It only took 10 minutes for them to walk to Lampion Festival that night. All of people in the city seemed like coming to the festival. Even before the scene of the festival showed up before their eyes, the rousing of the party had already echoed its sound in all directions. The festival was held nearby Nam River, right across The Jindae Fort, to commemorate the anniversary of the city for 100^th year.

There were five of them, Heechul and Sungmin walked side by side to the gateway. Sunkyu guarded Sungmin on the left side and made sure that no ert would lay a finger on her Queen. Donghae walked in front of them, being excited to search whether there was any goldfish catching game stand in the crowd. Siwon rather chose to stand behind them, still in a guard mode, eyes wandering around to make sure there was no one would recognize Sungmin and had any intention to harm the queen.

The first step they landed their feet after they passed the gate, they were greeted by hundred colorful lampions hanging almost on every branch of trees near the riverside and every stall. If you looked up to the sky, you could barely see the stars, but the lampions hanging on the wooden frameworks which stood at 5 meters above the main road. It took Sungmin a while  for her eyes to adapt the dazzling shine of the lampions in front of her.

Hundred? No. Probably thousand of people crowded in this kind of folk festival. Every stalls presented their best handmade lampions. The musical instrument's sounds from the street musicians were adding a happy atmosphere of the festival.  Smiles. Laughters. Not a single gloomy face could be found there. Everyone looked like they didn’t have any worries in life, or probably they had but decided to forget them for a while. At least only for that night.

For Sungmin, this was new for her. A rather similar festival was also once held in the palace, but the attendances were mostly nobles and of course they had better manners and courteous than the folks here. 

But the feeling was different.

The festival in the palace had people who were more interested to talk about political issues, doing some old yet boring ceremony, or even showing off some shining jewelry and clothes between noble’s wives. Everyone pretended adoring the arts of the lampion and silently competing with each other to impress the King. But in this folk festival, Sungmin found none of them like that. 

“How is it, Sungmin-shi? Do you like it?” Heechul turned to Sungmin who at the moment stopped in the middle of the road, got amazed by the glowing scene before her eyes.

Sungmin nodded. 'It’s beautiful', She muttered.

“Agashi, look!! There is a dance performance over there!” Sunkyu got excited over a traditional dance act on a small stage which was just several feet from them. A lot of people seemed interested in the dance, same as Sunkyu. It’s proved by how many seats had been filled in front of the open stage. All of the spectators got impressed by the female dancer who's swinging her hands and moving her body harmoniously with the music. Some of them were even watching with teary eyes, being touched by how the dancer went deep into the dance. The three of them took a seat behind the crowd while Donghae forced Siwon either to go to play catching gold fish or throwing rubber bands game.

“Come on ninja! I need you to win the grand prize. I lost the game to Kwanghee last year, but this time, I am sure with your ninja skill, I’ll definitely win!!”

Siwon was being hesitant for a moment. His job there was to guard Sungmin. “Don’t worry. They’ll be safe with me. The stand isn’t so far from here. These two girls aren’t kids anymore,” Heechul said before taking out a grilled corn from a peddler who was by chance just passing them.

“Madam, pay before you eat that please!!” The peddler protested. His first impression of Heechul was thinking the man as a female, but when the latter yelled in a very masculine voice, he looked shocked.

Heechul snorted, “Donghae, pay him!!”

“Huh? Why me?”

“I’ve just helped you to convince this dimple guy to play with you,” He said after taking a bite of his grilled corn. Not to mention some of the crumbs spilled out from his mouth.

“Hey, I haven’t agreed yet” Siwon said, making Donghae pouted.

“Yah, can all of you shut up? We’re watching a dance now. And Siwon, just go with him. Agashi is safe with me,” Sunkyu snatched the corn from Heechul’s hand. “Yah, Sunsun. It’s my corn!!”

“Madam Sir, your pay!!” The peddler still his open hand, begging to be paid and Heechul nearly lift his hand to hit the peddler's head because confusedly calling him like that.

Other people who watched the performance turned in their direction and shushed them to be quiet. So being a gentleman as he was, Siwon took a purse in his pocket and gave the peddler the money. Donghae grinned, then dragged Siwon to the catching gold fish stand leaving the three behind to watch the dance. 

The solo dance soon became duo. A male dancer, dressing like a prince, joined the female dancer. A sad expression of the female before had been changed in an instant when her eyes met the male.

What’s the name of this dance?

That’s what Sungmin wrote in a tiny notebook she brought earlier then showed it to Heechul. Heechul, who meant to snatch back his grilled corn from Sunkyu before, had to stop his action as he read the note, “Oh, It’s The Blue Bird dance.”

Sungmin looked back to the couple dancers. She wasn’t sure what she felt at the moment. An invisible pain was slowly growing inside her chest while watching the lovely interaction between the couple. The way they stared into each other reminded her of someone. Heechul obliviously continued his storytelling, “It’s about a commoner girl who fall in love with a prince when they meet for the first time in a forest. She goes to the Kingdom to meet the prince and finds out the latter already have a fiancé. She prays every night and dances as a blue bird to make the prince look at her. Luckily, her feeling is reciprocated. They fight for their love together, then decide to….”

Heechul stopped as Sungmin stood from her own seat, looked upset, then left without words (of course). Heechul had no idea why Sungmin acted like that suddenly after knowing the meaning of The Blue Bird dance. Thus, he decided to follow her and left Sunkyu who’s too focused on the dance and clearly oblivious about what happened beside her.

Siwon, at the right time, glanced back toward the dance performance direction (to check out Sungmin) and eventually realized with his hawk eyes that the queen just left. He tried to follow her, but Donghae prevented him, “Don’t worry. Heechul hyung is with her. Maybe he looks skinny and weak, but believe me, he could defeat even the toughest bandit in this village only with his own mouth.”

“But he is a man,” Siwon still doubted about Sungmin's safety with Heechul around.

Donghae chuckled, “I thought you remembered that he mentioned about being interested into guys only,” Those words sent a shiver to Siwon. He remembered how heechul winked at him. Donghae leaned to his ear and whispered, “Don’t take him seriously. He already likes someone. His type is Chinese one…” He grinned.

Siwon looked less worried after hearing that. But after he turned back again and searched Sungmin's figure, the female was nowhere in his sight. “Hey man! I told you not to worry. Hurry! Make me win the grand prize!!!” He said before giving Siwon a new paper net to catch a goldfish again.

***

“Hey wait! Sungmin shi!!” Heechul rushed his steps to catch up to Sungmin, but the female was walking too fast.

At that time, Sungmin was only thinking about how to get as far as possible from the dance performance stage. She hated that dance, she hated it even more after hearing the story behind the Blue Bird dance. The female dancer reminded her of Lady Seohyun, while the male dancer reminded her of Kyuhyun. The way of them exchanging a glance with each other made her heart sank into a deep sorrow. Why did Seohyun have to enter her life? Why should it be Seohyun who caught Kyuhyun’s eyes first?

On the other side, she had been liking him even before he knew about her. She hoped she could meet Kyuhyun by accident just like Seohyun. A reciprocated love that decided by fate. If it were not by using Lee faction power, she wouldn’t have met Kyuhyun in person until then.

Fate was never in Sungmin’s side, but Seohyun’s.

She realized after becoming a Queen, the more she forced to separate Seohyun from Kyuhyun, the more their love became stronger. She didn’t want to be like Queen Heebin who was left by everyone she loved because of her jealousy. She decided to wait and silently took a smooth way to make Kyuhyun became hers. She had a plan, but it was ruined after someone tricked her brother, Lord Eunhyuk. She’d never blamed her brother’s act. She never would. She knew that her brother did that because he loved her, not because his position in the court.

Her strong fortress was finally broken into pieces when the King said those hurting words in their royal first night. She cried hard, even more when she felt a sudden fear to lose everyone from her side. She broke the vows that had been settled far before she became a Queen by saying the forbidden words 'I hate you'.

Therefore, she did purposely punish herself by challenging the Fate itself. If the heaven had decided the Sun (Kyuhyun) and the Moon (Seohyun) were destined to be together, while Venus (Sungmin) was the one who would interfere between them and eventually faced a miserable destiny just like a fortune teller said 10 years ago (who had been killed by Sungmin’s own hand after that), then she would oppose the Fate by ignoring the King.

But this time, she felt she couldn’t hold her stubbornness anymore.

She felt so tired…

Hurt...

Lonely.

She stopped her steps in a certain place among the crowd. She felt alone although there were over a thousand people at the festival. It had been 3 hours the festival started. There’s more and more people coming. It's pretty difficult to walk because the spaces also became tinier and tinier. Sungmin, who was quite thin, seemed easily to be pushed around by people. She suddenly felt insecure, being surrounded by too many of them.

She was scared.

In such a labile state like that, tears were struggling to break free from her eyes. That was the first time she became powerless. She realized she was nothing outside the palace. She’s nothing without Lee’s power. She’s nothing without Kyuhyun. She turned around, to her left and right, had no idea where she was. She had walked too far from Sunkyu and the others. She was lost. She didn’t know a way back to go home.

Home?

Do I still have a home?

The thought made her overreacting even more. Tears were coming down through her cheeks. She looked terrified like a lost child. She almost lost her balance when someone bumped to her body roughly. However, it didn't make her fall as someone with a quick gesture pulled her and rounded one of his arm on Sungmin’s waist. Sungmin’s body landed on to the person's chest. She looked up to him and saw a worried expression had been drawn on his face.

He gasped because of running after her, those big eyes stared straightly toward her, “Aish!! where are you going? You make me worried like hell. I told you to stay by my side. Not all people here are nice, okay?!!”

She had been yelled. Except her mother, her teacher, and Kyuhyun, there was no one who dare to yell at her before. She would be mad at this man whom she only knew just today, but seeing how worried Heechul was and how warm his embrace now, had made her lips trembling and crying even more. She felt so embarrassed as she clutched Heechul’s cloth and buried her face on his chest.

Heechul patted her back and circled his other hand to Sungmin’s shaking body. He really wanted to know why the female became overreacting toward a folk dance like that, yet he kept aside his curiosity once he looked at the crying female in his embrace, “It’s okay. I got you now. Don’t worry. You should tell me if you don’t like that dance, I could bring you to another interesting show” Heechul whispered. They stayed in that position for a while until Sungmin calmed down. She had stopped crying, but some hiccups still couldn’t leave her. Heechul rubbed some traces of tears on her face, then brushed some little hair that came out and ruined her bundle hair, “Look! you ruined your hair. Now, you have bangs on your forehead... kekeke... Yah, stop choking! You look like a snot-nosed kid who couldn’t get a candy.”

Sungmin pouted at him. Choking wasn’t a thing that she could control. How could she stop it? She should be mad at him, yet she didn't feel any urge to do so. She wasn't sure why. Maybe it  had something to do with Heechul’s soft voice (which was rarely being heard), Sungmin couldn’t mad at him. She liked it. It’s calming. Making her fear of being alone to disappear without a single trace in her mind.

The pouted Sungmin with wet eyes and ruined hair, Heechul couldn’t help but found it cute. He put two fingers on the tips of Sungmin’s lip and pulled them up to form a smile, “Don’t pout at me like that. Smile… smile… like this,” He chuckled. Sungmin got annoyed and rubbed off his fingers from her lip.

He laughed, “Kekeke… Just kidding. Do you want a cotton candy? My treat. Just sit and wait for me at the long chair over there. I will buy it for you,” He pointed at the chair direction below a maple tree not so far from their position. Sungmin quickly grabbed his hand and shook her head. She looked like did not want to be lost again.

Heechul smiled, “The cotton candy seller is quite close from here. I will be back quickly. I told you to trust me, right?” He caressed Sungmin’s right cheek to assure her. She slowly nodded. The transvetite man then guided her to the chair and asked her to wait him.

While waiting for Heechul, a slight of insecurities came again with how if he never came back, how if he lied to her and left her alone. She never felt so weak like that. So dependant. Yet she couldn’t push that easily. At least, after Heechul was back with a cotton candy on his right hand, a scarf circled on his neck, and two white paper lanterns on his left hand.

Sungmin frowned. She wanted to write I thought you only bought a cotton candy, but couldn’t do that as she lost her notebook after leaving Sunkyu (who probably realized there’s no Sungmin beside her) and Heechul back then.

He gave her the candy, then put off his scarf, “The night become colder. Wear this,” He said while circling it around Sungmin’s neck. The pink colored scarf did make her feeling warms, but it caused struggled to approach the cotton candy. Heechul found it cute again. He chuckled and took a bite of the candy. Sungmin’s eyes grew wider with Heechul’s sudden action. Her cheeks became as pink as cotton candy when their eyes met.

“It’s sweet, right? Do you like it?”

She turned around opposing Heechul, gaining the protest from the male. “Hey!! I only bought one. You should share it with me. Don’t be stingy! Beside, I am helping you to finish eating it because you are so slow and the candy will become tough if you don’t eat it quickly.”

Sungmin sighed and turned back again. She told herself that the sudden tingling feeling (or some butterfly in a stomach like) just came because of the cold air. Nothing else. Sungmin never shared her food. But this time she didn’t know why she obeyed the male without protest. In the end, they ate the cotton candy, side by side until the last bite.

“So, now we have to go to the main event of this festival!!” Heechul stood up and took the white paper lanterns with him. Then he offered a hand to Sungmin, “Let’s go. I’ve promised you to show how to have fun tonight, right?” No doubt, Sungmin took Heechul’s hand and intertwined her fingers between the male’s. She gripped it tight, not wanting to lose it again. That night, she must admit that she couldn’t stand alone and only Heechul was the one she depended on at that time. She didn’t know what the right word she wanted to address the male. A pal? A friend?

Then something caught her attention. Sungmin eyed the paper lanterns (with no light in them) on heechul’s free hand. She pointed at them and signed Heechul as a question what it was for. Glad Heechul understood what she meant, “Oh, this? I told you about the main event. This is a Lantern of Hope. It  is made from…..”

“Agashi!!!!” A sudden female voice cut Heechul's words. Sunkyu waved her hand to them, she brought a lampion with a pink lotus flower shaped. Siwon and Donghae also walked behind her. Donghae couldn’t stop smiling as he finally won a super big size fish cake. Thanks to Siwon.

“Agashi, why did you two leave me alone back then?” Sunkyu pouted at her queen for a second, then smiled as she gave her the flower shaped lampion. “Agashi, here I buy a beautiful lampion for you. Your favorite flower,” Sungmin smiled back at her. She said Thank You to Sunkyu for still remembering her favorite flower. Sunkyu's smile became even wider. She’s so happy as she saw Queen Min’s smile more than once that night.

Siwon saw their intertwined fingers and wanted to warn Heechul about his act, but he canceled thet thought when he watched it further, it’s not Heechul who held Sungmin’s hand but the other way around. He wondered what he missed in those minutes he lost Sungmin from his sight.

“Oh hyung, is that a lantern of hope? You two are gonna do that?” Donghae asked out of the blue.

Heechul shrugged, “Yeah. Since you all here. Let’s go to the river!!” He persuaded them.

All of them walked to the riverside, joining other people who were also bringing a white paper lantern on their hand. But Siwon stood still as he saw some some familiar figures with royal guard uniforms among the crowd. He decided to approach them to make sure whether they came to the festival for Sungmin. “What are you doing here Captain Yonghwa? You're not following me, aren't you? I could be flattered,” Siwon asked coldly.

Captain Yonghwa turned toward his direction then greeted him politely, “We are here to make sure where Queen Min is now. We’re royal bodyguards. It’s our job to protect the queen”. Siwon chuckled, “Protect the Queen? I thought your job is only protecting a Special Gungnyeo. Ah, sorry. I mean King’s concubine”. 

Yonghwa’s smile disappeared as he heard those cynical words from Siwon, “Siwon-shi, please cooperate with us. It’s our job to protect royal family”.

Actually, Yonghwa admired Siwon. Siwon was the only one who could defeat him in martial arts competition. He should be the captain of royal guards if he wanted, but the latter rather chose serving Lord Eunhyuk than becoming the captain of royal bodyguards.

Siwon took a step forward and stared straightly into the captain’s eyes, “Just go back to the palace, Captain. She is in a safe place now. There is no rule that forbids her to spend one night outside Gyeongbok palace. Just for tonight, let her be...”

TBC