Byul felt hope again as she rode the horse, leading the rest of the troops towards the farmhouse where the princes were held captive. As Minister Jung had promised, he had spoken to the other ministers whom he knew would never join the evil activities with Lord park, and they had all gathered their strengths through the night.

There was the Financial Minister with his whole household of males, every single one he could find. There was the Minister of Transport who was in charge of a whole hoard of stallions and had offered them up for battle. There was also the Minister of Environment who had no experience in fighting but was willing to go along to help as he could.

All of them were agitated and furious, fuming with anger at the Parks for trying to overtake the throne. The throne had been the Parks, yes, but the late Park Prince had been dethroned and now the Byuns were the ruling family. As much as it hurt to say so, the Byuns were doing a better job at it too.

The whole troop of men gathered were around thirty men strong with fifteen horses. There were swords and arrows and bows, but none of them were really proficient in the weapons since they weren't made out for fighting. The ones in charge of fighting were all over at Lord Park's side. Which was bad bad bad bad.

But Byul couldn't help but feel the glimmer of hope as she led them. There might be little chance of winning those experienced soldiers under Chanyeol's command, but at least there was a chance. And she was going to grab onto this chance with whatever strength she had, making sure that nothing bad would befall on Baekhyun and the princes.

"It's over there." Byul pointed to Minister Jung. They met eyes and nodded.

Byul turned back to look at the men. "Ready to save the King and Queen?" she hollered.

"YES!" they all called back. Byul smiled widely. "THEN CHARGE!" she screamed.

The whole gang of them charged furiously towards the farmhouse, the sounds of hooves against the floor and shouts of protests. The guards paid to guard the farmhouse were alerted indeed, most of them not fully awake in the dawn. They barely grabbed their swords before Byul rode over to them and punched them in their faces.

Suho, who had no idea who to hold a sword or a bow, used a stick instead. He knocked everyone of the guards on their heads and some passed out on the floor. Suho grinned triumphantly.

Minister Jung ran into the farmhouse and set the princes free, together with the King and Queen. The numbers on their side rose with the freeing of the princes, to around thirty five men. They fought hard, fighting and pushing, proving that they weren't meant to fail.

"TAKE THAT YOU IDIOT!" D.O. did a flying kick at one of the nasty looking guard's face. "I WILL NOT eat you thank you very much!" he harrumphed.

Baekhyun ran over to Byul, relieved to see she was alright. "Eunbyul!" he called out without thinking.

Byul was distracted and the guard she was fighting managed to slash her arm just slightly. Baekhyun gasped. Byul quickly recovered and pushed the guard, using a wooden rod she found and knocking him hard enough on the head to wound but not to kill. She spun around, panting, shooting Baekhyun a look.

"Mianhae." Baekhyun grinned sheepishly. "Would it help if I tol you I missed you too much?"

Byul rolled her eyes but she smiled back. "I missed you too Ddongggg--!!!!! BEHIND YOU!"

Baekhyun whipped around just in time to see one of the guards raising a chair and aiming it at Baekhyun. He dodged down just as Byul flew over him, stabbing the chair in the heart of the wood with her sword and twisting it in such a manner that the chair broke into splinters and rained down on the guard. She pushed the guard away and punched him just enough to cause temporary injury.

"Nice going Eunbyul. You saved my life again." Baekhyun heaved a sigh of relief, panting.

Byul looked over at him, her stance ready. "Let's not make that a habit, shall we?" she mused. "Get up and fight with me, Baekhyun." Baekhyun grinned and nodded, grabbing the wooden rod she had thrown on the ground and covering her back.

They circled around with their backs against one another, fighting off the guards who were trying to harm them or at least disarm. But they worked extremely well together, even with the disparity between their fighting skills. Baekhyun seemed to know what Byul was trying to do and he would try to cover her back as best as he could, making sure no one could get to her.

And it seememd like they were finally winning. The guards were laying on the floor, some passed out, some dreadfully hurt, and some unfortunately dead. THe rest of the guards left were surrounded by the ministers and princes, darting looks around anxiously. Their head wasn't here and they only did this for the money. They weren't willing to sacrifice their lives like their fellow friends.

"Please forgive us!" one of them kneeled on the floor when the King and Queen appeared from the farm house, haggard but still looking top to toe royal. "We were wrong!"

"WE WERE WRONG!" the others echoed and kneeled down as well. The King shook his head in disgust, frowning and pondering what he should do. But first, "Where is Lord Park?" he demanded. "Where is that darn man who captured us?"

"Here."

All eyes turned to where the voice came from. And all of them paled.

Because just when they defeated a whole army of forty guards, Lord Park and Chanyeol led another hundred with them with smirks on their faces. "So, what's that you were saying again soon-to-be-dead-Pyeha?" Lord Park smirked.

-----

"Oh my god." Sehun whispered. Kai stood near his cousin, a gash on his face, and holding his sword tighter. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.

"Ready to give up your throne, Pyeha?" Lord Park smirked as he got down his horse and strode casually over. "Ready to hand it over to us, the true rulers of this country?" he taunted.

The King glowered. "Never." he hissed. "This land should never be ruled by someone as viscious as you and your son." he growled. His eyes fell on Chanyeol who was flinching, looking straight at his friends who were hurt and battered and the guilt filling his expression without any control.

"Chanyeol." the King said, his voice carrying fair and clear. "What are you doing?" he demanded. "Why are you following in your father's footsteps, doing wrong? Can't you tell this is wrong? Isn't Baekhyun your hyung? Why are you doing this to him?"

Chanyeol hesitated. His eyes fell on Byul who glared at him steadily.

"I..." Chanyeol gulped, looking away. This hurt even more than when he saw Baekhyun and Byul kissing. The look of hatred and utter dislike in Byul's eyes as she glared at him, the drastic difference from when they talked and smiled together. This hurt so much more. Lord Park lied to him. He said Byul would learn to love him.

"Don't try to make my son confused, Pyeha." he said the last word with emphasis, as if the term would soon be obselete. "Trying to delay the time of your death? DOn't try, you're going to die anyway."

He looked back at his hundred man strong troop and smirked. "Charge."

Everything else that happened next was a whirl of events. The hundred strong men charged forward, wielding their swords and arrows and firing away wildly. Kai was the first one to get shot in the thigh and he fell down in pain, scampering to the side to avoid the cross fire.

Sehun tended to his hyung's injury, trembling in fear. The other ministers weren't doing a good job fighting the soldiers, however. The soldiers were ordered to capture and not to kill, since with a new ruler, there needed to be other ministers under the new king. And Lord Park intended to keep these ministers in place even after he and his son took over the throne.

But that didn't mean people didn't get hurt.

Minister Jung was knocked hard on the head and he passed out on the floor. D.O. and Suho were fighting five men and were losing terribly. The King was trying to protect his wife and holding his sword and waving it around madly, but it clearly wasn't working.

Byul and Baekhyun were in their formation again, fighting their butts off. But this time there were too many of the enemies and too little of them. They were losing.

Chanyeol watched everything from the side with a sinking heart. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't bear to see all this blood spilling because of him. Because of him. He groaned, had he realized all this trouble had resulted from his one foolish act?

"Eunbyul." Baekhyun panted. "If we really can't win, please don't marry Yeol."

Byul blocked a punch from one of the soldiers and cut the soldier's hand. "Are you an idiot!" she growled. "Now's not the time to talk about this!"

Baekhyun hit a soldier away as he tried to catch BYul off guard by her back. "I have to, in case I die." he reasoned, his eyes narrowing at the soldiers who were surrounding them. Byul shot him a look. "We are not going to lose. I am not going to let you die!"

But it seemed like they were.

Byul looked around and saw the other ministers collapsed on the floor, the princes tired and worn out, the King and Queen being held captive by one of the soldiers.

She heard Baekhyun make a noise behind her and snapped her gaze up, only to see Lord Park advancing towards her with a smirk. Oh no.

She panted, leaning against Baekhyun as she felt him take her hand. "To answer your question, no I'm not going to marry Chanyeol." she whispered brokenly. "If I'm going to marry, it's going to be you."

Lord Park smirked and raised the sword above their heads.

They squeezed their eyes shut, praying for their lives to be taken quickly with minimal pain.

"Stop!"

The sound of an arrow wheezing through the air and a strangled yell made both of them open their eyes again. Lord Park fell backwards with an arrow in his arm.

A group of men charged over with determined looks on their faces. "Ni hao. We're here to save your , Baekhyun." Kris grinned, the EXO-M princes waving behind him.

Baekhyun shot them a look. "Finally!"