A fly buzzed in her ear. Moonbyul shifted slightly and rasped, “go away.” But the fly didn’t leave, persistently circling her head. She made a half-hearted effort to swat at it but barely could lift her finger.

Why am I still alive?

The morning rays of sun baked down on her as she lay in a gutter. Pretty soon, the townsfolk would start bustling through the streets and someone would find her here. All she had to do was hang on until then. She let her head drop back into the dirty water and closed her eyes. The sewer stank but the water was cool against her burning body. Her thoughts drifted as she sank in and out of consciousness. Unbidden, her mind wandered back to a time when life was nothing but pure pleasure and every waking moment was magical.

“Byul-ah, look at me!”

Moonbyul glanced up from her rapier she was polishing and watched as Yongsun twirled, her elegant robes of red and gold swirling around her legs.

“So, what do you think?” Yongsun coyly asked as she struck a ridiculous pose. Despite the humor in the situation, all Moonbyul could do was smile.

“Like you were meant to be Queen.”

Yongsun blushed at that as she sat down next to Moonbyul. She gently slipped her fingers into Byul’s and leaned her head against her shoulder.

“If only I could.” Yongsun sighed and gazed at her imploringly. Moonbyul felt her heartbeat quicken as she looked back. “Byul, you should try telling the King about your missions at the borders. How the countries around us are encroaching on our land little by little. If we don’t do something, we’ll be attacked and killed!”

Byul clenched her teeth as she remembered how she’d visit the border villages on reconnaissance missions only to find them burned to the ground with bloodied corpses lying about. The women and children had been trafficked away and Byul tried tracking them down but to no avail. She simply didn’t command the number of swords she needed to drive away bandits from the neighboring countries. The King had ordered its military spending to be reduced by ninety percent in order to divert the treasury funds to create better infrastructure and increase social welfare. It didn’t help that her country’s neighbors were waiting for this opportunity to re-conquer her land for its rich supply of natural resources.

“I told him, but he’s adamant that our neighb