Warning: This chapter discusses the war, and contains discussion of violence. If this disturbs you, please don't read past the [CAUTION] marker.

The trees were balding, their leaves having been blown away in the cool wind. The nights have gotten even colder, that campfires didn’t seem to provide ample warmth anymore. Smoke started coming out of people’s mouths as they spoke.

Winter seemed to have come early for the army of Silla, and while this was anticipated, it was not anticipated this early.

The point of having a swift conquest was that you were leaving your opponent little room to prepare for defending themselves. Unfortunately, for Jongkook and Janghoon, the first two conquests were swift but inefficient, and quite a substantial fraction of their men had been injured. They have been sent back to Silla, along with a request to the king to send more troops.

When Janghoon sent the request, Jongkook was not optimistic; he knew that the royal family wanted to minimize casualties. To his surprise, however, an emissary was sent ahead to confirm that more men were being sent to replace the wounded soldiers. Janghoon had been ecstatic, immediately commanding Jongkook to plan a quick training set-up for the coming reinforcements. Jongkook readily complied. 

The problem with training reinforcements, however, was that it took quite some time, and the initial plan to conquer Gaya within a timeframe of four months was now beginning to stretch to a longer period. It had already been two months, and they were only able to conquer two polities. Now that reinforcements were arriving, time also had to be set aside for training them, and sufficient training would take weeks, which stretched the gap between their recently-concluded conquest and their next one. 

It didn’t help that winter was fast approaching. The first snowdrop had yet to fall, but as they took more time training the reinforcements sent by the king, the temperature continued to drop, and the men began to be a bit more sluggish. Jongkook immediately issued commands to exercise more, and ensured that the rations distributed were healthy, but keeping thousands of men in a military camp free from any sickness was getting quickly taxing.

Prior to leaving, it seemed they underestimated the polity’s abilities to defend themselves. The first two polities eventually succumbed to Silla’s prowess, but Jongkook felt that the Gayans’ superior knowledge of their own territory was helping them make the conquest more difficult. As they moved west, Jongkook actively helped General Janghoon strategize with the limited knowledge they had of the polities, and the general was impressed with the commander’s ideas. If Jongkook spent the day training soldiers, his nights were reserved for looking at maps and reading military reports, trying to find any piece of information that could help them plan things thoroughly. 

The next conquest was personally and professionally difficult for Jongkook. Seongsan Gaya was next, and being situated in a region that was filled with hills and valleys, it was terrain that was quite different from the plains of Silla. Moreover, its capital was strategically built on a plateau, which meant that attacking forces were immediately visible as they made their way up. This made it easier for the people of Seongsan Gaya to defend themselves. Jongkook was also sure that, by now, news of their conquest had reached the other polities, which meant that they were better prepared than the ones Silla was able to successfully conquer. 

But, perhaps, the one thing Jongkook was most worried about was facing his good friend, Taehyun, the leader of Seongsan Gaya. They were good friends, but their time at the Tang had seen them as rivals with varied strengths. While Jongkook had been great in their lessons on philosophy, Taehyun had mastered politics. Jongkook was a master of hand-to-hand combat and sword fighting, while Taehyun was the most skilled in horse riding and archery. If their training back then was any indication, Jongkook knew his army would not have an easy time at Seongsan Gaya, and, specifically for him, he was unsure which outcome he’d prefer — seize control of Seongsan Gaya from Taehyun for Silla, or see a good friend successfully defend his homeland. It felt quite unfair to conquer Seongsan Gaya, when Taehyun had helped him and Jihyo create the diplomatic agreement. 

Still, Jongkook was bound by duty. He had already gone far to go back without a fight. Surely, Taehyun would understand; being a commander was different from being the leader of a tribe. Jongkook didn’t make decisions. He merely executed whatever his king asked of him, even if that means taking over the land of a dear friend. 

It was going to be an uphill battle, in more ways than one.

The palace was abuzz. The royal physician had just left the Queen’s palace, directly reporting to the King what he had discovered. King Kwangsoo had been worried that the queen’s appetite had gone totally berserk. She didn’t want to eat the food she usually favored, and what little food she consumed, her body repelled. When the royal physician checked her pulse, there was not one rhythm; there were two.

It was reported that the queen had conceived a child that winter, and King Kwangsoo could not be any happier about the arrival of his first child.

Somin and Jihyo were also ecstatic, the first even more so than the latter, who was still worried about the ongoing conquest in Gaya. But, their familial bonds remained, and Somin successfully dragged Jihyo out of her wallowing. The two princesses visited the queen, with Jihyo helping her manage the affairs under her care and Somin planning a celebration for the arrival of the king and queen’s first child. 

Jihyo liked the diversion, because she was constrained to lessen her visits to the village given the harsh winter winds. The village leader decided that children should stay more often within their homes as much as possible, which meant that Jihyo’s activities with them had to be limited.

Kwangsoo liked the fact that he saw his sister more often once again. Her eyes lacked the luster they used to have, and, while she still greeted him and talked to him about important matters, she had become a bit more passive, simply nodding along to the king’s stories and keeping her answers short when questions were thrown her way. Kwangsoo repeatedly consulted with Somin regarding the matter, but the younger princess simply told the king to let Jihyo take her time to move on.

On the other hand, Jihyo didn’t feel so good. She kept pushing herself to feel better, to forget Jongkook, and to find her own happiness, but it was quickly proving to be impossible. She was beginning to spiral into loneliness, and it didn’t help that she could not meet the children of the village. The palace walls felt too constricting, and, given the wide breadth of experiences she had in the village, in Gaya, and in the town near the summer palace, ceremonial tasks seemed too mundane and worthless. Her heart couldn’t accept that Jongkook was really gone. She wasn’t sure if he was going to outlive the war, but even if he did, she already knew he was going to leave. He cannot be here when the inevitable happens; he told her that much, and he was a man of his word.

To make matters worse, she could not find the same respite she used to feel from her family. Somin used to always have the ability to make her laugh and to comfort her in her times of sadness, but now the sight of her just reminded her of why she couldn’t marry Jongkook. She needed to reserve herself for a political marriage because her sister was not inclined to do that. She gave her sister freedom, and in exchange, locked herself away from the love of her life.

Kwangsoo used to be her emotional support, but, now, his image was tainted with the decision to launch the war against Gaya. Every time Jihyo heard his voice, what was once a soothing voice just became an unwanted reminder of the same voice that rationalized the decision to send Jongkook towards a place that risked his life. And, as if she needed another slap on the face, her brother even had the privileges she could only dream of - Kwangsoo had married the love of his life, and is now expecting his first child.

To top it all off, she knew these feelings of resentment against her siblings were absolutely unfair. Somin and Kwangsoo deserved to be happy too, and they made their choices. It wasn’t their fault that Jihyo, from the beginning, had disregarded the possibility of love, and was also too much of a coward to fight for Jongkook.

In totality, Jihyo felt horrible, and also felt horrible about feeling horrible.

That day, Jihyo was in the Queen’s palace with the entirety of her family. She was going through parchments that Sunbin was supposed to go through as the one in-charge of palace affairs; the older princess had volunteered to help her sister-in-law. Somin, Kwangsoo, and Sunbin were huddled together on the other side of the room. Her brother was gushing over the feeling of two heartbeats from Sunbin’s pulse, and Somin was just chastising the couple for being too affectionate in front of her.

It was the first time Jihyo felt that way,