Till the End of Time [Bbangsaz & Daerin]

10 | Father and Daughter

| 1442, House of the Kang |

How could this happen? Caught consorting with a concubine by the very woman who was already a thorn in her side? Princess Kang paced back and forth in her chamber. She was afraid that everything would come out, that Minji would tell the monarch... that she wanted Danielle for herself. Jealousy mingled with anger and her fear of what would happen to her if they found out. She had to do something, she had to stop Minji, whatever the cost. Minji wanted to steal something from her room? Surely she could use it to her advantage and get her kicked out before things got worse, or should she make her a deal? No, she just needed to talk to her father before she could. And that's exactly what she would do now.

As fast as the wind, her feet carried her into the throne room and it wasn't long before the eyes of both the princess and her father met. As was proper, she knelt before him and bowed in humility, his attention now more focused on her, and Princess Kang spoke up: "Father. I have something to tell you..." The monarch didn't seem surprised, he looked as if he had been expecting it for a long time, "...one of our concubines snuck into my chamber and wanted to steal something from me, but I was able to stop it in time... we should get her out of the house-" Her father raised his hand and the princess immediately stopped her sentence. She didn't know exactly why, but she couldn't contradict the monarch. His hand slowly found its way back to his lap and he lowered his gaze for a moment before looking at his daughter again: "I already know. There is a spy among us and I have already taken the necessary steps to have it dealt with." Princess Kang seemed surprised, a spy in her house? "W-what?" her father sighed out and stood up from his throne as he walked over to his daughter and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Kim Minji... she belongs to the House of Moon and was infiltrated here to overthrow us. We have captured her accomplice and are currently luring her into a trap."

An accomplice? So there were two people in the house who wanted to make sure that the Kangs fell? Haerin didn't know how to react to this, which is why she only spoke up again after a long hesitation: "Who is the accomplice?" The monarch turned his back to his daughter, his face no longer visible, as his deep voice rang out again and filled the room: "Hanni." Haerin blinked... and suddenly her breath caught, it felt like the ground was being pulled out from under her and she fell into the infinite depths. That was a lie, wasn't it? Hanni would never want to hurt her, would she? Had the princess just let herself be used by her? Hanni had been here much longer than Minji, but she had been aware that something had built up between the two of them. Was Hanni being manipulated by Minji? "A-are you sure, that it was her?" her voice sounded broken, she didn't want to believe that her best friend would simply switch sides. They had practically grown up together, even her mother was a servant in the house. The monarch spun around on his heel and looked down at his daughter from above, a hint of both disappointment and disdain sparkling in his eyes, but Haerin didn't notice: "How dare you question me!" A loud clap echoed through the throne room. The monarch's hand released the sound as he slapped his daughter for her disrespect: "Go and see for yourself. I hereby order you to lead the troop and take care of the disaster." With that, he now bent down and squeezed the princess's cheeks with one hand, his steely gaze penetrating deep into her eyes, "Kill them both, make them suffer and make sure our family's reputation is not harmed. If you don't . . . I will have your beloved concubine killed."

| unspecified time, unknown place |

High above, on the roofs of the city, there was a silhouette leaning against the fence and looking out over the surrounding area. Behind her were three other figures and one of them began to speak: "I must have messed it up by mistake, oops. Who knew she could react so quickly?" The person next to them, slightly taller, smacked them in the head and snorted in annoyance: "Don't be so disrespectful." In response, the spot on their head was immediately rubbed and only an 'ouch' hissed through the person's lips. At the same time, the third figure turned to the silhouette on the fence: "And what do we do now? They've already started to make contact with their former selves... if this keeps up, she'll probably do the same soon. Which would mean we'd have to wait another few centuries to destroy the cursed maiden." The silhouette on the railing pushed off from it and turned back to the three figures, their posture looking calm and collected, but a twitch in their left hand could be seen: "Not if we know how to stop it," spoke the silhouette, who was clearly the leader of this group, "...she's the key to killing the cursed maiden, the only one who can." The middle figure of the three took a step forward and raised their voice: "Are you sure she'll help us? I have a feeling we're going to have trouble with this" The silhouette began to laugh in an iron and deep tone, "Trust me, if she sees me, she will definitely do it." Suddenly, thunder rang out in the background and a subsequent flash of lightning lit up the area after it began to pour like buckets. At that very moment, the face of the silhouette was revealed: the monarch Kang.