The little girl stood rooted to the ground with black eyes widened in petrification, as they gleamed with unshed tears, filling the brim of her innocent doe eyes.
"Close your eyes." Hwarang spoke again as he emancipated on every word rolling off his lips with a blank tone as his soulless black eyes peered into hers, but yet again, she did not heed his warning and rather swallowed painfully as her gaze was fixated on her mother who was on her knees with blood dripping from her chest.
Hwarang swung his sword across her mother's neck with a swift movement and in a beat, her head neatly separated from her shoulders and rolled off onto the floor to form a rivulet of crimson stream as blood spurted from her decapitated corpse.
Streaks of crimson blood spattered on the little girl's face which made her gasp in trepidation as crystal droplets of tears rolled down her cheeks silently.
He moved towards the exit where the little girl stood with streaks of blood dripping from her cheeks. The girl moved her small shaky feet backward in dread as she clutched her hanbok gown tightly, and stepped out of the room till she hit her back against the wall in the hallway.
Her lips quivered uncontrollably and her body trembled unnervingly as she looked into the cold, malicious black eyes of the monster who murdered her parents in cold blood.
His hands coiled tightly around the hilt of his sword and a terrified gasp rolled off her lips as she crouched in fear and hid her face with her small palms.
He stared down at the little girl whom he had made an orphan in the blink of an eye, yet he did not feel a pinch of remorse, all he felt was cold emptiness and the exciting smell of blood and death mixing itself in the air to waft into his nose which sparked a dark thrilling sensation inside of him.
Blood and death were all that revolved around his world and encompassed his dark heart which was shallower than the deepest depth of an abyss.
He veered around and strode down their hallway to the path he came out from while the assassins ran past him to verify the king's death.
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The Baekje kingdom was now secured and unassailable by the Goryeo kingdom, as the king had been annihilated by the assassins who sent a lethal warning and a clear message to the Goryeo kingdom if ever they tried to think of attacking the Baekje kingdom.
Hwarang didn't want to go, he knew she would be sitting at the pond but he found his legs moving on its own accord towards the pond.
His feet slid against the stoned bridge intersecting the pond as he crossed over. He stood at the peach tree and from the opposite side of the pond, he saw her seated on the grass covered floor with bare feet immersed in the shimmering water as always.
She was staring out into space but when he arrived, she tilted her head upward toward his direction and a smile lit up her face as her green forest eyes gleamed with delight.
She was well aware of what he was, and the darkness that confined his entire being like a permanent cloak of darkness, yet she didn't look at him like the monster he was, nor could he sense fear emitting from her when he was in close proximity.
The fear he loved inducing inside people and craved for couldn't be deciphered emanating from her, yet he liked the feeling of staying by her side even though he could feel not a whiff of fear from her, rather he could feel a sense of tranquility and serenity emitting from her being which always reminded him of spring and her forest scent which reminded him of a summer breeze.
He pondered on whether he should go to her or not, after all, it would be their last encounter which made the strange unnerving feeling surging inside of him worse.
He took long strides toward her and the gust of wind past her made her forest scent whiff into his nose and it took all his willpower not to inhale her addictive scent into his nostrils. Her hair was braided in a ponytail so it didn't scatter behind her with the wind as usual
Her forest green eyes followed his movement although it was not accurate, so instead of her gaze falling on his face, it stopped over his shoulders.
"You should leave. Your carriage is leaving soon." Hwarang remarked stiffly while trying to not linger his gaze on her face for too long.
Her grin widened before she spoke.
"I knew you'd come and also thank you for helping our kingdom." She said with a slightly delighted voice.
"Don't thank a monster who has his hands drenched with the blood of innocents. You should hate me and fear me." Hwarang spoke with a dark voice and his aura grew heavier with melancholy weighing heavily on his shoulders.
It would be easier to let go if she saw him as a monster and hated him for what he was. No matter how much he hated to admit to it, he knew he harbored feelings for her, feelings that he should have never watched grow in resplendence rather, he should have exterminated it before it sprouted to form something, something forbidden yet tempting.
He watched her face turn into a puzzled one as she fluttered her long dark lashes in slight confusion.
"You don't have to be ashamed of what you are Hwarang, everyone has flaws, and acknowledging them is what makes us perfect. And no, I won't hate you because you've killed innocent people. Accepting your flaws and mistakes is all you need to relieve yourself of the guilt." Nari stated firmly as she shook her head vigorously, refusing to see him as the monster he truly was.
A dark chuckle reverberated beneath his breath.
"You don't know me, princess. I don't feel guilt when I take the life of an innocent, all I feel is pleasure, blood draws me like a poultice and death sparks the darkness in me." He said in a menacing tone that echoed darkly in the wind.
She was speechless at his remark.
"Goodbye princess." He said stiffly before veering around to leave and not taking a glance at her.
Hwarang watched from the terrace outside the palace as the fae princess and the king occupied their palanquin. He understood that he would never lay eyes on her again.
Their kingdom had been safe from attack from the Goryeo, so they had no reason to ever visit.
He had felt her fear when he said his last words to her and it pricked underneath his skin like a thousand poisonous needles, knowing she was afraid of him, although he aimed for that as it would be easier to let go and get rid of the feelings he harboured for her.
He watched the retreating palanquin as it moved out of the palace until it disappeared from his sight.
With a sigh, he retreated back to the assassins territory. Training would help relieve his mind and make him forget about her even for a split second.
The assassins arrived at the gisaeng house on a normal day and he went along. Hopefully, fucking some random pretty gisaengs would help him forget about her.
The gisaeng house was built in an expansive way with numerous networks of labyrinths filled with hanji screened doors at every corner. Everyone bowed their heads deeply in respect while the Madame running the gisaengs offered them the finest gisaengs.
He took a random gisaeng and lodged a private room. He could hear her heart pace increase in both fear and excitement.
He stripped off her hanbok gown with ferocious movements as well as his clothing. No matter how hard he hammered her walls or how deep he went, his mind still lingered to Nari, her forest green eyes captivated his soul and he could still smell her summer scent wafting into his nose.
Her memories were still engraved in his mind and it occurred to him that he had created something hard to untangle. Even as time fleeted, slower than it ever did in his eyes, her memories were engraved deeper than anything else in his mind.