"Serve, dodge, swivel, wify, serve, dodge, swivel, wift", with Lee Kwon putting all on action as she repeatedly said those words, Eun Chen circling him slowly as he did that , " when you serve you point out your sword majestically but firmly , you dodge not for the opponent to assume that you are weak but to save energy and to find his weakness, you swivel with less force , then you strike aggressively, you wify calmly but your blow has to be fatal, serve, dodge , wift, remember", said Eun Chen, Lee Kwon nodded as he he practiced what she said, things were back to normal as if nothing passionate had happened between them this morning, as they promised they weren't akward to each other, " this technique is used for those gifted with the power of nature, it is not something that can just be used, it is used if we want to summon our powers , we all have our techniques but this is my technique, you should be lucky I am teaching you this", Eun Chen, Lee Kwon smiled at her , " thank you master, you are so kind for teaching me your secret technique", said Lee Kwon teasingly, " tsk....., you sure know how to tease", said Eun chen, " we had many blind and deaf people in our clan, no one was left behind , you were regarded so far you have your hands and your legs ", said Eun Chen, Lee Kwon stopped training and looked at Eun Chen confused , " how do they fight?", asked Lee Kwon, Eun Chen walked towards him , " bend down", she commanded, " Lee Kwon was quizzical , " why?", he asked , " just bend down ...", she said, Lee Kwon nodded wondering what she was going to do, he slowly but reluctantly bent down to her level where she could reach him, Eun Chen stepped closer to him startling Lee Kwon.
What was she planning to do, he saw as she raised her two hands and then she covered his eyes with them, " close your eyes as u also close your eyes", said Eun Chen, Lee Kwon obediently did what she said, " what do you see?", asked Eun Chen , " nothing but darkness", said Lee Kwon, Eun Chen slowly removed her hand from his eyes,while Lee Kwon opened his eyes, seeing how close they were he was flustered, " if you can't see you have other senses, .....", she said softly tapping on his ear and his hand, " you have your ear and skin, if anyone approaches you, your skin will alert you with goosebumps, with your ear you can slightest sounds, footsteps, swinging of swords , slashes, you can detect movements", Eun Chen placed her hand in his ear, " when you can't hear you have eyes , you depend on your other senses for survival", she said finally removing his hand from her ear, Lee Kwon was impressed , her teaching had exceeded his expectations, " you must really have a good master", said Lee Kwon, Eun Chen scoffed , " a master who wants to get rid of me ", said Eun Chen .
Lee Kwon felt sorry for her, " so....., after you leave, where will you go?", asked Lee Kwon curiously, " hmm... somewhere, there is always a place for someone", she said using a towel to wipe sweat away from his face , he looked up at him, seeing his face he looked sorry, " tsk....., there is no need to feel sorry for me, an assasin ever belongs anywhere , I will always be running, always be hiding, that is the life of an assassin ", she said with a tight smile, Lee Kwon took the towel from her hand, gently holding the nape of her neck, Eun Chen was surprised, but her stomach was dancing right now, she felt so queasy, it felt like something was flapping around in her stomach, " what are....", " didn't I tell you not to over do it", he said as he gently wiped the sweat off her face ,dabbing her face gently with the soft cloth, " you are not my real maid so you don't have to anything , if your clan is planning to kill you, and you have nowhere to go....., we can just get married and move faraway from all this", Eun Chen quickly backed away startled , " heyyyy...., you really are crazy, aren't you?", said Eun Chen in disbelief, " it was just a suggestion, won't it be nice , we can just leave everything behind", said Lee Kwon frankly, " you have forgotten about your duel, your birthright and privileges, you want to throw that all away to run away with an assassin, I always knew you were an idiot but I didn't know it was that serious", said Eun Chen in disbelief, " when I started training for this duel, all I could think about then was the birth right, the privileges and how to get you out of here, but if I have to quit everything to not get you killed,...., I will gladly do it", said Lee Kwon seriously but sincerely, even his eyes were sincere, " you are just trapped in you illusions, you will snap out of it when things become serious", said Eun Chen avoiding his gaze, she took the towel from him and walked away from the garden, he is just saying that because he doesn't know the kind of situation they were in , he didn't know the danger they were in, when the time came , when the time is right, when everything settles it will all go back to normal, all the rare emotions she was feeling now will all disappear, they will go back to being enemies, and once she lives this place, both have nothing to keep another hostage, she won't hesitate to come back again and wipe everyone out.
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Han jum walked into a shrine, one of his men had told him that the blind old woman was here, he entered inside , tailsmen were pasted on the walls of the almost crumbling mud house which was surprisingly still holding up string, red linen were laid on the floor, an old table laid in the middle , dressed in red linen and adorned with candles, a shamans bell , newly written tailsmen that were left to hang, the old woman was seated behind the table, ringing her bell and chanting some incantations loudly not in the mother tongue, but in an ancient language, as soon as Han jum entered she stopped ringing her bell and stopped chanting as she felt the presence of someone, " you aren't here for a tailsman, bir for a reading , you are here to find out about another person's fate". Han jum was shocked , she was really good , Han jum knelt on the floor, taking out a small sack from his pouch, he dropped it on the table and slowly shifted it to the woman who took it, and placed it in a basket with a small smile on her face , " what do you want to know", she asked.
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The duel was next week , the duel will change everything in the palace ,she needed to do something, she needed to put him in his place , she looked at her guard, " that maid that follows Lee Kwon around, what is her name again?", asked the Queen, the guard bowed his head, " so ra, her name is so ra ", said the guard still bowing his head , " why are you interested in his maid", asked the King curiously, the Queen faced the King with a snare on his face , " your bastard son must be tied down before her forgets his roots" .
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Lee Kwon was adjusting his telescope, it was made from a dark caramel mohigamy wood, his name was inscribed in it but in a pretty and cursive handwriting, adjusting the lens if his telescope he heard a knock on his door, before he could say anything the person who was knocking let herself in, " I just came here to dress the bed", she said looking at the telescope behind him, Lee Kwon nodded and returned to what he was doing, she had seen it before, when she was sick she had seen , she had been curious if what it was, " what is that?.....", she asked , Lee Kwon turned to her meeting her curious gaze , he smiled briefly before he spoke , "it's a telescope, you have never seen one before?", he asked , Eun Chen shook her head as she came close to it and touched it lightly looking at the lens, " what do you use it for?", she asked, Lee Kwon came closer to her, " it is used for looking at the heavenly bodies, the stars, the moon for close admiration", he said, Eun Chen looked at him quizzically, how was that possible, he was amused at her expression, " if you think I am lying then try it for yourself", he said with a smile , he placed his two hands at the sides of her head and guiding it to the lens, "fix your eyes there, don't move ", he said his lips breaking into a huge smile, " it still looks the same without the mirror", she said, Lee Kwon scoffed, " it's not a mirror, it is a lens, and I told you to keep your eyes fixated", he said again, he slowly began to turn the knob, " are you seeing it", he asked , " wow..., they are so pretty", she said as her face lit up with a big smile, Lee Kwon could not also help but smile, it was contagious, Lee Kwon bent to her level, their faces side by side inches away from each other, " if you look at the north, and the other star at the east, it's a constellation called Aries", " Aries..., I have never seen stars this close, I rarely see the stars and the moon where I come from this close, and if I do see them, the closest I can get to them is by sitting on the cliff...", she said turning to Lee Kwon who was also looking at her, her brilliant smile suddenly died down seeing how close they were, she straightened herself up before she spoke, " Lee Kwon .....,on the day of duel, if it is too much for you to handle , don't push yourself too much, you can surrender", " you know I won't do that , it no longer a promise, it is a vow , I will get you out of here", he said with a broad smile on his face gently stroking her hair, " I'm not that easy to kill", said Lee Kwon.
Turning back to the stars, he smiled, " the heavenly bodies are on my side", he said with a smile.