After riding like the devil was behind them Sung Hoon, Ki Ha and the guards reached the summer palace. It had taken less than a day but it was dark. They looked around and to Sung Hoon's shock there was nobody. "What is going on? That! She lied to me!" Sung Hoon was fuming.
Ki Ha glanced at Sung Hoon with a worried look. He had never seen Sung Hoon like this. "I'll ask Elder Young to ask Min Jung again. The Queen might have lied to her too." Ki Ha walked away. He took out an oval device.
It looked like a large pebble. Ki Ha flipped it open. He pressed two numbers and Young's voice came through. "Did you find Jinwoon?" "No. There is nobody here." "I thought so. When you and the other left I did a mind sweep."
"The Queen really told Min Jung that she was going to the summer palace. I have done it with all the servants of the queen. They all gave the summer palace or the ceremony palace up North and they were not lying. The queen did that on purpose."
"So where is she now?" Ki Ha didn't want to tell Sung Hoon, that he had no idea where the queen was." "There is one more thing I want to try. I'll get back to you soon." Ki Ha swallowed hard before walking back to Sung Hoon.
"Sung Hoon, Elder Young told me that Min Jung is not lying. The queen told the servants different locations. He said to wait, he is trying one more thing. I'm sorry but we'll have to wait." Sung Hoon let out a pained moan.
All kinds of dark thoughts were going through his mind. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if something happens to Jinwoon. He wanted to beat himself over the head for not doing something about the queen sooner.
An hour later Young finally reached back. Sung Hoon had been pacing up and down the gate, Ki Ha had become dizzy watching him pacing. "I found him!" Sung Hoon tried to grab the communication device [CD] from Ki Ha but Ki Ha pulled his hand away.
"Wait!" He glared at Sung Hoon before asking Young to continue. "I ask her ladies-in-waiting. They first told me that they had no idea what the queen was up to or where she was hiding. But when I did a sweep, I discovered that she had left for her ancestral home."
"Did you find out where that is?" "Yes. It's about seven hours from the Summer palace." Sung Hoon finally grabbed the CD. "Can you tell the ministers return?" Ki Ha looked at him with a frown. Young also didn't agree with Sung Hoon.
"I don't think that a large amount of manpower will help us. We can catch them if we're a small group. Can you send over a group of ten guards?" "Where should they meet you?" Sung Hoon had no idea. He had no idea how the Queen's ancestral house looked like.
"I've never been to that place. You'll have to tell us where to meet." He heard Young's awkward laugh. "I didn't ask. Just try and meet near it." Sung Hoon rolled his eyes. "We'll be leaving now. We might reach there before the sunrise."
Young told the village name and where they might find the house. He and the others got back on their riding animals and got back on the road again. They were all tired but nobody complained. It was still dawn when they reached the queen's ancestral house.
Luckily the ten guards were waiting for them or they would have rode past it since the house was surrounded by tall trees and it was still dark. Sung Hoon got off his animal and walked over to the waiting guards. "Have you surveyed the house?"
The lead guard nodded. "There are two entries. One at the front and one at the back. We didn't see any guards or sentries. There are two rooms that were lit." Sung Hoon nodded. "I want a group to take the back. Find the Queen. Me and the rest will enter from the front and find the Princess."
Everybody nodded before splitting up. They silently moved to the house. Sung Hoon, Ki Ha and the guards stopped in front of the front door. Instead of opening the door, they quickly and silently climbed over the wall.
They look around before sprinting to what seemed like the main door. Sung Hoon moved to open the door but one of the guards stopped him. "Let us go first. You don't have a weapon." Sung Hoon wanted to disagree but the guard was right. He was still dressed in his crowning gown.
He stepped to the side and the guard slowly opened the door. Luckily the door didn't make a noise. The guards slowly entered the house. The last guard beckoned for Sung Hoon and Ki Ha to follow them. "The first lit room is I think just around that corner."
One of the guards pointed to the left. "Let's try that one. If it's the Queen's room, three of you guard her while we look for the Princess." Sung Hoon softly said. They started to quickly move again. When they reached the corner the first soldier indicated for them to stop.
"I think that's where they're keeping the Princess. There are two sentries." Sung Hoon indicated for them to proceed. The soldier rushed towards the door. The two sentries in front of the door heard the footsteps but were overpowered before they could react.
"Don't kill them yet." Sung Hoon tried the door and found that it was open. He opened the door and rushed in when he saw Jinwoon sitting on a chair. "Thank the Gods, you're safe." He pulled Jinwoon close.
Jinwoon, who had been wondering when Sung Hoon would arrive, burst into tears. The fear and panic that he had been oppressed finally boiled over. "W...What took y... you so long!" He clung onto Sung Hoon crying his eyes out.
Sung Hoon stroked his head and back. "I'm really sorry." That was all he could say. He looked up at the others. "Try and find the Queen. Ki Ha after you secure her, come get me." Ki Ha nodded. He had been standing in the door opening.
He gave them one more look before closing the door. He turned to the captured sentries. "Where is the queen?" The two sentries looked at each other but didn't say a word. "Two of you, lock them up somewhere. The rest come with me."
Back in the room Sung Hoon and Jinwoon were still holding on to each other. Jinwoon still had tears streaming down his face but he wasn't bawling like before. "Did she hurt you?" Jinwoon shook his head.
"D...Did you t...that you h...have a l...little brother?" Jinwoon glanced at Sung Hoon. Sung Hoon frowned. "Little brother? No. Why?" Jinwoon dried his tears. "There is a boy here, who claims that he's the son of the late king and the queen."
"He says that he should be king instead of you. He doesn't look like you at all and he's such a mama's boy." Sung Hoon looked surprised. "Do you know where he is?" Before he could give and answer the door flew open.
"Speaking of the devil." Jinwoon looked irritated at Sung Joon. Sung Hoon also stared at the boy. "Who are you?" Sung Joon rushed into the room holding a small sword. "I finally get to finish you off. You fake!" Sung Joon ran towards Sung Hoon and Jinwoon.
Jinwoon's eyes grew big. They were sitting on the floor, there wouldn't be enough time to defend themselves. Jinwoon panicked but Sung Hoon pushed him aside and grabbed the chair and threw it at Sung Joon.
The chair hit him square in the chest. Sung Joon yelped and dropped the sword. Sung Hoon didn't wait and ran towards him. Sung Joon eyes turned into saucers. He dropped to the floor and covered his head. Sung Hoon looked at the figure trembling on the ground. "What the?"
Jinwoon walked over. "That is Sung Joon. Your little brother." Sung Joon looked up in anger. "He's not my brother!" Sung Hoon bent over making Sung Joon flinch. Sung Hoon took the sword. "Indeed. We are not related at all." Sung Hoon scoffed.
"Sung Hoon! We found the... Who's that?" Ki Ha was standing in the opening looking at Sung Joon. "I believe this is the queen's son." Ki Ha made an O-face. "So this is where he was brought." Jinwoon looked from Sung Hoon to Ki Ha.
"We've found the Queen. She's in the main room. You're going to laugh you butt off. Come see." Sung Hoon grabbed Sung Joon and followed Ki Ha to the main room. Sung Hoon stopped in his tracks when he saw the room.
Sung Joon tried to run towards the queen but Sung Hoon pulled him towards him. "Mommy! He hit me with a chair. Look! My hand hurts!" Everybody looked at Sung Joon in amazement. "What was that?!" Ki Ha looked at Sung Joon.
Sung Hoon ignored Sung Joon and Ki Ha. "What have you been telling this boy?" Sung Hoon looked at the queen with a smirk on his face. The queen was sitting on the 'throne' with a pissed look on her face.