AT THE KIM'S RESIDENCE
Someone was eavesdropping on the conversation going on, when he noticed a slight movement coming towards his direction he hurriedly left not wanting to be caught.
Yoona's mother was discussing with her husband about the things she heard whilst still at the temple. Narrating the story in a hushed tone, her husband signaled her to stop.
He felt they were not alone so he walked towards the direction he felt it but disappointedly, he saw no one. Walking back to the room,he wondered if his intuition was wrong or he being oversensitive because of the sensitive topic.
'I must be getting old ', he sighed in resignation as he returned to the room.
He told her to desist from mentioning the topic again, then, he retired to his bed for some respite.
Yoona's mother wanted to change the topic and talk about their daughter, but seeing that her husband had lost interest, she left to find her son .
LADY LEE'S PLACE
Teacher Lee urged the girls to go out and have some fun.
Excitedly, Yoona brought some outing clothes. Afterwards, she put on the shoes her teacher gave her and let Seohwa restyle her hair .
She had earlier decided to go all pink from her clothes to her hair accessories since teacher Lee gave her pink shoes, so everything reeked of pink .
Seohwa too, was excited as she had never been to this part of the country, for the last time she came ,she was sent back immediately.
After being advised to avoid dark and lonely alleys and use crowded streets only, her teacher gave her some silver coins to buy whatever food or snacks she wants.
The duo was so happy they couldn't wait to go out and spend the money on their favorites.
They went to the market place where they bought some fruit candies. Excited at the things they purchased, they decided to buy more sweet things and more especially dumplings.
Yoona ate some dumplings hot as she dislikes cold ones. They packed the rest and left for a proper place to enjoy the rest .As she made to put the last piece in her mouth, someone crashed into her and it fell down on the sandy ground, ruined.
Angry that someone made her precious food fall on the ground, she turned sharply but was stunned to see a very handsome boy looking at her, panting. An evidence that he had been running and obviously the culprit of the crime.
"Miss are you OK?", Seohwa who witnessed the scene frighteningly asked to make sure her miss was not hurt.
The boy on the other hand stood frozen at the spot. Seeing the beautiful face staring at him angrily, he couldn't help being mesmerized.
'What a beauty!',he murmured softly. Remembering he bumped into her, he asked if she was OK, but Yoona answered grudgingly that she was fine but her dumpling is ruined because of him .
The boy apologized sincerely and wanted to buy another one for her, but before he could propose it, he saw his pursuers and exhaled deeply.
He sped off after apologizing briefly again and promised that if fate permits he would repay her for her loss.
While running, he grumbled about his unfortunate brother's action as he had missed the chance of talking to the girl . He swore to torture him later for it , after all, who made them spy on someone.
Yoona tapped on the drooling Seohwa .
"He's gone, wipe off your drool, it's dripping down your neck", she teased mercilessly, earning her a deep crimson blush.
She woke up from her fantasy and instinctively reached out to wipe off the drool with the back of her hands. Unknowingly to her, her miss was teasing her .
"Miss! stop teasing me, you are making my cheeks hot ", she pouted embarrassingly.
Yoona laughed softly and pinched her servant's cheek .
"You are so cute when you blush", she continued.
Seohwa felt very embarrassed and ran off to cool herself down before facing her miss again .
Yoona giggled at her embarrassed state and turned towards another direction to browse the street and market. Passing through one of the streets, she noticed people rushed towards one direction. Curiousity gained her as she joined them to see dancing troupes performing in the marketplace.
Captivated, she moved towards the front to get a better view . She was so engrossed she was unaware that had taken her money pouch, but someone else noticed it. He beckoned to her and shouted that someone had taken her money.
She saw it was true when the pouch was gone. The good Samaritan pointed at the dirty looking man retreating slowly and affirmed his as the pickpocket.
Yoona without hesitation,chased after the man and begged him to return the pouch to her and take the money.
The pouch was something her sick mother painstakingly sew and embroidered on for 4 days on her last birthday and she swore she would never lose it.
The boy was amazed on how someone valued a pouch over money. He felt she would be an interesting girl so he joined in the chase .
Meanwhile, Seohwa returned to find her mistress missing. Alarmed, she asked the food vendor on her whereabouts but there was no inkling of where she went.
A young mother pointed at a direction she saw someone with the description walked to but there was no resemblance to her story. Dejectedly, Seohwa circled the area for any sign of her.
On the chase, the thief led them to a dark alley where his gang members were smoking and waiting for an unfortunate passer-by to come.
Seeing their gang member in flee, they became alert and hid themselves in the darkness. The chasing duo who was in hot pursuit felt the lurking danger around them and stopped,but it was too late to retreat .
In a trap now, the thief came out with the rest of the gang and surrounded them .
The leader asked them to strip themselves of all the ornaments and money in their possession.
Yoona trembled but told him, his man is with her money but should return the pouch to her and she will leave immediately. The leader asked his gang member to bring the pouch, looking at it carefully he couldn't identify what's so special about it that the girl could risk her life for it.
" Normal clothes, normal threads and normal embroidery , nothing is extraordinary about it".
The boy just stood silently. Observing his surroundings, he thought of what to use as a weapon if the situation turns dire.
The leader was stunned and became weary of the boy when he noticed the his calmness and confidence .
One of the gang members raised his hands to hit him with the wooden stick but couldn't understand how he found himself on the ground himself.
They unsheathed their swords and daggers when they felt threatened by his martial arts and quit underestimating him.
" You guys will die here" ,one of them roared angrily.
The boy saw the situation escalate to the matter of life and death. He cursed under his breath, grabbed the girl's hand with one hand and the wooden stick on the other hand and fought the gangsters so as to make their escape.
Being outnumbered and protecting a weak girl was his disadvantage. One of the swords was aimed at the girl but he blocked it with his arms. She screamed and trembled at the sight of blood dripping down the boy's arms.
"Whatever you do, don't faint!", he commanded once he saw her white and ghastly face. She held his hands tightly and begged the thugs to let them go .
The deafened thugs fought them without mercy but the boy managed to escape with the girl as he found their weakness and exploited it ,which is lack of organization.The thugs chased them down the open street notwithstanding the crowd.
As if protesting, the sky turned dark and poured down. During the commotion, they were lost hence they returned to their base with lots of curse heaped on him for trashing them.
Yoona continued running with the boy who held his wounded arm and the rain caused the bleeding to increase. She was scared the boy might lose lots of blood and urged him to stop running. He obliged immediately because he was tired from the fight and the subsequent running.
Looking sideways, they saw an abandoned warehouse and ran into it for shelter against the rain.
At the abandoned warehouse, Yoona tore off a part from her inner dress and used it to bandage the wounded arm. The feeling of guilt made her look around the warehouse to seek for anything that could stop the bleeding.
Browsing around ,she couldn't find anything and returned dejectedly to see the boy rebadging himself. She asked why he removed his bandages at the first place and he told her he applied medicine to the wound.
He further explained he had forgotten about the medicine or he wouldn't have let her worry over him. He saw she felt cheated and down too and couldn't help feeling sad himself.
"Miss, can I ask you a question?",he asked so as to ease the awkward moment.
Yoona nodded and he asked away.
"Why did you request for the pouch and not the money back then?".
Yoona told him that it was a gift from her mother, she also added that it's her most precious belonging as her mother had made it while sick for her birthday.
The boy sighed and handed her the pouch.
"I'm glad that I made the right decision by bringing it with us", he beamed with pride at his accomplishments.
Yoona was highly surprised as the boy had taken the liberty to take the pouch from them during such perilous situation. She asked him how he did it and he explained he had taken it when he blocked the sword from her attacker.
Thanking him immensely, Yoona told him it's time to go since the rain had stopped and Seohwa would be looking for her. The boy stood up reluctantly as she had to go. He would have prolonged their discussion, but for the shivering fit from the cold, he decided to let her go.
" Soon" ,he said suddenly confusing the girl.
Bewilderment clouding her senses she asked
" What?", she asked with creased brows.
"My name... My name is Soon, don't tell me your name today, tell me tomorrow". The absurd request made her smile but she just smiled.
She agreed to see him again which made him happy and he bade his farewell.
The thought of his brother drifted to him andhe wondered if he had escaped safely.
That stupid brother of his took him to the brothel and the girls swarmed around him like bees.While he was still fending off the girls, he saw the prime minister with some people coming inside the brothel. Feeling suspicious of the influential people coming to the place in a discreet manner, he followed them quietly dragging his brother along.
Climbing the walls, they entered the compound they were headed to and hid themselves in one of the rooms closest to theirs.
Listening in on the conversation going on they head someone mention of 'Buffalo horns' , ' tonight' and something about the Empress family assassins, getting curious because his mother's family was mentioned he strained his ears to piece the information together, who knew that his brother will belch at this moment.
Alerting those inside , they turned to their heels while those inside felt they had been spied on . They ordered their guards to catch the spies and torture to find out who sent them.
The nobles dispersed to their respective homes with heavy hearts because of what happened earlier.
The prime minister was the most agitated as he has an ambition he wants fulfilled. If he's found doing illegal business, everything would be over . Returning home, he thought to himself.
'Did the empress send someone to spy on me if not who was it?'