Understanding
Snow White
After the whole chaos settled down, Donghae felt fury more than pain.
Yes, he was devastated over his parents' death and the destruction of the village, but he knew sadness wasn't going to get him anywhere - it just held him down.
The fury he had for the queen tripled, and made him numb to the grief.
His mind was just a mess of vengeance and anger after a night of moping and reflecting.
He wanted to get revenge for what the Queen did to him and his village. Someone who wanted to kill her own daughter and slaughter a whole village did not deserve to be in power.
No matter what, by the end of that day, he would be holding the Queen's heart in his hand instead.
_____
That night, Donghae had prepared everything. A bow, a hood of arrows and a small little pouch.
He stared at his reflection in his mirror, as he adjusted the hood of arrows to hide in his tan cloak, pulling the lapels down.
He nodded, kissed his photo frame of his parents, and left.
This was for his parents, and his village. The kingdom would be much better off without this plaque of a Queen in rule.
_____
His plans were thrown off after, as he realised how buzzed up the whole palace was when he snuck in the back butler's chambers.
Donghae nervously swallowed, as he unconsciously tucked his arrow hood deeper against himself, not attracting any unwanted attention as he left the back room, walking past the wide corridors, shoving past anxious and scrambling maids and soldiers.
He had already given some money from his mall pouch to a butler, to keep as many people out of the back rooma s posible for 30 minutes - enough for Donghae to enter, finish he job, and leave.
Then, Donghaefinally spotted who he was looking for.
He wanted to shout out to her, but thought otherwise and quickly walked forth to catch up to her, hastily patting her shoulder.
"Yuri!" He whispered.
The said female jumped, the white towels in her arms crashing onto the ground.
She yelped and quickly knelt forth, picking everything up and folding them squarely. Donghae muttered a quick apology, bent forth and helped her too.
"What are you doing here?" Yuri hissed, as she folded and picked up towels frantically. She anxiously looked around and realised everybody was too busy to notice her screw up or Donghae lurking about the Palace at this time of the night.
"I-I need your help. Uh-"
"This is a horrible timing for whatever you need!" Yuri chided, as she stacked the last of the towels on her arm.
"What? Why? What happened? The Palace seems so .. Busy, and it's already so late!" Donghae frowned, as he adjusted one of the towels on her arm.
Yuri had a few questions herself, like why was he doing here when it is indeed so deep into the night? But she had other problems to take care of now.
".. The King. He was attacked moments ago... And wasn't so fortunate. Look, I'm really busy right now, so just be careful and go home, Donghae," Yuri coaxed before she scurried off, disappearing into the flurry of maids and soldiers.
Donghae didn't need to ask what the towels were for anymore, as images of them stained red filled his head.
He gulped, as he slowly backed away into the shadows, slipping back into the butlers' room.
He locked the door shut, and took a deep breath.
So now, the King was dead too.
To him, it was vividly obvious who did it,
Who mercilessly killed the king.
The Queen.
He felt anger boil within him again. But over that, he felt a small spark of helplessness bloom. If she could kill her own husband, slaughter a village and order people after her daughter.. Just what chance did he have against her?
___
"..What are you doing here?" A feminine voice whispered.
Donghae's face paled.
He nervously spun around.
".. Princess?"
Yoona offered a small smile and nodded.
The princess took a deep breath before wiping her perspiration away, sitting down on one of the stools.
Donghae scratched his neck, buying time as he quickly thought of an excuse to her posed question.
"Uh I, wanted to check if you had placed the box, for the Queen," he blurted, unsure of what else to say.
An unreadable expression appeared on Yoona's face, before her usual smile returned.
"I already placed an animal's heart, and safely delivered it to the top drawer in her room, don't worry."
Donghae just nodded, though he was slightly pricked by the use of the word 'animal' once again.
".. Are you okay? You seem exhuasted."
Yoona didn't reply and stared at the ground.
It took a while before Donghae noticed droplets of tears softly hitting the floor boards.
His eyes softened. "Princess.."
"I..I went to see my father.." Yoona's eyes turned glassy as she stared at the ground. "But.."
Donghae took a sharp breath, knowing how her sentence would end. He felt like he should comfort her in a way, but he didn't know how. He wasn't exactly the closest person to her.
"But.. He was stabbed and wheezing when I managed to sneak into his chambers.. I-I didn't know what to do.. I tried to stop the bleeding but I heard the Queen's voice from somewhere near so.. So I..I ran away.. " Yoona's sobs turned muffled as she covered her face, shaking her head.
He bit his lip and went over, taking another stool and sat down beside the princess.
Donghae hesitated for a second, as Yoona's muffled cries filled the small room, before he softly patted her back.
"It's not your fault he passed away-"
"It is! I should have stayed to try to stop the bleeding.. If only had.." Yoona sobbed, leaning against Donghae as she cried.
Donghae stiffened for a second before he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, gently rocking her.
" it wasn't, okay? If it really was someone's fault -" Donghae paused, unsure if he should continue.
".. It would be the Queen's."
Yoona's sobbing stopped.
"I-I think she's the one who .." He cleared his throat.
Yoona broke away from Donghae, and stared at him with her glassy, lost eyes.
"..really?"
"I don't know.. But if she can destroy my whole village.. And send someone after you, I don't see why no-"
Thud. Click.
Someone was opening the back room.
Donghae cursed, pulling Yoona up, and stabling her as she stumbled past the stools.
"There is a vent at the back that connects to the outside, which was how I got in. Quick." He pushed Yoona towards the corner, behind a wall just as the door swung open.
Donghae placed a finger to his lips as he nodded at Yoona who was pressed against him.
She nodded, before crawling into the vent.
Donghae peeked out for a moment, and when realising the person who entered was a guard, he quickly darted back.
.
"Check behind that wall, in case there's anything hidden there. We need to secure the castle grounds after the attack. Protect the Queen from the same fate."
The said guard nodded and marched behind, unsheathing his sword.
But nobody was there.
He frowned and was about to put his sword back when he heard a click.
He looked downwards, and saw the vent move back into place.
Someone was escaping through there.
"Hey you!" The guard yelled, yanking open the vent, finding Donghae.
Donghae felt dread fill his heart as he quickly crawled away, ignoring the guard.
The guard couldn't fit in with his armor and cursed as he quickly stood up.
"Get the troops! Secure all exits around the palace right now!"
____
Donghae held onto Yoona's hand, as he ran into the forest once again, not looking back.
The tall trees peppered his view as they both dodged and swept past trunks and leaves, brushing past branches and shadows.
He was just lucky he slipped into the vent just in time. Also lucky that the guard was wearing armour.
"Yoona, you alright?" He asked, panting, when they finally hit a clearing, safe and far away from the palace.
Yoona took a deep breath and nodded, resting her hands on her knees.
Donghae felt his mind whirl. What are they going to do now?
He knew for sure the guard had seen him and knew how he looked like. He was practically a wanted man now.
Yoona finally caught her breath. "I know there's a small cottage not far from here! It's abandoned. I have been staying there ever since.. The incident in the forest. Let's go!"
Donghae felt guilt spark again inside of him as he remembered aiming an arrow at Yoona, as he jogged behind her, following her to the cottage.
___
"Here!" Yoona smiled, as she pushed open the creaky wooden door of a small little house inside the forest.
"It's old and alittle musty, but uh make yourself at home! Even though it's not mine." Yoona chuckled.
Donghae forced a smile, and sat down on a stool in front of the kitchen counter.
Yoona coughed from the dust, before grabbing another stool and sitting opposite from Donghae.
It was silent for awhile,
before Yoona broke it.
"Erm.. So you said she sent someone over to destroy your village..?"
Donghae's blood ran cold and he stiffened.
Yoona swallowed and quickly added, "uh, it's okay. I shouldn't have asked that-"
"No, it's fine. My village .. Is gone, burnt away. My parents are dead," Donghae replied shortly. The faster he answered all the questions she might have, the faster the conversation would be over.
Yoona must have sensed his reluctancy and sudden coldness, so she just nodded.
"I-I'm sorry."
It was silent again.
"You hungry?" Yoona asked, standing up, opening and closing cabinets, searching for food.
She then sneezed from the dust released.
Donghae let out a chuckle at her sneeze, then shook his head.
"I'm no-"
He got cut off by his own stomach growling.
Yoona then cupped , hiding her smile, but then started to laugh.
Donghae blinked for a second, shocked her her outburst , before he started to chuckle then outright laughing too.
He didn't even know what was so funny anymore, but all he knew was they both needed a really good laugh.
She lost her dad, her stepmother is going after her, and his village is destroyed with his parents dead.
In some ways, they were alike and Donghae couldn't hep but take comfort in that fact, that they both could relate to each other in a way, depend on each other.
Soon their laughter died away as they both were wrapped up in their own thoughts.
"Hey.. Yoona?"
Yoona blinked in surprise, as she got dragged back to reality.
"I'm sorry.. For trying to urm.. Harm you. And I-I.. I'm just sorry for everything." Donghae looked at her sincerely. He didn't know what else to say.
"No, I should be sorry.. It was my fault. If i didn't make the queen dislike me, you and your village would be far away from all this mess," Yoona shook her head.
"Tch. It's her own fault for treating her daughter this way. She is the real animal." Donghae muttered, not caring what the princess thinks of his words of her step mother anymore.
"I'm not her daughter actually," Yoona smiled.
"Stating the obvious."
She then chuckled emptily. "Feels like confession hour, huh?"
Donghae let out a small, tired, laugh.
"When two lost souls are together, isn't that what happens?" Yoona clucked her tongue.
Donghae sadly nodded.
"Both of us lost so much.. So fast," Yoona smiled sadly, as she moved over and sat beside Donghae.
He just nodded once more, as he felt his eyes dampen, the image of his family popping up again.
They were both just so sad and pathetic, huh?
"We can do something about it, you know," Yoona added suddenly.
Donghae sniffed, wiping away his tears that had yet to fall, as he looked at Yoona.
Her eyes weren't despondent, or depressed anymore. They were burning with determination.
"It's the queen's fault for everything, you are right. She killed my father, or most probably sent someone after him, I just know it. Since she was also nearby when everything happened," Yoona clenched her fist.
"And, she destroyed your village, took away everything you had. Also wants to kill me."
Donghae knew what she was getting at.
"And you are trying to say..?"
He still had to ask.
"To nip the problem in the bud - eliminate the Queen," Yoona smiled.
Donghae felt his mind start to whirl,
And he neglected the fact of how Yoona was a splitting image of the Queen at that very moment.
Maybe when Yoona said she wasn't the Queen's daughter, it wasn't really stating the obvious after all.
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