It was early morning, the dew was still dripping down the leaves of the plants, the morning air was fresh and the cicadas were slowly turning silent, the bed was warm and comfortable, but by surprise Hyuk had already gotten up from the warm mattresses today, he kissed the man besides him on the cheek and then on forehead before going out of the cozy chambers and went to the bathing hall to take a warm bath and got changed into new clothes.
As he came out of the bathing hall, he spotted his uncle waiting for him by the General's chambers, looking worried, Hyuk walked to him with a smile on his face and stood in front of him.
"wait a minute,uncle, i will go tell Hyung that I am leaving, otherwise he will be really mad at me", Hyuk explained and went inside.
"Gongju, come let's sleep some more", the General said opening his arms, still in the bed, as he heard the faint noise of the door opening again.
"No, i came to tell you that I am leaving, remember I told you yesterday I need to go to the temple" ,Hyuk reminded with a soft kiss on his lips .
"But, do you need to leave this early, you will be tired if you leave now", the General said opening his eyes a bit.
"No, i am leaving now and will probably be back before afternoon", Hyuk answered and got up to leave.
"I love you, return soon, i want to have lunch together", the General stated and went back to his sleep.
Hyuk came out of the chambers and turned towards the Eunuch.
"let's go uncle", Hyuk said and started walking with the Eunuch, followed closely behind by a few guards in disguise, as soon as they left the mansion premises, they all blended in with the people on the streets to avoid any unwanted attention.
"i am shocked, he just agreed it to so easily, you really have him wrapped around your little finger, I never thought he will be like this one day", the Eunuch said, sighing as he looked at Hyuk, still trying to comprehend how Hyuk managed to get permission from the General.
"Right?, I knew he would give me permission,after all he loves me the most", Hyuk said with a shy smile.
"Shameless", The Eunuch commented, rolling hiseyes, as he watched Hyuk's flushed face.
"You can't talk to your daughter-in-law like that, father-in-law, how rude", Hyuk retorted back, showing his tongue to the Eunuch.
"I will complain about you as soon as we get back", The Eunuch said, smiling softly.
"Let's see who your handsome son listens to, you or me", Hyuk replied with a loud laughter just following behind.
Hyuk and the Eunuch walked together to the temple, chitchatting on the way, about the General, they were so busy in their little talk that they didn't even realise they were already at the temple.
"There are only fewer people right now, but later the people would start flooding in, so let's get done here as soon as possible to avoid any problems", The Eunuch stated and held Hyuk's hand and started walking upstairs.
They offered their prayers to the god and then turned to the holy monk.
"Great sir, please help my Nephew, he is not feeling well since last few days and often suffers from nightmares, nightmares so bad that he can't sleep", the Eunuch stated as he gestured Hyuk to go sit in front of the monk.
The monk looked at him and smiled a bit, with an unreadable expression on his face and took his hand in his own.
" i have been waiting for you, lord, please tell me what nightmares did you suffer from", the monk asked in a sweet voice.
"Actually, from the past few days".... Hyuk started explaining everything that had happened to him .
"Lord, it's an evil spirit, it must have stuck to you out of ill intentions", the monk said, looking at Hyuk.
"No, I don't feel like it's an evil spirit, it seems to care for me and want to save me", Hyuk explained with a concerned feeling.
"Evil spirits are like that, they confuse your feelings, and harm your interests and feelings, you should go back and, don't think too much about these things, time is short and we are running out of it,you should, run for your life ..the monk Said the last words in a hushed manner, only letting himself hear the words
"I should?", Hyuk asked confused.
"you should head back, i will pray for your well bein and i will perform a ritual to keep the evil spirit away from you", The monk said and started chanting something, after a while he opened his again and looked at Hyuk before giving him and incense stick.
"Keep it hidden in your robes", The monk said with a soft smile on his face.
"Thank you, Great sir, we will take our leave then", Hyuk answered and both he and the Eunuch joined their hands in front of him and then left after bowing down three times.
"The time has finally come", the eunuch murmured in a low voice and closed his eyes, a smile on his face started deepening, like he was about to get something that he had waited for, for a long time.
When the two came out of the temple, they bowed to it one more time and started walking downstairs.
"I still don't feel at ease, i think there is something, I don't know, like a very ominous feeling", Hyuk stated with a saddened feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"It's okay, the Great sir said he will help you get rid of it, don't worry, let's not dwell on it anymore, we should head back quickly, it took more time then I thought", The Eunuch said as the two walked on the road that leads to the mansion, but as they were walking, they could not see the guards anywhere, The Eunuch got worried as they were crossing the abondoned road and took out his sword from his scabbard.
"Hyuk, stay behind me", the Eunuch ordered and they started walking faster and faster, while being vigilant of their surroundings.
They were about to get out of the abondoned road when a few men dressed in black, ambushed them and attacked them from behind, the eunuch defended himself with the sword, trying to stop the attack.
"Hyuk, Run ,run away and call the reinforcements", he yelled at the top of his lungs, fighting alone with the armed men.
" Hyuk, run away", he yelled again, Hyuk came into his senses and tried to run at once,but someone attacked him from behind, and he fell on the road.
"Young master, Go to hell", the man said and swung hie sword to towards Hyuk, Hyuk closed hie eyes, terrified, ready to die, ...
Nothing happened, Hyuk opened his eyes slowly and saw that the man's arm was still swinging in the air, with his sword in his hand, but he did not move or better to say,he tried to move but could not do it at all, Hyuk looked at the man in horror as he slowly turned his sword towards himself and put it on his throat.
"Noooooooo" Hyuk screamed as the man slit his throat with his sword himself and Hyuk fell unconscious.
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The General was sitting in his chambers, working on some court related matters and the barbarian attacks in the north, when suddenly a servant burst through his door, without permission, huffing to get some air in his lungs desperately.
"You insolent bastard, how dare you come in without my permission" the General shouted, his nerves bulging from his head.
"Please forgive me for my mistake, the Great General, but I must report to you soon, so I entered the chamber without permission", the servant fell on his knees, shaking from fear.
" What happened that you needed to do this, it must be a good reason, otherwise, i will have your body hung on the city gates tomorrow morning",The General said as he put his hand on his sword.
"The head Eunuch and Hyu..I mean the second master was attacked on their way from temple". The servant explained in a small voice.
" What, where are they, How is my Hyuk" the General asked as he marched out of his chamber, ready to leave the walls of the mansion.
"He is okay, General, they have come back, the royal physician is attending to them in the healing hall", the servant reported, following, closely behind the General.
On hearing the words from the servant, he turned on his heels and ran straight to the healing hall, located in the west wing of the mansion.
Everyone who looked at him, was in shock, the Great almighty General was running, he was running like his life depended on it, like he was running from his death, they now got the idea of his affection for Hyuk, and they knew, they should not look the other in the eye from now on and respect him like the Madame of the mansion.
As he got to the healing hall, he saw Hyuk was lying there unconscious, without a care in the world.
He was about to walk towards him, when the Eunuch spoke up.
"I apologise master, I could not protect Hyuk like I promised to, i deserve punishment, please show no mercy to me", the Eunuch stated with a guilt laced voice.
"No, you did a great job, i will always be grateful to you, but what happened to Hyuk, why is he unconscious" the General asked.
"He is okay, but he got attacked by a man, while I was fighting with the attackers but, nothing happened to him, when I looked around he had slit the throat of the man and killed him and he fell unconscious later on" the eunuch explained, what he had seen with his blurry eyes.
"Okay, i am taking Hyuk back to our chamber, he must be shocked" the General said and pulled Hyuk into his arms, before Walking out, paying no attention to anything or anyone.