Tainted Fate (Chanjin/Hyunchan)

Chapter 42

(Credits to the rightful owner.)

Hyunjin P.O.V

It didn't take much time to enter into the empire mainland, I could hear several citizens I moved past let out shocked gasps when they saw me in such a wary state but none of them dared to stop me.

The soldiers near the palace seemed to be in a frenzy and it didn't seem that they were just surprised to see me return so early. They seemed to be in a state of panic.

I made my horse halt just at the palace gate from where I could see the forest entrance. And I felt my heart almost stop at what lay in front if me. At a far distance, way into the bushes, a small group of tall tree tops were on flames.

"There has been a mishap your highness. Princes Changbin, Felix, Seungmin and Jeongin just left half an hour ago to provide the rest more support. But they instructed the remaining of us soldiers to stay back and protect the palace and the people." One of the senior guard approached me and said, but my eyes were still set on the sparks of fire.

I gulped heavily to regain the voice in my throat and looked at the guard. He seemed to be taken aback or rather intimidated by the colour of my eyes as I ordered, "Every one of you must follow the given commands and stay back from the forest. Send more soldiers to the markets and common houses. Make sure all the citizens are safe."

Without waiting for an answer I pulled the rein of my horse and moved into the forest grounds. It got a lot darker but that wasn't an issue. I guided the horse to run quickly towards the right direction. The direction of the flames.

As I moved closer and closer, smoke and the hightened noises of wild inhabitants of the jungle engulfed my surroundings as I watched more trees catching on fire. I felt terrified but I knew I had to overcome it.

I can't stop.

I finally reached near a clearing where I got to properly see past a few burning branches, the Moon soldiers fighting with the familiar masked ones. Though our troop was clearly larger in number, the enemies seemed be overpowering. It didn't take much for me to figure out that the enemies were using weapons made of silver.

I quickly removed the black pearl from my neck and securely kept it in the box in my pocket. I had to be careful and clever, I had to find where Chris and our brothers were. But before I could spot any of them in the midst of the fire and chaos my horse neighed in pain and jerked up onto it's hindlimbs due to which I got dismounted and fell down on the grass. My eyes faded to its black shade.

The horse fell over as well on its other side with a thud and I noticed a dagger pierced into its neck. I tried to stand back on my feet but suddenly a hand clasped my mouth from behind and pulled me backwards into a cluster of dense bushes. I thrashed around, trying scream and catch a glimpse of my attacker's face, as I was being dragged but he had an iron grip on me.

"Shut it bitch."

Llongwook.

That voice was too scarringly engraved in my head for me to not recognize it. I don't know why but I stopped struggling in his hold. I felt frozen at his sickening touch.

The Kang prince stopped abruptly and I was harshly thrown on the ground. My forehead was met with some rocky stones and I could feel blood dribble down my nose. I didn't get the time to even process anything. The pain was soon aggravated when my head was forcefully yanked back as Llongwook grabbed a fistful of my hair.

I was pulled to my feet and he pressed his body against my back. I felt him tear the collar of my shirt and bury his nose in my exposed neck.

Not again!