"The girl was lurking, eavesdropping! Who knows what the overseer has set her up to!"

A heavy feeling cements itself on my chest, bringing my breath to a shakily inhale and exhale. I could practically feel my heartbeat in my own ears. It didn't take long for realisation to catch up to me: the menacing look on Jungkook's face, the anguish on Jungeun's. I made a mistake.

I'm brought back to reality when the man in front of me snaps his gaze my way, finger pointing aggressively towards my face. My eyes dart back and forth between him and the regal man on his throne, watching down on us blankly. Jungkook continues.

"Against the kings orders she snuck into the dungeons-- she is an outsider! How many of you even know her name?" His voice is loud as he turns to face the audience among us. The queen standing beside her husband, the council off to the sites of the grand throne, lingering guards-- specifically the one holding me in place with his spear to my back.

Silence. The only thing that follows as his words echo through the tension. I swallow. He was right.

"She was brought here by the overseer and that very man sits behind bars, treasonous against our lord. Why has no one asked any questions? Why is she here? Who is she?"

Who. Once again our gazes are locking together. His eyes are inquisitive, demanding for an answer. But all I could do was avert my gaze to the floor. I didn't know. The questions falling from his lips were the same I'd been asking myself since the moment I woke up. It was only a matter of time before someone came forward to voice them.

A collective murmur breaks out almost instantly after Jungkook finishes, and I find myself cowering away at the weight of daggers being stared my way. Sneaking a glance up I catch the King; his jaw clenched and eyebrows furrowed with visible worry.

He looks right at me.

"What say you."

I flush. His deadpanned statement brings the room to an instant silence once more, and the eyes I feel on me seem to increase tenfold. Sparing a quick glance around I gauge everyone's reactions, however my eyes seem to settle on one: the blonde girl to my right standing still, spear pressed against her back just as one pressed against mine. I push away my guilt and turn back to the King, stammering.

"In my defence, I'm just as confused. Nobody told me I wasn't allowed to visit him until I was already there--" I'm cut off. Jungkook gestures towards me with a scathing look in his eyes.

"Even the girl does not know her place in our kingdom! She doesn't know our laws, our customs. She must be-"

"Silence!" This time Jungkook is interrupted by the King's shout. I don't miss the mans slight eye roll nor the annoyed expression that crosses his face, surely fed up with the younger man. "You speak when I ask you to-"

Like a game of tennis, my eyes dart back and forth between the two men, watching the scene unfold as Jungkook furrows his eyebrows.

"With all due respect, my lord, but is that how it must be? I have questions, and I want answers!-"

"I said enough. How many times must I remind you of your place?"

I don't miss the purse of Jungkook's lips, the way his fists clench by his sides at the King's dismissal. But the sound of the older man continuing has me drawing my attention his way.

Almost instantly, a feeling of dread fills me as the moment I was waiting for comes sooner than expected.

"Tell me, commander.." He draws out.

Oh no. I glance towards the blonde in my peripheral and watch her reaction, my own lips pursing. The entire trip over from the dungeons was spent in silence, not a single word or glance shot my way. He continues after a momentary silence.

"How is it you did not notice her presence? Just nights ago you confided in me that you could feel her energy-- that it is untamed. Do you no longer feel it? You are my most gifted soldier and yet now I found myself in doubt."

For the first time Jungeun speaks, her voice taking me aback by how calm it sounded-- unlike my own.

"I am sorry, my lord. I fear I was preoccupied."

The king hums. Whatever scepticism he held before seems clearer now. He pushes.

"Reports have told me that you have formed relations with the girl, no?"

Jungeun falters.

"Yes, my lord."

A solemn look crosses his face. Almost like it hurt him to say his next words yet he says them anyway.

"Commander Kim Jungeun, you have been relieved of your status." A gasp breaks through the room. Jungeun's jaw visibly clenches but she stands still. "In any other situation you will have been punished for your lies before this court. But now that times are different, that we are different-- I can not risk losing the advantage you give our army." He pauses, gauging her reaction. "Your second man will preside as commander in your stead."

The surprised chatter not once ceases, only seeming to increase as an unfamiliar man (presumably the man in question) steps forward, panic washed over his face.

"B-but my lord, I am not ready! I could not possibly take over her post!"

But before the King can answer, Jungeun beat him to it.

"It is okay." Jungeun's words seem to take everyone aback, including me, but all I can focus on is my own guilt. It was my fault. If I had been a little more careful, a little less clumsy-- I'm distracted from my thoughts when she turns back to the King and bows. 

"As you wish, my lord."

With a firm nod from the King, the spear at Jungeun's back is lowered and she's walking back to join the crowd. But instead of staying, she leaves. My eyes not once leave her, following her as she departs. She not once looks my way.

It's my fault. I've only been here for mere days and I seemed to be ruining more than what I was helping.

My eyes are drawn back to the throne when the King calls for silence. He gives the crowd a once over, settling on Jungkook for mere seconds, before finally they land on me. He looks me over, his face unreadable as he seems to mull over his own words. He sighs.

"Whilst I do not agree with his methods, I fear Jungkook's concerns weigh on my mind just as heavy."

My breath is taken from me. His words brought a greater feeling of panic to me. Like whatever was to come next would be the decider of my fate, would determine whether I lived or died. As luck would have it, it was.

"Exile."

The room around me stays silent as I tunnel vision on the King alone. I feel Goosebumps on the back of my neck as my lips part in a breath of disbelief, barely registering the quiet "what?" that escapes the Queens lips-- but I pay it no mind.

"Your stay in my kingdom has overcomplicated more than you would know. Threat of war is as clear as ever, my soldiers are too afraid to leave their tents without fear of attack in the dead of night. The man I once trusted the most is now facing excommunication for his crimes against my empire. I do not know who you are, Miss YN. Nor do I know how it is possible you are not from here, yet here you are. Standing right in front of me."

His words carry a sort of air to them that makes me feel more and more sick with each passing second. He continues after a momentary silence, deliberating over his words.

"The gods are at work but I must admit I fear which ones. For that reason, you are to be exiled tonight at dawn."

I'm frozen. This is where I die.

I couldn't be sure how long it had been since I woke up here, forced to adapt to a new life beyond my imagination, forced to change my beliefs to fit what I never thought possible. Never in my life had I not been afraid of death-- my mother dying when I was just a child, the possibility that my dad could be dead right now and I didn't even know about it. And I was next.But then a loud voice breaks through the tension.

"You will do no such thing."

A gasp breaks through the room as a feminine figure, tall and annoyed, marches her way to stand in front of me. The King's face crosses over with a matched anger, his words falling from his lips like a warning.

"Sooyoung. This does not concern you."

Yves glares up at her father. I couldn't see her face but I could only imagine what look she had right now-- that same look she gives me whenever I say something stupid but times thirty. Her voice was enough to have my heart dropping, cold.

"No, father. I have kept my silence but this has gone too far. You will punish her so just because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time?"

"I have made my decision. Remember your place-"

"My place is to defend and protect my people. As far as I am concerned, she is my people."

"Is that what she is? Your people?" His eyes widen incredulously like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "She is a stranger who appeared on our land with claims of being from a distant time. It can not be a coincidence that we are at risk of turmoil the moment she arrives!"

"We have been at war with the north long before she appeared, father. We can not place blame on one person just because it feels like the easier thing to do. Exile is not the solution to fight back in this war. It is a decision made by cowards afraid of change!"

I couldn't describe the feeling that swells in my chest at this moment. Watching as Yves stands up against her father, fighting back against his attempts to silence her. Fighting back against her attempts at having her voice heard. She continues.

"Whether we like it or not, she is here now. She will help us win this war."

A silence breaks through the room, and it's then I realise she sounded like the overseer. Her words carried the same weight that his did. A weight that could make anybody shut up and listen.

And all I can do is stare at her. The girl before me now felt so different to the girl I met those days ago. It felt like now she understood. Could it be.. does she finally accept me being here?I'm drawn out of my thoughts when the King speaks, breaking whatever staring contest he was holding with his daughter. Knowing she wasn't going to back down, he sighs.

"What could you possibly suggest happens, then? If you are so sure my decision is the wrong one."

Her answer has me faltering.

"She shall act as one of my guards. Follow me everywhere."

Somehow I didn't know if this was worse than exile.

The King's reaction is instant.

"Absolutely not! If this girl is indeed as dangerous as we think she is, then it would not be wise to have her close! I forbid it!"

"If YN had the intention of hurting me, she has had many chances to do so but has not taken one of them. So far as I have seen, she has been the closest thing to a protector I have had since the overseer was imprisoned!"

Yves words seem to strike a nerve in her father who falters at her mention of the overseer. Her anger practically radiates off of her, and then she's sighing, only continuing once she's cooled down. She finally turns away from the King and instead faces the people, and it's then I finally get a look at her face