Kintsugi // ATEEZ [Ishihara Sequel] ✔

20 Aftermath

Akira looks down at her dress before gritting her teeth and ripping the lodged arrow from her leg. Dropping the arrow to the ground, she rips the lower part of her skirt to create a makeshift bandage for the wound. She watches as her guards all move to follow the culprits, as the ones left are lying on the ground, already too helpless. As she signals for the others to capture them, she limps over to who seems like the leader, the one who initiated the fight.

"Do you truly didn't like me as a person, or... you're too loyal to a white-blooded ruler, old man?"

The man looks at her with spite in his eyes, as his hands are being held back by one of her guards to make sure he's not going anywhere. He spits, "Only the white-blooded ruler should be on the throne, only someone from Lucida should be. You don't even have white blood, and you're not even purely from Lucida."

Akira's face changes at this as she grabs the man's collar. "What are you talking about?"

"Everyone knows, Your Majesty. That the past king cheated on the queen to have an affair with your mother, a commoner from Nyla. Hah...." he breathes as he cackles, "shouldn't you be staying quietly at your own kingdom instead of trying to rule a kingdom that is not even fully your own? Along with your husband, you're probably the most thick-faced person I've ever known. An illegitimate child with black blood claiming the throne just because half of your blood is royalty. You should have just-"

He doesn't get to finish his sentence as he receives a hard punch on his face- but it wasn't Akira. Instead she looks to the side to find Seonghwa with red in his eyes, flapping his fingers a few times before he blows a breath on his fist. Before she can even process what happens, Seonghwa lands another punch on the man, knocking him out cold. The man falls limp in Akira's grip as her husband kicks him to the ground.

"When they start talking bullshit, punch them unconscious," Seonghwa breathes. "Take them away," he instructs the other guards. "Lock them up and make sure they know who they're dealing with."

"Understood, Your Majesty," one of the guards say before they drag the bodies of the unconscious or barely conscious eight men away.

When it's only the two of them left, Seonghwa takes Akira's face in his hands, inspecting the bruises and wounds. She looks away, too ashamed to even be facing her husband as she's pretty sure this is not what he'd want to be looking at.

The red in his eyes disappears as it turns to grey, before blue dominates his irises. He doesn't say anything as he brushes his thumbs softly on the bruises and wounds, inspecting every single inch of her face.

"There are more of them," she utters, completely disregarding the fact that she's hurt. "We need to find them."

"Akira," he says, firmness in his voice. "You're hurt. Let Yunho and his army deal with the rest. You've fought enough."

"It's nothing." She tries to smile, but it's obvious that she's disappointed. "I was stupid to follow the little girl, because I knew there was something wrong, but I couldn't bear leaving her alone."

"I know," he breathes. "When I tried looking for you I was held back by the others. Not only these eight or the other three; there were more. They planned this meticulously and they had been targeting us even before we went here. Someone must have tipped them off, or somehow they found out that today is the day we're visiting here. It was meditated because in no way this was a spontaneous attack. It's not your fault."

"You fought them?" she asks, only then noticing how Seonghwa's face has light bruises and a cut lip. Even his fists and his neck are bruised; he must have had a pretty intense fight.

He nods. "It was five against one," he utters, indicating the one is him, "but knocked them out easily with my bow and arrows." He smiles softly. "I asked Yunho to bring along my weapon in case something like this happens."