Kintsugi // ATEEZ [Ishihara Sequel] ✔

47 Practice

Yunho stands on top of the elevated platform, before he starts walking from left to right and observes the training going on with his subordinates. His face is unsmiling, stern as he watches each and every one of them to make sure that none of them are lacking. He needs to absolutely make sure that nothing will go wrong on the day of the attack; too much is at stake and he doesn't want to make the same mistake they did after the surprise attack. If it's possible, he'd want to minimize the casualties, even though he knows, from all the years he had gone through, it's inevitable.

He watches as his subordinates have trained ever since dawn, waking up much earlier than the rest of the palace occupants to make sure that they could squeeze in as much training as they could before the fateful day. They have to make sure they train early, so that the nearer the day approaches, the more they can tone down their training and that they'll get enough rest before the actual day to prepare themselves mentally and physically.

He doesn't know which one is scarier, to face an unknown attack completely clueless, or to face something premeditated but be able to prepare for it beforehand. He concludes that he hates both, but considering that he's the leader of the army, it's not like he has any choice. It's already embedded in his blood, although he himself finds it hard to face it again after living a normal life for at least two years in Nyla.

Which brings him to the news that he had heard being passed around; Park Seonghwa looks like he is finally free from the curse, able to return to normal just right after Sara Chae had given him something to drink yesterday night. Just like that, Akira's husband has returned.

He hasn't run into both of them for today because he's busy at the practicing range.

Or maybe, it's just the guilt and shame for having to face someone he had tried to kill.

Either way, he knows that he'll have to face them sooner or later, since he's pretty sure they'd have a meeting to discuss and finalize their strategies for the day. He sighs, thinking about how he'd arrange his words to explain to Seonghwa about why he did that to him, but the more he thinks about it, the more he feels like he's only making up excuses. He knows that Akira has already forgiven him, but like she said, it's all entirely up to Seonghwa to ultimately decide whether he'd be forgiven.

It comes to the point that maybe, he thinks, the day the Lucida palace is attacked will be the day he'll put down his title as the general.

"General Jeong!"

His thoughts get interrupted as he sees some of his subordinates waving over to him, requesting for him to join them in their practice. He chuckles before picking up his sword that he has placed on the side, going down the stairs from the wooden observatory and gets greeted by the rest of them. He looks at each and every one of their faces, somehow being reminded of the past when he'd train together with Akira.

He knows that back then, verbalized or not, all of them were scared of Akira - except for him, of course. Not only does her demeanour bring fear to the hearts of the other soldiers, but it was the knowledge that her blood was black that caused all of them to stand straighter, face serious and eyes directly at her as she instructs them with anything. They had this fear of having a slip of the tongue where they'd accidentally tell her that her blood is black; which could mean worse punishments for them as it was an order from the queen for them to keep quiet about the colour of the general's blood.

Unknowingly, her black blood became the reason people respected her more.

But now it became the reason people are opposing her.

He grips the handle of his sword tighter, looking down at it as it's the sword he has used for as long as he can remember. When he escaped to Nyla, he only came with nothing but himself, but after two years, he almost broke down after seeing that his sword is still in its place, untouched. Although slightly awkward at first, he quickly adjusts himself to it again, finding that no other sword could give him the same feeling as his own.