiccuped, her ink-stained hands ruining Jungeun’s apron.

“Then don’t,” Jungeun sternly said, hugging her daughter closer.

Jinsol insisted she didn’t commit the heinous act the papers announced. Jungeun believed her. If Chaewon dug deep, she’d know that the wolf found on the Shin shores was found in its human form. But the public’s memory was fleeting and would forget that detail.

She recalled Jinsol’s apology last year, Jinsol not remembering her actual kill count as everyone believed differently. She started to believe all the murders under her name were her own doing. Jungeun knew the council took advantage of Jinsol’s bloodthirst and set her up. 

And continued to set her up by the shiny new plaque brandishing Jinsol’s name.

---

Jinsol smirked at the cuts she made on the rice bag dummy, slicing it perfectly in the areas that would incapacitate her enemies. 

“Hyunjin told me those are the best arteries where you can-” Jinsol resheathed her sword as she explained her strategy.

She would’ve been correct in Knight Academy. But that’s not what the council wanted from her. These experts were chosen for a reason, coaching who they believe would swing this aged war amicably for their gain.

“No.”

“No?”

“We’re going to do a little visualization,” the masters circled around her.

Too close for her to bring out their sword if they attacked.

“O-okay.”

“What you’re fighting isn’t a rice bag or a flour sack or a stack of wood blocks, Jinsol.”

This wasn’t her family. Jinsol didn’t recall them having a higher rank than her to refer to her so informally. She craved normalcy but this wasn’t it.

“You don’t have time to make this many cuts.”

Hyunjin’s training manual that Jinsol stole glances at outlined otherwise.

“What you’re fighting is a living, breathing, killing machine.”

“I-I’m aware.”

A pell plopped in front of her. She would’ve jerked back at the noise but her senses lulled.

“A machine that almost killed your wife. Or worse, turn her into one of them!”

Jinsol’s breathing shallowed. Vision centered to the rectangle representing the dummy’s face.

“You think slicing a few pressure points would bring her back?”

“But she’s not dead. She’s home with our daught-”

“But she could’ve been!”

"They could have easily made it so your daughter wouldn't have existed!"

With perfect mimicry, Kreese and Silver barked and growled like the wolves Jinsol knew Jungeun saw in her nightmares. She had yet to see a werewolf up close but the stories she heard and drawings she’d seen combined into a menacing picture.

If there were no wolves then Jungeun wouldn’t have to worry anymore. She wanted to make Jungeun’s fears go away and the council was giving her the opportunity to do so.

Without hesitation, Jinsol punched the board square-on, splinters spiking her skin.

“I’m,” Jinsol gasped. “I’m bleeding.”

She couldn’t feel the throbbing in her knuckles, turning her hand over to ensure it was hers. Red was running down her fingers. Visibly, she was hurt but mentally, it was justified.

One of the teachers grabbed at her wrist, blood oozing forth as they squeezed tightly.

“So was your wife. Remember?”

Jinsol’s eyes hardened as she unsheathed her sword and lunged, dismantling the dummy in a matter of seconds, dulling her blade and numbing her pain.

The council paid the two a hefty lump sum for creating the perfect pawn to change the tides of the long war that should keep them on top.

---

The last time Hyunjin and her were in the same room together, they left their relationship on maybes and what-ifs. When she heard of Hyunjin’s trial, she came out of hiding and boarded the nearest carriage. Having renounced her previous status, people had assumed the worst.

“Thank you for coming on short notice. It was difficult to find you,” Council Member #8 coughed out. “Some even said you fell off the map. But we truly believe you can give an accurate depiction of this imposter among us.”

In the hours she was there, Hyunjin figured out how to identify each council member by timbre and pitch.

The woman before her immediately began her testimony. This wasn’t a time for a bittersweet reunion between the two ex-lovers.

Jinsol stood and gripped at the back of her chair. Since Hyunjin and this woman’s coupling lasted a few one-sided conversations, Jinsol had ample time to prepare her own attestation.

“Would you say Hyunjin was faithful to you?”

“I’m sorry?”

“‘Faithful.’ Do we need to define it?”

The guest shook her head. She wasn’t expecting much in seeing Hyunjin again - the knight was flippant about showing her true self - but she wanted to help.

After all, she won her at that auction years ago.

“She was kind and gracious to me.”

While the ex-heiress was deeply hurt that Hyunjin couldn’t see her as more than a friend, she accepted it over time. Their conversations were surface level; Hyunjin rarely made the first move. Whenever the knight looked at her, she could see that she was trying to see someone else in her eyes.

Saving herself the heartbreak, the Go heiress ended their relationship bluntly.

(The seneschal took it personally. She had been so careful with her feelings. This stranger read her like a book.)

“That wasn’t the question.”

Hyunjin couldn’t be more indebted for another character witness in her pocket.

“I couldn’t be more thankful for the time I spent with her.”

After all, Hyunjin’s incessant meowing helped come up with her alias for her new identity.

“So she was unfaithful…”

Jinsol broke out of her trance as the young girl felt her control dissolve.

“She knowingly put herself in a knight auction when her heart belonged to another.”

Hyunjin could only stare as her ex grasped for words. 

“No, I never even said-”

She meant well but this wasn’t her fight. 

“What you have basically told us in not so many words was she was amicable with you. Even if she had a duty to be more."

Jinsol knew firsthand what it was like to be manipulated by these people. She would say she was fortunate to have saved herself but the fresh carcass in the other room given her credit without her permission meant she was embedded to them.

“She is allowed to love whoever she wants! It was her right to-”

“She wanted another, Madam Yujin?”

And she could see it happening again.

“NO, THEY WEREN’T EVEN TOGETHER AT THE TIME!”

“SO SHE WAS UNFAITHFUL!”

“THAT IS ENOUGH!”

“QUIET JINSOLl! I suggest you sit down or would you not like a chance to speak today?”

In an effort to regain the upper hand, Hyunjin’s anger coursed through her and she let out a menacing bark. Shaking the very room that determined her fate.

Jinsol and Yujin froze in place - Yujin tucked into Jinsol’s shoulder as the queen calmed the girl down. Both hung their heads in defeat.

The council’s deafening silence told Hyunjin that all the many praises told on her behalf were null and void.

---

If Mom was still around, she would have something to say about Hyunjin’s wrinkled uniform. 

Digging into her sister’s pockets, Yerim looked for her present. Sneaking some schillings in her own pocket - Hyunjin could believe it fell out when she was out riding, Yerim justified - the handmaiden got frustrated at all the nooks and crannies one padded jacket had.

Her eyes settled on another jacket, rolling her eyes at Hyunjin letting her laundry pile up. Another thing their mother would hound her for.

(She smiled at the animal pun.)

Frisking away, Yerim’s hands wrapped around a cloth covered bundle. Careful not to squish it, Yerim took the bundle of fruit from her sister’s plate pocket.

“Oh Hyunjin, you shouldn’t have,” Yerim spoke to herself.

One berry plopping into , Yerim grimaced at its sour bitter flavor. It was worse than that pumpkin spice drink Chaewon brought home. Thankful of her sister bringing her something, Yerim showed her gratitude by swallowing the whole batch.

---

Yeojin filed her nails down to nubs as she ran her hand along the council’s obnoxiously high estate walls. Coming across the first peephole for miles, she looked out to the dusty road - remembering Chaewon and her rolling around in it to sneak into these exact grounds not long ago - to a procession.

Before she could wave, she saw the glum looks on most of their faces.

A funeral march?

Where they were going, they couldn’t tell you. Some of their eyes met Yeojin’s and her natural appeal caused a few paraders to break away.

“You’re a member of the Jung castlehold?” One voice rasped, smacking their lips together like they were surprised at the sound of their own voice.

“Yes, I am,” Yeojin said with less conviction than she had when defending Hyunjin in the courtroom earlier.

“Please give our thanks to Knight Hyunjin for us,” another person bowed.

Lacking context, Yeojin took several steps back to spot a familiar face. But instead, she saw a familiar feature. Or unfamiliar, if one didn’t associate with anyone other than humans. One accidental detour to the council’s trophy room helped Yeojin recognize the pale skin of a banshee, the ashy skin of a troll, the shining skin of a siren.

(She ran her fingers down her own arm, wondering why hers didn’t have the same sheen.)

Yeojin zeroed in on a noticeable tan line on their forearms. She knew what - or who - beheld them was gone thanks to Hyunjin.

“Of course,” Yeojin sounded out slowly.

The refugees continued their thanks down the path, soaking in their autonomy. Not wanting to take away this joyous occasion, Yeojin swallowed the question growing in her mind. If they knew their non-human status since birth, did they struggle to make peace with it or was it just another character trait that didn’t dictate the rest of their lives?

“HEY!”

Like a magnet, they turned towards Yeojin.

Whatever happened to Hyunjin and Yerim, she had done all she could in her testimony. After all, she had a limited reign of power.

Or maybe not.

Only these people could provide answers.

“Can I ask you a few questions?”

Three women who seemed to be leading a majority of the group held their hands out in welcoming while the rest shuffled on.

One woman in well-made robes rose a sculpted brow, gauging the young squire for a moment before responding with a kind smile.

"If you come along with us, we'll answer as many of your questions that we can."

---

“I thought I’d have to dip your hand in water to wake you.”

A hard hand squeeze motivated Yerim to open her eyes. She didn’t remember falling asleep.

Hyunjin felt a tremendous weight off her shoulders as her sister fluttered her eyes til they were staring back at her. Full of life she thought she lost. And it would have been her fault.

She should’ve been more diligent in placing Jinsol’s jacket elsewhere so as not to confuse Yerim. When she walked in, an unfolded cloth and twine under the bed, her sister was dissolving into golden speckles.

(“Hyun, I don’t feel so good…”)

Hyunjin was glad the only other person that knew their secret was a licensed doctor.

“That wasn’t the gift, was it?” Yerim rasped, voice dry as a desert.

Yerim didn’t expect her to explain what those berries really were. 

Hyunjin and Jinsol never fully disclosed what they did abroad. Yerim knew she couldn’t stomach hearing - it’d probably be worse than the current searing pain in her abdomen - of the violence they partook in. Any time she thought of a poor wolf meeting its end by a silver blade, she felt the hairs on her arms stand up.

“Yerim, stop. You’re going to lose control.”

Hyunjin compared Yerim’s drastic change of attitude on Jinsol when they were on quests. She was terrified whenever Jinsol’s face tightened taut and serious. But Yerim’s was scarier.

Yerim willed herself to slow her heartbeat until her eyes unclouded.

“Did I growl again?”

Hyunjin threw on her big sister instincts and nodded. Thankfully, no one was walking by to hear Yerim’s menacing sounds. While most sisters would’ve hugged it out after a moment like this, Hyunjin could barely manage a hand squeeze.

She just hoped that when Yerim got to her age, she’d have better control. 

---

“Hyunjin was the only remaining castle child originally born under Queens Hyoyeon and Jessica that remained after we downsized after the um-the wol- the attacks. In a way, she was like my first try at parenting.

“So when Chaewon came along, I thought I had enough experience.

“But those two aren’t alike. Chaewon was a night owl and Hyunjin, an early riser. Chaewon had a savory tooth whereas Hyunjin’s was sweet. Chaewon craves busyness and Hyunjin likes silence. And then I thought, later than I should have, why am I comparing them? No two beings are alike. Hyunjin and Yerim - who is also like a daughter to me - aren’t alike either.

“I was taught that if I looked at things the same, it made life easier. Every contract I signed was the same. The wording was different. Every opening ceremony I attended was the same. The attendees changed faces. I refused to honor differences. Honor people’s differences. Species’ differences.

“When you arranged me to Jungeun, I had a preconceived notion of what our marriage would look like. But that failed me. I had to take risks and chances because this wasn’t the compartmentalized marriage I believed in. It involved work. Not just for us but for Chaewon and for the people we were born to protect.

“So if you want to know if I thought Hyunjin was a werewolf, I cannot say no. Because there were times when her displays of strength were too great, her hunting too sloppy, her reverence too strained. And I never questioned it because I refused to. There were times when I felt like I was the animal between us two. Not her...

“So I ask the council to consider the fact that Hyunjin may be a wolf descendant but she is also an extraordinary knight, friend, sister, and family member.”

---

Vivi was raised to judge scenarios by connecting the dots.

If donuts were missing and Yeojin and Chaewon’s faces were smothered in frosting and sprinkles, it usually pointed to guilt.

(Yerim had reflexes to wipe her face the second Vivi stepped in.)

But Vivi was also raised in a family where human perception wasn’t the only judge, jury, and executioner.

Laying her hand on Yerim’s forehead, pulse points, and stomach, Vivi had to remember that human anatomy wasn’t enough to prepare a diagnosis. Being the only castlehold member entrusted - on some days it felt like a curse - with Hyunin and Yerim’s secret, she couldn’t count how many times she skewed data for their sake.

“I’m sorry, Teacher Vivi. It was all Hyunjin’s fault-”

“Yes, it wa-HEY!” Hyunjin said on the other side of the bed.

“Shhhh you rest now,” Vivi hushed. “You burned through those berries fast.”

“How?” The former comatose girl sprung up as if her digestive system wasn’t overworked. If there were any ulcers - Yerim wasn’t responding to any of her harsh presses - they were closing up.

Seeing as the three of them skipped dinner, Yerim’s health was thrown on the back burner while Hyunjin worried about what to tell Jinsol when she came to retrieve Jungeun’s new medications.

(Something Vivi was happy to have lost - even if it had now metabolized in the young girl.) 

“I’ll tell you later,” Vivi tucked Yerim’s hair behind her ear and gently pushed her to recline.

“You can tell me now, I’m fine.”

“I covered for you and said you had the flu. You won’t be fine until after Chaewon’s birthday,” Vivi glowered.

“But it’s the only real party we throw here!”

“Yerim,” Hyunjin softly called out. “You have to fake it to give ourselves more time here.”

As biased her texts were, Vivi read that humans were the only logical creatures. Hyunjin and Yerim weren’t completely wolf - not completely human either - yet had the wisdom and tenacity to hold up their family generations-old facade their whole lives.

“The stomach flu doesn’t just disappear on its own.” Vivi didn’t have to push Yerim to lay down as Yerim flopped in exasperation. 

The three worked on an alibi for Hyunjin losing the berries, the discomfort of having to add another secret made their stomachs ill.

And this one, no one had to fake.

---

This would mark the first time since Chaewon’s betrothal fair that they were together. But the warmth from their home couldn’t be duplicated as they spaced themselves around the courtroom. It would also mark the first time in history a verdict of this magnitude was made.

“Dong Hyunjin, you have proven yourself as not only a capable knight..”

Sooyoung and Jiwoo postponed congratulating Hyejoo for her seneschal position. A proper side hug did for now.

“...but a venerable friend and confidante.”

Vivi hadn’t let go of Haseul. Jungeun swung by with food earlier but they politely declined. Haseul buried herself deeper as she realized Yeojin had chosen not to join them.

“Your castlemates sang your praises...”

Jungeun witnessed the bittersweet moment of Jinsol taking a spot by Chaewon’s other side, holding her palm out for Chaewon to hold. Without question, Chaewon did.

“...and glorified your name.”

Yerim’s eyes adjusted to the bright chandeliers. Hyejoo pulled her in. Jiwoo hugged her tightly. Sooyoung grasped at her hand.

“The charges stand that you murdered one of the most influential troupe leaders in broad daylight…”

Chaewon didn’t know why her heart panged at the image of Yerim joining the Ha family’s side.

“...and disrupted a war that we-sorry- ahem- a war that has gone on for many years.”

They yearned for Hyunjin to join them. No matter if they knew her since her birth like Haseul and Jinsol or on-and-off like Hyejoo and her over affectionate mothers.

“BRINGING DISHONOR TO YOUR CASTLE, YOUR KINGDOM, AND YOUR CREST” 

Orphaned in her early teenage years, Hyunjin only had Yerim.

“AND DELIBERATELY LIED OF YOUR IDENTITY TO YOUR FAKE FAMILY AND TO THE MOST HIGHEST COUNCIL IN THE LAND”

Maybe wolfblood was vitriol as she subconsciously longed for a pack of her own. A family of a greater size. A greater purpose than to live for herself.

“IT IS ONLY RIGHT THAT WE HEREBY SENTENCE YOU-

She enacted that purpose one last time, giving Yerim a reprimanding but pitying look as she muffled her whimpering into Hyejoo’s shoulder. Nodding in a love language exclusive to them, Hyunjin wondered if there would be a day when Yerim would allow herself to find her emotional self.

“To death.”

And if she would ever get to see that day.

---

“I renounce the knight crest.”

Jinsol’s neck didn’t stretch far to meet the council’s eyes at their elevated dining table. She hoped to make this meeting quick. She didn’t want to disappoint Hyunjin, sleeping soundly at the village bed and breakfast, about what she was going to do.

Hyunjin spent weeks catching her up on tactics and terminology. All so Jinsol was fit for the same crest she was relinquishing.

Jinsol didn’t expect the room to quake as the council chucked the offensive piece of metal back to her. It terrified Jinsol how she caught it one-handedly when she struggled catching laundry that Jungeun or Haseul tossed to her just last week.

“Jinsol…”

What had they done to her?

“Congratulations on your second wolf kill.”

And why her?

“What are you talking about? I’ve only murdered one.”

For what price would she have to pay in order to undo their damage?

“Who would believe you?”

---

Hyunjin closed her eyes in slumber. Or at least drown the hecklers out. She couldn’t sleep with her neck and hands trapped in the pillory. She thought the kingdoms burned them as firewood when supplies were low but seems the council hid some until an occasion like this.

“What are you waiting for? She’s a fraud.”

Sooyoung stood by her right, rotating her neck to keep post all night. The council assigned their own guard - young Allen on her left. But like Yerim, the Jungs couldn’t leave Hyunjin alone to their henchpeople.

(Ironic as Hyunjin would succumb to their sword tomorrow.)

Jiwoo stayed close to the platform to keep them company, restless from the shoving and pushing around her. She warned Sooyoung with a glare not to do anything to protect her, motioning to Hyunjin who needed her undivided attention.

Feeling Yerim hiccup against her as the verdict was read out - the girl couldn’t get herself to properly cry - Jiwoo pondered how Hyunjin and Yerim were adept at keeping their emotions at bay. Better question is why.

“Just get it over with already!”

Hyunjin’s face contorted in pain but she smoothed it out, Jiwoo swivelling her head to see a cohort blowing whistles like the ones Jinsol brought home.

Hyejoo had her fair share of tantrums but Hyunjin and Yerim weren’t full-blooded wolves. Their rages and tears wouldn’t be volatile. It would be questionable if they broke a piece of furniture. But it was like they forced themselves to avoid feelings.

Feelings united all creatures. So it seemed counterintuitive to suppress something they all shared.

“Mom, wasn’t Hyunjin the one who carried all our things to our new house when our village flooded?”

Jiwoo looked at the tender moment between mother and child beside her.

“Yes she did. But she’s of wolf blood. Remember, we don’t like wolf blood,” the mother poked at her child’s nose, contradicting the venom in .

While Jiwoo spouted off “logic” in court, her words were driven by feelings. Jiwoo grew up to believe that emotion is what gave the concrete details around her purpose. 

“But why?”

Fear that shrouded the crowd couldn’t be changed by facts. They knew Hyunjin was opposite to what the stories depicted her kind to be. They witnessed her good deeds.

“We just don’t.”

Hyejoo felt like she was a different kind of wolf before she knew the factual word - a hybrid - for it. Jiwoo and Sooyoung stood beside her even when common belief told her she was tainted. Their feelings were right before it was proven by fact.

Jiwoo hoped that she could find a way to show the kid that their feelings were legitimate and they should explore it. As sometimes, one’s heart could be truer and more powerful than the written word. 

Jiwoo also wished she came home to the Jung castle sooner to tell Hyunjin and Yerim the same.

---

Hyunjin failed at her first relationship.

(Albeit it started from an inauthentic exchange of money.)

Hyunjin wasn’t the best conversationalist; she wouldn’t initiate conversations or share something unless asked. But what stumped her was that Yujin didn’t end their relationship because of that.

“What does she mean ‘I need to search my heart for what I really want?’” Hyunjin slashed at another branch to cut a path. “I know where my heart is. It’s right here.”

Dropping her silver-laced sword on the ground to point at her chest, Hyunjin stopped to figure out where she was. This area of the mountains was the highest any knight had gone. The terrain was unfamiliar.

She swore Jinsol was right behind her.

(Jinsol was a few paces back, wanting to give her partner space to rant to herself.)

Before the distracted seneschal could pick up her sword, a growl echoed. Behind, in front, or to her sides, she couldn’t calibrate.

“Yerim, I told you not to follow m-”

The growl’s owner pounced, thankful that a teenage breakup would grant him the opportunity to do what the voices in his head were commanding him to do.

---

The troupe made camp by the lake. Sirens irrigated for water, banshees swung from branches to lay a canopy, and trolls cleared the underbrush. But they didn’t limit themselves to those tasks. Working cooperatively, one couldn’t tell which species belonged to which group.

Yeojin joined the mix of diggers, bobbing to the songs they harmonized through so naturally. No one strictly adhered to their role in the castle. They shared the workload evenly. But here, Yeojin was part of a community without needing to prove herself, a list of credentials, or needing to pass a test.

“It’s getting quite late, Bang Yeojin,” Chaerin commented, pointing up to the starless sky.

She was one of the three elderly yet youthful looking women who bundled Yeojin in quilts and fed her the finest cuts. Perhaps they were the “parents” of the troupe. (Yeojin tried not to think of how Vivi and Haseul were the unofficial “parents” of their home.) They wrapped up a story of how they sang with her mother in a quartet for years before she broke free from the troupe with help from her father. 

The tale of that adventure one even Yeojin hadn't heard told in that manner before. She thought it was a parable that could happen… to anyone.

“I’m not a Bang,” Yeojin corrected.

Haseul was a true Bang.

“Why do you think that?” Bom narrowed her eyes at their former troupe member’s daughter.

“I just don’t see it,” Yeojin scratched her head. “I don’t know. It’s just.. Sirens are musicians. I can’t even get through music class without falling asleep.”

Would they care that Yeojin didn’t follow their ways? Surely not as they were setting up a cot for her in one of the tents for the night.

“I guess I was okay with not becoming one because I’ve seen people defy that. But now that I know what I am, I feel like I lost a chance to explore that side of me.”

“You think that’s all sirens have to offer to this world?” Dara gestured to the sirens around them.

A group of children in white nightgowns, hailing from different gene pools, pranced around a campfire, mingling without a care in the world. Yeojin wondered what path they’d take. Those who weren’t performers here were in charge of food, hospitality, healthcare.

“No,” Yeojin bit her tongue.

Her family allowed her to branch out by not holding her to a specific goal. 

“As much as society wants to box us in, the only thing that makes you a true siren is right here,” the trio harmonized.

Yeojin followed their fingers, pointing straight to her heart. 

---

“Are Hyunjin and Yerim not coming to dinner?” Jinsol pointed to the closed doors.

Vivi masked her distress professionally, motioning for Jinsol and her to leave the sisters alone. Hyunjin had heard Jinsol down the corridors and Vivi quickly hushed an irked Yerim - “I don’t want to eat soup! I want to chew normal food.” - closing their bedroom doors behind her. 

Hyunjin made a promise to get them food - real food, she pinky-swore - when everybody turned in for the night.

“But Heejin and Chaewon made a fabulous-” It was Jinsol’s parental need to have every young one fed.

“Yerim has come down with the stomach flu,” Vivi interrupted, turning Jinsol down another hallway.

“But-but-Hyunjin and I need to talk,” Jinsol craned her neck to hope Hyunjin would poke her head out as well.

“So do we.”

Jinsol found herself in the unused spa room, reeking of mold and rust. She sat down in the frigid lounge chair Vivi motioned to.

“Jinsol…”

“Hyunjin told?” Jinsol blinked innocently.

She was careful. After Vivi confronted her about her risky research project, Jinsol confided with licensed practitioners only. This recent candidate opened his factory a few times a year with the exchange of a golden ticket hidden in his expensive products and Jinsol lucked out. A charitable grocer handed her a chocolate bar that just happened to have a winning ticket.

But Jinsol trusted him.

Liked how Vivi should have trusted her.

“Hyunjin didn’t say anything,” Vivi was impressed she was telling the truth for once. “It fell out of your pocket when I came to collect laundry.”

Jinsol bowed her head. It was almost eight years since the attack and she amounted to nothing to assist Jungeun with her treatments.

“You disposed of it?”

Whenever Jinsol found a solution, Vivi and her mulled over the disclaimers for days. When the product was released to the market, they kept track of the side effects. At the first newsletter article stating an adverse reaction, they threw the product out. Vivi barely had time to dissect it for its ingredients before Jinsol was tracking down another remedy.

They wanted to give Jungeun more choices. But there were no breakthroughs.

This was supposed to be the year everything changed.

Jinsol wasn’t sure why she felt relief when Vivi nodded.

---

Chaewon was running out of floor to pace on and nails to bite on. The council’s handmaidens snuffed the hallway torches and Chaewon wondered when the council would go to bed. Drunken laughter behind the closed doors to their private chambers meant the council were not affected by today’s verdict.

She didn’t remember dinner. Or if she ate.

(Jungeun quietly spoonfed her and left an extra plate in her bedroom.)

She didn’t hear someone joining until she turned abruptly and came face to face with someone who felt like a stranger.

“How’s Yerim?”

“She’s okay. She fell asleep. Your mom told me to take a break.”

Running themselves thin protecting their families, they had forgotten about each other.

“That’s so my mom. Never having time to relax…”

“Actually it was Aunt Jungeun.”

They were running out of places to look to avoid meeting each other’s eyes.

“Did you eat?”

Chaewon wanted to know if Hyejoo knew about Yerim and Hyunjin. Those hangouts in the stables must’ve gotten them close. Even in the extra years Chaewon had with Yerim - and Hyunjin when she was home - she would think they would have entrusted her.

She wanted to save herself from another betrayal.

“Your mom prepared a meal for me downstairs,” Hyejoo pointed behind her, not realizing she was pointing out the window.

“She has been cooking all day.”

“Actually it was Aunt Jinsol.”

Hyejoo didn’t know why she didn’t go to her room. She didn’t know what it looked like, having quickly changed to keep watch.

“Oh...”

She didn’t know what led her to come here.

“Yeah...”

It was Chaewon who ran away from the castle in the dead of night and kept an entire engagement from her. Hyejoo should be livid. And here Chewon was in front of the hallway leading to the council’s game room without offering a reason as to why.

“Chaewon…”

‘Yeah?”

Chaewon and Hyejoo grew up in households where secrets triumphed. In the castle, it kept everyone sane and safe. In the Ha homes, it kept them alive.

“Whatever you’re doing, I hope it works out the way you want it to.”

They didn’t want to be encores of their elders. But they were more scared of the consequences of telling the truth. Truth - not including Sooyoung and Jiwoo’s embellishments - took Hyunjin away from them.

“I hope it does too.”

---

Jinsol almost fell off her horse when a canon announced their entrance to one of the fishing villages.

Hyunjin had quick reflexes to push her right back up.

“Congratulations on your twentieth kill!” The villagers proclaimed.

Hyunjin swallowed hard, keeping an eye on Jinsol’s reaction. She didn’t enjoy the town’s victory parade on her second kill, or her third, or her fourth. Seeing similar streamers and flags, the two would guess that the event planners for these parades were from the same company or all worked for the council.

By the third kill, word had reached the village closest to the Jung castle.

By the fifth, it reached the first floor of the castle residents.

(Yerim was giving Hyunjin the silent treatment for letting it get this far.)

By the eighth, it reached Jungeun and Chaewon.

By then, Jinsol lost control of what she had done. The Jinsol in the pamphlets, in these fine citizens’ mouths, wasn’t the Jinsol she wanted to portray. Dalcom would release a new knight card with a new ranking: R for royal.

By the time the card was delivered to the Jung castle - the younger residents joking about wanting her autograph, except Heejin who had given up card collecting - the number of wolf kills on the back of the card far superseded her actual count.

---

Chaewon might have to recheck her family tree for siren genes. All eyes turned to her when she entered. Thick smoke and music coming from a box in the corner filled the air. Alcohol and perfumes billowed into a suffocating smell. The curtains drawn shut, protecting the council’s image.

A daunting case of deja vu set in but before Chaewon could speak, the doors behind her opened again.

“I HAVE A PROPOSITION FOR Y-Chaewon?”

Like looking in a mirror, Jinsol perused Chaewon’s erect posture countering her knocking knees. Her head held high covering up for her fidgeting fingers.

That was how she looked when she asked the council to consider her on knight duty.

Was this how her child looked when she asked for an expedited marriage? Grasping at straws because that was the only option left. What else was Chaewon offering at a time like this?

“We’re waiting…” A voice boomed behind them.

“Indeed,” Jinsol shifted to hide Chaewon partially. “I am here to offer a proposition.”

“We-” Chaewon squeaked out.

“We?” Jinsol whipped her head around, taking a long look at her daughter who stared at her with a conviction that took her breath away.

She had not been the best mother. Chaewon acted the way she did from watching her do the same thing in the name of love.

A stale silence connected them before a hacking cough interrupted.

“We are here to offer a proposition.”

Even if Chaewon was as reckless as her, she learned from her mother’s mistakes. Jinsol took a step back, putting herself on the same level as Chaewon. An indication that they would be in this together.

Chaewon looked up at Jinsol, who nudged her in encouragement.

“There’s not much we can do to change your mind. We know how you feel about wolves and how the peo- the citizens feel about them as well.”

Jinsol looked at her little girl in awe.

“I remember not long ago, I came with a proposition of my own. To marry someone as soon as possible to make sure both of my mothers stay home.”

Chaewon heard her mother swallow beside her.

“As a queen-to-be, I want to do what is best for my people. What is best is hope. They feel betrayed and lied to and I understand what that feels like.”

Jinsol had the decency to bow her head in shame. The council did no such thing.

“Which is why a new horizon must be planted to instill hope. Even throughout all of this, there will be brighter days. A stronger union. These people don’t trust us anymore and we cannot fault them for that. We fed them stories of how monstrous wolves are, yet a wolf descendant did far greater deeds than your average citizen. Imagine how betrayed they feel about us. About you more specifically since you let my mother knight Hyunjin years ago.”

Jinsol planned on offering something in exchange for Hyunjin and Yerim’s release, she’d come up with the fine print as she talked, maybe even bargaining her own life. It was playing into the rules the council set up.

Lex taliones.

Jinsol infiltrated a system, showing them their own weaknesses. But Chaewon found a way to use their strategy against them. Completely changing their game.

“We wouldn’t want an uprising, do we?” Chaewon smirked.

Swiveling her head behind, Chaewon’s neck cracked. Jinsol shook her head at the hasty action but nodded proudly at her daughter.

---

“Stop saying you’re sorry Hyunjin.”

“Sorry.”

A horrifying scream broke through the mountains, causing Jinsol to sprint to its source. They didn’t run into any human structures for kilometers so it could only be from Hyunjin.

Jinsol had never heard Hyunjin scream before. Hyunjin always knew where anything moving was at the smallest of motions. So the image of Hyunjin on her back, blood seeping from the back of her head, in pure fear at the wolf snarling above her, severed Jinsol.

It was over in seconds as Jinsol’s muscle memory and adrenaline corresponded to the dismembered wolf that lay before them.

“What happened?”

Hyunjin wished Jinsol faked her anger. The maternal concern in her voice was worse.

“I got distracted and I lost my footing. I didn’t see where it was coming from before it was too late.”

Jinsol threw her tainted blade into the shrubs, disgusted at the weapon and at herself.

“Aunt Jinsol, you did it to protect me.”

“It didn’t make it right, Hyunjin.”

Hyunjin could see her aunt wrestling conflicting thoughts. Picking up her own sword, she led them both to a cliffside to set up camp. Butchers said that each kill made the next easier. That didn’t hold true as Jinsol was taking her second kill harder than the first. If she killed again, Hyunjin didn’t think Jinsol could survive.

Jinsol’s count rose exponentially at the next trading card release regardless.

---

It was only right that Chaewon and Jinsol hugged - Jinsol swinging Chaewon around in a circle - as they were guided out of the council’s night lounge, a hasty “we’ll think about it” following.

Cheeks hurting from joy, mother and daughter realized they were in each other’s arms. Jinsol put her daughter down. Both women share worried glances. Their combined teamwork might get their household out of this but they both admitted (silently) that it was their own doing that got them there. Jinsol for giving into the council’s agenda and Chaewon for following suit.

(Chaewon will argue later that her confronting the council was more epic.)

“You think it worked, Mom?”

Jinsol felt like she had transported through time and here was the little girl who used to soar down flights of stairs to catch her mother’s returning footsteps after a long trip.

She couldn’t look at her during her entire testimony this morning, Chaewon becoming someone she couldn’t recognize. That poise and grace was alien. But that determination was something Chaewon built for herself and Jinsol knew it since her birth.

“I hope it did,” Jinsol gave her child a hopeful smile.

Her little girl that ran here all on her own - plus a Yeojin - to take matters into her own hands like Jinsol did years ago.

Padded footsteps up the corridor took them out of their reverend state.

“Hi Mom!”

“My love…”

Jungeun smiled fondly at her two favorites. She was skeptical of their motives, unsure whether she was proud or worried they were bonding over mischief.

(When Jinsol gave her the play-by-play later, Jungeun decided she was content.)

“Chaewon, tell your mother what you said in front of the council,” Jinsol clapped a hand on Chaewon’s shoulder.

To bargain with the council was dangerous. Jinsol did it years ago and while she apologized and made up for it with Jungeun (and maybe Chaewon now), she had much repenting to do. Chaewon bargained barely a month ago and she was a whole other person.

Jungeun felt like she couldn’t do much. Jinsol and Chaewon kept her in mind as they put their lives on the chopping block. She would argue that it brought her unnecessary stress but they handled themselves accordingly. So to see them as a team again, Jungeun’s heart grew. Tuning back to the conversation, Jungeun smiled at her daughter and wife’s lively exposition.

“... did a reverse move on them. It was pretty cool Mom,” Chaewon rambled.

“So cool…” Jinsol repeated. “Say, Jungeun, why are you here? Our room’s in the other wing.”

Hands over her stomach, Jungeun shrugged.

For she too had a bargaining chip of her own - one that might overpower Chaewon’s and Jinsol’s sacrifices combined. It felt like her years of compliance led her to possess such a barter. She had planned to step into the council’s night lounge too but she had to wait for Hyejoo to return.

Jungeun just hoped it wouldn’t have to come down to her. 

---

“There’s some leftovers in the underground cooler.”

Hyunjin hit her head on the opened shelf, alibi ready for whoever caught her in the kitchen. The dizzy spell she got didn’t help as she came face to face with the castle’s head chef.

“I figure Yerim wants real food.”

Hyunjin nodded slowly.

One, because it was Heejin talking to her.

Two, because she had jerky stuffed in both her cheeks.

Heejin passed her hastily to begin a fire, cooking enough servings for six. Heejin did know Hyunjin was getting food for two right? Haseul had selflessly wrapped half her meal for Vivi.

Before Hyunjin could correct Heejin, she hiccuped.

“There’s water in the jugs to your right. Had to ration some in case Aunt Jinsol used more than usual.”

In awe at how adept Heejin was at accommodating everyone’s needs, Hyunjin kept silent. The more they talked, the more likely she’d reveal herself to Heejin. She couldn’t risk it now. She had been so careful.

Yerim was in bed because of her recklessness.

“That’s a lot of food.”

“It is. But you two have big appetites. I learned to count you both as three people.”

Hyunjin just needed more time.

---

Yeojin’s neck almost snapped off when a dark shadow greeted her.

“Where have you been?!  I’ve been worried sick. I almost begged Vivi to enact the locating spell and do you know what that would do to her?”

Haseul willed herself to calm down as Yeojin snuck in. It took everything in her power - which was stronger than she was used to - to rush over and embrace her sister.

“I went out. I’m sorry.”

A sister whom she lied to.

Haseul figured Yeojin skipped on the verdict to protect her heart. But it was her own heart that needed protecting when Yeojin was nowhere to be found in the estate or the maddening crowds outside. She couldn’t blame Yeojin for never wanting to talk to her again.

“You don’t have to be sorry. I’m glad you’re okay.”

But Haseul had to try.

“You’re not even going to ask me where I went?”

Yeojin not holding anger towards the people she “used to” love was aggravating. Haseul deserved to feel guilty.

But while out, Yeojin learned how troupe members found their true identities throughout different stages in their lives. Some figured it out at Haseul’s current age. Some were only going off an aptitude of show business.

(Dara, who never knew her birth family, had to try on many outlandish and strange styles to find her niche.)

“I’m just glad you’re back safe,” Haseul moved to let Yeojin freshen up.

From the looks of it, Yeojin seemed exhausted but also at ease. Haseul was glad she was able to detach herself from this week’s drama.

Yeojin watched Haseul shuffle over to her doors. Even if Haseul didn’t make a wise decision to keep something sacred from her, she could reason why. In a way, through trial, error, and pure stubbornness, Yeojin branched out better than the other castle residents. Chaewon had to be a queen. Hyunjin was a born-and-bred knight.

(Yeojin was swamped by the growing crowds around the pillory, Jiwoo pushing her towards the estate and filling her in on the grim news.)

“I followed the troupe out of town.” Yeojin knew Haseul was hanging onto every word. “I didn’t get all the answers I wanted but it might be better that way.”

Haseul gnawed at her lower lip. She should have provided those answers but her entire family history was sequestered. Sneaking a look at a foreign pendant hanging from Yeojin’s neck, she reminded herself that Yeojin would tell her of its origins if she wanted.

“What do you mean?”

Yeojin strained to hear Haseul. Maybe sirens didn’t have good hearing. She would ask Haseul another day.

“I don’t feel like a siren descendant. I know I am one but it doesn’t change anything. I’m still an ex-squire. I’m a student. I know I should be mad at you but I’m not. You messed up.”

“I know and I’m sorry.”

“I need time to forgive you. After I get mad at you for real.”

“Of course.”

Haseul and Yeojin wouldn’t blame their species’ innate talent of drawing others in on why they were drawn to each other again, forgiveness within reach.

“Haseul, do sirens have different emotions than humans? I meant to ask mom’s friends...”

---

Jungeun steeled herself before raising her hand to knock on the Dong siblings’ door. She had seen Hyunjin and Heejin shuffling in with a buffet of food and gave them enough time to indulge. But all the food Heejin prepared for them was too rich for someone with the stomach virus.

(“You should be on the BRAT diet,” Hyunjin scolded with full.

“I’m barely sick,” Yerim yelled back.

“No, because you’re a brat.”)

Figuring out how to calmly reprimand Yerim, Jungeun didn’t notice a body sliding up beside her.

“It’s just me, Jungeun.”

Her anger disappeared at her voice. Turning around, she saw Jinsol with a steaming bowl of soup, unaware that the siblings probably didn’t have room for another bite.

(They did.)

Like Jungeun, Jinsol was worried. Jinsol visited them earlier and Vivi had told her the verdict. Yerim rarely got sick. Vivi already had her work cut out for her with the clumsy Bang sisters and mentally stressed out Jungs so news of Yerim falling ill was hard to handle.

It was more rare than hearing of the exaggerated tales of Jinsol abroad.

Eyes searching Jinsol’s tired ones, Jungeun waited to see if Jinsol would bring truth to any of those tales but like their kind, Jinsol kept quiet. So did Jungeun.

“I hope Yerim can celebrate Chaewon’s birthday.”

“Me too.”

Energy elsewhere, the two queens raised their hands and knocked.

---

“I’m sorry I bit you and pulled your hair and punched you in the face.”

“Honestly Chaewon, that’s behind us now.”

The two former etiquette class students walked towards the estate front doors - they had gotten lost figuring out where the front was - and decided to make amends. With all happenstances, they needed closure while their worlds were falling apart.

Yujin was so off the grid that her presence at today’s final sentencing wouldn’t be missed. As a distant friend, she offered to support but Chaewon didn’t want to hassle her anymore, saying now was the best time to leave.

Her compassion astounded the queen-to-be herself.

“So will there still be a wedding?” Yujin asked with a light air in her voice.

“I...I think so.” Chaewon sounded deflated.

“Not to sound like I’m overstepping but I wish it didn’t have to come to this.”

“You are,” Chaewon laughed so the guest wouldn’t take her seriously. “But I’ll survive.”

A pair of beady eyes watched their every move. Like a mannequin, a figure was immobile in the staircase from the dungeons. She was supposed to be en route to the courtyard but she couldn’t bring herself to feel despair just yet.

(Hyejoo was channeling her parents’ improv skills to assure Minkyun that Yerim was in shock, wondering why she stopped short of the castle’s foyer. Hyejoo could hear what Yerim heard as soon as they left the cell, knowing the casual conversation above was setting Yerim off.)

Here, two of the richest people in all the lands were hugging it out like her sister wasn’t about to be executed.

It wasn’t fair.

Unable to find a proper outlet for all the grief and despair she had absorbed her whole life - this one being the last prick - Yerim let out a menacing growl and lunged.

---

“Hyunjin! Have Heejin ref with you,” Yerim volunteered.

Chaewon and Yeojin shared a look knowing Yerim was up to something. Hyejoo, eyes furrowed, felt Chaewon squeeze her hand, nonverbally telling her she’d inform her later. 

With a satisfied smile, Yerim sat down next to Yeojin as Aunts Jinsol and Sooyoung got into position for a bout. It wasn’t how she planned spending her weekend but it brought them all together.

But seeing how tense Aunt Jungeun looked at how adept Jinsol was in swinging her epee, how awkward Hyunjin and Heejin looked sharing less than six feet of distance from each other, and then Haseul failing to do the “fake yawn” trick only to fall chin-first on the back of Vivi’s chair, Yerim sighed.

“Well, they’ve gotten close,” Yeojin glumly divulged, eyes tracing Hyejoo and Chaewon’s every move.

Yerim wondered where Chaewon had gone off to this morning but the giggles from the kitchen meant she wanted to spend quality time with Hyejoo.

She should get to.

But Yeojin’s face said it all.

Yerim liked Hyejoo but it was causing her friend to feel overlooked. Especially since she was probably still harboring a crush on Chaewon. Absorbing Yeojin’s rejection, Yerim whipped a warning glare towards Hyejoo and growled her displeasure.

A growl that wasn’t supposed to be heard.

The same growl that triggered something in Aunt Jinsol and set off a chain of events no one would foresee.

---

Jinsol couldn’t pinpoint the moment she knew she lost. Maybe when her best knights were strewn in ditches, limbs teetered in branches after Chaewon’s tenth. Maybe when Jungeun’s night terrors first woke her and she listened helplessly on the other side of the door. Maybe when the wolves took a bite out of her fiancee.

Maybe when her parents left her.

Losing track of her wife - Chaewon was running late even if they got ready at the same time - Jinsol meandered in one of the alleyways from the estate to the town square. These alleyways were once vomitoria for the great games the Council hosted. The coliseums collapsed, the fighting between species had moved to the outskirts. But still fitting the Council’s narrative.

“Ah, Jinsol, just the equal we were trying to find.”

Jinsol inhaled sharply and turned to face them. Surrounded on all sides by the Council, Jinsol kept a steady hand on her waist, kicking herself that her go-to reaction was violence.

“We have been thinking about what you and your child suggested.”

Neither her or Chaewon had gotten word of the Council’s final verdict. 

“Quite remarkable how she speaks. Definitely a mind of her own.”

“Yes,” Jinsol interrupted. “Jungeun and I wanted her to think for herself.”

“And for the citizens, don’t forget them.”

Jinsol nodded. They were placating her.

“Chaewon was right in that it was our negligence that put Hyunjin in armor. But if we recall, you knighted her, and after that bar fight with none other than our late events planner, you vouched for her again.”

Jinsol tried to remember Jungeun’s counting pattern when the air around her disappeared.

“So while we share a hand in knighting a werewolf, you gave us both opportunities to do that. For all we know, you could’ve been hiding this this whole time.”

Jinsol squeezed at her holster like how her daughter would cling onto that fluffy wolf toy whenever her nightmares ensnared her.

“I wouldn’t put it past you with all the secrets you’ve been hiding. Like a true royal should.”

Jinsol couldn’t remember the correct counting method or the last time Chaewon awoke in a cold sweat. She was sparsely around during her family’s troubles. All because she was busy being molded by the Council’s hands. Though Jinsol couldn’t absolve herself from guilt. For she was impressionable and desperate as she was conscientious and willing.

“Don’t think your little research project didn’t escape us. You were always going after those synthetic solutions; we thought berries would fool you.”

Jinsol’s blood ran cold.

“You think you were that lucky to find a golden ticket? Be more realistic Jinsol.

They knew and tried to punish her.

“The kid is right. The people want some retribution for being betrayed by us,” said a voice behind her.

“By you more specifically, Queen Jinsol,” bellowed from her right.

“Chaewon needs you home,” screeched from her left.

“Jungeun can’t rule alone. She can’t last a week without you,” this one came from somewhere in front of her.

“Let alone nine months,” a voice uttered from a location lost to the Jung queen.

“What do you want from me?” Jinsol’s voice sounded nothing like hers.

Sounded more like the monster she had been denying for years.

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty. Your kingdom and the Kim’s will be safe.”

“And Yerim?”

Jinsol had more names on the tip of tongue ranging from her family to the sweet old man that played chess against himself in the park. It’s the least she could do for Hyunjin for what she knows they’ll make her do.

A few brush , a fresh blank map, and the exile of millions kept any royal compliant.

“You can keep that one.”

The monster she let in would do their bidding once more.

---

“Okay, I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“Hit me.”

“I’m not gonna hit you,” Heejin slapped Hyunjin playfully.

The newfound lovers sat on top of two hay bales in the stable’s attic.

Prying eyes from the younger ones in the kitchen climbing over each other to see if they had “made up” and concerned glances from the adults on the balcony meant Heejin and Hyunjing had to continue their reunion in private.

Hyunjin rushed into the castle - very quickly it seemed to Heejin - to get them blankets to camp out.

A belated sleepover.

“Why are you and your sister always so warm?”

Hyunjin fought the hankering to pull away again. 

“Like maybe it’s a medical condition or maybe you two aren’t warm and everyone else is cold. I wanted to research it but I figured I should ask. Because each thing I read was more ridiculous than the last. Soon I was believing you two were different species!”

And the dim gas lamp meant Hyunjin could hide her agony a little longer as Heejin squinted at her, trying to read her.

But would she let her?

“Or you don’t have to tell me- I get that some secrets are good in relationships.”

“Is that what we are?” Hyunjin’s confusion prevailed over her joy from hearing what Heejin was implying.

“I mean,” Heejin almost fell off the hale - Hyunjin fisted the blankets to prevent her from catching her. “If you want.”

“I want,” Hyunjin repeated. “I mean, I do. No. No. I do want. That’s not it either.”

This was too much, too fast. Their first kiss was an hour ago. That was the longest hug they’d had in years. Now they were having talks of their future.

Hyunjin swore she could hear the elders talking about who’d fall in love next on the balcony.

“I do want to tell you, Heejin. I want to tell you everything. It shouldn’t be this hard,” Hyunjin threw herself on their makeshift bed, sinking between the two bales they pushed together.

“Then don’t,” Heejin sighed, pulling Hyunjin up.

“But-”

“There are things I want to tell you too but I’m scared you’d run off-”

“I WON’T!”

Heejin wanted to smush Hyunjin’s cheeks to stop her from speaking. She was right. This shouldn’t be that hard.

With the current relationship role models they had - one that kept endless secrets, one that couldn’t stop fawning over the other, and one that wouldn’t fess up about their mutual crushes - it wasn’t hard to see why both girls had trouble confessing.

“Whatever we are now, I know that this has potential to last. We can go somewhere good with this. So what’s to waiting a few months?”

“As opposed to the years we’ve denied this,” Hyunjin cheekily said.

“You’re going to be a handful.”

“BUT I DON’T HAVE TO BE!” Hyunjin almost fell in the crack between the beds again.

“Hyunjin, stop. I fell for you. Whoever you are. All those parts I know and those I don’t know yet. We’re mature enough to know what we should tell each other,” Heejin explained.

“What if you don’t like what you’ll hear?”

“I’m not staying away from you again, Hyunjin. And if it’s that terrible, just warn me now.”

Hyunjin forced a laugh.

“Then you can work on turning those bad parts of you into something good. I can help if you want. But one day, I hope you’ll tell me what they are.”

To keep Hyunjin from refuting, Heejin met her for a sweet kiss.

Short enough to want more but to also wait for another.

Under her own blanket, Heejin was scorching with the radiating heat Hyunjin gave off throughout the night. She could wake her and demand answers. Like why Hyunjin’s blanket was neatly folded by her side even if winter airs shook the stables.. Or how Hyunjin knew to snuff the lamp when Jiwoo came to check on them minutes later.

But Heejin would wait.

Knowing exactly where her heart was.

And that was wherever Hyunjin would be.

---

Jinsol’s knack of running late always carried a verifiable excuse.

She had to make a market run.

She had to check the gates.

She had to scrub her hands clean.

Jungeun was used to Jinsol’s surprise arrivals, courteously given a warning when Jinsol was near to not startle her. What she wasn’t used to was seeing her wife on the same side as the council. Especially given yesterday’s events.

The applause was deafening as the Jung kingdom’s hero stepped close to the most coveted criminal.

“All hail the Queen!”

Jungeun prayed they would stop clapping. She didn’t get the same response as she stood among them, knowing that Jinsol was the sole representative of their kingdom. Most forgot what a queen looked like if she wasn’t in her royal garb.

Unable to read her wife’s expression, Jungeun looked towards Sooyoung who had the same amount of confusion as she. If they were to release Hyunjin, they wouldn’t need Jinsol.

If they were going to execute her, they shouldn’t need her as well.

“Mom, why is Mom up there?”

Chaewon was in disarray, hair unkempt and clothes mangled. Jungeun expected her to be escorted by a guard, maybe even their new seneschal Hyejoo, but Chaewon ventured alone.

Jiwoo poking her head up and calling her daughter’s name, Sooyoung looking grim at hearing her wife’s anguished voice, was an indication that Hyejoo might skip the event.

Meeting Jiwoo’s eyes, Jungeun silently asked if she wanted her to come over.

She never got a reply as Jiwoo continued her frantic search.

“Chaewon, why did you come alone?” Jungeun’s voice was shrill and overbearing for the princess.

“Don’t worry about it,” Chaewon swallowed her tongue at her mother’s glare.

Before she could lecture Chaewon on her tone, a rabid Yerim was being reluctantly heaved by a bewildered Hyejoo. Jungeun saw a majority of the group turn to Yerim, now famed for being an accomplice. Jungeun attributed why they were keeping away from the main stage as Yerim unable to process her sister brandished as a criminal and to protect herself. Chaewon was unfazed at the crowd’s jeers towards the people Jungeun thought were good friends of her daughter’s.

(Yujin had thankfully made it out of the council’s foyer unscathed.)

Jungeun wanted answers - as did Chaewon - but today was about Hyunjin.

“Really Mom. It’ll sort itself out,” Chaewon hoped.

Jungeun remembered when she had that positive mindset.

She wondered if Jinsol still had it.

After all, why would she be up there than to put an end to this?

Hisses and snares sprouted as Hyunjin was unshackled from her pillory, joints cracking loud for Jungeun to hear. 

In another pocket of the crowd, Jungeun watched as Haseul grabbed at Vivi’s hands but was blocked by leather bindings. Clutched in the physician’s hands was a book unfamiliar to Jungeun. But with the way Yeojin’s eyes lit up and how Haseul jerked away, the book had a narrative Jungeun never heard.

Like what deals Jinsol made with the people Jungeun thought were their common enemy.

Jinsol’s glazed-over stare and tense jaw brought Jungeun back to that afternoon on the fencing piste when Jungeun saw what her wife was capable of.

What the council took credit for with their faux trophies and trinkets.

A gasp broke through the crowd as a burgundy stained wooden box was pushed out. Sooyoung tried to divert its path but Jinsol put a gentle hand on her forearm, solemnly nodding for her to stand down. Like an obedient Head Knight, Sooyoung followed.

Like an obedient queen, Jinsol stepped beside the box.

(Jungeun didn’t see Sooyoung getting yanked off the stage for her brave treason, Jiwoo running to the back to help her.)

“I don’t understand why she has to do this.”

Jungeun was unsure if that voice came from her daughter or her.

The queen was torn between tearing her eyes away from the stranger she called her soulmate to witnessing what the Jung queen was to these people. This couldn’t be the same woman that held her close through the night, sharing similar hopes that this day would surprise them.

It was Jungeun who was surprised as Hyunjin lay her head on the box, facing her executioner, eyes hollow and piercing.

Just like Jinsol’s.

She told Chaewon not to believe the tall tales of Jinsol’s avenging escapades. But who would tell her not to buy into them either? She believed it was hearsay before Jinsol clarified it. And when she did, Jungeun didn’t bat an eye. The former Kim princess made her way to the front of the stage, convincing herself that this lifeless pell was not her Jinsol.

“If I stretch my neck out like you do, it’ll be a clean cut,” Jungeun heard come from the girl they practically raised, risking it all for the people who condemned her.

“Hyunjin, face the other way,” a searing voice demanded above.

That voice could not be the same that whispered sweet nothings to Jungeun for almost twenty years now.

Jungeun didn’t catch Jinsol’s soft “please” after or her glancing desperately at the Council behind her. Jungeun didn’t see Vivi thumbing to a certain page of her book, Haseul clutching her arm in a last-minute plea, Yeojin wary about her favorite couple. Or see Jiwoo cradle Sooyoung’s head bowed in defeat. Or see Yerim wrangle Hyejoo, unfiltered inhumane sounds from them both. Or see Chaewon’s pushing her way to reach to her, heartbroken by the mistaken image of Yerim and Hyejoo embracing.

Or notice an bystander reeking of murky rain and stale blood, cloaked in mismatching shawls, in her midst.

The audience gasped in glee - a few select in fright - as Jinsol drew out a sword. The metal scraping of it leaving its holster dawning a silence across the stockades. Jungeun was nauseated to see the Council smiling proudly at the action.

If there was an afterlife, Jungeun hoped that maybe Heejin had gone peacefully after all and would meet Hyunjin there.

Jungeun wondered if she would meet Jinsol there when their time expired.

Surely not this version of her.

Because that was not who her heart was with.

On this day, karma laid its hand on the Jung family, all blood and soul related, as the mighty Queen Jinsol raised her blade like a good royal should and swiftly swung down.

 

NEXT CHAPTER UPDATE: SOME MOON CYCLE, GIVE OR TAKE

 

Q (ourtuneisohigh): Actually got it on a full moon. Nice. Also, this was always my idea since we started. (Blame GOT) The way we got there always varied based on how we were feeling. Leave your thoughts and Have a warm and safe winter everyone.

N (LazyNinja on ao3): Oh my, we are really for it now! Thank you so much for reading this update. It goes without saying that the world has had a rough year and we hope you are able to escape a bit with this story. Take care of yourself please. Eat well, stay hydrated, take a shower, change your clothes, watch your favorite show or something. You are valid. Please comment your thoughts and let us know what you are the most excited to see in the next chapter. <3  Twitter | CC