A Royal Mess || Taejin

Chapter 23

KNJ,
I hope that the plan was executed with success. I hope our brother is safe now. Please write back as soon as you receive it. It is difficult to sneak out of the Lair to send owls.

I shall keep this brief as it may reach the wrong hands. Rose found a book in one of the closets of the Lair with the name. It seems quite ancient. The pages are mostly torn. The book is in a fragile condition so we have decided to keep it with us.

'-fire on the Ancient Stone, shall make the curse of Nahae agone.'

These were the exact words from one of the pages of the book. Visit Hangdong. Our brother knows the way. Ask him to lead you to the daughter of the Duke. She has access to prohibited books. Bargain with her. As mentioned before, the book is torn so only the name of its writer was there. Look for the author Bang Si-Hyuk.

Be safe, be back soon. The curse is stronger now as it was prolonged for months because of our brother. I think Gyeongsong is expecting more attacks.

With love, KJN

Seokjin played Jennie's letter to Namjoon in his head several times as the seven walked by the edges of the woods, ensuring not to get discovered by some traveler of Gyeongsong from the main road. Venturing to Hangdong on foot was not a hassle as the path was quite short and Seokjin was confident to lead his friends to their destination by twilight. However, concealing themselves within the thin woods was a difficulty. Many dwellers of Gyeongsong, especially the travelling merchants from the capital and the scholars from Hangdong, would take that road.

Their initial plan was to travel during the dark hours but after a debate of fifteen minutes, they decided that lit torches would attract attention from those on the main road. Their aim was to camouflage themselves as much as possible and reach Hangdong by a day as time was treacherous. They had planned to send Jungkook to the daughter of the Duke to lure her into an isolated place so that they could converse with her away from prying eyes.

Seokjin knew it would be difficult to get her to cooperate because the outcome would not be in her favour. He just hoped that she had the better judgement of right and wrong.

Jungkook had sent a letter to his father to announce publicly that he had a vision regarding future ambushes on Gyeongsong by their foes. As the people had faith in the man's abilities, they would immediately start preparing for defense.

Seokjin just hoped that the severity of the damage after the attacks would not be high as in the rulers' absence, their subjects might take indecisive measures. He was ever so grateful to the princes of Nahae for convincing the soldiers to return back and for trying their best in protecting the helpless victims of Gyeongsong.

Seokjin's eyes scanned the surroundings with disdain. The trees were getting more and more scattered as they travelled which raised the opportunity of being caught.

"Seokjin, is there any detour we can take?" Namjoon asked as he eyed the trees were turned scarce as the path unfolded more and more infront of them.

"Maybe we should continue travelling a little before dusk. We are almost near Hangdong." Seokjin replied, his words short due to exerting force onto himself to keep walking.

Everyone agreed and put their backs to the main road as they looked for a favourable place to recharge themselves. They settled down beside some old oak trees, some of them drifting into sleep almost immediately after resting their back against the trunk of the trees. Seokjin sat next to an already passed out Taehyung and cautiously lifted up his shirt to check if his bandages needed to be changed. Sighing in relief to see the dressing intact, Seokjin unwrapped the cloth he, as well as the rest of them, had covered their face with. His aching limbs relaxed on the uneven ground while his eyelids struggled to remain open.