𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗦, Go Won

𝟬𝟮𝟳. 𝗔 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗹 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗯𝘂𝗴𝘄𝗮𝗻?

Dang-gu had convinced Da-hye to be the next one to fight Uk. So there she was standing in  front of Uk.

"Why are you doing here?" Uk asked.

"I will let you beat me. So it can all be over." Da-hye whispered. "Let's make this quick. The faster it is, the less embarrassing it will be."

"Oh." Uk nodded. "I forfeit." Uk walked out of the training center.

"Hey, Uk!" Da-hye shouted.  How dare he leave when Da-hye was willing to embarrass herself to let Uk win? Mu-deok followed after Uk.

"You wanted to go before me." Cha Beom told Da-hye. "And you won." Beom gave her the gold toad.

Da-hye felt as if Beom was making fun of her. She rolled her eyes and went to her room. She placed the gold toad on the table that was beside her bed. Jang Uk had yet lost another duel. He only had one more chance left. 

Many Songrim mages had been guarding Sejukwon because of the soul shifter that was there. Master Heo and the leader were trying to kind of revive him so he could speak.

For the whole day, Da-hye had been practicing swordsmanship techniques. Even though the Crown Prince came to Songrim often, Da-hye had not seen him. Was he avoiding her? Was it because of the rumors people had spread of her?

The Crown Prince had ordered Songrim's leader to come to Cheonbugwan. Da-hye and Sang-ho went along with him. It made Da-hye nervous for some reason. The thought of seeing the Crown Prince again.

Jin Mu and his assistant bowed their heads to them.

"You came to Cheonbugwan to give honey biscuits to the Assitant Gwanju?" The leader asked Jang Uk.

Apparently Jang Uk and Mu-deok had seen a soul shifter in Cheonbugwan.

"Yes, I heard you two had an argument over honey biscuits." Jang Uk said.

The leader of Songrim and the assistant Gwanju fighting over honey biscuits? That was absurd.  Da-hye could not help but laugh a little. Uk turned to look at her.

"I apologize." Da-hye said trying to hold in her laugh. Her voice made a chill run down the Crown Prince's spine. He felt a knot in his stomach. "Continue." Da-hye's bad manners were starting to show. 

That gave the Crown Prince one more reason to believe that Da-hye was not Naksu. It is not the that he wanted to believe that she was Naksu. He was scared to find out whether she was the Shadow Assassin or not.

"Maidservant Kim did not want him to stay upset, so I brought what she had sent him." Uk explained.

"What a feeble excuse." The Crown Prince said. "The leader of Songrim and Assistant Gwanju of Cheonbugwan fighting over honey biscuits?" The Crown Prince raised his voice slightly. "Even if that were true, you could have left right away. Why were you in the main room with the constellation basin?" 

"I wanted to see the constellation basin." Uk said. "However, I ended up seeing something that I should not have."

"Are you sure you saw a soul shifter?" The leader asked.

"Yes, he locked me inside a barrier to hide that fact and threw Mu-deok to the soul shifter so he could feed on her." Uk explained.

"He is lying." Jin Mu said. "Jang Uk entered the main room of Cheonbugwan without permission and damaged the constellation basin." Jin Mu told the Crown Prince. "Now that he find himself in trouble, he is making up an absurd lie about a soul shifter."

"I am sure it was a soul shifter." Uk said. "He ran wild and got petrified. My maid and I both saw it."

"When I arrived, I did not see the body of a soul shifter." The Crown Prince said.