banned. // hyunin/hyunjeong

chapitre quarante-huit

irene.

dohyeon's grip on irene's throat was getting tighter. as much as it hurt, it was evident he hadn't used his full strength. if he did, irene had no doubt he could crush her throat, as if it were nothing but an empty can.

her mind was working at full speed, trying to see an escape in her situation. turning into a bat was already out of the question : in order to, a vampire must be free of any sort of physical obstacle. a simple touch was nothing, but such a hard grip made it impossible for her.

it seemed there wasn't any escape for her, and to make it worst, the pain and lack of oxygen clouded her ability to think.

"huh ? how come you're so silent now ? has your mouth lost its ability to run ?" he laughed loudly. "see how pleasant you are when you shut the fuck up !"

irene wanted to retort. even though she was still a bit scared of him, she wasn't necessarily scared to end up being killed. however her voice was stuck in her throat.

dohyeon opened his mouth, ready to mock her some more, when something caused his ears to perk.

an explosion.

no, it was fireworks ! it sounded different than usual fireworks.

upon hearing it, he unconsciously loosened his grip on irene's neck. she took advantage of it to break free, as dohyeon turned around.

a bright red wilted tulip shone in the sky as the firework exploded. It was the signal for when something was happening at the castle.

"you fucking piece of shit !" he growled as he finally understood what was up.

he fell into a trap !

everything suddenly whirled around his mind, making so much sense that he felt ashamed of himself.

irene's whereabout were never found, and he didn't catch her by surprise ! she had probably joined hand with jeongin and his friends, and they came up with a plan, by using what was one hundred percent likely to lure him out : his own daughter.

if she had managed to stay hidden for more than a decade, why would she suddenly reappear ? why did it happen after he banned jeongin ? this damn child... had he always knew about joohyun ?

his murderous intents peaked when he understood everything. he turned around, ready to vent it all on irene. he had wasted enough time. now was her time to live her postponed nightmare, from which his useless brother saved her when she was younger.

but of course irene wouldn't have been waiting for him to come back to his senses. as soon as she broke free, she turned into a bat and fled toward the castle. it wasn't the safest destination for her now, but she had to check on the others.

as she flew, she heard dohyeon's loud growl.

"joohyun ! you just wait until i catch you again !"

most birds were startled and flew away from the trees they were resting on.

dohyeon's voice seemed amplified, how could he scream so loud ? she tried to shake the fear off, and picked up her pace. but her wings were slightly shaking so her flight looked as clumsy as that of a baby bird.

she scolded herself back into reason. now wasn't the time to feel like this ! dohyeon was left behind and she had a chance at escape. she wouldn't waste it and end up in dohyeon's hands again.

once was already enough to scare her for the next few weeks.

and she was convinced that the next time jen caught her, he wouldn't settle on talking. he would actually...

she mentally shook her head. she didn't want to think of it now. she was trying to give herself courage, not to traumas.

she flew as fast as she could around the trees. it would have been easier to fly above them, but then she wouldn't be able to see if jeongin passed near her.

when she arrived at the castle, the sight there horrified her. dohyeon's guards had escorted all the palace's inhabitants, as well as the village's, and set them kneeling in rows. they stood behind them, swords and guns pointed at them.

some men and women were crying silently, but most children were wailing loudly. they didn't even have the right to stand near their parents.

irene hid herself behind the tree nearer to the scene.

"which one of you did it ?" one of the guard yelled.

did what ?

no one answered.

"talk !" another one yelled louder. "who killed the captain of the guards ?"

irene breathed a sigh of relief hearing this. she was afraid that the next words to come out would be 'who helped yang jeongin sneak in'.

but killing the guard... was it a coincidence ? and right now, where was the rest ?

what was she supposed to do now ?

but it didn't take her long to think before settling on a first step : fly around the castle.

she had a chance to find them like that. but she wouldn't tout the whole castle now. she remembered jeongin mentioning once that his father's office was in one of the towers. there were six towers in total. she would start with it.

taking advantage of the chaos happening, she took off. she flew as far as possible from the castle until she reached the first tower. there was a single window at the top of each, and she would look inside then try to hear anything.

but there was nothing for the three first towers.

she then reached the one on the far side. she approached the window and peeked inside. she perked her ears, ready to catch even the lowest of sound.

she waited. but it was the same result : there was no one.

instead of flying away, she sighed. was it the right thing to do right now ? or was she wasting time ? it was already her fourth tower but how come she stumbled on absolutely no one ?

but then again, she was almost done touring it. she might as well go on with the last two right ?

but things didn't turn out as she expected. as soon as she was about to leave, someone suddenly grabbed one of her wing and lifted her up.

she was giving her back to castle's interior so she hadn't seen anyone coming. but who would be so good at concealing their step sounds ? she hadn't even heard a breathing sound !

"care to tell me who you are ?" the person asked.

it was a man, his voice was low and raspy.

what kind of mess had she run into this time ?

~

this chapter is a bit shorter than usual, only a bit more than 1k words but i didn't think think writing more would fit in.

as you already saw, in the end i decided to keep irene safe haha :) it's not that i never kill characters but i suddenly felt it would be too sudden to die like this and i still need her for what comes next so~~

anyways i wanted to thank you guys a lot !! even tho i'm not writing much, the read numbers increased a lot and i received some very nice and encouraging comments too.

i felt as if nothing i ever wrote was good enough to be posted and it discouraged me to a point where i didn't want to continue this, but now i have more ideas again !!

thank you a lot <333

this author note is getting long, so i'll just say this —take care guys, you're important and loved 🤍