I na opened the door of the second crown prince who looked like he was preparing for a bath, dropped in his robe he had not yet tied it when I na had come in, showing a satisfactory portion of of his bare but masculine upper body, she bent her head low avoiding his gaze , " I thought you wanted to speak to me but I guess this isn't the right time", she said as she wanted to leave but all of a sudden Seugh min grabbed her by the arm , she winced in pain as she ungrasped her hand from his hold , " I knew it, it burnt you,...let me see it ", said Seugh min in worry reaching out to take a look at her arm, but I na immediately moved away from his reach, " I'm just a court lady, her Majesty is allowed to do anything she wants with me for I am of low birth", said the I na, " if I marry you, l.....", " I have told you not to bring that up, the Queen and the rest of your family won't accept me , and eventhough we end up as husband and wife , I will be cast aside as one of lowly birth", she said still bowing her head, " if that is all you wanted to say , and if you wanted to decline my proposal, why did you accept my invitation ", asked Seugh min coming close to I na who still looked down , " we are breaking the Queens rule ", said I na , " if we get married , there will be no opposition to us , and I don't care of what other people think of us , we can go far away where no one will ever find us".
I na looked up at Seugh min, they were intimately standing so close with Seugh min deep gaze on her, " you can't do that ,....you have duties", " then I will drop all that,.....I don't care ",he said, " your Highness,....", " it doesn't matter", he said placing his hand on her shoulder, but she gently removed his hand from her shoulder, " you deserve better your Highness, someone of the same ranking as you, someone who is just like you, I am not that person", he said , her voice began to crack as her eyes were trapped with unshed tears, " w.....what are you trying to say", he asked confused even though he knew the heart wrenching words she was about to say, " let's...", " don't say it", he said, " let's just end this", she said as she wanted to leave but Seugh min held her by her hand, " don't make this more difficult for me ", she said trying to hold back already falling tears, " then you must be insane if you think I will let you go", he said pulling her close to himself to her shock, not expecting this, his hand rested on her waist as she tried to get away, but she only ended up meeting his determined gaze . " Your Highness,...., what do you think you are doing?", she questioned still trying to get away from his hold , " why do you choose to run away , you don't believe I can protect you?", he said softly as he gently held her chin, lifting her face up to meet his gaze , " it's not that , we.....", " I don't want to take a wife if it is not you, I rather not live the rest of my days regretting why I didn't make you my woman,...it will be too much to bear", said Seugh min taking hold of I Nas hand and placing it on his bare chest , I na looked up at him, at first her hand felt tense , but after sometime it relaxed, her hand gently laid on his chest, " your heart ......, it's beating too fast", she said, Seugh min gave her this intense gaze coming closer to her as he cupped her, he cupped her face in his palm, his gaz so intense yet so seductive that she couldn't look away, as if it was drawing her to a deep dark abyss that she knew was dangerous but still hoping for something precious, then he leaned in and claimed his lips softly on hers , he was gentle , she knew she had fallen into the deepest pot of temptation and this was very risky, she tried to pull away but he just ended up pulling her closer till she succumbed to it, it felt like every guilt and consequences were washed away, he departed from ,he placed his hand on her cheek and gently carresed it, his eyes full of desire peering into hers , " if you want me to stop, you can tell me now", he said, his voice had gotten lower and softer, I na tilted her head softly , she was drawing deeper and deeper into this man, but could it be helped , she crossed her hands on his neck , " let me be your woman", she said as she leaned in this time claiming her lips on his , Seugh min kissed her back, untying her robe, the kiss was more passionate and it left them both almost breathless, the lights dimmed in, both consumed by their desire , they both went into the pits of a scorching night of passion.
************************************************
Eun Chen woke up, but all she could see was darkness, she was confused , where was she ?, the only thing she remembered was waiting for Lee Kwon at the garden , so why was this place dark, " Young Master", she called out, but her voice just echoed through, all of a sudden she began to smell something burning , and like her eyes opened, she saw thick flame right in front of her, she fell down backwards due to the heat and the choking smell, the fire was raging , it could burn anything at it's reach, she stood up and began to run, not knowing were she was going , she was running through the darkness with no light ahead, " Young Master, Young Master..", she yelled in a panic , and before she knew it she fell into a cast pit of darkness , she was screaming, the pit was endless,screaming in fear, she was finally silenced when she fell hard to the ground, she gasped and panted as she slowly raised her head, the smell of decaying flesh and fresh blood wiffed through her nose, the scene felt so familiar , the dead bodies were everywhere , the flames were bursting through every corner . The memory she wished to forget came back, slashes of swords through flesh , screams , cries, her mother, their house , her legs shook as she stood up, tears already rolling down, she ran shoutiyfor her mother, reaching their house she saw that it was already in flames, she fell down loosely to the ground in disbelief, anger and sorrow. She was late again , she failed to save her mother again, she began to sob, the words began echoing, " remember that sight, remember the stench", it kept echoing , she closed her ears and yelled for them to stops, for the words to stop, " THATS ENOUGH, ITS ENOUGH", she yelled as more tears fell from her eyes , " Lee Kwon....help".
All of a sudden she was jolted awake , almost like she had never fainted, she sat up almost immediately, " oh...., thank goodness you are awake ", said Lee Kwon leaving his telescope and going to her, placing his hand softly on her forehead to check her temperature, he sighed in relief as he closed his eyes briefly, " gosh I was worried about you that I ........", all of a sudden he stopped speaking, seeing that Eun Chen was getting teary eyed, " Eun Chen,...., what happened , are you okay, do you have any injury, bruises , broken bones, are you hurt anywhere huh....", he asked worriedly looking at Eun Chen, his eyes full of worry , it had been a long time since anyone had looked at her with those eyes , eyes full of worry and care, those eyes reminded her of her mother, those eyes from her mother that depicted the depths of her emotion were just like that of Lee kwons, her mother emotions were in the eyes on her enemy, recognizing this , she hugged him wrapping her hands around him while her face was buried at the crook of his neck as she sobbed , Lee Kwon who was startled at the sudden embrace, his hand just hung in the air unmoving not knowing what he will do, was this another surprise attacks or she was burdened by something and just had to let it out, he could somehow relate to this , the feeling of loneliness, when you have no one to lean on, every emotion remains pent up, all he could dowas to give her a shoulder to cry on, " I ........I, could have saved her", she sobbed , her tears wetting the crook of his neck, the feeling of guilt, he knew that feeling so well , he felt himself close her in, wrapping his hands around her, patting her back softly, she was believes to be a rogue assasin, one believed to have no conscience, who mercilessly killed her victims without pity , but to him she was only human, she was just human, a human with feelings and emotions.
************************************************
It was quiet in the room, Eun Chen and Lee Kwon sat ont he bed in silence, both not speaking to each other, till Lee Kwon finally broke the silence , " you don't have to tell me why you are crying , I won't ask", said Lee Kwon, " I wasn't planning to tell you", she said coldly, her voice cracking , an after effect from crying so much. Lee Kwon nodded eventhough she just finished crying , she wasn't relentless on her words, " don't worry, Min yu is already investigating the scene,.... partially based on what he saw, I haven't told them what happened yet, I have been summoned to the palace but I didn't go, so I will soon be summoned again" said Lee Kwon.
" They are my clan....", said Eun Chen, Lee Kwon looked at her surprised, then she also looked at him, " that is the clan I belong to ", said Eun Chen, " if you belong to that clan,why are they trying to kill you?", asked Lee Kwon curiously, " they don't want to be exposed, so even if there is the slightest chance that I might get caught, they won't take chances,now......., I am just a liability, someone who is not needed", she said , Eun Chen looked over at Lee Kwon who was also looking at her, " we are called the lost souls, and our master we call him our lord , we saw him as a god because he took in children that were abandoned, lost, or whose parents were killed , we all blamed it on the monarchy, but yet we were powerless , so he trained us , any of us who seemed to get weak, or fall into the manipulation of reconsideration or emotions, they were immediately eliminated in the most brutal way possible and we were all expected to learn something from it, I always thought of him as a father figure but I never saw any emotion in his eyes talk less of love, but I still thrived till we were few, but I was the best", she said as she gave a half smirk you could tell it was sadistic, looking at Lee Kwon with eyes of despair, " eventhough I don't kill your family, others will and now they know that I am here , you should be expecting numerous attempts of assassinations", said Eun Chen, expecting Lee Kwon to cower in fear but all she met was the eyes of determination, " I have lived with the Queen for more than twenty years in horror, do you think I will cower in fear because of what you just said,..... assassination attempts is nothing new to this palace ,you are with me now so I will be their main target, so let's just be careful, let's not put our minds into that, we will just focus on the duel and getting your spiral marks off your chest", he said standing up.
" So rest well master", said Lee Kwon, " you don't want to speak of the spiral marks ", said Eun chen, Lee Kwon turned to look at Eun Chen, " do you know what happened to your spiral marks ?", asked Lee Kwon curiously, Eun Chen struggled to pull herself up, " I know it's colour changed to dark red, I also saw it", said Eun Chen , Lee Kwon tilted his head in curiously, the way she spoke it felt like she knew what was happening to her," the Phoenix stone is slowly draining me dry", she said , " I am getting weak in strength because of the amount of energy it is taking in me ", so what does that mean ", asked Lee Kwon with a mixture of worry and curiosity, silence evading the whole space, it felt like Lee Kwon was holding his breath for the news that was about to come out, Eun Chen held his robe that he had drapped on her, looking at him straight in the eye, " it means I am dying", she said so straight forward as if it meant nothing, as if she was an object, but her words felt like someone had pierced Lee kwons heart with a sword, she didn't know the effects of her words on him, " no.....how will you know that, you aren't even a royal, you have little knowledge of the phoenix stone, as an outsider , it doesn't mean what you are saying now makes any sense", he said it in almost a yell, right now for some reason he was furious at her, always being a know it all, always outsmarting him in skills when training, " seeing as I am dying, shouldn't you at least be a good student and train harder", she said emotionlessly, Lee Kwon scoffed in disbelief, " is this what this is about because I have not been coming for training is that why you have to make a bad joke like that", said Lee Kwon pissed , " it isn't a joke, and me dying is suppose to be more of a motivation and not something to fight about", said Eun Chen, this time she was also getting pissed, " you talk as if dying is something that one can overcome easily", said Lee Kwon , " do you really have any idea how many deaths I have seen throughout my life , do you think there is anytime to mourn, people alive move on, people dead are left and forgotten, a King who goes off to war with death on his mind doesn't think of his wife and his children, all he thinks about is the glorious celebration he will be given after being perceived as a hero, so.....", she said hitting Lee Kwon on his chest, " use it as a motivation ", said Eun Chen, Lee Kwon looked at her in disbelief, " you are indeed crazy, I should use the fact that you are dying as a motivation, are you joking?", said Lee Kwon is disbelief. " There is nothing for you to think about or hold on to , so quit acting immature ", said Eun Chen coldly, " there is something", said Lee Kwon almost in a yell, "what is it?", asked Eun Chen, " it's you", said Lee Kwon, almost breathless , leaving Eun Chen shocked.