As I walked away from the palace, I saw a group of people standing there with lanterns. I walked closer to find it was Suang li, his parents and my two sisters. As soon as they saw me Kang came running and hugged me tightly. "Where were you?", she asked in anger. "We were all so worried. It's so late.", Li said. "I am sorry for worrying you all but I needed some air to clear up my mind.", I hugged my sisters who were literally on the verge of crying. That was when I realised that I was actually pretty late today. It didn't seem this late when I was with the mystery guy. "Let's all go in and sleep now that Hyun is back.", Li's mom said. We all went back and greeted each other goodnight. My sisters thanked Li and his parents for coming out so late. They smiled and went in their house. The moment they left I knew I was in huge trouble because your two sisters glaring at you is not at all very comforting. "You are so dead.", Kang said and went inside our house. Mi So just glared at me and then followed her elder sister into the house. I knew the bigger trouble was waiting for me inside, amma. I entered the house and the first thing I get to hear is, "Hyun come in here right now.". It was more like a command, oh sorry a very angry command. I entered into my mom's room and she was there in the bed looking at me with anger. "So now you got time to come back home.", she said with sarcasm. Damn, it's never good when your mother uses this tone with you. I could hear Mi so and Kang laugh behind me. At least a few of us were enjoying this moment of utter mortification. Before this humiliation on point could go any further, I spoke pretty loud and clear, "I found the evidence." And as expected there was deafening silence again followed very closely by tons of questions together. Where, when, how, what all these were asked in one go. I motioned them to take a deep breath and sat down at the side of my mom's bed facing my family. "tell us in detail what happened", Kang said eagerly. I told them all the events in detail including my coincidental meeting with the mystery guy. Mom was just stuck on the part of me entering the palace like a thief at this time and she began my moment of humiliation again. But this time my sisters took my side and started asking more questions about how I am going to justify my actions in the court. "Don't worry I will go to the palace tomorrow with you Kang and we will look for those guards with the help of Suang Li.", I told them. They nodded. "Why didn't you tell us about this earlier when Li was also there.", Mi So asked. "We all know that Li's father is friends with that Kim and I don't want to take any risk. And it will be better if we keep this a secret till the case is done with.", I said to my sisters. After the small talk and late-night dinner, we all went to sleep. But none of us had sleep in our eyes, we were looking forward to the next day to begin our investigation.
Next morning I and Kang left for the palace and we were astonished to see no one stopped us, not even for basic formalities. According to the guards outside me and my sister were allowed in the palace till the day of hearing with no official permission. "Like how careless could our prince be", I complained. "Will you ever be thankful to the prince?", Kang said with a tint of a smile. "Me thankful to him! Never in a million years. he ruined my life.", the moment I said this I regretted saying it out loud. The king aka former prince was right there standing behind me and shooting glares at me. Nothing new for me here though. But to my surprise, he didn't say anything and left with his guards. I looked back to see someone was more petrified than me. Kang was standing there shivering as if she just encountered a ghost. I tried my best not to roll my eyes but her reaction was cringe-worthy. I took her by the arm and went inside the palace. We met Li near the courtroom and he took us to the head guard. We asked for permission to enter the quarter where all the guards stay but we were denied the entry. "But aren't we allowed in all the premises of the palace.", Li asked. "Not in the quarters. It is not safe for ladies to enter such a place.", the guard said. "But he can", I pointed towards Li. "Sorry, we can't allow any outsider in here. There are some valuables as well and this is the intrusion of privacy.", the head said. "It is very important. Someone's reputation is on stake.", Kang pleaded, but the head stood strong to his decision. There was no option of sneaking in as he made sure that we were out of the palace. The three of us walked back home defeated. I had no idea how to prove myself innocent with just the tear marks on the sangeons. At home, mom and Mi were also worried knowing we were pretty deep in problems. I asked Kang to pack my stuff because if I fail tomorrow, I will be leaving the village alone. Before she could argue I left the house and went to the river. Maybe I was waiting for someone this time. I was not here just to clear up my mind but my eyes were looking for the shadow that had become a friend of mine. But there was no sign of the mystery guy yet. I waited for longer this time, my eyes looking at the setting sun one moment and searching for him the other. "Looking for me Hyun?", came the voice I was yearning to hear. "Don't be so self-obsessed sir", I replied with a smile. He laughed. "Your eyes tell a different story than your words.", he said leaning a little to get a better view of my face. His eyes were looking straight into mine and for the first time, I noticed he had beautiful eyeshade. It was common but different at the same time. I saw him smile and I realised I was staring. I looked away. We both were silent for a moment and it was a tad bit awkward for me. He was still smiling looking at the waves. That was the moment when I realised how good I have become at reading his facial expressions behind that mask. "You are staring again.", he said. "N... no, I am not. I am looking at the rocks behind you.", I stuttered. He just shook his head showing his disbelief and I thought it would be better to change the topic rather than embarrassing myself more. "I went to the palace today and they didn't let us enter the guard's quarter.", I said. "Why were you going to the quarter anyway.", he faced me. "To look for those two guards and check their stuff for evidence.", I said. "Then it's good they didn't let you enter.", he said and turned to the river again. "Why would you say that?", I asked turning towards him. "Are you that dumb!", he said with anger dripping from his face. "You would have called for more trouble on yourself if the head would have let you in. Even if you would have found any clue, they would have made you look guilty for framing them. The guards could have said that you kept the evidence there to falsely accuse them and what would you have done then?", he asked stating a valid point. I looked at the river realising he was right. "You have a point there. but what else can I do?", I asked. "Wait, this is what you have to do. You have to wait and take risk of making those guards stand guilty. Make the king ask the royal guards to check their stuff and then hope for the best.", he said. "What if they don't find anything?", I was now pretty desperate and scared. "Then ask for more time politely. It is your right and you can demand it. If you present even a single evidence in favour of your side you can demand more time.", he said. To say I was astonished at his knowledge would be an understatement. These were some facts that only high authorities knew about. And it was next to unbelievable that a guard could know this. He saw the doubt arise on my face and before I could ask him anything he said, "it is pretty late I should take a leave now. All the best for tomorrow." He smiled and left without even waiting for my reply. One thing was certain today that he was no ordinary guard of the palace and also that he has some very dark secrets. I looked at the moon shining brightly in the sky and I thought I will work on the case in hand before unravelling the mysteries of my mystery man.